Destroy() complications

I am developing an rts game where a unit is killed when HP==0. So my problem is that when I call Destroy() the unit is destroyed on the end of the frame and I fear that in this period between Destroy() and actual object destruction I may get some bad interaction.

A unit can interact:
1)by player clicking on it;
2)with OnTriggerEnter() with another unit, where a UI window opens.

How can I be sure that such interaction is imposible in that gap between Destroy() and actual destruction??

 

Well, you could just DestroyImmediate() instead.

 

I tried it and while it works documentation suggests against using DestroyImmediate(). I also read somewhere in the forums that it is used for editor code, I have no clue though as to why we should avoid it.

 

Hmm, you're right, the docs are rather grumpy on the topic. I think they're exaggerating. I've used DestroyImmediate and have never seen any reason to believe that it is buggy or dangerous, beyond the obvious issue that it destroys the object immediately, so any references you have to it will become invalid.

But anyway, the alternative is to put a flag on your object marking it as condemned, and check that flag before you do anything with it in those interaction routines.

 

And in practice, you may want destroyed objects to exist for a second or two during a death animation. Then you really have to add a dead flag, or an "isDead()" test, or remove it from the list of alive units. Any "yes I can see it, but is it alive?" check.

You'd think you'd destroy it and replace it with a dead prefab, but you may have particle systems coming from it, or arms/legs/turrets at funny angles and so on. Replicating that in the dead version is a pain (and having a "snap" from alive to dead only looks cool the first 20 times.) I've even used the original to die, then removed the script, colliders and rigidbody, changed the layers, to turn it into rubble.

 

Ok I used a flag so a dead unit can no longer interact with the rest of the game. Thanks for the help!