What's the deal with Shock Tower Targeting?

6 replies [Last post]

Wed, 09/16/2009 - 22:03

Elysium

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Joined: 09/10/2009

Even if you have a whole group of level 7 Shock towers, creeps can get by without getting hit. The Shocks all stack to a few creeps and simply ignore others as they go flying by, even if they are closer to that tower. This behavior seems very different from the original, and though I don't want the shocks to be as powerful as they were post-update in the original (could slow all the creeps to a standstill with a few towers), I would like to be able to predict how they are going to work, rather than just randomly seeing creeps go by uneffected when they should be getting hit because the towers are ignoring them for some reason. Can you explain the exact targeting AI for the shock towers?

Thu, 09/17/2009 - 02:58

GO GO Gadget PWN

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Joined: 09/03/2009

This was driving me crazy.

This was driving me crazy. To have a star creep randomly go hurtling through a field of level seven shock towers. One way I've found to compensate is to have some lower-level shock towers opposite my upgraded ones to slow down creeps so they have time to get caught by my higher tower shock towers. Once they're caught, they're caught for good -- but if they fly past you're screwed.

It's not always possible and not exactly an answer to your question but hope it helps

Thu, 09/17/2009 - 03:52

iPhil

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Joined: 09/15/2009

Spread 'em

I've found that if you spread the level 7 shock towers apart from each other, rather than having them in one clump, they work much better and catch all of the creeps eventually. The reason being that when they're clumped together, they have a tendency to go after the same creeps, like you've mentioned, for whatever random or calculated reason, without any regard the their speed.

good luck! ;)

Thu, 09/17/2009 - 13:07

GO GO Gadget PWN

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Joined: 09/03/2009

Nice! Never thought of

Nice! Never thought of doing that. Much more cost/time/space effective than my method!

I wonder if thump towers would make useful spacers? We'll find a good use for those little buggers eventually . . . lol.

Thu, 09/17/2009 - 16:30

nsxdavid

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Joined: 08/05/2009

Shock Towers

I'll look into the shock tower thing. I know that really fast creeps will get into and out of a given shock tower's range faster than it can lock on... which is intentional. But that may not be what's going on here since having them all together and spaced out wouldn't seem to be a factor if that was the reason.

Thu, 10/22/2009 - 21:03

Azewaldo

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Joined: 10/08/2009

It has to do with how shock towers target creeps

I noticed this, and have a theory for it. It has to do with the way that the AI/algorithm targets creeps: towers always seem to target the first creep they see, and continue to target that one creep until it is destroyed or moves out of range. Shock towers do the same, so that the first creep that comes along will get targeted by all the shock towers in the clump, and continue to shock that one creep as all the others fly by. That's why they behave differently when strung out, since the first creep gets slowed down, and the next one zooms past to get caught by the next tower. It would be nice if the shock towers would target the fastest creep within range, so that when a faster one tries to shoot past it would be targeted.

This targeting method bugs me sometimes -- because it's not always optimal -- but most especially with shock towers for this reason.

Fri, 10/23/2009 - 05:05

n00beta

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Joined: 10/23/2009

100% correct

This "theory" is 100% correct. It is possible to account for it with the positioning of your towers. Whether or not it was intended to be like that I dont know, but as-is its a challenging part of the game and serves a clear purpose in my opinion.

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