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This is a selection system allowing you to select any part of the map at any time. It also detects who selected that place.

The concept is that you would have 2-12 air units seperated around the map. To select an area, you simply select them (via hotkey), and order all of them to move to the desired spot. You would then use different engines to detect what direction each was heading in and pinpoint that location, then move then back to their resting place. You would then do the desired action (depending on what you selected, or function you had set) at that set spot.

Some things this could be used for are:
1) Easy to-use Gunner System
2) Selection System (you could even 'select' text on you screen if the screen was centered on the hero...)
3) Menu System
4) Item System (simply click on your hero to switch weapons)
5) Information System (right click on an enemy unit to view its stats)
and many more...

I still need help working out the details (such as best way to pinpoint the area), so any help would be... well... helpful.

And no, I don't care if anyone uses this (that is, if they can find a way to impliment it ).

Well, there's a few questions here that need to be addressed on how to do it:

1. What's the equation for triangulating 2 or more vectors?
2. How do you translate that to triggers?
3. How do you get angles from the air units?
4. How precise do those angles need to be (relative to the map's size)?
5. How do you 'set' to the position, once you've calculated it?
6. Will other issues such as unit overhead, lag, location use, etc. become prohibitive?

i've actually been thinking about this since you've told me. i didn't quite realize how difficult this would actually be. not only would you have to detect the direction each vector is moving in, but you'd also have to calculate how far that vector's trajectory will extend until it intersections another vector's trajectory.

i was thinking, just to speed up some processes(and possibly reduce lag), you'd have one vector in the middle of the map. imagine the map is divided into four hemispheres. your very first movement detection would detect which direction this center vector is moving towards and then only run calculation triggers for that hemisphere. for example, if he was moving in a top-left direction, the northwest hemisphere would be activated, while the rest would remain dormant.

This system can give you the coordinates of a place the player clicked. This is useless information unless you already know that something is at that location. Only by using my Unit Coordinates system would you be able to use this dynamically, and even then it would only work on one unique unit.


You could use ten at best, but there would be absolutely no reason to waste the time creating the extra thousands of triggers when simply using two units would always give you the same results. You only need two units.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

The equation is simple mathematics. Find the intersection of linear equations one and two.

This is the only real question. The hard part is finding out how precisely you can calculate the angles. Once you can do that the rest of the system is a piece of cake.

For a 256x256 map, you would need to be accurate within 1.4 degrees. For 192, 1.8 degrees. For a 64, you'd only need ot be accurate within 5.6 degrees. I may have just made those numbers up.

You can't. That is why this is nearly useless.

No. Although given the required accuracy, location use could be detrimental.

ADDITION:
Zeratul I don't think you understand the calculations part of this system at all. It's basic algebra.

as a note, lethal_illusion has said that he does not have time to bring this concept to fruitation. therefore he has left it to the community. he also suggested that we form a team for this project.



i'm not sure if lethal actually produced a formula or anything like that. as i would imagine it, direction detection is would be run on each of the air units(vectors). from then, a slope could be determined. the slope trajectory would then be extended until an intersection was found.



preferably a mathematical formula that can determine the intersections of multiple trajectories could be found which could then be translated into trigs.



through the use of a static grid and movement detection



depends primarily on what it is being used for. for combat, it'd have to be extremely precise



through the use of location grids



lag and obstructive units could be problems. location use should not be to much of an issue.



of course, everything i said may not be totally accurate, as this concept is still being worked out.

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1) Easy to-use Gunner System

easy-to-use, yes, making it is another story.

2) Selection System (you could even 'select' text on you screen if the screen was centered on the hero...)
3) Menu System
4) Item System (simply click on your hero to switch weapons)
5) Information System (right click on an enemy unit to view its stats)

yes, you'd jsut have to calculate relative grid points. once a location is determined, everything else is left to standard trigger systems.

You can't use it for any of those things.

ps, why don't you enlighten us into how it can be done.

ADDITION:


all you got to do is get the system to find the point(a)... then you can compare A to another point(b), produced by another trigger system. if A = B, then voila, you've activated something.

First off, if there was a way to find the coordinate, who says you can't translate it relative to the hero for those extra stuff? all you would have to do would compare the selected area relative to your hero and offset it... Not that tricky when you actually get the coordinates... (though I'm still not absolutely sure how to get the coordinates at this point; though, I do have some ideas).

maybe you should mention the GPS relation. it'd give people some definite thing to compare it to.

ADDITION:
ps congrats on your first topic

Where are you going to get point (B) from? Laugh laugh laugh.

The best solution I have come up with restricts your selecting ability to around your hero...

There would be an X Axis strip on the top and bottom of the map, and a Y Axis strip on the left and right sides.

Whenever you would move up or down, the Y axis strip would slide along with you from the side of the map. Whenever you moved left or right, the X Axis strip would slide along with you from the top and bottom of the map.

To get the coordinates, whichever air unit is traveling straight at the time you selected, the selection runs along that strip. You would just find the place the two strips intersect, and you've found the coordinate. You would have to increase/decrease sensitivity for this depending on how close the unit is to the side of the map. IMO, the air units should be spread out in 2x2 squares, and to make it a 1x1 selection grid, if the selection occurs between the two air units, the strip is inbetween them. Maybe you guys can figure something out with this?

It seems like this would be a rather useless system. Even if it could work the lack of effeciency in it would render it pointless.

Accuracy would be determined on how skilled you are in producing it, and how much effort you put into it...

from the XY grid system...

ADDITION:


having the right-mouse button as a trigger 'condition' is useless?

I'm a bit confused here. Aren't the air units supposed to be in containers?



Well it's not so bad to 'get' the intersect point, but it's a real pain to 'set' it. One way that works is having a mobile grid travel down one axis line until it hits the other. Problem is, since it's using mobile grids extensively, it'll lag if you have to do it a lot, and it requires a clear area free of air units.

Another is to use a two strips of units along parallel edges of the map for one axis, and for the other axis create long location strips at lengths starting outward from the edge of the map by a few grid spaces on up to the full length of the map, at length intervals of 2 or more grid spaces. Then once you have the position of one axis, traverse to it along the edge of units on one side of the map, and center the long location strips onto it and find the one with a long enough length for the center point to reach the point on the other axis you want.



That step alone will be a pain, but not impossible. The tricky part is going to be the triangulation, as well as getting it's results to match up with the actual points clicked on the map.

The concept I recently stated would be relative to the hero (desired unit). The air units would 'slide' along the edges of the map relative to the hero, so not in necessarily in 'set' containers (I thought this up to narrow down the point of intersection, because diagonal lines are hard to detect). As for setting the location, if you used a system similar to fishgold's (involving x and y coordinate strips) then it wouldn't be too difficult to set the new coordinates, the hard part would be getting the coordinates, unless there is something I haven't seen... And no, their wouldn't be any air unit usage in the way I have it conceptulized.

One of the main reasons I started this thread would be to find the best solution to getting/setting the coordinates. Feel free to make any and all suggestions. If you don't understand something, just post here and someone will answer (or try to answer) your questions. As Zeratul-101 said before, I will not be able to overlook this too much, so he will help me (thanks again zeratul).

I thought you were talking about a free range system where you could click on any point of the map and detect the click position. At least, that's the one I was addressing. Unlike what desparado said, you CAN 'set' the point once you have it, using either of the methods I outlined above. You shouldn't need to compromise by making it relative to a hero or something (still not quite following how that works, admittedly).

As it turns out making the system relative to the hero is super easy, not map-intensive, gloriously more efficient, and it actually makes the system run better because of some wierd things we discovered with unit groupings. Of course, under such a system only the viewable area around your hero can be effected, but this is hardly of consequence.

Explicate.

lethal was referring to a modified version. but otherwise, it was originally intended to be free range.

Actually, instead of restricting the screen's visibility, I found a way to make it more conservative and you can view other areas (instead of just your hero's area). This latest concept would use the same principles as I have stated previously, but instead of only locking the screen on the hero, you just switch your selection move to 'move screen mode' and just click the area on the map via the system, and the screen would lock on that new selection (for example, you turn on 'move screen mode' and simply select the left side of your screen--or any other part, for that manner--and the screen would lock onto that new position). This would enhance screen mobility, and could easily be used as a 'scope' in a snipers map (you could have a dot of vision in the center of the screen, and just click on the screen where you want to aim). You simply scan the map for the enemy, and shoot them down. Just some basic thoughts.

I would still appreciate some help thinking for better uses and more efficient ways of doing this...

sorry lethal, been kinda busy. i'd still prefer to work on the original system. at least for now. anyhow, i wanna talk to you on Bnet sometime later to discuss some things.

The original system would be extremely hard to create. This new system has just about all the benifits of the old (maybe even a few more, such as shaking the screen) and it is much, much simpler to make. I will try to meet you on later tonight, but im not making any promises with all my work.

better uses: Whak-a-mole

Your idea of moving the air units along with the hero, where the air units are on the sides of the map, sounds like a bad idea. If your trying to get accurate information about where a person clicked near their hero, then you would do better off placing the air units so they move right outside the screen, as opposed to far away, where it would take a larger ratio to produce a change in movement. Granted there are a few uses to the large method, like having a minimap game of shooting incomming missles comming from all directions or something, but then the hero couldn't move fast enough to doge the missles or something.

Either have stationary air units or move the air units to the optimum volume.

I, too, was thinking about making them right outside the hero's screen of vision, but then other players could see them or they could overlap another hero's air units. This new concept would not overlap, it would conserce locations and units. I find this to be the best solution (and easiest to trigger). Keep the critisizm and comments/ideas coming!