Offensive Troop Targetting, and Trap-Paths
Hello,
We all (or at least most of us should) know the basics of how troops target what structure they are attacking. Most troops will go for the nearest structure, but some troops such as giants or wallbreakers will go for a specific structure type.
However, walls seem to complicate this. For example, a barbarian might be very close to a structure, but there is a wall in between. Instead of attacking through the wall to get to this 'nearest structure', he might actually attack another structure that is clearly farther away distance-wise, but there is no wall in between.
The same goes for giants... they might be very close to a defense but since there is a wall in front of it, they might go attack a defense that is slightly further away but with no wall blocking it.
To demonstrate this concept for any non-believers, here is a recent video by Chief Pat that shows what I'm talking about (http://youtu.be/PajB8jsUi3c?t=21s). You will see that the golem on the left first starts to break through the wall to get to the nearest target (the archer tower) but once a wall is broken farther away, the golem decides to go around and attack another target (the cannon), which is technically farther away.
This is not a bad thing, of course. I'd rather my golem take that route too. But it does raise some technical questions, because we know that if there was an unguarded cannon all the way on the other side of the base, the golem would ignore it and keep going for that archer tower.
This aspect of the game is important to defense, when building "trap-paths" for giants and such... by "trap-paths" I mean paths around the outside of a base that the giants will take instead of bursting straight through the middle of it. It is important to know how far you can spread out your outside defenses before the giants will give up on your trap-path and start attacking through a wall. Whether it is for giants or golems, these trap-path strategies are commonly used by many people.
Normally I would just test through trial and error to find the sweet spot of distances, but when building a new base for war, sometimes you just don't have that opportunity.
As important as it is, I've been having trouble finding the data/statistics for it. Does anyone know where I can find the information I'm looking for? How many tiles away does something have to be before a troop will ignore it and attack through a wall to get something that is actually closer? Does the type of troop affect this tile number? Does the level and/or health of the wall matter?
-Thomas, OZ clan #2LL9Y9C
