MrShooter01
Ustio Mercenary Squadron
1
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Posted - 2015.10.25 20:17:00 -
[1] - Quote
So I was screwing around on stuff514 when I noticed (well, again, after forgetting the first time) entries for assault, breach, and charge plasma cannon projectiles. The plasma cannon variants themselves don't exist as far as I can see, but the projectiles already have some detailed stats to work with...
It looks like the idea was played with at some point but shelved, which is a shame because more weapons (well, variants at least) are always fun.
I'm not a spreadsheet wizard but I started playing with the idea of these for the hell of it, what would you guys think about stats like these?
Vanilla plasma cannon (for reference) wrote:
Blaster/plasma damage profile
Direct damage: 1300 (std), 1495 (adv), 1690 (pro), 1859 (experimental/officer)
Damage progression for direct hits is 15% and 30% at advanced and pro, then 10% above pro for experimental
Splash damage: 285 (std), 299 (adv), 313.5 (pro), 344 (exp), 376 (off)
Damage progression for splash damage is 5% and 10% at advanced and pro
Splash radius: 3.5m
Charge time: 0.6s (reduced 5% per level of weapon operation skill)
Fire interval: 0.5s (delay after firing before any other action can be taken, like reloading, switching weapons, throwing grenade, etc.)
1 shot before reload
Reload time: 3.5 seconds
Base ammo capacity: 9 rounds
Assault PLC
The damage of the assault projectile in the database is low at 455 direct hit damage. Seems like it would have been a multi-shot variant, like the Kubo's PLC (showing that it is obviously technically possible), or some kind of knock-off mass driver. Only problem is, the listed 285 splash damage is far too high for a rapid-fire multi shot splash weapon.
Suggested stats:
Direct damage: 455 (If all three shots hit, it will do slightly more damage than the vanilla PLC at 1365 HP total) 10% damage progression per tier
Splash damage: 160 (480 for all 3, comparable to a single basic shotgun hit), 5% damage progression per tier
Splash radius: 4m
Charge time: 0.5s
Fire interval: 0.4s
3 shots before reload
Reload time: 4 seconds
Base ammo capacity: 12 rounds
Pros:
- Much easier to use against infantry than other plasma cannon variants, comparatively fast follow up shots (at least, until you need to reload)
- still effective against vehicles
- Acts like an anti-shield mass driver, softening up crowds
Cons:- Less effective against vehicles than vanilla variant due to needing multiple shots to match the damage of one vanilla shot, and longer reload, lower direct damage increase per tier
- Unlikely to instantly kill infantry on direct hit like other plasma cannons
- Mass driver better at finishing off enemies with larger splash radius (skill bonus) and more favorable anti-armor damage profile and proficiency bonus
- Chews through ammo fast, and Plasma Cannons have relatively heavy drain on nanohives with an ammo nanite cost of 24 (comparable to grenades) vs mass driver's 16
Breach PLC
Seems straightforward, something that hits hard and shoots slow like other breach weapons. The potential to instantly kill vehicles could be worrying... but eh, we have the breach forge gun, right?
The breach projectiles in the database seem to do slightly more than 25% higher damage than vanilla projectiles, I suggest keeping that at 25%, or maybe lowering it to 20%, making it slow to charge and reload, and on top of that making the breach projectile itself slow, like the original plasma cannon that couldn't hit a moving target without clairvoyance trained to level 5.
Suggested stats:
Direct damage: 1,625 std, 1860 adv, 2100 pro
Splash damage: 150
Splash radius: 2m
Charge time: 3.5s
Fire interval: 2s (Made higher to make it a bit more difficult to instantly kill anything by immediately following up with a lai dai packed or something)
1 shot before reload
Reload time: 4 seconds
Base ammo capacity: 5 rounds
Pros: - When it hits, it hits like the fist of an angry god
Cons:
- Low actual DPS
- Difficult/impossible to hit something actually trying to avoid you with long charge time and slower projectile
- Negligible splash against infantry
Charge PLC (prototype only)
Alright, this is an oddball. The projectile shown has lower damage than normal, suggesting that the damage would be multiplied by charging. I'm thinking mechanics similar to a scrambler rifle, where you can instantly fire off a weak shot or charge up a powerful shot. I'm not sure whether or not you should be able to "hold" a full charge, like a scramble rifle or charge sniper, or if it should fire immediately like an assault forge or... well, the plasma cannon.
Suggested stats:
Direct damage: 700 (uncharged, 2.5x multiplier if fully charged for 1750 damage)
Splash damage: 120 (uncharged), 300 (full charge)
Splash radius: 3.5m
Charge time: 2.5s (can be fired with no charge)
Fire interval: 0.5s
1 shot before reload
Reload time: 3.5 seconds
Base ammo capacity: 9 rounds
Pros: - Can fire a quick snap-shot against a nearly dead vehicle, or infantry standing still
Cons:
- Lower DPS than vanilla PLC
- Being able to hold a charge and fire it on demand might make this variant awesome, but might make it overpowered... you'll move slower, at least, and a charging plasma cannon can be pretty noisy like a forge gun.
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MrShooter01
Ustio Mercenary Squadron
1
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Posted - 2015.10.27 21:50:00 -
[2] - Quote
KEROSIINI-TERO wrote:Good work with these ideas.
Small tip, next time use Prototype tier as the baseline for your calculations and presentation to the public (that's where the measurement will be, the true test if something is OP is within the most powerful non-limited tier items.)
Suggestion for breach (and maybe other future too-powerful plasma cannon variants):
Breach Plasma must be fired while feet on the ground ie. won't fire if user is in mid-jump.
(idea is related to breach forge gun immobility concept with less severe yet op-ness preventing handicap)
Thanks, I tried to keep proto in mind first and was adjusting backwards based on that (especially with the breach), and was also trying to make sure nothing got too crazy with maxed skills and nothing made the vanilla plc obsolete, or outclassed the experimental/officer for general use. My general guideline was "If I want to use this variant more than the experimental version, I've gone too far"
but I presented it standard first because that's how I'm used to the game itself presenting data to me, if that makes sense.
I do see what you're saying and I'll keep that in mind and show proto first if I ever get in the mood to try this again.
As far as the breach needing to be rooted to the ground to fire, (or even plasma cannons in general) sure.
I'm not sure if that's technically possible, though... after all, you can jump around while holding a charge (and I'm pretty sure you can fire while jumping, its just too risky to miss a shot with that charge time) with a breach forge gun, circumventing the movement penalty. Something I'm only very slightly ashamed to admit I abuse the hell out of with biotics on a minmatar heavy. I'm assuming CCP has known about that for a long time, its even shown off being done by someone with myos on Dust's twitter, and they haven't fixed it.
Also thanks for revealing to me that I can multiple bold things for future forum shenanigans
Derpty Derp wrote:Or once the devs figure out how the implemented animations, have the guy fall over from the extra force! And have to get back up. I'd love this  |