Thanks a lot for the advice! I'll try that implementation now.
Currently, I have the beams firing at an empty Damage Effect Set'ted to fire alongside the periodic Search Area calls. I get the beams, but no impacts on empty ground (not the end of the world, but suboptimal). Making the beams travel all the way out to the ability's max range likely just requires a simple Site Operation on the Site Actor.
It's likely a problem I'm missing with my implementation, but it seems like Generic Attack Actors won't fire any of their Assets from a Persistant Effect. Not model animations, not sounds. That can't be right.
Hypothesis: the beam's attack actor, ImpalerAttack, requires a target unit for not only impact effects, but the firing of the beam itself. It seems to select a single unit in the search area for beams to fire to, for shield impacts, weapon impacts, etc, even though more than one unit in a group are taking damage.
I think that adding a hit reaction actor that handles impact effects for each unit damage by ImpalerDamage would yield the proper impact behavior, but if the beam is stopping at an earlier unit because the ImpalerAttack actor is tied to the Impaler (Search) effect, I'll still get no beam for misses. The beam should be traveling out to the full range of the weapon. The only difference cursor position makes is the amount of spread from firing (2 units of spread directly in front of the unit is a lot bigger spread than 2 units downrange).
Time to redesign the effects. And the actors. Crap.
I have a unit ability that uses random offsets to fire multiple 5º arc search areas and damage and stun their contents. Basically a crude simulation of a 5-round burst from a C-14. Ghost Snipe Beams for tracers. It has trouble hitting targets at pointblank range, but so far so good.
The problem is that the ability targets as an AoE, and if it doesn't hit anything, there're no VFX. No Snipe Beams, no muzzle flash. It's still decrementing ammo and playing the marine firing animation, though.
Specifics (Only non-default / green values are mentioned):
Effects
BurstFire (Search) - Included purely to get a cursor splat, not linked to the rest of the effects.
BurstFire (Execute) - Fires the Impaler (Search) effect 5 times in rapid succession, with a random offset spread of about 2 units in each direction. Target Location entries are all set to Target Point
Impaler (Search) - Search area is a 5º arc that applies to 5 targets within 6 units the Impaler (Set) effect. It excludes the Caster, and both the Target Impact and Target Launch locations are BurstFire (Execute)'s Source Unit / Point. The Target Marker is Impaler (Set).
Impaler (Set) - Applies both Impaler (Damage) and Apply Hitstun to the target.
Impaler (Damage) - Inflicts 4 Ranged damage with standard AI flags and target exclusions.
Apply Hitstun - Applies the Hitstun behavior.
Behavior
Hitstun - Stuns targets for 2 seconds.
Ability
Burst Fire - 360º Arc Slop. BurstFire (Search) as cursor and BurstFire (Execute) as effect. Allow Movement and Best Unit flags. (Dunno what Best Unit does, I think it's a default).
Model
ImpalerBeam - Uses the GhostSnipeBeam model.
Actors (Likely the trouble spot)
BurstFireCursorSplat - AoE cursor.
BurstFireAttack - A Generic Attack Action. Launch Assets are Marine Attack Launch (appropriate sound and animation). Only Event is Effect.BurstFireExecute.Start Create. Note that something is wrong with this actor. None of its VFX fire. Muzzle flash is in ImpalerAttack as a workaround.
BurstFireRange - Just a range indicator actor.
ImpalerBeam - A Beam (Simple) with 2 events: An Actor Creation that plays Beam1's Birth animation and an AnimDone that destroys Beam1.
ImpalerAttack - Another Generic Attack Action. Beam is ImpalerBeam. Launch Assets contain all the same elements as the BurstFireAttack. Impact Map has all the appropriate elements. The only event is Effect.ImpalerSearch.Start Create. Since this actor reacts to the ImpalerSearch effect being called, this could be why only one target caught in enfilading fire gets shield hits and impact reactions. The beams should still be generating, though, in cases where nothing is targeted.
I've been stymied on this ability for quite some time. A big thanks to ProzaicMuse for his excellent Actor and Beam tutorials. I wouldn't be stuck this far along the process without him! Thanks for looking at my problem. I need all the help I can get!
Thanks a lot for the advice! I'll try that implementation now.
Currently, I have the beams firing at an empty Damage Effect Set'ted to fire alongside the periodic Search Area calls. I get the beams, but no impacts on empty ground (not the end of the world, but suboptimal). Making the beams travel all the way out to the ability's max range likely just requires a simple Site Operation on the Site Actor.
It's likely a problem I'm missing with my implementation, but it seems like Generic Attack Actors won't fire any of their Assets from a Persistant Effect. Not model animations, not sounds. That can't be right.
Hypothesis: the beam's attack actor, ImpalerAttack, requires a target unit for not only impact effects, but the firing of the beam itself. It seems to select a single unit in the search area for beams to fire to, for shield impacts, weapon impacts, etc, even though more than one unit in a group are taking damage.
I think that adding a hit reaction actor that handles impact effects for each unit damage by ImpalerDamage would yield the proper impact behavior, but if the beam is stopping at an earlier unit because the ImpalerAttack actor is tied to the Impaler (Search) effect, I'll still get no beam for misses. The beam should be traveling out to the full range of the weapon. The only difference cursor position makes is the amount of spread from firing (2 units of spread directly in front of the unit is a lot bigger spread than 2 units downrange).
Time to redesign the effects. And the actors. Crap.
I have a unit ability that uses random offsets to fire multiple 5º arc search areas and damage and stun their contents. Basically a crude simulation of a 5-round burst from a C-14. Ghost Snipe Beams for tracers. It has trouble hitting targets at pointblank range, but so far so good.
The problem is that the ability targets as an AoE, and if it doesn't hit anything, there're no VFX. No Snipe Beams, no muzzle flash. It's still decrementing ammo and playing the marine firing animation, though.
Specifics (Only non-default / green values are mentioned):
I've been stymied on this ability for quite some time. A big thanks to ProzaicMuse for his excellent Actor and Beam tutorials. I wouldn't be stuck this far along the process without him! Thanks for looking at my problem. I need all the help I can get!