Reinforcements

[Killzone]

I am trying to make a script that automatically calls for reinforcements when the group drops below a certain number.  What is the condition I use for this?

Thanks ;D

[THobson]

Try:

("alive _x" count units thenameofyourgroup) <= n

[johnnyboy]

I tried this in a trigger condition:

("alive _x" count units thenameofyourgroup) <= n

But it only works if you don't kill the original leader of the group.  Once the leader of the group is killed, he is unassigned fromt he group, and the count goes to zero.

So I wrote and tested this script.  It works.

; count_members.sqs
; By: JohnnyBoy
; To call, put this line in leader unit's init:
; [this,5] exec "count_members.sqs"

_grp = units (_this select 0)
_reduced_count = _this select 1

TitleText ["in count_members.sqs","Plain Down"]
#loop

; count the members in the group that meet the "alive" condition
? ("alive _x" count _grp) <= 5 : goto "do_something"
; wait 2 seconds, and try again
~2
goto "loop"

#do_something
; put whatever code here you want to happen when squad size reduced below desired number
hint format ["Alive member count now =%1","alive _x" count _grp]

exit


Since you capture entire array of units before anyone is killed, it doesn't matter when leader gets killed.  Hope this helps you.

[Killzone]

Thanks for the quick response people. I will give it a try

[johnnyboy]

I just spotted a problem in my script.  I meant not to hardcode the 5 in the if condition.  Replace the hardcoded 5 with the input parameter variable _reduced_count, then you can pass in whatever your reduced member count threshold is...

[THobson]

I believe it does work if you name the group and don't just refer to the leader of the group.  In other words if you use

groupname = group this

in the init field of any member of the group and then you do a

("alive _x" count units thenameofyourgroup) <= n

I have never known it not to work

[johnnyboy]

You are probably right.  Where I couldn't get it to work was directly as a condition in a trigger.  In the trigger condition, you can't pre-capture the group name in a variable, so for me anyway, the count always went to zero when the leader was killed...  I tried "count units grp_name", "count units group grp_name" and "count units group leader grp_name" in the trigger, and all behaved the same way for me (i.e., returned zero when leader killed).

It would be cleaner to do this as a trigger condition only (less hassle than a script), so if there is a way, I'd like to know!

[THobson]

Put the following in the init field of your group leader:

alphagrp = group this

and put this in the condition field of your trigger:

("alive _x" count units alphagrp) <= 5

You seem to prefer triggers.  Triggers with conditions like this are checked multiple times a second.  If you put the code in a script you can control how often the condition is checked and so help reduce lag in the mission.

[johnnyboy]

Thanks dude.  Your suggestion worked.  By naming the group in the leader's init, the trigger condition no longer has the problem when the leader is killed.

Also, point taken on triggers vs. scripts.   The script gives you more control, and I'm guessing consumes less CPU if looping every few seconds.

[Killzone]

Thanks for all the help I learned a little bit more about scripting.

I was using the code: ? count units GroupA <5

But it would not work if the Group leader was killed. It was frustrating but that has been put to rest.  Thanks ;D

[THobson]

Take care with count units.  

It can take many seconds - even minutes for the count instruction to register that someone has been killed.  It the squad has been wiped out it can be a very long time before count units returns zero.  That is why if you want to know exactly how many units there are (not how many the leader thinks there are) you need the bit about "alive _x"

[Tyger]

yeah, I've had that count unit prolem too, and the "alive _x" is a life saver.

and just for the record, i've had a count unit trigger that took 24 minutes to execute
don't ask, its kinda long

[Sui]

The count command depends on the knowledge of the leader of the group.

You know all the "Oh no, 3 is down" messages you get?
Notice how sometimes it can take a while for those to come through?
The leader's knowledge of the members of his group relies on those.

This is the reason that count can take a while.
When the whole group dies, (so the leader is dead too) it can take an incredibly long time to register...

Another alternative to "alive _x" is the countside command. This doesn't count dead units either

[Tyger]

howd u use that?

player countEnemy thislist?

[Sui]

You use the side... eg

? west countside (units alpha) > 0: (leader alpha) sidechat "Alpha squad, still alive"

That does exactly the same thing as:

? "alive _x" count (units alpha) > 0: (leader alpha) sidechat "Alpha squad, still alive"

So it's really up to your personal preference which one to use