Overview
The Interactivity Map controls the status of an area that is either accessible or not accessible to units at a specific time during a mission.
These tools allow you to define areas of a map as inaccessible until a specified time or event. This can create distinct "phases" of a mission or scenario, where certain events or objectives open up new areas of the map, expanding the playable area.
This guide covers what interactivity areas are, how they work, and how to apply them to your map.
How Interactivity Areas Work
Interactivity areas are defined using the Interactivity Brush, which allows you to paint areas onto the map.
These areas are applied using the Painter tool, with each being defined by a Target zone.
This system can support up to 63 distinct areas, although this many areas are rarely used within a single scenario or map.
These areas are then used by an accompanying Script that ties a painted are to an event, elapsed time, or objective that, when detected as true, unlocks the associated area.
Details on this script are given at the end of this guide.
Unlock Areas in Sequence
Areas are always unlocked in numerical sequence.
This means Target area 1 must be unlocked before Target area 2, which must be unlocked before Target area 3, and so on.
Once an Area is Unlocked, it's Unlocked
Unlocking an area during a match cannot be undone.
As a scenario progresses and new interactivity areas are unlocked, they will remain unlocked for the duration of the scenario or mission.
Interactivity Area Appearance In-Game
In-game, a non-interactive area will appear to the player similar to the image below, with a floating icon indicating that the area is "Not Accessible."
This icon disappears and becomes standard Fog of War when the area becomes unlocked.
Interactivity Example
Below you can see an example of an interactivity map in use during a custom map scenario.
- The Uncovered area is where the player has access to at mission start.
- The Blue area is set to open after the scenario's first objective is completed.
- The Purple area across the river only opens up after the scenario's second objective is completed.
Painting Non-Interactive Areas
Non-interactive areas are painted onto a map using the Painter tool.
To paint a non-interactive zone onto your map, perform the following steps:
- Under Terrain in the Scenario Tree, select Interactivity Map.
- The Painter tool will then change to reflect Interactivity options. Set the Target to your desired area, set the Size of your brush.
- Begin painting with your selected brush settings.
- You may paint any as many areas onto your map as needed. Any areas you don't want players to have initial access at the start of the scenario should be painted with Target 1, with additional areas to be unlocked afterwards using higher Target numbers. To activate a painted area using a script, see Activating Non-Interactive Areas at the end of this guide.
Using the Fill Tool
If you wish, you may use the Fill tool to fill a defined area.
This tool will paint the selected Target area to completely fill the clicked-on area, which can be a quick way of completely painting an area, assuring no spaces are missed.
Activating Non-Interactive Areas
Once you have painted interactivity areas onto your map, you can key them to events, time, or objectives using a script.
In your script, you need to call the following function to unlock an area:
World_SetInteractionStage(TargetNumber)
Example of Non-Interactive Area Script
The example below shows this script in use, showing that when the "CharlesBadArmy" spawns, the interactivity area 3 will unlock.