Ammo System Revamp

[MrPeaches777]

Hello, all! First off I want to thank the devs for making WarFrame and being so responsive to the player base.  Today I’m going to address the issue of Ammo carrying capacity for rifles and pistols.

 

Honestly, from a gameplay perspective I think this is one of the biggest problems right now. What am I actually talking about? I’m talking about the disparity between the amount of damage that a weapon is capable of doing over the course of a mission. This disparity comes from having nearly identical amounts of ammo for both slow fire-rate/high-damage-per-shot weapons and high fire-rate/low-damage-per-shot-weapons. I’ll break it down so you know what I’m talking about.

 

 

 

Stats with system as is.  TDP = Total Damage Potential  //  DPshot = Damage-Per-Shot

(Assuming all start with 540 rounds in reserve, which all my experience shows is the case and all references are taken without mods and unranked)

 

Brakata: 180 DPS -- 9 DPshot * 600 rounds : TDP 5,400 + 180 per pickup

 

Mk1-Braton: 100.8 DPS -- 16 DPshot * 600 rounds : TDP 9,600 + 320 per pickup

 

Braton: 192.1 DPS -- 17 DPshot * 585 rounds : TDP 9,945 + 340 per pickup

 

Boltor: 158.4 DPS -- 18 DPshot * 600 rounds : TDP 10,800 + 360 per pickup

 

Burston:  ---- DPS -- 21 DPshot * 585 rounds : TDP 12,285 + 420 per pickup

 

Gorgon: 300 DPS -- 24 DPshot * 630 rounds : TDP 15,120 + 480 per pickup

 

Latron: 151.2 DPS -- 36 DPshot * 555 rounds : TDP 19,980 + 720 per pickup

 

 

 

As you can see there is a very large difference between the lowest and highest in this list. You would need to refill your ammo almost 3 times with the Brakata to equal the same damage output as the Latron. I don’t know about you but I would say that is an issue. The way this issue can be resolved is with an ammo system revamp.

 

Right now there is a flat rate for starting ammo in each class of weapon (Rifles, shotguns, snipers, and pistols). The pick-ups are also the same, getting 20 rounds for both rifles and pistols. Now, getting 20 rounds for the Grakata will give you about 180 more damage potential and is equal to 1/3 of a clip. Now compare that to the Latron where you will get about 720 more damage potential and is equal to an entire 1 and 1/3 mag. This will most likely lead to NEVER running out of ammo with the Latron (I have never even come close, even when fighting bosses with no ammo mods), infinite ammo seems kind of OP right? Now if we look at weapons like the Grakata and even the Bratons, where you will be constantly searching for ammo and switching to your sidearm trying to conserve ammo for when you really need it. This leads to a play style change from the player, and this is where the real problem is. 

 

Any player who chooses to get the Brakata or Braton is one that wants to fill people lead and be fast and furious about it, but the lack of ammo can force a player to change from his/her preferred play style limiting the way the game can be played. This makes each one of those blood thirsty Tenno have to make small precise bursts to make every shot count and that’s not what anyone with a bullet-hose wants to do. It defeats the purpose of these guns. If a player wanted to be slow and concise, they would get a Latron. So in the end if you want to use these weapons and still be effective doing this kind of fast play style, you will either have to buy a lot of ammo refills or just play on lower level missions (not many people want to do that for long). Now I’m going to go over how I think this issue could be fixed.

 

To fix this issue the max ammo and ammo drops need to be more reliant on the DPshot and magazine size. A system that gave an entire (or half) clip for the respective gun with each drop and only gave say 10 reloads worth of ammo in reserve would be better and more balanced than what we have now. With this system it would still be emphasizing the need to pick up ammo but without making it a constant struggle to keep stocked with ammo or on the flip side not even having to think about it. The average overall damage potential of all the rifles is about 12,000 as the system is now, so we’ll apply this system and see how it compares.

 

 

 

Stats with a system of a magazine per pickup and 10 reloads + loaded mag to start:

LM = Loaded Mag

 

Brakata: 180 DPS -- 9 DPshot * 660 rounds : TDP 5,940 + 540 per pickup

 

Mk1-Braton: 100.8 DPS -- 16 DPshot * 660 rounds : TDP 10,560 + 960 per pickup

 

Braton: 192.1 DPS -- 17 DPshot * 495 rounds : TDP 8,415 + 765 per pickup

 

Boltor: 158.4 DPS -- 18 DPshot * 660 rounds : TDP 11,880 + 1080 per pickup

 

Burston: ---- DPS -- 21 DPshot * 495 rounds : TDP 10,395 + 945 per pickup

 

Gorgon: 300 DPS -- 24 DPshot * 540 rounds (5 mags + LM) : TDP 12,960 + 1080 per pickup (half a mag)

 

Latron: 151.2 DPS -- 36 DPshot * 240 rounds (15 mags + LM) : TDP 11,340 + 540 per pickup

 

 

 

As we can see, without deviating far from that formula we get something that looks far more balanced. With all but one rifle (Grakata) we reach our average of 12,000 potential damage with only a few pickups.  Instead of making the Devs have to make it specific to each weapon, I think a system with sub categories like LMGs, assault rifles and long rifles under the “Rifle” ammo type and semi-auto and machine pistols for the “pistol” ammo type would be a little simpler, but still effective. That system might look something like this.

 

 

 

System of ammo Sub-categories:

 

Rifle Ammo:

 

    Assault rifles: Starting 600 rounds with 45 round pickups

 

    LMGs : Starting with 500 rounds with 50 round pickups

 

    Long rifles: Start with 300 rounds with 20 round pickups

 

Pistol Ammo:

 

    Semi-auto pistols: Start with 210 rounds with 20 round pickups

 

    MPs: Start with 360 rounds with 30 round pickups

 

 

 

Note: I am NOT saying we need more ammo types like Assault rifle and LMG ammo! I am saying that depending on what kind of rifle or pistol you have, you should get differing amounts of ammo. (Ex. You have a Braton and you pick up a rifle ammo box, you get 45 rounds. Your fellow Tenno on the other hand, has a Gorgon and picks up the same ammo box, but he gets 50 rounds.) Obviously any new system will need to be tweaked and tested to get it just right, so I'm not saying we need to use these exact specs they are just a place to start.

 

Well, there you go. That’s my 2 cents about the ammo system and how I would make it work a little better. I would like to thank you for reading this rather lengthy post, and if you are a Dev, I hope you find this helpful and thanks again for making such an awesome game!

 

To all my fellow Tenno, keep up the good fight!  MrPeaches, out.

 

(Comments are welcomed with open arms.)

[Lactamid]

maybe there could be ammo boxes at some places in the map giving you the chance to restock?

[MrPeaches777]

maybe there could be ammo boxes at some places in the map giving you the chance to restock?

That's smart, I didn't think about that. Near the main objective perhaps? Ammo to get in and the ammo to get out. That would be a nice fix for now, cause a new ammo system probably wouldn't come with just a small, probably with a bigger one like update 8.