Thanks to further progress in coding and previous playtesting(before any lines of code were even written), we've managed to narrow down the list of confirmed powers. This is still a tentative list, mind you.
For a while, we struggled to find a way to differentiate the assault rifle from the other guns. The pistol has infinite ammo, the machine pistol has shield damage/lane pushing, the shotgun is close range/pushes the enemy backwards, and the sniper rifle can bypass shields/aim for maximum damage. The hard part about assault rifles is that they're basically OP, in real life. They basically work at any range. Sure, they're much clunkier to wield than a pistol, but if you're completely prepared to take on a bunch of aliens tonight, an assault rifle will do you no wrong. For the longest time, the solution was to simply make the ammo rare. Eventually after throwing around ideas of how to give the assault rifle a unique perk, it was decided to give the gun a unique drawback instead. In the US, assault rifles are outright restricted whereas handguns are not, but the definition of an assault rifle is not very easy to narrow down; certain customizations are allowed for handguns to be more like an assault rifle. Anyway, the dystopian society of Aching Dreams allows for the ownership of assault rifles, but does not allow for the discharge of them. If you fire one, an unblockable electronic signature is dispatched, and an officer of the law will come to investigate. Since there aren't any officers around on a space station full of zombies (well, okay, there aren't any officers around to respond), a robot will be dispatched in the officer's place. In game terms, this means that every time someone fires an assault rifle, there's a chance that a Digknee Mick Moose bot will come in and shoot your survivors down. You can counter this by turning on either Elaine or Carmen's KDIG Frequency Jammer, which lowers the chance of a Mick Moose reprisal. Other strats include using the assault rifle right before the sun comes up, or equipping so many assault rifles that you'd be well equipped to take on any Mick Moose bots, and then some (but it'd surely cost a lot of AR ammo!). So anyways, the drawback of the Mick Moose bot is so bad, that the Assault Rifle has been rebalanced to the point where it's above and beyond better than any of the other guns. I'll probably have to rename EMP wave to something else though.
For a while, we struggled to find a way to differentiate the assault rifle from the other guns. The pistol has infinite ammo, the machine pistol has shield damage/lane pushing, the shotgun is close range/pushes the enemy backwards, and the sniper rifle can bypass shields/aim for maximum damage. The hard part about assault rifles is that they're basically OP, in real life. They basically work at any range. Sure, they're much clunkier to wield than a pistol, but if you're completely prepared to take on a bunch of aliens tonight, an assault rifle will do you no wrong. For the longest time, the solution was to simply make the ammo rare. Eventually after throwing around ideas of how to give the assault rifle a unique perk, it was decided to give the gun a unique drawback instead. In the US, assault rifles are outright restricted whereas handguns are not, but the definition of an assault rifle is not very easy to narrow down; certain customizations are allowed for handguns to be more like an assault rifle. Anyway, the dystopian society of Aching Dreams allows for the ownership of assault rifles, but does not allow for the discharge of them. If you fire one, an unblockable electronic signature is dispatched, and an officer of the law will come to investigate. Since there aren't any officers around on a space station full of zombies (well, okay, there aren't any officers around to respond), a robot will be dispatched in the officer's place. In game terms, this means that every time someone fires an assault rifle, there's a chance that a Digknee Mick Moose bot will come in and shoot your survivors down. You can counter this by turning on either Elaine or Carmen's KDIG Frequency Jammer, which lowers the chance of a Mick Moose reprisal. Other strats include using the assault rifle right before the sun comes up, or equipping so many assault rifles that you'd be well equipped to take on any Mick Moose bots, and then some (but it'd surely cost a lot of AR ammo!). So anyways, the drawback of the Mick Moose bot is so bad, that the Assault Rifle has been rebalanced to the point where it's above and beyond better than any of the other guns. I'll probably have to rename EMP wave to something else though.
Less wall of text, more tits plz.
ReplyDelete(o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o) (o)
ReplyDeleteLess of what that guy said, more of what you said.
ReplyDeletethanks Ma... "Don't you listen to that bad man! You just keep doing what you love to do, y'hear!?"
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI would venter another idea. Weapons with a high cycle rate like a AR or Sub machinegun on auto have a very high chance of jamming. So maybe allow for only the fighter class being able to clear a jam in battle.
ReplyDeleteOr make it so that some one with the repair skill will have to fix them after the fight.
Great progress hope you guys don't go too overboard. So what's the estimated date of release at this rate?
ReplyDeleteWe still do not have a full grasp of beta release just yet. But as HC mentioned earlier on 12/3/2015, his worst case scenario release date could be around October.
DeleteActually, real Assault Rifles aren't built for continuous fire, like SMGs are, and probably aren't much better than the latter at the distances we speak of here.
ReplyDeleteCould have just made it a burstfire SMG with a chance for a critical, influenced by class and/or *enter character stat here*, or have continuous fire degrade weapon performance somewhat. Other options include playing with the reload time to allow for a weapon that's best against smaller waves of enemies, reduced money earned from 'the show' as sponsors don't want to condone illegal weapon use, differing performance against specific types of enemies (if you have those), or the already mentioned jams. A heavier weapon with recoil might also induce fatigue, which again may result in degrading stats.
So there's options, though I trust you gave it a lot of thought already and did what's best for the game. :)
Also, if those Rifles are rare ('cos illegal), fewer characters will have skill with them, so training on them is a gamble; You might reduce your combat power while wasting precious ammunition just to train a character up to use the weapon efficiently and keep it maintained.
Delete-Could have just made it a burstfire SMG with a chance for a critical, influenced by class
DeleteDon't like this idea because it doesn't incentivize strategic gameplay.
-playing with the reload time to allow for a weapon that's best against smaller waves of enemies
Not bad, but not nearly enough strategic depth increased even if the reload time took two turns.
-reduced money earned from 'the show' as sponsors don't want to condone illegal weapon use
This is pretty good from a lore standpoint. It turns the gun into something that everyone will eventually use near the end of the game, but towards the middle game it's not definite that they do.
I like the idea.
-differing performance against specific types of enemies
Nah. It doesn't make too much realistic sense. Design wise, for the most part, I'm against counter-type weapons since they rarely incentivize strategy.
-Jams are dumb from a singular viewpoint. If your gun jams, well, unjam it. If we include multiple points (as in more than one shooter), being able to react to a jam is important for those people (b/c they have to help you while you're jammed). It introduces a layer of play, but I don't *believe* that a jam would help much in terms of RNG to strategic depth.
- recoil might also induce fatigue
Good suggestion, unfortunately I don't think it fits so well. If that was true, then the only people you'd want to shoot those guns are the people that are best with ARs, so unless we added different features, it only reduces strategy in the current game environment.
-which again may result in degrading stats
No, not willing to go down that path due to the increased complexity of balance it introduces.
-training on them is a gamble
Training SEEMS like a good idea at first. Olga certainly sucks at shooting, so why not train her?
Let's take a look at a very comparable game in terms of training- Jagged Alliance 2. In JA2, you could have a teacher and a student. Four factors are in play when you teach-
Teacher's wisdom.
Student's wisdom.
Teacher's skill in marksmanship
Student's skill in marksmanship (with the difference between the two also affecting the speed in which the student gains skill.)
Can we use this formula for AD3? No, it doesn't make sense on a character level.
Beatrice has experience killing monsters with her axe, so you could probably teach her how to aim. I would say she has a high wisdom modifier. But she's hopeless when it comes to the technical nuances of tomorrow's medical/engineering fields...so does she have low wisdom? Uhh, no. We'll just say she has a low intelligence. Okay, then what about teaching Olga a gun? She's intelligent. She can't aim well. See where I'm going here? The skills are just too different, in terms of teaching, knowing, learning, and feeling. That, and you want to limit the player's ability to survive. The player's ability to survive must continuously degrade for the survival gameplay to work.
Good post!