Suggestion: Crew disabling gun

[Pete]

Hi guys,

There is one type of gun that is not yet present in the game: a gun that can disable crew.

My suggestion is a light gun similar to the flare
- only one ammo max for any ammo type
- very slow reload
- high rotating speed
- high angle of fire
- very long range
- very slow ammo speed
- very small drop rate

On hit to ANY PART of the ship, the gun will:
- No damage whatsoever to any part of the ship
- create a blinding flashbang effect for about 3 seconds for the whole ship crew and freeze all AI characters for that 3 seconds
- muffle all sound and disable voice chat during that 3 seconds
- after the 3 seconds have passed, AI will return back to normal but human players will have their view distorted and sound returning slowly over time for about 2 seconds until fully return to normal.

If multiple hits within the 3 seconds, the effect will reset. They will not stack if hit at the same time.
But if you use the mobula/junker, use 3 guns, and time the shots really well and get a hits 3 seconds after the other, you can create the blinding effect for 9 seconds

thoughts?

[Solidusbucket]

minus the voice chat disable and maybe tweak the times I like it.

[Richard LeMoon]

No. Character lock weapons are the bane/cancer of all MP games.

No.

[Solidusbucket]

No. Character lock weapons are the bane/cancer of all MP games.

No.

I immediately think of CS flashbang

[Pete]

Yeah that is what I was thinking when I came up with this.
But at least with this gun, the effect is isolated only inside the enemy ship (until the devs made boarding possible)

I'm just in that mood of suggesting rage inducing weapon.
Maybe that can be the name of this gun: RAGE flashbang launcher

Some clarifications:

on initial impact, the gun will:
- make the screen all white
- freeze AI (maybe for only 1-2 seconds instead of the full 2-3 seconds)
- muffle all sound (including voice chat). You can still say stuff but it will sound muffled.
This lasts for about 2-3 seconds only

Then,
- AI will go back to normal
- human players will have their sound and vision gradually restored in about 1-2 seconds.

Throughout this:
- human players can still move
- pilots can still steer and change ship speeds
- human gunners can still shoot
- human engineers can still fix
- all UI will still be visible

In terms of what it will look like externally, maybe the ship can have that bright white glow similar from the king of the hill/crazy king on it until the effect disappears

I think it will add an extra strategic dimension to this game

[Solidusbucket]

to be fair, the new dev app kind of has something in the works of this effect. the banshee now explodes in a bright white light. it is rather distracting and obscures view much more than the current explosion.

I would even go ahead and say have something similar to what you explain but only as an area effect. for instance, the blinding effect would only happen when looking towards the source of the light.

imagine a flare gun which blinded crew instead of silhouetting ships.

[SnaG]

I do like the idea, but it brings up some issues in terms of play-counterplay, in that unlike every other offensive mechanic, engineers would be powerless to mitigate its effects. I'm not saying it would be OP or anything, just that without meaningful counterplay this mechanic would not be fun to play against. In (for example) CS:GO, this counterplay exists in that with proper placement you can avoid likely places where people will flash, as well as being able to turn away/ hide around corners. Since in guns you can do none of these things I'm not sure this would work. Perhaps being able to turn away from the impact - but I'm not too sure as to how easily that could be achieved, given that no current mechanics use player angle (as far as I know). Another possibility is to give engineers some sort of tool that removes/ prevents the effect, however I'm at a loss as to what could achieve it, without being ridiculous and/or overcomplicated. If it had counterplay, I'd love it though.

[GurasOguras]

A gun that is disabling crew? We call it artemis. You take down component and crew has to waste 5 seconds to rebuild it.

[Solidusbucket]

now, now. how effective is an artemis on the rear of a kill squid or the side of a goldfish or the far rear of a pyra?

I like the idea of more utility based guns. I think this would be a neat idea if it wasn't focused on direct hits and instead as an area type weapon and only blinded people the more directly they looked at the source of light / how close they were to the light.

[Helios.]

i sort of wish the Charybdis had this blinding effect. when a ship drives through a the poison cloud or a tar cloud, reduce the visibility of the people on ships

[Skymonger]

Technically I would want a smoke grenade launcher as a method of disabling.

Getting flashbanged is infuriating and irritating, especially for mobulas loaded to the brim with this disable gun. Though to be fair, Flarebulas kinda do the same thing by lagging players out to death.

 If these smoke launchers also prevent enemy captains from spotting them, that could be a useful tool instead

[Pete]

Yknow I have been thinking a lot about this (too much I admit)

Thanks to you guys, I got heaps of ideas about this.
So BE WARNED! This is a long post!





Still reading? Ok good. Continue on.





-----------------------------------------------------------------
IDEA 1 - FLASH BANG GUN (the initial idea)
light gun
shoots straight (like flare gun)
very slow ammo flight (slower than the hades)
moderate range
very slow reload
moderate time to fix
1 ammo only regardless of ammo type
explodes on impact of ship
gun makes unique sound when firing

external view: A quick a bright white flash explosion on the enemy ship

effect: white screen, freeze AI, muffle sound ( gradually improving over time) ONLY ON THE SHIP HIT

pros: localised flash bang that is easy to use against large enemies (because effect will happen on hit to any part of the ship, including balloon)
cons: only hit one ship, inaccurate, no damage to enemy ship, the effect is short lived, slow reload

how to use: wait until enemy is static or close enough for an accurate shot then shoot at the ship
how to avoid: evasive maneuvers (the bullet is slow), maintaining distance, utilise the slow reload, ally ship cover you while you are blinded.

strategies:
- use when enemy ship are alone and they have no ally around to help them
- used when enemy tries to ram you: blind them, then evade. This will avoid them turning ship to follow.
- in labyrinth (city ruins):  use this to make enemies keep ramming at buildings.
- any capture the flag maps: use this to disorient enemies and slow them down.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
IDEA 2 - AREA EFFECT FLASH BANG
light gun
shoots in huge arc (like the hades)
very slow ammo flight (like the hades)
moderate range
very slow reload
moderate time to fix
1 ammo only regardless of ammo type
explodes after a few seconds in flight OR on impact on obstacles or ship
gun makes unique sound when firing

external view: a quick bright white flash explosion

effect: creates blinding light, muffle sound (all gradually improving over time) Blinding light ONLY TO PLAYERS WHO SAW THE FLASH EXPLOSION. Muffle sound TO ALL REGARDLESS if saw the explosion or not (effects may be stronger/weaker depending on distance to the explosion. AI players freeze (duration depends on distance to the explosion). Effect lasts longer than IDEA 1.

pros: can hit multiple ships, multiple players
cons: no damage, slow reload, massive risk of friendly fire, can backfire spectacularly

how to use: Shoot at general direction of the enemy. Make sure the explosion is as CLOSE to them as possible.
how to avoid: get far away from the explosion, listen to the sound of the gun, look at the bullet trail (the bullet is slow) and predict where the explosion will occur,  look away.

strategies:
- must use in cooperation with ally ship
- long range pre-attack move to disorient enemies.
- good to use when the enemy is busy fixing or gunning so they have no time to run away
- in labyrinth (city ruins):  use this to make enemies keep ramming at buildings.
- any capture the flag maps: use this to disorient enemies and slow them down.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
IDEA 3 - ICE CLOUD GUN
light gun
shoots in a small arc (like the mortar)
slow ammo speed (like the hades)
long range
very slow reload
moderate time to fix
1 ammo default but ammo types can change the amount (max of 2 ammo)
explodes after a few seconds in flight OR on impact on obstacles or ship
gun makes unique sound when firing
EXTINGUISHES FIRE

external view: large white cloud

effect: create moderately sized thick white cloud around the impact zone. Cloud massively reduces visibility and 'unspot' ships they have seen. All players (both human and AI) in all ships in the cloud get muffle sound effect. All characters both AI and human has their MOVEMENT SPEED and ACTIONS (steering, aiming guns, fixing parts, etc) reduced by 50%. Ship itself is uneffected.
last a bit longer than IDEA 1 and IDEA 2

pros: area effect to the cloud, effect last a moderately long time
cons: no damage to enemy ship, can create friendly fire, not good when used with flamer (the cloud extinguishes fire)

how to use: fire at enemy or at general direction to the enemy. DO NOT GO INTO THE CLOUD YOURSELF
how to avoid: get out of the cloud, listen to the unique gun effect, have allies a moderate distance away from you

some strategies:
- use when enemies are bunched together
- area of denial effect, use to restrict the enemy movement around the map by 'smoking' a certain part thus preventing them from entering that area.
- use to complement a disable attack to reduce their repair speed
- use in labyrinth to make their steering slower, reduce visibility and make them crash to buildings

-----------------------------------------------------------------
IDEA 4 - FLASH BANG/ICE CLOUD MINE LAUNCHER
- basically IDEA 1,2 or 3 in a mine launcher form.
- only explodes upon impact to ANY ship




OK that's enough from me.
Thanks for reading this massively long post.

[Piemanlives]

No. Character lock weapons are the bane/cancer of all MP games.

No.

I'm with this guy, could we I don't know...

Not do this thing?

[C r o w]

IDEA 3 - ICE CLOUD GUN
light gun
shoots in a small arc (like the mortar)
slow ammo speed (like the hades)
long range
very slow reload
moderate time to fix
1 ammo default but ammo types can change the amount (max of 2 ammo)
explodes after a few seconds in flight OR on impact on obstacles or ship
gun makes unique sound when firing
EXTINGUISHES FIRE

external view: large white cloud

effect: create moderately sized thick white cloud around the impact zone. Cloud massively reduces visibility and 'unspot' ships they have seen. All players (both human and AI) in all ships in the cloud get muffle sound effect. All characters both AI and human has their MOVEMENT SPEED and ACTIONS (steering, aiming guns, fixing parts, etc) reduced by 20%. Ship itself is uneffected.
last a bit longer than IDEA 1 and IDEA 2

pros: area effect to the cloud, effect last a moderately long time
cons: no damage to enemy ship, can create friendly fire, not good when used with flamer (the cloud extinguishes fire)

how to use: fire at enemy or at general direction to the enemy. DO NOT GO INTO THE CLOUD YOURSELF
how to avoid: get out of the cloud, listen to the unique gun effect, have allies a moderate distance away from you

some strategies:
- use when enemies are bunched together
- area of denial effect, use to restrict the enemy movement around the map by 'smoking' a certain part thus preventing them from entering that area.
- use to complement a disable attack to reduce their repair speed
- use in labyrinth to make their steering slower, reduce visibility and make them crash to buildings.

Here is the only part I personally would approve, I emboldened a change that would probably make that gun more "balanced", because having a -50% steering speed on (for example) a galleon can lead you to either a ragequit or abandoning the galleon, and that ship is already not-so-used, something that debilitating would be its death.
IDEA 3 has all the potential to become a good area denial weapon.

Something tells me that my post was totally uncalled for.

[Helios.]

th issue with any utility gun is balance: if its good enough that a pyra or junker would use it, then it'll be OP on a spire or mobula