Umbra Location Question

TheGlow

<div class="IPBDescription">lil sumfin sumfin</div> Danyone know if theres an umbra between a marine and lerk, no one actually inside of it, if it stops bullets? I know for the lerk on the bottom it says umbra. So does the cloud itself do the bullet stopping or is it the effect of being in a cloud, In Umbra, that does the #'s?

Because I wonder what happens in the other 2 situations.
A) Marine inside umbra, not Lerk.
B)Neither Marine nor Lerk in umbra, But umbra placed between.

Id understand if B had no effect, but I wonder if A should, Because often when Im a lerk, since we dont have much precision flight in combat, that if I just fly by a marine and bust an umbra, I still fly to the end of the room. Shouldnt his being in umbra muffle some shots from hitting me across the room, not in umbra?

localhost2600

For umbra to work, you must be "in" it(as noted by "in umbra")

You were right that umbra won't work just between the shooter and target, and as i understand it, it will not work if the shooter is in it.

Maus

Hmm, I was under the impression that it stopped bullets passing through - so it's okay for it to be between the marine and you. If that's not the case that could explain a lot ... <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->

TheGlow

I think it only does workif the alien is in the umbra.
But I think perhaps a half power umbra effect on a marine if hes in it, ya know.
like its 5/6 if alien is in it, but perhaps a 1/3 or 1/4 reduction in rounds fired out of an umbra? I dunno about if one were to be in an umbra and a marine in one. Thatd make for a slight increase in protection <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->. Make that marine draw that knife baby.

Kazyras

I always thought umbra was an exact replica of the defiler's dark swarm spell in Starcraft, except that it occasionally lets a few shots through.

Sycophant

From a gamer's perspective, I'd imagine that it'd stop any bullets passing through it, even if the umbra cloud is closer to the marine than it is to the alien. It's a big cloud that's meant to slow/stop bullets. The cloud is between you and the marine, therefore it'd apply. Makes sense, doesn't it? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

From a programmer's perspective, I'm more inclined to believe that it'll only reduce hits if your screen says "in umbra". It'd be much easier to code the hit reduction if there's a parameter that's used to determine if the reduction applies to you or not.

Personally, I can't say which is true with 100% certainty, but I believe it's the second case.

Maus

The marine weapons use hitscan though, so it'd be easy enough for the program to think "this bullet will pass through an entity - that means xyz has to happen".

I think.

Kotau

Actually since the weapons are hitscan, the xyz coordinates are checked against the umbra cloud.

Going through or shooting out of the umbra does not stop any bullets.

Only when the projectile hits any box inside the umbra cloud is effective.

Hope that cleared that up.

Zel

i think that calculation on every darn bullet would cause immense cpu use and server dieage.

TheHornet

as long as you the alien are in the umbra you are safe, even if a marine is in with you.

DocZ

if youre inside umbra, you get the effect

if umbra is between you and shooter, no effect

if shooter is inside umbra shooting at you which is outside the umbra, no effect.

Kitsune

As far as I understand hitscan weapons, the method of their implementation makes those different uses of Umbra impossible. The description of hitscans that I've read say that the client tells the server, 'Hey, I was pointing at (location) when I pulled the trigger. Kill that.' The server checks that location, and if it's a player model there, it applies the damage. The server doesn't do any calculating of the space between the shooter and the target, it's taking the client's word for it that he was in fact pointing at the object to be shot. And since the space between shooter and target is ignored, stuff in that area, such as an Umbra cloud, won't register. It's a very efficient, if somewhat unrealistic, means of handling weapon fire in online games. And since the client sends the 'hit' information of the first physical object in the line of fire that it sees, be it Skulk, wall, or crate, turning Umbra into an actual physical thing in the game would make it block every shot from any marine weapon that encountered it, so that wouldn't work, either.

Terr

Kitsune got there first <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

AFAIK it's more accurate to think of umbra as as a floating gooey alien armor upgrade powerup zone than anything else.

Orcrist

Kitsune: In CS, you can often shoot through objects, so line of fire is apparently calculated. Aren't you the guy with all the stats? Test it <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->

ogz

why wouldn't it check if theres a brick wall between target and shooter? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

anyways im pretty sure u need the 'in umbra' symbol for u to avoid 5/6 dmg <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

Maus

<!--QuoteBegin--ogz+Feb 2 2003, 02:59 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (ogz @ Feb 2 2003, 02:59 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> anyways im pretty sure u need the 'in umbra' symbol for u to avoid 5/6 dmg <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
There's a symbol? Hmph, I've been playing since it came out, and never seen it.

TheGlow

Nod, I accept the bit about no dice if neither is in the umbra, but what do you think about if a marine is in one, if it should sa In Umbra, and cut his fire by 1/5 - 1/4?