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I have recently re-entered the map making world and am now working on a map that chronicles The Civil War. I specifically wanted to use a virtual HP system for each battle that would allow a more realistic style of combat. Instead of using a typical HP and damage system were each unit took N number of shots to kill another unit, I envisioned a system where each unit had a set chance to kill per shot. Virtual HP proves too impractical for massive amounts of units so I settled on this:

-Every unit on the map has it's prospective HP set to anywhere from 1-100% using 7 random switchs. These effects are under the influence of hyper triggers, so this takes place extremely quickly.

-Next, Each unit has exactly 100 Hit points.

-The units have a base of 0 damage, while each upgrade adds one additional damage point.

-This means that if said unit has 15 upgrade points, it will have a 15% chance to kill another unit per shot.

-Armor can be added into the function like so: If a unit has "W" (weapons upgrades,) and attacks a unit with "A" (armor upgrades,) to determine the chance of a kill simply use the function "W" - "A" = Chance to kill.

-For example, Player 1 controls a unit with 6 weapons upgrades, and 1 armor upgrades. Player 2 controls a units with 4 weapons upgrades and 4 armor upgrades.
-Player 1 has a 2% chance to kill player 2 on each shot.
-Player 2 has a 3% chance to kill player 1 on each shot.

It gets more fun now:
-Try adding a calibre to you weapons. i.e. make upgrades do +2 damage per upgrade. This makes a gun more likely to kill than average.
-Adding Protoss shields on top, effectively acts as a sort of one time use armor.
-Use armor types to skew the chances to kill even further.

-Here is a map demonstrating these principles:
[attachmentid=19414]

-And Here is the triggering layout:

Trigger

Description:

Randomizer

Players:

¤ All Players

Conditions:

¤ Always();

Actions:

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 1", Randomize);

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 2", Randomize);

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 3", Randomize);

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 4", Randomize);

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 5", Randomize);

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 6", Randomize);

¤ SetSwitch("Switch 7", Randomize);

¤ PreserveTrigger();

Trigger

Description:

Randomizer

Players:

¤ All Players

Conditions:

¤ Switch("Switch 1", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 2", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 3", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 4", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 5", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 6", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 7", Clear);

Actions:

¤ Modify Unit Hit Points("All players", "Men", 1, 0, "Anywhere");

¤ PreserveTrigger();

Trigger

Description:

Randomizer

Players:

¤ All Players

Conditions:

¤ Switch("Switch 1", Set);

¤ Switch("Switch 2", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 3", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 4", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 5", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 6", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 7", Clear);

Actions:

¤ Modify Unit Hit Points("All players", "Men", 1, 0, "Anywhere");

¤ PreserveTrigger();

Trigger

Description:

Randomizer

Players:

¤ All Players

Conditions:

¤ Switch("Switch 1", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 2", Set);

¤ Switch("Switch 3", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 4", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 5", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 6", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 7", Clear);

Actions:

¤ Modify Unit Hit Points("All players", "Men", 1, 0, "Anywhere");

¤ PreserveTrigger();

Trigger

Description:

Randomizer

Players:

¤ All Players

Conditions:

¤ Switch("Switch 1", Set);

¤ Switch("Switch 2", Set);

¤ Switch("Switch 3", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 4", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 5", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 6", Clear);

¤ Switch("Switch 7", Clear);

Actions:

¤ Modify Unit Hit Points("All players", "Men", 1, 0, "Anywhere");

¤ PreserveTrigger();

And so on.... up to 100

Tested it the other night, can attest to this being quite sexy

Hey, this isn't a bad idea. In fact, it's pretty good. But this only applies for infantry units right? Because it's not realistic seeing a tank blow up from a single shot from an infantry unit...

Correct on the infantry. It is a problem, which can be fixed in two ways:

-Change the trigger actions that set properties for "all men" to a bunch of actions for each unit type you want to affect. (This might take awhile however, because it is 100 separate triggers! )

-Or, as may be the case in my upcoming Civil War map, other units such as "Cannons" (represented by siege tanks.) Will be capturable by both sides, and then moved to new positions instead of being killed.

If applied to an RPG or arena map, you may want the system to apply to all units, but in a WWII or War map this is unlikely to be the case...

One slight problem is that all units have a random HP assigned every 1/13 of a second, but they all have the same HP at that given time. This means that if 1% is the setting, for instance, a lot of men will be killed during that trigger cycle. Any ideas on how to remedy this?

Correction: 1/12

wow, this is just plain amazing. gj on the concept

as for your little issue, there are quite a few ways to go around it. a purely trigger based way, and probly the besy way is:

you'll need computer as unit holder, you will center a location over the unit and then run your randomization at the location, give your unit to the comp and recenter your location on another of your units.

Good call, nonetheless, the time is still marginal.

I'm a bit confused, care to explain?

I think he meant to center over 1 unit at a time, and randomize. But this wouldn't really work, seeing as you'd be moving your units (if you had enough, that is). And also, with this system damage isnt accumalative, and a unit could be hit over and over and never be killed because his units keep regaining health.

Good concept though

well, its not like muskets were very accurate actually, so some degree of realism is actaully achieved(its gets reduced when its takes 15+ shots before someone dies). although, it'd be very unrealistic for a more modern game involving guns though.

on a related note, this is going to confuse the hell out of the Bnet community. people are gonna complain "WTH!!! the n00b is getting healed!!!" and "Look the HaXoR is pwning my guys from across the map. dIE Haxor!!!" and some "wtf is wrong with this map"(followed by a prompt surrender).

It did create a lot of confusion in my testing runs, but after I explained the concept, about 9/10 people understood it. On the other hand, only about 7/10 people actually liked it. I think I will put an extremly concise, but carefully thought out briefing in hopes of preventing trouble.

You're right there, likely there will be large armies, it is the Civil War after all.

I doesn't matter if units regain health, because any shot taken that fails to kill them represents a "miss". It is the basis of the percents system.

just as a little tip, i wouldn't put it in the briefing, rather i'd have it shown in text messages before the map 'loads up.' in other words, have the game screen blank until the message is over.

people on Bnet almost never read the briefing.

7/10 who liked it? That's good, yes?

Ehhh Perhaps..... I find people who join games called "Testing new concept" are more forgiveing than most.

It may represent a miss, but if you missed you would probably hit the person beside him and for an entire army to perfectly miss at the same time. That would be funny.

That is a orgasmic idea, But if you have the same randomization trigger apply to all players at the same time, it would cause very unrealistic fighting.

e.g.: You have 10 Marine against 10 Marines. each of the 10 Marines thier own Marine of the opposition (this may not happen in actual gameplay, but this is an example), and vice versa. Now at this point the thier HP is flying about. Once the randomization hits so the Marine can kill the other, all marines attacking at that time will kill thier opponent. When I testing I took a couple Marines and got them to attack an equal amount, and the proper trigger kicked in and they all killed each other at the same time.

Maybe, create randomization for each individual player. That would still cause some syncronized deaths, but it would be reduced.

Also you can apply this to tanks and whatnot too, just give the tank a higher attack, giving it a higher percent chance to kill an opponent.


But in general, this is a beautiful idea, and I can't wait to see it out and in a completed map.

That is a problem I am attempting to address right now. There is much validity in your claim.

I can say however, that: the problem will not be nearly so exaggerated in a real game, because it is unlikely units will be firing all at the same time. Also, in the Civil War the firing line was still prominent, therefore, people did die in groups as each salvo was fired off. "Ware Before!" and all that good stuff ya know.

so, hows your civil war map coming along? you going to make a production thread?

I prefer not to make a production thread until I am very near completion. There seems to be a trend of tons of production threads and very few actual maps anyway....

seems interesting. thats a lot to read but it seems like you know what your doing so gj mate!

Damn, nice boy
this is pretty smart
best concept i've heard in a while

Hmm nice, very simple but it works very well. As for the different players thing, just use different switches.

lol thats some crazy crap

bilal92, staredit can sometimes consider it spam when you post lots of little posts like you have been doing. If you have something too short to say, don't even post. The best time to post is when you have atleast more then 1 sentence. I Hope this makes sence to you.

Hmm..... interesting, firstly, "atleast" is two words, secondly, "sence" is spelled S-E-N-S-E, thirdly, you seem to lack that which I just spelled, because your post is also spam, and even more so because it does not relate to the thread as much as his does. Finally, follow your own advice and If you do not have something worthwhile to say don't say it. Does this make "sence" to you?

Pssht, you grammar nazi

To be honest, I actually agree with him to an extent... but then again, this post could also be considered spam