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Aug. 20th, 2011 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geebsSo, had gotten the latest batch of DW DLC the other day. So now there's a bunch more to do in the game. One of the DLCs they referred to as "new weapon skins" as if they were something you can equip to make your weapons look different, but still have the same properties of whatever weapon it is. But nope, they're just more weapons. They share the same number of slots as the level 10 versions, but just have different elements. Which is useful for some characters who had crappy elements for their level 10s.
Also, unlike the normal conquest weapon stages, the new weapon stages, you get multiple weapons on, but you have to do special things, like kill 300 people within a certain amount of time, or find them hidden on the map, or stop an officer from reaching a certain point. As for the new stage packs, its variations of Ji Castle, Chang Ban, and Guandu, which were all pretty lengthy, challenging stages.
Now onto something completely different, the "assault cannon" weapon type found in cyberpunk-ish rpgs like Shadowrun. While the idea of a "BFG" that shoots really big bullets is a cool idea, its an antiquated notion, one that sprung up from the ultra-violent action movies of the 80s. Particularly, Robocop and the "Cobra" gun, which was really just a Barrett .50 cal rifle. Now see, the idea of a man portable rifle firing really big rounds dates as far back as WWI. They were referred to as anti-tank rifles. But as armor advanced, its use as a weapon waned since it couldn't do jack to the later tanks. However, there was a resurgence in the 80s when people realized, hey, while this can't blow up a tank, it could actually work on other things. Indeed, it doesn't need to make a big boom to take out a big armored vehicle, just a well placed shot to a vital component like the engine block. You take out the engine, and their armored vehicle is just a several ton paper weight. Same for taking out missile sites. Instead of sending someone to sneak onto a base and blow the launchers up, or making a really dangerous attack run in a plane, just get a guy with a heavy caliber sniper rifle to shoot the propulsion system and the missile won't fly and is effectively rendered useless.
So when manufacturers started making .50 cal and 20mm rifles and Hollywood first heard of them, they had their characters use them close up, rather than like the sniper weapons they were intended. But as more "realistic" action movies (well real in that they tried to mimic actual military tactics and procedure) started coming out, weapons like the Barrett were used more correctly as a sniping weapon.
Now, what's my point? Well, there's no reason one should use an "assault cannon" in SR over the Barrett M121. The damage code is roughly the same, though the Barrett, using sniper rifle ranges, has a significant advantage over the assault cannon class, as while they have the same maximum range, the Barrett is more accurate as its range increments are longer (i.e., short range for it is 150m, whereas the assault cannon its only 100m) Even worse, since the assault cannon is classified as a heavy weapon, it uses the heavy weapons skill rather than the longarms skill, which is more practical, because I feel a runner is more likely to use sniper rifles and shotguns rather than missile launchers and heavy machine guns. (Of course, I also disagree with the choice to classify the assault cannon and machine guns as heavy weapons, because even though they are heavy, they still fire more or less like other long arms) Also, being a heavy weapon, its uncompensated recoil is doubled, putting at even more of a disadvantage. Not to mention it is SS compared to the Barrett's SA rate of fire, and sniper rifle A-V rounds have more armor piercing capacity than assault cannon A-V rounds. Plus, the availability is the same, so its not like the Assault Cannons even have that advantage.
Now, I know the reason why they kept both the Barrett and the Assault Cannon class- they just didn't want to get rid of any of them in the latest iteration. As I said, the assault cannon is a product of the 80s, and has been in SR since the beginning. The Barrett was added in 2e's "Fields of Fire" supplemental handbook, which again came out when fiction started using such weapons "correctly".
Now, if it were me, I would've just made assault cannons just really powerful long guns (and thus use that skill)- make the M121 the more accurate weapon with better range increments, while the assault cannons are more powerful, and maybe slightly more wieldly since they're intended for closer ranges and thus don't need as long a barrel? I mean, in the game it actually is a 9P for the Barrett vs the 10P for the assault cannons, and I don't think that increase in damage by 1 makes up for all the other disadvantages it has.
The gun that really gets the short end of the stick is the Ares "Thunderstruck" Gauss rifle. Unlike normal assault cannons, its a 9P damage weapon and SA, making it equivalent to the M121, but using the worse assault cannon ranges and increased recoil and the different skill. Given its even higher difficulty to obtain (not to mention using special bullets AND requiring an energy pack), there's even less of a reason to use this other than the "kewl" factor. They really effed this weapon up. I mean, the higher rate of fire makes sense, but not the lower damage code- its a frickin' rail gun! Since KE is half mv squared, since its going at a way higher velocity than the normal assault cannon, its damage code should be more, not less.
But if they made the Thunderstruck too good, people would go for that over the assault cannon, so they did the higher rate of fire/less damage thing. Though I would think the difficulty to obtain plus the power pack requirement obviated the need for balancing. I would have actually made gauss rifles its own class (and kept it a heavy weapon type) rather than making it and the assault cannons the same kind.
Also, unlike the normal conquest weapon stages, the new weapon stages, you get multiple weapons on, but you have to do special things, like kill 300 people within a certain amount of time, or find them hidden on the map, or stop an officer from reaching a certain point. As for the new stage packs, its variations of Ji Castle, Chang Ban, and Guandu, which were all pretty lengthy, challenging stages.
Now onto something completely different, the "assault cannon" weapon type found in cyberpunk-ish rpgs like Shadowrun. While the idea of a "BFG" that shoots really big bullets is a cool idea, its an antiquated notion, one that sprung up from the ultra-violent action movies of the 80s. Particularly, Robocop and the "Cobra" gun, which was really just a Barrett .50 cal rifle. Now see, the idea of a man portable rifle firing really big rounds dates as far back as WWI. They were referred to as anti-tank rifles. But as armor advanced, its use as a weapon waned since it couldn't do jack to the later tanks. However, there was a resurgence in the 80s when people realized, hey, while this can't blow up a tank, it could actually work on other things. Indeed, it doesn't need to make a big boom to take out a big armored vehicle, just a well placed shot to a vital component like the engine block. You take out the engine, and their armored vehicle is just a several ton paper weight. Same for taking out missile sites. Instead of sending someone to sneak onto a base and blow the launchers up, or making a really dangerous attack run in a plane, just get a guy with a heavy caliber sniper rifle to shoot the propulsion system and the missile won't fly and is effectively rendered useless.
So when manufacturers started making .50 cal and 20mm rifles and Hollywood first heard of them, they had their characters use them close up, rather than like the sniper weapons they were intended. But as more "realistic" action movies (well real in that they tried to mimic actual military tactics and procedure) started coming out, weapons like the Barrett were used more correctly as a sniping weapon.
Now, what's my point? Well, there's no reason one should use an "assault cannon" in SR over the Barrett M121. The damage code is roughly the same, though the Barrett, using sniper rifle ranges, has a significant advantage over the assault cannon class, as while they have the same maximum range, the Barrett is more accurate as its range increments are longer (i.e., short range for it is 150m, whereas the assault cannon its only 100m) Even worse, since the assault cannon is classified as a heavy weapon, it uses the heavy weapons skill rather than the longarms skill, which is more practical, because I feel a runner is more likely to use sniper rifles and shotguns rather than missile launchers and heavy machine guns. (Of course, I also disagree with the choice to classify the assault cannon and machine guns as heavy weapons, because even though they are heavy, they still fire more or less like other long arms) Also, being a heavy weapon, its uncompensated recoil is doubled, putting at even more of a disadvantage. Not to mention it is SS compared to the Barrett's SA rate of fire, and sniper rifle A-V rounds have more armor piercing capacity than assault cannon A-V rounds. Plus, the availability is the same, so its not like the Assault Cannons even have that advantage.
Now, I know the reason why they kept both the Barrett and the Assault Cannon class- they just didn't want to get rid of any of them in the latest iteration. As I said, the assault cannon is a product of the 80s, and has been in SR since the beginning. The Barrett was added in 2e's "Fields of Fire" supplemental handbook, which again came out when fiction started using such weapons "correctly".
Now, if it were me, I would've just made assault cannons just really powerful long guns (and thus use that skill)- make the M121 the more accurate weapon with better range increments, while the assault cannons are more powerful, and maybe slightly more wieldly since they're intended for closer ranges and thus don't need as long a barrel? I mean, in the game it actually is a 9P for the Barrett vs the 10P for the assault cannons, and I don't think that increase in damage by 1 makes up for all the other disadvantages it has.
The gun that really gets the short end of the stick is the Ares "Thunderstruck" Gauss rifle. Unlike normal assault cannons, its a 9P damage weapon and SA, making it equivalent to the M121, but using the worse assault cannon ranges and increased recoil and the different skill. Given its even higher difficulty to obtain (not to mention using special bullets AND requiring an energy pack), there's even less of a reason to use this other than the "kewl" factor. They really effed this weapon up. I mean, the higher rate of fire makes sense, but not the lower damage code- its a frickin' rail gun! Since KE is half mv squared, since its going at a way higher velocity than the normal assault cannon, its damage code should be more, not less.
But if they made the Thunderstruck too good, people would go for that over the assault cannon, so they did the higher rate of fire/less damage thing. Though I would think the difficulty to obtain plus the power pack requirement obviated the need for balancing. I would have actually made gauss rifles its own class (and kept it a heavy weapon type) rather than making it and the assault cannons the same kind.
