but here the enemy basket is open and someone offscreen has 7 clams and does get the high priority indicator? ok, maybe 7 clams is close enough to a power clam to warrant getting the priority indicator

well.. here i have 3 clams, the enemy basket is open, and I get the priority indicator

so, whats going on?

it seems to be a mixture of
- highest clam count wins priority
- no-one gets priority if someone is holding a power clam or if the enemy basket is open
- 7 clams always gets priority regardless of the previous rules
- something else that i can't figure out. maybe the rules are different for your indicator and your teammates'?

here's another confusing one, manon in the distance has the only 3 clams we have, but doesn't get priority. maybe the enemy team having a power clam enters into the equation

but then 20 seconds later manon has died and me and Giga have both picked up one clam. i get priority, Giga does not

bonus round, two screenshots of the exact same situation: I have a power clam and two of my teammates have 3 clams each. in one they both get priority, in the other neither does

yes, i did audibly groan when i got matched with "Giga" and "chad"

here's a fascinating clip

initially, one of my teammates has 3 clams, they're the only one on the team with any clams. they don't have priority, i assume because someone on the enemy team is holding a power clam

i pick up 3 clams, and also don't get priority

the enemy dies and drop their power clam. nothing happens to either indicator

then, another teammate also picks up 3 clams, and *all three of us* get priority indicators

it looks like the two of us who already had 3 clams get priority as soon as the third teammate picks up one clam

this is starting to smell like a bug

last one, another thing that makes no sense to me

my teammate has 3, I have 1, they have priority, I do not. we each pick up a clam, they now have 4 and I have 2. now we both have priority??

i need to find a bunch of people who are as curious about this as i am so we can spend an hour in recon mode experimentally picking up and throwing clams

display name update

@codl ...now i'm very confused. i didn't even realise there were different indicators

@codl i am curious enough to do that but i'm also not a bunch of people

@codl this has exactly the same energy as me and a bunch of people figuring out in doom2/zdaemon in 2005 pointing rockets at the floor propels you through the sky, but only certain parts of floor

2001.wav

@codl I am TERRIBLE at clam blitz

@cyanidedansen but its simple you just put the clam in the basket

@cyanidedansen but really as long as you can pick up a clam and then throw it then you can help me uncover the clam mystery

@codl if i reply to a toot like this i'd feel like the stick figure dad going ARE YA WINNING, SON?

@batterpunts im losing (my mind)

@codl SPLAT nothing wrong with me
SPLAT nothing wrong with me
SPLAT something's got to give
SPLAT something's got to give

OOOOAAAAHH
LET THE PAINTBALLS HIT THE FLOOR

(popcorn tune)