An ability is simply a combination of many factors (range, cost, who its cast upon).
To create an ability simply copy one of the starter abilities under a new name....and modify as you see please using elements of other abilities (which you can then tweak to your liking). As simple as that.
For example...to create my countdown timer. I used the TEC's hoshikos ability as a base. From there, I changed its bufftype to only target self, deleted its antimatter and recharge time cost (value at 0), took out the targetfilters,range etc...then I went into its buff equivalent and changed the +20 hull per sec into -1 per sec.
To top it off I added another ability buff, the Scouts Timed Charges and added it to the timer for it to trigger after 1800sec (1 800 being the hull value of my structure).
Ie. the first ability takes down the health sec by sec..and when it hits zero, the timed charges activates, destroying the structure.
As a general rule.
the ABILITY FILE will tell you WHO the ability is initially directed to (self, target....AoE), its antimatter/resources cost, recharge time, as well as certain factors such as Needs ot face target to use...or which level your ship can use it on.
The BUFF file of the same name on the other hand is the actual MODIFIER BEING APPLIED to the targetted ship (damage, regeneration, embargo on planets...etc)!
Once your ability is done simply open up the entity file of the ship you wish to give the ability to and add the ability name in one of its four ability slots!
-ShadowMastiff2468-
