Goonhub
12-31-2013, 06:48 AM
If the taser/.38 nerf is here to stay in its current implementation, there are two aspects I'd like to mention:
1) In my opinion, it would be a good idea to upgrade the taser's battery to six shots in total for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've seen numerous instances of laser guns being used as taser replacements recently; presumably some people (SecHoPs in particular) consider the latter to be useless now. [Yes, I am aware such players should be reported, but that's not relevant here.] To a degree, I can understand them - it's basically "one hit slows them down" vs. "one hit merely confuses their movement" and the issue of magazine capacity.
This ties in with my second point: the average sec guard would be hard-pressed to score two hits, let alone three in a row in a ranged firefight. I understand the idea behind the nerf, to reduce the number of "one stun and you're done" situations and all, but I don't think the current way tasers work is enjoyable for officers. It requires a good amount of skill to use guns effectively in this game, there is (due to the small magazine) almost no margin for error and the unpredictability of random movement patterns doesn't make it any easier to follow up with a second shot in an area/room that isn't narrow. Sometimes, the projectiles just lag through the target as well.
There's more to security than plain combat (social interaction etc) and I do believe it's unreasonable to expect expert marksmanship training from every officer. For what is supposed to be their primary ranged, non-lethal weapon, it's severely compromised. And as I said in an earlier post, people already didn't want to pick that job before the nerf. Two extra shots for the taser would at least alleviate the problem somewhat. If Cogwerks is willing to consider further steps, I'd say the first "confuse movement without slowing them down" part should be skipped completely.
2) From what I can tell, the nerf affects everything that fires taser projectiles, i.e. also the AI turrets. For an experienced player, there have always been ways around them, yet they offered at least some deterrence against Joe McAverage. I feel this may not necessarily be the case anymore. To demonstrate what I mean, let's have a look at how turrets work and yes, I timed this stuff with a stopwatch:
- Detect intruder and ready turret = ~5 to 8 seconds.
- Acquire target = ~1.5 seconds.
- Fire at target = every ~1.5 seconds.
Ignoring the various means of teleportation, there are a number of influencing factors:
- Depending on lag and how often the machine loop (I think that's the relevant one) runs, it may take more time for the turrets to react.
- If there are multiple targets in range, the turret will alternate fire between them.
- Turrets retract immediately as soon as all targets leave the protected area. It doesn't matter if they are just one tile outside said area.
- Turrets can be destroyed with one laser or revolver shot, even if they are still retracted.
So, with all of this in mind, you hopefully can see the issue. The protected area between the AI mainframe and the surrounding walls is only one tile wide and it's arguably fair to say that nobody will stay there long enough for at least ~11 seconds to get stunned. Before the nerf, it was potentially possible to score a lucky hit and yell for help. Now, the AI is more or less completely defenceless to everybody - the shutters aren't very helpful, as intruders generally know how to disable APCs. It's not as bad for the upload itself, because there are a couple of windows to slow people down.
1) In my opinion, it would be a good idea to upgrade the taser's battery to six shots in total for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've seen numerous instances of laser guns being used as taser replacements recently; presumably some people (SecHoPs in particular) consider the latter to be useless now. [Yes, I am aware such players should be reported, but that's not relevant here.] To a degree, I can understand them - it's basically "one hit slows them down" vs. "one hit merely confuses their movement" and the issue of magazine capacity.
This ties in with my second point: the average sec guard would be hard-pressed to score two hits, let alone three in a row in a ranged firefight. I understand the idea behind the nerf, to reduce the number of "one stun and you're done" situations and all, but I don't think the current way tasers work is enjoyable for officers. It requires a good amount of skill to use guns effectively in this game, there is (due to the small magazine) almost no margin for error and the unpredictability of random movement patterns doesn't make it any easier to follow up with a second shot in an area/room that isn't narrow. Sometimes, the projectiles just lag through the target as well.
There's more to security than plain combat (social interaction etc) and I do believe it's unreasonable to expect expert marksmanship training from every officer. For what is supposed to be their primary ranged, non-lethal weapon, it's severely compromised. And as I said in an earlier post, people already didn't want to pick that job before the nerf. Two extra shots for the taser would at least alleviate the problem somewhat. If Cogwerks is willing to consider further steps, I'd say the first "confuse movement without slowing them down" part should be skipped completely.
2) From what I can tell, the nerf affects everything that fires taser projectiles, i.e. also the AI turrets. For an experienced player, there have always been ways around them, yet they offered at least some deterrence against Joe McAverage. I feel this may not necessarily be the case anymore. To demonstrate what I mean, let's have a look at how turrets work and yes, I timed this stuff with a stopwatch:
- Detect intruder and ready turret = ~5 to 8 seconds.
- Acquire target = ~1.5 seconds.
- Fire at target = every ~1.5 seconds.
Ignoring the various means of teleportation, there are a number of influencing factors:
- Depending on lag and how often the machine loop (I think that's the relevant one) runs, it may take more time for the turrets to react.
- If there are multiple targets in range, the turret will alternate fire between them.
- Turrets retract immediately as soon as all targets leave the protected area. It doesn't matter if they are just one tile outside said area.
- Turrets can be destroyed with one laser or revolver shot, even if they are still retracted.
So, with all of this in mind, you hopefully can see the issue. The protected area between the AI mainframe and the surrounding walls is only one tile wide and it's arguably fair to say that nobody will stay there long enough for at least ~11 seconds to get stunned. Before the nerf, it was potentially possible to score a lucky hit and yell for help. Now, the AI is more or less completely defenceless to everybody - the shutters aren't very helpful, as intruders generally know how to disable APCs. It's not as bad for the upload itself, because there are a couple of windows to slow people down.