Way to offer replacement weapons

[Wazat]

I'm pondering over an idea to offer several different "optional" weapons to Nexuiz that could be enabled in the menu. The weapons would replace normal weapons of the server's choice, or would be selectable by hitting the # twice (hitting it once selects rocket launcher, twice selects new weapon).

The way I'd want to fit this in the menu is to list each optional weapon with a slider bar next to it. The slider starts in the "off" position and, as you slide it from left to right, moves from "laser" to "shotgun" to "machinegun" and so on, indicating the weapon this gun is meant to replace. In addition, there is a checkbox for each weapon that says "<this weapon> is a backup", or something else meaning the weapon doesn't replace the selected weapon but instead sits in the back, waiting to be selected by hitting the number twice.

This way we could have a melee weapon that could replace the shotgun, machinegun, or any other weapon (or go into the same slot as a backup). A lightning gun could be used to replace the electro, cryo, or whatever weapon the server felt like replacing or adding to.

And, like most all options, these weapons could be enabled permanently for a single map in the mapcfg file. So, a certain map might have a Redeemer-like weapon that replaces the rocket launcher or nex.


Another strategy would be to have 9 checkboxes for each weapon, allowing it to replace multiple weapons at once, but I don't see a huge need for that at the moment.


The way I remember the weapon handling code, this wouldn't be too difficult to implement at all.


Some thoughts for weapons:
Melee weapon (like UT shield gun, since a swinging weapon might be hard to pull off without player animations)
Redeemer-like mega weapon
Plasma cannon
Mine gun (for ctf maps)
and so on...


Another thought would be some menu mechanic to allow you to mix up the primary and alt-fires for weapons. For example, this would allow you to give the cryo rifle the electro's alt fire, or make a rocket launcher + railgun (nex) combo, or give the hagar an alt-fire mortar.

Just some more thoughts...

[kozak6]

Please do. That sounds so awesome.

[Wazat]

Someday I have got to work up the will power to become a developer again. I haven't done much for Nexuiz since I got a development job, which sucks all the energy and interest out of me by the time I get home. :/
All I've been wanting to do recently is play Masters of Orion II. Evil, addictive game.

Does anyone have any major requests for alternate weapons? I'd like to see a beam weapon (lightning gun perhaps), melee weapon that works with Nex's player speed, and a Redeemer-like mega weapon. I know others have been requesting those as well.

For the melee I'm thinking a gun that generates a shield or absorbing field as the primary fire, and holding the button over time and/or taking damage charges it up so that when you release it and discharge the energy, it deals damage to opponents in a radius around you, or at least a wide arc in front of you. That way you're increasing the effectiveness as you charge an attacking enemy. The alternate fire could deal strong forward damage every 0.5 seconds as a pulse.

I also like the Pyro's bombletts from NexTF (imagine firing bouncy grenades that detonate when you click secondary fire, like the rocket launcher but smaller and more rapid-fire).

A chaingun/minigun that has to start spinning before it fires (and slow down before it can change weapons or start again) might be interesting, but I'm concerned about player speed and how easy it is to die in nex. That might not fit. I really liked Jeht's Resonac Arbitor weapon (quake) though, so that's a possibility.


I imagine the best way to handle mixing up the primary/secondary fires is to have a list of weapon slots (1,2,3...8,9,0) that can hold weapons, and each slot has 2 selectors: Primary and Secondary. You select what weapon's primary and what weapon's secondary goes in each weapon slot (or none for no weapon), and then you can change the settings for each primary/secondary in the weapon settings screen to balance out the power and determine ammo types used, etc. The game would default to the normal weapon layout, but you could mix and match all you want (even using the primary/alternate fires of the new replacement weapons mentioned above; this system is how you would select them).
That way, you could have a Rocket Launcher/Nex combo that uses 3 cells for the launcher and 5 cells for the nex. Or mix them up and make the nex use bullets and the rocket launcher use rocket ammo.

That seems a little more extensive than other changes I've mentioned, and I just don't have the energy for anything this week. I can't make promises for the future either.

Right now I'm publicly chewing on ideas and getting opinions. I'm really glad you're interested, kozak6. If there are enough people clamoring for the feature I imagine that it'll get done (even if I have to get off my lazy bum and do something of notable value, which is so not like me. )

[GreEn`mArine]

For the melee I'm thinking a gun that generates a shield or absorbing field as the primary fire, and holding the button over time and/or taking damage charges it up so that when you release it and discharge the energy, it deals damage to opponents in a radius around you, or at least a wide arc in front of you. That way you're increasing the effectiveness as you charge an attacking enemy. The alternate fire could deal strong forward damage every 0.5 seconds as a pulse.

I like this idea a lot ... and I would really really appreciate a Lightning-gun (that is similar to Quake3, using Cell Ammo and NOT having any recoil or spread)

[Wazat]

The last couple of days (since you posted that) I've been trying my hardest to remember the Q3 lightning gun, but it isn't coming to mind. :/ I remember the Q1 lightning gun vividly, but I suspect that not only was the q3 version so much prettier, it was also functionally different, if only slightly. I wish I knew where my q3 cd escaped to. Can someone jog my memory?

Would a gun that created a lightning beam up to 700 or 1200 units away be good? That makes it medium to close-range only (and keeps from slowing the game down in huge maps, though Nexuiz may not have the te_lightning limitations that I remember Quake1 having). I'm thinking 100-150 damage/second, since it'll be hard to keep that beam on enemies (and standard 60% armor would reduce it to 40-60 damage). Maybe not as high as 100, since some people are dangerous with the machinegun and other rapid-fire weapons, and I don't want to cause a massive unbalance. Ultimately only hands-on testing will reveal the right values.

The beam going through multiple opponents (or generating a field of damage around its impact point) is another thing to consider.

[GreEn`mArine]

I can't remember exact values either, but what you're talking about seems to be the lightninggun I'm also talking about. It shoots an instantly hitting leghtning beam that is limited in distance (medium range) and does does perhaps 120 dmg/sec (e.g. 12 dmg, 10 times a second)). alternative fire could be the zoom, as for the nexgun. Ammo usage could be 5 cells per second

[tChr]

ANother secondary would be a bast going in all directions kamikaze-style, draining all your ammo

[kozak6]

I know NexFortress has some other weapons that Nexuiz doesn't have. Those could come on over. Also, there are a few custom weapons, but if I remember properly, the HLAC is the best.

A sort of bounce shield would be cool. It would be a shockwave of sorts that would expand around you, and cause projectile weapons to bounce away, and do low damage to anyone within range.

Sounds like the pyro's bomblets are pretty close to a pipe launcher. That'll do.

Auto shotgun.

You could play with the machinegun firing rates and damage. High firing rate and low damage would be a submachinegun, and a low firing rate and high damage could be an assault rifle.

Nailgun.

You could speed up the Electro projectile velocity significantly, and lower damage. Call it a plasma rifle, and give it a different secondary. Or, create another weapon that fires the three electro blueberries, and have the alt fire detonate them.

You could have the Hagar fire several projectiles at a time and reduce the rate of fire. Or, you could have projectiles bounce 3-6 times.

There's at least two kinds of laser guided rockets.

A flare gun like in Turok: Rage Wars would be extremely cool.

You could also include the classic Nex.

Hope that gets you off to a good start .

[Wazat]

I should note that many of those weapons can actually be achieved already with Nex's configuration menu -- making a sub-machinegun or the classic nex is easy. ^_^

Anyway, off to bed... I'm developing a horrible habit of staying up and then wondering why I'm always so tired.

[leileilol]

ot but WOAH YOU'RE STILL ALIVE WHERE WERE YOU omg