Weapon degradation thoughts.

[Thirdthorpe 87]

    Hello all,

 

Being that I'm new to the forums I would just like to clarify that I understand the game is in early stages of development and I hope I'm not reiterating anything that has already been suggested. That being said after playing for a couple dozen hours I had a few thoughts. It seems obvious that the game is intending to create a feeling of tension and suspense for a player and being an avid gun enthusiast (no tacti-cool weapons in this house, just common sense hunting rifles and shotguns) in real life I was thinking of some things that might increase that feeling of suspense; a system for weapon misfires based on weapon and ammo condition. I do keep a home defense weapon (I live on the outskirts of Detroit, it has some real similarities to Dayz sometimes) and the greatest concern I have with that weapon is the thought of needing to use it and having a misfire because of a dirty gun or bad ammo. I think because of the nature of this game it is a feeling or concept that could be brilliantly implemented.

 

First a system for ammo degradation based on the starting quality of the rounds. Quite simply put, there are good types of rounds out there such as target match rounds, and there are really bad types of rounds out there such as the bulk economy rounds. A simple way of implementing this would just be the starting condition of the round; a target match brand could start as "pristine" and be somewhat more difficult to find while other ammos could run the gambit of "worn" to "damaged" and be much more common. From here the round's condition would degrade based on exposure to conditions such as water. For example if you have a box of .45 rounds in your pocket and decide to go for a swim, this could reduce the overall condition of the bullets or if you simply leave bullets in your pack and go romping around through the rain for hours on end this could also EVENTUALLY reduce bullet quality, though at a much slower rate.

 

Now, the quality of the round would have a certain percent chance for weapon misfire each time you pull the trigger. Pristine rounds would have a tremendously low chance such as .05% (.0005) while damaged round would be much higher such as 5% (.05). During my time in game I have found water-proof boxes which would be a terrific way to preserve the condition of "defense rounds" or bullets you can count on when you need them.

 

The second part would directly relate to your weapon's condition. It would roughly be the same concept where a pristine weapon has a very small chance to misfire while a damaged weapon would have a higher (say 5% again) chance. By itself 5% doesn't seem like much of a chance to misfire, but a damaged rifle (5%) paired with damaged rounds (5%) would add up to a total 10% chance of misfire. That means there is a 1 in 10 chance that when you need it most your weapon will go "click" instead of "bang".

 

The third idea I had regarding this was salvaging parts off a similar gun. Lets say you have a worn Mosin and come across another worn Mosin (this is a funny concept because while they aren't known for their incredible accuracy, Mosin's are somewhat renowned for being harder than a T-rex's turd to break). If you have a screw-driver in your inventory you can break down one of the Mosins into its basic weapon parts similar to what happens with m4's. Stock, barrel, receiver, magazine, bolt; each with its own condition. You could then pick and choose the parts you want to keep or change out bringing your myosin's overall condition back up to pristine. The same concept could be done for any weapon. There could also be "conditional" problems for your weapon. Say you've been crawling around the beach trying to flank around someone, you've now opened yourself to a dirty/sandy weapon which adds a 2% chance to misfire until you use a weapon cleaning kit. Lets say you're firing from the water, there's another % chance to misfire.

[Thirdthorpe 87]

The 10/22 should at least have a chance to misfire as rimfire rounds are perhaps the most unreliable type of round on the market.

[EdwinJ714 0]

Love the idea, you sir... can have my beans.

[Thirdthorpe 87]

Eventually firing a weapon would increase your chance of misfires in real life but whatever. This was just a random thought I had a long time ago. Truthfully I can't believe the concept of misfires has never been implemented in a game before.

[AnyoneInCherno? 187]

I like the idea of jams. It shouldnt just say "MUH GUN IS JAMMED" in the little helpful hints corner. You should visibly see( on certain guns) the bolt stuck back with a bullet(almost) out.

[TheScruffyBandit 382]

Eventually firing a weapon would increase your chance of misfires in real life but whatever. This was just a random thought I had a long time ago. Truthfully I can't believe the concept of misfires has never been implemented in a game before.

It has. Farcry 2 and Stalker both have misfire mechanics.

[Thirdthorpe 87]

I played the daylights out of STALKER and don't remember that. Was it the original stalker or one of the sequals? And I tried Farcry and could just never get into it.

On a side note, how did the concept play out? Did it add anything other than frustration to the game? Was there a system behind it to mitigate its chances of happening or did it just kind of happen at random?

[TheScruffyBandit 382]

I played the daylights out of STALKER and don't remember that. Was it the original stalker or one of the sequals? And I tried Farcry and could just never get into it.

On a side note, how did the concept play out? Did it add anything other than frustration to the game? Was there a system behind it to mitigate its chances of happening or did it just kind of happen at random?

If you kept your weapons in good repair, it was very unlikely to happen so it's hardly surprising that you didn't notice it.

 

In farcry 2 it was very poorly done, to the point where enemy weapons would never jam regardless of condition, until you picked them up and they'd explode in your hand.

 

In stalker, it was better applied and gave you a good reason to avoid certain weapons and select weapons in good states of repair. For example the trs 301 and l85a1 would begin at a higher state of repair than an ak74.

 

http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/Durability for more info on the durability and misfire mechanics in stalker games.

Edited April 12, 2014 by TheScruffyBandit

[Thirdthorpe 87]

Beans to you, good sir.

[willhelm 85]

I feel you wrote more in this topic than I did in my entire english essay

[Thirdthorpe 87]

Lol I generally try not to be so long winded. My bad.

TL;DR : if weapon condition and bullet condition is poor then you have a chance to misfire.