v2.6

UPDATE: Made a change to the Anchor's spawning logic that should make it always drop into the "furthest-top-left" corner of the map. This should mean it is out of the way for the mission... hopefully.

Added the Anchor effect to the list of "Last Resort" effects that base game Ai uses to calculate valid targets. This should make the Anchor be one the -last- things in the Ai target tree- they should try to attack any other unit, before the Anchor.

v2.5

BUGFIX: Should fix an issue where the Anchor itself is considered dead or Out-of-Play before it is supposed to be. This was a rare bug caught by LordAbizi where he had the Anchor alive, but not found by the Manager! So the 'kill me' script section could never fire, and he had an unending mission ... ...

v2.4

BUGFIX: Hopefully fixes some of the issues with 2.3 ... like say ... removing the stasis effect so I can kill the unit ? Yeah, 2 steps forward, 1 step back ..

I also noticed my FactionAnchor on a mid-tactical save/load pulling all kinds of units on eTeam_None for some weird reason and thinking these units are alive and valid in the mission. Despite them not existing on the map prior to the mid-tactical save and not actually existing in the mission. Like WTF.
No idea where this issue has come from or how long it has been around, I don't normally do mid-tactical saves/load of any significance ... however I told the Anchor to ignore these units too.

Enabled logging by default again, just because it will make bug reporting easier. It's possible I'll forget to turn it off if things settle after this update. Feel free to do so yourself if you think you no longer need logging from this mod :)

~ Hopefully the last fix.. ha ha .. if only, something always comes up ... ... ...

v2.3

UPDATE: Added an exclusion for Unconscious units and a different check for MOCX Bleedout. In testing this fixes all issues with the mission not ending if Unconscious/MOCX bleedout are units left on the field. HOWEVER because of this you must make sure to try a capture/evac of these units before the last 'other' enemy is killed.

BUGFIX: Thanks to an idea from Mitzruti I have given the Anchor a mini-stasis effect. This helps it twofold to avoid taking damage and dying early and also and more crucially helps make third party units and 'target anything' perks NOT be able to target the Anchor ! (Hopefully)

~ Enjoy :)

v2.2

End of BETA:
This mod has now been stable since April 2021, with only a minor edit in July 2021.
I think the code is solid and working as intended as much as it can be, thus I'm lifting the BETA tag.

This change/update makes no actual changes, except for turning off logging by default.

v2.1

BUGFIX: Adjusted the BuildVis function of the anchor refresh ... this means the camera should no longer keep panning to the Faction Anchor on each new turn. Yeay!, Many thanks to p51douglas for helping with testing my fix :)

v2.0

:( I was hoping by the time we got to a version 2.0 all the little edge cases would be fixed, alas there are still some issues, maybe by the time we get to a 3.0, it is after all the magic number ....

BUGFIX: Made the Faction Anchor count as a 'large' unit. This has no effect on it for it's normal gameplay, but -does- mean things like the Warlock Teleport Ally and Viper Bind/Crush cannot target the Anchor. Many thanks to VoidLight for the bug report.

Also changed the Gameplay Visibility tag that is generated by the custom vanish effect. to "Vanish". This should mean it gets spotted by even less edge cases and all the places that exclude sight by using that tag should now do so, correctly.

Reverted the previous versions change to the Anchor 'Concealment'. This should stop those weird 'revealed' interactions.

Also, not an April Fools joke....

v1.9

BUGFIX: So this version makes the Faction Anchor now spawn into it's own pod, this should stop it from doing pod reveals early, for things like "narrative moments", also helps to sidestep issues on those resistance missions. Also means it doesn't teleport with its group, as its group no longer moves either' ... and it shouldn't affect the missions spawn groups/sizes as its added after those have been decided by normal logic ...
It still works exactly like it should. Many thanks to LordAbizi for reporting the issue.

v1.8

BUGFIX: The Faction Anchor is now immune to 'Unconscious' damage from the Beserker Queens Quake ability - thanks to RoseBomb for the report.

UPDATE: I have given the Anchor a boost from it's 1 health (to 42) as I witnessed it in KingTombs stream somehow dying by burning damage done by an AoE/Immolator .. despite being immune to fire ? This should give it some longetivity in these cases where it does get damaged, somehow.

I've also given it an unkillable effect that should it 'die or bleedout' earlier than intended it will instead have it's health topped back up to 42. It still dies correctly through code and the fallback options, should they be needed.

I made the 'vanish' effect grant the Anchor concealment at the start of the mission and refresh at the start of the turn. This effect also removes Scanning Protocol and Target Definition from the Anchor .... this should help it to hide better, I hope.

Changed the 'movement profile' to favour standing still ('Turret movement profile') so it should no longer try to move on its own with zero mobility, this should stop some log spam. It will still 'teleport' with it's group though...

v1.7

BUGFIX: Adds the Faction Anchor to the exclusion lists for the Priests Holy Warrior!!
Many thanks to Ripper150 and RoseBomb for reporting the issue...

Oh Man, just when I was hoping all the little bugs and edge cases had been caught... :)