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Finished Dissertation long ago lol. Now happily employed :D
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Post by biggydx on Apr 16, 2021 17:55:02 GMT
This is meant to encompass a number of aspects regarding weapons in the next title, from general acquisition, how (or if) they should be upgraded, how many we can equip, etc.
I think for me, I'd like to have a blend between the store based options ME1 had, as well as the statically acquired weapons of ME2 and ME3. I think item management was one of the biggest UI issues with Andromeda, and I dont think the ME crowd is as open to the somewhat loot-based mechanisms Andromeda tried to bring. It wasn't all bad, but I think simplicity would be good for all crowds going forward.
As for what weapons would be in the store, they'd be static gear options. Some would just be the base model of the weapon, while others could be different variants. If you have both the base model and the variant of said base, then the variant would be a toggleble option at the weapons menu (rather than taking up a slot). Also, when I say variant, I'm thinking of it in terms of unique effects that the base gun may have on top of it. For example, a Variant of the Acolyte pistol would be able to detonate Biotically primed targets with a fully charged blast, but reserve ammo would be reduced to compensate. Other guns would be acquired by finding them in specific locations/missions, completing quests, rewards for winning favor with someone, or through other actions.
From here, I think the Level I to Level X system is fine. Upgrading the ranks would require materials that could be bought or found, with rarer materials needing to be found (or bought in limited supply) the higher the weapon level you go. Weapons of a higher rank, such as Ultra Rare, would require the rarest of materials. While the base stats of the gun increasing (per level up) is fine, I think BioWare should borrow Battlefield V's upgrade tree system. You upgrade the level of the gun, you unlock more nodes in the tree, and you get to decide what perk on the gun you want at certain ranks.
To give an example: a Rare, Widow Sniper Rifle at level X (10) would have 5 perks you could pick from. The 5 options you have would be split across three different upgrade paths. One path gives you significant increases to headshot and armor damage, the second gives you better ammo capacity and ways to get ammo back (ex. ammo on headshots), and the third would be centered around weapon handling and mitigating power consumption issues. Only one perk, across all three branches, can be chosen per upgrade tier.
The point of this system would be to offer greater diversity in how your weapons fit your playstyles. Want your Typhoon LMG to have significantly more ammo? Slap on some extended magazine mods and choose perks that give it better ammo economy.
Speaking of mods, I think the "Pick Two" system is fine. I'd also be fine with bringing in the Positive/Negative mods from Andromeda, which gave you a big weapon stat bonus, but also another stat defect. The one thing I think BioWare should avoid, when it comes to weapon mods, are mods that simply boost the base damage of the gun. I think they're just too much of a go-to mod to have on too many weapons, and you're effectively knee-capping your DPS if you dont have one equipped. If there are to be any damage mods, they should only placate to hitting enemies with headshots, or against certain types of "health" bars, like Armor, Shields, or Barriers.
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Post by alanc9 on Apr 16, 2021 21:58:28 GMT
Unless we're playing as some sort of mercenary/trader type -- which I'd be into -- I'm a nonfan of even having stores. Did the Alliance and the AI lose the secret of expense account technology?
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Post by KaiserShep on Apr 16, 2021 21:58:46 GMT
One thing I’d like to stay away from is RNG. I think Mass Effect 3 did pretty well with its breadth of weapon variety without having to resort to randomized stats to artificially inflate the loot options, and simply add a layer of modification/crafting so that our loadouts can be more personalized.
As for the effect of mods, I’m always more a fan of things that affect other performance attributes, like weight to affect handling, ease/speed of reload, damage falloff, etc.. If there’s something that serves as a suppressor to muffle sound, for the love of god don’t reduce the base damage of the weapon, because this is not how silencers work.
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Post by KaiserShep on Apr 16, 2021 22:00:18 GMT
Unless we're playing as some sort of mercenary/trader type -- which I'd be into -- I'm a nonfan of even having stores. Did the Alliance and the AI lose the secret of expense account technology? This is why I enjoy the role of a free agent type character over being supposedly in some well-equipped military, but still have to pay through the nose to get decent gear out of pocket. At least as a free agent, perusing stores for anything that isn’t a space hamster actually makes sense.
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Post by colfoley on Apr 16, 2021 22:11:49 GMT
Reading through the OPs comments did inspire me on how I would handle the whole weapon's mods issue thing if I were doing it. Basically I think I would actually let you put on as many mods as you want on your weapons...the only limiting factor being that one mod cannot contradict with another...IE a grenade launcher cannot go on with a charging handle, a thermal scope cannot go with a holographic site...etc. But the main thing is the more you add to your weapon the more it'll weigh which will effect your power usage...so it becomes the usual trade off. You can have only one or two weapons fully kitted out or you can carry like 5 in their base model. And yes 'ultralight materials' should be aa thing but, and while I am not normally a fan of this sort of thing, they should have a severe trade off in something like damage or heat generation because the weapon will literally be made of inferior materials.
Now as far as the 'weapon levelling' is concerned...I am not exactly sure how realistic this sort of thing is but I have always been the fan of, at least in theory, if you are going to level up your weapons it should come through the use. So essentially, and I have propesed similar ideas for DA, if each weapon has their own skill tree then essentially you get experience with that weapon the more you use it which you can then invest in perks and then hopefully be able to do a A or B situation to customize different weapons even further too. And then you have the normal experience bar for your character.
I was however a fan of how Andromeda handled inventory, though ME 3 probably did it the most ideal in the series, but if you are going to do something like that then Andromeda did it about the best. Basically I liked the idea of you could go out and loot various items if you wanted to, but then you could only carry a certain number of them into the field. And then it reached the point that I just stopped looting things because I had the loadout I wanted.
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Post by wright1978 on Apr 16, 2021 22:19:51 GMT
I’d say me3 had the best approach in providing a manageable system with variety.
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Post by ahglock on Apr 17, 2021 2:53:14 GMT
I'm not sure I liked some aspects from MEA and ME3. I'd probably ditch item rarity though, it is another axis to balance across and I suspect it will fail. Better balance of weapons, weapon weight range of MEA, mods somewhere between MEA and ME3.
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Post by RedCaesar97 on Apr 17, 2021 3:47:24 GMT
My opinions: 1. I would like to see weapons use thermal clips only. No overheat weapons. (But you will probably have a mix of overheat and thermal clips.)
2. I want all weapons to have defense multipliers like in ME2. A few ways you could it: a. Like ME2, weapons deal at least 100% damage to all defenses, with bonus damage to specific defenses. For example, Carnifex deals 150% to armor, 100% to shields. b. Weapons deal maximum 100% damage to all defenses, with damage penalties to specific defenses. For example, Carnifex deals 100% to armor, 50% to shields. c. Combination of a and b, depending on the weapon. Or have a '150% rule', where the sum total of the shield and armor multipliers must equal 150%. For example, 100% armor 50% shields, 75% armor 75% shields, 125% shields 25% armor.
3. I think all weapons should be purchasable, not found/looted. I think all equipment should be in stores, so you can tailor specific builds/playstyles around earlier in the game and not have to try to get things by playing missions in a specific order.
4. No tiers of weapons (no bronze, silver, gold, platinum tiers). Try to balance the weapons the best you can like they are in the same tier.
5. I am undecided how -- or if -- you should upgrade weapons. If you upgrade weapons, I think max 5 levels is better instead of 10. ME3 probably did it best with purchasable upgrades that scaled in credits required. Upgrading weapons should increase damage only.
6. Mods: Undecided. I think it depends on if specialty ammo are mods (like ME1 and MEA) or powers (like ME2 and ME3). - If specialty ammo are powers, no mods. But have these ammo powers unlockable as bonus powers. - If specialty ammo are mods, then maybe 1 mod slot. Make you choose between ammo mod or some other weapon mod.
7. Mods: I like the idea of mod trade-offs like some ME2 and ME3 mods that increased performance in one area while decreasing performance in another area. Maybe weapon sliders that allow you to increase a weapon modifier (like damage, accuracy, or recoil) but at the cost of decreasing another modifier. Not sure if it should be 1:1 increase/decrease or 1:2 (increase 10% but at 20% decrease).
8. I think the weapon roster should be larger than ME2, but smaller than ME3 and MEA. Ignoring tiers, I felt ME3 and MEA had too many overlapping weapons. that is to say, some weapons felt too similar to some other weapons, usually in the same category. Should try to avoid that overlap.
That is all I can think of at the moment. It is late and I am tired, so I am not sure how coherent I am. I have been thinking about some of this for a while, but I am not sure I even agree with myself all the time. Maybe I will revisit this later.
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Post by NotN7 on Apr 17, 2021 3:57:50 GMT
I'm not sure I liked some aspects from MEA and ME3. I'd probably ditch item rarity though, it is another axis to balance across and I suspect it will fail. Better balance of weapons, weapon weight range of MEA, mods somewhere between MEA and ME3. Me? thinking about it if I can only find It In a store to upgrade my weapons one would think the rest of the community would be able to purchase them also (speaking ME3) so myself I would find upgrades as I played (drops etc.) as for Andromeda what upgrades? they left the MW with the tech. at the time and for stores sorry think about it why do you need stores in a new galaxy when nothing has been established?
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Post by ahglock on Apr 17, 2021 4:36:36 GMT
I'm not sure I liked some aspects from MEA and ME3. I'd probably ditch item rarity though, it is another axis to balance across and I suspect it will fail. Better balance of weapons, weapon weight range of MEA, mods somewhere between MEA and ME3. Me? thinking about it if I can only find It In a store to upgrade my weapons one would think the rest of the community would be able to purchase them also (speaking ME3) so myself I would find upgrades as I played (drops etc.) as for Andromeda what upgrades? they left the MW with the tech. at the time and for stores sorry think about it why do you need stores in a new galaxy when nothing has been established? The setting logic of MEA stores was a bit shoddy. In ME3 I could say they issue you alliance standard gear, you want something outside that, buy your own. You don't have to buy things in a current military but you get what you get. But there are historical analogues to soldiers buying their own gear to upgrade. For example during the American civil war the repeating rifle was becoming available but in order to standardize ammo the military did not provide them. Individual soldiers bought them to increase their personal survivability rates.
MEA researching your own tech, them being cheap on gear when you seem to be their only hope of survival just seemed weird, researching alien tech sure, angarans suddenly accepting credits was beyond bizarre.
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We destroy them or they destroy us.
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Post by bshep on Apr 17, 2021 5:03:17 GMT
Mass Effect 3 brought a good variety of weapons. If anything i want them to expand on that by bringing even more different kinds of technologies. Conventional cooling systems, thermal clips, actual projectile weapons, maybe some portable laser weaponary too (since they are used for the Gardian systems on ships) and even some exotic weapons from some obscure race almost no one knows about.
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Just a flip of the coin.
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Post by Sanunes on Apr 17, 2021 6:59:49 GMT
I liked ME3 for both Weapons and Armor. There was some customization and at the same time there wasn't a RNG aspect. I wouldn't mind to have a customization option like the ME2/ME3 armor that you could make a custom weapon like you could put pieces together for armor set and still have the complete versions available. So my thinking would be a custom frame where you could pick a barrel, grip, clip, and sight to customize the weapon to your preferences, but at the same time the pieces would be preset like the custom armor.
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Post by Gileadan on Apr 17, 2021 7:27:54 GMT
Mass Effect's handling of weapons is, in my opinion, in need of a massive overhaul.
- Firstly, it needs to stop contradicting their own lore. Thermal clips are supposedly universal, so that's how the game should handle them. If I have a shotgun and a light pistol and ten thermal clips, that should let me reload ten times split over those two however I please instead of giving me a fixed ammo count for both that somehow makes it possible to run out of ammo for one weapon but not the other when the ammo I'm carrying is supposedly universal. Handguns should get way more shots out of one clip than an assault rifle that spits out high velocity projectiles at a high rate of fire since the first generates way less heat than the latter. You either have actual thermal clips, or you have "ammo". Pick one.
- Weapon "levels" should go. They are a gamey mechanic to upgrade your weapons in unexplained ways. This should be replaced with:
- More mods. Allow for more weapon parts to be modified or replaced to improve its performance. Underbarrel grenade launchers, different scopes, different barrels, all depending on the type of weapon of course. Upgrades to or the replacement of the internal projectile micro-factory could enable switching between different ammo types which have different effects on different types of defenses, like armour piercing or shield shortening. This should no longer be a soldier only "skill", because what does that skill represent? He's the only guy who knows where the switch is? "A stone cold killer would have asked what the red button is for..."
- Acquisition: weapons from hostile factions should be looted. Weapons from my own faction should be bought from stores if the protagonist is some kind of freelance operative. If we play as a member of an elite military unit like the N7 I expect to hand in a requisition form and get the finest tools of extermination that I want, depending on resources available. Also, given the likely advances in 3D printing, we could just buy/loot the blueprint and feed the required resources to a 3D constructor unit on our ship or base and watch it create the item.
- Upgrade/mod acquisition: just like weapons.
- While we're at it, please rework the wonky way the AI shooting at the player character is handled and make it work more like in other shooters.
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Post by colfoley on Apr 17, 2021 7:46:36 GMT
Mass Effect's handling of weapons is, in my opinion, in need of a massive overhaul. - Firstly, it needs to stop contradicting their own lore. Thermal clips are supposedly universal, so that's how the game should handle them. If I have a shotgun and a light pistol and ten thermal clips, that should let me reload ten times split over those two however I please instead of giving me a fixed ammo count for both that somehow makes it possible to run out of ammo for one weapon but not the other when the ammo I'm carrying is supposedly universal. Handguns should get way more shots out of one clip than an assault rifle that spits out high velocity projectiles at a high rate of fire since the first generates way less heat than the latter. You either have actual thermal clips, or you have "ammo". Pick one. - Weapon "levels" should go. They are a gamey mechanic to upgrade your weapons in unexplained ways. This should be replaced with: - More mods. Allow for more weapon parts to be modified or replaced to improve its performance. Underbarrel grenade launchers, different scopes, different barrels, all depending on the type of weapon of course. Upgrades to or the replacement of the internal projectile micro-factory could enable switching between different ammo types which have different effects on different types of defenses, like armour piercing or shield shortening. This should no longer be a soldier only "skill", because what does that skill represent? He's the only guy who knows where the switch is? "A stone cold killer would have asked what the red button is for..." - Acquisition: weapons from hostile factions should be looted. Weapons from my own faction should be bought from stores if the protagonist is some kind of freelance operative. If we play as a member of an elite military unit like the N7 I expect to hand in a requisition form and get the finest tools of extermination that I want, depending on resources available. Also, given the likely advances in 3D printing, we could just buy/loot the blueprint and feed the required resources to a 3D constructor unit on our ship or base and watch it create the item. - Upgrade/mod acquisition: just like weapons. - While we're at it, please rework the wonky way the AI shooting at the player character is handled and make it work more like in other shooters. You bring up another excellent point when it comes to 3D printing and how that technology should evolve by the 22nd century...at the current rate. And well, I do not really like how most games handle looting in these games since its never made a lot of sense to me that a squad can carry like 60 different weapons into battle at the same time. But your comment on 3D printing does give me the idea that they can incorporate the scanning mechanic, like for MEA in the first place, and 'scan' a weapon which will let you then be able to research that weapon and then fabricate it. Could also be used as a justification why you don't have access to all your weapons at the start even in a *friendly* faction. Since that comes down to a liscencing fee even an elite military operative could need to purchase the lisence to use/ build a particular weapon. To think of an analogue from the game the Avenger AR could be the standard AR for the Alliance military but to use the Phaeston could require you purchasing that liscence in game if the player character wants to self modify and have unique arms...for whatever reason.
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Agent 46
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Post by Gileadan on Apr 17, 2021 9:11:12 GMT
You bring up another excellent point when it comes to 3D printing and how that technology should evolve by the 22nd century...at the current rate. And well, I do not really like how most games handle looting in these games since its never made a lot of sense to me that a squad can carry like 60 different weapons into battle at the same time. But your comment on 3D printing does give me the idea that they can incorporate the scanning mechanic, like for MEA in the first place, and 'scan' a weapon which will let you then be able to research that weapon and then fabricate it. Could also be used as a justification why you don't have access to all your weapons at the start even in a *friendly* faction. Since that comes down to a liscencing fee even an elite military operative could need to purchase the lisence to use/ build a particular weapon. To think of an analogue from the game the Avenger AR could be the standard AR for the Alliance military but to use the Phaeston could require you purchasing that liscence in game if the player character wants to self modify and have unique arms...for whatever reason. That's a great idea for combining the scanning and fabrication mechanic! You could also just find weapon fragments to scan and either do your own research and development from there, or hope to find more bits of that weapon to scan until the blueprint is complete.
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Post by Giant Ambush Beetle on Apr 17, 2021 10:02:15 GMT
There should be intelligent weapons. In ME we still have relatively straightforward hitscan projectile weapons - and this is FAR in the future.
Weapons should be programmable to do certain things. We already have smart grenade launchers, they use ammunition that can be programmed to have wide varieties of properties for mission specific tasks. Like fuses that detonate the grenade a split second after contacting a barrier, so it punches through an obstacle (glass window) and explodes inside the room, or proximity fuses, grenades that can be programmed to detonate at a certain distance so you can shoot over a barrier and pelt the hiding enemies with shrapnel from above. There is even the possibility to program each round of an entire magazine individually so you can have multiple effects during firing. (like armor piercing, next grenade is shrapnel, next incendiary etc.)
Additionally, we are already working on laser guided ammunitions today, that means you shoot at a target 2500 meters away, and you guide the round into the target with your scope. With a flight time of a couple seconds, and 60hz guiding refresh rate to the round, it will hit moving targets at extreme distances regardless of wind, weather and ballistics.
And there is also mini-drones, in 2150+ I'd expect people to send in armed drones before they enter a room, small drones that can be brought with a backpack, like small spiders, maybe explosive suicide drones. Send a bunch in, let them scan the room so you can see what's going on in there and then let them run to enemies and BAM.
When you combine computer with firearms you can get very interesting and capable platforms. Personally, I do not see straightforward projectile weapons to be much of thing in the year 2150+. The future of firearms belongs to computer-assisted guided programmable smart ammunition with explosive/incendiary warheads and compact portable drones.
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Post by helios969 on Apr 18, 2021 6:30:44 GMT
You bring up another excellent point when it comes to 3D printing and how that technology should evolve by the 22nd century...at the current rate. And well, I do not really like how most games handle looting in these games since its never made a lot of sense to me that a squad can carry like 60 different weapons into battle at the same time. But your comment on 3D printing does give me the idea that they can incorporate the scanning mechanic, like for MEA in the first place, and 'scan' a weapon which will let you then be able to research that weapon and then fabricate it. In actuality 3D printing of certain components will never be equivalent to the forged counterpart. The barrel in particular would likely blow apart within the first few rounds. But for gameplay purposes, sure, why not...Mass Effect is science fantasy.
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Post by colfoley on Apr 18, 2021 6:33:57 GMT
You bring up another excellent point when it comes to 3D printing and how that technology should evolve by the 22nd century...at the current rate. And well, I do not really like how most games handle looting in these games since its never made a lot of sense to me that a squad can carry like 60 different weapons into battle at the same time. But your comment on 3D printing does give me the idea that they can incorporate the scanning mechanic, like for MEA in the first place, and 'scan' a weapon which will let you then be able to research that weapon and then fabricate it. In actuality 3D printing of certain components will never be equivalent to the forged counterpart. The barrel in particular would likely blow apart within the first few rounds. But for gameplay purposes, sure, why not...Mass Effect is science fantasy. I mean granted I am NOT an engineer but is it at least possible we will be able to 3D print more durable construction by the 22nd century? Or even if that is not the case there could be some benefit of printing out a model for a practical demonstration before moving on. But yeah, Sci fantasy.
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helios969
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Kamisama
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR
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Post by helios969 on Apr 18, 2021 6:54:16 GMT
In actuality 3D printing of certain components will never be equivalent to the forged counterpart. The barrel in particular would likely blow apart within the first few rounds. But for gameplay purposes, sure, why not...Mass Effect is science fantasy. I mean granted I am NOT an engineer but is it at least possible we will be able to 3D print more durable construction by the 22nd century? Or even if that is not the case there could be some benefit of printing out a model for a practical demonstration before moving on. But yeah, Sci fantasy. Yeah, I've spent the better part of the last 8 years characterizing (microscopically) various alloys and polymer builds...composites and the like. It will certainly be superior in a couple hundred years than today but in terms of barrel construction and cyclical components those will not survive long enough...too many issues with the microstructure and built in flaws. 3D printing (proper term is additive manufacturing) is great for rapid prototyping, shape construction that is not possible with machining techniques (think a scaled up version of dna,) and critical replacement components if deployed somewhere (but that's more of a temporary fix than permanent). It would be fine for the butt-stock, sights, perhaps the housing. Now if we could make something like they use in Star Trek where they are able to just combined materials at the atomic level into whatever configuration you wanted that would be golden...you could make a perfect material component every time (unlikely by the 22nd century but who really knows).
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Post by Giant Ambush Beetle on Apr 18, 2021 19:11:20 GMT
In actuality 3D printing of certain components will never be equivalent to the forged counterpart. The barrel in particular would likely blow apart within the first few rounds. But for gameplay purposes, sure, why not...Mass Effect is science fantasy. I mean granted I am NOT an engineer but is it at least possible we will be able to 3D print more durable construction by the 22nd century? Or even if that is not the case there could be some benefit of printing out a model for a practical demonstration before moving on. But yeah, Sci fantasy. Maybe atom printers? You could print all sorts of objects in every material imaginable with the grain structure / density / properties you want, and all that without machining it, allowing near perfect tolerances. Imagine barrels made from materials too tough to machine today. For example beryllium-bronze-alloy, with barrels made of that you could get several times the service life and magnitudes better heat resistance than normal steel barrels, allowing totally new firearm concepts.
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sjsharp2010
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Post by sjsharp2010 on Apr 18, 2021 20:31:11 GMT
Reading through the OPs comments did inspire me on how I would handle the whole weapon's mods issue thing if I were doing it. Basically I think I would actually let you put on as many mods as you want on your weapons...the only limiting factor being that one mod cannot contradict with another...IE a grenade launcher cannot go on with a charging handle, a thermal scope cannot go with a holographic site...etc. But the main thing is the more you add to your weapon the more it'll weigh which will effect your power usage...so it becomes the usual trade off. You can have only one or two weapons fully kitted out or you can carry like 5 in their base model. And yes 'ultralight materials' should be aa thing but, and while I am not normally a fan of this sort of thing, they should have a severe trade off in something like damage or heat generation because the weapon will literally be made of inferior materials. Now as far as the 'weapon levelling' is concerned...I am not exactly sure how realistic this sort of thing is but I have always been the fan of, at least in theory, if you are going to level up your weapons it should come through the use. So essentially, and I have propesed similar ideas for DA, if each weapon has their own skill tree then essentially you get experience with that weapon the more you use it which you can then invest in perks and then hopefully be able to do a A or B situation to customize different weapons even further too. And then you have the normal experience bar for your character. I was however a fan of how Andromeda handled inventory, though ME 3 probably did it the most ideal in the series, but if you are going to do something like that then Andromeda did it about the best. Basically I liked the idea of you could go out and loot various items if you wanted to, but then you could only carry a certain number of them into the field. And then it reached the point that I just stopped looting things because I had the loadout I wanted. Yeah I liked the waqy MEA handled inventory bu tthen I kind of like the randomness of such things as it kind of forcves me a little bitto think on m yfeet. I like that sort of challenge in a game.
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Post by pessimistpanda on Apr 18, 2021 22:49:37 GMT
All physical combat is outlawed and conflicts now have to be resolved by playing Duel Monsters, the card game from the anime Yu-Gi-Oh.
The main plot of the game revolves around the protagonist searching outer space for the five cards required to play Exodia, The Forbidden One.
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Post by RedCaesar97 on Apr 18, 2021 23:40:44 GMT
- Weapon "levels" should go. They are a gamey mechanic to upgrade your weapons in unexplained ways. I am not sure how I feel about this. You do provide alternatives to weapon "levels" which sound somewhat interesting. But some quick thoughts about removing weapon levels: 1. I am neither in favor nor opposed to removing weapon levels. All the Mass Effect games have had them so far in various ways. 2. If you remove weapon "levels": a. Enemies CANNOT scale with your character level. If enemies scale with you like they have in previous games, then weapons will essentially get weaker as you progress. b. Damage stat boosts for powers (in power talent trees, class passives, and equipment bonuses) must also account for static enemy stats across multiple difficulties. Now if you want enemy scaling (enemies get stronger as you gain levels), then both weapons and guns need a way to get stronger so you do not feel weaker, unless you want more emphasis on powers rather than guns. Now some of your other ideas can compensate for that. Or perhaps you can have more randomized loot (if you want to loot enemies) like in some other action RPGs with randomized stats, and your modding ideas could further augment that. But those are just my thoughts on the subject. I have some ideas about how powers and damage bonuses could work if enemies do not scale.
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Sanunes
N6
Just a flip of the coin.
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Post by Sanunes on Apr 19, 2021 0:24:57 GMT
- Weapon "levels" should go. They are a gamey mechanic to upgrade your weapons in unexplained ways. I am not sure how I feel about this. You do provide alternatives to weapon "levels" which sound somewhat interesting. But some quick thoughts about removing weapon levels: 1. I am neither in favor nor opposed to removing weapon levels. All the Mass Effect games have had them so far in various ways. 2. If you remove weapon "levels": a. Enemies CANNOT scale with your character level. If enemies scale with you like they have in previous games, then weapons will essentially get weaker as you progress. b. Damage stat boosts for powers (in power talent trees, class passives, and equipment bonuses) must also account for static enemy stats across multiple difficulties. Now if you want enemy scaling (enemies get stronger as you gain levels), then both weapons and guns need a way to get stronger so you do not feel weaker, unless you want more emphasis on powers rather than guns. Now some of your other ideas can compensate for that. Or perhaps you can have more randomized loot (if you want to loot enemies) like in some other action RPGs with randomized stats, and your modding ideas could further augment that. But those are just my thoughts on the subject. I have some ideas about how powers and damage bonuses could work if enemies do not scale. I just want to echo this. I remember with Mass Effect 2 how much trouble I had with Insanity difficulty if I did a NG+, but I didn't have any of that trouble if I played Insanity from level 1 or if I continued for a bit and started to get upgrades.
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Gileadan
N5
Agent 46
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Post by Gileadan on Apr 19, 2021 5:52:21 GMT
I am not sure how I feel about this. You do provide alternatives to weapon "levels" which sound somewhat interesting. But some quick thoughts about removing weapon levels: 1. I am neither in favor nor opposed to removing weapon levels. All the Mass Effect games have had them so far in various ways. 2. If you remove weapon "levels": a. Enemies CANNOT scale with your character level. If enemies scale with you like they have in previous games, then weapons will essentially get weaker as you progress. b. Damage stat boosts for powers (in power talent trees, class passives, and equipment bonuses) must also account for static enemy stats across multiple difficulties. Now if you want enemy scaling (enemies get stronger as you gain levels), then both weapons and guns need a way to get stronger so you do not feel weaker, unless you want more emphasis on powers rather than guns. Now some of your other ideas can compensate for that. Or perhaps you can have more randomized loot (if you want to loot enemies) like in some other action RPGs with randomized stats, and your modding ideas could further augment that. But those are just my thoughts on the subject. I have some ideas about how powers and damage bonuses could work if enemies do not scale. I just want to echo this. I remember with Mass Effect 2 how much trouble I had with Insanity difficulty if I did a NG+, but I didn't have any of that trouble if I played Insanity from level 1 or if I continued for a bit and started to get upgrades. I think I get what you guys mean, and you make a good point. Removing weapon levels would essentially remove the scaling of increased enemy hitpoints, which the player would need to keep up with by leveling up their weapons to increase their damage output. If weapon levels were removed, it would take longer and longer to whittle down enemy health as it increases during the course of the game, since enemies get stronger as the player levels up. My suggestion would be to drastically decrease enemy health increase for higher level enemies. Instead, the following variables (many of which I realize are not even present in Mass Effect's gunplay mechanics, I would just like them to be there) could be tuned as enemies level up: - distance at which they become aware of the player and turn hostile - enemy accuracy, especially at longer ranges - better armour that stops a higher percentage of damage unless countered by armour piercing attacks - improved shields with a lower delay until recharge and/or a quicker rate of recharge - biotic defenses that do both of the above - the time enemies spend in and out of cover, and how quickly they move between cover spots - enemy access to gadgets and mods - amount of enemy reinforcements available and the speed at which they arrive All this could be used to produce a scaling system that does not use "enemy hitpoints vs player weapon level/damage output" at all but instead make the enemy better via better equipment and skills, hopefully requiring the player to counter those improved defenses with good equipment choices, smart skill use and accurate shooting instead of leveling up weapons to counter increased hitpoints. I know this won't happen since it's way more work in both implementation and balancing, but a man can dream.
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