Gameplay: Some A2A weapon ideas

MFour · 2013-02-22, 08:26 AM

I was thinking about air battles during a long bus ride home and thought up 2 ideas for new weapons. I think that they could be interesting while not being overpowered.

-Magnetic grapplers
Essentially grapplers which you could fire at close range which would, if they hit, connect the target and you with a wire. You could use this to stop enemies from escaping or just to spin them out of control.

-Gravity projectiles
Okay, I don't really know what to call these, but they'd be missiles which would do no damage, but would connect to the target and increase its mass, reducing speed and increasing the rate at which you lose altitude. A lot of these could force a Galaxy to land for engineers to remove them, making it an easy target.

What do you think?

Rothnang · 2013-02-22, 03:05 PM

I think the main thing that needs to change about AA is that aircraft shouldn't all be treated as the exact same kind of target.

Any weapons that's designed to have a decent chance of hitting a fighter is practically guaranteed a hit on a Liberator or Galaxy.

We don't give ATVs and MBTs the same armor just because they are both on the ground. An MBT is big and slow, so it takes more cumbersome weapons to damage it, and an ATV is small and fast, so any rapid fire weapon will do...

If you're going to introduce AA weapons they should help define the air war in a more fun way, not just introduce even more things on the ground that make flying annoying.

MFour · 2013-02-22, 07:30 PM

... these are A2A, not AA weapons... Did you read my post?

PwNrJoKeR · 2013-02-22, 08:38 PM

Interesting.

POCKETdonkey · 2013-02-22, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by MFour

... these are A2A, not AA weapons... Did you read my post?

Don't take it personal man it's a known fact that most people just scan while reading posts online... And office emails, traffic signs.......

Interesting ideas sounds fun.

PineappleAid · 2013-02-22, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by POCKETdonkey

Don't take it personal man it's a known fact that most people just scan while reading posts online... And office emails, traffic signs.......

Interesting ideas sounds fun.

Ill second that. Even the most mature forums teem with people who just want to state their opinion and not listen to the actual conversation.

Anyways how would your grapple hook idea keep the user from crashing into the target?

MFour · 2013-02-23, 05:44 AM

The grapple hook wouldn't pull the target closer, it'd essentially just connect the user and the target with a rope. The thing is, if you hit in the tail or on one of the wings, you could send them into a roll. Sorta like in the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises. It would be a very skill based weapon and would take good timing, but it would also be very rewarding.

If you could get behind an ESF who isn't trying to outmaneuver you (perhaps he doesn't see you), you could grapple him and use your afterburner to pull up and then disconnect the hook, sending him into a roll and crashing him into the ground. Also, if you see a hovering rocketpodder, you could hit him in the tail and catapult him into the nearest solid object.

A problem could be giving XP rewards for what is essentially causing them to suicide, but I think it could be made so a kill is given if the target crashes within 15 seconds of the time you disconnected from it and assist XP if a target is destroyed by someone else in the same time period.

Rothnang · 2013-02-23, 09:18 AM

Oh boooo hooo hooo, the bad man misread one word and now everyone has to be sad.

Even as A2A weapons, I don't see the point. The exact same problem still applies, anything that is even remotely effective against a fighter is practically impossible to miss with against the other aircraft.

Baneblade · 2013-02-23, 09:21 AM

Originally Posted by PineappleAid

Anyways how would your grapple hook idea keep the user from crashing into the target?

There are VS on Waterson that would use it to help them ram enemy air.

MrMak · 2013-02-27, 04:42 AM

Originally Posted by Rothnang

Oh boooo hooo hooo, the bad man misread one word and now everyone has to be sad.

Even as A2A weapons, I don't see the point. The exact same problem still applies, anything that is even remotely effective against a fighter is practically impossible to miss with against the other aircraft.

I dont lraly see this as an issue with the current A2A wapons. For instance it takes several clips to take out a liberaor with a rotary while ESFs will be crpled by one and destroyed by less than 2. A2A missles are jut impractical against libs and Gals since they are easier to hit wih the nose gun so you will deal more damage. For ESF's ypou are more likely to miss with the nose gun and the lock on missiles do about 50% damage on hit to them.

Rothnang · 2013-02-27, 05:43 AM

A weapon that has no effective counterplay but is only defended against by a big hitpoint pool is an issue because it's bad design for an action game.

Any unit that only competes because the hard numbers allow it to and not because it allows the user to do something with it that makes it effective deprives players of interesting gameplay, thereby being a point in the game that could be improved.