How would a Lightning Rod actually work?
Okay, hear me out before you dismiss this out of hand!
It happens almost every day. Someone gets zapped one too many times, reaches their wits end, and starts yet another lightning rod thread in this subforum. If it's not a lightning rod, then it's a request to somehow make lightning incapable of stealing DE, or making DE storage immune to lightning altogether.
So let's figure this out. What would a lightning rod look like, realistically?
For starters, let's forget about making the DE storage itself somehow resistant/immune to lightning. That's certainly an option, but pretty lame in my opinion. No, I'm talking about a true lightning rod trap of some kind, something you can use to protect AD's or mortars in a war. Skip to the end for stats if you don't care about how I arrived at them.
So, let's say we have a lightning rod trap. How would it work? Remember, lightning has an area effect. I can think of two main ideas:
1. If a lightning spell is dropped within its radius, the trap affects the lightning spell as a whole, even the lightning strikes that occur outside the radius.
2. Any portion of the lightning that occurs inside the radius would be affected, even if the spell itself were dropped outside the radius.
I prefer option number 2, but we can work with either.
Next up, how much should this trap nerf the lightning spell? Should it completely block the damage from the lightning spell? That seems OP to me. I would suggest that it blocks some percentage of the damage, and maybe that percentage goes up with each upgrade of the lightning rod. But this isn't a traditional trap. A TH10 can drop 5 lightning spells. Once the spell is tripped by the first lightning spell, should the remaining 4 spells get a free pass?
I suggest making it like the X-Bow and IT's. Make it have a certain amount of charges, which can be reloaded. Give TH9's enough charges to survive multiple zappers.
Now we need some numbers. I've run the math on every level of lightning spell against every level of DE storage at every TH level. In general, against a full DE storage, lightning costs about 50 elixir per 1 DE. It varies of course, depending on level of spell, TH level, and DE storage level, but 50 is a pretty typical number, so let's use that. Put another way, a typical lightning spell will steal approximately 1 DE per 1 point of damage. (Note that against TH7's, zapping is far less efficient, costing upwards of 90 elixir per DE.)
So, someone spends 50 elixir to get 1 DE. What should a shield cost? Honestly, if people think zapping is too cheap, then it shouldn't be a problem to pay twice as much to defend against it.
I think it should cost at least 100 gold to protect 1 DE. In other words, if it's really, really worth it to you, then by all means, protect your DE. (Or your mortars, or your AD's, especially in war). If you think zapping is too cheap, put your money where your mouth is and pony up some gold to protect it.
Let's start with some easy math. Let's say the lightning rod reduces damage by 50%. So a level 4 lightning spell (typical of TH7's) does 390 damage, steals a maximum of about 400 DE against a TH9 with a level 3 DE storage. Cutting that in half, let's say we saved you 200 DE. At a cost of 100 gold per DE, we're looking at a price of 20k gold to shield you from 1 level 4 lightning spell. Interestingly, the level 4 lightning spell cost 20k elixir. I'd say it's reasonably balanced. In fact, I'd say it should cost more than 20k gold...
The radius should be small, but large enough to cover a 3x3 building. I think a radius of 5 does it just right, but slightly smaller, maybe 4.5, works too. Remember, the first 1 tile of radius just gets to the edge of the trap itself.
Finally, how many should people get? Clearly, only 1. If you had more than 1, imagine how many defenses you could protect in wars, where reload costs aren't even a consideration. Plus, it eliminates any discussion of overlapping coverage. And anyway, even with only 1, it puts a new twist on mass dragon attacks at TH7-TH8, because 3 lightning spells isn't guaranteed to take out an AD, if you pick the wrong AD.
Oh, one more finally: clearly, at these exorbitant reload costs, we wouldn't want these re-armed from the Rearm all traps button. Or would we? I'm thinking a separate button, like with the X-Bows and IT's.
With all that discussion in place, here are my suggested stats:
The Lightning Rod
Size: 2x2 (like a hidden tesla)
Radius: 5
Effect: Reduces damage of any lightning strikes within its radius.
Number Available: 1
| Level |
Cost |
Build |
Gold/Charge |
# Charges |
Total recharge |
Dmg. Reduction |
Req. TH |
| 1 |
500,000 |
1d |
9,000 |
1 |
9,000 |
30% |
7 |
| 2 |
1,000,000 |
2d |
16,000 |
2 |
32,000 |
40% |
8 |
| 3 |
2,000,000 |
4d |
25,000 |
4 |
100,000 |
50% |
8 |
| 4 |
4,000,000 |
6d |
36,000 |
8 |
288,000 |
60% |
9 |
Assuming a typical zap is going to take about 400 DE, each charge will save you the following DE at the given rate of gold/DE:
| Level |
DE Saved |
Gold/Charge |
Gold/DE |
| 1 |
120 |
9,000 |
75 |
| 2 |
160 |
16,000 |
100 |
| 3 |
200 |
25,000 |
125 |
| 4 |
240 |
36,000 |
150 |
