How to prevent civilian defences from firing on AI units

[MagsInTo]

Hello I'm trying to create a RA2 multiplayer map that has civilian defences (e.g., flak canon, prism tower) but they fire at both human and AI players. Is there a way to make them shoot at human players only?

I'm using FinalAlert2 map editor version 1.04.
Thanks

[Sam-I-am]

Hi
You mean neutral, not civilian, right?

What's the point of making some units/structures "neutral" if they're gonna take sides? Just make them AI's.
You can set those existing structures to be owned by AI. Problem solved!

[MagsInTo]

The structure owner in FA2 can be Civilian,  America, Russia, etc. There's no option for neutral or AI.

If I make the structure owner anything other than Civilian, it doesn't show up on the map during play, regardless if the assigned house is playing or not.

 

[Sam-I-am]

There are countless unofficial maps with structures that are assigned to AI from the beginning.

You can do that and so many other things using triggers.

Here's a detailed tutorial from our good friend @YosefAnan:

Be sure to check out his channel for many more tutorials.

Triggers are the best part when it comes to map making. Have fun! ?

[MagsInTo]

Thanks for the link.

I did see this video, and actually, that's exactly what I was doing (trigger on any event to change the houses at startup) however, there're few issues with this approach:

1. There's no AI in the house assign list (at least none that I can find). This means the AI houses must be known beforehand (and fixed) in the map. Obviously that means you'll always have to play against AI opponents that match the map triggers.
2. Also that limits who can ally with who. I can't for example have 2 teams of mixed human/AI players unless the map triggers are pre-setup for such arrangement.
3. For the time being, I resorted to assign all civilian structures to a single house using triggers (e.g., Korea), and made sure the AI players all allied in one team and at least one of them is Korea. The human players were all allied in another team. That worked, except none of the AI players attacked human players for some reason. They defended their bases but never ventured out of their base area (the civilian structures, now Korean, shot only at human players) 
4. Instead of using triggers, I tried to assign the civilian structures to Korea, but it seems if I set the owner of any structure to any house other than civilian, the structure doesn't show up during play.

So I'm at back square one. I tried looking at other maps that has this feature but I don't see any triggers attached to the civilian structures. I don't mind editing the "ini" file but the help on both ini file editing and FA2 is scarce at best.

Cheers

[YosefAnan]

On 3/15/2022 at 12:47 AM, Sam-I-am said:

There are countless unofficial maps with structures that are assigned to AI from the beginning.

You can do that and so many other things using triggers.

Here's a detailed tutorial from our good friend @YosefAnan:

Be sure to check out his channel for many more tutorials.

Triggers are the best part when it comes to map making. Have fun! ?

Thanks my friend, I am happy to see you! ❤️

[Sam-I-am]

You too! ?
Thank YOU, for all the help that you provide to everyone ? ❤️

[MagsInTo]

 

Please see reply above (March 14)

btw, sorry for the delayed replies. It takes about a week for every message I send to be approved by a moderator.

[Sam-I-am]

On 3/21/2022 at 6:36 AM, MagsInTo said:

It takes about a week for every message I send to be approved by a moderator.

I thought so.
Nothing justifies that. Not spam prevention or whatever. It's awful and has to change.

Regarding the problem with the map.. I can't use FA now, but I'll try to figure out a solution. Perhaps in the coming days ?

Edited March 29, 2022 by Sam-I-am

[Sam-I-am]

On 3/15/2022 at 5:38 AM, MagsInTo said:

if I set the owner of any structure to any house other than civilian, the structure doesn't show up during play

It seems like you're forgetting something, because as you can see in the tutorial, that shouldn't happen. Watch the tutorial again and follow the steps exactly.

[MagsInTo]

On 4/9/2022 at 11:57 PM, Sam-I-am said:

It seems like you're forgetting something, because as you can see in the tutorial, that shouldn't happen. Watch the tutorial again and follow the steps exactly.

What I meant is setting the structure's owner without triggers (i.e., assign the structure to Germany, for example)

On the other hand, when I assign the structure to a multiplayer position "N" using triggers (exactly like in the video) the structure is visible during gameplay but it's not owned by anyone. I created 8 triggers for players 0-7 and attached them to 8 power plants then played against 7 AI opponents. None of the power plants were claimed as you can see in the attached images. Note that I'm using the latest version of FA2 (V 1.04)

I've also attached the map itself.

 

wvt.map

Edited April 15, 2022 by MagsInTo