Weapon Reliability

[fierce deity]

What if there was a new stat that weapons possess: reliability. What I mean by this is that a weapon has a set chance of jamming on every shot. For example, a weapon with 97% reliability has a 3% chance of jamming on every shot. A weapon must be reloaded to clear the jam.

This could be used as a balancing mechanism. Currently the VS having low damage an high damage drop off can make them seem inferior to the TR and NC, but what if reliability was added in accordance with lore and faction traits. Keeping with the lore, the NC use experimental weapons, so they should have the lowest reliability. The TR use tried and true weaponry, but like all mechanical weapons systems they have the chance of jamming up. VS weaponry being plasma based I would presume they would have very few mechanical parts to get jammed, so they would have the highest reliability.

TLDR:
weapons have a chance to jam, determined by reliability
VS-->Most reliable-->Least chance of jamming
NC-->Least reliable-->Highest chance of jamming

Edit:
I meant to post this in the Idea Vault. If an admin could move it there that would be great,

[JesNC]

People, me included, don't like a dice roll mechanic to balance their guns - especially not if it has the ability to kill them.

[fierce deity]

Originally Posted by JesNC

People, me included, don't like a dice roll mechanic to balance their guns - especially not if it has the ability to kill them.

Fair enough. I would probably find this frustrating myself. I more or less just wanted to see what the general consensus on the idea is.

[Merzun]

Just no. We already have randomness with cone of fire and had a second one with flinching mechanic. And please can we get rid of the myth of the huge damage drop of. VS weapons do as much damage per shot as TR ones, sometimes even more. Compare weapons of similar damage of the three empires and you see that VS do more damage from 10-about 65 m vs NC and from 10-about 75 or 85 m vs TR. Only after this they do less damage per shot resulting in 1 bullet more to kill. They make up for this with better accuracy.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/i...ght-now.72684/

[DarkBalths]

What you basically posted was:
"Let's make VS weapons better"

[Ghodere]

Originally Posted by JesNC

People, me included, don't like a dice roll mechanic to balance their guns - especially not if it has the ability to kill them.

What is Cone of Fire, Alex?

[Palerion]

Yeah... I wouldn't want this at all. Gun jamming would be annoying.

[Zakuak]

Oh I can imagine my Nerd Raged log offs if I had to deal with this lol.

Interesting idea but I do not think the Official PS2 forums could handle the thread overloads if this was implemented haha

[SGOniell]

Originally Posted by fierce deity

Keeping with the lore, the NC use experimental weapons, so they should have the lowest reliability.

I'd like to see a source on that. The only lore I can find on the subject is that they aren't afraid to use them, not that their guns are experimental. One doesn't imply the other. Furthermore, they use Gauss technology, that exists nowadays, and people like you or I can build a Gauss "rifle" in our own homes. The year in PS2 is around 2862 or something like that, Gauss tech is easy stuff.

Its really the VS with weapons that are more experimental, at least to the other two factions. And just because something does or doesn't have moving parts, doesn't mean it will or won't fail. I've seen 1911's submerged in water, covered in sand, mud, dirt and generally abused all for the purposes of testing failures. I watched Todd Jarret fire 1,000 rounds in 10 minutes 40-something seconds if I remember correctly. Not a single failure.

That being said, they do happen. Jams as you mention aren't all too common depending on the gun, as demonstrated above. Stove pipe jams seems to happen more frequently with autos, but you can get double feeds, or just failure to feeds or extract as well. Mechanical guns will very rarely be put completely out of operation by any failure though, something really horrible has to happen for that.

At the same time, consider that any laser or plasma based weaponry could fail based on either heating issues, or component problems. Not enough cooling and you've permanently fried that fancy gun of yours if the chips ate it. Or it could blow up in your hand/face. Another possible failure would be damaged chips. Not all electronics are EMP hardened, and some can't stand overpressure from explosions. That's why when we refit the Missouri she didn't get better electronics, they wouldn't tolerate the pressure from the main guns.

At least with a mechanical firearm, you can clear jams, field strip it, clear any problems/clean it relatively quickly. Soldiers should be able to do it in the dark without seeing the components. If your fancy gun malfunctions, there's no way to repair it in the field, and you're screwed.

Originally Posted by DarkBalths

What you basically posted was:
"Let's make VS weapons better"

And yes, I agree with this comment. That's basically what's happening here.