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An argument for buffing the Powergloves
#1
So, I've been playing traitor engineer lately, and I've taken a fancy to the powergloves because they are a ton of fun to use, however they have a rather serious flaw: they are completely stopped by insulated gloves.

Now, I understand every weapon needs a drawback and a counter, but the powergloves have quite a few as it stands. First and foremost there's the matter of powering them.
Getting the engine up to a level of power where they can be considered useful is hard in and of itself, but it also requires active maintenance (pressure regulation, fuel) to keep the engine at an acceptable level throughout the traitor's lifespan.
(entrusting that task to other engineers would not be a good idea as they would most likely throttle it down the moment someone screams "ppppoooowwwwweeerrrggglloovvvesss!!!" over the radio)

This brings me to my second point: the gloves themselves can be remotely disabled. Everything from the majestic AI to the lowly assistant only need to brave at most two doors before they are able to reach a way of ending the traitor's rampage without putting themselves in harm's way for a second. That is a pretty powerful counter to any weapon, in my opinion.

The third drawback is the need to place oneself on top of a live wire to use the gloves. There are areas of the station where you have one good spot to stand and blast away (looking at you, medbay), and you won't be able to dodge incoming tasers / lasers / toolboxes sent your way as easily and still remain a fighting force.

I've listed these three points, not because I have an issue with them, but because I wanted to illustrate how the gloves, even with the change I'm proposing, would still be a situational, gimmicky weapon without being completely unstoppable. However, like I mentioned up top, they have one major drawback that I can't really overlook in the insulated gloves.

Barring the fact that it doesn't make any sense for a pair of gloves to resist a lightning worthy of Zeus himself it's not a stretch to say that insulated gloves are common and easily attainable. Your worst enemies (mechanics / engineers) as a powerglove traitor start with them and there are plenty of spares in mechanics / engineering.
Having them being a hard counter is extremely crippling to a weapon that already has reliability issues, especially if we compare it to another, equally priced traitor weapon: the cloaker.

At 7 telecrystals the cloaker allows anyone complete immunity against anything that is not:
  • People equipped with thermals (hard counter)
  • Random, lucky shots with tasers
  • AI cameras
  • Slippery things
The powergloves share the last three weaknesses as well, but as I stated above, their hard counter is different and a lot more readily available.

As such, I'd like to propose to remove or significantly reduce the insulated gloves' immunity to the power gloves. I believe this would make them a lot more of a viable choice than they are today, without making them unstoppable, as described above.

Now, after such a rant, I want to say that I love the powergloves, because they are BEEFY and a whole lot of fun to use. I think they're good when I don't feel like taking an invisible toolbox to the stations' collective heads, but instead don the mantle of The Emperor, Lorde of the Shith.

My apologies for being longwinded, but I really wanted to make a proper case for this, instead of simply stating "buff pls".
What do you all think about this? Does it make sense? Anything you'd like to add or detract?

TL;DR
The powergloves are completely stopped in their tracks by insulated gloves, on top of already being situational and tricky to use properly. This is terrible, please remove this immunity.
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#2
I like the gloves fine the way they are, but you also make some good points. I wouldn't mind seeing a minor decrease in telecrystal price for them.
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#3
I think the insulated gloves immunity should definitely be removed, it makes no sense and isn't even internally consistent (APC lightning will hurt you insulated gloves or no). If a compensation is needed (and I don't particularly think it is, it's not like you cannot deal with a Power Glove wielder without insulated gloves) then increase the telecrystal cost to 10 (I believe it is currently 7?).
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#4
Make the power gloves disintegrate people that you punch at high power, make insulated gloves protect you from the long range shocks but not the melee ones.


Also the powergloves should absorb taser shots because you are literally firing lightning from your hands like Mighty Zeus, king of the gods, and you getting shocked yourself is dumb. Tasers and batons should only increase your power.
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#5
Dauntasa Wrote:Make the power gloves disintegrate people that you punch at high power, make insulated gloves protect you from the long range shocks but not the melee ones.
If the insulated gloves have to offer some protection I'm alright with this idea.
Yodle van der Mechanic casually catches the lightning in his hand! Wow!
Darth Pubbie punches Yodle van der Mechanic in the face!
Yodle van der Mechanic explodes in a shower of sparks! Shocking!

Dauntasa Wrote:Also the powergloves should absorb taser shots because you are literally firing lightning from your hands like Mighty Zeus, king of the gods, and you getting shocked yourself is dumb. Tasers and batons should only increase your power.

On one hand, I agree with you; it really doesn't make sense, but on the other hand, I think this would actually make them overpowered, rendering the engine the only feasible way of stopping the traitor and also discouraging anyone from trying to fight said traitor ("Stop running! I want to zap you!").

I do have kind of mixed feelings towards the powergloves granting arc flash immunity, however. Personally I kind of feel like it's the risk you have to take if you're going to hotwire that infernal machine and try to harness its powers. However, you already have a device that channels massive amounts of power through your feet and out through your fingertips. If anything, getting arc flashed should give the powergloves a charge to use on the go (that would be a lot weaker than what you'd get from a live wire).

When all's said and done, however, I don't think the gloves need anything other than being able to zap people wearing insulated gloves to be an amazing weapon. Giving it any sort of immunity to sec weapons would make it a long-distance artistic toolbox, and I don't think it would be too much fun trying to fight such a thing.
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#6
Why not give the immunity to stun gloves instead. (I'm pretty sure stun gloves are still around)

Rubber gloves could give some protection from shocks, but it makes more sense that gloves + wires would offer more protection then just gloves.

Plus it would kind of be awesome to use the traitor electricians lightning against them.
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#7
Wouldn't rubber just cause the projected lightning bolt from power gloves to arc around them (typically to the body of the wearer)? I thought it was that rubber doesn't conduct electricity because it has no free charge carriers, ie, it can't conduct electricity but it doesn't act as a ground.

What if insulated gloves just gave a chance for the lightning to rebound harmlessly to another target like how it normally bounces.
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#8
While powergloves could be made to cost a few TC less...

Powergloves work on disarm intent too. And they stun people wearing insulated gloves just fine.
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#9
Had the opportunity to give them another shot today...

Clarks Wrote:While powergloves could be made to cost a few TC less...

Powergloves work on disarm intent too.
They do. Regular old disarm, nothing new, nothing flashy and nothing exciting.

Clarks Wrote:And they stun people wearing insulated gloves just fine.
What? How?
I hit a guy wearing gloves with a 4 MW blast and he shrugs it off with a "cool fireworks" kind of air. I try disarming him repeatedly, only to be mocked by the RNG gods and looking like a fool.

I punch him, while on top of a live wire, mind, and it's a regular old punch.

Am I missing something here? confused
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#10
Spy_Guy Wrote:Had the opportunity to give them another shot today...

Clarks Wrote:Powergloves work on disarm intent too.
They do. Regular old disarm, nothing new, nothing flashy and nothing exciting.


Am I missing something here? confused

You need to be farther away than melee range to zap your target, obviously.
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#11
Does a zap on disarm stun people instead of destroying them? Are gloveusers not immune to that zap?
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