[Suggestion] Faction Specific Ammo

I thought this would be faction specific models for the ammo pack, which I would actually like.

Would much rather see Class specific ammos.
IE: AP for LAs, explosive for HAs, CC for INF's, Tagging/Tracking for Medics, EMP for ENG...

For balance reasons, none of them could be used in Automatics... only in Semis/pistols

I actually wouldn't mind seeing everyone's HV ammo negating a percentage or so extra armor on light armor (Light armor would be things that can be damaged by small arms, like maxes, harassers, ESF's, etc).

Not much, but enough that it would take a few less bullets to kill it.
Every little bit counts, and it would make sense (HV ammo does have more energy in it, after all, and would do a bit more damage to armor).

If you did it right, you could make ammo that would be balanced for the full-auto's.
IE, LSD laced bullets for medics.

Only requires X amount of damage (Say 300 or more) done to the heath (Shielding would obviously stop the bullet, preventing any drugs being introduced to the body) of the target.

So if he lives by just a hair and manages to evade you, he starts seeing non-existent cloaked infil movement out on the edges of his field of view, the environment changes colors slightly and getting wavy, and his vision gets slightly blurry.

Enough to make returning fire for a good 3-4 seconds a bit more difficult.



I don't really expect (or even want) to see this in PS2.
But I figured I'd share the idea, because I found it funny, and wanted to share the laugh.

Why would TR and VS get guided and aoe ammo while NC just gets ammo that is only effective against some targets?

While I would like to experiment more with different types of ammuntion I must say that I don't like your suggestions. I would be fine with some kind of anti-MAX, anti-overshield and maybe non-tracer rounds that are universal to all factions and weapons. Shouldn't be that hard to balance (MAX units needed to be looked into ofc) and make the game more interesting by allowing for more in depth specialisation.

How about:

TR: High impact ammo. Nanite-composite ammunition which somewhat increases screen shake on enemies getting hit (similar to the Battle Hardened implant but in the other direction). As a tradeoff, magnifies muzzle flash slightly, and introduces very slight muzzle flash even when a suppressor is equipped.

NC: Armor piercing ammo. Does slightly less damage to shields (while maintaining the same theoretical TTK versus 1000 hp targets), but does extra damage vs light vehicles, MAXes and Mana turrets.

VS: Auto-Recharging battery. If fully spent, the battery (magazine) recharges (reloads) to half capacity which takes half of the long reload. This can be interrupted by manually reloading in a new battery which takes a full length long reload. As a trade-off, short reload speed is increased.

Ya sorry, I just thought about that today,

I was mostly using an example, if you did say Incendiary rounds for TR, shrapnel rounds for the NC and Splash rounds for the VS, you'd pretty much have similar things except the TR's would be wider aoe slightly less range, slightly less damage, NC's would be less aoe, less range, more damage, effectively turning guns into shotguns, and the VS would be same range, light aoe, same damage. I suppose that would be easier to balance, using similar concepts already in place and then making them faction specific ammo conversions.

I think high velocity rounds should do what I was saying in the first post, which is penetrate maxes and armor a bit and infantry shields a bit but obviously are harder to aim.

But honestly, i'd just like to see empire specific ammo in general, it doesn't have to follow my examples, the main idea was more empire specific infantry options to make infantry fights more varied and interesting

I don't want easy mode on my Vanu. I want to be on even footing with my enemies so that when I win, I can feel that I actually won because I did it myself.

You've got it completely wrong.
The VS ammo should be PPA ammo (every gun gets PPA!!!!)
The TR ammo would be bullets that shoot more bullets (2 bullets for the price of 1).
The NC ammo would just be replacing the cartridge with shotgun shells.


Actually that last one may be an idea. A beehive type round that fires bullets that fragment mid flight before they hit the target (or just after say 50m), increased chance of hits but with less lethality. Like a shrapnel shell but for regular guns.

It'd certainly give a twist to the NC must have shotguns.

Make them 150, and you receive my approval

Decreased RoF for bullets that slightly curve IS NOT that useful in a biolab You succeed at long range, where we VS are supposed to reign.

YOU GET HE rounds. So, I think bullets that slightly curve for reduced RoF is pretty damned balanced Also, there is no downside to using the HE rounds, so please, stop making us VS get the worst items in each update. It gets depressing, man

That would depend on the ROF reduction. All those ADAD duels? Auto-win for the VS. Target running perpendicular to the shooter? No problem for the VS. You can probably see where I'm going with this...

Im possibly the 1st one to say this, but GREAT IDEAS MAN!

Only 2 things, shrapnel (shotgun rounds) should really go to NC and Id change the incindiary rounds to something that deels damage over time to not step on the lashers territority.

The idea is good but your breakdown is a balance nightmare.
PS1 had a great balance system including different universal ammo types.

Too bad PS2 doesn't believe in factional identity.

ADS speed DOES NOT matter. Especially at close quarters, where 80% of all fights occur. It's who has more bullets and more DAKKA who wins. Also, VS weaponry has LOWER velocity. Bullets that slightly curve would not even be able to do so if the bullet isn't near the target. And also, WHAT ABOUT THE HE ROUNDS? What downside is there to that?

Ya I realized that in regards to the shrapnel rounds.

My updated idea now is shrapnel rounds for the NC, HE rounds for the TR and Tracking rounds for the VS. I'm not so sure if the VS would care or want splash rounds since they already have the lasher, it seems like it'd be too redundant. I kinda wanted each faction to have their own feel on the weapons. I realize now what shrapnel rounds should be versus HE rounds.

Shrapnel rounds essentially convert standard weapons into medium ranged shotguns, I think maybe a damage increase would be necessary depending on how the mechanic were executed. If the COF bloom is spread instantly, than the damage would have to be improved higher to make the rounds effective because you would want the gun to be deadlier at close to medium ranges.

I think the general idea behind shrapnel rounds is that you convert your rifle into a high velocity shotgun that is superior in range to other shotguns but much weaker in damage to other shotguns. I see it as being that if all the shrapnel fragments hit, then the over all total damage is increased, rewarding precision and keeping the range respectively balanced. The damage increase would have to be balanced so I can't say the exact numbers it should be, but I think the bullet velocity should take a hit as well. The main idea is a very effective medium ranged auto shotty.

Personally i'd like to see this stuff available on sniper rifles because of their range and damage potential, I feel like HE rounds and Shrapnel rounds as well as tracking rounds would be an interesting addition to any of the weapons. But as always, the game balance is obviously more important and i'm not looking to make any class or weapon equal god mode.

The HE rounds I think are good as is. The reason being is that they would be very effective against clustered enemies that camp around objective points. Obviously one soldier may not be able to do a lot of damage effectively, but I personally feel that the TR identity is in their group tactics and their weapons should follow as such. So that many allies firing HE rounds into groups of enemies would be very effective as opposed to one. The damage over time factor would be too tricky and rewarding to the individual as opposed to the group element of siege warfare

I'm not sure about the trade offs here that should be implemented, in regards to reducing bullet velocity/ ROF because you in essence do reduce the weapons effectiveness by spreading the damage out, and obviously you don't want a damage increase or else it's just the same thing as shrapnel rounds.

I'm aware of the balancing challenges here, but I get bothered by how afraid the developers seem to be about implementing factional identity. Differences have to be made if they wanna keep the game interesting, and balance nightmares will always occur with any differences offered.

The overall objective here is to add more dynamic to battles, create more variability and specific trade offs as well.

I appreciate the feed back you guys have given and any future feed back is welcome, whether you are for it or against it.

I only dislike it when people just write "no" without an explanation/argument/premise that supports a conclusion

Thanks again