Empire Earth – Unit Editing

by Eggman

Q: Is it possible to give units minus range?

A: No. You can set things to “decrease by 9999”, but the game will round any potential negatives up to 0. Honestly though, I don’t see what you would be trying to achieve with -range.

Q: How do I enlarge units with the scenario editor?

A: This is done with an Object Effect, “UnitAttribute”. You will see “GraphicScale” in the list of attributes. When tweaking scale, I recommend working with percentages, since saying “Increase by 2” is not always going to double a unit in size.

Q: How do I edit the fundamental unit stats using triggers (or for that matter any unit stats at all)?

A: If you place a unit down on the map and select it, you will notice the unit display window appears in the lower left. These stats are in fact buttons you can left- and right- click on to modify the unit’s stats. Left click increases, right click decreases. Note that changing any unit’s attributes applies to all units of similar type, not just the one you have selected. The drawback to this method is that you cannot decrease an attribute lower than its default value.

You mentioned that you are trying to change the speed of airplanes to be slower. Here is an exact guide on how to do that:

  1. Enter the “Triggers” portion of the Editor.
  2. Click on the “Object” tab in the upper left.
  3. Click on the “New” button.
  4. Change the radio button to “Object Specification”. The default setting is “Select on Map”.
  5. Select the unit type you wish to modify in the “Class” drop down menu on the upper right.
  6. Click on the “Effect” tab in the upper left.
  7. Click on the “New” button.
  8. Select “ClassAttribute” in the “Action” drop-down menu.
  9. Select the Object you created in the “Object” drop-down menu.
  10. Select “MaxVelocity+” in the “Attribute” drop-down menu.
  11. Set the Increase/Decrease menu to “Decrease”.
  12. In the number edit box, enter in the amount by which you wish to reduce the unit’s speed. This must be a whole integer.
  13. Click the “Trigger” tab in the upper left.
  14. Click on the “New” button.
  15. In the drop-down menu for “Effect0”, select the Effect you just created.
  16. Hit the test button and produce the unit you just tried to modify- the speed should now be different. You mentioned having a Condition involving Stone or some such. Maybe, you have not gotten this to work because this Condition is not coming out TRUE when you expected it to.

You might notice that these steps are very similar to an answer for Mystic_Mage. “UnitAttribute” will apply to units on a unit-by-unit basis. “ClassAttribute” affects all units of that type, per player. So, you can give all the air units of player 1 a speed upgrade while player 2 uses the same planes with normal stats.

Q: Is it possible to change the gathering rates of villagers?

A: You cannot directly alter them, no. You could, though, use the ModifyTechTree Effect to give a player all of the gathering increase Techs for a resource, if you want it to go up.

Q: I can’t seem to find a destroy object effect.

A: Killing things with Triggers is an action, not a cause. Browse through the Effects and you will find “KillObject” and “RemoveObject”. The difference between the two is that Remove deletes the unit without it going through its death animation.

Q: I can’t seem to find a if unit is dead then effect condition.

A: IF -> Joe is dead THEN -> make it rain

You are then correct – there is no “Dead Object” Condition per se. What you need to do is this:

Make an Object where you select Joe on the map.

Make the Trigger detecting Joe’s death. In one of the Condition boxes, select “Joe Exists”.

Now place a check in the “NOT” box in front of “Joe Exists”. The Trigger will then go:

IF -> NOT (Joe Exists)
THEN -> GraphicEffect (Rain)

Q: I was wondering how to change it so a unit heals by itself.

A: There is no way to turn auto healing on or off for a unit. You would have to create a looping Trigger that increases a unit’s health by some value, like:

(loop)
IF -> NOT Hero (HasAttribute [HP min 100 max 100 %])
THEN -> UnitAttribute Hero (HP Increase 1%)

Etc.

The Container/Sec rates refer to the repair rate of planes in Airports.

Q: Am I correct that you cannot change the speed of a single unit but have to set maximum velocity on the whole class?

A: Yes, you are correct. This is “per-player”, though, so you can give one player faster Marines than another.

Q: How do you change a unit name?

A: This is an Object Effect, “ClassName”.

Q: How do you make units stay in a place, but shoot while not moving?

A: Use an Object Effect, “Stance” to set the stance of these units to “Stand Ground”. However, if these units belong to an Active CP, the CP could still take these units and use them as part of its own evil schemes. As a desperation move, you could always set the movement ability of these guys to 0, but then they won’t even be able to turn in place to shoot somebody behind them.

Q: How do you change unit speed?

A: Either:

  • Place the unit on the map, and click on the button displaying its current speed while you’re still at the unit placement screen, – or –
  • Use an Object Effect, “ClassAttribute” to give the unit an increase in MaxVelocity+. For more information on this, consult the Editor manual on the CD.

Q: Where can I find out more about ammunition and reloading?

A: Ammunition only applies to units that fire multiple times per attack. To my knowledge the only EE unit type that does this is Bombers. Each bomblet that a Bomber drops on a target is part of its ammunition.

Reload time is the time a unit must wait between attacks. Bombers will normally only have their attack capability reset after they return to an Airport.

Q: Do citizens always look the same? Are they running around in loincloths in the Nano age?

A: No. The appearance of Citizens changes throughout the Epochs.