Bojo The Mighty
Zanzibar Concept
1763
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Posted - 2013.09.13 21:06:00 -
[1] - Quote
The Request
What some people need is a middle ground between grenades and remote explosives. But first, let me explain why the time bomb should be most powerful set explosive there is.
Grenades are short fuse thrown bombs. They are time bombs in sense that they have a fuse that ticks away with time. However they can be "Cooked" to a point where the fuse is shortened to where time is not effecting the combat scenario (you throw and it explodes so quickly there is no waiting in essence).
Remote Explosives are manual detonated bombs. You set them down and they can be there all game. Unlike grenades, they are immobile and without fuse. The only waiting necessary is for them to activate. They are more powerful than grenades because of their immobility, the user has no say on whether an enemy can be near it. The enemy just has to hopefully go through the motions to fall prey to them. However the manual detonation is a great perk especially when tied to its awesome damage. Their usefulness is completely dependent on enemy actions and behavior thus they have much more damage than grenades.
So now to the subject: Time Bombs. Time bombs are the midway between Grenades and Explosives. They operate on time fuses yet are placed rather than thrown. However the Time Bomb subtracts the biggest Pros of both. It can neither be thrown nor manually detonated. They rely on the enemy to go through the motions in an allotted amount of time.
So what the hell is the perk in using a time bomb?
Sticky Bitches!
If any explosive is going to become "sticky" it should be a time bomb, not a thrown grenade or remote explosives, they are comparatively easy to use when stood against timebombs. Thus the time bomb should be able to stick to objects, enemy/friendly/neutral.
Sometimes I need bombs for situations but as a scout, I am tissue paper, so after laying down some remote explosives, should I die before the moment they are needed, they are useless and my team oriented effort went down the drain. That is where I need a timebomb. I need a remote explosive that detonates even after death, but with a fuse longer than a grenade obviously.
The Suggestion
This is where my opinion really comes into play on what it should be. Sure I said that it should be sticky but that is so it is different from either being a really long fused grenade or a "worthless" remote explosive. Anyways, here is what I believe a Dust 514 time bomb should be like: (from a stat - screen view)
The Amount: I think there should be 4 to begin with, and 6 at prototype. There should be no cap on how many are active at a time.
The Placement: A time bomb should probably be heavier than a grenade so you can't throw it up like one. But it should definitely lobbed to make use of its sticky feature. Maybe half grenade throwing range (excluding bounce)?
The Time: 10 seconds, keep it classy. They should be able to be thrown rather quickly so to offset the need to activate timers.
Damage/Radius: The damage should be up the roof, but it should have relatively tight blast radius. A denser than RE explosion if you will.
HUD: The Time To Detonation (TTD) should be displayed via LOS, even if the LOS is blocked by obstacle. The time would be displayed respectively over each individual bomb. Profile should be between grenade and RE but closer to RE.
"Safety Features": Safety feature is basically something that gives the enemy a chance. I think that for the first 7 or 8 seconds they are completely silent but the final 3-2 give a characteristic ticking beep.
Controller Operation: Left trigger sets up the bombs, right trigger starts the clock. That allows the bombs to be individually set or set as a group.
Projected Use: I project that such time bombs will be used in quantity, creating a small field of them, to counteract their tighter blast radius. People would probably sneak up on HAVs and throw some on their weak-point, clock them and run. Due to smaller blast radius LAV-Kamikaze set ups would be impractical and no one would do such a thing in PC obviously. I could also foresee people setting a ring around them and using as a Fire and Forget aid in combat. Time Bombs would run a high risk of accidental suicide but that is their nature. |