Inventory and Resupply (Dropping Ammo)

[Bobby Shaftoe]

"I'm a light assault character, so I can actually drop my own ammo"
(About 50 seconds into part 4 of the GDC vids.)

One quick sentence that you might not even have paid that much attention to.

However, I think this is something that could cause some real problems with the game. Part of the challenge/fun of PS1 when you did something away from friendly support was the very fact you had to be smart(ish) with your ammo: Gen drop 2 bases behind the front? You better make those shots count otherwise you might be out of ammo for the next respawn wave or you might not have the cert to use the weapons the enemy drop etc etc (before the massive cert point boost/bundle reduction etc).

Just to clarify a couple points;
1.) Grenades/explosives are going to be 'resource' based expenses, thus limiting their purchase at proper equip terms, correct?
2.) No inventories/pickup weapons on the ground, correct?
3.) Ammo is shared across multiple weapons like PS1 (9mm)?
::EDIT::
4.) Ammo 'bags' are recharging abilities such as BF3's?
5.) Ammo 'bags' have limited resupply capacity?
::/EDIT::

Assuming the above is correct unless stated otherwise I shall continue.

For arguments sake; you've decided to take your group into a region deep behind the frontline, you put the hack on and you setup covering the chokepoints, grenades/explosives give you most bang for your auraxium... but a never ending stream of bullets works a close second.

Obviously being the 'defenders' at this fight you should have the advantage against equal numbers but what happens when you take very little/no attrition (not just casualties but running out of ammo or equipment) for doing so against twice your numbers or even three times your numbers?

Where is the 'reward' for that horde of enemies sending wave after wave against you and keeping you under constant pressure so you couldn't scavenge ammo (if it was old ps) if you now, in PS2, never run out of ammo and they can't break the chokepoints? Taking it to an extreme, if you knew how many people can squeeze through a chokepoint (say 2 at a time) and you knew that 6 people could 'instagib' them (4 firing, 2 reloading etc) then all you'd need to hold off the entire enemy pop is 6x people...

Obviously there's things to consider such as base design/layout etc etc but having unlimited ammo for primary weapon... doesn't sound like a good gameplay mechanic to me in PS2.

Thoughts/Ideas/Counter-points?