An "Aura" is a passive ability that affects other entities within a certain radius of the entity with an aura. It usually changes the statistics of affected units.

Example:

        <Traits>
  		<Aura>
    Can convert a Female Citizen if she stays within a 5 tile radius for 10 seconds.
                         name="Capture Female Citizen"
                         affects="Female Citizen"
                         allegiance="Enemy"
                         radius="5"
                         time="10"
                         duration="permanent"
  		</Aura>
  		<Aura>
    Can capture any herdable animal if it stays within a 10 tile radius for 2 seconds.
                         name="Herd"
                         affects="Domestic Animal, Breeding Animal"
                         allegiance="Gaia, Enemy"
                         radius="10"
                         time="2"
                         duration="permanent"
  		</Aura>
    Can capture any enemy structure if it stays within a 2 tile radius for 5 seconds,
    as long as the structure has no more than 10% of its hitpoints.
  		<Aura>
                         name="Capture Structure"
                         affects="Structure"
                         allegiance="Enemy"
                         radius="2"
                         time="5"
                         hitpoints="10%"
                         duration="permanent"
  		</Aura>
    Adds +1 morale to any friendly Citizen Soldier that remains within range of its
    2-tile radius for more than 2 seconds.
  		<Aura>
                         name="Courage"
                         affects="Citizen Soldier"
                         allegiance="Player, Ally"
                         radius="2"
                         time="2"
                         duration="radius"
  		</Aura>
    -1 morale to any enemy Citizen Soldier that remains within range of its 2-tile
    radius for more than 2 seconds.
  		<Aura>
                         name="Fear"
                         affects="Citizen Soldier"
                         allegiance="Enemy"
                         radius="2"
                         time="2"
                         duration="radius"
  		</Aura>
  	</Traits>

By combining several aura attributes, a wide variety of effects can be applied.

Examples include Healer units increasing the hitpoints of friendly organic units nearby them, cavalry capturing a Female Citizen or herding an animal, Citizen Soldiers capturing a structure, elephants damaging nearby units by trampling, and standard bearers increasing the morale of nearby units (when morale is implemented in Part II).

The name was shamelessly lifted from Blizzard's games, so Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2 are good places to find examples of auras in effect.

This attribute specifies some surrounding constraints for when the Aura effect should be applied to a target. The actual effects are handled through an event script (see the Aura* onEvents for the possible conditions).

Some of the effects that are likely to be scripted are:

  • Capture: Capture changes the allegiance of the subject so that the subject falls under the player's control. (eg herding animals.)
  • Convert: Similar to Capture, but the subject is converted to the equivalent class for this civilisation (so a captured Celtic House might be replaced with a Roman House when converted by a Roman player). The Aura has no effect if the civilisation does not have a class equivalent (eg subject is a Special Structure).
  • Morale=(number): Modifies the subject's morale by the specified amount. (added in Part II)
  • Hitpoints=(number): Damages/heals the subject by adding/removing the specified number of his hitpoints.
  • GatherRate=(number, subtype): Modifies the Gather.SubType Gather.Speed of the subject by the specified amount.

Name

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: The name of the aura attached to the entity.

This should be localised.

Affects

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: The unit class(es) or unit group(s) affected by this aura.

Allegiance

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: The player group(s) affected by this aura. Examples include:

  • Enemy: Opponent entities.
  • Gaia: Nature-controlled entities (eg animals).
  • Player: Player-controlled entities.
  • Ally: Allied entities.
  • Self: The entity affects himself.

Radius

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: How close the subject must be (in tile radius) before it can be affected by the aura.

Time

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: Length of time (in seconds) that the subject must remain within Aura.Radius before the Aura Effect occurs.

Cooldown

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: The aura entity must always wait this number of seconds before it begins the timer to apply an Aura Effect.

Hitpoints

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: The subject's hitpoints must be damaged to this percentage or below before it can be affected by the aura.

Duration

BRIEF DESCRIPTION :: A string specifying how long the effects of the aura will remain upon on the subject once applied. Options are:

  • Radius: The effect remains as long as the subject remains within the Aura.Radius. Once the subject moves out of range, the effect is removed.
  • Permanent: The effect remains even when the subject leaves the Aura.Radius (for example, if the aura adds or removes hitpoints).
  • (number) The effect remains for a specified number of seconds, and then is removed. The subject will then have to meet the requirements for the aura effect before it can be applied again.

Notes: Capture

Capturing is defined of one player 'stealing' ownership of an entity from another player. The entities that are capturable in the game are domestic animals, female workers, and some structures (not walls, or towers, or special structures).

These are the neccesary conditions for capture:

  • Entity must be capable of performing capture
  • Enemy entity must be within specified capture range
  • Enemy entity must stay in capture range for a specified time
  • No enemy units have the enemy entity in their LOS

If those conditions are met, the allegiance changes.

These are adjustments that may be made to make the capture easier or harder:

  • Entity must have hitpoints below a specified percentage value
  • Capturer has a 'cooldown' before another capture may be performed
  • Capture time (long/short)
  • Capture radius (small/big)
  • May not be any entities garrisoned within the structure

These are the differences between the capture of the 3 main types of entities:

Animals

  • Instant capture time
  • Large capture radius
  • No capture if enemy already has ownership and is within one of their unit's LOS

Female Worker

  • Longer capture time
  • Medium capture radius
  • No capture if enemy already has ownership and is within one of their unit's LOS

Structures/Ships

  • Longest capture time
  • Small capture radius
  • No capture if enemy already has ownership and is within one of their unit's LOS
  • Cannot capture if garrisoned
  • Cannot capture if hitpoints are not reduced to a specified percentage

NOTE: Capturing a gaia or enemy domestic animal changes the ownership so that the beast can be brought back to the base for slaughter or corral. These animals may wander on the map; it would be wise to capture to contribute to your food supply.

NOTE: Captured Female Workers are not affected by the player's population cap. Therefore, through capturing Female Workers, the player's Population Limit can exceed its maximum.

NOTE: Capturing an enemy structure changes the ownership of a structure from the previous owner to the new owner. It does not allow the player to research another civilisation's technologies or train units that are unavailable to the player's civilisation. However the visual structure remains the same.

Last modified 16 years ago Last modified on Feb 23, 2008, 4:18:58 AM
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