Falcon
Private Tester
This thread is a spin off of the thread So uh, Splash back up?, which had turned into a splash (and knockback) discussion. A more formal name for this thread would be: Suggestions to Combat the Possibility of an Overly Splash Filled Game.
Originally Daph's quote got me thinking about why much of the community believes splash is a bit excessive.
*Note that I am an advocate for utility based weapons – weapons that hinder the enemy in more ways than HP (If damaging HP at all). I am also a bit bias towards the chasing position. Oh yeah, I suck at naming weapons.
EMP Disc Launcher – This weapon is a hit or miss, as in it either deals its full damage, or none at all. It shoots a metal disc/blade and if it comes within one meter (Or any small radius) of any player it explodes with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Note that it is not detonated by the ground or buildings. If it collides with the ground or buildings it is defused and becomes dormant causing no damage (basically fades away like a dead player). It would cause a small amount of damage, but also deal direct "damage" to the enemy's energy bar. Useful for slowing enemies, or picking them out of the sky. Possibly used for dueling to drop the enemies flight time. I see this as a nice alternative to splash.
Gauss Rifle – Burst fire. Shoots three quick rounds, and then has a short break before it can fire another three rounds. Hits for a nice amount of damage if all three rounds hit the target. Useful for targeting enemies in the air, at a moderate range.
Magno-Beam – Kind of like the lightning gun in quake. Short range, low damage, continuous beam. But it also drains a fair bit of energy.
Plasma Gun – Rapidly Shoots balls of plasma that travel fast in a linear motion. Dissipate after a medium distance to prevent spam.
Homingun has already commented on the idea of tweaking splash as a whole.
Edited for clarity.
Originally Daph's quote got me thinking about why much of the community believes splash is a bit excessive.
I believe the problem is in the lack of weapons Legions currently has. Currently, there are 4 weapons, 2 with splash and 2 without. Of the 4, only 3 of them are consistently used, especially in close to midrange combat. I am not including the Laser Rifle due to its overall lack of use in duel or duel-like combat. Although some can be successful with it, the Laser Rifle is very rarely used for this purpose. The three most common weapons used for combat purposes are the RL, GL, and CG. Two-thirds of which have splash. That means that two-thirds of the time (subject to differential use of weapons) players are being pelted with splash damage weapons. It is probably more often than this as every single class (hold the OR LRII) has at least one splash weapon, and some primarily use the CG for finishers. This can make the game feel splash heavy, and take away from the importance of certain skills, primarily movement. I suggest that more weapons be added to lessen the overall use of splash or splash dominant weapons. Some of these new weapons could have splash, but not as their main feature or damage potential. Here are some suggestions I had made back on the old IA forums...I meant that, should the final RL splash be reduced once again, the impulse would likely do the same. In that situation, I'd start lobbying for a new weapon to fill the role of trajectory-changer.
*Note that I am an advocate for utility based weapons – weapons that hinder the enemy in more ways than HP (If damaging HP at all). I am also a bit bias towards the chasing position. Oh yeah, I suck at naming weapons.
EMP Disc Launcher – This weapon is a hit or miss, as in it either deals its full damage, or none at all. It shoots a metal disc/blade and if it comes within one meter (Or any small radius) of any player it explodes with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse). Note that it is not detonated by the ground or buildings. If it collides with the ground or buildings it is defused and becomes dormant causing no damage (basically fades away like a dead player). It would cause a small amount of damage, but also deal direct "damage" to the enemy's energy bar. Useful for slowing enemies, or picking them out of the sky. Possibly used for dueling to drop the enemies flight time. I see this as a nice alternative to splash.
Gauss Rifle – Burst fire. Shoots three quick rounds, and then has a short break before it can fire another three rounds. Hits for a nice amount of damage if all three rounds hit the target. Useful for targeting enemies in the air, at a moderate range.
Magno-Beam – Kind of like the lightning gun in quake. Short range, low damage, continuous beam. But it also drains a fair bit of energy.
Plasma Gun – Rapidly Shoots balls of plasma that travel fast in a linear motion. Dissipate after a medium distance to prevent spam.
Homingun has already commented on the idea of tweaking splash as a whole.
Homingun said:Classic case of trying to fix what was not broken. Maybe we should be working on more important parts of the game.
I have to agree with this philosophy as well. I believe that the game and devs should focus on adding more content before tweaking the damage multipliers. Of course equations need to be changed throughout the developing process to make sure there is healthy competition between players (and weapon usage), but the main focus should be on adding new content. On that note: great job with the new maps and the swift development, especially for a completely volunteer dev team!Homingun said:Keep in mind that pursuit of perfection and practicality don't necessarily coincide. On that note, reality and games don't either.
Edited for clarity.