GAE/Skill XML

Common Skill Elements

type

This tells the engine what sort of skill this is, and must by one of 'stop', 'move', 'attack', 'build', 'harvest', 'repair', 'be_built', 'produce', 'upgrade', 'morph', 'load', 'unload' or 'die'

<type value="stop"/>

name

This is a name you give to identify the skill, and is used in command XML elements to identify the skills the command uses.

<name value="idle_skill"/>

ep-cost

How many energy points used for each use of skill

<ep-cost value="0" />

speed

This important parameter controls how fast each skill cycle is executed, the effect of this parameter is discussed separately for each skill type.

<speed value="50" />

anim-speed

This value controls the animation speed of the model.

<anim-speed value="200" />

animation

Identifies the G3D file to use for the unit while this skill is being executed.

<animation path="path/to/g3d/file" />

sound

Control if the skill has a sound, and if so an offset into the skill cycle to begin playing it.

<sound enabled="true" start-time="0.3">
   <sound-file path="path/to/sound/file"/>
</sound>

effects

A container for a set of effects that are applied to this unit while it is executing this skill. See Effects.

particles

A container for a set of particle systems that are started when this skill is executed. See <insert link here>.

Skills By Type

be-built

If any other unit in a faction has a build command that can build this unit, then this unit must provide a be-built skill. The skill speed of the be-built skill is largely irrelevant.

<skill>
  <type value="be_built"/>
  <name value="be_built_skill"/>
  <ep-cost value="0" />
  <speed value="50" />
  <anim-speed value="300" />
  <animation path="path/to/g3d/file" />
  <sound enabled="false"/>
</skill>

die

Specific Elements:

<fade value="true" />

All units without exception must have a die skill. No commands reference the die skill, it is set when the unit is killed, and plays exactly one cycle, if the fade parameter is false the unit then completely disappears, if fade is true the animation will 'stick' at end, and after a while the corpse will fade and sink into the ground.

<skill>
   <type value="die"/>
   <name value="die_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="300"/>
   <anim-speed value="300"/>
   <animation path="path/to/animation.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0">
      <sound-file path="path/to/sound.wav"/>
   </sound>
   <fade value="false"/>
</skill>

stop

A stop skill is an idle (do nothing) skill, all units must have at least one stop skill. The speed of a stop skill effectively defines a 'reaction time', if a unit is idling and has a very low stop skill speed, it may noticeably lag in reacting to new orders. Conversely, an excessively high stop skill speed stresses the engine (faster cycle leads to more command updates). A suggested range for 'troops' would be 200-300 (command updates every 1/2 - 1/3 of a second).

There are at least two situations in which you may wish to deliberately specify a slow stop skill speed, the harvest command uses two stop skills, the second of which, stop-loaded, is played (for one cycle only) when the unit has finished loading a resource, before it goes back to the store. In this case, the speed effectively controls how long the unit will wait, and will be largely dictated by the anim-speed.

The other case is the patrol command, where a stop skill with a low speed might be used to have the unit pause slightly at either end of the patrol route.

<skill>
   <type value="stop"/>
   <name value="stop_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0" />
   <speed value="300" />
   <anim-speed value="300" />
   <animation path="path/to/model.g3d" />
   <sound enabled="false"/>
</skill>

move

Move skills are fairly straight forward, the skill speed controls the speed the unit moves at.

<skill>
   <type value="move"/>
   <name value="move_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="250"/>
   <anim-speed value="100"/>
   <animation path="path/to/model.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="false"/>
</skill>

harvest

Harvest skills are required to collect resources, the skill speed controls the rate at which the resources are collected, but this is controlled in conjunction with parameters of the command that uses it, see the <insert link here> Harvest command for more details.

<skill>
   <type value="harvest"/>
   <name value="harvest_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="200"/>
   <anim-speed value="80"/>
   <animation path="models/harvesting.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0">
      <sound-file path="sounds/file1.wav"/>
      <sound-file path="sounds/file2.wav"/>
   </sound>
</skill>

build

Build skills are used to build other units, the skill speed is used to control the rate at which hp are added to the unit being built. Each skill cycle will add (max_hp / time)[from the built unit's parameters] hp to the unit under construction.

<skill>
   <type value="build"/>
   <name value="build_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="150"/>
   <anim-speed value="80"/>
   <animation path="path/to/model.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0">
      <sound-file path="sounds/buildsound1.wav"/>
      <sound-file path="sounds/buildsound2.wav"/>
      <sound-file path="sounds/buildsound3.wav"/>
   </sound>
</skill>

repair

Specific Elements: [all optional]

<max-range value="2" />       <!-- default value: 1 -->
<amount value="20" />         <!-- default value: the same formulae as used in build (see above) -->
<multiplier value="1.5" />    <!-- default value:  1.0 -->
<pet-only value="false" />    <!-- default value: false -->
<self-allowed value="true" /> <!-- default value: true -->
<self-only value="false" />   <!-- default value: false -->

Repair skills are used to restore hp to other units, similar to the build command, but with more options to override the default amount of hp to restore each skill cycle. If amount is not specified the same formulae as is used in the build skill is taken as the base value, which can then be modified by the multiplier.

If pet-only is true, the skill can only be used to heal pets of this unit. likewise, if self-only is true it can only be used to self-heal, setting both is an error. Setting self-allowed to false and self-only to true is also erroneous.

<skill>
   <type value="repair"/>
   <name value="repair_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="150"/>
   <anim-speed value="60"/>
   <animation path="path/to/model.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0">
      <sound-file path="sounds/repairsound.wav"/>
   </sound>
   <multiplier value="1.2" />
   <self-allowed="false" />
</skill>

produce

Specific Elements: [optional]

<pet value="true" max="3" />  <-- default: false & 0 -->

The produce skill is used to create new units (and also by the generate command for non-unit producibles). Each complete skill cycle adds one 'production point' the the current command, when the number a production points accumulated reaches the produced units time parameter the production is complete.

The pet node can be used to specify that units produced by this skill are pets of the producing unit, and special rules apply to them. The max attribute is used to then limit how many pets the owner unit can have. Note: This element is going to be moved to the Produce command in the near future.

<skill>
   <type value="produce"/>
   <name value="produce_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="150"/>
   <anim-speed value="80"/>
   <animation path="models/producing.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="false" />
</skill>

upgrade

The upgrade skill is essentially the same as the produce skill, except that it produces upgrades rather than units. The same 'production point' system is applied.

<skill>
   <type value="upgrade" />
   <name value="upgrade_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0" />
   <speed value="300" />
   <anim-speed value="300" />
   <animation path="models/upgrading_anim.g3d" />
   <sound enabled="false" />
</skill>

morph

Again, the morph skill is similar to produce, the production point system is used, one added per skill cycle, until the morphed-to unit's time parameter is reached, at which point the morph completes.

<skill>
   <type value="morph"/>
   <name value="morph_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="180"/>
   <anim-speed value="75"/>
   <animation path="models/morphing.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="false"/>
</skill>

load

Specific Elements:

<max-range value="3" />

The load skill is used to house other units. Only one unit can be loaded in each skill cycle, so the skill speed controls how fast units can be loaded. The max-range value controls how close the units must be before they can be loaded.

<skill>
   <type value="load"/>
   <name value="load_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="120"/>
   <anim-speed value="120"/>
   <animation path="models/transport_loading.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0">
     <sound-file path="sounds/transport_load.wav"/>
   </sound>
   <max-range value="3"/>
</skill>

unload

Specific Elements:

<max-range value="3" />

The unload skill takes housed units and puts them back in the real world, as with load, only one unit can be unloaded per cycle, so the speed controls the rate at which units can be released.

<skill>
   <type value="unload"/>
   <name value="unload_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="120"/>
   <anim-speed value="120"/>
   <animation path="models/transport_unloading.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0">
     <sound-file path="sounds/transport_unload.wav"/>
   </sound>
   <max-range value="2"/>
</skill>

attack

Specific Elements:

<attack-strength value="140"/> <!-- attack strength, base value for damage done -->
<attack-var value="40"/>       <!-- attack of unit = attack-strenght +- attack-var -->
<attack-range value="7"/>      <!-- attack range -->
<attack-type value="energy"/>  <!-- type of attack, one of the values from the tech XML -->
<attack-fields>                <!-- should really be attack-zones -->
   <field value="land"/>       <!-- interpreted as 'surface', can target any surface units -->
   <field value="air"/>        <!-- can target any aerial units -->
</attack-fields>
<attack-start-time value="0.6"/> <!-- offset into the skill cycle the attack is applied (or projectile launched) -->
<projectile value="true">        <!-- parameters for projectile attacks -->
   <particle value="true" path="particle_proj.xml"> <!-- path to XML file -->
   <sound enabled="true">
      <sound-file path="sounds/attack.wav"/>
   </sound>
</projectile>
<splash value="true">            <!-- parameters for splash attacks -->
   <particle value="true" path="particle_splash.xml"/>  <!-- path to XML file -->
   <radius value="3"/>           <!-- the radius of the splash -->
   <damage-all value="true"/>    <!-- *does not currently work* whether the splash damages 'all' or only 'enemy' units -->
</splash>

Attack skills deal damage to enemies. The formulae used to calculate the damage dealt in each attack is (attack-strength +/- attack-var - target.armor) * damage-multiplier. Where damage-multiplier is the appropriate value for this attack-type and the targets armor-type. For splash attacks the base value (attack-strength +/- attack-var) is first divided by (distance + 1), effectively scaling the value down more the further the target is from the centre of the splash.

The attack-fields describes what units can be targeted by this attack, these are no longer fields but zones, of which there are two, surface and air, all fields other than air map to the surface zone, and 'land' specified here means 'surface' to the engine.

<skill>
   <type value="attack"/>
   <name value="attack_skill"/>
   <ep-cost value="0"/>
   <speed value="60"/>
   <anim-speed value="60"/>
   <animation path="models/attacking.g3d"/>
   <sound enabled="true" start-time="0.2">
      <sound-file path="sounds/attack1.wav"/>
      <sound-file path="sounds/attack2.wav"/>
   </sound>
   <attack-strength value="150"/>
   <attack-var value="25"/>
   <attack-range value="8"/>
   <attack-type value="piercing"/>
   <attack-fields>
      <field value="land"/>
   </attack-fields>
   <attack-start-time value="0.6"/>
   <projectile value="false" />
   <splash value="false" />
</skill>