Community vote: What to do with ion/EMPs

While I don't mind that ion equipment serves as an immediate check to energy weapons (I doubt anyone else does due to the typical nature of hitscan), the nature of ion rifles/EMP grenades is that they serve as immediate round-enders to station-bound silicons of all types, cyborgs, androids and robots alike.

Since the past few updates, the goal of mine and some others has been to reduce the amount of game mechanics that exist in the game to be immediate round enders without significant drawback or risk to them. If they are to be a one-shot-drop, then they should be balanced such as how the anti-materiel rifle is, right?

Well, if we balanced that ion rifle like that, it'd be good for one use only and then it stops being relevant before needing a recharge. So that's one option, and certainly the easiest way to handle it. EMP grenades would have to be acquired for more sustained combat or for clearing rooms.

We can also consider that the way EMP_act or EMPulse works is extremely strong and we don't necessarily need to touch the ion rifle's capacity, just change how EMP acting affects silicons and how it also affects virtually everyone else. It can be nerfed simply to remove the instant stuns and take off some damage.

Another idea is the one that requires the most effort, and that's a rework. An idea I had was changing EMP grenades into ECDs, or Electrostatic Charge Detonators. Rather than instantly applying an EMP, the ECDs will act similarly to how tesla arcs work. They'll shock every single device and tend to prioritize mechs, and then prioritize silicon/synthetic-based lifeforms due to their conductivity, and then prioritize anyone with an energy firearm, and then prioritize anyone with a hardsuit, and then towards other devices in the room. Everything of the above will be rooted in place for the duration of the shock, and damage will be calculated based on the amount of arc factors that exist in the room. The less there is, the more burn damage it will deal. ECDs will also immediately deplete charge in energy weapons and will gradually drain away the charge of mech/borg/hardsuit energy cells. The EMP spells from the cult and the wizard will also mimic a large ECD detonation. Cultists will be protected from the detonation and wizards will be as well.

Edit:

A Server Poll has been created.

Honesty I’d be okay with Ion Rifles if the AoE effect got removed

My main concern about the rifle is it EMPs itself if you hit a wall near you. Fix ty

EDIT: Make it cooldown between hits and require a wield.

It does require a wield, it is very unwieldy otherwise. If you're one handing an ion rifle you're not likely to hit what you're shooting at.

Can a forum moderator add a poll to this post instead (if so desired?) Strawpoll is garbage and polls via forums are much less abused.

That's fine by me. I just can't create polls on the forums, that's why I made the strawpoll.

We generally dont use forum or external polls for controversial features.

Therefore I created a server poll.

It should show up in the Join menu, when you connect to the server.

I've been away for a few months so I may be in the dark on recent changes, but I remember reading that stationbounds have EMP shielding now, right?

If this is from a focus on removing game ending mechanics hasn't this been addressed by the shielding?

In my experiences the AI itself isn't generally countered with the ion, so this would apply primarily to the borgs.