New Weapon Idea: The Water Cannon

[Zeuce]

So yesterday morning I had what I think might be a brilliant idea for a new weapon in the game: a water cannon. A facsimile of the water cannons used on fire-fighting ships, the water cannon would be able to extinguish fires on other ships (friendly or enemy) and in the process pushes the ship from whatever you hit it.

We already have guns that start fires, and guns that pull ships towards you, the water cannon is the opposite of both of these, and introduces a huge range of new combat dynamics. Allied ships would be able to heal for the first time in the game, but in the process they disrupt the position of their allies, requiring cooperation to use without disrupting shooting angles.

The repulsive force of the cannon would provide a new defense against ramming vessels and mine spam. This can make confined maps where sandwiching and close quarters are common a stronger playing field for less maneuverable ships. Mines could be pushed or repositioned with the water cannon, allowing both defense against mines and the use of mines in a more offensive manner (think a junker with mine launchers and water cannons, pushing the mines at opponents).

Want nothing more than for that Galleon to stop broadsiding you? Disrupt their aim by hitting their fore with a water cannon blast. Allied ship need to turn desperately but has no turning engines? Hit them with a water burst.

There are enough drawbacks and considerations to keep the water cannon an interesting weapon that would easily be incorporated without disrupting the balancing of GOI. Using the cannon on an enemy can disrupt their positioning or slow their momentum, but in the process you might extinguish any fires on the vessel. Also, I think it goes without saying that this weapon would do minimal damage, which reduces the overall DPS potential of your ship in exchange for more map control.

I think this would be a great addition to the GOI arsenal and I would love to hear comments/ideas that can make it even better. Please give feedback!

Clear Skies,
Zeuce

[SirNotlag]

would definitely be an interesting utility tool... but what happens if you put incendiary rounds in it?

[Richard LeMoon]

Fun related thread.

[Spud Nick]

I think I speak for cakes every where when I say "No water gun I want you and your ally to burn a fiery death!" Good idea tho.

[Spud Nick]

would definitely be an interesting utility tool... but what happens if you put incendiary rounds in it?

Steam gun.

[Tropo]

if you point the water cannon at the enemy balloon while you have incendiary in will it course them to lift up uncontrollably ?

[Yarr Vinny Scarr]

A water cannon, what a brilliant idea!

Would it be a light weapon or a blastoys-like heavy cannon


100% support!

[Zeuce]

A water cannon, what a brilliant idea!

Would it be a light weapon or a blastoys-like heavy cannon


100% support!

Light weapon. IMHO, the heavy weapon slots don't make much sense for the gun and are too important for ship dps to keep a balanced game by adding something like this to their roster.

if you point the water cannon at the enemy balloon while you have incendiary in will it course them to lift up uncontrollably ?

If we did that with this gun, the same would have to be incorporated with the flame thrower. I think that adds too many movement variables for the weapon, too.

Perhaps incendiary ammo would make it steam, but instead of what you said the steam would shoot out of the gun at a higher velocity (because the water is vaporizing as it leaves the nozzle) but dissipates at a shorter distance (for the same reasons), giving it a much more effective pushing power at a sacrifice of range and the ability to extinguish fires.

[Hunter.]

100% supported
MUSE! GIFF WATER GUN!

This also gives me the idea for more support weapons.. such as a diesel gun which increased the chance of fire stacks on a target by coating it in diesel? =D

But yeah, watergun is definitely the best support weapon I can think of.

[Dementio]

This also gives me the idea for more support weapons.. such as a diesel gun which increased the chance of fire stacks on a target by coating it in diesel? =D

Make it a new kind of ammunition and I will support you on this.


Now, I think the Water Cannon might be OP against the Cakes. Question is: Are the Cakes hot enough to vaporize the water before it touches anything?
Also, would fire stacks on the gun itself be treated differently or change the guns behaviour?

Otherwise nice idea.

[Zeuce]

I would say fire stacks would be the same for the gun as any other weapon. It puts out fires on other ships, not your own.

[Verbose Mode]

would definitely be an interesting utility tool... but what happens if you put incendiary rounds in it?

Steam gun.

No damage, short term cloud that breaks spots?

Love this idea, btw. Tactical applications await.

[GreyTea]

I did bring up this idea after reading the thread to Watchmaker yesterday,

It would require ALOT of new stuff added and mechanics and physics and testing, not to say it is not a good idea but maybe something for the future, perhaps add this to the ammo thread as a H2O Round?

[Zeuce]

I did bring up this idea after reading the thread to Watchmaker yesterday,

It would require ALOT of new stuff added and mechanics and physics and testing, not to say it is not a good idea but maybe something for the future, perhaps add this to the ammo thread as a H2O Round?

It's very exciting to hear that the devs are discussing this! I don't think it should be incorporated as an H2O round, for a few reasons.

For one, the knock-back of the weapon is vital, I feel, to it's balancing, as you destabilize the position of friendly ships as you extinguish.  Not to mention the weapon is supposed to be a soft counter against ramming vessels.

The lack of damage is also vital. H2O ammo would also give weapons that already do damage a support role that could make them overpowered. I'm no expert, but it seems the balancing process of trying to add extinguishing potential to every weapon slot and weapon type in the game would be a nightmare.

You mentioned that this would take a lot of work, but even if you did make the ammo eliminate direct DPS and do knock-back, I can't be sure but I would imagine that balancing the game with this addition would be far more daunting than just adding a whole other weapon: trying to individually tailor the effect of H2O ammo to each gun so that the extinguishing power, knock-back power, and physical behavior of the weapon fire are all suitable pros and cons for use in that weapon slot/ship versus the largest number of ships which also might have a variety of different weapons that might have that ammo type...

It just seems to go on and on instead of keeping it simple and saying, "New support light weapon, does it's own thing with incendiary but other ammos affect it like a shorter, upside-down flamethrower arc."

Certainly seems a lot simpler to my non-programmer mind, especially with regards to competitive balancing. And if this isn't an addition that can be made right away, lets not forget we're working to improve an already stellar game, and I'm certainly willing to wait a good while to see it gets implemented right  : )

[James T. Kirk]

Newton's third law.