Unconventional Weapons - Weaponized Weather

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

We have a lot of guns that are love children for real or fictional brands of guns. Revolvers, railguns, carbines, etc. Despite being a science fantasy setting the few unconventional weapons we have are underwhelming. The freeze ray and radiation guns are very deflated.

 

We recently hinted in an arc that factions are already beginning to weaponize terraforming processes. These weapons would be the miniaturized, mobile forms that follow the doctrine of weaponized weather.

 

There are no sprites as of yet, as I want to be sure the mechanics of the weapons are something we want to see.

 

Tornado Gun

A 2 handed weapon. When fired it spawns a miniature tornado in front of the firing mob that travels 10 tiles ahead. It sucks up any mob caught in its path and they are "stunned" and stuck spinning within the vortex. The vortex vaporizes when it encounters a wall but any stunned mob continues to be stunned. The weapon is effective at crowd control but does no damage to structures.

 

Tectonic Hammer

A 2 handed sledgehammer. When you strike the ground it damages tiles in a 5 tile radius all around the center tile. Any mobs are briefly stunned. After a 5 second cool-down the weapon can be used again. It can destroy walls and floor tiles in 2 hits. Anything reinforced takes 3 - 4 hits. Turrets are destroyed in 2 hits. Structures in the way dissipate the damage - think of this like an explosion that only harms structures.

 

Glacier Gun

The freeze ray we have but you are actually turned into a popsicle. Similar to the wizard ability that turns you to stone. But in this one you are ice. You are stuck frozen with a super low body temperature which is dangerous if you are trapped like this. After 1 minute the ice around you melts and you are free. You can be freed earlier if sufficient brute damage is applied. rechargable.

 

Dust Devil

A 1 handed device that only works on asteroid turfs. It spawns a large sandstorm around the user that blocks visibility down to 0. The 10 tile radius sandstorm rotates loosely around the user instead of the user being in the fixed middle point, allowing sufficient guesswork about where in the sandstorm they are hiding. The storm lasts for as long as the device is active, and its regular charge can go for 60 seconds of sustained use. Rechargable.

 

Meteor Sling

Similar to the singularity beacon. Using gravitrons and bluespace a single meteor is pulled from the ateroid belt and slung towards the beacon after 3 minutes. When activated the asteroid will spawn and fly towards the beacon. A meteor will be spawned every minute following the original timer until a total of 5 meteors were spawned.

 

Lightning Rifle

A 2 handed weapon. Similar to a laser cannon. Shoots bolts of lightning like a tesla arc. It causes severe burn damage on a random limb and can arc between mobs. It has a 4 second cool-down. 5 shots, rechargable.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix

[DronzTheWolf]

I like this idea. Weaponized weather has yet to really be touched upon.

+1

[Lonely Caravan]

I love the idea. Just one thing that I think would be kinda fun with the freeze ray, 1% chance that if you hit the frozen person, they can break a limb off. Just a suggestion, +1 in overall.

[Trazz666]

I like this, minus the freeze ray. The freeze ray isn't weaponized because it's meant for xenobiology. Since it's not dangerous, it has the firing pin in and is thankfully actually useable. With the massive xenobiology change, I'd like to at least keep 1 think unbastardized.

I would maybe make a second weapon that does the actual damage. Call it the Glacier Gun or something.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I like this, minus the freeze ray. The freeze ray isn't weaponized because it's meant for xenobiology. Since it's not dangerous, it has the firing pin in and is thankfully actually useable. With the massive xenobiology change, I'd like to at least keep 1 think unbastardized.

I would maybe make a second weapon that does the actual damage. Call it the Glacier Gun or something.

 

done

[Arrow768]

The idea is interesting, but recently there have been movements to remove/rework weapons that insta-stun.

This would readd such weapons again.

To elaborate a bit more:

The Tornado Gun would need to be changed to not be a insta-stun weapon (or the no-insta-stun policy would need to be re-visited) -> Possibly changed to just push the people in its path back.

The Glacier Gun could be changed to require multiple hits on the target to freeze them (each hit attempts to lower their body temperature and when a sufficiently low point is reached they will be completely frozen)

The Dust Devil seems fine as suggested.

The Meteor Sling will need some tweaks -> I could see it trigger the meteor random event, with a longer warning time.

The Lightning Rifle sounds interesting aswell.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The idea is interesting, but recently there have been movements to remove/rework weapons that insta-stun.

This would readd such weapons again.

To elaborate a bit more:

The Tornado Gun would need to be changed to not be a insta-stun weapon (or the no-insta-stun policy would need to be re-visited) -> Possibly changed to just push the people in its path back.

The Glacier Gun could be changed to require multiple hits on the target to freeze them (each hit attempts to lower their body temperature and when a sufficiently low point is reached they will be completely frozen)

The Dust Devil seems fine as suggested.

The Meteor Sling will need some tweaks -> I could see it trigger the meteor random event, with a longer warning time.

The Lightning Rifle sounds interesting aswell.

Making these weapons gimmicky tools who's functions are better served with other items would be incredibly awful. Removing the instant stun from the tornado gun will render it useless. You are spun around in place and knocked back several tiles - there is enough activity there to justify the 'instant' stun of being sucked up into the vortex. it is not like anyone caught will be prone on the ground for easy murdering. They're flung around everywhere - it should be exciting!

These weapons disable threats, make yourself harder to hit, or cause structural damage.

The tornado gun allows quick crowd control but it has no lethal or inherently deadliness to its design. It does not blind you, it does not paralyze you, it does not affect you beyond the time you are in the vortex and the recovery time when you are deposited out of it.

The tornado gun is high risk and high visibility. It needs the firepower behind it to bother to use. Otherwise it is like the radiation gun - completely pointless in an actual firefight. The stun mechanic is balanced by the lack of physical damage it causes.

2 shots to freeze someone could be fine. It is inherently deadly to Unathi specifically due to their sensitivity to cold. It also allows the victim to be pulled around by others. But if it can't freeze someone and it has too few shots to freeze more than 1 person then it will fall into the trap of being tactically useless like the current freeze ray, which is only useful against slimes.

The meteor beacon isn't meant to summon a whole swarm of meteors. That is a very catastrophic event. It summons 1 meteor after 10 minutes and a single meteor over a length of time. It is primarily just a threat against the surface and it is easily countered by shields. If it causes catastrophic damage like a full meteor shower then it would be problematic to use willy nilly by antagonists and we will end up where admins will need to personally sign off on it like you are blowing the SM.

[Butterrobber202]

+1

Tajaran Popsicles coming right the fuck up

(Make sure magboots and voidsuits are calculated into effects pls)

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

+1

Tajaran Popsicles coming right the fuck up

(Make sure magboots and voidsuits are calculated into effects pls)

 

With speed being so vital in ss13 combat and the reaction time needed to respond to the tornado gun being short as to need a reliably hotkey and good reflexes I'm totally fine with the tornado gun being balanced by magboots. However the "stun" from the earthquake hammer is so brief and its otherwise so unwieldy that it's a glorified slip to make you briefly drop your wielded items. I find it an acceptable plus that it can knock you down even with magboots - the explanation being the very floor you are on got shattered and yoinked around so you fell over even if your shoes are upright, or it's otherwise startling enough to make you drop things. Otherwise the users of the sledge will be a very large fish in a very small barrel with no recourse but to drop the hammer and flee to the four winds. It is also already got a bit of a counter in that by wearing magboots you are immune to any atmospheric shenanigans the hammer creates if it vents or over-pressurizes a room.

[Mofo1995]

Why not make the tornado gun a really good niche weapon for hallways? Maybe have the victim take some damage from slamming around into the walls? Or maybe change it into a wind gun of some sort that just flings the target straight back and the closer a wall is to where you flung them back, the more damage they take?

[Conspiir]

Or maybe change it into a wind gun of some sort that just flings the target straight back and the closer a wall is to where you flung them back, the more damage they take?

 

Doomfist: The Weapon?

Tbh I rather like these wacky ideas. I'd like to see them implemented in a realistic fashion. As Arrow said, some tweaks would need to be in order (I particularly like that Glacier Gun slow-to-freeze, but it should also be effected by localized heat sources such as you melting quicker if you take some burn damage, too) but these have potential.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Why not make the tornado gun a really good niche weapon for hallways? Maybe have the victim take some damage from slamming around into the walls? Or maybe change it into a wind gun of some sort that just flings the target straight back and the closer a wall is to where you flung them back, the more damage they take?

 

That's what it is for. The tornado gun is meant to clear an entire hallway of mobs, or at least throw the hallway into chaos. A gust of wind is just a traditional venting knocking people aside. It's more theatrical to have a physical vortex race down the hall and suck people up. You are shooting a tornado at people, how sick is that?