Buildings by flag

A building cannot be searched for by type, but it can be searched for by role: core, turret, store, generator

mediumYou need: Where the ore is, Properties of buildings

steptick 0

Unit Bind0

type

Unit Locate1

locatebuildingflagturretenemy?oreout Xout YoutFoundoutBuild

Unit Locate2

locatebuildingflagturretenemy?oreout Xout YoutFoundoutBuild

Unit Locate3

locatebuildingflagstorageenemy?oreout Xout YoutFoundoutBuild

Stop4

@counter0number

enemyXnullnull

enemyYnullnull

enemyFoundnullnull

enemysnullnull

oursXnullnull

oursYnullnull

allyFoundnullnull

oursnullnull

storeXnullnull

storeYnullnull

storeFoundnullnull

storenullnull

ulocate building turret true @copper enemyX enemyY enemyFound enemys
ulocate building turret false @copper oursX oursY allyFound ours

Two lines differing by one word: the first finds an enemy turret on tile 18, the second ours on tile six. It is the third field that decides whose building to look for.

Field	What is in it when searching for a building
first	building
second	the flag: what kind of building it is by role
third	true — theirs, false — ours
fourth	an item — not needed for this kind of search
fifth and sixth	the coordinates of what was found
seventh	whether it was found
eighth	the building itself, as an object

Flags: a role instead of a name

You cannot search for “a duo” or “a container” — you search for a building with the right flag. The flags are set in advance, in the game itself, and there are ten of them:

Flag	Who carries it
core	the core
storage	container, vault
generator	anything that produces power
turret	any turret
factory	factories: smelters, presses, mixers
repair	repair point
battery	battery
reactor	reactor
drill	any drill
shield	force projector

A building can carry more than one: a thorium reactor is flagged both generator and reactor — it can be searched for either way.

Note

A conveyor, a wall, a sorter and the rest of the small stuff have no flags at all — ulocate will never find such buildings. The flags do not exist for logic: the game aims units and waves by them, and logic was merely allowed to read them.

The eighth field: the building itself

ulocate gives back not only coordinates but the building as an object — and that is the most valuable part. From then on it is treated like any building:

ulocate building core false @copper x y found core
sensor copperLeft core @copper
sensor intact core @health

No link to that building is needed: sensor reads unlinked blocks too. control, though, does not — it requires a link.

Silent failure

The building does not always arrive as an object. An enemy building is given as an object only if the unit can reach it — by weapon range or by build range. If it is further away, the coordinates arrive and the eighth field holds emptiness.

With your own it is simpler: your own are always given as objects, at any distance.

A building’s coordinate is not always whole

Look at storeX in the example: 10.5, although the container stands on tile ten.

That is how it should be. A block with an even side — 2×2, 4×4 — has its centre not in the middle of a tile but on its corner, so its coordinates come out with a half. ulocate gives exactly the building’s centre, as sensor @x does.

For ucontrol move that is even handier: the unit flies to the middle of the store rather than to its corner.

Remember

• ulocate building finds the nearest building with the right flag, not the right name.
• There are ten flags: core, storage, generator, turret, factory, repair, battery, reactor, drill, shield.
• The third field chooses whose building to look for: theirs or yours.
• The eighth field gives the building as an object — ready to be read with sensor.
• An enemy building comes as an object only within the unit’s reach.
• A block with an even side has a centre coordinate with a half in it.

Task

Change turret in the first line to storage: there is no enemy store on the map, and enemyFound becomes zero.

Then put true instead of false in the third line: your own turret stops being searched for, and the program finds the same enemy one the first line does.