Alternate Ammo for Marine guns (more options)

Benson

There are a lot of people who would love to see the HMG make a return into NS2, however, UWE has clearly stated that they do not want anything in the game to be a flat upgrade of anything else.

Lets face it, no matter how you try to spin in, the HMG (more bullets, higher damage, lower accuracy) is a flat upgrade to the current LMG.

I would suggest an alternative to give both weapon upgrades, and variety to the marine arsenal: Different ammo types

They would act like purchasing a new gun and could be dropped (and picked back up) like a regular weapon
-- Either researched individually or unlocked automatically when AA gets researched, depending on balance

Example:

Rifle: Uranim Bullets - Changes damage type of LMG to Piercing (bonus damage to lifeforms, less damage to structures)

Shotgun: Phosphorus Shells - Changes Damage type of shotgun to flame and adds DoT + Energy debuff (total DPS remains the same)

GL - Nerve Gas (seen this one in the Lua): Does DoT to all lifeforms in the area of effect (area denial)

Flamethrower: Liqued Nitrogen - Removes Dot and energy Debuff, now slows movement on contact and deals full damage (DoT + Initial of flame), Great vs fades and lerks


This seems more interesting than a plain HMG, and it allows for customizing all weapons (more options = more fun)

Bonus: This would also make AA sniping a viable option as it would take away a lot of utility from the Marine's arsenal

soccerguy243

interesting idea. Allows a tactical option. Would the commander choose the ammo or would that just be another option in the Armory when opened by a marine?

kurupt

Yeah ok can u go back to halo and stick to that game

soccerguy243

kurupt wrote: »

Yeah ok can u go back to halo and stick to that game

you can pick ammo types in halo?

Samus1111111

Interesting idea, but would screw balance in its current state. Some of those ideas go against what UWE has said they want (liquid nitrogen slowing) and some of them are just plain OP (uranium shells). Plus, there would need to be something on the alien's side that would give them a similar tactical choice with similar strengths/weaknesses (doesn't have to be the same thing, but just so the first side doesn't have additional options that the second side can't match).

TBH, I don't see this happening. Too much work to re-balance everything and it's hard to come up with ideas for each weapon/lifeform that are unique and yet not OP.

Benson

1st - I don't play halo (is this even relevant?)

For the most part, these are just random ideas for each gun. I don't really see the need for alternate ammo for the FT or the SG, but wanted to throw them in there anyway just so everything was covered

I would see the ammo type being bought like a normal gun (maybe a sub-category?), similar to the many varieties of Exo, although i feel a UI rework needs to be done with so many options on that limited buy menu.

The only two that I feel the game could benefit from are the LMG bullets and GL canisters (just because the GL needs more to make it get used). There are a lot of people who cry about not having the HMG in the game, and I feel that a more creative way of filling the "heavy weapon" role for light marines can be found.

the uranium bullets I feel would be OK since the piercing damage would be ineffective against buildings (obvious drawback when trying to kill a hive). The damage type could even be heavy to make it only marginally more effective vs lighter lifeforms (i.e. everything but onos has almost no armor so heavy damage wouldn't help that much)