Alt-Fire Mod Slot

[Soulrift]

Basic idea: create a new mod slot for weapons similar to the Aura mod slot on Warframes that only takes special alt-fire mods. These mods unlock special alternate combat features on weapons and give players a new strategic choice: which alt-fire to equip?

 

Implementation

 

Weapons would gain a new mod slot off to the left side, just like the Aura slot for Frames. This slot would have the same " polarity as warframe abilities, because alt-fire mods would be unique to specific weapons or weapon families, much like warframe abilities are limited to specific warframes. Because of this narrower restriction you wouldn't need to limit certain alt-fires by polarity the way Auras are limited by polarity, as each Aura can be used by any Frame.

 

A new button would be added to the control config: alt-fire. The button affects the currently selected primary or secondary weapon. This button would work slightly differently based on two categories of alt-fire mods: toggle mods and use mods.

 

Toggle mods refer to alt-fires that toggle the weapon function, such as toggling between full-auto and 3-round burst. Pushing the alt-fire button would toggle the weapon mode, and then regular fire would change how it works based on the toggle.

 

Use mods refer to alt-fires that provide an alternate function, such as firing a grenade underslung on a rifle. Pushing the alt-fire button would fire the secondary effect, whereas regular fire would retain its typical functioning.

 

For Melee Weapons the alt-fire function would be achieved by holding guard and making a melee attack.

 

 

Point balancing

 

One of the big advantages of Auras in Frames is that it gives you some initial power points to spent on mods while a Frame is still unranked. One of the big problems with weapons currently is that they are next to useless when unranked and must be leveled up in order to fit a few key mods before they become viable. By adding an alt-fire slot that generates points like an Aura, unranked weapons can be modded with a few key mods so players can get going right away.

 

One of the interesting possibilities introduced by this scenario is that the selection of alt-fire could also affect the number of points available. A somewhat weaker alt-fire might cost more, giving players more points for other mods, whereas a more exciting alt-fire might give fewer points to distribute elsewhere. Devs could certainly play around with giving much more different values from alt-fires than they currently do with Auras in order to better balance this system.

 

Advanced concept: The additional mod points from alt-fire also opens up the possibility of extending weapons to 10 slots instead of 8. This would certainly alleviate stress on weapons by giving players opportunity to slot in a wider variety of mods, and also opens the possibility of mods that specifically affect alt-fire modes.

 

 

Example ideas

 

Jat Kittag:

Jet Rush When used, the weapon is held vertically with the weapon head on the ground. The player jumps on and fires it, rushing forward, knocking enemies out of the way.

 

Jet Launch When used, the weapon is thrust forward into an enemy, then the jet is fired and the enemy is launched up into the air.

 

Acrid:

Mind Toxin Hold the alt-fire button to charge. Fires a dart that mind controls the target (similar to the Nyx ability) but otherwise deals no damage. Weapon has a moderate cooldown after use during which the player cannot shoot or change weapon.

 

Virulent Contagion When toggled on, each shot consumes two ammo instead of one, and fire rate decreases to half. However, enemies hit take a dot that spreads to other nearby enemies.

 

Synapse:

Ball Lightning Hold the alt-fire button to charge. Fires a moderate-speed ball lightning that flies forward and zaps nearby enemies as it flies past. Ball explodes when it hits something. Shoot the ball to make it explode prematurely and cause it to deal extra damage (like the ASMD Shock Rifle).

 

Shocking Touch When toggled on, regular fire charges up to 10 rounds rather than firing them. When released, the bolt of lightning deals more damage and can travel much farther, enabling long-range sniping.

 

Fang/Fang Prime:

Sixty Four Needle Seal Hold guard, then press attack to initiate this technique. The player stabs twice, once with each dagger, dealing minimal damage but slow-time-staggering the target in place momentarily. The player's daggers flash after both blows are dealt: press attack again at just that moment to make two more attacks, keeping the enemy stunned in place. Another flash, next attack is four thrusts, fourth attack is eight thrusts, fifth attack is sixteen thrusts, and the final sixth attack is thirty-two thrusts. Although this technique deals minimal damage, the enemy remains stunned throughout its duration, allowing allies to take advantage of the opportunity to deal lots of damage.

 

Expose Weakness When toggled on, attacks deal no damage, but each hit places a target marker similar to Banshee's Sonar power. Attacks on these points, either from the Fang with the power turned off, or with another weapon, or by another player, deal large bonus damage.

 

Glaive/Glaive Prime:

Translocate This power can only be activated while the glaive is in flight. You teleport to the glaive's current location rather than wait for it to come back. If you use this power exactly at the time it is in contact with an enemy, you teleport into that enemy, telefragging it.

 

Whirling Orbit When toggled on, glaive's ranged attack whirls a few times around the player and returns to their hand, rather than being thrown forward.

 

Penta:

Prox Mines When toggled on, regular shots lose most of their bounce. A second after they stop moving, grenades become proximity mines, exploding when an enemy gets near. You can still only have five grenades in the world, and clicking zoom DISARMS all exiting mines, rather than detonating them (but allowing you to shoot again). Toggling between modes disarms any existing grenades/mines.

 

Pentacide Can only be fired when you have at least 5 rounds in the magazine. Press alt-fire and you aim Penta up into the air, shooting five grenades at the same time diagonally up and out in all directions.

 

Ogris:

Homing Missile When fired, your camera moves to follow your missile. You can fly it around, but your frame remains motionless. Click fire to detonate it prematurely, otherwise home it in on your target! If you take any damage while homing, you immediately lose control over the missile and return to normal perspective.

 

Cluster Bombs When toggled on, the rocket you fire no longer deals explosive damage (but still deals impact damage). Instead, when it hits something, four cluster bombs are fired off in random directions, which explode on contact for a fraction of the normal Ogris damage (similar to shotgun pellets).

 

Supra:

Assault Stance When toggled on, you become immobile and cannot move and can only turn in a 120 degree arc. However, Supra's spread is considerably reduced (accuracy increased) and projectile speed increases a lot. As long as the player's shields absorb damage, they can maintain the stance, but if shields are breached the player is knocked down and shield recovery is delayed. There is a notable animation entering and exiting assault stance, during which the player is very vulnerable.

 

Energy Siphon Hold alt-fire to deploy an energy siphon from Supra: a big energy funnel that sucks in enemy bullets. Sucked in enemy bullets add to your ammo count, but the more ammo your absorb, the hotter Supra gets. If the player absorbs more ammo then their maximum capacity, Supra explodes, deals large damage to the player, and all clip + ammo is reduced to zero.

 

Kunai/Despair:

Recover Blades When you press alt-fire you leap a short distance to the nearest living target that was last hit by your throwing blades. You rip the blades out of the target, dealing all the damage a second time and recovering the ammo. Only works on targets still alive (you can't recover from dead targets) and sufficiently close to you.

 

Blade Barrier When toggled on, you charge while holding the fire button, then upon release throw a wide arc of blades.

 

 

Post your ideas for alt-fires!

[SleepyPip]

I like it, yep

[(PSN)LoneWolfSpy]

Love the idea, especially for the Kunai/Despair.

[Luxylol]

Basic idea: create a new mod slot for weapons similar to the Aura mod slot on Warframes that only takes special alt-fire mods. These mods unlock special alternate combat features on weapons and give players a new strategic choice: which alt-fire to equip?

 

 

 

Melee weapons are getting a new slot for alternate Fighting styles with Melee 2.0

[baron1357]

i see nothing wrong with this

[SleepyPip]

Melee weapons are getting a new slot for alternate Fighting styles with Melee 2.0

 

His idea is for secondaries/primaries

[Luxylol]

His idea is for secondaries/primaries

 

 

Jat Kittag:

Jet Rush When used, the weapon is held vertically with the weapon head on the ground. The player jumps on and fires it, rushing forward, knocking enemies out of the way.

 

Jet Launch When used, the weapon is thrust forward into an enemy, then the jet is fired and the enemy is launched up into the air.

 

 

Jat Kittag is a Melee weapon

[OptimumBow0]

Sir, your proposal for the Glaive just melts my heart with joy.

[SleepyPip]

Well, melee could be put on stand-by till' Melee 2.0 to see how it works?

[Soulrift]

Melee weapons are getting a new slot for alternate Fighting styles with Melee 2.0

 

His idea is for secondaries/primaries

 

My idea was meant for both primary, secondary, and melee. As I'm not privy to Melee 2.0 plans, I came up with my suggestion based on what's currently in game. If they're working on something similar for Melee 2.0, maybe they can review my suggestions and expand their plans to all weapons, including expanding the scope of current Melee 2.0 plans?

[OptimumBow0]

Gorgon/Cestra/Weaponry with Wind-ups in general

 

Overheat - When activated, bullets will deal slightly more damage and fire at a faster rate, but the wind-up is somewhat lengthened to warm up the barrel, and reload time as well is increased.

[Nadhua]

nice ideas so far

[MechaTails]

I like the slot idea, I wouldn't get that "fancy" with the abilities though. Let's look at the Supra-

 

Assault Stance is unnecessarily "complicated". Why would your shields be involved? If we're giving the weapons abilities, then let's have them focus on modifying the weapons, not the warframe. I think a simpler idea would be: Keep the immobility idea; Lower fire rate; Raise accuracy; Raise projectile speed; Projectiles are more powerful. (I imagine it can be explained as if the bullets get charged a little before they're launched, resulting in more powerful bullets and lower fire rate)

 

The Energy Siphon ability makes no sense for the Supra lol. I'm not a stickler for logic in video games but that ammo-sucking-exploding thing is just a "WTF?" kind of ability.

 

The Translocate idea for the Glaive seems way too random, seems better suited as a warframe ability.

 

The Whirling glaive ability is what I suggested a while ago for the Kestrel because it happens as a bug sometimes lol. It makes sense (sort of), looks cool, and helps keep mobs off your back. The variation I would make though is that if used with the Glaive, hits would deal damage, but if used with the Kestrel hit enemies would get ragdolled or stunned instead.

 

The Expose Weakness ability would be suited for all daggers.

 

Anyway, I like the idea in general, just feel sorry for the animation guys lol.

Edited March 23, 2014 by DarkTails

[Daemon-of-Dirt]

I really like this idea. 

[notionphil]

i love the concept of alt fire....but i dont get the implementation.

 

It's a mod slot, so each weapon has their own unique alt-fire mods? You know there are 100+ weapons...so you'd suggest adding 100 x 2 mods to the drop table, and designing 100 x 2 new firing mechanisms?

[MechaTails]

i love the concept of alt fire....but i dont get the implementation.

 

It's a mod slot, so each weapon has their own unique alt-fire mods? You know there are 100+ weapons...so you'd suggest adding 100 x 2 mods to the drop table, and designing 100 x 2 new firing mechanisms?

 

I think it's just another slot like the aura slot in which you would place your preferred alt-fire.

 

To cut down the workload, it would probably make more sense to give general types of weapons the same choices, as in all daggers get the same alt mods, all fist weapons get the same alt mods. This would be kinda lame when you get to cool things like the Prova/Plasma Sword/Heat Sword/etc. though, giving those generic alt abilities would be disappointing.

 

Also, there could simply be 1 alt fire ability for each group of weapons.

 

And at that point why bother making it a mod ability (and eliminate the ridiculous loot pool bloating and workload), you might as well just make it a "stance" type option innate to every weapon.

Edited March 24, 2014 by DarkTails

[locojuan]

most of your ideas seem very viable. and i believe that the new focus sistem could use most of it. i.e: xp gained from a lvl 30 weapon would add points to said weapon's focus pool. more points you get, more powerful the stance. keep getting points, a new stance is available. the limit for the amount of focus points could be based on mastery rank.

there might be some good material here.

what do you think DE?

[notionphil]

I think it's just another slot like the aura slot in which you would place your preferred alt-fire.

 

To cut down the workload, it would probably make more sense to give general types of weapons the same choices, as in all daggers get the same alt mods, all fist weapons get the same alt mods. This would be kinda lame when you get to cool things like the Prova/Plasma Sword/Heat Sword/etc. though, giving those generic alt abilities would be disappointing.

 

Also, there could simply be 1 alt fire ability for each group of weapons.

 

And at that point why bother making it a mod ability (and eliminate the ridiculous loot pool bloating and workload), you might as well just make it a "stance" type option innate to every weapon.

Now you get it ;)

[Soulrift]

I think this system is intentionally flexible enough for both broad and narrow alt-fire categories, just like there are broad rifle mods and narrow arrow mods all in the same "rifle" category of mods. Some weapons might have fewer choices of alt-fires, but in the end that gives a flexible and malleable system that lets you apply some things to wide categories to save work and still offer some things to narrower categories.

 

EG: you might come up with an alt-fire that works for all bladed weapons, a different alt-fire that works with all daggers (both single and twin), as well as a narrower alt-fire that only works for twin daggers, and an even narrower alt-fire that only works for Fang Prime. Fang Prime would be able to use all four of these, whereas Dark Dagger would only get the first two (but might have others that Fang Prime doesn't).

 

As far as distributing them, there's two options: either they be distributed like current mods (and risk further diluting the mod loot pools) or distributed in a similar way to Warframe Ability mods after they are removed from the loot pools (and risk losing rarity as a factor in chosing alt-fire mods). That's certainly a concern, but I don't know the best way to solve it. Hopefully someone else has a good idea?

[Soulrift]

Hmm, I wonder if specific alt-fires could be another means of "buffing" weapons. I see a lot of complaints about this or that weapon needing a buff; why not give it a unique alt-fire to enhance its desirability rather than just buffing its stats?

[AXCrusnik]

Could be interesting... but if each weapon has at least 2 unique alt fire mods then.. that's a lot of work for them to do.

 

Also I I figured for activating melee's alt-fire. R would make better use than Block (hold) > Attack. (Melee 2.0 will include the ability to equip your melee, so R wouldn't be reloading a gun. It would just be blank unless used for combos or something... like alt-fire)

[ZayTM]

Tough to implement, most likely. I mean, really tough. So many new animations, data, testing...

But actually a really cool idea. Something like this is going to be implemented in Melee 2.0, but it's a really cool idea to bring it to secondaries/primaries too. And many of your ideas look solid and sound pretty rad.

 

Good job, OP

[MeduSalem]

Eventually stances or conditional damage mods for guns + dedicated mod slots will be unavoidable as solution for the current build problems...

[VergilDT]

Someone get this man a cookie!, or a medal, yes! All the medals!