Counter Dark Matter Turrets, now how do they work?

[doctorfrog]

I'm in an early game where my backwater is being used as a freeway by Astro Trains, and so I fiddled around with the line place mode and set up a string of CDM turrets like XMas lights between two wormholes.

"That's cool," say the trains, and fire straight through 'em.

Am I missing how these are supposed to work? Per their description, they should be like dead zones, where any dark matter being fired through them instantly dissipates. You should be able to set them up like a big fence if you want to. Or do they act like force fields, only protecting units inside their range?

Images: http://imgur.com/a/A6r1S


Savegame:

[keith.lamothe]

They only protect units within their area; having it intercept projectiles that enter them would be very cpu-expensive

[TechSY730]

I'm in an early game where my backwater is being used as a freeway by Astro Trains, and so I fiddled around with the line place mode and set up a string of CDM turrets like XMas lights between two wormholes.

"That's cool," say the trains, and fire straight through 'em.

Am I missing how these are supposed to work? Per their description, they should be like dead zones, where any dark matter being fired through them instantly dissipates. You should be able to set them up like a big fence if you want to. Or do they act like force fields, only protecting units inside their range?

All of the "counter shot type" mechanics are like forcefields, protect only what is in their protection range. Things can still fire through their range just fine, so long as their target is not under protection.

I would agree that the description could use some clarification.

EDIT: Ninja'd!

[Hearteater]

But to save yourself some trouble, just ignore Astro Trains.  The don't do enough damage to matter at all.

[doctorfrog]

Thanks for the clarification, gents.

Mantis filed: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=8980

Current: "Launches flares to dissipate any dark matter ammo coming within its range. Particularly useful for protecting against Astro Trains and Munitions Boosters."

CDMs actually protect units within their range. If dark matter ammo happens to pass through a CDM field on its way to a target outside the CDMs range, it does nothing to stop it.

Suggested: "Launches flares to dissipate dark matter ammo, protecting units within its range. Particularly useful for protecting static defenses against Astro Trains."

[Diazo]

Updated the descriptions on the Wiki to note this.

As I understand it, attacks launched from within the protection radius are not negated if the target is outside the protection radius.

D.

[Kahuna]

But to save yourself some trouble, just ignore Astro Trains.  The don't do enough damage to matter at all.

They do sometimes. Sometimes they keep destroying Space Docs and other weak things non stop.