SC2Mapster

I want to create an ability for a unit that has veterancy. When I click the button on the unit I need it to find a nearby Barracks, walk over to it and become hidden (as I'd prefer to not give the Barracks the functionality of having cargo). Once the unit is hidden that should queue off a training unit in the Barracks. If the training is canceled the hidden unit should be revealed again, otherwise, once the training is complete the hidden unit can be destroyed and the new unit should be the same level as the old one.

I'm not really sure if there are any abilities in the game that I should be using for guidance. I think I'm going to try to use the Set Unit Property trigger to try and transfer the experience from the original unit to the new one but I haven't figure out what the proper event should be yet.

This is how I'm thinking to start off this ability (but it seems very inefficient):

Ability - Effect-Instant -> Effect - Apply Behavior (a buff to mark that unit for a search by the barracks) -> Behavior - Buff -> Effect - Search Area (find nearest barracks) -> Effect - Issue Order (move to barracks) -> Effect - Apply Behavior (on the barracks) -> Behavior - Buff -> Effect - Search Area (periodically searching for the unit with the buff within a radius of 1) -> Effect - Modify Unit (hide unit) -> Effect - Set: Remove Behavior (the buff on the barracks) and Issue Order (train the new unit) -> somehow catch when the trained unit is complete to set off the event for the Set Unit Property trigger and destroy the old unit

and that's as far as I've gotten but I'm sure I'm doing it wrong.

Wasn't able to work on this yesterday but I spent several hours today on it (about to head to bed right now actually :P). I got the majority of what you wrote to work except for the validators (not including the first one). So when the ability is activated the search effect applies a buff on the barracks that tells the unit to move to it, when the unit reaches the barracks the buff gets removed, the barracks starts training and a new buff is applied to the original unit (the caster).

Quote from DrSuperEvil: Go

->buff (uses the no draw flag and a load more to make uncommandable and untargetable

I don't know where the "no draw" or the "load more" flags are. Or are these effects that the buff should be initiating?

Quote from DrSuperEvil: Go

is validated that the target of first apply behaviour of ability has unit queued using a Unit Order Queue validator)

I messed around with both the Unit Order and Unit Order Queue validators and I partially got it to work. It seems to recognize that the appropriate unit is being trained in the barracks but even though I have the validator in the "Behavior: Validators (Remove) +" field it never seems to be considered false except when I Lift Off the barracks, only then does it finally remove the buff.

And then lastly, I read the Wiki page on the Location Type validator, but I'm still pretty confused as to how I'm supposed to set up the last three validators you had mentioned, but I didn't even get around to testing them though.

If I only had half of your experience with the editor I could be flying through this project :P Thanks for all the help Doc.

Quote from DrSuperEvil: Go

Set the Validator - Ability to your Train type ability, the Validator - Ability Command to the slot of your unit, the Validator - Unit - Effect set to the first Apply Behavior effect of your ability and the Validator - Unit - Value set to target.

Yeah, this is exactly what I did except for the Validator - Unit - Effect set to the first behavior, but I added that now and I get the same results. It doesn't validate as true with Unit Order Queue and with Unit Order it doesn't produce a false even when the unit is canceled in the barracks.

Quote from DrSuperEvil: Go

The Location Point validator needs exta validators in the Validator - Point and Validator - Unit fields to specify the point or unit is the target unit of the ability.

I put a Unit Type validator with a value of "Barracks" in the Validator - Unit field and left the Validator - Point field with (none) since the location is a unit, correct? And then I put the Unit Order Queue (with the Move ability, and Unit Value set to Caster and Target Value set to Target Unit) and the Location Point validators in the Combine (with Type set to AND).

Now you said to stick this into all the effects after and including the first buff that gets applied, but isn't it this first buff that tells the unit to start moving to the barracks, so if I put the validator on the Buff or the Issue Order (move) effect, they're not going to validate as true because they haven't happened yet? I could create a duplicate Buff though that wasn't validated and could have a duration of 0.01 seconds and switch its Final - Effect to apply the original buff. Again my idea of a solution feels so sloppy :P but I tested it and it does work.

@DrSuperEvil: Go

So, but what about the Unit Order validator, any ideas how to make it produce a false when the training unit is canceled in the barracks to make the caster re-appear?

@DrSuperEvil: Go

OK, so actually a Unit Compare Order Count validator worked properly to check if a specific unit was being trained in the barracks. *Sigh* this editor... hehe. I'm going to go ahead and call this one solved as you helped me with everything I initially posted. Thanks again DrSuperEvil.

And for anyone that's curious, I also allowed the first buff that this ability applies to receive up to 5 stacks. This fixed a problem I had with multiple units attempting to use this ability. So now every unit that reaches the barracks will remove one stack of this buff, each one triggering the Final Effect, allowing five units to be properly queued up to train in the barracks.

My next task is to try and match up the queued unit with its appropriate caster. This way when I cancel the third unit queued in the barracks, only the third caster to reach the barracks will be revealed, instead of having to remove all units from the queue to then simultaneously reveal all the casters.