Kierkegaard Soren
Ametat Security
Amarr Empire
0
   |
Posted - 2013.09.22 08:04:00 -
[1] - Quote
I'm a relatively new player who's been trying out the commando suit for the last few weeks, and for all its faults the two light slots do allow you try out the more exotic weapons out there without depriving yourself of a useful AR. Anyway, plasma cannons. We know they're not quite what they should be, and whilst a chunk of the fault lies with bugs such as poor hit detection, it occurred to me that they lack a defined role, and where they do attempt to excel they do so by treading on the toes of other weapons that, quite frankly, just work better.
Right now it's designed to be a CQC room clearer, at least according to its blurb anyway, with the raw power to put a sizeable dent into any light vehicle. But the way it operates in practice makes it terrible in that role. Consider; you want a CQC powerhouse to be fast, hard-hitting with the emphasis on pushing out all of its damage quickly and then having a long down-time either through heat build up or long reloads. Basically, I want my plasma cannon to be a high risk/high reward weapon, where my skill with the trigger is rewarded with a room full of dead mercs. If I screw up though, or push my luck with the gun itself, I'm dead. So, I propose the following changes:
- Remove the charge time, and replace with a significant heat build up mechanism. When your beam laser overheats, you say "ow, that was hot." When your plasma overheats, you will say "ow, I am now a liquid."
- Replace single shot chamber with three shot chamber, relatively high RoF, but triple the reload time. Following on from the point above, firing a total of five shots in succession (so empty chamber, reload, immediately try to empty chamber again) will break the heat limit. For effects, see above.
- Reduce splash radius by about a third, but increase its damage by a similar proportion. Fix hit detection so weapon not useless by default.
- Make it really loud. I'm being serious here people. Shock and awe is a valid tactic, and when this thing goes off inside a corridor I want mercs in scout suits weighing heavier than a fat suit because they just crapped themselves so hard. Think: death disco. Lots of flashing lights and the sound of metal boiling into mist.
- If possible, reduce the effectiveness against vehicles. The last thing tankers need is another easy to access light infantry weapon melting a hole through there hulls. But that's another post entirely.
And that's it. No doubt, I've screwed up somewhere. No doubt, your going to tell me how. Looking forward to that ;) |
Kierkegaard Soren
Ametat Security
Amarr Empire
0
|
Posted - 2013.09.22 13:35:00 -
[2] - Quote
I consider the PC to be a very situational weapon; specifically for the clearing out of groups that sit on letters in domi and skirmish games. If the mass driver is a suppression and area denial specialist weapon, I envisage the PC to be a breacher of entrenched defenses that can spit out a vast amount of firepower in a very short space of time, but with the draw back of it having a long down time via reloads and a risk factor built in through the heat mechanic.
The entry level skill would increase projectile speed per rank, and the different tiers would have more efficient heat management tech, allowing you to sustain fire for longer without killing yourself. In regards to vehicles, I agree; they barely dent a tank, although I'm happy with that level of balance there.
I don't want it to be a splash weapon, because if you drop the damage down to balance its a mass driver with a fancy light show but if you keep the as they are its a noob tube that fires sun-balls. Nobody wants that. Scoring direct hits should be a big deal with this weapon, with splash acting as a token consolation prize for not quite being awesome enough. |