design diary 10: about weapons

 

Now that our spaceships are flying properly, what about some shooting?

Again it is all about iterations, So let's start with the basics first.

The game will have three main weapon families ( for now ) with their own advantages and disadvantages.

The Pulse Beams, the Torpedoes and the Laser Beams.

Think rock/ paper / cisor but a liiiitle more complex

Depending on distance, ship specs ( hard points/turrets ) and environment , those weapons will give you the upper hand or become a challenge.

How weapons works:

They are all energy based, as energy management will be a big part of the game.
 

Pulse beams are fast paced medium range weapons, can be shot directly where you are pointing at or lock on target ( turrets )

Pulse beams can intercept and explode torpedoes.

They are the no brainer weapons really. no high avantages or disadvantages.

 

Torpedoes are slow loading long range weapons. They are plasma energy balls that explode on impact and destination point . 

You can shoot the straight to the direction you are pointing at or they can be directed on target ( hard point and turrets ) They then behave like a missile for a short a certain period of time before exploding.

All explosions create a range of area  damage effect than runs for a certain amount of time too. That's the important bit of these weapons as they will lead to lots of different kind of strategies: firing torpedoes in straight line ahead of the target, using them as ( powerfull ) flares to destroy other torpedoes and so on

those explosions can intercept Pulse beams, not lasers. Torpedoes explode on any contact and dont know about friendly fire.
 

Laser beams: short ranged weapon and highly destructive on concentrated targets.
Goes through any kind of obstacles delivering damage all the way.That's its biggest advantage, no more hiding behind asteroids there.
It is also very demanding in energy, long to reload, but deliver a long blast of pure energy lasting from 2 to 3 seconds. Laser beam users will tend to use more offensive strategies, running into the melee fast, delivering the shots and then fying away fast to take time for power up

and to resume the different advantages and disadvantages between them:
So for range we get: Torpedoes>Pulse beams>Lasers
for energy use we have : Lasers> Torpedoes>Pulse Beams
for destructing power: Lasers>Torpedoes>Pulse Beams

For reload time: Lasers>Torpedoes>Pulse Beams ( the higher values the longer it takes to reload, not always a good thing)
Lasers and Pulse beams can destroy Torpedoes
Lasers goes through Torpedoes explosions while Pulse beams are blocked by it

We will of course have other kind tools to spice up the game a little more like mines ( come in wide range of behaviors and effects )
energy scramblers, cloaking devices and drones... and more!