Neat idea/s for launchers to make them more interesting.

[(XBOX)Architect Prime]

I was thinkin' maybe reduce the range of the of explosions and beams at base. BUT certain conditions increase the range dramatically. Let's say an explosion that takes place by collision with the ground is the weakest. Exploding in the air is ~30& more range. explosion via hitting the enemy with the projectile +50%ish range. Is this starting to paint a picture? So if your Bramma had the reduced 6m of range at base, and you detonated the shot in the air with the alt fire, you'd get 7.8 blast radius, which is barely less than the normal shot currently. HOWEVER, if you hit the target directly, the blast would be 9m, which is 0.7m greater than base. You see where I'm going with this?

Now running on the assumption of the reduced base range across the board. Make Galvanized Firestorm mod (exilus): +5% blast radius on headshot stacks 18 times 3.5 seconds per stack for 11.4 meter bonus. If you hit the target directly, the range with full stacks would be a whopping 17.1m. In the scenario without the changes to base range mentioned in the above paragraph, it would be more like - blast radius +blast radius stacks # of times # seconds per stack. Since weapons launchers can get the headshots by above-head detonations, the headshot stipulation might need to be on "direct headshot".

So this might seem like a nerf or a buff. I don't think it's either really. It simply adds reward for actually aiming explosive powerhouses as an alternative to nerfing these weapons into lame-ness. The numbers don't need to be exactly that, but I thought it was somewhat balanced. 

[(PSN)haphazardlynamed]

I'm not liking the idea of Variable Range on launchers. I think Consistency is important for AoE, both for being able to reliably target enemies, as well as for player safety and knowing exactly what the safe distance is to avoid getting caught in your own blast.

 

However, you could take the concept of rewarding Aim in other directions, such as Reload Speed, or Ammo Efficiency.

 

The Tonkor, with its Precision Strike augment is great fun. Rewards direct hits with much faster reloads. I wouldn't mind this mechanic on other launchers.

[Tiltskillet]

13 minutes ago, (PSN)haphazardlynamed said:

I'm not liking the idea of Variable Range on launchers.  I think Consistency is important for AoE, both for being able to reliably target enemies, as well as for player safety and knowing exactly what the safe distance is to avoid getting caught in your own blast.

Exactly this.  I guess if I were going to suggest a special direct hit bonus mechanic, it would be fall off reduction.  So, hit an enemy with the projectile, get better fall-off on the radial damage.

However, one easy way to better reward aim with launchers is to just build on the ways we do already.  So, the obvious one: make projectile damage a larger component of their overall damage.  

But fall off mechanics already reward aim too.  So... increase the damage close to impact but have it drop off more steeply the further away it gets.  For example, Tonkor radial damage is currently:

100% damage up to 0 m
70% damage at 7.0 m
30% max reduction

...change that to something like...

100% damage up to 1.4 m (20% of the max range, so increased by Firestorm to 2.3m)
40% damage at 7.0 m
60% max reduction

Numbers are just placeholder, really.

 

[(XBOX)Architect Prime]

1 hour ago, Tiltskillet said:

However, one easy way to better reward aim with launchers is to just build on the ways we do already.  So, the obvious one: make projectile damage a larger component of their overall damage.  

But fall off mechanics already reward aim too.  So... increase the damage close to impact but have it drop off more steeply the further away it gets.  For example, Tonkor radial damage is currently:

So one makes the blast radius huge, but compensate with fall off. Then the fall off is variable instead of range perhaps? 

[Tiltskillet]

37 minutes ago, (XBOX)Architect Prime said:

 Then the fall off is variable instead of range perhaps? 

That was the first suggestion, yeah.  It accomplishes the same general goal, but without variable maximum range / stagger range.

I like the last idea better though: having a small area of 100% damage but with steeper fall off.  Rewards aim, makes radial damage at short range more effective, limits long range radial damage a bit, and  does it all without adding a new mechanic.

Direct hits aren't specifically rewarded,  but I'm not sure there's a need.  If there is, just increase the advantage they already get  by improving projectile stats.