Problem with loops

Questions & Answers
1

I’m somewhat new to javascript and I wanted to make this script so when the enemy enter one trigger, the enemy starts to chase you, and when he enters another trigger, you lose
a percentage of health every 3 seconds. I got most of it to work, except, when the enemy enters the ‘EnemyAttackZone’, the attack loop continues so fast that the player health is instantly dropped to zero. I’d really appreciate the help…

var attacking : boolean;
var WhichEnemy : GameObject;

function Update () {
	
		Attack();
	}



function OnTriggerStay (col : Collider) {
	if(col.gameObject.tag == "DetectionZone") {
		GetComponent(AIFollow).enabled = true;
		}
	if(col.gameObject.tag == "EnemyAttackZone") {
		attacking = true;
		}
	}
function OnTriggerExit (col : Collider) {
	if(col.gameObject.tag == "DetectionZone") {
		GetComponent(AIFollow).enabled = false;
		}
	if(col.gameObject.tag == "EnemyAttackZone") {
		attacking = false;
	
	

			}
			}


function Attack () {
 
        
                yield WaitForSeconds(3);
 
                if(attacking == true) {
                        playerHealth.curHealth -= 1;
                }
               
        }
2

You’re calling Attack once per frame in Update; each of those calls will start a new coroutine that waits three seconds, checks if you’re “attacking”, and removes some player health. Supposing you run at 60 frames per second, that means you’ll be creating 60 new Attack coroutines per second, and they’ll all run.

What you probably want is something that starts one Attack once the enemy is near the player. It looks like you could use OnTriggerEnter?

You didn’t say as much, but I get the feeling that you want your monster to stop attacking if/when the player gets out of range? If so, you should probably stop whatever is about to call the attack.

For something this simple, it’s probably easier to use Invoke:

function OnTriggerEnter(col : Collider) {
	Invoke("Attack", 3);
    //alternative: InvokeRepeating("Attack", 3, 3);
}

function OnTriggerExit(col : Collider) {
	CancelInvoke("Attack");
}

function Attack() {
	playerHealth.curHealth -= 1;
}

If you need more control than that, it would probably be easier to build a timer rather than relying on coroutines. They’re handy tools, but if you need to communicate with and control whatever you’re calling, they’re not always a good fit.