Announcement: Attack Crusade

I am going on a crusade to fix attacks that don't count as attacks (for example, Starlight and Pounce does not respect Blinded, Telekentic Thrust can be used by Incorporeal champions, etc.).

Please list any and all instances you know of where this is happening.

What will happen is some of these will be redesigned/coded so they count as attacks properly, others will simply have their descriptions changed so that they no longer claim to be attacks.

Known:

Shrive - Bypasses Blinded and other on attack triggers, check conditional for Dispel
Stone Barrage - Can be used by Incorporeal champions
Censure - Bypasses Blinded and other on attack triggers
Starlight - Bypasses Blinded and other on attack triggers
Telekinetic Thrust - Can be used by Incorporeal champions
Pounce - Bypasses Blinded and other on attack triggers
X Nova - Counts as an attack for some purposes, but can be used by Incorporeal champions
Flamethrower and other line attacks - Behavior is different if the a unit is on the tile you target

Fixed for Next Patch:

Pounce
This champion is relocated to the closest non-damaging space to target enemy unit within 5 spaces and deals Physical damage at +2 DMG against the target if able.
Note: Making this an attack is still being investigated. In the meantime, it will have its description edited so that it no longer says it is an attack.

Frigid Lance (formerly Freezing Strike)
This champion makes a Frost attack at RNG 2-5. If the target is occupying Ice, Snow or is <condition value=frozen>Frozen</condition> and is successfully damaged, the target also becomes <condition value=chilled>Chilled</condition> for 3 turns and <condition value=inhibited>Inhibited</condition> for 3 turns.
Note: Now properly counts as an attack and uses the Burning Sandspout template.

Censure
This champion makes a Loss of Life attack at RNG 2-5. If the target is occupying Dead Magic Zone or is <condition alue=cursed>Cursed</condition> and is successfully damaged, the target also it takes an additional 3 Psychic damage and loses all AP.
Note: Now properly counts as an attack and uses the Burning Sandspout template.

Starlight
This champion makes a Magical attack at RNG 2-5. If the target is successfully damaged, it also takes an additional 2 damage for each champion with Race: Fairy or <ability value=544>Attack: Magical</ability> within 5 spaces of this champion (the additional damage ignores DEF).
Note: Now properly counts as an attack. The additional damage is dealt separately as a package.

Telekenetic Thrust
Note: No longer usable while Incorporeal.

Stone Barrage
Note: No longer usable while Incorporeal.

 

I am mostly concerned with single target things because those are more easily fixed.

I'd say we can count those (such as Flamethrower), at least for the purposes of this exercise, but it's really quite a mess, the underlying reasons for it are complex but it amounts to the fact that the core concept of attacks in Pox is single target based on the unit's DMG. Anything that does something wonky (like Starlight or Flamethrower) is "flagged" as ATTACK_ABILITY, but that's not consistent in how it is dealt with various parts of the game.

 

So Flamethrower is an example where it is on the attack chain and is technically an attack on that level but bypasses Blinded because it doesn't directly target anything. I think most players are ok with that understanding.

But something like Censure or Starlight doesn't make any sense from this perspective.

Novas should probably work like Flamethrower in this respect, though that is quite a bit of a nerf if it goes on the attack chain. But in either case, it is usable by Incorporeal and is less of an attack than Flamethrower so there's still problems to resolve even if it doesn't end up going on the attack chain.

 

Yea, that makes sense. Since the champion was clicked on, it was considered "targeted" by the ability, which is considered an attack.

 

It counts.

 

Indeed. I forgot about that one even tho someone mentioned it to me right before I did this thread.

 

It's actually in the same class as Censure/Starlight. It is an attack for certain purposes, but will bypass Blinded, etc.

 

Glancing at the code, it appears to Dispel before it does damage, but it's possible something else is going on as well. I'll make a note to check that.