Disguise Logic
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| Flag: | Disguise Logic |
| File(s): | Rules(md).ini |
| Values: | Strings (names of InfantryTypes) |
| Default: | none |
| Applicable to: | General |
The Disguise mechanic has been around since Red Alert for the Allied spy, and persists right through to Yuri's Revenge.
The summary below will focus on YR functionality as it is more extensive.
Infantry Disguises (RA2 & YR)
By default, infantry with PermaDisguise=yes and CanDisguise=yes can automatically disguise as more basic InfantryTypes without a MakeUpKit weapon. In game this is applied to vanilla Allied Spy, but not to the Cuban Terrorist, so that enemies can't tell which unit is a spy even before a disguise is chosen, although enemies are still warned by the CreateSound on the Spy unless removed.
The automatic disguise lists are as follow:
- AlliedDisguise= will show enemies the specified unit as an Allied player
- SovietDisguise= will show enemies the specified unit as a Soviet player
- ThirdDisguise= (YR only) will show enemies the specified unit as a Yuri Country player
If a disguise is acquired on enemy unit, enemy combat units and structures will ignore them until manually ordered so by the enemy player. Unless those enemy TechnoTypes have DetectDisguise=yes, then they can automatically target/attack them as normal. In vanilla RA2/YR, any Attack Dogs and Yuri Clones can detect disguised units. DetectDisguise is not functional in Tiberian Sun. The House color (remap) of the newly disguised infantry will be that of the target infantry the disguise was taken from.
- To periodically remind the player/owner of their units disguised status, the original image will briefly appear before reverting to its disguise.
Vehicle Disguises (RA2 & YR)
The only disguising vehicle added in RA2/YR is the Mirage Tank, and it operates entirely differently to the infantry described above. This kind of disguise requires CanDisguise=yes, but not PermaDisguise=yes, since it cycles through a list of DefaultMirageDisguises values. This means on any given map, the same trees by default are chosen for the effect. A map author will wisely consider what trees are used on their map, and set the available disguise trees manually to match, inside the map code, thereby giving Mirage Tanks the best chance of concealment.
If you want to let vehicles pick their own disguises, you once again need a warhead with MakesDisguise=yes, but since the Mirage Tank uses terrain objects instead of infantry as disguise, you will also want to add TerrainFire=yes to the weapon, which makes the vehicle able to target trees and other terrain objects without having to use force-fire.
Modders can make Mirage Tanks able to pick their tree disguise by making trees targetable using TreeTargeting=yes. Keep in mind the effect of this tag works differently in YR compared to base RA2.
- To periodically remind the player/owner of their units disguised status, the original image will briefly appear before reverting to its disguise. Unlike disguised infantry, disguised vehicles like the Mirage Tank will drop their disguise when firing, revealing their location.
Bugs/Side-Effects/Unexpected Limitations
Disguising units cannot disguise as other voxel units ie. VehicleTypes.
Giving a vehicle PermaDisguise=yes, it will use the Allied/Soviet/ThirdDisguise instead of DefaultMirageDisguises, and end up looking like infantry with nasty side-effects!
Disguising units like the Mirage Tank can't have a turret and/or barrel by default, graphical glitches will result. Each individual voxel that's part of the unit will be disguised separately, and appear as multiple trees drawn over top of each other.
- Fixed in Ares: https://ares-developers.github.io/Ares-docs/bugfixes/type2/miragelogicwithturretsbarrels.html
If adding more Sides to a mod, those countries will be lacking the default disguise lists.
- Ares can add new default lists for those sides: https://ares-developers.github.io/Ares-docs/new/sidescountries/defaultside.html?highlight=disguise
Infantry able to disguise draw from the same default lists normally, there is no per-unit customization.
- Phobos allows each infantry to have their own disguise list: https://phobos.readthedocs.io/en/latest/New-or-Enhanced-Logics.html#default-disguise-for-individual-infantrytypes