I've been working on an alternate weapon set, that will hopefully be paired with modified Multiplayer map that Sceny and I will be working on. Not sure which map this will be as of this point, but I want to get the weapons balanced and particle effects finished before I worry about that as much. One of the main design philosophies that I have been operating under is that of having each weapon being similarly effective in its own unique way, and promoting weapon diversity.

So without further ado, I will put a description of each weapon and its changes.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE TWO VIDEOS INCLUDED AT THE BOTTOM, IT GIVES YOU A BETTER IDEA OF HOW EACH WEAPON FUNCTIONS AS OF THIS TIME.

=====UNSC Weapons=====
1. Magnum
Now, this weapon has always bothered me, considering that I am not a fan of Halo's trend of overpowering mid range weapons. The pistol in CE made many of the other weapons completely useless, especially when faced with the sometimes serious latency that is a problem with the PC/CE netcode.

The magnum in the weapon set is a burst fire weapon, each trigger pull firing two shots. These two shots together have the power of a single shot from the stock magnum. This combined with a slightly larger amount of bullet spread places the weapon back in the position of being a sidearm. One that can still be very effective, but not relied on in almost every situation.

2. Assault Rifle
The assualt rifle has recieved less of a change as far as functionality, and more general balancing with regard to the rest of the weapon set. It has a slower rate of fire than the original, but is much more accurate, and more damage per hit.

3. Shotgun
The shotgun has recieved a fairly large shift in terms of functionality. The shotgun now fires a single solid slug projectile. Each shot roughly equivalent damage wise to that of the sniper rifle round. One shot to the head is an instant kill, while 2 shots will do the job on any other part of the body. The spread of the projectile is increased to the size of the magnum reticle. Also, to better balance the power of the weapon, each shot has to be individually reloaded, so that the player must fully reload and pump the shotgun before another round can be fired.

4. Sniper Rifle
TBD, not entirely sure what to do with this one yet. Suggestions are welcome! :)

5. Rocket Launcher
This weapon remains largely unchanged from the original. There is only one shot per magazine, which forces a little more careful use of the available ammunition. The rocket itself has recieved some much needed particle effect changes.

=====Covenant Weapons======
6. Plasma Pistol
This weapon has recieved a much needed buff as far as damage is concerned. The primary fire now utilizes guided angular velocity, the projectiles doing more damage per impact as well. The secondary fire now launches a shield busting projectile that also applies enough force to push enemies and vehicles off of edges or flip them in the case of vehicles. The catch being that it can only be used at extremely close range.

7. Plasma Rifle
The PR now behaves similarly to the Plasma Repeater in Reach, with a decreasing ROF based on how long you hold down the trigger. Each bolt also has a flamethrower like effect in that once it impacts another player it will linger and do a small amount of burn damage over time. A couple shots won't be much to worry about, but compounded it can be a very formidable weapon.

8. Needler
The needler is one of my favorite weapons of the set. It now fires 10 needles per trigger pull in a burst. Each needle is set at a specific angle with an increased amount of guided angular velocity. This makes the weapon difficult to avoid unless there is an object in between you and the shooter. However, at close range the initial angle of the projectiles cannot be overcome by their homing abilities and they will miss their target. See the videos below for a visual representation.

9. Fuel Rod
I am planning on giving the fuel rod functionality based on that of the Plasma Launcher from reach, but firing 3 shots, each with the comparative damage of a single Fuel Rod. It is TBD if this weapon will be included in the final map.

=====Grenades=====
9. Frag
The frag grenade is now a MIRV grenade, the initial explosion spawning 4 smaller grenades that launch out away from the center, each doing a quarter of the original damage. Useful against vehicles and groups of enemies.

10. Plasma
The plasma is one of the few weapons left untouched, aside from some particle effect changes. It is personally my favorite weapon of the series and its functionality is perfect in my opinion. If you have any suggestions about changing that, I definitely am open to them! :)

I will add a couple videos to the end of the topic here, to give you a better visual representation of the effects I described above. Some of them are not entirely done, i.e. the PR and Frag grenades. New particle effects are also in the works for all weapons, and will be done(for the most part) with the stock tagset. All of the above are subject to change as far as create a better balance over all.

http://www.xfire.com/video/5b829b/

http://www.xfire.com/video/5b829d/


The next major hurtle is mostly related to playtesting for balance. Anyone who is interested in helping please give me your names and xfire or other IM contacts so I can get a group together.

Any comments, suggestions, criticisms and general discussion would be greatly appreciated!!
Edited by Bobblehob on Oct 17, 2012 at 07:25 PM

All of it sounds cool. I like your idea with the shotgun but I think it would fit the sniper rifle better if anything, don't know what you could do with the shotgun. Sounds cool can't wait to see this out

That would leave me with the stock sniper rifle, which is what I am trying to get away from for the most part :P

Did you mean shotgun?
It's just I don't imagine a single shot shot gun maybe you could have an semi-auto/ full auto shotgun? Just a suggestion.

Im confused, you said that the shotgun idea would better fit the sniper rifle. The shotgun at the moment fires a projectile that acts very similarly to the sniper rifle. So if i were to add that to the sniper instead I would have the stock sniper rifle :P

I'm talking about the whole one shot concept it's just I don't imagine a one shot shotgun. Sorry for confusing you :P

Haha, hey man, Im trying to get more views and hopefully more interest :P Your suggestion has been noticed, I promise.

@Okar, well just think of it this way, the Halo CE shotgun is an 8 gauge, which is about .86 caliber, or .86 inches. The sniper rifle bullet from CE is a .57 caliber, or .57 inches. That means that a solid slug 8 gauge round would be almost an inch wide, more than a third wider than the sniper rifle round.

Put simply, it would be absolutely massive, and even though it wouldn't move as fast as the sniper rifle round, it still would be ridiculously powerful.
Edited by Bobblehob on Oct 17, 2012 at 01:40 AM

2-shot per shot pistol sounds retarded IMO. So does the single-projectile shotgun. It's a shot-gun.

The point is to make them function differently than you would expect from the stock weapon. I feel like that should be extremely obvious...

I dunno. I just don't see what the point of having two shots do half damage when you could accomplish nearly the same thing by just leaving it alone. If you want to make it a sidearm, just remove the scope and tweak the damage.

And yeah the shotgun is just weird. Everything else at least makes sense, but to have a shotgun just fire one big shot? Unless you make the projectile die off at a very short range, it's going to be a pretty powerful sniper rifle alternative (especially considering it has more ammo and 12 rounds per magazine)

That's what I was thinking maybe for the sniper rifle for a good revamp you could make it one shot kill but only has one shot and the reload is really long (has to put the bullet in the barrel or something)

I'd suggest semi-automatic with a high rate of fire, as opposed to two-round bursts for the pistol. Otherwise you'd be reloading after every six trigger pulls.

The single-shot shotun makes it inferior to just no-scoping with the sniper rifle. Rather than slugs, you could go with Frag-12 or flechette rounds. Frag-12 is essentially an explosive slug, turning the shotun into a 12 gauge grenade launcher. It'd be much weaker than the default grenade and wouldn't have very much splash damage, but would still be reasonably powerful. Flechettes offer increased accuracy, extended range, and improved armor penetration over traditional buckshot, as well as more projectiles per shell, at the cost of dealing a bit less damage to soft targets (flesh). In either case, I'd suggest keeping the 6-12 round magazine.

Frag-12
Flechette round
Edited by Echo77 on Oct 17, 2012 at 12:27 PM

The two shots with the pistol have spread, which one shot does not. The second shot has a chance of not hitting if the first does, it makes the pistol less effective, and keeps it from being as overpowering and ridiculous as it is in the stock set.

Also, take the time to watch the videos and you will see the balancing factor for the shotgun. Each round has to be individually loaded, it doesn't fire at the same speed as the regular shotgun.



@Okar, that is definitely a thought, I'll make a decision about the sniper when I have more suggestions and ideas together.

@Echo, look at BF3. All the semi auto shotguns have a solid slug ammo type. Solid slugs are also widely used for hunting and other things. Its not a crazy or outlandish thing to have in a shotgun :P and personally, I find that it is fun to use.

Edited by Bobblehob on Oct 17, 2012 at 07:24 PM

But if slugs deal the same amount of damage as the sniper rounds, and the shotgun only had one shot, and the shotgun has no scope, why would they use it? They'd go for the sniper rifle, which is statistically identical, but also has a scope and a 4-round mag. If you're going to use slugs, you'll need a higher-capacity magazine.

BINGO^

Thats what I was trying to say Okar, the sniper rifle will have a completely different functionality, one that does not compete with the shotgun.

@L28, about the AR, I can easily change the effect style, that particular part being something that I like visually.

As far as the Pistol goes, I don't want it to retain the same functionality as the original pistol :P That was part of the reason why I made it burst fire.

Thats not the point. Its supposed to be different, not the same but less powerful.

But IRL most projectile weapons can cause "headshots".

That is one thing I did, was to remove the headshot ability, but I also want to change it more than that :P and that is why I made it burst fire, as well as the damage reduction.

Question for anyone still interested, I hadn't planned on adding the flamethrower, considering that other weapons use most of its effects...

But, if I could find an alternate functionality, it might be worth adding in. Anyone have any ideas for it?

I think the flamethrower's range should be increased, rather than decreased. Real-world examples can reach out to around 132 feet (40 meters), although you'd have to aim a bit high to arc the stream onto the target. Instead of igniting a cloud of flame, like the default flamethrower, you could give it something more akin to napalm, which would be more like spraying water from a hose (if the water was on fire). If you can make the flames linger longer after they ignite an object, that'd be a plus, too; flamethrowers are intended for eliminating pillboxes, bunkers, and the like.

The WWII-era M2 flamethrower only had enough fuel for around seven seconds of continuous fire, if that's a helpful point of reference.
Edited by Echo77 on Oct 18, 2012 at 02:17 PM

Interesting ideas... but I would really rather have the flamethrower do something completely different, and change the name. I already have a weapon that does flame damage over time. Any ideas other than a modified flamethrower? xD

you could make a gun that shoots little plasma balls that stick to a person or vehicle and do electrical damage for a few seconds within a certain radius.
Edited by killzone64 on Oct 18, 2012 at 03:51 PM

Hmm, a chain gun might be good, though I was personally thinking a grenade launcher type weapon.

True... hmm, I think i may just leave the flamethrower out. xP

Use CMT's flamethrower with the wide barrel and turn it into an incendiary mortar launcher. Fires in an arc like the default Fuel Rod Gun, but detonates into glorious fireball.

I'd be willing to modify the FP model for these purposes, unless of course you plan to use CMT's.

That would be great, I would rather not re-use cmt's model. Show me what you can do Jesse :D, and Ill get to work on that functionality.