Toggle Power

The power toggling feature has been removed from Red Alert 2, and thus neither the sidebar button nor the power off building overlay were available. A workaround using a fake super weapon was possible, but it did not work well. Ares adds this feature back (though not the sidebar button).

New in version 0.8.

Keyboard Command

Toggle Power is now available as a proper keyboard command, which functions like clicking the corresponding button in the Tiberian Sun sidebar. You can find it in the category Interface.

By default, this keyboard command is disabled: Even though it is shown and can be configured, it will not do anything. This is to maintain compatibility with the original Yuri’s Revenge, which didn’t have this command available.

[General]►TogglePowerAllowed= (boolean)

Whether Toggle Power can be used. Defaults to no.

Cursors

The two mouse cursors this feature uses can be customized with the following Mouse Cursor definitions:

TogglePower: Shown if the building’s power status can be toggled. Only buildings owned by the player can toggle the power, if TogglePower=yes and either Power is less than 0 or Powered=yes.

NoTogglePower: Shown if the building’s power cannot be toggled.

Power Off Overlay Animation

If a building is powered down, poweroff.shp is shown as overlay like the repair wrench. Only the player owning this building as well as observers can see this overlay, and other players will just see a building without power.

If a powered down building is repaired at the same time, both overlay animations are moved to be shown simultaneously.

poweroff.shp is drawn using the mousepal.pal palette.

AI Support

If Toggle Power is enabled, the AI can also make use of it. The AI will try to cope with power outages because of insufficient power output. AI players being drained or suffering from a power blackout triggered by a spy or Force Shield are exempt and will not try to turn off the base.

Base defenses are tried to be held online if possible. Super weapons are turned off earlier than power consuming buildings that are not base defenses.

Note

Assume the order is unpredictable. Do not rely on the order in which the AI turns buildings off or back on. The implementation can change any time.

[IQ]►TogglePower= (integer)

Defines the IQ rating with which an AI player will toggle power of buildings in low power situations. Values less than 0 deactivate this logic. Defaults to -1.

[General]►TogglePowerDelay= (integer - frames)

Defines the delay between power checks. This makes AI players not respond immediately to power level changes. Values less than 0 deactivate this logic. Defaults to 45.