Plasma blaster in 2.5 dev

[jerzy_cz]

Some idea to make this weapon useful and really dangerous: maybe it should have ball mode only? With aim, snap and maybe multiply(2-3) shots? What do you think?

[Nokim]

1. Make it something like blaster rocket from X-COM Short range, just to shoot by user-defined trajectory behind corner to make sure a room is clear. Say two modes - defined trajectory and direct shot. Second use fewer TUs.
2. Plasma stream mode - similar to needler gun. Many (really many, say 20) single shots in given direction.

Ball mode as it is now useless. I have never succeeded in killing alien with it. Missed from few cells away.

[Timo]

Blaster launcher in XCOM was extremely dangerous, especially in hands of aliens (have got all my marines killed in first turn by it more than once). Not like that, IMO it was too dangerous and took some of the challenge away.

If added, maybe ammunition could be kind of very fast remote-controlled plane more than rocket or missile with a lot of TU:s, but not infinite so that you could not shoot it around many twists at once. Make turns cost a lot of TU:s. High, but limited range, explodes immediately if shooter gets killed or stunned. Can be shot down by aliens (or you) in mid-flight. Launcher and ammo costs very high (just like real world guided missiles vs rockets). Also controlling it should take all TU:s from the shooter, so he can't do anything else while it is in flight.

Too complex?

[geever]

There will be no guided weapon in UFO:AI.

-geever

[Sandro]

Ball mode as it is now useless. I have never succeeded in killing alien with it. Missed from few cells away.

Maybe it should be converted to GL mode (i.e. gravity affected projectile) with a short range -- say, 12-15 cells. This way it will become effective again, fit with the new concept of it being a powerful short-range weapon, but still will be able to retain the current randomness is has.

[Unisol]

Maybe it should be converted to GL mode (i.e. gravity affected projectile) with a short range -- say, 12-15 cells. This way it will become effective again, fit with the new concept of it being a powerful short-range weapon, but still will be able to retain the current randomness is has.

IIRC, according to tech description Plasma Ball is flying too fast to be noticeably affected by gravity, even though it is the largest chunk of plasma on the field. Proposal: since it is so big it would only be logical for it to deal splash damage on burst - say, within 1-3 tiles radius. The idea is to aim at the floor below or the wall near enemy so it would get caught by the blast(Q3 rocket launcher tactics, anyone?). This would compensate for lousy aim a bit.

[jerzy_cz]

IIRC, according to tech description Plasma Ball is flying too fast to be noticeably affected by gravity, even though it is the largest chunk of plasma on the field. Proposal: since it is so big it would only be logical for it to deal splash damage on burst - say, within 1-3 tiles radius. The idea is to aim at the floor below or the wall near enemy so it would get caught by the blast(Q3 rocket launcher tactics, anyone?). This would compensate for lousy aim a bit.

Maybe it would be useful as a weapon similar to rocket launcher? With long range, splash damage, accuracy a bit below sniper rifle? IMHO aliens have already good close combat weapons.

[H-Hour]

Plasma blaster is a shotgun-like weapon in 2.5-dev. If you want to be effective with it, treat it like a shotgun (very close range, very high damage) and only use the ball firemode. The snap shot and 5-round burst firemodes are secondary options to be used in special situations.

[jerzy_cz]

Plasma blaster is a shotgun-like weapon in 2.5-dev. If you want to be effective with it, treat it like a shotgun (very close range, very high damage) and only use the ball firemode. The snap shot and 5-round burst firemodes are secondary options to be used in special situations.

Understood, but tell this to aliens 
They keep shooting it with snap firemode, sometimes burst mode, but never ball mode. It is almost completely uneffective against soldiers in nano armor.

[H-Hour]

Understood, but tell this to aliens 
They keep shooting it with snap firemode, sometimes burst mode, but never ball mode. It is almost completely uneffective against soldiers in nano armor.

It's a known issue (aliens only using first firemode). I believe there may already be a fix in place.