randomword
04-22-2012, 10:44 PM
Crosspost from the EV forum. Thought more people might want to read this.
I've been playing around with buff beams a while, just figuring out their characteristics. It seems relevant, due to how prevalent their use is in a lot of end-game builds. So without further ado:
1) There is no longer any difference in behavior between origin and terminal nodes on the buff beam. (Patch 7.27 made them identical.) Previously, the origin node projected a buff into the space including the node itself; the terminal node ended right where the light ended on the terminal node. Now, both nodes project a buff beyond the light beam itself (into the node at the end).
2) The location of the buff beam itself seems to be pretty closely correlated with what you see: 2 nodes, and the pink beam between them. Quite narrow, actually.
3) The difficulty with determining whether or not something gets buffed is because receiving a buff seems to require an intersection between the defense and the buff beam, and the "footprint" of each defense varies quite a bit.
4) For monk auras, the footprint of the defense is the location of each aura. If even the slightest part of the aura overlaps the physical space of the buff beam (as previously defined as the nodes and the beam itself) the aura receives the buff.
5) Huntress traps are pretty similar, except now the footprint depends on the size of the trigger area. (NOT the area of effect!!) Thus if you scale down your trap triggers (which doesn't change the area of effect) you can avoid a trap being buffed if you don't want it to be.
6) Buff beam behavior is quite inconsistent for EV towers. For proton and shock beams, the "footprint" of the defenses is based upon either node when being placed. In other words, the buff beam must intersect the origin or terminal node of a shock or proton beam in order for the beam to get buffed.
On the other hand, for physical or reflection beams, the beam itself also counts for the defense's footprint. Thus you can run a buff beam through the MIDDLE of a physical beam to buff the beam.
7) Squire and apprentice towers have strange footprints that don't always correlate to the physical wireframe of the defense itself. Walls are pretty straightforward, if they physically touch a buff beam (or come pretty close) they'll get buffed. Apprentice towers have pretty small footprints, and thus they have to be closer to the beam to get buffed. Squire towers often have a T-shape at their base, and they seem to have a footprint that correlates with that "foot".
Somewhat unrelated, but I also learned something while playing around with maximum harps on a buff beam: The wireframe model of defenses you have already placed seems to be what determines how much space you must leave for future defense placements. (NOT the footprint of the defense, which is what would make more sense to me o_O) In other words, if I place harps parallel to a buff beam, I can place far fewer harps. But if I place them perpendicularly, they require a much smaller space.
My record is 14 harps on a level surface with a 6DU buff beam.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613805722
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613809106
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613814252
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613816952
I've been playing around with buff beams a while, just figuring out their characteristics. It seems relevant, due to how prevalent their use is in a lot of end-game builds. So without further ado:
1) There is no longer any difference in behavior between origin and terminal nodes on the buff beam. (Patch 7.27 made them identical.) Previously, the origin node projected a buff into the space including the node itself; the terminal node ended right where the light ended on the terminal node. Now, both nodes project a buff beyond the light beam itself (into the node at the end).
2) The location of the buff beam itself seems to be pretty closely correlated with what you see: 2 nodes, and the pink beam between them. Quite narrow, actually.
3) The difficulty with determining whether or not something gets buffed is because receiving a buff seems to require an intersection between the defense and the buff beam, and the "footprint" of each defense varies quite a bit.
4) For monk auras, the footprint of the defense is the location of each aura. If even the slightest part of the aura overlaps the physical space of the buff beam (as previously defined as the nodes and the beam itself) the aura receives the buff.
5) Huntress traps are pretty similar, except now the footprint depends on the size of the trigger area. (NOT the area of effect!!) Thus if you scale down your trap triggers (which doesn't change the area of effect) you can avoid a trap being buffed if you don't want it to be.
6) Buff beam behavior is quite inconsistent for EV towers. For proton and shock beams, the "footprint" of the defenses is based upon either node when being placed. In other words, the buff beam must intersect the origin or terminal node of a shock or proton beam in order for the beam to get buffed.
On the other hand, for physical or reflection beams, the beam itself also counts for the defense's footprint. Thus you can run a buff beam through the MIDDLE of a physical beam to buff the beam.
7) Squire and apprentice towers have strange footprints that don't always correlate to the physical wireframe of the defense itself. Walls are pretty straightforward, if they physically touch a buff beam (or come pretty close) they'll get buffed. Apprentice towers have pretty small footprints, and thus they have to be closer to the beam to get buffed. Squire towers often have a T-shape at their base, and they seem to have a footprint that correlates with that "foot".
Somewhat unrelated, but I also learned something while playing around with maximum harps on a buff beam: The wireframe model of defenses you have already placed seems to be what determines how much space you must leave for future defense placements. (NOT the footprint of the defense, which is what would make more sense to me o_O) In other words, if I place harps parallel to a buff beam, I can place far fewer harps. But if I place them perpendicularly, they require a much smaller space.
My record is 14 harps on a level surface with a 6DU buff beam.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613805722
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613809106
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613814252
http://steamcommunity.com/id/randomword/screenshot/596966984613816952