Unity RTS Engine

Here's a list of thing that I would like to change:
- Centralized Unity management rather than separate buildings. It would always be up rather than disappearing when you select off of it: For an Idea of what I'm talking about, see the image I attached Its the pane on the right side.
- Do you know of anyway that would allow units to either be transported via other units like an APC or helicopter

I can live without these 2 but they would be nice:
- Possibly a paved terrain option, like in Dune. You needed to build your structures on top of cement or they would gradually lose health
- Last part, how easy would it be to remove the Population limitation?

Its really nearly there already, these are just the crucial pieces I need.

 

Okay but where would Units be spawned?

Pretty good suggestion. Added to my to-do list.

Can't promise this any time soon though. But i'll keep it in mind.

Pretty easy. You can set the starting amount to a pretty high number and then hide the Population Count UI.

It might be a good idea if you send me your e-mail and invoice number in a PM because I might be adding your second suggestion pretty soon and I can send it to you before the update hits the store.

 

The units would be spawned by their required Building. ie barracks for Infantry or Tanks from a factory like it already is. You just have a consolidated command interface.

I'll do that, thank you!

 

So I tried making none-flat maps for 6 times and it never works, the navigation breaks, you cannot move your units, I placed the flat terrain under it but that will not do the trick, Baked the Navigation did not work. Everything is set-up like it's supposed to but no luck with anything, the buildings drops under the terrain etc.
We need a better way of making maps, I mean who enjoys flat maps only?
We kinda need a auto height adjuster to the Camera Movement as well in case the hills ever works for me.

 

Thanks for the great asset! I'm sure you have a way of debugging ranged fighting (testing attack and death objects) without having to build complete sides... mind sharing it? Probably something simple and I'm just missing it.

 

I had a similar problem, where I was Baking everything in Navigation, and it cleared up when I Baked the Mesh->FlatTerrain as Unwalkable, and then Baked Terrain->Terrain as Walkable. Anyways, a feature I'd like to see is Camera Pan. Hopefully this is in the works... I hate trying to reinvent the wheel!

 

I've been there done that, I did not work for me, I'm using height maps to get that retro feeling and everything beeing equal. But I have no luck what so ever with that method, but when I simply make a hill, it works but I don't want to be forced to use the unity Terrain Engine.
Not sure if there is a limit of how big our terrains can be or if something else, But when you spend over 1 week on a map you kinda want it to be functional.

 

When having different Buildings that deliver the same tasks? Where would units then spawn? Or are you planning to have a limit of one building per type?

 

You can have non-flat maps. But you have to be careful about how high the hills are, since the units' movement uses the Navigation Mesh system. There are two main things you need to keep mind while making the map: Max Slope and Step Height (both are settings in the Navigation inspector):



Both of them are explained in detail here: https://docs.unity3d.com/353/Documentation/Manual/Navmeshbaking.html
But the main point is that the height of the hill and its angle with the surface is important.

Below you can see an example of how I made a simple hill, set the correct settings in the Navigation inspector, baked the navigation mesh and the result is that I was able to move the unit on the hill and place a building there:



EDIT:

Love the map you've worked on there. Great job!

 

Actually I would pause the game and then place the units in the scene in order to range a fight.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I know the camera is pretty basic at this stage. I will update it as soon as possible. You can send me a detailed list of suggestions for the camera meanwhile.

 

An update has been submitted. Here's the update list:

- Code refactoring in order to improve the performance of the asset overall.
- Custom Events introduced: 19 delegate events added (example: OnUnitCreated, OnBuildingDestroyed, OnTaskLaunched, etc..). These events allow for even more customization in the code.
- Upgrade Tasks are introduced: Buildings can now have tasks that improve the units' abilities (speed, damage against units and damage against buildings).
- Audio clip can now be played when a task is completed.
- Doubling clicking a unit selects all the units of the same type inside a certain range (the range can be defined from the inspector).
- Clicking the selected unit's icon in the selection panel pans the camera to the position of that unit.

 

I'll try that, but I have already done it and last time it did not work :/
Worked on the UI for some time now and it's coming along!

 

The idea would be that once you build the structure new units are now available in the command panel. You would never need to click the barracks again. Allowing young focus your attn on the battles going on rather than always jumping back and forth to micro manage factories.

They would spawn from the appropriate barracks or which ever you designated the primary. Possibly just via a double click.

You could then strategically build units in the appropriate locations rather than having them run over via rally points Or limiting building counts

 

Hi. Bought your asset few days ago, loving it so far. (Will leave review soon). I have a question. How would you recommend using navmesh for water, ships? Placing a new navmesh plane underneath current one for ships to drive on?

 

Just got a major issue again after the update..

Code (CSharp):

1. ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range.
2. [SPOILER="ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range. Parameter name: index System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Collections.Generic.List`1[Resource]].get_Item (Int32 index) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:633) GatherResource.SetTargetResourceLocal (.Resource Target) (at Assets/RTS Engine/Units/Scripts/GatherResource.cs:229) GatherResource.SetTargetResource (.Resource Target) (at Assets/RTS Engine/Units/Scripts/GatherResource.cs:180) NPCResource.LookForCollectors (.Resource TargetResource) (at Assets/RTS Engine/AI/Scripts/NPCResource.cs:415) NPCResource.LookForResources (System.String Name, Int32 Amount) (at Assets/RTS Engine/AI/Scripts/NPCResource.cs:356) NPCBuildingPlacement.AddBuildingByArmyUnit (.Unit NeededUnit, Int32 ArmyID) (at Assets/RTS Engine/AI/Scripts/NPCBuildingPlacement.cs:325) NPCArmy.Update () (at Assets/RTS Engine/AI/Scripts/NPCArmy.cs:287)"][/SPOILER]
3.  

@Subtellite
I'd recommend you to use Navmesh layers and just use the navmesh agent on the unit prefab and unmask normal walkable and just have water layer active.

 

Thanks. Also a question. If I want to make map bigger, do I just make all units and buildings smaller or rescale map and minimap size?

 

@Subtellite You can go ahead to make the terrain as big as you desire, make sure to scale the "FlatTerrain" so it's about the same size. From older experience ones again I'd suggest that you keep the size you are using because NavMesh can hit you back ones using too small variable values.
For the minimap just change the size.

If you have not used NavMesh layers:
You go to Window > Navigation (at the bottom) > Areas.
Then the window opens up and you fill in your layer name "Water".

Now Make a Plane or unity premade water from the Default Assets and just add a collider to it.
Now head over to the Object tab. Now you want to Toggle Navigation Static (Make sure you have the water selected from the Hierarchy. Now Select it as Water.

Now your normal Terrain is using Walkable and the water uses Water layer so now let's just change the Agent.
Now we Bake the final result will look like this:

Find the Boat Prefab and change it like this:

Now you are good to go!
As a suggestion have another Layer called Coast that covers 50/50 water/land. Because if you want to have a marine base building you need to be able to build it somewhat in the water.
Head over to Building Manager and look at Terrain Mask, it can use multiple layers for you to build on! I hope this helped you!

Now I have a question to @OussamaB
Congrats on 666 posts!
Is there a link or something explaining the variables from the inspector, because it feels like I add prefabs hundreds of times over and over again and things like, what it Interaction range? Is it how far away the Workers can be or how far away you can select the building etc. I found many things I kinda don't understand the meaning of them, also there is a Box collider on the buildings Parent, one for selection object, what does the collider on the buildings parent do? I mean we are using Nav Mesh Obstacle so we don't need to change the collision and I don't have the buildings changed on static. Can I remove them? Also in the Game Manager to avoid confusion change the:

Because Unity always starts at 0 if you don't make a Neutral Faction by default (That would be cool) So you can kill Enemies just hanging around in the Forests guarding old ruins, treasures or what ever! So Faction ID: 0 on the first faction because we fill in the Faction id on 4 places or so and I did it wrong a few times because of Idle working
AND FINAL! If I'm right the interaction range is for the workers yes? or what determine where they can turn in resources because all of my are running to the same spot and it gives collision issues when they run back and forth.
same for resource harvesting it would be nice if they split up and for attacking buildings they all just kinda stack up and that makes it look dumb and slow down because all warriors can't get to the spot because of collision Can we maybe base it from the Box collider on the parent? just have navmesh check distance between them? Thank god we have limited workers per harvest (On option) But just a few things I got stuck on! Love RTS Engine and I'm about to write a nice review! Thanks for this product!

 

MHolmstrom, wow, thank you very much for that explanation very much! <3
Also a question: If I want to make a 3 types of "factions", lets say Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, selectable by players in lobby and specific units for them, what is the simplest way to do it?

Sorry for so many questions...

 

Because there is not a documentation from what I know.. I think you can just head over to the Scenes GameManager Object, find the button Add Faction just make sure to set a faction name and code.
Fix and fill in the Faction Def thing with desired things, self-explained.
Now it's time to open up SingelPlayerMenu and locate MapManager in the Hierarchy and you will find:

Just fill in the information given in the GameManager in Code and Name.
Remember to add things such as Faction Manager just copy and past it from the DemoMap > if it's offline for now make sure you know the difference between them, there is a toggle in GameManager "Player Controller?" Toggle one of them like that.
Go to the Demo and notice Team0 and Team1 have something different, the ID and Team0 have nothing enabled but FactionManager so unless you want the AI to play with you, you better have disabled.
It's a lot of fill-ins but it's kinda basic!
Oh yeah! Capital Building is important too. You will figure it out
Good luck!


Another thing!
I'd recommend anyone that wants a cool Fog of War/LoS like in wc3 to grab https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/51344
5 min to implement, one camera script and one script for each unit/building and it's on sale €7.81

 

Thanks! And I can't thank you enough for taking your time and answering questions here in the forum thread. I really really appreciate that.

All the variables in the inspector are explained in the documentation. For example, you can find the explanation of "Interaction Area Size" here in the Building's documentation part: http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/buildings/buildings-main-component/

For buildings and resources:

- There's first the "Frontier Collider":

This means that you can make it larger than the actual building's size so that you can't place building too close it but Units will however ignore it when moving and only consider the "Navigation Mesh Obstacle".
More information can be found here: http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/buildings/general-building-components/

- Then there's the "Selection Collider":

This means that this Collider is only considered when you want to select the Building/Resource. It could smaller than both the "Frontier Collider" and the "Navigation Mesh Obstacle", when you just want to select the building when you actually click on its model.
More information about creating this type of collider for your Building can be found here: http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/buildings/buildings-main-component/

- And finally we have the "Navigation Mesh Obstacle": This component is only considered when the units are moving. This means that all Unit consider the frontiers set by this component when moving to avoid the Building/Resource associated to it:
More information can be found here: http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/buildings/general-building-components/

Faction ID 1 is actually ID 0 in the list. I just changed that because I thought it avoids confusion. There's actually no empty faction in ID 0. But if that creates even more confusion then I would happily change it back.

Having units from neutral factions is actually a pretty good idea. I'm jumping right into it! Thanks for the suggestion.

Sorry about this. The asset needs a formation algorithm in order to avoid stacking up. However, When attacking buildings with a large group of units, they would actually attempt to have a formation and avoid pushing each other. It is subject of change of improvement of course.

-------
I am also about to send you the modified code that allows you to show/hide objects on the units when building, collecting resources and dropping off resources.

 

In the Game Manager you can create the faction types that you want your map to support and then create special Buildings for each faction. See the documentation here: http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/game-manager/

Then in both the Single Player and Multiplayer menus, you need to also specify which faction types can be chosen by the player when you define each map. Take a look here:

http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/single-player-menu/map-manager/
http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/multiplayer-menu/network-map-manager/

To have special units for a faction type there are actually two ways:
- You can have a custom building for a faction type and then create units from that building.
- You can have a shared building between all faction types but make tasks customized for faction types.

Take a look at "Building's Tasks" here to see how you can do that: http://soumidelrio.com/docs/unity-rts-engine/buildings/buildings-main-component/

---

I advise you to read the documentation from start to finish at least once. Everything is actually there.
If you're having trouble trying to find specific things in the documentation please let me know.

 

Hello. When does this error exactly appear?

 

Please check your e-mail. I sent a unity package that you just need to import and directly use in order to have a custom task panel like what you have described.

The custom task panel takes advantage of the new delegate events introduced in the last updates and shows how it became easy to customize the RTS Engine even more from your own code!

 

Thank you very much for your quick supports! Couldn't wish for better support.

 

That was perfect! It took a while before I realized that the villagers would not appear in the window until I made a new city. But otherwise this is perfect, thanks!

 

Oh sorry about that. Just sent you a fix via e-mail.

 

Thx so much! I wasnt expecting that at all
I have to say, The support you provide is top notch. Its greatly appreciated.

Has anyone here had any luck implementing Aerial units? Such as Helicopters or Planes? I haven't made an attempt yet. No point reinventing the wheel if its not needed Iv been focused on making geometry.

 

I think it's awesome that you support it so well. I just bought it yesterday and it seems to be nicely put together, if I may just give a few suggestions.

First - the online documentation could definitely be expanded, there are quite a few things that I've had to just look at closely in unity to try and figure out whats going on. One thing I would REALLY suggest would be a detailed tutorial on how to build the map setup from scratch. It is very handy to just be able to click the button and set it up, but I would really like to do it myself a few times so I understand everything that is being added as well as the relationships. This engine seems like it would be very customizable if you knew what you were doing. Expanded documentation on the basic theory of how the engine works would be really, really nice, and that's my main suggestion.

Another thing I wanted to ask was this: The buildings have different states, i.e. building, built, destroyed etc... Would there be a way to add more states through the inspector without getting hairy and messing with the code? I think it would be great to be able to add as many building states as necessary, define whether this state is active during building or after being built and taking damage, and then also define a range of health that this state is active during.

I'll keep up with any serious suggestions I have as I move along and get familiar with the system. Cheers

 

I will be working on adding aerial units this weekend. They are some simple things that need to be changed inside the unit's components and that's it. Thanks for your patience!

 

Thanks for purchasing the asset and thanks for the nice comments!

- I created the online documentation with the mind that you can just launch an empty scene, start reading the whole documentation and ending up having everything working and everything paired together (That is what I actually did while writing the documentation).
In case something is missing, can you tell what is it exactly? I might left some stuff out, if so please don't hesitate to ask me!

- The building states idea is good. A custom event could be added and called each time a building changes its state. So the conditions you're suggesting are, building, built, destroyed, health? Maybe also when a building has an ongoing task or when tasks space is full can also be a state?
Currently there are custom events when a building is placed, when a building is built and when it is destroyed. But wouldn't it be better to have separated events for each important state like the ones I stated?

 

Update v1.0.5, update list:

- Fixed the destroy building task.
- Fixed the camera movement on screen edge.
- You can assign a custom Capital Building to each faction type.
- Child unit objects can now be enabled/disabling while collecting resources, dropping them off or constructing building.
- Custom Task Panel added: Making use of the new custom delegate events, a custom task panel that can launch Unit Creation tasks in any building without having to select the building.
- Added Treasures: Objects that can be collected by units (just by entering in collision with them) and that reward the unit's faction with resources.

 

Thx for response. Honestly, with a decent understanding of scripting, I think one could probably just get what they need from the assets themselves.

So what I meant in the building states would be, for example: while being built - health = 0-50 - Scaffolding| Health 51-99 - partially built| 100 = built. After being built and taking damage - 50-100 = normal building| 1-49 = damaged| 0 = destroyed (gameobject could be deleted after a set time).
In this example, those would be the default states, but a developer could add a state, name it, set health percentage range, and use a gameobject for the geometry of each state. A building could have 3 states or 10 states, depending on how many the developer wanted.

From what I gathered, this would require a reworking of the building script on the developer's part to achieve. I may very well be wrong about this and please correct me if that is the case. Thanks and Cheers!

EDIT: btw your website was loading strangely the other day, today it loaded the subcategories under building, adding alot of info that wasn't showing up before.

 

Is there a way to create more of a base type system like Halo Wars or B4ME 1, no builders, preset building slots?

 

I get what you mean. I will work on adding the ability to create this states.

P.S: Sorry about the website, is it still working fine for you?

 

You mean directly placing buildings without builders right?

 

@OussamaB I have attached a video showing what he's talking about. This is what they use in Halo Wars and CNC.

There's a singular base or Construction Vehicle \ Capital building that would operate as your builder but it would be stationary. This video is from Classic Command and Conquer but the 2 games that person mentioned use it in much the same way.

At least this is what I think he means

By all means correct me if I'm wrong @kevojo .

Heres CnC:

Notice how once the MCV is deployed all buildings are accessible within the power range and current tech level. Once you lose the MCV \ Construction yard you cant build anything else

But here's youtube of Halo Wars so you have an idea:

Notice how the Buildings are generated on the platform surrounding the Construction yard. I believe that's how it works (haven't played it since its original release month)

 

Hi. I managed to get so far with this awesome kit!
I have a question. If I wanted for players to level up factions, and outside of game, they are having their player level, skins for buildings, units, etc, and talent trees, depending on their faction levels. What would be the best approach for it? I was thinking of adding it to the single/multiplayer menu, after they load from database. Then storing it on server side, and loading it when the game starts.
For example:


Players would get exp for faction they are using after the game ends. Leveling their factions would unlock more talent tree selections, depending on level.
I know how to do it, because I did it on moba style game I was making as a hobby. I am just wondering, which would be the best way to approach in rts engine. Maybe I should add the entire code based for it in factions manager? Or would it be better if I make separate scripts for it and drain info from them to factions manager.

Also I was wondering, how hard would it be to integrate Master Server Framework to the project, now since it is free to use.
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/71391

Sorry for so many questions, this asset just got me everything I needed for game I am making, and I don't want to make much mistakes.
Thank you very much =)

 

@Paul-Swanson you nailed it.

 

So each faction has only a certain amount of building spaces?
Do the building get automatically built or do they need builders?
Can the building spaces be destroyed?

Thanks a lot for taking the time and doing this detailed explanation. This is something I'm considering but can not really say when it will be available.

 

In the next update I will be adding new custom events that will be called when a faction is eliminated and when the game ends. Maybe that could help you decide to add experience or upgrade the faction's level?

You can also link your tech tree with the single and multiplayer map manager. Then the multiplayer map manager can actually show only the unlocked and accessible factions.

Not sure about this. Will consider it though.

 

They don't get automatically built, you would click the building space, then choose the building you want to build from the UI (usually you would get a choice of different buildings for each space). Buildings can be destroyed, but building spaces cannot until the base itself is destroyed (some sort of central building). These buildings would not need builder units, you just click the building space, choose build and it goes through the building process. - Thats the Base model

for the C&C style model, there would be no builders still (although, technically you could just use invisible builders), you would just choose and place buildings from the UI but they would have to be in range of a certain type of building like the C&C MCV building. Honestly, this version isn't all that different than the framework that you have already, it would just mean that you can't buy builder units, and a new unit could be created for every building instantly and destroyed once it is done constructing, or something.

Let me know if this clarifies. Cheers!

 

I wasjust going to intregrate a terrain overlay in a grid layout for building placement. Is this on the todo list? It kinda need a snap function because it kinda hard to place buildings quick right now i think we need a indicator like all the rts games we learned too love grid layout with green grid for you can put it here red for something is in the way!

Let us keep the requests to topic and not way to individual.

 

That's a pretty detailed explanation, thank you.
However as there are more urgent things and features to add, this will probably take a while. Hope you understand.

 

Currently the building's selection texture's color acts as the indicator, it changes to green when you can place the building in that area and changes to red when it's not possible. Having this type of building placement now without the snap function gives the player more freedom to place buildings, no?

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I am currently working on an update that should be released in the upcoming two days. It took a bit of time because I'm re-writing some parts of the code to improve performance It won't affect anything you already have.

 

So How many units can this engine handle before it explodes, one of my future projects is a Total War style 4X and I would like to know this asset limits.

 

This asset, at its current state, is suitable for games like Age Of Empires and similar RTS games. But it actually depends on how complex the units' models, effects and buildings are.

 

When is the next update coming out? and what are the features coming with it?

 

I was a bit busy during this week so the update would have to come out this weekend. It will mainly introduce flying units (in order to create airplane or helicopter units), free units (who don't belong to any faction) will also be added, camera improvement, bug fixes and new custom events.

 

As promised, the new update has been just submitted, here's the update list:

- Fixed shuffling factions when the map loads.
- Fixed loosing the selection after clicking on the minimap.
- The Unit's radius must now be set from the "Unit.cs" inspector and not anymore from the "Nav Mesh Agent" component.
- Fixed the unit's movement when the target object is moving.
- Added two new custom events: OnFactionEliminated, OnFactionWin
- Added camera panning.
- General camera movement improvements.
- Added the option to put Units that do not belong to any faction in the map.
- Added the feature to create "Flying Units"
- Added the "Helicopter" unit as an example for a flying unit.

Here are some new screenshots as well:

 

I am dissatisfied with the camera. Can you easily replace the camera with another asset?

like this

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/kr/#!/content/10390

Is the building part separate from the unit's behavior?

Can I separate unit actions and easily apply them to other games?