Ok, so basically I have four variables. Those variables will be changing throughout the game (always to whole numbers).
The four variables align with four costumes in a sprite. At the beginning of the game, I have the sprite set to clone each costume the proper number of times for it to match the variable. I've also created seperate variables just for keeping track of the number of clones of each costume.
I run into my problem after the variables start changing. I'm unsure of how to get the clones to keep up with the variables without accidentally deleting all the clones or creating a small army. As far as I know, there's no way to command a single clone to delete while commanding another to duplicate, and to make the matter worse I have to differentiate the clones in each costume.
I would prefer not to share the game unless absolutely necessary, though I'd be happy to clarify if something was unclear.
Thank you in advance for any help.

So you want an identifier for each clone, create a variable as “for this sprite only” and set it at the moment a clone start

when I start as a clone
set [cloneID v] to []//set to whatever, a number perhaps

when I receive [delete clone v]
if <(cloneID) = []> then
delete this clone
end

Ok, I think I get how that would help me keep track of the different costumes, but I'm still not sure how to keep them matched to their variables. Theoretically, if I assigned a clone ID of 1 to each clone with the first costume, then told it to “delete this clone” if the variable is greater than the clone number, wouldn't it delete all of the clones with that ID?
Also, wouldn't the variable change every time I assigned an ID to a new clone, thus resulting in only one clone being identifiable?

Do not name equal all the clones for a same costume.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/137925288/#editor see Sprite2

-gaIaxy wrote:

Also, wouldn't the variable change every time I assigned an ID to a new clone, thus resulting in only one clone being identifiable?

Like this… ID is a local variable, not global…

set [ID v] to [0]
repeat (3)
change [ID v] by (1)
create clone of [myself v]
end

This results in 3 clones, one with ID=1, one with ID=2, and one with ID=3. Remember ID is a LOCAL variable so it is different for each clone.