Welcome to the 100th Tip of the Week for Kane's Wrath! For this special occasion, we are doing something slightly different - we present you the Kane's Wrath Mythbusters!
Not to be confused with two resident experts on the Discovery Channel who go around sticking loaded guns into ovens and examining claims about man not walking on the moon, this feature will clarify some popular misconceptions and myths about Kane's Wrath. We'll draw on expertise from our staff and possibly even the XML files as we explore the answers to these esoteric quandaries.
Myth #1: Tournament Decision is the largest ranked 1-vs.-1 map
Tournament Decision (375×375 sq.ft.) is one of the larger maps, but it isn't the biggest. Decision is taller than Tower, but Tower (400×250) is wider than Decision. By map area, Decision is not the largest 1-vs.-1 map. Both Rift (508×370) and Dustbowl (350×450) are larger; Rift considerably so. The reason that Decision seems quite large is due to the greater number of obstacles hindering passage compared to the relatively open nature of both Rift and Dustbowl.
Tournament Tower (top) and Tournament Decision (bottom), to scale.
Myth #2: Reflector Beams follow a stealthed / teleported epic unit
Absolutely! If you've ever tried teleporting your Hexapod or stealthing a Redeemer to escape the continuous fire of multiple Beam Cannons bouncing their lasers off a Venom, you've undoubtedly seen, much to your horror, that the beams continue to fire until either your epic is dead or you've destroyed or EMP'd either the Beam Cannons or the Venom. This could be argued as either a bug or unfair, but when you consider the impact of stealthing or teleporting a $5000+ epic unit, you probably will be hard-pressed to find much sympathy. We have a video by HolyFtW showing this bug; go to 14:20 in the video to see it in action. The replay link is also included below.
Just like in the 2006 World Cup, this headbutt does actually have serious consequences, namely killing off the Mothership. This interesting tidbit was examined and investigated back in Tip of the Week #56, but it's time we finally lay this monster to rest. Drone Ships can in fact kill Motherships.
Myth #4: Titans can crush Scrin Harvesters
Say you're Steel Talons and you're playing aggressively to show how macho you are. You roll in two or three Titans into a lightly defended Scrin base and snicker, knowing that they're going to end up with stomped Harvesters. Wrong! Scrin Harvesters cannot be crushed by Titans, nor can Scrin Harvesters crush infantry. You're better off shooting the Harvesters and bringing some infantry support (preferably in an MRT) to force your enemy to build Devourers or Photon Cannons. This myth was hard to depict with just screencaps, so we've provided a replay with a hilarious amount of Harvesters in it so you can see that only an epic unit can crush a Scrin Harvester.
Myth #5: GDI units benefit from Railgun Accelerators
If you happen to have Steel Talons technology, you can in fact use Railgun Accelerators on upgraded Predators, Zone Troopers, MARVs with Zone Troopers, and even upgraded Rigs. The results are quite scary.
Note the tell-tale white glow at the feet of the Zone Troopers and the damage they've sustained from Railgun Accelerators. There is also a noticeable rate of fire increase.
