Splash Damage: Has it use? Can it be balanced?

[X3M]

Has splash damage any use? Does it truly make units better in a way?

Will it add something to the game besides of cool graphics? Has it proper balance?

In some games, splash damage has no use other then graphics while in other games it is a core element to tactics.

By surfing internet. About half of the people find splash damage something useless to add to a game. They rather prefer faster shooting units with lesser damage. I was one of those people. But I kept exploring and now I want to share my knowledge of why splash damage have some use. This despite of it being almost unable to be properly balanced in a game.

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First some examples of splash damage:

In many games I witness splash damage units. The weapons are most likely flames, sonic blasts, grenades, artillery fire, moving laser fire, or super weapons.

There are several types of splash damage that most people are unaware of besides of the explosive types:

- The explosive type; where the projectile hits the ground or unit, and spreads out in a circle around it. Sometimes decreasing damage by increasing the radius. This is also a case when the projectiles are to slow to hit directly. But that is more of an graphics issue.

- The in line of fire type; the Sonic Tank is such an example, but many flame based units have this too. Hitting every unit in the path of the "bullet". Sometimes most effective at close range (flak cannon UT), mid range (sonic blast dune2k) or long range (yet to see).

- The, not aiming properly type: the colossus of SC2 is such an example. By firing 2 lasers that move over the ground. Or the Ion cannon of C&C3. The laser in generals could even be controlled.

- The bouncing bullets type: the Mutalisk has jumping worms. And in WC3 we have the Huntress with bouncing knifes. After each bounce, the damage is less.

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The most important job of splash damage is doing damage to multiple units. But why?

To be killing them all at once at a certain point? Wouldn't focussed fire be better then?

In my opinion, splash damage would only be useful when:

1 - The units are killed in just 1 shot. For this, you need sufficient splash damage units. Or the cool down has to be enormous. If the damage would be overkill on 1 unit, then dividing this damage amongst others would be a must. This is also for balancing a game. Redirecting overkill.

2 - Or, you want to prevent the enemy from stacking units. Like the infantry in C&C3 or the air in SC/BW. This would be one of the more common reasons why to use splash damage units. Redirecting enemy tactics.

So when are the four types useful?

- explosive: redirecting overkill and enemy tactics at a large scale. The enemy tactics can also be done with lesser damage. Enemy will be using smaller amounts of units with more strength.

- line of fire: redirecting overkill and enemy tactics at a smaller scale. The enemy tactics can once again be done with lesser damage. Enemy will be moving around or away.

- not aiming properly: redirecting enemy tactics. But not necessary. Against 1 colossus, you wont be doing different tactics.

- bouncing bullets: redirecting overkill. But I have yet to see this reason in games other then my board game. Redirecting your own tactics. O dear... This one also forces players to have more units of 1 type, which is giving the players no choice as a choice.

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I would like to know your opinions about splash damage.

Why or why not, you like it. Think about using it, or having it used against you. Do you think it is fair or not?

Do you think it's balanced in certain games or not?

[MrFlibble]

I think an important thing to factor in is whether splash damage attacks harm friendly units or not. The most obvious example is Command & Conquer games vs Starcraft. Both games have explosives with radius splash damage and flame jet type splash damage, and in Starcraf none of this damages friendly units at all. By contrast, in the first two Warcraft catapults/ballistae that have splash damage can damage friendly units, and have special AI behaviour that prevents them from firing at a target if friendly units are nearby and can be hit.

The reason here is that if a splash damage attack can harm friendly units, it serves as a kind of a counter for its power, forcing the player to be more cautious with such units. The other counter (if we take C&C games that is) is inaccuracy. Once this is removed (e.g. Nod Artillery in Tiberian Sun), the splash damage attack becomes a potential game breaker.

There's also a thing with splash damage, that it might not be effective against all types of units. For example, in Command & Conquer games, splash damage attacks (artillery shells, flame jets, long-range incendiary missiles) usually are of a type that is effective against infantry and most buildings, but not heavily armoured vehicles. Coupled with inaccuracy and the glass cannon nature of most units with the splash damage attacks, this made them especially vulnerable to heavy armour and (with sufficient micro) to fast light vehicles too, yet effective against stationary targets and the slow infantry.

[X3M]

I should thank you for replying again. :) You get topics started.

hmmm, i didn't even though of friendly splash, only the offensive one.

I guess your are talking about the explosive type and the in line of fire type (jet of fire) here. The other two that I mentioned don't have that kind of behavior. Indeed, the splash of the siege tank is harmfull to friends. That's something that can be abused, AND something that I have abused many times :D

Anyway, when you talk about inaccuracy. There are many types of inaccuracy, the one where the bullet needs time to travel, then hit. Some a homing. others just explode on where the target was. Some inaccuracy weapons miss by default, even if the unit, or structure is standing still. The mrls in C&C or the rocket launcher in dune2 are such examples. They simply miss half of the time. Which makes them bad. But They do more damage to groups by default.

They too, do friendly damage when the situation occurs.

So you are right, I should factor that in for most RTS games. (my 'bored' game does not have that :L))

OK, the fact that in C&C splash is only effective against infantry is because of 2 reasons:

1 - The infantry are only 1/5th of area. So 5 are standing in 1 square. Somehow even cannons have splash here. 1 cannon has normal fire divided by 5 towards 5 infantry units. But it only does 1 time divided by 5 damage to 1 infantry units. Thus spreading out.

2 - Cheaper damage types are most likely to be having splash due to overkill. :) Meaning, if a unit does is able to kill 1 tank (1 time 5 health), or the equivalent 5 infantry (5 times 1 health). In case of the infantry, it does 5 kills due to 5 splash damage.

There aren't much games that have splash damage against armoured units, while the infantry can walk freely. The only game that I can think of is Warzone2100 that has scourge missiles. They hit numerous units after hitting the ground. Infantry has the same size then tanks in THAT situation. :)

This was also the same in " line of fire" type with maximum damage on the end version.

Not all understand glass cannon, it is a good thing you have linked to an explanation. But could you give some examples? Dune2k has the siege tank, that's one that you where thinking of, right :)?

[MrFlibble]

OK, the fact that in C&C splash is only effective against infantry is because of 2 reasons:

1 - The infantry are only 1/5th of area. So 5 are standing in 1 square. Somehow even cannons have splash here. 1 cannon has normal fire divided by 5 towards 5 infantry units. But it only does 1 time divided by 5 damage to 1 infantry units. Thus spreading out.

Actually, I almost forgot that other types of projectiles (like cannon shells) have small AOE damage too. It's not only noticeable when it hits one tile with several infantry units, but also when a projectile of this kind closely misses a moving target, which still gets damaged a bit. I think nothing like that ever happens in Starcraft, where most projectiles always hit a target, even if it's moving, although I think sometimes stationary defences may not hit a unit that moves out of the attack and visibility range before the projectiles hits it. No partial splash damage in this case though (I think).

As for the glass cannon thing, I guess most slow, inaccurate units with the high explosive projectile type in Westwood games count: Nod/Allied artillery, D2k siege tank which is basically the same artillery yet again (I haven't played D2k for such a long time I almost forgot that they used the name of the Siege Tank for a completely different unit), Soviet VR2 (and VR3 in the sequel), and of course the Rocket Launcher from Dune II which is nearly completely helpless when attacked from close range. I think Nod Artillery from Tiberian Sun actually has some decent HP but it's much slowed down by the fact that it needs to deploy before it can fire, and undeploy before it can move away. In vanilla TS it's all nothing though, at least against the AI, because of its uncanny accuracy.

Heh, I just thought that the glass cannon of Starcraft is the Protoss Templar with the Psionic Storm :) Especially since most Protoss units are generally quite high on HP/shields. Long range "siege" units of all sides (Siege Tank, Reaver and Guardian) on the other hand are slow and rather vulnerable to certain types of counters, but they're quite durable in terms of HP.

[X3M]

Indeed, the SC support units have decent health/durability compared to their weapon. And they are also cheap in comparison. The question of course is, when is an unit a glass cannon? If you like, I will create another topic for this. "When are units, support units?" or "When are units, glass cannons?"

More back to topic.

When has splash use? I guess, the types of projectiles have something to do with it as well.

There are several projectiles.

- direct hit: they always hit 100%

- indirect hit: they take time, this is adjustable. If the unit is gone, 0% damage.

- indirect homing hit: they take time, this is adjustable. If the unit is gone, the projectile keeps moving towards it and hits 100%

Now you can add splash damage to these 3 projectiles. Then you get certain effects.

- direct hit: they always hit 100% and all other units close by get a % damage depending on distance to where the projectile hit.

- indirect hit: once the projectile reaches the destination, only those units that are in the radius of the blast will take damage. If you want an unit at distance 6 have 50% damage by such weapon. Then you need to balance the speed of the victim, projectile speed and blast radius.

- indirect homing hit: the same as the first, but then the unit might have moved out of a group by logical of lucky decision.

On board games you always have "direct hits". Splash damage is hard to implement. In my case you have a hexagon field.

Splash damage could be implemented in several ways for my board game:

1 - The damage is divided along a line. (bouncing bullets/not aiming properly). But this has no use since you want to kill as fast as possible to reduce enemy fire. So this never would be used. With a flank card you could assume to hit with "not aiming properly along more then 1 line. Thus the next way.

2 - The damage is divided along more then 1 line. (bouncing bullets/explosive/line of fire). This might be the most useful one since you probable want to damage those units who went into hiding. But then flank and back door cards are out of the picture.

3 - The damage is divided along more then 1 region. A radius of 1 would mean 7 regions.

With all 3 I am thinking how to balance this. But then again. Snipers can divide their damage along the lines as well if the player wants to.

We are also forgetting the most important splash damage units of all times: The Nuke Cannon.

This unit is supposed to be the strongest in C&C with splash. Yet the enemy tanks are happy driving through the blast. Some still surviving with ease.

No, the only splash damage units that I think are useful are those that kill several units, and then it's a simple matter of cool down usage:

- Ion Cannon C&C dawn, which kills at least 5 infantry units in 1 hit. 100% useful against infantry.

- Ion Cannon C&C3, which kills several units and structures in 1 hit. About 67% useful against all.

- Plasmite Bomber, which kills all units and structures in 1 hit. About 99% useful against all. That one tank that will travel 20 minutes for reaching your base will die with a second run ;).

- All flamers, except the KKND versions. 100% useful against infantry.

[vota dc]

- The in line of fire type; the Sonic Tank is such an example, but many flame based units have this too. Hitting every unit in the path of the "bullet". Sometimes most effective at close range (flak cannon UT), mid range (sonic blast dune2k) or long range (yet to see).

Dark Reign has a kamikaze sonic tank with very long range but short sight (you need some scout like real artillery)....so it is a strange case of line of fire but not line of sight.

[MrFlibble]

Dark Reign has a kamikaze sonic tank with very long range but short sight (you need some scout like real artillery)....so it is a strange case of line of fire but not line of sight.

BTW, Siege Tanks in Starcraft also have a dsicrepancy between their visibility range and attack range, thus forcing the player to use other units as "spotters" to use the Siege Tanks' weapon to maximum efficiency.

Same thing with artillery units in the indie RTS game, I of the Enemy.