Change to ammo management/loot structure

[agibbo@hotmail.com 9]

Just a thought on a change to ammo mechanics that would make looting more complex.

Treat ammo in a similar way to water bottles. Players can locate magazines in the usual locations but the majority of the time the mags are empty. The players then have to locate ammo boxes (either the crates or small boxes).

The ammo is carried separately and the user needs to refil their mags out of equiped ammo boxes or ones they access on the ground). Once ammo counting is working correctly (i.e. no auto clip refils etc) then this will add an additional dynamic for players to only really need to find and carry 3-5 mags that are compatible with their favorite weapon.

The focus then becomes hunting for the right caliber ammo boxes (standard ammo in supermarkets and other residential buildings while nato and other military ammo in deer stands, barracks etc)

Once you fire all bullets in a mag instead of it disappearing from your inventory it is listed as an empty mag

thoughts?

Edited July 11, 2012 by PsychoChicken

[mind_grenade 24]

This ^ Definitely +1, I'd love to see how this would pan out. It would get rid of all the "recombine" commands, and make guns like the FAL usable after you run out of ammo from the crash site even though you have DMR mags with NATO rounds sitting in them that you can't use.

[Duckman404 37]

This would work great if it was possible, but there's another function that this system would definitely need to have if it's going for the realistic ammo management side of things.

That is, being able to use different ammo sources to refill others.

For example, using an M1911 mag with one round left to refill a mag with 6 left over: this would give one empty and one full magazine, and the player could discard the empty one.

Another example is the 100 round M240 belt: you could use that to top up DMR or FAL magazines, and vice versa; you could take the rounds from DMR or FAL mags and add them to the M240 belt.

This would also mean that stupid scenarios such as the G17 using M9 magazines, or the PDW using MP5 magazines, can be removed. PDW mags could just be refilled from MP5, G17, or M9 mags.

Edited July 11, 2012 by Duckman404

[IzYouFaggot 4]

Agreed

[The Cursed Red Baron 6]

+1 i guess that's what a lot of people are thinking about

[mistick93rus 0]

Topic starter is reading my minds ) This is a great idea, but also I think that mags must to be hard to find. I mean not really-hard-to-find-like-nvg-and-gps but still. So mags will be very important of the gameplay, just like real mags for real firearms.

Edited July 11, 2012 by MisticK93RUS

[Chutney 6]

I like this idea, I was about the make a post similar to this, with a few extra ideas.

You should be able to find loose bullets as well as ammo boxes. For example, you can find a small amount loose bullets, say 1-8, that can stack up 25, then top of this you can a ammo box (ammo specific) that can hold 50 bullets, found with anywhere between 0 -50 bullets in it and it takes up one spot in your gear. The loose bullets can be loaded into the box to save space and/or then loaded into empty magazines. This idea could just be adding an extra level of nothingness but I feel it will give a greater range of items to scavenge for and add to the whole what to keep and what to drop dilemma.

As for where to find loose bullets/ammo boxes/magazines I would suggest that you have a small chance of finding them around the destroyed military vehicles that are in most towns, as I could imagine soldiers dropping ammo/mags as they are frantically loading guns while being overrun.

On the point of magazines you could have gun specific ones (Glock takes a Glock magazine with 9mm ammo) or calibre specific magazines of different capacity (9mm guns take Glock, M9, PDW and MP5 magazines with 9mm ammo) ? This last part is me just spit balling/rambling at the end of the post.

[urspider2018@gmail.com 109]

This would be a great idea, +1 definitely.

[Duckman404 37]

I like this idea, I was about the make a post similar to this, with a few extra ideas.

You should be able to find loose bullets as well as ammo boxes. For example, you can find a small amount loose bullets, say 1-8, that can stack up 25, then top of this you can a ammo box (ammo specific) that can hold 50 bullets, found with anywhere between 0 -50 bullets in it and it takes up one spot in your gear. The loose bullets can be loaded into the box to save space and/or then loaded into empty magazines. This idea could just be adding an extra level of nothingness but I feel it will give a greater range of items to scavenge for and add to the whole what to keep and what to drop dilemma.

As for where to find loose bullets/ammo boxes/magazines I would suggest that you have a small chance of finding them around the destroyed military vehicles that are in most towns, as I could imagine soldiers dropping ammo/mags as they are frantically loading guns while being overrun.

On the point of magazines you could have gun specific ones (Glock takes a Glock magazine with 9mm ammo) or calibre specific magazines of different capacity (9mm guns take Glock, M9, PDW and MP5 magazines with 9mm ammo) ? This last part is me just spit balling/rambling at the end of the post.

Being able to find loose ammo would be quite nice, and I imagine it'd make carrying things like additional pistol ammo less of a burden; in your backpack you could have a single box of 50 9mm rounds, rather than a whole bunch of M9 magazines taking up space.

For magazines, I'm leaning heavily towards gun specific magazines, unless those mags are compatible with other weapons. For example, the M14 or DMR mag would not work in the FAL, even though they're both 20 round 7.62x51 NATO mags. Same goes for the M9 and G17: one mag just does not fit in the other. I'm pretty sure the curved shape of an MP5 mag would make it impossible to fit in a PDW's grip, too.

Oh, and I wouldn't mind seeing SD ammo be cleared up: The MP5SD does not need special subsonic 9mm ammo, it is designed to use normal 9mm NATO and reduce its velocity with a ported barrel. Same with the Bizon: 9x18mm Makarov is already subsonic, it doesn't need an SD variant.

[Chutney 6]

how about being able to remove ammo from from a DMR or M14 clip to use in you FAL then just drop the empty mag and be on your way.

[Duckman404 37]

how about being able to remove ammo from from a DMR or M14 clip to use in you FAL then just drop the empty mag and be on your way.

That's what I suggested in my first post in this thread, since it's what any sensible person would do in a survival situation.

[Chutney 6]

ahh so you did, missed that part.

+1 to that

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

Just to top this off, as i like the idea ...

What about then finding different KINDS of ammo, and with this i mean:

- Hollow tip

- Tracer Rounds

- Armor piercing

- Normal rounds ofcourse ;)

- And perhaps even blanks...

This is kind of already somewhat the case with shotgun ammo (pellets, slugs), but if ammo is seperated from clips one could load an assortment of different bullits in a clip and if you know your combination you can use them in different ways. While at the same time each of these rounds could have different impacts...

Edited July 12, 2012 by L0GIN

[Duckman404 37]

Just to top this off, as i like the idea ...

What about then finding different KINDS of ammo, and with this i mean:

- Hollow tip

- Tracer Rounds

- Armor piercing

- Normal rounds ofcourse ;)

- And perhaps even blanks...

This is kind of already somewhat the case with shotgun ammo (pellets, slugs), but if ammo is seperated from clips one could load an assortment of different bullits in a clip and if you know your combination you can use them in different ways. While at the same time each of these rounds could have different impacts...

>Clip

It's magazine, mate ;)

I like the idea you've got, although staggering loads is probably well beyond something that ARMA 2 can handle.

Having magazines loaded with different types of rounds would be pretty cool, though. Maybe there could even be rubber bullets, to knock out targets rather than killing them.

Most military ammo would be Ball; FMJ, solid core

Armour piercing would be the next most common for military rounds

Jacketed Hollowpoint would be the common theme for hunting rounds, and I imagine the .45 ACP rounds would likely be JHP as well. 9x19mm would be a mix of the two.

Tracer rounds aren't all that common for light infantry weapons, but for LMGs, DMRs, and perhaps the .50 caliber rifles, they'd be useful for shooting at range.

Not sure how useful blanks would be, but I suppose it'd at least scare someone...

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

I like the rubber bullit thing, forgot about those :) ... seeing people asked for 'non lethal' weapons, the rubber bullit would be great for 'friendlies' in the current DayZ world, shoot first put a bandage in their backpack later :)

And blanks, you would obviously use them to draw in some zombies, so you can loot them, i guess other items would work for this as well (i have used flare to great success) ... but it's also for the following situation: you are entirely out of ammo, and you enter a building, you see the ammo on the ground, and jump in joy, only to find out they are blanks as you pick them up ;)

Edited July 12, 2012 by L0GIN