Now, you need a location over each individual unit, so that you can tell the difference between each unit. In order to constantly update the locations over these units, you need to use burrowed units, under every battle active unit, to use to cycle through and center locations, every trigger cycle.
Why? this seems extremely unnecessary.
You have yet to answer this.
Perhaps I've been in the business too long (read: thought about it as much), but unless a concept is brought to the table that changes the way the basic elements of vHP are done, I can't see it as 'new'
Virtual Health Points at its most basic level is just keeping the health of a unit stored somewhere other than it's physical health (almost invariably in a deathcounter, and why not? it allows the most freedom). Every vHP system must provide a solution to specific problems.
1. How is damage taken and tallied?
2. How is virtual health delineated to the appropriate unit (aka tracking)?The solution to the first is about control. The methods are never very different:
1.
Each instance of damage taken is shown/limited/done in the killing of a unit (whether it be the actual unit dying and being replaced, a zergling to kill beneath, or an observer above to kill). - The detriment is the level of identification that can be drawn from kill methods, namely, the best that can really be done is the damage done can be attributed to the player that did it, rather than a specific unit. The real dilemma is what you make that player mean (IE a unique hero, an enemy unit type, an level of unit difficulty)
2.
Damage is manifest in the detecting the effects of a unit spell (IE EMP, Plague, Lockdown, Psi storm, Ensnare, Dark swarm, Disruption web etc)
- The problem with this methods is that none of them can be attributed to a player. The best that can be known about spell detection is where it is/happened spatially and when it was/is within time. Of course, we can use either of these to ascribe it to a specific player or unit by making it so that only a specific player or unit could've produced the spell within a certain geometric area or within a specific time. However, separating the playing field for each player or unit can ruin the gameplay and forcing the units or players to take turns (to delineate through time) can be even less desirable. Elementa is an excellent example of a map that used spatial separation to attribute the spell to the appropriate player. While normally this physical separation wouldn't make for great gameplay- near perfect mirrored simulation combining the players' physical realms closed the gap.
3.
Ultimate handling, where all damage done is in triggers and trigger prompted events (even if prompted by player events) - For instance, in my Time Down arena map, the only method of damaging a player was through spells which decided which players' unit was in the location and did the appropriate amount of damaging. This is the method you propose in your description. The problem with this method is that you completely sacrifice normal Starcraft fight mechanics. Sometimes this isn't a problem, since normal fight mechanics were never the goal. Every system that uses this must chose how these events play out (how the triggered attacks work) and how they are prompted and directed for the player. There are so many possibilities I won't bother beginning to list them. What makes this method any good is how both of these aspects play out. In the example of Elementa, the events were in the form of projectiles represented by explosions, and the trigger method was Dark Swarming (and unit build selection). In the case of your idea, the event is instant damage and an explosion and the trigger is cooldown and randomization. Using this method, unfortunately, is why I dislike Time Down. Units can run around and cast spells, but the complete lack of physical attacking made the gameplay feel hollow
The solution to the second question (How is virtual health delineated to the appropriate unit (aka tracking)?) is about making units unique:
1. By player (as is done where players have one hero unit),
2. By unique unit (as is done where only one player can have a certain unit (IE Temple Siege) or many boss fights)
3. By spatial position (as is attempted by location following, and similar methods, where the idea is that only a specific unit could possibly be in the location)
4. By any combination of the above (IE Each player has only one of each kind of unit type in each region of the map)
The dilemma with all of these is how many uniques there are within each dimension. In the first there can only be 1 unit per player, in the second there can only be (number of unique units that exist), in the third there can only be units that can't outrun a tracking location. The other dilemma is what you're willing to let be unique (and accordingly rare). For instance, the third method attempts to let units be as plentiful as you have locations for (the problem is which units you can use).
Part of the reason why I like Harm Detection vHP so much, is that it sacrifices very minimal of Starcraft fight mechanics, provides all the benefits of vHP and the price is (in its most useful form) singleplayer and at most 7 enemies at a time, which, in many instances is already the case.
I'm not quite sure how my post got so long; it may as well be a vHP article for the wiki.
None.
Kaias
