traps not firing?

[ward_rb]

i just started my new magician, going pretty good so far. one thing i have noticed though is that sometimes ill throw my trap, and it will just sit there as if it doesnt see the monsters, yet the monsters will still attack my trap. the monsters dont take damage when this happens, so its not just a graphics bug.

any idea why this happens?

[Batman]

I've seen that quite a few times. Sometimes the trap will come to life if another monster comes into range, sometimes not. I can lay another trap next to the 'broken' one and it works fine.
Seems to be about 5% of the time my traps are 'broken'.
Been looking for a fix myself.

[AlphaQUp]

Same here, really annoying some times.

[Kelryn]

Usually happens when you set the trap on a hill or any other non-flat surface.

[CGameProgrammer]

It happens because traps have a forward direction, and will only see monsters in front of them. This is stupid since they can fire in all directions, but my observations support that theory. This direction changes as they rotate, of course, so they'll see everything once they start firing, but when they're stopped, it's easy for them not to see some enemies.

[ward_rb]

Originally Posted by CGameProgrammer

It happens because traps have a forward direction, and will only see monsters in front of them. This is stupid since they can fire in all directions, but my observations support that theory. This direction changes as they rotate, of course, so they'll see everything once they start firing, but when they're stopped, it's easy for them not to see some enemies.

well, i dont think this is true since ive had monsters on all sides of a non firing trap (some stop to attack the trap, some continue towards me).

maybe someone can link this thread into the questions for developers section, as i have no idea how to do that, and we can get an official answer.

[Zoloft]

i find this happening alot. and since it happens alot im pretty sure i know what the problem(s) are. when you first throw the trap it takes it a little more than a second to start firing. what i think is happening is that during this second and a half it picks a target, however once it is ready to start fireing the target has since walked out of range (or there is an object between the trap and monster) - this then cuases it to bug out untill the monster it targeted comes back into range (or the object that was blocking it is no longer in the way). the second thing that is happening is that the trap is focused on a monster that has yet to come out from the ground (i find my traps bug out especialy high in heavly populated undead areas). once the monster it targeted comes from the ground it will begin fireing. So if you see trap of yours not fireing try running forward a bit so the monsters pop out- i have found this to work 100% of the time for fixing "broken" traps. only draw back is you now have a horde of monsters chasing you.

[CGameProgrammer]

That sounds really likely, Zoloft -- I bet it's targetting enemies underground. I do seem to remember it failing mostly around areas with undead, especially around Megara, where you have drowned sailors that you won't usually trigger to spawn.

[ward_rb]

yes, seems to happen mainly around undead for me also. i think we now have an answer