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Author Topic: Weapons/equipment suggestions  (Read 30056 times)

Offline eleazar

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Re: Weapons/equipment suggestions
« Reply #75 on: February 11, 2008, 02:32:20 am »
... with the exception of the hopelessly self-absorbed, and I'm willing to bet that, these people aside, this is more or less a constant.

I dare-say there's a more accurate description of people who work on volunteer projects for free, but don't do things exactly to other's specifications, than "hopelessly self-absorbed".

However, i think i've made my point clearly enough for anyone who's perspective allows them to understand it.

Surrealistik

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Re: Weapons/equipment suggestions
« Reply #76 on: February 11, 2008, 06:43:20 am »
Lol. 'Exactly'. Sorry eleazar, but there is a marked difference between doing things to the exact specifications of others, and stubbornly refusing to listen to ones audience for no meaningful reason other than pride, hubris, self-gratification, or perhaps in the best case, ignorance. It is incredible how many developers believe, despite the best of intentions, that they know their game better in terms of balance, funfactor and gameplay as an example, than the people who play it for hours, and understand it intimately, inside and out, from a pragmatic, groundlevel perspective. Sometimes a refusal to listen is legitimately justified, because there are rare, fleeting occasions when that majority of your audience is wrong, but, these instances being exceedingly rare, chances are that such a position isn't righteous. Fortunately in the case of ignorance though, understanding comes eventually. This was possibly the case with Aaron Hall.

That all said, just because you are producing something that others can use and enjoy, does not mean you are doing so for entirely benign and altruistic reasons. Chances are good that you are for the most part (which I have stated earlier), but there's no guarantee.
« Last Edit: February 11, 2008, 06:47:00 am by Surrealistik »

nemchenk

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Re: Weapons/equipment suggestions
« Reply #77 on: February 11, 2008, 09:32:28 pm »
There are some very solid design decisions we've made that will never be revoked, because they are exactly what we wanted when we envisioned the "final" game.
BTAxis, is there some kind of mission-statement or roadmap of these? I have some experience working on OS games, and managing OS servers and fora, which leads me to think it would be a very good idea indeed to make the stance of your game clear to any who wish to help. That way, they have an idea in advance of whether their help is wanted or not.

Now, on another note, what do you think of these new weapon ideas:

- Kerrblade throwing blades / "shuriken". Using the same monomo technology as Kerrblades, but small and light, these give the Aliens harvesting bodies a bit of reach. They would also make a good early-game research subject for PhalanX, being simpler to study than plasma weapons. It all depends I guess on the dev team's idea of what the early-game Aliens should be using (would the plasma guns not burn their precious samples?)
I found that I had two types of alien, armour, kerrblades, plaspistols and rifles, and "alien breathing apparatii" to research with my six (!) scientists after just two missions. And that is in addition to Alien Origins, Lasers, and Bolter which were already there :) So, my feeling at the moment is that the early game is playing its hand a little too quickly.

- Non-lethal ammo. As per real-world "baton rounds", these would give you some chance of wounding the target, and some chance of stunning it. I would use the "blast" damage type, and make that do 50/50 stun/real damage (or whatever percentage.) I would also use "blast" for punch/kick attacks too, but its use for flechette ammo then becomes problematic. Possibly the game would need a new damage type, "shrapnel" for use there and in AP grenades/mines.

- 21st century Taser. Unlike the crude wired system we have now, this is a weapon used by law enforcement forces in 2084. The low-velocity rounds contain a small dart which contains both the electrical capacitors which produce the charge, and the control circuitry that allows variable "dosing." The shooter can use the gun to set each shot to Low, Medium, or Full power. The weapon allows Snap and Aimed fire modes only.

On a related note, could I suggest that the Burst fire mode is not needed on the Dolvich pistol? I would let the MP be the one-handed suppression gun :) The Dolvich is much more accurate, and has more stopping power. I don't think it needs the auto-fire mode. But, as a further tweak, I would make it effective against robotic opponents -- it fires one of the largest AP rounds in the game, AFAIK, and it would give this venerable weapon another "unique selling point" :)

My 2p, as usual...


nemchenk
« Last Edit: February 12, 2008, 12:27:46 pm by nemchenk »