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Shift + sieged tanks attack

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
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[Fin]Vittu
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada507 Posts
July 22 2008 03:57 GMT
#1
I joined a channel where some clanmates were talking about this "rumour" where if you have your tanks sieged up and ready to fight the goons, you hold shift and spam A+CLICK very rapidly on various oncoming goons, that your can damage a bigger area of the goons instead of all the tanks focus firing at one goon. I tried this against a UMS map i made It didn't work because the goons started scattering around the map...

Any pros want to give some insight as to whether this is true or not?
The "Finnish Metal Terran"
Pressure
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
7326 Posts
July 22 2008 03:59 GMT
#2
i think its true.. i have 12 tanks if you right click then shift-right click on 11 other goons all 12 tanks will hit 12 diff goons?
Cloud
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
Sexico5880 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-22 04:04:58
July 22 2008 04:02 GMT
#3
huh? it doesnt matter how fast you spam, you will actually focus on only one goon at a time lol. That or you gotta be really lucky that your tanks dont all fire at the same time.

I dont think its beneficial to target goons manually, only on small battles where the goons are clumped and you click on the middle one or groups or 2 or 3 tanks hitting on a high templar (or defiler before unsiegeing and retreating).

But in big battles i think its better to focus on the vultures more.
BlueLaguna on West, msg for game.
Cloud
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
Sexico5880 Posts
July 22 2008 04:06 GMT
#4
On July 22 2008 12:59 Pressure wrote:
i think its true.. i have 12 tanks if you right click then shift-right click on 11 other goons all 12 tanks will hit 12 diff goons?


No, they will hit all on 1 goon and when it dies they will switch to the next one you selected and so on.
BlueLaguna on West, msg for game.
Unbelievable237
Profile Joined July 2008
Korea (South)78 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-22 04:09:47
July 22 2008 04:07 GMT
#5
I believe this is true, SHIFT+A will make the tanks shoot at a dragoon and will keep shooting in the order you clicked Shift+A to.

For example: 12 tanks vs. 12 Dragoons

If I order 2 of my tanks to attack dragoon#1 and shift+A click to Dragoon#2 and Dragoon#3 the tanks would fire at Dragoon#2 after they kill Dragoon#1 or they should. I tried this it works, and you should always try to use this tactic since it turns the battle to your favour, its better than all the tanks shooting at the same Dragoon and then just randomly shooting at other Dragoons, Siege tanks' cooldown is slow, so you want to make everything count starting with the first shot
지고나서 후회하지말자 - 임요환
merz
Profile Blog Joined July 2004
Sweden2760 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-22 05:33:35
July 22 2008 05:29 GMT
#6
It's true.

You can't shift+a stack up commands with tanks, however, if you spam shift+a over a group of goons (lets say 12) the fire will be spread out more, thus dealing better splashdamage. It's pretty good to use in a fastpush when there's only goons and a shuttle with zeals in the way. The tanks immidiately goes back to firing how they want as soon as you stop spamming shift+a on the goons though.

EDIT:

On July 22 2008 13:07 Unbelievable237 wrote:
I believe this is true, SHIFT+A will make the tanks shoot at a dragoon and will keep shooting in the order you clicked Shift+A to.

For example: 12 tanks vs. 12 Dragoons

If I order 2 of my tanks to attack dragoon#1 and shift+A click to Dragoon#2 and Dragoon#3 the tanks would fire at Dragoon#2 after they kill Dragoon#1 or they should. I tried this it works, and you should always try to use this tactic since it turns the battle to your favour, its better than all the tanks shooting at the same Dragoon and then just randomly shooting at other Dragoons, Siege tanks' cooldown is slow, so you want to make everything count starting with the first shot


Doesn't work like that with tanks.

On July 22 2008 13:06 Cloud wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 22 2008 12:59 Pressure wrote:
i think its true.. i have 12 tanks if you right click then shift-right click on 11 other goons all 12 tanks will hit 12 diff goons?


No, they will hit all on 1 goon and when it dies they will switch to the next one you selected and so on.


No, The fire will be spread but the tanks won't queue up attacks, so you need to keep spamming. Not sure if you'll spread it on 11 different goons though, and who has the accuracy to click 11 out of 12 goons if you are in a battle anyways? ;o
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
July 22 2008 05:34 GMT
#7
it is most likely related to some of your tanks being out of range of your intial attack command as well, hence the ones that are out o frange will attack the 2nd or 3rd target in your "queue" (which isnt really a queue but w/e we'll call it that for this purpose)
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States43814 Posts
July 22 2008 05:38 GMT
#8
Surely target firing is far less important when your unit does 70 fucking damage anyway and it splashes. In fact, it's bordering on counterproductive.
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
Reflex
Profile Joined March 2007
Canada703 Posts
July 22 2008 07:15 GMT
#9
On July 22 2008 14:38 Kwark wrote:
Surely target firing is far less important when your unit does 70 fucking damage anyway and it splashes. In fact, it's bordering on counterproductive.


Listen to this man of reason!
b_unnies
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
3579 Posts
July 22 2008 07:18 GMT
#10
i think it benefits more to lay down some extra mines with those actions
Ghostly123
Profile Joined July 2008
Australia4 Posts
July 22 2008 09:13 GMT
#11
If it did work, It would be quite a good idea.
But I don't think it can, unless you select each tank indiviually and shift+a on a different starting unit for each tank then moving to the other goons..
Which is almost the same as just using A..
Braindrill.
JoxxOr
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Sweden1502 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-22 09:23:57
July 22 2008 09:18 GMT
#12
On July 22 2008 18:13 Ghostly123 wrote:
If it did work, It would be quite a good idea.
But I don't think it can, unless you select each tank indiviually and shift+a on a different starting unit for each tank then moving to the other goons..
Which is almost the same as just using A..

-.-

You got it all wrong. You can select a GROUP of tanks then SHIFT click and A on 3 different dragoons. This will make them attack these 3 goons before doing something else (Like shooting zeals which is bad).

Seriously, all Terrans who are just starting out must read Dazes guide about the three different matchups (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=49681).

Here he mentions this:

If you hotkey your tanks in this situation, at least 12 of them and they are in somewhat of the same range as the others. Try to select and attack some goon in the middle and then press down shift while spam on all goons you can see. This has really helped me alot in tvp, especielly when its pretty small fights like 15 goons + a couple of zealots vs 6 tanks or so, and a lot of vultures.
Now your tanks wont kill each other and the vultures will most definitly kill off zelots since they are not even in the range of goons.

This shift + attack thing will probably take you some time to get used to but it can really help you, trust me ^^
As a terran you will almost ALWAYS win if your first attack / push succeeds pretty well. If the protoss dont attack you, dont be eager and make some desperate attack, just expand yourself and look out for recall + eventually carriers!

Gör om, gör rätt
Flakes
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States3125 Posts
July 22 2008 12:57 GMT
#13
Purpose of queueing attacks on goons is to direct fire away from zealots
merz
Profile Blog Joined July 2004
Sweden2760 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-22 13:16:49
July 22 2008 13:13 GMT
#14
And dealing as much splash damage as possible. And for the last time, It's impossible to queue up targets with siege tanks. You'll need to spam shift + a in order to make them spread their fire.

The computer-AI takes over the second you stop spamming shift+a.
Winners never quit, quitters never win.
hunter3
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United States155 Posts
July 29 2008 00:08 GMT
#15
Every time you hit shift + a, tanks reacquire your new target. If they don't fire at the same time and you click fast enough, this has the illusion of making your tanks spread fire around. The same effect can be seen with spamming "A" attack or right click. There are MUCH better things to do with your time though...

P.S.... TvP is a complex match-up and shooting at zealots is not ALWAYS a bad thing... zealots can clump and suck splash much harder than dragoons do, and zealots also deal more per second to tanks than the goons
prOxi.swAMi
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
Australia3091 Posts
July 29 2008 00:32 GMT
#16
On July 29 2008 09:08 hunter3 wrote:
Every time you hit shift + a, tanks reacquire your new target. If they don't fire at the same time and you click fast enough, this has the illusion of making your tanks spread fire around. The same effect can be seen with spamming "A" attack or right click. There are MUCH better things to do with your time though...

P.S.... TvP is a complex match-up and shooting at zealots is not ALWAYS a bad thing... zealots can clump and suck splash much harder than dragoons do, and zealots also deal more per second to tanks than the goons

Oh no
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-29 00:46:39
July 29 2008 00:41 GMT
#17

Surely target firing is far less important when your unit does 70 fucking damage anyway and it splashes. In fact, it's bordering on counterproductive.

I thought the purpose was that so your spread out tanks are shooting at the dragoons and not the zealots making you do splash damage to yourself. I believe it's in DaZe's strategy guide.


If you hotkey your tanks in this situation, at least 12 of them and they are in somewhat of the same range as the others. Try to select and attack some goon in the middle and then press down shift while spam on all goons you can see. This has really helped me alot in tvp, especielly when its pretty small fights like 15 goons + a couple of zealots vs 6 tanks or so, and a lot of vultures.
Now your tanks wont kill each other and the vultures will most definitly kill off zelots since they are not even in the range of goons.

This shift + attack thing will probably take you some time to get used to but it can really help you, trust me ^^
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
Leath
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
Canada1724 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-29 00:48:38
July 29 2008 00:47 GMT
#18
On July 22 2008 13:06 Cloud wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 22 2008 12:59 Pressure wrote:
i think its true.. i have 12 tanks if you right click then shift-right click on 11 other goons all 12 tanks will hit 12 diff goons?


No, they will hit all on 1 goon and when it dies they will switch to the next one you selected and so on.


Nope. Shift simply does nothing for siege tanks.

Say there is a pylon and a nexus.

If you click the pylon, then shift+right click the nexus what will happen is that the tanks will start shooting at the nexus right away!!!

Shift doesnt work for sieged tanks, I tried many times.
If they spread shot was pure luck, they do have a pretty quick AI not to fire multiple shots on dead units, a bit like marines.
http://www.kongregate.com/?referrer=Sagess
NatsuTerran
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States364 Posts
July 29 2008 02:52 GMT
#19
On July 29 2008 09:47 Leath wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 22 2008 13:06 Cloud wrote:
On July 22 2008 12:59 Pressure wrote:
i think its true.. i have 12 tanks if you right click then shift-right click on 11 other goons all 12 tanks will hit 12 diff goons?


No, they will hit all on 1 goon and when it dies they will switch to the next one you selected and so on.


Nope. Shift simply does nothing for siege tanks.

Say there is a pylon and a nexus.

If you click the pylon, then shift+right click the nexus what will happen is that the tanks will start shooting at the nexus right away!!!

Shift doesnt work for sieged tanks, I tried many times.
If they spread shot was pure luck, they do have a pretty quick AI not to fire multiple shots on dead units, a bit like marines.


QFT.

DaZe's guide isn't some kind of empirical proof. I have done many tests on this firsthand. I don't understand how people say it spreads out fire. When you issue a new shift command, ALL tanks will immediately change to the newest target as if you just right clicked it. This causes them all to waste shots on a single unit instead of spreading out. Shift Deselecting your own tanks, however, is a possible way to spread fire just like spreading lockdowns.

And about the tanks not hitting zealots. What do you think would hapopen when you are constantly spamming a standard attack command on every goon? And if you were to issue a set of shift clicks only once, they'd simply kill the last goon you clicked and then go straight back to splashing zeals.
HeavOnEarth
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States7087 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-07-29 03:17:55
July 29 2008 03:16 GMT
#20
eh the shift never worked for me lol

im pretty sure i know how to use the shift command properly ;
but TBH even if it did work...
i would rather macro or lay mines /send reinforcements

unless its like a little skirmish IN WHICH...
i might still just macro and send reinforcements lol;

"come korea next time... FXO house... 10 korean, 10 korean"
ramen247
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States1256 Posts
July 29 2008 03:34 GMT
#21
just clone the tanks instead.
i hate this ugly firebat. i want a marine.
HeavOnEarth
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States7087 Posts
July 29 2008 03:39 GMT
#22
cloning tanks oo; arduous task with minimal results usually, tanks tend to splash more enemy units usually ;o
"come korea next time... FXO house... 10 korean, 10 korean"
coltrane
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Chile988 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-01 17:01:46
August 01 2008 17:01 GMT
#23
isnt this the reason why pro terrans put in a line one behind the other formation their tanks against goons when having not so many vults, and spread them in parallel line when having vults to support them? to avoid overkill?
Jävla skit
IdrA
Profile Blog Joined July 2004
United States11541 Posts
August 01 2008 17:09 GMT
#24
shift clicking with sieged tanks is useless, just spamming right clicks on different goons would accomplish the same thing, but its still not the best thing to do.

as they charge in you want to target your first tank shot(s if you're fast enough to select multiple smaller groups of tanks in time, or have them hotkeyed) at clumps of zealots and then go through and target groups of tanks on clumps of goons throughout the battle. its the most important thing to do, for the most part you should just let your vultures be except for sniping ht's, if possible. vultures should be positioned around the front of your tanks,but not too far forward, to kill the zeals and absorb goon fire.
http://www.splitreason.com/product/1152 release the gracken tshirt now available
.kaz
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
1963 Posts
August 01 2008 17:29 GMT
#25
On August 02 2008 02:09 IdrA wrote:
shift clicking with sieged tanks is useless, just spamming right clicks on different goons would accomplish the same thing, but its still not the best thing to do.

as they charge in you want to target your first tank shot(s if you're fast enough to select multiple smaller groups of tanks in time, or have them hotkeyed) at clumps of zealots and then go through and target groups of tanks on clumps of goons throughout the battle. its the most important thing to do, for the most part you should just let your vultures be except for sniping ht's, if possible. vultures should be positioned around the front of your tanks,but not too far forward, to kill the zeals and absorb goon fire.


Thanks a lot idra~
Please visit the strat forum more <3
Teach us all there is to know and anything new you learn :D
Pressure - "rock is the defender of justice" 이병민 / 박영민 Hwaiting~
starcraft911
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Korea (South)1263 Posts
August 01 2008 17:44 GMT
#26
You can do it w/ just right click... don't need to A+click.. hold shift rclickrclickrclick.. It only works if your tanks are staggared in their shot rotation. If all tanks firing at the same time i think they will all overshot the same one wasting dmg potential.
GeneralZap
Profile Joined January 2008
United States172 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-08-01 23:21:13
August 01 2008 18:36 GMT
#27
That's why you need to put seige tanks in strategic positions. 4 front lines, 2-3 mid lines, and 4 end lines for instance. I once killed about 16 various troops and about 4 goliaths and 2 tanks with continuous fire and a sweeper scan, shooting over a pretty long wall.

Not one shot hit any of my seige tanks. This was a computer though, a smart person would have also used seige tanks, but not as well as I did.
Death has lost its sting.
Ban.didaS
Profile Joined July 2008
5 Posts
August 01 2008 21:25 GMT
#28
On July 22 2008 18:18 JoxxOr wrote:
Seriously, all Terrans who are just starting out must read Dazes guide about the three different matchups (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=49681).

tnx a lot for the link, because I was searching for this guide, but I forgot the name of the author ^^;
could you remove this account? no use any more
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