Spec packages adjustements

[Derpislav]

Summary: A bunch of proposed changes to make all specialist weapons on par with each other. As it stands right now, the SADAR is a medium skill-extreme reward saltmine, the smartgun is... well, an M4 with way less ammo and anti-FF, the sniper rifle is... a scoped M4 but with crippling low DPS, and the last one... am I forgetting something... oh, yes. The GL. It exists.

Benefits: With spec being limited to 4 slots there should be no better or worse weapons.

Details:
SADAR
- HE changed to HEFRAG - way less stun time, a bit more explosion damage, but spawns 3-5 strong "buckshot" projectiles randomly in a 180 degree arc forward of the impact site. While combat huggers are still in - the explosion should kill all facehuggers, carried or on the ground, with the exception of eggs and carrier inventory. HE stuns are on par with hugger combat when it comes to creating salt, and hugger combat is about to go, so... HE in it's current form does not punish shooting at groups of aliens and marines in melee in any form, making it the "just pop it and mop up, deal with the minor wounds to your buddies later" ultimate. This change turns it from LOLSTUN to just a decent anti-group weapon.

- AP gives a "shattered armour" debuff, decreasing the chance to deflect bullets until healing factor kicks in. Stun time remains the same, since AP only stuns on direct hits. If you let the spec land such a hit, you deserve the floor.

- WP spawns several low-damage long burn duration "incendiary slug" projectiles with very short reach. Currently it's not really... viable... for anything? This change gives it more immediate damage and a chance to hit other targets very close to the impact site.

Overall a major nerf - but nerf in terms of a bullshit, unfun mechanic - to HE, with an anti-T3 buff to AP and a general upgrade to WP.

Smartgun
- The smartgun's internal magazine can now hold the entire capacity of the powerpack. The immobile reloads and the fact you can have way more ammo for an M4 (and the M4 reloads are faster and can be done while moving!) offset the anti-FF and more armor penetration way too much for a specialist weapon. The current smartgun is more like an M4 alternative than a weapon that only one in 30 marines gets.

- A marine without a vest, not carrying a spare backpack and generally not going overboard can have 720 M4 shots. And that is, again, not including how easy it is to carry more in your hand, webbing, etc. A smartgun gets laughable 250. My point should be obvious.

M42A
- Oh my god it sucks so much.

- Sight sacrifices X-ray for full nightvision and/or mob highlight. I shouldn't have to explain this one.

- Percentage-based damage instead of a straight number, variable with the target's caste and evolution progress. Young runners should be put into crit with one shot (what are you doing fighting snipers as a young runner? and how did you manage to not dodge that bullet with your sanic speed?) while young crushers would take three shots. Mature and above crushers would be only mildly concerned by sniper fire, unless the sniper has several men for support.
- AP (and only AP) bullets deal "crippling wounds" based on hit location. Legs would lower movement speed, arms would decrease melee damage and tackle chance, torso would be DoT, head would decrease sight range like a welding helmet and give foggy overlay.
- These two changes go together to make the sniper an unique support weapon. Most suggestions I see around the forums want it to simply deal fuckhueg damage. Now consider this: if you give it enough damage to reliably fight crushers, it will one-shot EXPLODE lower xenos, and that's not fun. If you give it just enough damage to crit them, it won't do shit to crushers. Variable damage is the only way. But the sniper rifle shouldn't be about picking off the huge ones alone. You're fighting chitin-clad godzillas, not humans. Instead it debuffs, making them vulnerable to other humans. Support, not assassination weapon.

Grenade launcher
- The crate comes with two speedloaders holding three grenades each, pre-filled with the dedicated ammo. These speedloaders can be reloaded with any grenades and are bulky items.

- Unique, dedicated grenades that can't be thrown by hand and are RQS-orderable. These are impact fused.

- Firing any grenades other than the dedicated ones causes them to bounce once, since they're using a time fuse. The "bounce" has the exact same range as the inital shot, meaning: you aim it 3 tiles away, it goes 3, then 3. Basically just doubles the range from the tiles between you and where you clicked at. This is to give it indirect fire capabilities.

B18
- Merged with the Flame Specialist accepted suggestion.

- Way higher immunity to huggers until combat hugging is removed.


Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it): If I knew I'd already fill a coder application.

[Eenkogneeto]

Currently WP does around AT round damage to a single non burn immune target, sets them on fire, crates a flame tile which can do even more damage to them, and takes between 3 and 6 resists to actually put it out. It also affects a large area around the target
its incredibly underrated, I actually rate it on par with HE and frequently load as many WP as HE.

[Derpislav]

Huh, I was not aware of that. Did it get changed recently? I remember it as creating a single-tile fire and that's it.


Oh shit I forgot about B18. The fact I did speaks volumes.

[Eenkogneeto]

Its always as long as i can remember ignited every ayy in a huge are (almost the size of your screen) the downside is it ONLY effects mobs, meaning it wont deal with eggs, weeds, etc. And its not as strong as AT. it'll still do a shitton of damage and is great for killing hunters off weeds since you dont need a direct hit to put them on a timer to get to weeds or die.
One thing people dont realize about WP: It continues dealing damage after the ayy goes crit, its frequently enough to kill them /even on weeds/ if you direct hit.

[Renomaki]

Currently WP does around AT round damage to a single non burn immune target, sets them on fire, crates a flame tile which can do even more damage to them, and takes between 3 and 6 resists to actually put it out. It also affects a large area around the target
its incredibly underrated, I actually rate it on par with HE and frequently load as many WP as HE.

I agree, it is a really nasty weapon to go up against. A lot of people like to give it shit, but lets be honest, if you take a lot of damage and are burning, it'll put you out of the fight for a good while even if you DON'T die. I myself been a victim of it a few times, and it is frustrating when you are low on health and on fire, and it refuses to go out despite your desperate attempts... Only to get gunned down in your stunned state.

[Monoo]

If we're removing the need to feed belts into the smartgun, I'd also up the ammo capacity a bit. No need to go burning through your entire ammo reserve in a few minutes, especially when you aren't permitted to bring a spare. 400 rounds per pack, maybe?

I'd also go for a slight accuracy boost as smartguns in the lore auto-target and that's the closest thing I can compare it to; if the gun is to be a better M4 then it should probably have far superior accuracy.

Armor penetration is already set to be buffed in the accepted suggestions list so I won't salt up this thread about how ineffective they are against crushers nowadays

[Sad_Corn]

The Sniper is WAY more stronger, hit killing young hunters is VERY broken, since everyone has some kind of autism and loves pick the runner caste. And, plus nightvision, you could even pick off runners at a long range. Same thing to crushers, three hits is way overpowered. So basically, you are transforming the sniper into the new SADAR.

[Derpislav]

Young crushers, mind you. And it's critting, not killing. If you can't retreat in the time it takes a sniper to fire three shots (HAVE YOU SEEN THE RELOAD ON THIS THING), you deserve it.

[Egorkor]

don't touch my sadar pls k?
tnx.
i'm neutral on everything else since I don't use these kits but the sadar's fine as is unless there's shite I don't know about. we've been through this already.

[Bigchilly]

Fragmentation rounds for the SADAR would be nice, but since buckshot is absolutely shit (after the nerf it got of course) i think it should have a dedicated fragmentation mechanic rather then spawning buckshot.

The sniper rifle simply said is unless against all xenos eccept for boilers, which can just eat damage for some reason. Young runners can deflect and even survive flame rounds:
But i havent got time to play with the sniper after the recent bullet update, so i dont really dont know much about the sniper anymore.

+1 on most of this accept for the HE change.

[NescauComToddy]

Just Don't change my dear Smartgun
I Am pretty neutral by now but frags rounds would be nice so 1+To the SADAR changes.

[Snypehunter007]

Old, lack of continued interest.

Locking.