Ballgun | Plasma Shotgun

[seana11]

I have a suggestion for a human weapon, but I'm going to stick it here so that it doesn't get caught up in the human weapon thread fray.

Ballgun

Descr: Fires small semitransparent balls of energy that explode after contact with an alien or 2 seconds. They have a large muzzle velocity and good elasticity (think corner shots). It has no clips. Intended to replace the pulse as a more useful weapon.
Repeat: 250
Damage: 10
Speed: 900
Splash Radius: 50
Ammo: 250

On a related idea:

Plasma Shotgun

Descr: Fires many small particles of plasma. Just an interesting idea.
Pellets: 16
Damage: 3
Spread: 800
Speed: 800
Repeat: 1000
Ammo: 6
Clips: 3

[Dracone]

Pulse rifle is very underrated and doesn't need a replacement really. I think it just needs more people using it.

[janev]

I must say I am intrigued by the idea of bouncing projectiles. I think I would prefer the bouncing projectiles on the short range weapon instead though. I am worried the more precise bouncing weapon would be easy to abuse against static defense structures. My suggestion is a ball shotgun with the balls doing damage on hitting an alien or fizzing out after x_range. This would be for getting aliens around corners more than getting structures. A steep learning curve to get right but would make for rewarding gameplay.

[seana11]

I must say I am intrigued by the idea of bouncing projectiles. I think I would prefer the bouncing projectiles on the short range weapon instead though. I am worried the more precise bouncing weapon would be easy to abuse against static defense structures. My suggestion is a ball shotgun with the balls doing damage on hitting an alien or fizzing out after x_range. This would be for getting aliens around corners more than getting structures. A steep learning curve to get right but would make for rewarding gameplay.

What if we made it so that all balls bounced once before breaking open on the second bounce. They could bounce off of anything in game with a hitbox. This would make for interesting aiming (You don't aim at the alien, you aim at the alien's feet). It would also make for really cool shots on the alien base (Stand on the bottom floor of atcs, shoot the ceiling, and hit the om :D) If this were done, the speed would need to be increased to greater than pulse.

[KenuR]

So... it's basically a weaker luci.

[seana11]

So... it's basically a weaker luci.

No. It has a larger fire rate, the ability to go around corners, and a different form of splash damage (lots of small explosions instead of one big one)

[WhiteTech]

I must say I am intrigued by the idea of bouncing projectiles. I think I would prefer the bouncing projectiles on the short range weapon instead though. I am worried the more precise bouncing weapon would be easy to abuse against static defense structures. My suggestion is a ball shotgun with the balls doing damage on hitting an alien or fizzing out after x_range. This would be for getting aliens around corners more than getting structures. A steep learning curve to get right but would make for rewarding gameplay.

I agree, I think bounce projectiles would be a spamtasic way to defend a base, but having them stop after a range is a good idea.

But I think it would be a very good addition to the game, add a much different shooting style then what is normally needed. As for the second bounce thing seana11 suggested, maybe not, I think a range limiter (or time perhaps?) would be better, that way you can't shoot all the way down the long hallways while being around the corner (spam reducer). It would also have an infinite amount of bounces, (in the super odd case of shooting down a curved wall?)

As for the plasma shotgun I think that would be a interesting idea, more pellets but less damage (48 as suggested as opposed to 50 a shotty does).

EDIT: Perhaps not bounce off everything with a hitbox, thinking about closely packed buildings, but I guess that works well with your two bounce idea. (maybe a combination of time or range and bounce limit?)

[ViruS]

I've once experimented with my lolards mod and added a bounce effect with a 10 second timer before self destructing: It was very overpowered. Especially in vents.

[seana11]

I've once experimented with my lolards mod and added a bounce effect with a 10 second timer before self destructing: It was very overpowered. Especially in vents.

I was thinking of a much shorter self-destruct time. Something like 2-3 seconds.

[Whales]

Pulse rifle is very underrated and doesn't need a replacement really. I think it just needs more people using it.

This is very true. With the projectile speed buff that the pulse got in GPP, it's truly an excellent choice for a high-dps weapon with a high skill cap.

I think the idea of a weapon that can hit around corners is an interesting one, but I'm not sure if it belongs on the human team. As it stands, one of the largest advantages that the aliens have is the ability to ambush around corners. By sitting around a corner, aliens can force an engagement in a favorable location, where they can reach the humans.

Humans already have the engagement advantage, being ranged-weapon based. Giving the humans a weapon that could flush aliens out of corners may give them too much of an advantage in initiating a direct engagement.

As far as the plasma shotgun goes, how is that any different in function from the existing shotgun?