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XxGhazbaranxX
The New Age Outlaws
Proficiency V.
1369
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Posted - 2014.05.23 19:10:00 -
[1] - Quote
PROPOSING CHANGES TO THE PLASMA CANNON
DUST 514
Introduction
The basis of this document is to try too introduce changes to the Plasma Cannon that seem sensible and balanced. Increasing damage where need as is the case of the Breach variant and reducing damage as needed as is the assault variant. Always taking into consideration the balance of the game vs infantry and vs vehicles.
Definition of Roles:
- Assault: The assault variant is the one intended for anti-infantry use. It will be oriented at giving the player an easier use alternative for the weapon they spent their SP in. This variant should have an expanded clip to help compensate for battle situations and should have less overall damage than the standard variant.
- Standard: Every weapon in Dust has a baseline from which the variants are made. It exists as a versatile jack of all trades that excelles in none of itGÇÖs roles.
- Breach: Every variant has a hard hitting counterpart designed to deliver high alpha damage but slower rate of fire. The proposed numbers for the breach variant are to do just that, a hard hitting longer charge variant centered around being an anti vehicle weapon.
BALANCING THE ROLES
Anti-infantry
Although there is going to be an introduction of roles into the plasma cannon, it is imperative to keep the staple one hit kill mechanic. Therefore the stick by which the plasma cannon will be measured is by dropsuit size. An assault Plasma Cannon, for example, will only be able to one hit kill light dropsuits dedicated to the scout role (not brick tanked). In similar fashion the standard Plasma cannon will be able to one shot medium suits tanked for their specific role and finally the Breach variant will be able to one shot sentinels tanked to their specific role. This one hit kill effect will only be applied with direct damage.
The basis for this balancing is that a character should have to choose in which area of combat he will be most effective and therefore rewarded for his or her choice in their preferred style of combat. Conversely a person using the plasma cannon not suited to eliminating the specific suit size it was designed to destroy will have a more difficult encounter.
Anti-vehicle
In the same sense that the plasma cannon is balanced against infantry, it is equally so against vehicles. The same principle exists in correlation with LAVGÇÖs, Dropships and HAVGÇÖs. The assault variant will be able to launch repeated attacks to try and damage an LAV that is trying to murder taxi or transport mercGÇÖs; as with the dropship and tanks however, the damage output of each Plasma cannon variant will determine their effectiveness towards the target. Assault will give more opportunities to hit LAVs and Dropships while not dealing massive amounts of damage while the breach will give an opportunity at dealing massive amounts of damage to Tanks that are slower and easier to hit at the point of engagement.
CONCLUSIONS AND OTHER THOUGHTS
While in the spreadsheet I included numbers that would address the plasma cannon that as A user I understand are reasonable, I also understand that there are some balancing mechanics that should stay on the plasma cannon. The projectile speed should stay. This in and of itself will be a limiting factor in using The BREACH PLC vs dropships. Ammo capacity should not be increased at all. This will ensure that even if they have more round in the chamber to shoot, they will run out of ammo pretty quickly and have to rely on either equipping a nanohive or having friends that will give them ammo.
I hope CCP takes this feedback into consideration as I tried very hard to maintain the numbers balanced. Of course CCP has the liberty to change the numbers as they see fit but, bumping the plasma cannon into having balance.
Plasma Cannon Advocate
Dust 514 Survivor
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XxGhazbaranxX
The New Age Outlaws
Proficiency V.
1369
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Posted - 2014.05.23 19:15:00 -
[2] - Quote
Arkena Wyrnspire wrote:I don't really see why the plasma cannon doesn't have breach forge gun levels of alpha damage.
The breach forge gun has huge range and perfect accuracy.
As a penalty, you need to remain stationary whilst using it.
The plasma cannon is much, much more difficult to aim with.
It is, however, more mobile.
They have similar refire times and they both have their own set of disadvantages so I don't really see why not.
I understand and we where close to taking this into consideration when writing the proposal but we also have to take into account that the Plasma Cannon is a light weapon, therefore if you notice the Proto Breach Plasma Cannon ends where the basic Breach forge gun begins.
We also have to understand that CCP wants the FG to have the best overall power so we kept it this way
Plasma Cannon Advocate
Dust 514 Survivor
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XxGhazbaranxX
The New Age Outlaws
Proficiency V.
1372
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Posted - 2014.05.23 19:48:00 -
[3] - Quote
Arkena Wyrnspire wrote:XxGhazbaranxX wrote:
I understand and we where close to taking this into consideration when writing the proposal but we also have to take into account that the Plasma Cannon is a light weapon, therefore if you notice the Proto Breach Plasma Cannon ends where the basic Breach forge gun begins.
We also have to understand that CCP wants the FG to have the best overall power so we kept it this way
Why does a weapon being 'heavy' mean that it has to be vastly more powerful than its rivals? Even if the plasma cannon had the same level of damage as the breach forge gun, it would still have a myriad of disadvantages compared to it.
beats me, I just accomodate for CCP ^^
Plasma Cannon Advocate
Dust 514 Survivor
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XxGhazbaranxX
The New Age Outlaws
Proficiency V.
1378
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Posted - 2014.05.24 01:25:00 -
[4] - Quote
The fact is, the plasma cannon, as is, doesn't have a place on the battle field, to give it a role on the battle field something has to change, as much as I would love the Plasma cannon to remain a single shot weapon, the crux of the matter is, that with the current state of Dust 514 it will never see enough change in the weapons characteristics to allow it to be a truly viable LIGHT weapon that has Anti-vehicle capabilities as well as being viable against infantry. Therefore it is with a great deal of consideration into the true way to balance to weapon that adding a second and third round to the plasma cannon will allow for newer players to have a fighting chance if the first misses or to finish off a player should it only be splash damage, currently it is a skill use weapon, it has not auto-aim helping it, it is truly reliant on the ability of the player, and once learned you should be able to devastate your opponent as well as any other light weapon is capable of doing, there is one other thing I would point out and that is that between each shot you should still require the charge, along the same mechanics of the Bolt pistol, I hope this give you some kind of idea as to why I chose to increase the clip size in my feedback.
Plasma Cannon Advocate
Dust 514 Survivor
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