Balancing changes, Guided missiles, Weapon balance tests

[divVerent]

LordHavoc had an interesting idea to change and improve the rocket launcher:

let rockets be guided while the button is pressed, and once you let go of the button, they fly in a straight line.

I implemented that, but have some worries about it:

Rockets may be too strong then.

Guidance is currently limited to 90 degrees turning angle per second, but even that may be too much. Also, it uses no laser dot, but tries to find the general direction of your crosshair (so you can't let the rocket "turn back" easily).

To compensate for too strong rockets, I reduced max rocket damage from 120 to 100, and grenade launcher edge damage from 35 to 25 (to make RL:GL less weird). Still, balance may be off.

So play on my servers (the "Over the lazy dog" ones) to make weapon stats, so we can see if this tuning works. This is the only way we have to make weapon balance statistics.

I turned off jetpack and hook for this rebalancing stats collection.

[divVerent]

I took back the grenade launcher change as this made mortar jumps useless compared to laser jumps. Home balance won't be too much off then.

[AnArKiSt]

I like that concept.

Will this be a mutator in the next release?

[divVerent]

If it goes after LordHavoc, it'll be the default.

[Flying Steel]

While you're at it, maybe you should try a Nex with damage reduced to 100 as well.

Definitely agree with taking back the GL's bust, that weapon should not be any weaker than it currently is.

RL is interesting this way- less powerful in close, a little more powerful at medium-long range.

[TVR]

After some play-testing, rockets continue to be laser guided after death.

It's also quite difficult to combine guidance with remote detonation, therefore exponential acceleration would be very useful as rocket size would decrease linearly with time [therefore matching the target size], as well as preventing endless loops.

[k0jak]

While you're at it, maybe you should try a Nex with damage reduced to 100 as well.

Definitely agree with taking back the GL's bust, that weapon should not be any weaker than it currently is.

RL is interesting this way- less powerful in close, a little more powerful at medium-long range.

nex damage is at 110 at the moment as far as I know that's a change that's been made, why the need to make it lower straight away?

Why the reason for the RL change, I just don't get it..when is nexuiz going to get stable weapons?

[GreEn`mArine]

I am against making weapons too complex by default. This would include this change.

I will try it out next week.

[divVerent]

Why the reason for the RL change, I just don't get it..when is nexuiz going to get stable weapons?

Because it is being developed, and because some new weapons got into the game under high disapproval by LordHavoc (especially the TAG Seeker).

And no, weapons will never be stable. This is an open source project. We don't simply stand still, but try new things.

The idea was, as said before, by LordHavoc, who'd also like to remove the TAG Seeker or replace it by something entirely different, because the whole idea of (self-)homing missiles should go. I'd also like this movement, but have no idea WHAT the seeker should become then (as I am against just removing the weapon, as maps with weapon_seeker entities would have nothing to provide at these weapon spawns).

[k0jak]

Why not add it into the Havoc game-mode? Everytime something gets changed (nex damage), something else get's changed for no apparent reasoning to vanilla nexuiz.