Hanging Acid Tubes

[player1]

I've heard that damage for acid tubes is calculated by proximity to them, and that the splash damage animation doesn't indicate the actual area of damage. That is, if they are over the big doors of the Alien base on Tremor, even though the acid balls hit the floor, Humans below receive very little damage, because the acid tubes are relatively far away. Is this the case, and if so, is it not general knowledge? It seems like a lot of grangers hang acid tubes where they look really cool, splash a lot of animated damage around, and do very little in the way of actually hurting attacking Humans. I know that it's good to get them where they can cause damage to rushers, but are out of the line of fire (especially of the Human pulsers and lucis). In the interest of educating my future teammates, please clarify.

Do hanging acid tubes really cause damage to Humans, and how high is too high to hang them?

[kevlarman]

acid tubes do damage to a radius to all things they have line of sight on that are also within the range of the tube, the damage is multiplied by (1 - distance_to_target / max_tube_range).

[Owl]

It's prox. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know better and anyone know knows but still builds the cool tubes is hurting the team.

But still, the effect is awesome with the acid spray. Almost worth building useless tubes for.

[temple]

Tubes radiate damage like a heater radiates warmth.  Think of the tube's splash animation as a early warning system or reflex.  I doesn't really hurt anything.  Tubes will splash periodically as well, just because.

Tubes need to be about a human's body distance from the target to really hurt them.  Anything closer isn't that noticeably more damaging, anything farther is doing less than you want.  This is just a rule of thumb.

Take the height of a door.  The top of the door is about as close as the acids need to be.  Anything higher isn't hitting hard enough.  You want at least 2 acids hurting humans immediately upon reaching your base.  

Also, tubes don't hurt through walls or objects.  So sticking tubes behind boxes or pillars won't hurt the human until they are in line of sight with them.  You want tubes to be open as possible to the path humans are traveling, not hiding away in corners.

[David]

Also, tubes don't hurt through walls or objects.  So sticking tubes behind boxes or pillars won't hurt the human until they are in line of sight with them.  You want tubes to be open as possible to the path humans are traveling, not hiding away in corners.

Sadly the optimal spots are easy to shoot

[player1]

Also, tubes don't hurt through walls or objects.  So sticking tubes behind boxes or pillars won't hurt the human until they are in line of sight with them.  You want tubes to be open as possible to the path humans are traveling, not hiding away in corners.

Sadly the optimal spots are easy to shoot

Too true D:  :O

Which seems to be why people hang them in clever spots, that are unfortunately, too far away to do anything, or stick them behind a crate, where they are useless except as pulser targets :eek: :-?

Speaking of Tremor (weren't we?), Alien strategy and base location? It seems like if Humans rush early, Aliens lose. The best Alien hope is to keep the Humans pinned in their base, or alternatively, rush early themselves (with hoppers/climbers getting deep inside while goons destroy defenses). The default bases are both almost too big to defend against a determined rush by a properly equipped team, early in the game. I once saw Stage 1 Humans win a small game on Tremor in two minutes, while the Alien team was off hunting in the crate room. Also, I've seen the Alien team win the map in under ten minutes (of determined rushing). One or two of us (not me) were rants by then, but mostly it was the work of smart dretches, wily basis, brave maras and determined goons. I've seen Humans move to the Crate Room and Aliens move to the Cellars, both neither seemed like a popular or particularly useful strategy. Comments? Tremor: what should the Aliens do? Barricade the OM under the stairs? Also, a repeater in the Pink Room makes acid tubes go nutty in the Alien base.

[Paradox]

The acid effect is merely a particle effect, with the change of one line you can make it shoot flames, or even grangers.

[player1]

thx para
iirc u were the person who told me the hanging ones are useless if they're too high
but since I heard it in passing, I just had to verify it :oops:
since people still hang so many tubes :eek:
I thought I heard it wrong :-?
now I feel confident to tell my granger to quit it :evil: :mad: :cry: :roll:


thx: kev (one minus distance divided by range?), owl (who r u really?), temple (nice explication), David (yay }MG{)

[mooseberry]

thx para
iirc u were the person who told me the hanging ones are useless if they're too high
but since I heard it in passing, I just had to verify it :oops:
since people still hang so many tubes :eek:
I thought I heard it wrong :-?
now I feel confident to tell my granger to quit it :evil: :mad: :cry: :roll:


thx: kev (one minus distance divided by range?), owl (who r u really?), temple (nice explication), David (yay }MG{)

 :eek: 13 smilies in that post.

[player1]

thx para
iirc u were the person who told me the hanging ones are useless if they're too high
but since I heard it in passing, I just had to verify it :oops:
since people still hang so many tubes :eek:
I thought I heard it wrong :-?
now I feel confident to tell my granger to quit it :evil: :mad: :cry: :roll:


thx: kev (one minus distance divided by range?), owl (who r u really?), temple (nice explication), David (yay }MG{)

 :eek: 13 smilies in that post.

I'm easily misconstrued...

[Paradox]

A tyrant is 96 gU high. 2.5 tyrants is about as high as an acid tube can be.