BE does almost never research Biology while NF can start with every research tree. Because of this I suggest to add a Biological Cannon. When we also nerf physics a little bit (see this suggestion from Demented: http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=11205), then hopefully every research tree will be a good option to start with. Weapon will be very short range (speed 2000, gravity 1.0), that you can't shoot behind the walls in front of a barracks too easy without getting hit by defending grens. Maximum effective range example: http://i45.tinypic.com/2gyc57r.jpg Damage will be 70, which is between the damage of standard cannon and other researched cannons. But bio effect will be only 70% or 80% of Bio ML (I prefer 70%). Example: BE medium (3 plates of regen armor) hits himself with Bio Cannon. 80% damage, 70% damage, 100% damage (Bio ML) Cycle time will be 3 seconds (other 2 slot cannons 2.0 - 2.4 seconds) and clip size will be only 16. So you can't bio an area for a long time without ammo refill. Addition: After Zeke's post I would prefer a cycle time of maybe 4 seconds. Research time and costs will be the same as for Bio ML. Code: "Bio Cannon" { "Name" "Biological Cannon" //name given when selecting weapons "HUD Name" "Bio CN" //name displayed in the weapon area of the vehicle HUD "Description" "A cannon which contains a biological agent. Players and vehicles hit by the explosion will continuously suffer damage which lasts up to a full minute." //description given when selecting weapons "Icon" "vehicles/gui/weapons/cn_med" //icon drawn in the GUI "HUD Icon" "vehicles/gui/weapons/cn" "Size" "2" //number of slots required when selecting weapons "Type" "1" //0=machine gun, 1=tank cannon, 2=artillery cannon, 3=missile launcher, 4=grenade launcher, 5=aircraft bomb bay "Cost" "150" "Team" "ALL" //team that can use this "NF" or "IMP" "Research" "Biological Cannon" //name of research item that must be researched before using "Sound Firing" "Vehicle_HECN.Fire" "Sound Impact" "Vehicle_HECN.Impact" "Sound Reloading" "" "Damage Type" "Explosive" "Ammo Type" "0" //for mguns only, 0 = nonarmor penetrating (no effect on armored vehicles), 1 = armor penetrating (hurts armored vehicles) "Damage" "70" //damage done by projectile "Speed" "2000" //speed of projectile "Gravity" "1.0" //effects of gravity on the projectile, only for projectiles "Heat" "18" //heat added per shot fired (100 total heat added to vehicle puts it in an overheated status). "Weight" "70" //weight in terms of effects on engine and weight restrictions for chassis "Cycle Time" "4.0" //time between shots (all weapons other than MGs have limits of 0.1 as lowest) "Clip Size" "16" //ammo loaded per reloads "Total Ammo Clips" "0" //max ammo clips carried (0 is the same as not using clips) "Reload Time" "2.0" //time to load one clip "Projectile Spread" "1" //only applicable to machine guns at the moment "Heat To Target" "0.1" //heat added to target on hit (a small amount of heat is also added to the target based on damage, this is defined within the armor script) "Inertia" "2.5" //actually reverse to inertia, only applicable to cannons, artillery cannons, and grenades; affects how the speed of the vehicle affects the momentum of the projectile (higher inertia = vehicle speed will affect the trajectory of the projectile possibly causing it to veer off from a straight line or shoot farther or shorter) "Explosion Radius" "300" //radius of damage sphere to hurt surrounding entities "Explosion Force" "50" //force of explosion //only for missile launchers "Dumb Missile" "0" //'1' if missile flies straight ahead "Homing Missile" "0" //'1' if missile flies towards locked on target "Guided Missile" "0" //'1' if missile follows crosshairs after launch "Missile Range" "0" //max range in HL2 units (1 inch = 1) that the player can lock onto a target with a homing missile, or range from vehicle being fired from when a guided missile stops following the player's crosshairs "Lock On Time" "0" //time it takes for a homing missile to lock onto the target under the player crosshairs "Lock Range Modifier" "0" //modifies lock on time based on range (as range increases, lock on time increases based on the modifier: modifier * range to target + lock on time = total lock on time) //for biological weapons: when a player or vehicle is hit, the damage (Damage) is inflicted every specified amount of seconds (Interval) over a total amount of time period (Time) //all weapons can use these, explosions will infect all players and vehicles the explosion touches, not just the direct hit target "Player Bio Damage" "7" //damage inflicted to players every interval "Player Bio Time" "60" //total time to inflict damage to players "Player Bio Interval" "2" //time inbetween each infliction of damage to players "Vehicle Bio Damage" "7" //damage inflicted to vehicles every interval "Vehicle Bio Time" "60" //total time to inflict damage to vehicles "Vehicle Bio Interval" "2" //time inbetween each infliction of damage to vehicles //explosion effects "Explosion Speed" "10" //how fast the explosion sprite fades (15 is default fps) "Explosion Sprite" "1" //explosion sprite to use for explosion, 0 = default, 1 = green (bio), 2 = blue (plasma) } "Biological Cannon" { "Name" "Biological Cannon" //name given to research item "Parent" "Biological Weaponry" //name of parent that this branches from "Description" "(Technology: Vehicle Cannon) Utilize the engineered organism in a cannon shell which is able to deliver a large quanity of the organism to the target." //description given when hovering over research item "Icon" "comm/hex_cube" //icon drawn on research tree "Unresearched Icon" "comm/hex_cube_empty" //icon drawn in the GUI "Type" "0" //nothing "Cost" "500" //cost of this research item "Time" "90" //time to research this item in seconds "Team" "" //which team can research this }
I'm indecisive as to having a BIO cannon, as cannons are meant to be spammed (or shot repeatedly), and that kind of defeats the purpose of biological weaponry. I guess you have it presented in a good light though. Neither against nor for.
If they realize this suggestion (http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=11205) physics won't be overpowered any more.
There was a really good reason why a Bio Cannon would be a bad idea. I forget...mostly it's down to the fact that a fast firing weapon with a bio effect is no good, because bio does DoT. This ofc excludes MG because mg's are special. Nevermind, someone will post why shortly, i'm sure...
*sigh* bio ML does 50 dmg with a 300 dot over 30 seconds. this bio CN does 70 dmg with a 240 dot over 30 seconds. Now what does this mean: the ML would do more dmg over a long period of time and the CN would do higher direct dmg... what about firing speed? Bio ML = 3 sec. Bio CN = 3 sec. BUT bio ML got a 6 second reload time every 3 missiles... resulting in that bio ML can be fired at an average of 1 shoot per 5 seconds. so we got mr BIO CN which fires 40% faster than the ML and has higher direct dmg... (iow almost double firing rate) Results: CN is way more lethal if ur objective is to kill fast by doing single side dmg.... if your objective is to "tag" as many tanks and plates as possible to do most dmg over time... then the CN is still far more effective thanks to firing way faster. and it kills infantry faster too. so yea, ur bio CN is pretty OP sip. edit: oh right... the heat is also less than a standard CN
Assuming that this weapon was balanced (which it isn't in its current form) and added, it would solve a problem with the current tech layout but it won't add anything to gameplay in general. Homogenizing the bio tree also indicates that one should homogenize other trees by adding weapons to trees like physics and electrical. I'd rather just fix the tech layout instead of trying to plaster band-aids all over it.
Or we could just have all 5 trees open as soon as you start research so you can move between them without as much risk.
In this case this indicates that having distinctions between "biology" and "physics" trees etc. is useless. They aren't logical distinctions; formerly the only reason to have them was to separate various researches and force commanders to commit to one tree, if at least for a time. Therefore, if what you are advocating is accepted, it makes no sense to keep the distinctions at all. The best course of action is to remove them altogether and reorganize research to be made more logical and easier to balance.
You can still have prerequisite researches and stuff in the trees. The higher powered stuff further in the tree than it is now. The trees should really be expanded anyway, lategame there's no point continuing research after you have what you need.
This is irrelevant. My point is that when you remove research times and costs for the base trees, they only become an organizing tool for the commander. A better and more logical organization than the current one would be trivial to design (cannons here, missiles here, armor here, engines here).
note: you cant hit yourself with bio, only the bio damage and the explosion will hit you but the actual projectile and "damage" will not be calculated, because you hit the wall you where using to get yourself in your own blast radius so in short: calculate an extra 70 cannon damage to it combined with its speed and type damage
if what you're saying is that you won't take the projectile damage from splashing yourself then you're wrong.
projectile damage = explosion damage. they're the same thing. If you're at the epicenter you'll take 70, and as you move farther away you'll take less. the point of impact just indicates the point of origin for the explosion. it has no other useful distinction.
"Damage" "70" //damage done by projectile "Explosion Force" "50" //force of explosion afaik, explosion force is the main effect on damage from explosions i could be wrong though i always assumed this because when i made an artillery with 0 damage but 1000 force it still did tremendous amounts of damage
Negative blizzerd. Force of explosion is the weapons physical punt. What you did with arty doesn't add up.
rofl what? explosion force is how much an object is physically pushed when it is hit by the projectile.
