Metaskills

As seen in the Skills wiki page, it is possible to execute mechanics from a mob via the syntax

- mechanic{argument=value} @[targeter] ~on[trigger] [health_modifier] [chance]

But this approach is not suitable if one wanted to "group together" multiple mechanics and, in general, make more advanced behaviors for the mob. This can be solved via the use of the Metaskills.

Table of Contents:

What is a Metaskill?
Breaking Down the Metaskills Configuration
Targets Inheritance and Override
Skill Parameters [Premium Feature]

What is a Metaskill?

A Metaskill is, in essence, a list of mechanics to execute once the metaskill is called via a Meta Mechanic.
They are located in ../plugins/MythicMobs/Skills inside .yml files, just like their mobs counterpart.

The syntax of a Metaskill is the following:

internal_skillname:
  Cooldown: [seconds]
  OnCooldownSkill: [the metaskill to execute if this one is on cooldown]
  CancelIfNoTargets: [true/false]
  Conditions:
  - condition1
  - condition2
  TargetConditions:
  - condition3
  - condition4
  TriggerConditions:
  - condition5
  - condition6
  Skills:
  - mechanic1
  - mechanic2

Once you have a metaskill configured, you can use a Meta Mechanic, such as Skill, to execute the Metaskill either from a mob or a metaskill:

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=internal_skillname} @self ~onInteract

Please note that only the internal_skillname element is required. For instance, you could make a Metaskill with only skills, only a cooldown, or only some Conditions.

In the following paragraphs it will be explained what every element in there does, and how to use it. There are also a couple of pertinent Examples if you want to see a more practical usage.

Breaking Down the Metaskills Configuration

Internal SkillName

It's the string that will identify the metaskill inside mythicmobs, exactly how the [Internal Name] works for mobs.

A valid Internal SkillName must be unique (aka, there cannot exists two skills that shares the skillname) and not containt any space character.

If you want to execute a specific metaskill in any way, you will have to use its Internal SkillName in some way

Cooldown

The Cooldown is the time, in seconds, that must elapse between executions of the metaskill for the same caster.

For instance:

ExampleCooldownSkill:
  Cooldown: 10
  Skills:
  - ignite @self

The ExampleCooldownSkill metaskill will only be able to be triggered once every 10 seconds by the same caster.

A cooldown can be:

tested against via the SkillOnCooldown condition
fetched via the <caster.skill.[skill_name].cooldown> placeholder
set via the SetSkillCooldown mechanic.

OnCooldownSkill

If the Metaskill is triggered while on cooldown, the skill specified here will be casted instead.

For instance, in this example:

FirstSkill:
  Cooldown: 10
  OnCooldownSkill: SecondSkill
  Skills:
  - command{c="say First"}

SecondSkill:
  Cooldown: 5
  OnCooldownSkill: ThirdSkill
  Skills:
  - command{c="say Second"}

ThirdSkill:
  Skills:
  - command{c="say Third"}

Casting FirstSkill normally would result in "First" being written in chat. Executing it again while still on cooldown would write "Second" in chat, and executing it another time while both FirstSkill and SecondSkill are on cooldown would result in "Third" being written in chat

CancelIfNoTargets

If the metaskill should cancel its execution if no eligible targets are provided to it.
Defaults to true.

Conditions

The Conditions of the metaskill. Those conditions evaluates the caster of the metaskill.

Depending on the Condition Action used in each condition, different behaviors can occur: read the relevant wiki page for more info

TargetConditions

The Target Conditions of the metaskill. Those conditions evaluates the inherited target of the metaskill, it being either an entity ot a location.

Depending on the Condition Action used in each condition, different behaviors can occur: read the relevant wiki page for more info

TriggerConditions

The Trigger Conditions of the metaskill. Those conditions evaluates the entity that triggered the skilltree. This entity can also be targeted via the @Trigger targeter

Depending on the Condition Action used in each condition, different behaviors can occur: read the relevant wiki page for more info

Skills

The true core of a metaskill. It's the list of the mechanics that will be executed by the metaskill once triggered. Other Meta Mechanics can be used in here, allowing the Metaskill to trigger other ones.

ExampleSkill:
  Skills:
  - message{m="Hello there!"}
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill_2}

ExampleSkill_2:
  Skills:
  - message{m="How are you doing?"}

Delays can also be used here, allowing the user to set a delay for every mechanic in the list after the delay mechanic is used.

ExampleSkill:
  Skills:
  - message{m="Message 1"}
  - delay 20
  - message{m="Message 2"}

The skills are normally executed from the first on the list to the last one. If a Meta Mechanic is used, its mechanics will be executed before the mechanics of the original Metaskill resume execution. If a delay is present inside the called Metaskill, the mechanics of the original Metaskill resume execution, and the mechanics present in the called metaskill are executed after the delay

In this image, an example of the above behavior is shown. If we execute ExampleSkill_First, the mechanics will be executed in the order of their numeration, from mechanic1 to mechanic9, with a delay of 20 ticks between mechanic7, mechanic8 and mechanic9

Targets Inheritance and Override

A peculiarity of Metaskills is their ability to "remember" the targets that were passed to it by the Meta Mechanic that called it. This behavior can have many uses and applications.

Inheritance

Mechanics inside the Metaskill that do not have a targeter of their own will then Inherit those targets, and target them.

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill} @PIR{r=10} ~onInteract

#SKILL FILE
ExampleSkill:
  Skills:
  - ignite

In this example, the ignite mechanic has no targeter, so it "inherits" the one that was used in the metaskill and target those entities instead, making it ignite all players in a 10 blocks radius.

Override

Meanwhile, if a targeter is specified inside a Metaskill, we say that the original targeter is Overridden, and the new targeter is used instead

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill} @PIR{r=10} ~onInteract

#SKILL FILE
ExampleSkill:
  Skills:
  - ignite
  - message{m="Why are you so close?"} @NearestPlayer{r=1}

In this example, all players will still be ignited, but only the closest player to the mob in a one block radius will receive the message

Subsequent Metaskills Executions

When you are calling a metaskill from another metaskill, it is still quite possible to not specify a targeter to it, and it will inherit the targets that the calling metaskill also inherited.

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill} @PIR{r=10} ~onInteract

#SKILL FILE
ExampleSkill:
  Skills:
  - skill{s=Example_Ignite}
  - skill{s=Example_Message} @NearestPlayer{r=1}

Example_Ignite:
  Skills:
  - ignite

Example_Message:
  Skills:
  - message{m="Why are you so close?"}

By executing this skill, you will obtain the same results you obtained in the previus example

Targets Filtering

Another great application of target inheritance is the possibility of filtering out the inherited targets across multiple metaskills, using the Metaskill's TargetConditions.

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill_1} @PIR{r=10} ~onInteract

ExampleSkill_1:
  Skills:
  - message{m="Hello there!"}
  - delay 1
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill_2}

ExampleSkill_2:
  TargetConditions:
  - distance{d=<5} true
  Skills:
  - message{m="...You are pretty close, aren't you?"}
  - delay 1
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill_3}

ExampleSkill_3:
  TargetConditions:
  - distance{d=<1} true
  Skills:
  - message{m="AHHHHHH, GET AWAY FROM ME!"}
  - throw{v=10;vy=2}

The above skill will show a message to all the players in a 10 blocks radius, then show another message to those, among them, that are closer than 5 blocks. After that, it will show a third message and push away every player closer than one block.

And now, for a more counter-intuitive example:

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill_1} @PIR{r=10} ~onInteract

ExampleSkill_1:
  Skills:
  - message{m="Hello there!"}
  - delay 100
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill_2}

ExampleSkill_2:
  TargetConditions:
  - distance{d=>10} true
  Skills:
  - message{m="...You truly don't like me, don't you?"}
  - delay 20
  - message{m="Don't worry, it's fine."}
  - delay 20
  - message{m="I'm used to it."}
  - delay 20
  - message{m="T.T"}

In this instance, the mob will first send a message to every player in a 10 blocks radius, and then, 5 seconds later, it will send additional messages to those, among them, that have moved to be more than 10 blocks away in the meantime

Meta Targeters

Another relevant topic is that of Meta Targeters. Those are targeters that, simply put, will evaluate what the inherited targets are and, based on that, return other appropriate targets themselves.

#MOB FILE
ExampleMob:
  Type: ZOMBIE
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ExampleSkill} @PIR{r=10} ~onInteract

ExampleSkill:
  Skills:
  - effect:particles @Line{r=0.2}

The example above, for instance, will generate a line of particles between the caster and the players in a 10 blocks radius. Had the targeter not been @PIR but another one, the line would have been generated between the caster and the targeter used.

Skill Parameters [Premium Feature]

Skill parameters are a feature allowing you to more easily create generic skills and pass parameters to them from other skills. If that sounds confusing, here's an example!

Currently most people have a lot similar damage skills that are just tweaked a bit for all their different mobs for slight variances in damage, but they do basically the same thing otherwise.

The old way of doing it:

#SKILL FILE
ShadowDamage20:
  Skills:
  - damage{amount=20}
  - some shadowy effect

#MOB FILE
Mob1:
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ShadowDamage20} ~onAttack

With Skill Parameters, we can combine these all into a single skill! The new way:

#SKILL FILE
ShadowDamage:
  Skills:
  - damage{amount=<skill.damage>}

#MOB FILE
Mob1:
  Skills:
  - skill{s=ShadowDamage;damage=20} ~onAttack

In the example above, the skill will still deal 20 damage to the target, we've just made the skill generic so that we can change the damage however we please on any mob.
The "skill parameter" system will pass any options from the skill/metaskill mechanic (except options that are specific to it) down the skill tree where you can reference them later. If a later skill passes the same parameter, it will overwrite it. These can be used anywhere placeholders are supported.