Firearm Improvements

Have a new general feature to suggest, or think one should be tweaked? Share your ideas here.
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Agelity
Posts: 94
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:48 am

Firearm Improvements

Post by Agelity »

Having played around with firearms a bit, but mainly in a more secondary way (love them as main-gauche), there were a few QoL and RP related things I was hoping to add to their functionality:

1) Unloading weapons: I'd love for there to be a way to retrieve a shot that's within a firearm, even at the expense of having to potential dump out the powder; this will effectively function as a way to clear the firearm of any ammunition and retrieve the shot within for whatever reason that may be.

2) I'd love for there to be a way to have some "firearm tricks", via artifice and/or acrobatics that involve being able to twirl or do fancy things with firearms purely as RP fun (ie, have it mechanically backed instead of being strictly emote-only).

3) Have a chance that poor handling of the firearm leads to a shot errantly going off somewhere if loaded and not skilled enough to manage it.

While there's a variety of reasons why I think the above would be neat to have, some of it is purely utilitarian but some of it is admittedly purely for silly fun.

I'd also like to open up this thread as a general suggestion thread for firearms, including the currently inaccessible-to-PC muskets. No shortage of neat things can could be done IC with this unique Khaldean tech!
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ThresherAle
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Re: Firearm Improvements

Post by ThresherAle »

I'll add the ideas I had in my other thread about ranged combat in general. As I mentioned there, firearms are the biggest pain of ranged weapons to use because you need to carry two things to load (powder and shot) and you can't recover either of them, so you have to carry more of it on you which makes it heavier and requires frequent resupply trips. If they're going to be the least convenient and most expensive ranged weapon to use, I think it's fair to make them be at least on par with the harder hitting ranged weapons in the damage department. Right now they're more on the level of a shortbow, the weakest ranged weapon, so:

*) Give firearms a different damage type. Better than pierce, but worse than crush and puncture.

*) Up their damage factor a little.

And some other ideas:

*) Make AIM SHOT with a firearm cause less RT and give one additional reroll. Do the same for crossbows, the other relatively simple point-and-shoot ranged weapon.

*) Quick Load ability that reduces the RT to load bullets and powder. Channelled like Footpad, so you choose when to use it for a few shots and it has a cooldown before you can use it again. I'm not sure how useful this would be with timing critical combat, I'd have to try it out.

*) Quickdraw. Channelled ability with a long cooldown. For the duration you can automatically swap between any loaded pistols in holsters you're wearing each time you use the FIRE command. This allows people to fire a bunch of quick shots in a row without having to introduce revolver technology into the game. Every two shots (or something) with the ability active adds a negative reroll because you're not taking time to aim, you're doing a quick draw and firing from the hip each time. You need your off hand to be free to use this.

*) Hip Shot ability that can be used in RT and fires a shot with no RT, and a negative reroll to both your offense and the target's defense. It still uses up the powder and shot so you can't just spam this, don't worry.

*) Have a flintlock shot from hiding cause surprise like melee ambush attacks do. Let's get something positive out of that loud bang. Make it only happen on the first shot from hiding, not every shot.

*) Point Blank Shots ability. When you're in melee range with a pistol you get a reroll and a chance to surprise your target for a second or two on each shot due to the loud noise. Use your Melee skill for the roll if your Melee is better than your Ranged for some reason. (Thinking of Duelists here.)

*) Give dodge and guard a negative reroll against firearms. It's a game so we allow people to dodge bullets, but it could stand to be harder to do than dodging other types of attacks.

*) Make firearm and crossbow shots be much less likely to be avoided by things like the familiar distraction ability. Another way to give some advantage to the point-and-shoot nature of these weapons.

And now straying the trail a ways with some more dubious suggestions for special powder and ammo, because they just feel cool and even if these ideas are bad, they might inspire some better ones:

*) Scattershot rounds. More expensive and do less damage but have a reroll because of the spread. I have no idea how realistic this is, but you see its like in a lot of games and I thought it might possibly fall into the acceptable range of video game rule of cool.

*) Vodrium Powder. Not as effective as a propellant so it does less damage, but shots with it are extra loud and have a chance to surprise the target for a second or two. Ear plugs recommended for the wielder. Why does it only affect the target? The guiding hand of Vodr, I don't know. Or it only affects anyone who was recently in melee range with the attacker?

*) Vandinite Powder. Like Vodrium Powder, but with a really bright flash instead of a loud noise. Tinted goggles recommended for the wielder. It only affects the target because the target was presumably looking at their attacker when it went off, maybe. Or it affects anyone who is currently targeting the shooter?

*) Kurnese Powder. Violent and furious stuff that propels that shot with insane velocity. The firearms version of Quivering Bowstrings. Kickback adds a second or two of RT and reduces your balance, and the violent explosion does some damage to your gun, so it's impractical to use this stuff constantly.

*) Khaldean Fireshot. When a special shot is propelled by a special powder, it triggers a reaction that causes the shot to briefly, rapidly increase in temperature. Does a little extra heat damage to the target. What's the exact science behind this? Don't ask me, I'm not Khaldean. Damages the gun a little, so don't overuse it. Or just buy a bunch of extra guns, I guess.
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