THE ALIENS MODULE

The Aliens module is divided into four parts, described below. To activate the editor for one of the parts, just click on the button bearing the part's name at the top of the window.

General Note: A value of -1 (negative one) nearly always means "NONE".

ATTACKS

Melee and Ranged Attack: The melee (hand-to-hand) and ranged attack editors have the same format, since they have the same data. The melee attack is used if the alien is right next to an enemy, the ranged attack if not.

-Type: This is the name of a Shot (Projectile) type. One of these will be created when the attack is launched.
- Repetitions: How many times the shot will be created in one attack. Contrast with Attack Frequency, below.
- Error: Maximum error for the attack, in degrees out of a 512¡ circle.
- Range: Maximum range at which the attack will be launched.
- Attack Shape: The shape used for the alien during the attack. (See Graphic Collection, below)
- dx, dy, dz: The offset from the alien's current location at which the shot is created.

Attack Frequency: The number of 30th-of-a-second ticks between attacks.
Impact Effect: The Effect type created when the alien takes a hit from a projectile.
Melee Impact Effect: The Effect type created when the alien takes a melee hit.

Shrapnel Damage:
- Shrapnel Radius: The distance at which other characters take damage from shrapnel.
- Damage Type: The type of damage created by the alien's shrapnel (see Flags)
- Damage Base: The base amount of damage inflicted by the alien's shrapnel.
- Damage Random: The maximum extra random damage inflicted by the alien's shrapnel.

SOUNDS AND SHAPES

Graphic Collection: Marathon's graphics are stored in "collections", each of which is divided further into "shapes." A shape may consist of more than one image, or frame of animation, however. This popup determines which collection is used for the alien.
Color Table ID: Some collections have more than one color table available. This allows aliens to have the same shape, but a different color (saving lots of disk space).
Shape Descriptors: The shape number used for various alien positions and actions.

Sounds: Each of these numbers if the ID of a 'snd ' resource stored in the Marathon Sounds file. To properly edit these values, you should probably open the sounds file in ResEdit and have it available for reference.
- Activation Sound: Played when the alien comes out of sleep
- Conversation Sound: The sound aliens make when they talk to each other
- Flaming Sound: The sound it makes when you TOZ-T it.
- Random Sound: - Random Sound Mask: The mask is compared to the timing tick to see when a new random sound is to be generated. Lower numbers here mean more frequent random sounds.

FLAGS

Flags are simple on-off switches that change an alien's behavior and characteristics. They're all pretty self-explanatory.

Every character has a class which is used to determine friend-or-foe relationships with the other characters. The class popup sets the alien's class, and the Friends and Enemies checkboxes determine which other characters will be attacked and which will not.

MISCELLANEOUS

Vitality: How much damage it can take before dying.
Intelligence: How far an alien can follow its target before losing a lock.
Speed: How fast it moves.
Gravity: Not sure... it appears to be the same for everybody.
Radius: How wide the "creature-cylinder" is.
Height: How tall the "creature-cylinder" is.
Half-visual arc: How wide the alien's field of view is.
Half-vertical visual arc: And how wide it is vertically...
Visual Range: How far away another character can be seen
Dark Visual Range: How far away another character can be seen in the dark
Door Retry Mask: How often it retries doors (-1 if it doesn't open doors)
Preferred Hover Height: Assuming that the alien can fly, the height at which it prefers to stay.
Minimum Ledge Delta: The largest negative jump the alien can make off a ledge.
Maximum Ledge Delta: The largest positive jump the alien can make up a ledge.
Terminal Velocity: Maximum velocity.
Carrying Item Type: The item that the alien drops when it dies.
Immunities and Weaknesses: Certain damage types that the alien either takes no damage from or takes much more damage from (see Damage Type in Attacks,
Technical note:Internally, the Aliens module is the monster module ('mons').