[Beta 12] Certain super fast towers = creep stuttering

[Karawasa]

I noticed(Vigi- had pointed it out, and I tested) that really fast attacking towers that utilize the damage detection system(i.e. towers whose attack causes some triggered event) cause the creeps to stutter badly if used in number. For instance, 10 Quarks(0.15 speed) causes some of the creeps to come to a halt for no reason. I found the same deal with 10 Zealots(at or near max), although not as bad. Laser(0.31 speed) for some reason only causes a very minor stutter with 10 of them out.

I'm posting this to see if anyone else has experienced this. From my experience it looks like 0.31 speed and above is safe, so perhaps I shall make Quark 0.31 speed, and Zealot starting at 1(instead of 0.66). They would be buffed accordingly.

[jolin012]

That is very true and appears quite often, if you watched that electron replay where they kept max dmg you could see that after having 10 of them the creeps would get completely stunned by those electrons.

I have also abused Zealout's stun for my ronald hunts, so this is rather well known. also existed in 3.0

[Karawasa]

Thankfully the problem was made manageable by Cohadar back during the previous beta cycle. Before changing over to his system, ANY fast attacking tower caused this(I can elaborate more if anyone is interested). Now it is just those towers that specifically detect damage when they attack.

If it is just Quark and Zealot then there is no cause for concern, as I can make the changes noted earlier.

Also, I am surprised that I was out of the loop about Zealot. I knew this problem existed but thought I had eliminated it back in the previous beta cycle. Good thing Quark started bugging, as now I know and can fix both.

Should note that there was no damage detection system in 3.0, were you thinking about Gem Tower?

[Cisz]

I managed to stun ronalds with waterfalled sub zeroes, so the bug (or a similiar one) was present in 3.0.

[Twilice]

So that was what was happening when I played with jolin012 last time, I thought it lagged so much that they started clumping

But it were just electron slowing them, so yes I have seen it.

[Karawasa]

So that was what was happening when I played with jolin012 last time, I thought it lagged so much that they started clumping

Actually your first thought was correct. Towers that use the damage detection system require processing unlike normal towers. Therefore an extremely high attack speed(Quark, maxed Zealot) combined with massing causes a lot of performance strain. This results in the stuttering amongst creeps. By making Quark 0.31 attack speed and Zealot 1.0, we are cutting the processing required in half in each case.

[DDRKirby(ISQ)]

yeah i have noticed that with the new quark a lot. I haven't noticed it with zealot quite as much at all, i don't know why. Maybe because by the time I have zealot I either have other slows or it kills things so fast you don't notice. New quark this is definitely noticable though.