Engineer Turrets don't attack Dragons: Video.
I’m going to be doing tests of the bug against every world boss that I can see the turrets after placing them near them – I have a hunch about what’s causing the problem, and it’s bloody stupid.
Here’s what I think is happening:
- Turrets attack creatures indicated by the system as Hostile. We see Hostile creatures as creatures with Red names.
- The three dragons (Tequatl, Shatterer and Claw) all have Yellow names, which is what indicate Neutral creatures to players.
This suggests to me that the dragons are considered Neutral creatures, if they’re really considered creatures at all, and thus that the Turrets simply don’t know to attack. Fixing this seems like it would be easy – just have the system recognize the dragons, and any other world boss currently recognized as Neutral by the system, as Hostile instead.
I have video proof, if I can get the kitten render program to function properly. I’ll put it up here when I get it rendered – dragons first.
Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms3w2fEPTYk&feature=youtu.be
Sorry for the poor quality of the video, but you should be able to see the issues, particularly if you pay attention to the directions the turrets are facing – they only face a dragon if I’ve set them pointing at it.
Or maybe it’s associated with “environmental” structures? (I.e. doors, dredge turrets, etc)
Whatever it’s associated with, it’s bloody stupid that it’s an issue a year after release.
Update: I’ve tested my turrets on environmental structures with yellow names.
They attacked said structures.
Oh good, I used to have problems with that on mine. Glad to hear it’s not that.
Guess it is a neutral thing, weird.
I was at the claw today and noticed someone’s turrets there seemed to be shooting it. Hard to be certain with all the stuff being spammed right over them, but they were all pointing right at the mysterious place under it where it takes damage, at least.
They can be placed in such a way that they seem like they should be attacking, but they still won’t, as far as I’ve seen. It can be difficult to discern whether they’re actually doing anything due to the masses of players and attacks being dropped on the big target, so I tried to find places that weren’t going to be massed on in order to eliminate the possibility that I simply wasn’t seeing it due to visual noise.
When fighting the Claw of Jormag, I placed all three turrets around the foot fewer people attack, on the far side of it. If you observe the video, the turrets never take action against the dragon, despite being between the ‘fingers’ of one of the three targetable locations on the Claw of Jormag. The only rocket fired in the entire engagement is at the Veteran Icebrood fighting a group some distance away, and no other turret takes any action.
Against Tequatl, I placed my turrets between its legs; despite being in what should have been a target-rich environment, they simply never attacked, unless they let loose upon some hapless undead wretch.
Against the Shatterer, I placed them a small distance away – close enough that I could attack with my pistols meant that I was close enough that at least a couple of my turrets would be able to attack. Once I’d cleared the few enemies who came near…the turrets simply pointed in the opposite direction and took no action for several firing cycles. I even went so far as to drop a Supply Crate on the Shatterer’s foot, and then went looking for the Flame Turret I knew would spawn – it’s sitting there, practically in his foot, and taking no action. It’s not even pointing directly at his foot, nor is it pointing at the target mark.
They wouldn’t point at_its foot btw, unless its foot was in the way. For whatever reason the part we actually attack isn’t in the same place as the part we see/select, just like with SB, only it’s not as obvious because it’s actually under the dragon instead of way the hell out in front of it. I’d say roughly the ground beneath the neck, with dragons. In your video you actually run almost into the spot for the shatterer right after some kind of fire effect hits it (cannons maybe?) and you can see a lot of effects directed there in general.
Probably the easiest way though (to avoid them targeting other stuff) is putting them at the claw during the first half, past the ice-wall thing, and then backing way off to look for damage numbers floating up above its head or something. I’ll see if I can try it today at some point because that’s worked for me before, I think with a rocket turret.
edit: underscores for filter
That might explain why they might not be pointing at the foot when they’re placed next to it, but it doesn’t explain why they’re not firing. It also does nothing to explain why they don’t even point at the dragon, or its theoretical ‘damage location,’ despite not firing for several cycles. Most of the time, my turrets simply keep aiming whatever their default direction is.
On a side-note, I’ve personally witnessed Static Shot bouncing from one paw, to the head, to the other paw, which seems to indicate that they’re all targets.
I’ve also used turrets against the Fire Elemental in Metrica, noticing the color of its name…and they don’t attack it either, even when it’s the closest target. Instead, they snap around and shoot a farther-away Ember – which was quite noticeable, as the Rocket turret was the only one to turn, while the Rifle turret just sat there pointing exactly as it had been positioned when I originally placed it.
Also: I specifically went and tested whether Turrets would attack yellow-named objects, like Unstable Ice Formations and the Funhouse Gate. They do. If you try to test your turrets by flinging them past the ice-wall, test them in front of it first to make sure they’re not just attacking it.
On another sidenote, I find it amusing that reports of a single trait malfunctioning get a dev response within four hours, and reports that an entire skillset doesn’t function properly against at least four (three documented in the video right there, and I’ll be working on compiling video of the rest once my internet stops being so flaky) world bosses doesn’t get so much as a “Huh. Script looks fine.”
(edited by Anymras.5729)
Well I tested it on the shatterer and claw. First (shatterer) the turret didn’t seem to do anything at all, not even turning when branded came into range. At the claw, I also used it at an ice shard thing prior to the dragon landing: the turret fired at the ice one time then appeared to do nothing. When icebrood approached it, it turned to look at them, but I didn’t see any firing animation, nor damage notifier. Unfortunately with their high health and all the players around there’s no way I could tell if the turret did shoot it without the damage floater or animation working, as the damage it caused would be far too minimal. At the dragon itself it didn’t appear to do anything.
I wonder if maybe the turrets are just bugging when there’s too much going on in the area? I’m on TC so these events tend to get pretty high turnouts.
That’s entirely possible that’s what’s happening to your turrets, but I’m pretty sure the turnout for the world bosses when I’ve been fighting them has been relatively sparse; my turrets will generally attack mooks, but not the dragons themselves.
Another anomaly I’m noticing that may well be related to the dragon issue: Turrets don’t attack things like the Research Pods or Control Nodes in the Funhouse events, despite them being neutral objects, as far as I can see.
(edited by Anymras.5729)
From my own limited testing it seems like it’s structures/objects with crosshairs, for example the dragons, the golem in mount maelstrom, the fire elemental in metrica, etc.
(edited by Lerre.2014)