Change: Increase Anthrax Gamma poison field damage bonus by 20%

[xezon]

• Resolves Anthrax Gamma Poison Clouds Deal Same Damage As Anthrax Beta Poison Clouds #799

This change increases the Anthrax Gamma poison field damage bonus by 20%, except Anthrax Bomb.

All poison field weapons deal their damage every 500 ms (533 ms).

Weapon	Original Damage (DPS)	Patched Damage (DPS)
SmallPoisonFieldWeapon	2.0 (3.75)
SmallPoisonFieldWeaponUpgraded	2.5 (4.69)
Chem_SmallPoisonFieldWeaponGamma	2.5 (4.69)	3.0 (5.63)
MediumPoisonFieldWeapon	2.0 (3.75)
MediumPoisonFieldWeaponUpgraded	2.5 (4.69)
Chem_MediumPoisonFieldWeaponGamma	2.5 (4.69)	3.0 (5.63)
LargePoisonFieldWeapon	15 (28.1)
LargePoisonFieldWeaponUpgraded	25 (46.9)
Chem_LargePoisonFieldWeaponGamma	25 (46.9)	30 (56.3)
AnthraxBombPoisonFieldWeapon	40 (75.0)
AnthraxBetaBombPoisonFieldWeapon	40 (75.0)
AnthraxGammaBombPoisonFieldWeapon	40 (75.0)

Gamma weapons are used by the following things

Chem_SmallPoisonFieldWeaponGamma (OCL_PoisonFieldGammaSmall)

• Chem_ToxinShellWeaponGamma

Chem_MediumPoisonFieldWeaponGamma (OCL_PoisonFieldGammaMedium, OCL_PoisonFieldGammaMedium_ScudStorm)

• BombTruckAnthraxGammaBombEffect
• BombTruckHighExplosiveAnthraxGammaBombEffect (available in Generals Challenge only)
• Chem_SCUDLauncherGunAnthraxGamma
• Chem_SCUDLauncherGunAnthraxGammaPlusOne
• Chem_SCUDLauncherGunAnthraxGammaPlusTwo
• Chem_SuicideWeaponGamma
• Chem_DemoTrapDetonationWeaponGamma
• Chem_GLAVehicleToxinTruck (FireOCLAfterWeaponCooldownUpdate)
• Chem_ScudStormDeathWeaponGamma

Chem_LargePoisonFieldWeaponGamma (OCL_PoisonFieldGammaLarge)

• Chem_ScudStormDamageWeaponGamma

Rationale

With this change there is a proper poison field damage bonus continuation from Toxin over Anthrax Beta to Anthrax Gamma, except Anthrax Bomb. The promise of Anthrax Gamma is that Anthrax weapons deal more damage, so design wise it makes most sense that the purple puddles deal more damage than the blue and green ones.

In other changes a few weapon damages of Toxin General have been reduced:

• Fix: Remove 200 extra damage prior Gamma Upgrade from Toxin Terrorists #699
• Change: Reduce Toxin GLA Stinger Gamma ground damage bonus from 100% to 50% and air damage bonus from 66% to 50% #882
• Change: Decrease primary damage of Anthrax Gamma Scud Storm from 550 to 500, secondary damage of Anthrax Beta Scud Storm from 200 to 175 #2002

This change gives back some of the lost damages in Gamma weapons.

1. The nerfed Anthrax Gamma Scud Storm benefits, which is good and logical.
2. The nerfed Toxin Terrorist benefits, which is good, because now it actually becomes better after the Anthrax Gamma upgrade.
3. The Anthrax Gamma Scud Launcher benefits, which is good because it does not have the Explosive warhead and is rarely used as highlighted in Toxin GLA SCUD Launcher is rarely used #784.
4. The Anthrax Gamma Demo Trap benefits, which is good because the Toxin Demo Trap is not attractive to use as highlighted in Toxin GLA Demo Trap is not practical in regular match #802.
5. The Anthrax Gamma Bomb Truck benefits, which is good because Toxin General does not have the High Explosive upgrade, so a bit more damage for the Anthrax is a nice bonus here.
6. The Anthrax Gamma Toxin Truck benefits. Affects the idle puddle only, not the Nozzle or Sprayer. Is consistent with concept of increased damages on Toxin Tractor guns with upgrades. Is ok and logical.
7. The Anthrax Gamma Scorpion Tank benefits. It would not necessarily need more damage, however, it is for late game and the Toxin Scorpion tanks are more expensive, so this is ok and logical.

[MTKing4]

This is a considerable buff for toxin general that hasn't been ask for nor studied thoroughly, I'm not sure if progression between different poison fields has higher precedence over core balance, this should be tested and studied intensively before going though with it

[xezon]

I think this change is very good. Design is plausible. Damage continuation is reasonable and expected. Damages of small and medium puddles are 4 times weaker than damages of common radiation puddles.

For comparison, here are radiation puddle damages. They deal damage every 750 ms (766 ms).

Weapon	Damage	DPS
SmallRadiationFieldWeapon	5	6.5
Nuke_SmallRadiationFieldWeapon	15	19.6
MediumRadiationFieldWeapon	15	19.6
LargeRadiationFieldWeapon	25	32.6
NukeRadiationFieldWeapon (Nuke Missile)	25	32.6

This is a considerable buff

I disagree. Damage potential of small and medium poison puddles is rather small.

• +0.5 damage * 2 * 10 = +10 damage on a small puddle over 10 seconds.
• +0.5 damage * 2 * 30 = +30 damage on a medium puddle over 30 seconds.

Infantry will die 20% quicker with Gamma. But poison is an insta kill for Infantry in most cases anyway. So not much practical difference, but of course quicker kill is always better.

Against vehicles it is mostly inconsequential, because the damage exposure is small relative to their health and armor. Common vehicles need to stay a long time on puddles to have a notable damage exposure.

Beta Anthrax Damage 2.5 for 30 seconds
Quad Cannon 26%
Scorpion 12%

Gamma Anthrax Damage 3.0 for 30 seconds
Quad Cannon 30%
Scorpion 13%

hasn't been ask for

This is not true. There is 1 direct issue report #799 for it and 2 indirect issue reports related to Toxin General weapons #784, #802. These have been linked in the opening post as well.

hasn't been studied thoroughly

The prospect of this change is conclusive because the weapon logic is simple. Toxin puddles are nowhere near overpowered. They are rather on the weaker side. Good vs infantry, but not good vs common vehicles and structures. This change does not change this promise. It just makes Anthrax Gamma puddles 20% better than Anthrax Beta puddles.

It is a minor and reasonable buff.

[xezon]

Here is the practical difference of pulling GLA Worker through one damage tick of Anthrax Beta vs patched Anthrax Gamma puddle.

[xezon]

I suspect one of the most notable differences with this change is that common infantry units can no longer move through a Anthrax Gamma toxin shell puddle. They barely survive the Anthrax Beta toxin shell puddle.

generals.2023-06-17.18-12-47-92_1.mp4

[ImTimK]

I think an acceptable change, pretty minor.

[xezon]

If GLA ever becomes to weak, these puddle damages would be a nice thing to raise up.

[xezon]

Jundiyy

seems okay to merge

Documentation added. Looks good.

Follow up investigation: Anthrax Bomb damages.

[commy2]

With this change, Scorpions, Marauders, Tox Bomb Trucks, Tox Scud Launchers and Tox Demo Traps now actually benefit from Anthrax Gamma. In 1.04, the upgrade only changes the colour of the poison clouds, but not damage.