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Powerups

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Revision as of 13:35, 8 January 2020 by TAK02 (talk | contribs) (corrections to crate IDs, among other things. Does no-one dbl-chk anything nowadays?)
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This page should correctly be named "[Powerups]"; it is wrong due to technical restrictions.


This section of rules(md).ini controls the content of crates, i.e. which bonuses they can provide, which amount of them, and what animation to play when triggered. For general crate rules, like their frequency of appearence, see [CrateRules].

Flags in Powerups are listed as Cratename=X,Y,Z,S, where

  • Cratename is the name of the powerup (hardcoded)
  • X is the chance1 that this powerup will be triggered
  • Y is the name of the animation to play (or <none>)
  • Z defines whether the crate is available on water - if you set this to "yes" on the wrong crates, you risk Internal Errors; an example of this is the unit-crate, where you will get an IE if the crate tries to generate naval units on land or land units on water.
  • S is a special parameter, different from crate to crate.

The CrateType column gives you the number you need to use for FA2 to spawn the crate in RA2 and YR via trigger action 108. It is not a number you'll find anywhere in the rules. If this is empty for a boon, then that crate doesn't exist in RA2 or YR.

Example

Armor=10,ARMOR,yes,1.5
Armor crates appear with a chance of 10/1101, play ARMOR as an animation when triggered, do appear on water, and multiply your unit's Strength by 1.5 when it picks up the crate; the crate's number is 9.

Explanation of [Powerups] flags, default YR values, availability
CrateType Flag name Chance1 Animation Water? Special Parameter Flag explanation Works in game(s)
9 Armor 10 ARMOR yes 1.5 Multiplier to unit Strength, controlled by Special Parameter
In TS, this is a multiplier to incoming Damage instead. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up an Armor crate.
RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
11 Firepower 10 FIREPOWR yes 2.0 Multiplier to weapon Damage, controlled by Special Parameter. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up a Firepower crate. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
2 HealBase 10 HEALALL yes Heal everything to full health RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
0 OR 6 (one is forced) Money 20 MONEY yes 2000 Gives you the amount of Credits specified in Special Parameter. Note the exact amount always varies, apparently between +-$9002. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
8 Reveal 10 REVEAL yes Reveals entire map (sans Gap Generators, of course). In Tiberian Sun, gaining a second Reveal will cause an opposite effect, shrouding the entire map (same as the Darkness powerup) RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
10 Speed 10 SPEED yes 1.2 Multiplier to unit Speed, controlled by Special Parameter. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up a Speed crate. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
14 Veteran 20 VETERAN yes 1 Instant promotion by the number of levels set in Special Parameter. Uses the Money pwoerup if the receiving unit has already reached promotion. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
1 Unit 20 <none> no Gives you one free VehicleType not marked CrateGoodie=no RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
13 Invulnerability 0 ARMOR yes 1.0 Renders your unit invulnerable for the number of minutes set by Special Parameter. In Tiberian Sun, has no effect. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup, but can be forced to spawn using trigger action 108. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
15 IonStorm 0 <none> yes Was intended to generate a random Ion Storm, but has no effect. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup, but can be forced to spawn using trigger action 108. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
16 Gas 0 <none> yes 100 Releases a cloud of gas, damage controlled by Special Parameter. Check [Gas] and fix [GasCloudSys] before using this. In TS/FS, the gas is green, hinting that it is the same Tiberium gas released by Nod's chemical missile. In RA2/YR, the Weather Storm's clouds are used, discolored due to the game using the incorrect palette. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
17 Tiberium 0 <none> no Creates a small patch of ore or Tiberium, depending on the game. Picks a random "maturity" of Tiberium/Ore patch as well as the amount. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
18 Pod 0 <none> no Would have given you the Drop Pod Special in TS, but that feature was scrapped. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup, but can be forced to spawn using trigger action 108. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
3 Cloak 0 CLOAK yes Gives everything within the CrateRadius the effect of Cloakable=yes RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
7 Darkness 0 SHROUDX yes Shrouds the entire map, even if you have a SpySat Uplink. You need to collect a Reveal crate or sell each Building with SpySat=yes first before building another one to re-gain full map view. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
4 Explosion3 0 <none> yes 500 Creates an explosion using the warhead defined in C4Warhead, damage controlled by Special Parameter. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
12 ICBM 0 CHEMISLE yes Gives you a free shot with the first super weapon in the SuperWeaponTypes list to have Action=Nuke.

Note this crate does nothing when a building with the Nuke Special has already been built by whoever collected it. However, if an ICBM crate was collected, and then a Nuke Silo built before firing, the nuke comes out as fully charged for its first shot.

RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
5 Napalm3 0 <none> no 600 Creates an explosion using the warhead defined in FlameDamage, damage controlled by Special Parameter. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
6 (most likely)

or 0

Squad 0 <none> no Spawns a squad of InfantryTypes. In Red Alert 2, it is forced to the action of the Money powerup, and there's no way to even play the animation, if specified. RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
ParaBomb 3 (RA) PARABOX Gives you one (1) loaded ParaBomb Superweapon RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Sonar 3 (RA) SONARBOX Gives you one (1) loaded Sonar Pulse Superweapon RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
TimeQuake 3 (RA) TQUAKE Creates a Time Quake RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Works fine                 

Can be triggered, but logic doesn't work                 

Not available                 

1Note: Due to Westwood's...err..."interesting" style of coding, the chances are not percentage values, but rather shares of the sum of all default shares, meaning:

  • In RA2/YR, the chance is x/110
  • In TS/FS, the chance is x/441
  • In RA, the chance is x/146

where x is, in all cases, the chance-parameter.

2"Money [crates] do not only award the amounts set in the rules, but also vary the amount randomly by 900 credits." - Ares DLL Documentation on Crate Settings

3The Napalm and Explosion crates appear to only damage (or kill) one infantry of a squad: the infantry that was registered as the receiver. It needs to be tested if the same goes for the Gas crate.

Trivia

Calculating from the shares-system, our example, the Armor-crate, has a chance of

  • 9.09% (10/110) to appear in RA2/YR, while 1% equals 1.1 shares.
  • 7.48% (33/441) to appear in TS/FS, while 1% equals 4.41 shares.
  • 6.85% (10/146) to appear in RA, while 1% equals 1.46 shares.


Obsolete Powerups in RA2/YR

Several Powerups do not work the way they were coded anymore. They are, however, not useless. Even though they do not create a specific, special effect when you pick them up, they do play the specified animation. And animations can have Damage, can spawn Particles and even neutral infantry. Whatever you can do with an animation can be called by a crate. Several mods use this to have a crate spawning neutral Brutes, for example.

The only CrateTypes that can be used for this are the IonStorm, Pod and Invulnerability crates, as only these play their set animations. The others either don't exist in RA2/YR or (in the case of Squad) are forced to use another action.


See also