Shotguns

[sparda4]

Is it possible to add shotguns in the future ? REALLY want to blow narvs to pieces with a good'ol shell of 000 buckshot. How you would work that in i'll leave that up to you guys.

[fallen]

STF features Snubbers. Not sure it is a Templar Leviathan kind of weapon.

[sparda4]

Auto shotguns exist in real life so it can be included into the game without much of an issue. The weapons are mounted on the leviathan right ? Doesn't seem like it can't be included if it's magazine fed. But i do see why you would say it's not really for the suits. Pump action wouldn't work very well.

[fallen]

Yep, definitely existing in RL. Star Traders is notably not set in Earth's universe tho.

We'll stick to our stylistic design for the Templars and they won't get snubbers. The next up is either Scout+Blade=Assassin or a Neptune doing long ranged grenadier support.

[En1gma]

Closest thing to a shotgun is the Plasma Rifle group for the Soldier.

[forgeking]

Oooh, I like the sound of Neptune grenadier.

[Brutus Aurelius]

Nov 4, 2017 22:10:18 GMT -5 sparda4 said:

Auto shotguns exist in real life so it can be included into the game without much of an issue. The weapons are mounted on the leviathan right ? Doesn't seem like it can't be included if it's magazine fed. But i do see why you would say it's not really for the suits. Pump action wouldn't work very well.

I imagine that a shotgun would not be very useful to a Templar, especially when one considers that shotguns are best used on unarmored targets, and the Xeno, even Skitterings, are tough enough that buckshot would bounce off of their metallic shell. As for the Narvs, who knows what strange alloys and artifice that they use in their outer armor?

[drspendlove]

It is true that shotguns are usually filled with low-penetration ammunition but you can use slugs instead of shot for them. In the which case the blast radius is diminished, the range is still limited, but it will penetrate like crazy. Then again, once you're at that point, you might as well be using a rifle.

[Brutus Aurelius]

Nov 6, 2017 11:58:22 GMT -5 drspendlove said:

It is true that shotguns are usually filled with low-penetration ammunition but you can use slugs instead of shot for them. In the which case the blast radius is diminished, the range is still limited, but it will penetrate like crazy. Then again, once you're at that point, you might as well be using a rifle.

Especially since said rifle can be used for rapid fire and is specialized for it

[fallen]

Just not a Templar weapon.

[Arklash]

Nov 4, 2017 23:10:13 GMT -5 fallen said:

Yep, definitely existing in RL. Star Traders is notably not set in Earth's universe tho.

Scout+Blade=Assassin

Ahah I was just thinking the same, how cool would it be to have a melee scout. Awesome!

What about sword+gauntlet build? Thought I remember someone mentioning it?

[drspendlove]

Melee scout scares me. With stealth useless if you're in melee range of a foe, unless there's some way to give a high probability of a kill and/or avoid counter-attacks, this sounds scary.

I speak from an Easy playthrough only using melee weapons and grenades. Scouts were 100% useless. BUT that's before the awesome rework I'm sure they'll create for the scout/assassin!

[Arklash]

Nov 22, 2017 11:18:55 GMT -5 drspendlove said:

Melee scout scares me. With stealth useless if you're in melee range of a foe, unless there's some way to give a high probability of a kill and/or avoid counter-attacks, this sounds scary.

I speak from an Easy playthrough only using melee weapons and grenades. Scouts were 100% useless. BUT that's before the awesome rework I'm sure they'll create for the scout/assassin!

Yeah with the current stealth it's unthinkable. Every scittering around would spot the dead-to-be scout.
Plus the assassin would have a huge competition from the sniper who is well protected in the middle of your forces.
The assassin would need another use, thinking about some kind of a saboteur like laying down remote explosives (might be too DoWiish though) or aoe debuff.

[En1gma]

Not sure I'd ever use a melee Scout... Anything over Hard is a death wish for weak melee Templars.

Even if it insta-killed everything it touched, the Fog of War means that anything could come out and eat them

[drspendlove]

If the assassin had a different assassin-specific stealth buff/mechanic that could allow Xeno to walk right past the Scout even in melee range, it could be doable. Of course, the risk of making the Scout/assassin overly powerful at that point would become a problem then.

Maybe it would take two turns to notice the assassin. Coupled with a UI notice that a particular Xeno/Foe is now aware of the assassin, you'd have a turn to react and retreat or kill the foe with that knowledge. The UI challenge would be real though. If you had multiple assassins, you'd have to make it easy to tell *which* assassin each foe was aware of. Supposing this could be figured out, it would make fog-of-war kills improbable, or maybe even impossible for your fragile scout.

You'd have another ugly challenge with the UI to indicate that *something* noticed the assassin from the fog of war without giving away its position. You would still gain the (unfair?) advantage of knowing that foes were approaching from the fog of war somewhere near the Scout without having to expend heat/AP on a scan.

An alternate way to accomplish the UI challenge would be to assume a hive-mind for the Xeno/Narvs/Humans (comm systems for the humans) such that when any Xeno notices the cloaked (super-stealthed) assassin, ALL of them do. You'd still have a turn to react, but the UI would just be a 1 (or more?) turn "debuff" on the Scout saying "Noticed!" or something.