Purple damage indicators?

[JMP3]

This is something I've noticed when using only a single weapon: my 4-forma Synoid Simulor.  When I fire off 2-3 shots to get the full singularity (the one that will look like a spinning Cephalon Suda sigil) into a crowd, I'll see the normal yellow text for crits, but I'll also see purple damage text.  I asked a squadmate who was using the same weapon, and I was told that purple meant a critical hit that did 3x normal damage.  But, that can't be true.  My Simulor build does not get to 3x crit damage, only 2x.  Has anyone seen this with other weapons/knows what this means?  Oh, and for reference, I've copied this person's builds exactly.

[Thetantanman]

Purple damage means damage to overshields, which mostly happens to enemies when there a bunch of shield ospreys. I believe it can also happen if you have a bad connection when you damage regular shields.

[xiaodenden]

I don't think I've ever seen an official explanation on the purple number damage.  I remember when this topic came up before some people were accusing others of being color blind, lol.  Anyway, I'm not 100% sure what those purple numbers are but I suspect it has something to do with shield or overshield.  Maybe other people have figured out what those numbers actually mean.

[RideaTear]

 I use the Crit build that the above poster mentioned and it works like a charm. A tip if you decide to use Vile Acceleration: If you have a free spinning scroll wheel set your primary fire button to the wheel in order to get the most out of the fire rate. No matter how fast I click it never matches the speed of using the scroll wheel. It will increase your DPS by a considerable amount. 

[JMP3]

12 hours ago, rawr1254 said:

The purple numbers usually happen when enemies are affected by ospreys(extra shields)

Also thats a crappy build like most "youtube" builds. I'd switch out the rad for crit mods and swap out shred for vile accel since simulor already has infinite(or however far its dmg aoe is) punch through.

If you change to that youll have tons more dps.

So his build; note the burst dmg:http://warframe-builder.com/Primary_Weapons/Builder/Synoid_Simulor/t_30_43223002_131-0-5-133-1-5-134-3-5-137-2-10-138-5-5-141-4-5-150-7-10-163-6-3_131-6-133-6-137-7-134-6-141-6-138-11-163-9-150-8/en/2-0-83

Crit build:http://warframe-builder.com/Primary_Weapons/Builder/Synoid_Simulor/t_30_43202200_131-0-5-133-1-5-137-5-10-140-4-5-150-2-10-159-6-5-405-7-5-626-3-5_131-6-133-6-150-8-626-9-140-5-137-7-159-9-405-9/en/2-0-83

I don't have Bladed Rounds or Vile Acceleration, so I'm sticking with the youtuber's builds.  It works great when I actually remember to bring the right build.  

[rawr1254]

The purple numbers usually happen when enemies are affected by ospreys(extra shields)

Also thats a crappy build like most "youtube" builds. I'd switch out the rad for crit mods and swap out shred for vile accel since simulor already has infinite(or however far its dmg aoe is) punch through.

If you change to that youll have tons more dps.

So his build; note the burst dmg:http://warframe-builder.com/Primary_Weapons/Builder/Synoid_Simulor/t_30_43223002_131-0-5-133-1-5-134-3-5-137-2-10-138-5-5-141-4-5-150-7-10-163-6-3_131-6-133-6-137-7-134-6-141-6-138-11-163-9-150-8/en/2-0-83

Crit build:http://warframe-builder.com/Primary_Weapons/Builder/Synoid_Simulor/t_30_43202200_131-0-5-133-1-5-137-5-10-140-4-5-150-2-10-159-6-5-405-7-5-626-3-5_131-6-133-6-150-8-626-9-140-5-137-7-159-9-405-9/en/2-0-83

[rawr1254]

1 hour ago, JMP3 said:

I don't have Bladed Rounds or Vile Acceleration, so I'm sticking with the youtuber's builds.  It works great when I actually remember to bring the right build.  

You dont have to use either of those but if you have them then using them would be good. If you dont have them then swap out vile accel for Speed Trigger and BLaded rounds for Hellfire.

[JMP3]

4 hours ago, rawr1254 said:

You dont have to use either of those but if you have them then using them would be good. If you dont have them then swap out vile accel for Speed Trigger and BLaded rounds for Hellfire.

Then I essentially have the exact same build except that my shots will bounce off enemies.  The Shred is there for a reason; having the shots pass through the enemies I shoot them at.