Replace disruptors with ballistics - Feedback thread

[TheGreyWolf]

This is a feedback for the testmerge of https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/21987

As currently intended, security officers and the warden are given regular .45 pistols with rubbers as replacement, while investigators are given a new .45 revolver. The reason for this is a somewhat similar intent as the mini disruptor. More a weapon of self defence than one used to actively chase antags with.

The intended feedback we're looking for are the effects ingame, both mechanically and how people might have changed tactics as a result.

Edited March 14 by TheGreyWolf

[VeteranGary]

Bit biased since I asked for this to be tested. I don't think these pistols impacted security a ton. They are still a direct upgrade over the disruptor, but in my experience antags have shown they have plenty of tools at their disposal to deal with security. At the end of the day basic armor sucks against anything that isn't a common pistol. 

At best I find using my pistol much less, I now have an incentive to look toward other tools at my disposal such as the baton. It's not some super-safe taser anymore so I have less justification on using it against unarmed people. Where as the disruptor I could chase and shoot a fleeing unarmed suspect with basically zero question or consequence. In general I think the environment which .45s were removed and replaced is much different than now. Security tends to be significantly more lenient and RP-focused towards antagonists, up to go along with gimmicks that would have been totally ignored back in 2020. 

Despite all of this, I still think this should stay around. It just makes much more sense and there is not much justification as to why the disruptor would be chosen over a standard pistol. Every other corporation or faction runs a pistol, and if they run an energy weapon it is usually a carbine-lite over a blaster-type. If you're going to run a taser as service weapon, why make it the worst of both worlds. A service pistol fits the theming much better, especially as security is staffed with corporate mercs rather than proper police. 

[Loorey]

I've not played either security or antagonist since this testmerge was implemented but observed a lot. It's kind of a mixed bag, really. In itself there's no issue with security having access to fourty-fives, a lot of antagonist gimmicks tend to follow a timeline like this:

- The ship gets boarded, antagonists might be armed but peaceful, introducing their gimmick.

- Antagonists (or Security/Command, more rarely though) escalate the situation in a way they see fit, given antagonists are usually armed head to heels, security usually full-equips through the armory.

I think fourty-fives are more soulful overall, but the "...armory will get used less..." argument isn't really true. There's very few antagonist gimmicks that actually follow a step-by-step escalation, most notable would be revolution here, most other gimmicks tend to go as I outlined.  

[Fenodyree]

Have not seen the armoury get used less, but I also haven't seen a round without a Warden or HoS, or a round that didn't warrant the armoury.

I hope we get the middle ground of officers getting a single lethal magazine for their pistols but not yet.

I have seen M'sai taj get absolutely annihilated which wouldn't have happened as badly before.

Edited March 14 by Fenodyree

[CatsinHD]

On 14/03/2026 at 17:47, Loorey said:

I think fourty-fives are more soulful overall, but the "...armory will get used less..." argument isn't really true. There's very few antagonist gimmicks that actually follow a step-by-step escalation, most notable would be revolution here, most other gimmicks tend to go as I outlined.  

Overall, I don't think 45s or really any reasonable option for secoff duty weapon will adjust armory usage. At the end of the day, the armory will be used when Sec is approached with armor and rifles. Even if the 45 could one shot an antag, there is aspect that trying to showdown against a merc in full kit with a 45 and anti-gank armor will not go well. Fixing that needs either an armory rework or an adjustment to how antags escalate in terms of equipment. Which is not in the scope of this change. Just rambling to say that this will never change armory usage as that's a wider reaching thing.

However, for on-stations the 45 can be notable. It is pretty effective with paincrit, as is its nature. It does emphasize being smart with escalation as an on-ship antag. I don't think it's a negative, it does put some extra weight onto mobility, having an escape plan, and armor. I will use this to segway into saying that, as mentioned before, the rubbers could use some tuning or a new "stun round" should get introduced. However, I haven't antaged or played secoff as much recently so mileage may vary.

The real solution is giving all secoffs the magnum disruptor /j

[greenjoe]

One idea came up on the discord of allowing officers to pick their sidearm in some way. Making it similar to the token miners get could be interesting, they insert a token into a vending machine and can pick which sidearm they receive between a pistol and a revolver. The option of a taser as a third selection could also be interesting.

[OffRoad99]

4 hours ago, greenjoe said:

One idea came up on the discord of allowing officers to pick their sidearm in some way. Making it similar to the token miners get could be interesting, they insert a token into a vending machine and can pick which sidearm they receive between a pistol and a revolver. The option of a taser as a third selection could also be interesting.

It would also pair spectacularly well with the proposed disruptor rework (to replace the taser). It leaves people with a lot of awesome options to choose from. I'd even add a similar choice to the HoS (and an improved, exclusive selection of personal sidearms).

[GeneralCamo]

I'm personally against picking a sidearm. At best I would accept per-contractor sidearms, but picking and choosing defeats the intent of the uniform requirements, and brings us further away from a tight corporate setting, which has already been diluted enough for the Horizon.

[OffRoad99]

1 hour ago, GeneralCamo said:

I'm personally against picking a sidearm. At best I would accept per-contractor sidearms, but picking and choosing defeats the intent of the uniform requirements, and brings us further away from a tight corporate setting, which has already been diluted enough for the Horizon.

But if you restrict it to 2 firearms (either the reworked disruptor or the 45), you could also say the list was pre-approved by the SCC or something. One is an energy weapon with some utility options, the other is a stronger (?) ballistic. As far as I know of, there are police departments in the US that allow officers to choose a gun from a list that meets specific criteria. Could follow something along those lines.

Edited March 16 by OffRoad99

[kermit]

my officer/investigator play wasnt too affected. a lot of the time i didnt even equip the .45 pistol/revolver and was able to wait until i got a weapon from the armoury. no different than having a (mini-)disruptor.

on the traitor side of things (bc my merc rounds were totally unaffected), it was honestly a bit frustrating at first. before, i could do minimal/light violence with a bit of a grace period until the armoury was opened. during the testmerge, there were a number of times i just had a .45 quickdrawn and fired on me within 5 minutes of such minimally/light violence, where i wasn't even particularly trying to escalate to a gunfight. unlike disruptor where the fire rate and projectile speed is slow and gives you time to react/break the firing line, theres little you can do when the same happens with a .45 othen than take it or hope you had pre-dosed on stims/been wearing okay armour. bit of a vibe kill each time and made me wish i had just bought uplink stims as a crutch or locked-in more without goofing around.

i got used to it and just settled on doing totally non-violent gimmicks whenever i rolled traitor, bc i preferred the goofy factor/not having to lock in, and couldn't discount that at least 1 officer may immediately resort to the .45. but, i still prefer the leeway and guarantee no overeager officer can mess you up on first encounter (unless you fumble bad)

Edited March 17 by kermit

[VeteranGary]

I can definitely agree on reducing the agony damage a bit as currently it is quite unforgiving. It stacks with the small amount of brute they already inflict and a single shot against an unarmored tajara can almost entirely disable them. 

Definitely feels like .45 rubbers got a buff at some point when they were armory-only equipment but I can't point to a specific PR that might have changed it. Probably suggest a 25-50% reduction to bring it to reasonable levels. As the .45 sports a significantly faster rate of fire it shouldn't be much of an issue to deal with this as getting follow up shots isn't difficult. 

Don't think this reduced armory usage outside very light gimmicks usually involving ship-side antagonists, as that is a problem more systemic to other balance choices currently present ingame right now. Such as combat generally being quite unforgiving and extremely lethal, everyone looks to gain better odds of survival where they can. 

[Fyni]

We had a round yesterday, and I have a large concern that there is no "low to mid" level option for security to deal with IPCs currently. The rubber shot is effective against those pesky antags who need to be safely taken down but are not presenting an immediate leathal threat, but there is no option of the same tier which is effective against IPCs. The baton still has a good charge drain effect but with the boosted charge (I believe tripled from pre IPC rework) combined with the risk of getting close, it's not a great option in these circumstances.

I'd love to see some sort of "drainer" rounds which woul be effective in disabling unarmoured IPCs without either causing permenant damage or requiring excessive machinist work to fix - the best way to do this been lowering charge or forcing IPCs to enter their self preservation protocols temporarily.

[Arbiter_Ambrose]

11 hours ago, Fyni said:

We had a round yesterday, and I have a large concern that there is no "low to mid" level option for security to deal with IPCs currently. The rubber shot is effective against those pesky antags who need to be safely taken down but are not presenting an immediate leathal threat, but there is no option of the same tier which is effective against IPCs. The baton still has a good charge drain effect but with the boosted charge (I believe tripled from pre IPC rework) combined with the risk of getting close, it's not a great option in these circumstances.

I'd love to see some sort of "drainer" rounds which woul be effective in disabling unarmoured IPCs without either causing permenant damage or requiring excessive machinist work to fix - the best way to do this been lowering charge or forcing IPCs to enter their self preservation protocols temporarily.

Doesn't this just sound like EMPs but before the update and in bullet form now? I think it is a interesting concept but it should be made sure that we don't repeat both the mistakes made in the rework and before the rework, where now EMPs are useless, and before EMPs just killed IPCs and their fun in totality.

Also, which round? I do agree it feels like if a IPC gets downed, in alot of cases the chassis dies and doom is ensued rather than the proposed, easy to down, hard to kill motto, but this is kind of irrelevant to the ballistics starting gun change, I have noted that security has alot more ballistically, I assume that operations has noticed it with them asking for tons of ammo with the increased need for it, but I am not sure, it definitely feels there is not really any mid lane for any species though.. I just kind of play, though, unless it is blatant I haven't noticed tooo hard the changes that came from it outside windows being less of a issue..? to hide behind.

[Fyni]

8 hours ago, Arbiter_Ambrose said:

Doesn't this just sound like EMPs but before the update and in bullet form now? I think it is a interesting concept but it should be made sure that we don't repeat both the mistakes made in the rework and before the rework, where now EMPs are useless, and before EMPs just killed IPCs and their fun in totality.

Partly yes, however in retrospect this is a topic for a whole new thread since it does not touch on the disruptor vs ballistic feedback in this thread

[TheGreyWolf]

The testmerge has been updated as of the round after this comment.

• Rubbers were reduced to 3 damage and 30 agony, down from 5 damage and 40 agony.
• Lethal and rubber speedloaders were added to the armory.
• And a small name update for the revolvers.