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! [Q] Dark swarm question - Page 2

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
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Malmis
Profile Blog Joined May 2003
Sweden1569 Posts
Last Edited: 2007-10-18 18:44:22
April 16 2006 23:54 GMT
#21
IIRC its like this:
The only thing a swarm does is making the projectile hit the ground 1 matrix(or something) infront of the unit, instead of hitting the unit.
So basically if you're trying to hit a lurker under a swarm with a tank, it will hit the ground 1 matrix infront of the lurker. Now if there had been another unit 1 matrix infront of the lurker, the other unit would have tanken full damge.
To Suport@Bethsoft.com: okay so i completed morrowind.. um, can i have my life back now?
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12249 Posts
April 16 2006 23:55 GMT
#22
There seems to be some discrepancy with the answers here.

Archons and Siege Tanks ordinarily deal only their splash damage, like people have said. However, the thing to remember is that every shot that Dark Swarm deflects will land in the exact same location every time depending on the location of the attacking unit. So, it's predictable where the shots will land, and that means with proper targeting you can force shots to land in certain places. For example, Dark Swarm will always cause shots to fall short by about 0.5 matrices. This is the same radius as the Archon's 1/4 splash ring and the Siege Tank's 1/2 splash ring. That means that any unit attacked by a Siege Tank or Archon will suffer this amount of damage, yet the shots will always land in the same place.

To extrapolate, let's say that there is a unit who is standing 0.5 matrices behind the intended target relevant to the direction of the attacking unit. This second unit will receive only splash damage because Dark Swarm causes the shot to fall short, but the intended target will receive full damage because Dark Swarm is causing the fire to land directly on it. We have already stipulated that burrowed units do not take damage from splash, which is why Lurkers are especially effective. However, given that the shot trajectory in terms of Dark Swarm is predictable, even a Lurker would receive full direct damage based on this fact.

Also, the SCC is wrong. Worker units deal zero damage under Swarm.

Firebats will deal their full damage because their attack is line splash damage, the same principle as Lurkers. That means that as long as the unit is stationary, the shot can never miss. Even though they're a terrible, awful attempted counter to Lurkers, if you've got enough of something... =]
Moderator
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12249 Posts
April 16 2006 23:56 GMT
#23
I hate you Malmis for saying exactly what I said one minute before me. You made an error though, the same thing I almost said and I had to edit it - "Now if there had been another unit 1 matrix infront of the lurker, it would have tanken full damge." You mean if the unit was behind the Lurker =]
Moderator
ShabZzoY!
Profile Joined July 2004
Great Britain760 Posts
April 17 2006 00:28 GMT
#24
On April 17 2006 07:04 Overlord wrote:
Thanks for your answers, everything is clear now

Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 07:01 ShabZzoY! wrote:
if theres loads of lurkers close together then some of them will die from missed shots on others

its very strange


This is not true, only if some of them are unborrowed.



Actually it is true, so dont be so sure of yourself
Overlord
Profile Joined May 2003
Romania651 Posts
April 17 2006 01:06 GMT
#25
On April 17 2006 09:28 ShabZzoY! wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 07:04 Overlord wrote:
Thanks for your answers, everything is clear now

On April 17 2006 07:01 ShabZzoY! wrote:
if theres loads of lurkers close together then some of them will die from missed shots on others

its very strange


This is not true, only if some of them are unborrowed.



Actually it is true, so dont be so sure of yourself


You're right, when I first tested it, I always targeted the closest lurker to the tanks.
God is dead - Nietzsche ; Nietzsche is dead - God
skyglow1
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
New Zealand3962 Posts
April 17 2006 06:19 GMT
#26
On April 17 2006 04:46 ther wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 02:52 Overlord wrote:
The following units are able to damage units underneath a Dark Swarm with their normal attacks:

Terrans: Siege Tanks in Siege Mode

but again, we all know siege tanks don't damage under swarm, so maybe in a later patch, they did change that to an exception?

maybe, if the tank and its enemy are under the same swarm, the tank do a normal damage (which, as you know, is not always certainly 70dmg)


What? Tanks hardly do anywhere near their full damage under swarm, thats why you don't pwn everything under swarm that quickly.
aseq
Profile Joined January 2003
Netherlands4015 Posts
April 17 2006 06:57 GMT
#27
On April 17 2006 08:04 Cascade wrote:
This seams logic to me, but I'm not sure that is how it works... will a single zergling be invulnerable from 2385 tanks and 657 archons if it's alone?


Yes, this is correct to my knowledge.
inkblot
Profile Joined December 2004
United States1250 Posts
April 17 2006 08:05 GMT
#28
Pretty sure firebat is considered melee, or like a lurker as Excal said. The reason bats do so little damage to burrowed lurkers under swarm is because lurkers aren't small units, so bats always do less damage regardless of swarm. It might have to do with being burrowed, I'm not sure which. In any case, lurkers will slaughter bats.
skyglow1
Profile Blog Joined April 2005
New Zealand3962 Posts
April 17 2006 08:53 GMT
#29
On April 17 2006 15:57 aseq wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 08:04 Cascade wrote:
This seams logic to me, but I'm not sure that is how it works... will a single zergling be invulnerable from 2385 tanks and 657 archons if it's alone?


Yes, this is correct to my knowledge.


Not if you unsiege a tank and put it beside the zergling and focus fire on the tank lol.
Excalibur_Z
Profile Joined October 2002
United States12249 Posts
April 17 2006 09:59 GMT
#30
On April 17 2006 15:57 aseq wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 08:04 Cascade wrote:
This seams logic to me, but I'm not sure that is how it works... will a single zergling be invulnerable from 2385 tanks and 657 archons if it's alone?


Yes, this is correct to my knowledge.


No, the Zergling would take splash damage from either unit, and die under normal circumstances from 5 Archon shots or 3 Tank shots, factoring in regeneration. However, if it was burrowed, it would take no damage.
Moderator
Camila_br
Profile Joined April 2004
Brazil529 Posts
April 17 2006 10:22 GMT
#31
firebats are melee with concussive/splash damage
lurkers are big units
concussive damage deals 25% of the damage in big units, 50% in medium and 100% in small

that's why lurkers take so little damage from firebats. this have nothing to do with dark swarm
"Do you really want chat rooms?"
ubergamer15
Profile Joined January 2005
United States645 Posts
April 17 2006 11:01 GMT
#32
On April 17 2006 17:53 skyglow1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 15:57 aseq wrote:
On April 17 2006 08:04 Cascade wrote:
This seams logic to me, but I'm not sure that is how it works... will a single zergling be invulnerable from 2385 tanks and 657 archons if it's alone?


Yes, this is correct to my knowledge.


Not if you unsiege a tank and put it beside the zergling and focus fire on the tank lol.

Yay for splash damage!
An optimist sees the glass half-full. A pessimist sees the glass half-empty. An engineer sees a waste of half a glass.
CubEdIn
Profile Blog Joined April 2006
Romania5359 Posts
April 17 2006 11:06 GMT
#33
Camila is right, check battle.net for exact statistics. Firebats have a range of 3 matrixes but have to be standing right next to the unit to fire, so it's considered melee. It's attack is concussive liniar splash, so it will do damage to 3 matrixes on the line of fire, with the procentages Camilla provided. When targeting lurkers they WILL take damage because of the melee attack that does work under DS.

Tanks: Do radial explosive splash damage. Splash damage IS effective under swarm but NOT effective vs burrowed units. Explosive attacks deal 50% to small units, 75% to medium-sized units and 100% to large units. Ergo, lurkers won't take direct damage because of swarm nor will they take splash damage because of burrow-ness However shooting at other units above lurkers works, provided u have good placement. Did you notice lukers are VERY hard to kill with siege tanks on cliffs? it's because when you're below the cliff u have 30% (or was it 33%?) chance of a successfull hit, which means that if you don't DIRECTLY hit a lurker it will only be succeptible to splash damage. If it's burrowed it got away from that as well.
However I never seen what happens when lurkers are bunched together. Perhaps some will take direct hit and die. I think that's true because i have seen lurkers die under DS without any units on top of them.

For unit statistics check http://www.battle.net/scc/terran/ustats.shtml (links to protoss and zerg from that page too).

Bottom line: if you're terran and u see dark swarm keep away. If you HAVE to kill it use scv/medic on top of them and aim tanks at your units. If there are too many lurkers and you're losing the game if you don't kill them press enter type in g then g then press enter agian and the keys ALT q and q in quick succession.
Im not a n00b, I just play like one.
red.venom
Profile Joined October 2002
United States4651 Posts
April 17 2006 12:23 GMT
#34
Yeah but T just irradiates your shit so you cant keep pressing forward with defiler and lets their hilariously massive marine+medic force with high upgrades wipe you you. Its only really poor Terrans who would complain about swarm. ; [
Broom
Cascade
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
Australia5405 Posts
April 17 2006 15:13 GMT
#35
ok, now I am confused...

So burrowed units do not take splash damage under swarm, is that correct? But then a lurker would be immune to enemy lurkers under swarm, as they both are burrowed and deal only splash damage?

But without swarm it does take damage, otherwise the shoot-your-own-zealot-with-an-archon wouldn't work? And the same trick does not work under swarm then I guess....
So then what about the uphill lurker example: Do they take splash damage? If no: why not?

lololol
Profile Joined February 2006
5198 Posts
Last Edited: 2006-04-19 16:48:52
April 17 2006 17:23 GMT
#36
Well, apparently nobody knows, so I'll explain...

Burrowed units take only 100% damage splash. If they are in the 25% or 50% zone they will take no damage at all. You can test it even with a nuke - burrowed units near the end of the damage zone will take no damage at all, while unburrowed will.

Dark Swarm makes range units attack infront of the target, so units with no splash attack don't hit their target at all.

Reaver's scarab is a melee unit, so it doesn't effect it(Something interesting - if you press stop on a reaver, which has a scarab on the field, the scarab will explode dealing no damage).
Firebats deal most of their damage with their 100% splash, so they deal damage to burrowed units under swarm, they also deal line splash and fire exactly at the target, not infront of it.
Lurkers also can't really fire infront of their target, so they always hit and they deal all of their damage in 100% splash.
Tanks won't hit a burrowed lurker thay are aiming at, because the 100% damage zone does not reach the target(the radii on their 100% splash is 10, they normally hit a bit infront of their target and Dark Swarm makes them hit even more off)
High Archons as Siege Tanks can't hit the burrowed unit they are aiming at(under swarm), their 100% damage splash zone has a radii of 3 and they attack infront of their target, if they are too close to it, the actuall attack sprite will appear behind the archon or on top of it.

I have tested this multiple times and it is absolutely correct.
I'll call Nada.
lololol
Profile Joined February 2006
5198 Posts
Last Edited: 2006-04-17 17:56:26
April 17 2006 17:37 GMT
#37
On April 17 2006 19:22 Camila_br wrote:
firebats are melee with concussive/splash damage
lurkers are big units
concussive damage deals 25% of the damage in big units, 50% in medium and 100% in small

that's why lurkers take so little damage from firebats. this have nothing to do with dark swarm


Lurker size IS medium, not large, but you are right about swarm not having effect on a firebat attacking a burrowed lurker.
Lurkers also due to their collsion size, not armor type size, often take damage from the three damage points of the firebat attack(the firebat's attack is actually three little splash attacks in a line infront of him, each dealing 8 damage in it's 100% damage zone), so they take:
3 hits by 8 damage, which is reduced to 7 by the 1 point of armor and divided by 2 due to medium armor size of the lurkers = 10.5 damage taken(when there are no upgrades or equal upgrades for firebat attack/lurker armor).
It depends on the angle of attack, so sometimes the lurker will take damage only from 2 of the damage points in the firebats attack and it will be just 7 damage.
I'll call Nada.
Camila_br
Profile Joined April 2004
Brazil529 Posts
April 17 2006 20:39 GMT
#38
On April 18 2006 02:37 lololol wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 17 2006 19:22 Camila_br wrote:
firebats are melee with concussive/splash damage
lurkers are big units
concussive damage deals 25% of the damage in big units, 50% in medium and 100% in small

that's why lurkers take so little damage from firebats. this have nothing to do with dark swarm


Lurker size IS medium, not large, but you are right about swarm not having effect on a firebat attacking a burrowed lurker.
Lurkers also due to their collsion size, not armor type size, often take damage from the three damage points of the firebat attack(the firebat's attack is actually three little splash attacks in a line infront of him, each dealing 8 damage in it's 100% damage zone), so they take:
3 hits by 8 damage, which is reduced to 7 by the 1 point of armor and divided by 2 due to medium armor size of the lurkers = 10.5 damage taken(when there are no upgrades or equal upgrades for firebat attack/lurker armor).
It depends on the angle of attack, so sometimes the lurker will take damage only from 2 of the damage points in the firebats attack and it will be just 7 damage.


http://www.battle.net/scc/zerg/units/lurker.shtml
they are large, not medium
"Do you really want chat rooms?"
ShabZzoY!
Profile Joined July 2004
Great Britain760 Posts
April 17 2006 20:43 GMT
#39

http://www.battle.net/scc/zerg/units/lurker.shtml
they are large, not medium


Tell me, do lurkers die to 2 tank hits in your games?
Oh wait, they dont. Oh wait, you are talking shit.
Camila_br
Profile Joined April 2004
Brazil529 Posts
Last Edited: 2006-04-17 21:05:21
April 17 2006 21:04 GMT
#40
tell that to blizzard, kthxbye
"Do you really want chat rooms?"
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