The guns in this game are terrifying in power and range. If every shot hit every time, the damage would be insane. This brings in a certain problem we are all very familiar with. In order to 'balance' the high damage, they have made the guns hard to hit with. The guns with the most damage potential have been given such a high amount of spread that no amount of skill can compensate. Heavy clip broke this, and had to be nerfed to compensate.
This removes much of the fun factor, especially for new players that don't understand why they are missing. It is also irritating for those of us that know exactly why we are missing.
This proposal seeks to solve this issue by revisiting falloff damage, as well as introducing a third damage type on each gun. It would also allow the reintroduction of 100% jitter reduction Heavy clip for all your lazer Hwatch needs.
So, lets start with the obvious question. Why a third damage type? As of now, we have two damage types: Primary and Secondary. Secondary has both burst (Area of Effect) and Arming (activates after n range). This adds the ability to make guns devastating at range, but not very dangerous up close. This adds a lot of countering abilities. Get close and don't worry. My initial idea was to add falloff time to secondary to reduce the effective range of a gun, but that does not make a lot of sense to guns that are already disadvantaged by Arming Time. After some thought, I wondered how it would work to put the falloff on the Primary. Again, this did not make much sense, would be seen as a nerf, and would not add any improvements to the game. Finally, I wondered about simply adding in a third damage type that would be effected by the falloff damage. Suddenly, interesting possibilities started presenting themselves. Let's explore those possibilities.
For starters, reducing the damage of a gun at range allows the removal of some spread, increased velocity, causing higher hit rates. In other words, more fun. It is never fun to not hit your target. It is much more fun to hit your target, even if you are not causing as much damage. This was the basic benefit I was looking for when proposing Falloff. Putting it on a third, independent damage adds extra benefits well beyond that initial goal. In some cases, it could turn the meta game on its head.
Some examples are in order.
We can start with the black sheep of close range heavy guns: The Typhon Heavy Flak. Close range, this gun is a joke. Flakfish are seen as the weakest Goldfish build. Direct damage, 150 Explosive. Burst damage, 180 Explosive with crippling arming time of 300 meters. What happens when you add in a third damage type? Falloff: 100 Piercing (just as an example), falloff range of 290m. Before the shell arms, it is just a big, heavy bullet. This would give it different properties than an exploding shell, closer to a Merc or Gatling. Suddenly, a flak on a Goldfish is much more dangerous, but still requires strategy and skill to fly other than just trying to run away.
Moving on to another gun, this time one that suffered a spate of range and spread nerfs: Hellhound Heavy Carronade. The idea here is to remove a lot of the spread (and bring back heavy clip), increase the range substantially, and split the primary flechette between Direct and Falloff with a falloff range of 300-400meters. Starting to drool yet? Let's continue.
Manticore Heavy Hwatcha. How can this gun be improved through falloff? A primary improvement would be the reintroduction of Heavy clip providing laser missiles, but with the trade off of shifting some damage to falloff. The further a rocket flies, the less fuel it has, and the less boom it makes. Arguments could be made on whether the Explosive direct or Shatter burst damage should be divided. Personally, I would cut the Shatter and move 25% or so to falloff. I would also add arming time to Burst of 100 meters or less.
Whirwind Gatling: I pondered giving this the same treatment as the Hellhound, but thought we could mix it up a bit. Leave the other damage types alone, and put Fire damage on Falloff with a range of 30meters or less. The reasoning is that hot bullets, muzzle flash, and fresh tracers would cause fires at very close range.
Flamethrower would receive much needed balance, splitting the damage and causing much more fire damage close up than further away. I would set the falloff to 75 meters.
An interesting thing that could be done to the Lumberjack would be to add a small amount of Impact damage and a small push like mines and the Minotaur.
Speaking of the Minotaur, add a good deal of Impact damage up close.
Each gun can find a new balance between ease of use and damage, or interesting strategies based on new abilities. The downside, of course, is finding the right balance. Though I don't think that would as large an issue as trying to balance the guns with just the two damage types.
Finally, old and new ammo types can be designed to effect falloff damage, extending, reducing, or eliminating it. Lochnagar, for example, would reduce the range or remove falloff damage completely. Other ammos could remove Burst and reduce Direct damage while removing the falloff limit, turning the Hflak into a possible long range piercing gun. That would be pretty hard to balance, though, and great care should be taken.
Thoughts? Ideas on other ways Falloff could be used?
