Skip to content
OpenTS Manual

Explosion

The animations a destroyed object leaves behind, one drawn at random from the list.

Specification
Applies to
AircraftTypeBuildingTypeInfantryTypeUnitType
File
rules.ini
Section
[<ObjectType ID>]
Value
list of AnimTypes
When omitted
(empty)
rules.ini
[MYTANK] ; a UnitType registered in [VehicleTypes]
Explosion=TWLT070,FRAG1,FRAG3 ; AnimTypes registered in [Animations]

Each object kind spends the list differently:

  • A vehicle creates one entry, picked at random, at its own position — unless its art declares DeathFrames, which defers the animation to the end of its death throes; unless it was killed by the firestorm warhead, which substitutes seven to nine firestorm particle systems; or unless it fell and died over water, which leaves a wake and the last splash entry instead. A vehicle that Explodes=yes — or carries the veteran explodes ability — takes the last entry instead whenever it still has ammunition, meaning an unlimited Ammo pool or a count above zero, so the biggest wreck belongs at the end of the list.
  • A structure creates one entry, picked afresh, on every cell of its footprint, scattered up to a quarter cell from the cell center, each starting between zero and three frames later. A large structure therefore consumes the list once per cell, not once per building.
  • An aircraft creates one entry, picked at random, at its center — but nothing at all when the killing warhead is [CombatDamage] FirestormWarhead, which substitutes seven to nine firestorm particle systems.
  • An InfantryType stores the list and never reads it back.

An empty list simply leaves out the animation; the debris, the death voice and any Explodes=yes blast are unaffected either way.

Writing Explosion=none empties the list, because the placeholder resolves to no type and nothing is left to add. Writing the key with nothing after the = is a different thing: the read finds no value and keeps whatever an earlier rules file set. A name the game does not already know is registered as a new animation type rather than rejected, so a misspelling becomes an animation of its own.

See also — Explodes, DebrisTypes, MaxDebris, FirestormWarhead, Ammo