Powerups
This section of rules(md).ini controls the content of crates, i.e. which bonuses they can provide, which amount of them, and what animation to play when triggered. For general crate rules, like their frequency of appearence, see [CrateRules].
Flags in Powerups are listed as Cratename=X,Y,Z,S, where
- Cratename is the name of the powerup (hardcoded)
- X is the chance1 that this powerup will be triggered
- Y is the name of the animation to play (or <none>)
- Z defines whether the crate is available on water - if you set this to "yes" on the wrong crates, you risk Internal Errors; an example of this is the unit-crate, where you will get an IE if the crate tries to generate naval units on land or land units on water.
- S is a special parameter, different from crate to crate
Example
Armor=10,ARMOR,yes,1.5
Armor crates appear with a chance of 10/1101, play ARMOR as an animation when triggered, do appear on water, and multiply your unit's Strength by 1.5 when it picks up the crate.
| Flag name | Chance1 | Animation | Water? | Special Parameter | Flag explanation | Works in game(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armor | 10 | ARMOR | yes | 1.5 | Multiplier to unit Strength, controlled by Special Parameter In TS, this is a multiplier to incoming Damage instead. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up an Armor crate. |
RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| Firepower | 10 | FIREPOWR | yes | 2.0 | Multiplier to weapon Damage, controlled by Special Parameter. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up a Firepower crate. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| HealBase | 10 | HEALALL | yes | Heal everything to full health | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Money | 20 | MONEY | yes | 2000 | Gives you the amount of Credits specified in Special Parameter | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| Reveal | 10 | REVEAL | yes | Reveals entire map (sans Gap Generators, of course) | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Speed | 10 | SPEED | yes | 1.2 | Multiplier to unit Speed, controlled by Special Parameter. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up a Speed crate. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| Veteran | 20 | VETERAN | yes | 1 | Instant promotion by the number of levels set in Special Parameter | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| Unit | 20 | <none> | no | Gives you one free VehicleType not marked CrateGoodie=no | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Invulnerability | 0 | ARMOR | yes | 1.0 | Renders your unit invulnerable for the number of minutes set by Special Parameter. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| IonStorm | 0 | <none> | yes | Generates a random Ion Storm. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Gas | 0 | <none> | yes | 100 | Releases a cloud of gas, damage controlled by Special Parameter. Check [Gas] and fix [GasCloudSys] before using this. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| Tiberium | 0 | <none> | no | Creates a small patch of ore or Tiberium, depending on the game. Picks a random "maturity" of Tiberium/Ore patch as well as the amount. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Pod | 0 | <none> | no | Would have given you the Drop Pod Special in TS, but that feature was scrapped. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Cloak | 0 | CLOAK | yes | Gives everything within the CrateRadius the effect of Cloakable=yes | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Darkness | 0 | SHROUDX | yes | Shrouds the entire map, even if you have a SpySat Uplink. You need to build another one to re-gain full map view. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Explosion | 0 | <none> | yes | 500 | Creates an explosion using the warhead defined in C4Warhead, damage controlled by Special Parameter. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| ICBM | 0 | CHEMISLE | yes | Gives you a free shot with the first super weapon in the SuperWeaponTypes list to have Type=Nuke. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| Napalm | 0 | <none> | no | 600 | Creates an explosion using the warhead defined in FlameDamage, damage controlled by Special Parameter | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
| Squad | 0 | <none> | no | Spawns a squad of InfantryTypes. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup. | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | |
| ParaBomb | 3 (RA) | PARABOX | Gives you one (1) loaded ParaBomb Superweapon | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | ||
| Sonar | 3 (RA) | SONARBOX | Gives you one (1) loaded Sonar Pulse Superweapon | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR | ||
| TimeQuake | 3 (RA) | TQUAKE | Creates a Time Quake | RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR |
Can be triggered, but logic doesn't work
Not available1Note: Due to Westwood's...err..."interesting" style of coding, the chances are not percentage values, but rather shares of the sum of all default shares, meaning:
- In RA2/YR, the chance is x/110
- In TS/FS, the chance is x/441
- In RA, the chance is x/146
where x is, in all cases, the chance-parameter.
Trivia
Calculating from this, our example, the Armor-crate, has a chance of
- 9.09% (10/110) to appear in RA2/YR, while 1% equals 1.1 shares.
- 7.48% (33/441) to appear in TS/FS, while 1% equals 4.41 shares.
- 6.85% (10/146) to appear in RA, while 1% equals 1.46 shares.
Obsolete Powerups in RA2/YR
Several Powerups do not work the way they were coded anymore. They are, however, not useless. Even though they do not create a specific, special effect when you pick them up, they do play the specified animation. And animations can have Damage, can spawn Particles and even neutral infantry. Whatever you can do with an animation can be called by a crate. Several mods use this to have a crate spawning neutral Brutes, for example.