BuildLimit

Flag:	BuildLimit
File(s):	rules(md).ini
Values:	Signed integers: All whole numbers from -2147483648 to 2147483647; in rare cases, only from -32768 to 32767.
Special Values:	Negative values↓
Default:	21474836471
Applicable to:	TechnoTypes: AircraftTypes, BuildingTypes, InfantryTypes and VehicleTypes

Specifies the maximum instances of a particular unit that any given player may own before they will be prevented from building further instances (the unit's build icon will be disabled). Instances of a unit include those that were built by the player, awarded at the start of the campaign or skirmish, awarded via a map trigger, created via a Cloning Vats or mutation, or mind-controlled from another player.

A player is not prevented from exceeding the Template:TTL of a unit via any of the aforementioned methods except normal construction.

Special Values

Setting Template:TTL to any negative value has a different effect from the normal behaviour. The absolute value of the number is used as the build limit, however this is now a limit on the number of times you can actually build the unit yourself. For example, if Template:TTL is set on the GI then you will only be able to build 5 GIs throughout the course of any given game. This is regardless of how many GIs you may have started with or obtain through other means. Once you have personally built |BuildLimit| instances of a unit, that unit's build icon will disappear from the sidebar until the next campaign or skirmish.

Super Weapons

Each super weapon type in the game can only be instantiated once per player. If you were to own, say, two Nuclear Missile Silos, you would still only have one Nuclear Missile super weapon available. Template:TTL has no effect on this. Other special-function buildings (such as the Ore Purifier, Industrial Plant and Cloning Vats) can stack their effects - they simply have Template:TTL set for reasons of balance.

Bugs/Side-Effects/Unexpected Limitations

• AI players are not subject to any unit's Template:TTL. AI players will build whichever units are required by the chosen Template:TTL regardless of how many instances of those units the AI player already owns.
• The BuildLimit system was created to allow the inclusion of so-called "hero" units, of which only one is supposed to exist at any given time. As such, the system was only designed to work for Template:TTL. Whilst you can set a higher Template:TTL, you will not be able to queue up the entire limit 'in a row' - you will have to queue the last one separately. For example, if you had a unit with Template:TTL, you would have to either:
  • Queue the first 4, build them, and then queue the final one.
  • Queue the first 4, add a different unit to the queue, queue the final one.

Footnotes

Warning: The default INI files contain commented out or unexplained usage of this flag/section which, when restored (often simply out of curiousity), results in problems that are hard to trace and are seemingly unrelated.

¹ ↑ The comment in Rules(md).ini, which states that the default is -1, is incorrect, as is the stated effect of setting Template:TTL.