[AAG]

And is it possible to create different kinds of crates? (I mean they would have different images)

[Kravvitz]

Water crates are hard-coded to use wcrate.xxx and land crates use crate.xxx, xxx being tem, sno, urb, ubn, lun. They use the isoxxx.pal palettes.

[Whiteboy]

Well i still think it should be able to fly - remember the goal - to add the ability to "give" money to yuor allies. Since there are no buttons on the interface for doing this (unlike Age of Empires for example), we must devise another way that is as fast and conveniant as possible. The flying thing would help this, as would the invincibility idea I said, to further ensure an unfailing transfer of funds between players. The vehicle could of course have a chrono locomotor instead.

As for the wierdness in deploying... well that really depends on what the unit looks like, what the structure looks like, and the deploying animation. I'm sure it would look just fine if done right... the vehicle would look like it is packaging itself into acrate-like structure. This structure could have the actual crate image as it's base, but have metal bars or extra wooden beams around it. Hence, when the structure is destroyed, it would look like these bars/beams simply disappear, making the crate collectable. Or even better, give this stucture a death animation that looks like the bars/beams are falling off the crate image - you know, just toppling over so that when they are all off, they are lying on the ground around the crate in a star formation. This would require some decent SHP editing skills though...

I hope you (as in all who read this post) know what I mean by all of this. I think it would look very good and seamless if done properly.

And considering the FreeUnit= thing, well if you made the structure give out another Aid Chopper/Aid truck/whatever, you could cheat and have infinite cash by deploying as many as you want. Which is a bad thing (unless you like to cheat). So I don't think the structure should give out the vehicle that deploys into said structure. I can't think of any reason why you would want it to give a free APC... or any other vehicle for that matter.

Hey, the unit could also be different for eash side - the Allied one could chrono, the Soviet one could be subterannean, and the Yuri one could fly. As long as all three travel quickly and seamlessly, I think this unit could provide an excellent substitute for a non-existant "Give money to your allies" button

[Rulke]

Originally Posted by Whiteboy

And considering the FreeUnit= thing, well if you made the structure give out another Aid Chopper/Aid truck/whatever, you could cheat and have infinite cash by deploying as many as you want. Which is a bad thing (unless you like to cheat). So I don't think the structure should give out the vehicle that deploys into said structure. I can't think of any reason why you would want it to give a free APC... or any other vehicle for that matter.

I thought that the chopper or truck or whatever would be carrying a crate for your allies. Therefore, after it has unloaded the crate it would have some storage space ready, so it could be used as a transport. Considering that this thing is suppost to be invincible, it would likely have a lot of armor, so having it deploy into a shielded crate might not look too good, as someone would probably wonder where the armor went.

Also, It could be useful for the player concerned if he could have one expensive but heavily sheilded unit that would drop many crates, as it would not be greatly helpful for someone in desperate need of cash if they only got a few thousand, considering they need to rebuild an offensive/defensive/cash gathering force, and it is not useful for the giver to have to build lots of units to give them enough cash.

I was thinking that it could be one heavily armored chopper that would drop crates totalling 10000 credits, and costs 12000 credits, but could then be used a a heavily armored but un armed flying transport, possibly with a buildable empty version, to give an alternative transport. I for one would like to be able to build an airbourne transport as the soviets, and if it could also aid my allies, so much the better.

[Kravvitz]

Rulke, you don't seem to understand the way crates work in RA2/YR.

A vehicle can only leave a crate through map triggers.

If we make a vehicle deploy into a building, then the building can be destroyed, leaving behind a crate.

You seem to think that crates can take up space in a transport like infantry and tanks do, this is simply not the case.

[AAG]

I think there is another way: Crates are overlays, so they can be spawned like tiberium by vehicle's weapon.

[Kravvitz]

Assuming that works, can you make it be a cash cate though or would it just be a random crate?

[AAG]

I think it will be random crate

[Whiteboy]

As if anyone here knows the answer to that... it would have to be tested. But I don't know... isn't the default crate always money (old coding from Tiberin Dawn and Red Alert)?

Thanks Karvvitz (Krav?) for answering Rulke, saves me some typing, heh.

Anyway I tihnk I'll soon make this Aid Chopper/Aid vehicle. I'm certain it's a good idea. Much along the same lines as the "base expansion node" that Cannis thought up.

[AAG]

Ready!

Art:

[CRATECREATING]
Elasticity=0.0
MinZVel=1.0
MaxXYVel=1.0
Warhead=CrateCreatorWH
ExpireAnim=none
Loopstart=0
LoopEnd=8
LoopCount=-1
Rate=500
RandomRate=220,500
Bouncer=yes
Damage=1
DamageRadius=1 ; if you put more then 1 you'll have more then one crates
IsTiberium=true
TiberiumRadius=1 ;about this I will later
TiberiumSpawnType=CRATE2

Rules:

[Animations]
XX=CRATECREATING

[Warheads]
XX=CrateCreatorWH

[OverlayTypes]
XX=CRATE1
XX=CRATE2
XX=CRATE3
XX=CRATE4
XX=CRATE5
XX=CRATE6
XX=CRATE7 ; if less there will be an error

;Weapon
[CrateCreator]
Damage=1 ;0 
ROF=75 
Range=5;0 
Projectile=Invisible
Speed=100 
Warhead=CrateCreatorWH 
Report=CrazyIvanAttack 

[CrateCreatorWH]
AnimList=CRATECREATING
Verses=0%,0%,0%,0%,0%,0%,0%,0%,0%,0%,0% 
CellSpread=3 
ProneDamage=0% 
InfDeath=1

;Crates
[CRATE1]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes 
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

[CRATE2]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

[CRATE3]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

[CRATE4]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

[CRATE5]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

[CRATE6]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

[CRATE7]
Image=CRATE
Name=Goodie Crate
RadarColor=92,92,92
Crate=yes
;CrateTrigger=yes
RadarInvisible=yes
Land=Clear
DrawFlat=false

I have only one problem: how to regulate money in crates and how to remove them ?

About TiberiumRadius=1 Try to give TiberiumSpawnType=GEM12; Some times you'll have GEM12, Some times TRACKS01, some times TRACKS02 and etc.
More TiberiumRadius - more options in OverlayTypes to select randomly. This is why I put seven crates to the list