Weapons Affecting Stats

[sir_schwick]

I always felt that good weapons would really only be appreciated by good soldiers, while bad weapons would be hated by good soldiers. What do I mean? I mean that snipers cannot really make an AK-47 spray more accurately just because they are good marksman. Weapons have inherent limits and sometimes help elevate skills slightly. So here are things each weapon would limit the effective stat or possibly modify the effective stat:

 

 

Reactions:

Some weapons are just more unweidly or uncomfortable to carry and fire than others. This was partially represented through accuracy and TU differences. However it does not affect how fast a soldier responds in a reaction situation. For that reason each weapons would limit the 'effective rreactions' a soldier could use in determining reaction shots. Here is an example:

 

Suppose a Muton with Reactions 65 has a Muton Plasma Battle Rifle which has a reaction cap of 55. That means when calculating reactions the Muton is counted as having only a Reaction rating of 55. Suppose another Muton with the same weapon has reactions of 53. They are counted as having reactions of 53 for calculations. That means that bad soldiers or those who do not have great reactions do not notice the cap between more and less bulkly weapons.

 

Besides capping there is also 'reaction upgrading'. Upgrades are activated whenever someone's reactions are already of a certain level. When using that weapon, the upgrade will grant a reaction bonus that was nto avalialbe before. Its like the sniper getting a good sniper rifle and really using the tools it provides him/her. Imagine the first Muton gets a +5 Reaction upgrade if he has 60 or greater reactions with a different gun with cap 75. Then he would have 70 effective Reactions if he usedt hat gun versus 65 normal.

 

 

The same ideas apply to firing accuracy. Marksman will take advantage fo weapons that have laser scopes etc more than less skilled marksman.

[GARAK]

Good ideas.

[sir_schwick]

Well I was also thinking this allows for the idea of weapon modifications. In order to keep mods from becoming too much of a MM issue here are some ideas:

 

1) Human weapons should not have to be ordered then equipped on the soldier. It is obvious there is an effectively infinite supply of the weapons and ammo you need(you are supplying for only a few hundred commandoes in the most extreme cases) from manufacturers. Being billed at the end of the month is all that is really necessary. So that means for human weapons(and possibly stuff that X-CORPS manufactures in factory type facilities), you just assign what kind fo human weapon you want and its mods.

2) All mods usually involve trade-offs so its more about figuring out what in particular you can give up and what you want maximized. What this could mean will be detailed further when I describe some common mods.

3) For most alien weapons, most mods can be easily intercahnged on a particular weapon, so you just change the weapons mod ont he soldier wihtou having to build anything or trade otu components.

 

Common Parts to be modded on Rifles:

 

- Stock - This is what braces against the soldier while firing. More retractable and folding stocks make the rifle more nimble, but less stable. More rigid stocks tend to be more stable and accurate, but not as nimble.

 

- Sights - Various sights have advantages to each. Usually these advantages are small. Some are quite balanced and the real decisions comes into whether you want balance or specialization.

 

- Trigger - I am not familiar with the advantages/disadvantages of stiff versus loose triggers.

 

- Muzzle - Of course this could include silencers(if that has application).

 

I'm sure there are more, some of whihc affect damage and such. With the proper optimization algorithims, it would be easy just to say, 'make the weapon have maximum nimbleness'. However these are just suggestions to further add personality to a man's gun.

[Robo Dojo 58]

One possibility, is rather than have a hard cap, simply have modifiers to the various skills and situations a character has.

 

For example, take the heavy plasma again. Rather than capping reactions at 55, change it so that a soldier only gets 70% of their reaction score from the weapon. A crackshot weapon, like the pistol, might get 100% of the reaction score. Kneeling might give 10-20% more to a character's reaction score, as they are silent and at the ready.

 

A more unwieldy weapon, such as the rocket launcher, may only get 30% of the reaction score. A kneeling rocket soldier would have his gun ready, garnering 70% of the reaction score.

 

Weight could be another factor in weapons. A weak character who wields a heavy laser cannon might not be able to shoot as well. His accuracy and reactions would be reduced as a result. A simply overburned character could be affected that way as well.

 

I'm not a big fan of the custom weapons idea. Standardized weaponry is key for any military organization. It allows for mass production, mass training, and soldiers can trade weapons without having to relearn it. Rather than get a custom weapon to do X and X, the real solution is to make a weapon purely designed to do it!

[Turbo Beholder]

Reactions:

Some weapons are just more unweidly or uncomfortable to carry and fire than others. This was partially represented through accuracy and TU differences. However it does not affect how fast a soldier responds in a reaction situation.

It's not accurate. Let's take extremal example: .50 BMG rifle is as far from pistol as possible, but if sniper aimed at some door, it's not a reason for problems with reaction when target appears there. But if target appears farther on flank, there may be no reaction at all (BTW, solution of FoV problem is required for flashlight too). The same (save FoV issue) is applicable to machinegun on bipod.

I'd propose to separate aiming from shooting and assign «Aim rate» as gun's property. I.e. "Aimed shot" is "Aim(good); Shoot" or even "Aim_quality:=good; Aim(target); Shoot". Then shot time is sum of 2 values defined and adjusted in different ways.

Another property is «Control» value for bursts. Better for low-momentum weapons and obviously best for lasers.

1) Human weapons should not have to be ordered then equipped on the soldier. It is obvious there is an effectively infinite supply of the weapons and ammo you need(you are supplying for only a few hundred commandoes in the most extreme cases) from manufacturers.

Yes, as long as weapon is more or less standard. But time is needed for delivery of requested stuff to outlying base. If we requested certain model of .50 BMG rifle or specific grenade launcher - how fast it can be delivered to X-Com base at Egypt ? From european manufacturer it's not too long, but if it hapened to be North America (West Coast) or Australia ?..

I mean that snipers cannot really make an AK-47 spray more accurately just because they are good marksman.

Yes, but i would point out that those limits are rather high. Hunters reported slugs scattering about 10 cm at 100 m with 12 gauge and 18-19 cm at 150 m with 20 gauge (70mm cartridge, not magnum) smoothbores. And it's for good smoothbore shotguns, not even rifles.

Common Parts to be modded on Rifles:

For tactical game purpose, i'd propose such list:

muzzle: silencer, flash-hider, muzzle brake (enhances control)

sight: basic/collimating, scope, nightscope

lower mount: grenade launcher, RAW launcher, flashlight, laser pointer, bayonet.

Suport: bipod (aim and control - prone or support), frontgrip (aim and control without support), perhaps gyro pod (aim and control, but slow aim).

 

Some firearms can have much shorter list - e.g. shotgun is likely to be limited to sight and flashlight / laser (though choice of ammo from buckshot to slugs gives greater flexibility anyway);

 

However, those features are not really mods, but add-ons.

Of course, weapon can have built-in feature like integrated silencer or muzzle brake, but it's deeper than just modification of existing gun.