Lets buff weak consumables

I use VVIs as weapon amp substitutes if I ran off of something (i.e. shotgun amps), SPCs also make a viable CM substitute on infis because you get some shield recharge between cloak cycles.

I've actually done some experimenting on making Explosive Ammo viable, and it's actually possible to make it OP. With some very simple modmaker number editing, you could make it more powerful than a cobra.

The *problem* with them is how they're setup to work: Each shot on an enemy stacks a 'spike' that adds up to a maximum number of spikes (and then explodes), or explodes after no additional spikers have been added for a certain amount of time. Each spike's damage is AmmoConsumable% of the damage of the shot that triggered it, with a maximum damage (again set by the consumable), then explodes in such a small radius with such a low damage ceiling that it is irrelevent.

You can tweak the maximum delay before it explodes so low that every round explodes instantly, but it results in frequent explosions over a roughly 2m radius (how often is this going to hit more enemies?) for tiny percentages of even mook health. While that makes it more functional, it doesn't address the weakness of it. Likewise, just tweaking the damage buildup and radius results in infrequent activation.

Which leads to the hard part of balancing it. While it can be hilarious to have things like a Spitfire rapid-firing Lift Grenade level explosion, it's something that's very quickly going to get boring. It just has so many variables compared to other consumables.

I think all of the candidates mentioned, except explosive ammo, have niche uses (as pointed out by others).

To be brought in line, explosive ammo doesn’t need to be viable on every weapon -- I'd settle for a few. What about removing the damage cap on the explosion? That way slow firing, high damage weapons might get some productive use with them, although it may require an additional hike in the % damage done.

Explosive Ammo's damage and radius should scale based on the difficulty, and should stagger things more often.