AvRAIL

[YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH]

Spitballing more ideas... as if there isn't already an avalanche of spitballs right now...

Maybe this gun could also hurt the user? That could throttle people from spamming it and also play into its "hand-held cannon" nature. Like each use is -25hp or something like that.

[Rhamp]

Or a combination of completely whacky ideas:

A repulsor gun that when shot, sends the user flying in the direction they are aiming at at the cost of some of their hp, similar to how you avril/shield gun boost, except at a much higher speed. Fast enough to send yourself flying towards a flier. It could also provide a few seconds of slowfall for the player to get their bearings.

An alt-fire mode on the grapple gun that reels you in towards the target instead of just maintaining a set distance with a greater range. Also grappling an enemy either with normal or alt-fire should consume energy so you can't just infinitely tether to an enemy. The issue with the way the grapple gun works now is that by the time you swap to a shock rifle and shoot, the flier is likely way out of range to regrapple to.

These combined together could allow players to become the projectile to go kill fliers. The repulsor gun would make being on foot on large maps like junk and dria actually fun since you aren't spending a minute walking to a node. You could then launch yourself at fliers, grapple to them, swap to a shock rifle or something, hit them, grapple back to them, and repeat. Or you could catapult yourself above the enemy mino and rain goop from above. This would actually make being on foot a viable strategy.

[Enyo]

Never underestimate a stain's ability to stain. That being said I'm definitely open to a hand held railgun like from Quake @200 dmg single shot. Shooting fast flyers (especially falcon,Star bolt etc) can be impossible. With this at least people will have a chance on foot.

So "impossible" that you frequently shoot those flyers out of the sky with LG and SR. It takes one LG and 2 SR shots to kill a Starbolt. Everyone with good aim does this easily all the time. Impossible only for the stains that over-rely on Avrils. All a handheld rail gun will do is make it even easier to kill flyers for those with good aim.

If such a handheld rail gun weapon were to be made then it should definitely not do 200 damage, 150 max, and you only get one shot. It should also not be in weapon lockers, instead a one-off pickup with a respawn timer, like the OMFG. Otherwise you'll have every foot soldier running around with an instakill weapon rendering flyers useless. Yes, I know, "flyers are so OP," but that's why there's already a plethora of hitscan vehicle weapons and lasers.

I actually like Rhamp's idea of a Basilisk like handheld laser weapon better. That would require you to continually follow the flyer (i.e. aim), and it would have a trail that's easy to identify. Still should do 150 max damage, and that's if you have perfect aim with it, and with an ammo meter that once drained can't be refilled. There's already a hitscan laser weapon sorta like that, seen it on other servers but can't remember the name. It's part of one of the weapon packs.

[Super Sanka]

I'm speaking for others.

[captainsnarf]

Instead of a rail, how about some tweaks to Battery instead.

1) change it to have a fast initial projectile speed, straight for a short distance that then switches to lock-on behavior with slow speed
2) doesn't blow up in your face when hit by enemy fire
3) sparks don't hurt pedestrians

[pooty]

I like the Basilisk type beam thing and Snarf's proposed battery changes. Both I think are good.

With the beam, its visible, but more damaging and you could sustain fire..

The updated Battery changes, would make it nearly hitscan up close (say 3000 UU) but more like a traditional, but faster Avril farther away?

I don't think a simple hit scan is the answer I amplifies the skill gap instead.

[YEAAAHHHHHHHHHH]

Could the Avril upgrade also be given any upgrades against infantry without making it ridiculously OP?

[wail-opentournament]

Spitballing some other ideas that don't really exist:

1. An actual Flak-type Anti-Air weapon that you can't really aim precisely but can be used to inflict consistent chip damage on fliers. Could be hitscan (shotgun) or projectiles but the latter might have netcode issues.
2. An anti-air AOE denial weapon. Deploy floating air-mines that project a large damaging AOE (electricity/energy) around themselves. Fliers in the region take damage over time which means you might take some modest damage passing through the AOE but hovering there is deadly.
3. Avril-like tracking missle. When it hits, it bores into the target, inflicting DOT rather than burst damage.

[captainsnarf]

The updated Battery changes, would make it nearly hitscan up close (say 3000 UU) but more like a traditional, but faster Avril farther away?

Yeah, it doesn't need to be super fast or anything, just something so it's useful in close/mid range. It could shoot the projectile like a rocket/tank for short range then the jets kick on and it flies slow with tracking. If you try to use it now at close range it's going to either blow up in your face or fly off in a weird angle and miss.

[Rhamp]

Spitballing some other ideas that don't really exist:

1. An actual Flak-type Anti-Air weapon that you can't really aim precisely but can be used to inflict consistent chip damage on fliers. Could be hitscan (shotgun) or projectiles but the latter might have netcode issues.
2. An anti-air AOE denial weapon. Deploy floating air-mines that project a large damaging AOE (electricity/energy) around themselves. Fliers in the region take damage over time which means you might take some modest damage passing through the AOE but hovering there is deadly.
3. Avril-like tracking missle. When it hits, it bores into the target, inflicting DOT rather than burst damage.

I like these ideas.

For 1. could a flak centaur be added? It does wide hitscan damage in a cone, maybe around 20 dps. It could also be used as an anti-infantry vehicle too. This would give the stains a vehicle to pull that they would actually provide use in besides just being fodder. I prefer anti air weaponry to be damage over time or chip damage vs oneshots, since all the oneshot mechanics are only reliably used by the top 10% of players and mostly worthless for the vast majority. Its annoying when an enemy flier flies in and wipes half the team all because none of them have the aim required to land a shot. If at least one of them had access to aoe chip damage, then they'd have a chance and it would help balance out the good pilots running entire games.

For 2. what if the battery launcher is changed to do this? Normal fire shoots the lockon rocket that it currently does, but alt fire turns all batteries currently in flight into stationary floating mines that deal some amount of damage to all enemies in their radius. They'd last for ~30s or something or until another battery (friend or foe) gets within its radius, destroying both batteries. This gives some counter play to avoid areas and nodes just being spammed by them without rendering them worthless. If the mines could be destroyed by just shooting them, then they'd be worthless against most fliers, especially pheonix and starbolts.

For 3. if there is a way to code a status effect, then maybe there could be a missile that applies a debuff that makes the target more vulnerable to damage for a set duration. Hitting the target with more of these missiles would refresh the duration and amplify the debuff, allowing for repeated hits to inflict increasing damage. This way a flier can decide whether it is possible to kill the target before too many of these missiles hit.