Here are more suggestion from your ever-loving idea guy...

1) All Backpacks should be destroyable

No, I don't mean the Ammo Pick-up, I mean the backpacks that come along with certain weapons like the Lightning Gun, Rail gun, and Minigun. I just find it a bit unfair for the pyromaniacs out there that they're the only ones who suffer from a backpack breach, and it's not as if the other backpacks are relatively safe either (that "Nuclear" sign on the Rail Gun's backpack isn't just for design, is it...?).

2) Extra Tweaks for existing weapons

Charge Shots for Skrith Sidearm - I already mentioned this in the Weapon Balance topic, but just lemme repeat it here: the number of charged shots the player has depends on how long he charges the Sidearm (there could also be a limit to how many charge shots can be stored). To balance this function, the Sidearm can be charged-up again only after all the charge shots have been depleted.

Thunder-shock for Lightning Gun - While a target is being shocked (and held) by the Primary Fire, the wielder can use the Secondary Fire to push him with the Red Lightning for a considerable distance (sorta like a Jedi Force-Push). For balance, this function eats up a lot of ammo and builds up heat in an instant.

Extreme Core Heat for Incendiary Grenades - When an Incendiary Grenade explodes, the center of the explosion would produce an extremely hot flare-ball that can distract Mortar Rockets away from its intended target. This can only be done if it is timed right, so if the flare explodes too far away from the user, he'll still be the target of the Mortar. The flare only lasts a few seconds.

Start-up Rotation for Minigun - I think the Minigun should have the standard start-up of its rotary barrels before it can fire its rounds. The faster its RPM setup, the longer the barrel has to accelerate.

Ricocheting bullets for Revolver - Both the Primary and Secondary Fire of the Revolver should let the bullets ricochet off surfaces. This would greatly improve its versatility, but for balance, it losses velocity (and thus damage) each time it ricochets.

"Screaming" Bullets for Rail Gun - When a Rail Gun shot misses just a few inches from a target's ear, the sonic boom it creates makes the target's ears ring and disorients his vision. Of course, the effects last depending on how charged-up the Rail Gun was before discharging its payload.

3) Dual-Wielding Melee Weapons

I'd be nice to wield two Katanas or Knives at once, don'cha think?

1. Good idea
2. good idea

Idea 1 sounds good, but minigun backpacks should just get destroyed, not explode. Railgun and lightning gun ones look volatile though.

Added one more weapon option (Revolver).

so, revolver would be an instant hit ripper?

Why not...?

Besides, Revolvers are also famous for Ricochet shots (especially in Action Movies/Games).

No, but that doesn't mean that it would blow up in a nuclear explosion. It's there because the weapon description says that the weapon fires uranium slugs, an ammo type you wouldn't want to touch. So, if the backpack was shot, you'd die within several weeks from radiation, but not instantly. Therefore a backpack breach wouldn't make much sense there. And I don't think the LG should be nerfed as well, high ammo consumption, relatively short range for primary fire and the overheat function are enough to balance its power, no need to add a risk to die from electro-shocks when the backpack is shot. But maybe a hit on the LG backpack could cause a small malfunction that prevents the weapon from functioning for 5 seconds or so, so you'd be forced to change weapons to be able to defend yourself...

Who, said anything about a Nuclear explosion...!?

I just want backpack breaches, NOT fancy explosions that take the life of its wielder.

And its not even easy to catch a Rail Gunner with his back turned 'coz he'll be sniping you from the other end of the map. But if you do breach his backpack, it'd be something he'll really regret.

And I'm still gunning for a Nuclear meltdown 'coz, y'know, this ain't a realism mod...

Why would you want a nuclear meltdown? It's not like the railgun is powered by an unstable radioactive chemical.

I dunno... It's just that Nuclear sign and all... I mean, what do you think can happen if you breach the Rail Gun's Backpack...?

That nuclear sign means there is a radiation hazard, more than likely from the ammo.

But- I think some sort of small(ish) explosion would fit for the power generator; for an idea for what it might look like, think of the mech explosions for MW4. Something like that might be kinda cool; blue rays coming out of an orb of light for a second or so, then a bright, engulfing flash and then a loud explosion following that.

The ammo itself from what I gather is just metal, but there may be a small reactor in the backback that charges up the pressure in teh Railgun.

As for the detonation, that might work.

The ammo is in fact metal, but then again, all radioactive things I know of are metal anyways.

Also, a railgun does not use "pressure"... magnetic rails accelerate the metallic projectile forward, but the generator could very well be radioactive too.

I lacked the term then besides, you do have to wait before the slug is at full power, and I'm sure I've read it being called pressure somewhere. Either way you know what I mean - the generator may use radioactive materials to make the huge voltage for the magnetic accelerator.

Added new suggestion/tweak: Dual Melee weapons for Katana and Knife

Quad-wielded wrist blades?

No Goro/Kintaro allowed!!! Just for the Katanas and knives would be enough...

Indeed. There's no radiation sign on the ammo clips, just on the backpack. Afaik SB said once that the pack contains capacitors and some kind of nuclear power source, or something... Anyway, it would only be logical to add damage effects to all the backpacks instead of just the flamer's.

The railgun pack could create a small radiation field (green/blueish glow with particle fx) that kills the wearer and anyone in his direct vicinity within a couple secs. Maybe their skeleton, if they have one, becomes visible due to the instense radiation, so basically you have a railgun wielding skeleton running around in a glowing orb. That would be cool as hell.

The lightning gun pack should obviously shock the wearer and anyone near him.

The minigun pack could either simply be disabled (bullet weapons, knives etc.), or hurt/kill the wearer, and anyone standing directly in front of him, by random bullet fire (when the pack is damaged by plasma, laser, or incendiary).

The flamer pack is fine the way it is.

I like the "skeletonizing" idea for the Rail Pack, like a very painful X-ray...

This should be subjected to anyone who picks up the same railgun when dropped. Although that might be hard to do, since guns apparently can't remember if they've been cocked or not (really annoying)

Unless we are talking about immensely strong magnetic "outburst", anyone near him wouldn't lose 1 HP.

Perhaps the generator could overheat and misfire causing a static electrical discharge. That would be able to damage the player and nearby creatures.

On the railgun topic, I think the generator should be able to be damaged over time via weapons fire, causing the weapon's charging feature to be delayed or disabled. Maybe even lose the ability to fire powered slugs at all.

A little electro-magnetic discharge would be the visual effect to show that the generator is damaged.

I guess we are then. Hey if you can have an Amazing Flying Flamer Tank (TM), why not a multidirectional lightning strike?



Meh, killer x-ray ftw!

You need to touch the object that receives the discharge to receive damage, and the object in question needs to be a metal.

Not if the gun releases a conductive gas and the discharge creates an arc.

Perhaps the coolant is conductive.

Added new Weapon Tweak: "Screaming" Rail Gun bullets.

I imagine it should be make quite an interesting noise, moving several times the speed of sound.

About the ricocheting bullets, I really would not like to see it lose any wall or window-penetrating power. Perhaps have the bullets only ricochet off walls if they strike below a certain angle (like less than 45 degrees or something)

Ricochets usually don't work well because the bullet can't tell what type of wall it is hitting, unless the engine supports that sort of stuff; wall type.

How do the different bullet hole decals work then?

I like the wall-specific effect idea. Like, if the wall is made of solid steel, the bullet should ricochet or get flattened depending on the angle of the shot. Walls of lesser density would either let the bullet pass though them or (still) ricochet off (but the angle should be tighter).

But to hell if I know if UT2004 can do that (too much coding work, perhaps?).

Besides, it's kinda hard to do both (getting kills with Ricocheting or Penetrating bullets) in a very action-packed game, so it wouldn't really make much of a difference.