is that coded the same way as the crude short bow, i plan to start looking at the sml closely next week now that my time has freed up.

if its the same, what happens when you give a crude short bow to a unit?

i meant the minus to accuracy, but i will be playing with this stuff next week.

actually, never mind, i think im completely wrong lol

The A_UnitStat_Moves is not functioning. Is there a way to do this any other way?

Okay. I will just make a trait for levelup and unit design that gives +1 Moves. I don't want to give out double moves.

Yes, but there is no use of it ingame because it is confusing as hell. That is my theory anyway.

No idea.

I see no point to it now, probably a relic from before when unittypes were defined in the faction instead of the race, and each unittype didn't have a prereq for its own race.

1) This is how Blood traits work. Consider it. You have it from the start, but you can't remove it or change it in the designer. You can basically copy that functionality over to a new trait and give it to a unit.

Another way is to use UnitModelTypes like HenchmanMale for Altar Henchmen, or other traits for Iron Golems or Juggernauts. That way you can get traits that you can pick for just that unitmodeltype. Although adding a new UnitModelType can be a bit tricky.

2) Yes, you can use that XML to make a trait unlock from a tech after researched. But one of the downsides is that any unit with that trait will also only be unlocked from the same tech.

3) Yes, you can set each Juggernaut to cost a resource. The resource can be set so that it is not stored (like elemental shards). Each new juggernaut would drain 1 of this resource while alive.

4) The main problem is that these monsters do not have animations and certain skeleton bind points for weapons, shields and such (you'll have to try what works on your own). If you do that XML it should work, although if you make a new UnitModelType you could still allow the player to design the unit as he sees fit with weapons and such.

For making these monster units, I can show you how to insert new bind points (local frames) in monster skeletons if you want to. It's a pretty cumbersome process but it can be done.

1) No, look at CoreAbilities.xml and see how the blood traits look and work. CanBeDesigned is a unittype tag, it is not directly related.

3) The resource is "continuous". First an anti-example: Metal. If you have an income of +5 Metal per turn, you'll first have 5, then next turn 10, then 15. But what you are trying to accomplish instead uses a resource that works like the shard powers. If you have +3 Water shard, you have +3 the first turn, then +3 the second turn. It is not stored. So let's say you create a unit that eats 1 water shard each turn. Then you'll only have +2. When you reach 0 you'll be unable to build more.

4) Weapons and Shields currently are "unlimited", they can be worn by anyone because they have no SupportedUnitModelType like Bows do for example. So if you want upgradeable bears you need fill all the weapons and shields with SupportedUnitModelType so they can't be worn by bears.

Hello, I really enjoy Fred Saberhagen's Swords series and thought it might be fun to bring them into Elemental.

The xml below is my attempt to mod the charm unit (tame/silver tongue) onto an artifact.  I was totally pumped when I got it to work, but then realized i had just modded the spell Mindsword's Call into the spell list of every hero.

The attributes of being available for customization and the cheap cost for charming units will be tweaked.  But I found it an easy way to test stuff.

Can I make the spell have the prereq of the sword or am I doing it backwards and should just add the charm to the sword xml?

The Sword:

- <GameItemType InternalName="Mindsword">
<DisplayName>Mindsword</DisplayName>
<Description>The Mindsword spun in the dawn's gray light, And men and demons knelt down before. The Mindsword flashed in the midday bright, Gods joined the dance, and the march to war.
It spun in the twilight dim as well, And gods and men marched off to hell.</Description>
<Type>Weapon</Type>
<WeaponType>TwoHanded</WeaponType>
<CanBeEquipped>1</CanBeEquipped>
<CustomizationPointCost>1</CustomizationPointCost>
<ShopValue>5080</ShopValue>
- <GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>AdjustUnitStat</Attribute>
<StrVal>UnitStat_Attack_Cutting</StrVal>
<Value>14</Value>
</GameModifier>
- <GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>AdjustUnitStat</Attribute>
<StrVal>UnitStat_CombatSpeed</StrVal>
<Value>6</Value>
</GameModifier>
- <GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>UseSpell</Attribute>
<StrVal>Mindsword's Call</StrVal>
<Provides>Take control of an opposing unit.</Provides>
</GameModifier>
- <GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>AdjustUnitStat</Attribute>
<StrVal>UnitStat_CurrentWeight</StrVal>
<Value>10</Value>
</GameModifier>
- <GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>AdjustUnitStat</Attribute>
<StrVal>UnitStat_MaxCounterAttack</StrVal>
<Value>1</Value>
<Provides>+1 Counterattacks per round</Provides>
</GameModifier>
- <GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>CannotBeCounterattacked</Attribute>
<Provides>Unit never gets Counterattacked</Provides>
</GameModifier>
<IsAvailableForSovereignCustomization>1</IsAvailableForSovereignCustomization>
<RarityDisplay>Unique</RarityDisplay>
<HeroOnly>1</HeroOnly>
<IsAvailableForUnitDesign>0</IsAvailableForUnitDesign>
- <Prereq>
<Type>UnitStat_Level</Type>
<Attribute>1</Attribute>
</Prereq>
- <AIData AIPersonality="AI_General">
<AIPrefType>AIPrefType_CUTTING</AIPrefType>
<AIPriority>404.5</AIPriority>
</AIData>
<ArtDef>Longsword_Altar_ArtDef</ArtDef>
</GameItemType>

The Spell:

<SpellDef InternalName="Mindsword's Call">
<DisplayName>Mindsword's Call</DisplayName>
<Description>Convert an opposing unit to your cause unless they resist.</Description>
<Image>S_DestinysGift_Painting.png</Image>
<IconFG>T_SilverTongue_Icon.png</IconFG>
<IconColor>139,243,255</IconColor>
<AutoUnlock>0</AutoUnlock>
<Prereq>
<Type>GameItem</Type>
<Attribute>Mindsword</Attribute>
</Prereq>
<Cooldown>3</Cooldown>
<SpellBookSortCategory>Unit</SpellBookSortCategory>
<SpellBookSortSubCategory>Charm</SpellBookSortSubCategory>
<SpellType>Tactical</SpellType>
<SpellClass>Offensive</SpellClass>
<SpellSubClass>Debuff</SpellSubClass>
<SpellTargetType>Unit</SpellTargetType>
<SpellTargetCreatureType>Any</SpellTargetCreatureType>
<IsResistable>1</IsResistable>
<Range>5</Range>
<SpellResourceCost>
<Resource>Mana</Resource>
<Amount>1</Amount>
</SpellResourceCost>
<GameModifier>
<ModType>Unit</ModType>
<Attribute>CharmTarget</Attribute>
<Value>100</Value>
</GameModifier>
<AIData AIPersonality="AI_General">
<AIPriority>5</AIPriority>
</AIData>
<HitSoundFX>Spell_SilverTongue_01</HitSoundFX>
<SpellDefEffect>
<EffectName>T_Tame_Particle</EffectName>
<LocalPosition>0,0,0</LocalPosition>
<EffectScale>1</EffectScale>
<EffectDelay>0</EffectDelay>
<SnapToTerrain>1</SnapToTerrain>
</SpellDefEffect>
</SpellDef>

Thanks for your knowledge and insight!

I will, thank you!