All right, here I am again with just another wall of text - this time promised continuation about
IV. Weapons.
What can be improved in the weapons in ME:A, than in ME3? Lots of things, TBH.
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There should be weapons with different physical principles involved, and they should REALLY DIFFER. For instance:
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Ubiquitous kinetic weapons (aka mass effect accelerators) - should trigger kinetic shields and biotic barriers and not trigger energy shields. Have certain armor penetration and shield penetration - very different depending on the weapon class and type along with used ammo. The only weapon type with ammo effects applicable;
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Plasma weapons – do not trigger the kinetic barriers, trigger the energy shields and biotic barriers. Good armor penetration, no shield penetration. Can be blocked by powerful electromagnetic of mass effect fields (created by, say, grenades or other expendable projectors). Short-range by definition (accelerated plasma doesn’t fly too far) - thus making the plasma sniper rifle is impossible. No ammo effects applicable (for they have no ammo whatsoever);
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Laser weapons – do not trigger the kinetic shields, trigger the energy shields and biotic barriers. Good armor penetration, also decent energy shield penetration. Can be blocked by trivial smoke screens. Very good accuracy - do not have scatter, no projectile travel time. No multiple projectiles possible - i.e. there cannot be laser shotguns. No ammo effects applicable (for they do not have ammo whatsoever);
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Particle beam weapons – trigger all kinds of shields. Good armor and shield penetration. Can be blocked by powerful electromagnetic or mass effect fields. Have very high accuracy - do not have scatter, very high projectile travel time. No multiple projectiles possible - i.e. there can’t be particle shotgun. No ammo effects applicable (for they do not have ammo whatsoever);
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Electric weapons (like Reegar and Adas) – do not trigger kinetic shields, trigger energy shields and biotic barriers. Next to no armor penetration, low shield penetration (somewhat compensated by the good shield disruption). Disrupt the hardsuit systems, paralyze the living targets. Short-to-mid range. No ammo effects applicable.
2. Switchable fire modes for all weapons - at least for automatic weapons there should be a possibility to switch between semi-auto, (short bursts) and full auto. Just imagine the shotgun with 3-shot bursts or/and full auto, not talking about the assault rifles, which must have such a switching.
3. Combi-weapons (yes, say “Hello!’ to WH 40K … and modern assault rifles with underslung grenade launchers or “assault rifle + shotgun” combos).
4. Separate heavy weapons - there is even a sixth slot for them. All of them encountered in previous ME games, not only Cobra. Plus, maybe, some new ones like, say, normal chaingun in “chainsaw” form-factor
5. Other, than weight, weapon balance mechanic - energy (more details below).
7. Weapon parameters’ system, different from the current one: not different types of damage - exactly the damage should be about the same for the particular weapon regardless of the type of target it is applied to. What should differ - is penetration: armor penetration and shield/barrier penetration. Yes, weapons should not only wear the shields/armor down, but also be able to pierce them and damage the target’s health/system integrity.
8. Soft limitations in the weapons’ usage. For instance - if the omni-tool/biotic projector (that violet circle in your palm) is on (deliberate switching at least omni-tools on and off is already announced) - you cannot use the hand it is on to hold the weapon (i. e. single-handed weapons become preferable for technical/biotic classes). Or - weapon training system from ME1.
9. Grenades should be an equipment, not abilities. There should be lots of grenade types - fragmentation, incendiary, arc, lifting, cryo, polonium, warp, stasis, EMP etc. Omnitool-produce ones - are also equipment,consisting of 2 parts: the omnitool itself and respective software for it.
10. Physical melee weapons - combat knives, axes, swords, hammers, plasma cutters, energy gloves. The omnitool-based weapons should not be the only option for most classes.
11. Option to have more, than one weapon of the same class - I for one don’t understand, why I can’t have two different pistols or assault rifles and switch between them. Thus - hardsuit weapon slots should be not weapon-type based, but weapon-class based: for sidearms (or PDWs), light weapons, medium weapons and heavy weapons. How much slots of each class - depends on the hardsuit type.
Classes of the weapons could be the following:
- Personal defense weapons, PDW aka sidearms – all pistols, most of submachine guns, compact shotguns, single-handed physical melee weapons. The only category suitable for single-hand usage and double-wielding;
- Light weapons – some high-power SMGs, most of assault rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles;
- Medium weapons – machineguns (like ME3 Revenant or Typhoon), high-power (aka heavy) assault rifles (like ME3 Sabre, Argus, Valkyrie, Harrier, and - the Mattock, being a base for both Argus and Harrier, should belong here as well), heavy shotguns (like ME3 Claymore, Grail, Raider or Crusader), and high-power sniper rifles (like Widow, Black Widow, Javelin), two-handed melee weapons;
- Heavy, or support, weapons – Cobra missile launcher, Spitfire, and all the rest from ME2.
All weapons should have the modular design (which was already partly made in ME3). Principal modules could be:
- Frame, or chassis;
- Energy core (for autonomous weapons) or power supply interface (for snap-in and integrated weapons of all kinds);
- Acceleration system (for kinetic and plasma weapons) or projector system (for laser, particle beam and electric ones);
- cooling system;
- Ammo feed system (kinetic weapons only), responsible for feeding the weapon with normal or special ammo;
- Additional systems like stabilizers, various sights (for autonomous weapons) or aiming interfaces (for snap-in and integrated ones), bayonets etc..
By the grade of integration to the hardsuit weapons as such can be:
- standalone weapons - are ones we are used to from ME1, ME2 and ME3;
- snap-in, or connectable weapons - must be connected to the certain hardsuit’s systems to be used;
- weapons, integrated to the hardsuit - are something similar to the Cerberus Phantoms’ wrist-mounted laser pistol or shoulder-mounted Hawk missiles.
Standalone kinetic weapons consist of:
- frame, or chassis, where all the weapon elements are installed;
- mass-effect core – which supplies the certain amount of energy to all the rest of the weapon’s systems;
- acceleration system – which propels the projectiles towards the target. It is responsible for the projectile's’ speed, rate of fire and fire modes – single-shot, semi-auto, controlled bursts or full auto. Naturally, it consumes the certain amount of energy. The higher projectile weight, muzzle velocity and rate of fire are – the higher energy consumption is;
- ammo feed system – produces the ammo with certain parameters (size, weight and shape) and feeds it to the acceleration system. This is where the special effects are applied to the projectiles, making the latter incendiary, cryogenic, warp, armor-piercing, expansive, polonium, explosive, disruption or phase ones. Ensures feeding the ammo with certain rate. This feeding rate must correspond to one of the acceleration system. Ordinary systems cannot produce the special ammo; better ones produce one type of special ammo - and this option is switchable on and off; yet better systems – produce two types switchable between them and on/off. Producing the special ammo reduces the rate of fire and raises the energy consumption. Ammo feed systems for various classes of weapons are not interchangeable;
- cooling system – is what we all know, it is responsible for the ME equivalent of “magazine capacity”. Does not consume energy - some of them are even able to recuperate it instead. The better the system is - the more energy is recuperated;
- stabilizer systems – present in the ME3, increase accuracy;
- sights or aiming interfaces – ensure better aiming. Sights are independent (i.e. don’t use the hardsuit’s Vi capacity), but aiming goes ONLY via the sights (and looks pretty much like via sniper or optic scopes in ME3), there’s no crosshairs on HUD. Aiming interface - is what we all are used to in ME 3 - zooming in directly in the HUD, different aiming marks. Certain amount of the hardsuit’s VI capacity is used;
Advantages:
- can be used with any hardsuit;
- do not consume the hardsuit’s energy – i.e. don’t draw the energy from other systems. Only VI capacity can (but not necessarily will) be used;
- enable the relatively quick switching between weapons;
Drawbacks:
- have severe limitations in combat performance;
- hip-firing must be pretty much of intuitive - there should be no crosshairs, at least for weapons with normal sights, not VI interface;
Snap-in kinetic weapons
- mostly lack the cooling systems, some of them – also energy core;
- Pretty often have no sights, having the interface to connect to the hardsuit’s aiming VI instead;
Thus - they must be plugged-in to the hardsuit to use the hardsuit’s energy core, weapon cooling system and aiming VI. The plugging-in goes through so-called “interface glove” (physical glove or omni-glove) and takes a decent amount of time.
Advantages:
- are way more powerful, than autonomous ones – by using the hardsuit’s energy core, which is way more powerful, than compact one used in the portable weapons;
- can fire much more intensively – by using the much more effective cooling system, which is built-in to the hardsuit. They do not have the “reloading” (changing the thermal clips), having a king of venting instead (looks like venting the plasma weapons in WH40K Space Marine);
- allow accurate hip-firing by using the HUD sight;
Drawbacks:
- consume the energy of the hardsuit’s energy core and computing capacity of its VI. These energy and capacity must be taken from other hardsuit’s systems – mobility system, omni-tool, biotic amplifier, kinetic or energy barrier generator etc.;
- can be used only with certain types of hardsuits, which have the respective systems to integrate such weapons;
- it takes decent – up to 15-20 s - amount of time to switch between such weapons;
Integrated kinetic weapons are bare bone constructs, lacking - besides energy core and cooling system - also the frame.
Are simply built-in to the hardsuit – being either forearm-mounted or shoulder-mounted. Forearm-mounting is used for pistols, SMGs, some shotguns, some assault rifles. More powerful weapons are mounted on the shoulders.
Advantages:
- are yet more powerful – even more, than snap-in weapons;
- can fire even more intensively;
- up to 4 of them can be installed on the hardsuit (2 on forearms and 2 on the shoulders) with quick switching between them in battle;
Drawbacks:
- consume a hell lot of energy of the hardsuit’s energy core;
- can be used only with certain types of hardsuits;
- cannot be replaced during the mission – only between them;
Standalone energy (laser, plasma, particle, electric) weapons consist of:
- frame, or chassis;
- energy core;
- projector system of respective type;
- cooling system;
- additional systems like sights, bayonets, stabilizers etc.;
Snap-in energy (laser, plasma, particle. electric) weapons:
- lack the cooling system and, sometimes, the energy core;
- have no sights, only interface to connect to the hardsuit’s VI;
- all the rest elements are the same;
Integrated energy (laser, plasma, particle, electric) weapons:
- lack also frame
Weapon customization
Under such conditions it has two major ways:
- replacement of the weapons essential parts with better ones;
- installing the additional parts - pretty similar to the nowadays’ weapon modding;
For instance:
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you’ve got an assault rifle, just somehow received a better acceleration system for it - one with, say, higher muzzle velocity (which means higher accuracy and armor/shield/barrier penetration). You replace the original acceleration system with it and find out, that - due to its higher energy consumption - the weapons energy core doesn’t produce enough energy anymore. The way out in this situation is either installing more powerful energy core, or better cooling system (one with recuperation), or simply removing some system from your weapon - for instance, stabilizer;
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Or you’ve got an assault shotgun (let’s say, one with two-shot bursts), just obtained a better power core for it. After installing this power core you’ve got some surplus energy, which can be used for good. For instance - you go and buy better acceleration system, able to fire three-shot bursts. Or better ammo feed system, able to produce, for example, disruption and incendiary ammo;
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Or you just obtained a frame, which allows you to make a combi-weapon of your assault rifle - and use this frame, attaching the underslung grenade launcher or, say, a flamer to it (preferable standalone one, with it’s own energy core);
The main idea here is - beside the modularity itself - that energy takes the place of weight in the weapon balance. Yet again - it’s either weapon’s ow energy in the case of standalone weapons or - in case of snap-in and integrated weapons - the energy of the hardsuit’s energy core.
Pretty much the same pronciple I'd propose to use for the hardsuits, but - this is already another story.
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