Shotgun secondary idea

Kalabalana

<div class="IPBDescription">Cloak flashlight</div>Now before you complain, just give me a chance.

I think a recharging, one shot "flash" on shotgun would be a nice secondary.

It's quick, and like a real flash from a camera, makes everything very bright white to the viewers.

So what it does, is it shows cloaked aliens in that flash area, and also temporarily (it will have to be a fairly short period, less then a second for sure) blinds any aliens in alien vision.

The drawbacks are a significant recharge time, maybe 40 seconds, and the flash brightness will make everything that flashy shade of white so that it will be difficult see cloaked aliens' silhouettes in that flash.

LV426-Colonist

There is like three topics already on this. Not sure why you started another.

Kalabalana

<!--quoteo(post=1868159:date=Aug 10 2011, 02:15 PM:name=LV426-Colonist)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (LV426-Colonist @ Aug 10 2011, 02:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1868159"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There is like three topics already on this. Not sure why you started another.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This idea is completely independent of those threads and their evolution. Also I didn't want to branch off on a tangent in those threads.

Smug_Lobster

I like the idea cause it sounds neat and fun but when I think of it from alien perspective it might not be so cool when trying to ambush. But then again if it is something only on the shotgun then not every marine will have it at all times.

Kalabalana

The huge recharge time (which is unaffected by armories/ammo packs) should prevent spamming of this ability.

Plus it's very different from other weapons in the game, so I think it would be fun and unique.

Taxen0

if you are in a dark room and shoot camera flashes around, wouldn't the marine be blinded/temporarily get the image etched to his eyes.

azimaith

Everyone is always trying to balance out often ridiculously overpowered alt-fires with long recharge times. Long recharge times don't mean a damn thing to the person getting blasted, if a gun could kill everything on the screen but only fire once every 2 hours it would still be reviled as a cheap and obnoxious weapon. Long recharge times are not an excuse nor a balancing factor for overpowered abilities.

<b>With that out of the way, this isn't exactly an overpowered ability.</b> A flashbulb like alien cloak reveal could be pretty neat, especially if it's taking up a shotgun shell. Blinding alien vision, eh, either way, I don't use alien vision almost ever, never found it dark enough to need, and the contrast boost feels like cheating to me (plus it makes the game look ugly and unimmersive.) Alternately instead of a single flash bulb, it could strobe, which I think makes for a more impressive looking reveal than just a flash bulb. When actual translucency is in the game we'll see how necessary it actually is.

Sewlek

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Everyone is always trying to balance out often ridiculously overpowered alt-fires with long recharge times. Long recharge times don't mean a damn thing to the person getting blasted, if a gun could kill everything on the screen but only fire once every 2 hours it would still be reviled as a cheap and obnoxious weapon. Long recharge times are not an excuse nor a balancing factor for overpowered abilities.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

agree with you completely

Iacto

This idea has already been suggested in more depth in <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=114498" target="_blank">this thread</a>

Kalabalana

<!--quoteo(post=1868292:date=Aug 11 2011, 02:56 AM:name=azimaith)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (azimaith @ Aug 11 2011, 02:56 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1868292"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Everyone is always trying to balance out often ridiculously overpowered alt-fires with long recharge times. Long recharge times don't mean a damn thing to the person getting blasted, if a gun could kill everything on the screen but only fire once every 2 hours it would still be reviled as a cheap and obnoxious weapon. Long recharge times are not an excuse nor a balancing factor for overpowered abilities.

<b>With that out of the way, this isn't exactly an overpowered ability.</b> A flashbulb like alien cloak reveal could be pretty neat, especially if it's taking up a shotgun shell. Blinding alien vision, eh, either way, I don't use alien vision almost ever, never found it dark enough to need, and the contrast boost feels like cheating to me (plus it makes the game look ugly and unimmersive.) Alternately instead of a single flash bulb, it could strobe, which I think makes for a more impressive looking reveal than just a flash bulb. When actual translucency is in the game we'll see how necessary it actually is.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Odd, I don't think everyone tries to balance out weapons with recharge times, and I haven't seen someone do it yet? The point of the recharge time is to make sure marines can't hover near an armory, or use ammo packs to spam it. I think you guys are overvaluing a strobe like flash that is only available once every half minute or so. I think the game engine would look great with it though.
<!--quoteo(post=1868322:date=Aug 11 2011, 06:16 AM:name=Iacto)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Iacto @ Aug 11 2011, 06:16 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1868322"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This idea has already been suggested in more depth in <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=114498" target="_blank">this thread</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Nope this idea is quite different from the ideas I worked on in that thread.

I mean come on now, at least know what's going on in a thread if you link it to someone who was in it's direction.

azimaith

Every single shotgun secondary thread has pretty much claimed to be balanced out by long recharge times. Long recharge times don't count for very much, that's why people go for them, because it "looks" balanced but really isn't. Here are a couple immediate examples of "It's balanced by having a cooldown."

1: (Shotgun Stun Idea) "Just a idea, but what if the shotty was also a stun gun? Maybe like 1.5 - 2 sec stun or purge even. And to h<b>elp balance it make it a 3-4 sec cd time."</b>

2: (Skulk Paralysis Wail) "What if the ability worked on a <b>cool down timer? This would mean that a Skulk would have to wait for maybe 10-20 seconds before he could use this ability again."</b>

Kalabalana

<!--quoteo(post=1868502:date=Aug 12 2011, 05:21 AM:name=azimaith)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (azimaith @ Aug 12 2011, 05:21 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1868502"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Every single shotgun secondary thread has pretty much claimed to be balanced out by long recharge times. Long recharge times don't count for very much, that's why people go for them, because it "looks" balanced but really isn't. Here are a couple immediate examples of "It's balanced by having a cooldown."

1: (Shotgun Stun Idea) "Just a idea, but what if the shotty was also a stun gun? Maybe like 1.5 - 2 sec stun or purge even. And to h<b>elp balance it make it a 3-4 sec cd time."</b>

2: (Skulk Paralysis Wail) "What if the ability worked on a <b>cool down timer? This would mean that a Skulk would have to wait for maybe 10-20 seconds before he could use this ability again."</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cooldown and recharge functions work in FPS games. Not everything has to be ammo based. I like the diversity, makes a better game imo.

azimaith

Cooldown and recharges will never make something fundamentally unbalanced or hate instilling balanced. A gun that stuns you will be hated no matter how long the cool down is, cool down does not leave the way open for overpowered secondaries. Like I said though, I don't think a cloak revealing strobe/flash would be overpowered.