With The Braton Prime Ammo Pool Nerf, It's Time To Talk About Ammo Drops

[Telogor]

The Braton Prime buff was excellent.  Props to DE for properly fixing the weapon.

 

However, the ammo pool nerf is a problem.  I appreciate how you guys are fixing ammo pools, dropping max ammo for stuff like the Penta and Ogris.  I don't mind the reduced ammo pool for the Braton Prime, because you still have 6 full mags.

 

However, there's a problem here.  Weapons like the Latron Prime and weapons like the Grakata share the same ammo drop.  The issue is ammo efficiency.  At a suitable level for the mods you have on the weapons, the Latron Prime generally takes 2 ammo to kill things.  The Grakata, after factoring in the missed shots due to insane recoil, takes 10-15.  It gets better when there are crowds of enemies, dropping down to about 6 ammo used per enemy.

 

Yet, the Latron Prime and Grakata share the same ammo pickup.  At peak efficiency, the Grakata kills 3 people per ammo pickup, while the Latron Prime kills 10.  This allows the Latron Prime to easily refill its ammo, while the Grakata struggles even with a maxed Ammo Mutation.

 

As I see it, there are 3 ways to fix this problem.

 

1. Make ammo pickups be based off of the mag size of the weapon.  While this would fix the Braton Prime's and Grakata's ammo upkeep, weapons like the Viper and Vasto would be severely nerfed by this.

 

-OR-

 

2. Overhaul the ammo system.  Increase the drop rate for Sniper ammo, leave the shotgun ammo alone, have ammo-efficient pistols and rifles pull from the same drop (drop rate similar to current rifle ammo), and have ammo-inefficient pistols and rifles pull from the same drop (drop rate or amount higher than current pistol).

 

-OR-

 

3. Change the amount of ammo received for each drop on a per-weapon basis.  While this would take some balancing work, it would be the best solution, as people would be rewarded for trigger discipline and penalized for spray-and-pray.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Telogor

[Galakaston]

I really like the first idea except I feel that it should be based off of the fire rate & not magazine capacity.

[Ryme]

For DE, it's likely more an issue of how much work they want to commit to do it. While ammo pick to efficiency ratios are nowhere near equivalent across the board, it exists in a state of relative functionality. Balance of ammo for launcher and explosive weapons were probably expedited due to the amount of outcry against AOE spam. If anything, DE will eventually lower the ammo capacity of all weapons to encourage the usage of ammo plates, ammo scavenger, and ammo pool mods, which see very little use otherwise.

[Archistopheles]

Copy archwing. Give all guns infinite ammo. Huzzah!

[Ryme]

Copy archwing. Give all guns infinite ammo. Huzzah!

 

My Dexfuris and Twin Vipers support this. =P

[painterman]

Its been sugested before but here we go again: make ammo pickups restore a % of maximun, maybe 10-20%.

[Lag_Killed_You_Not_Me]

Copy archwing. Give all guns infinite ammo. Huzzah!

My Gorgon Wraith would love this. 

 

UNLIMITED DAKKA!!!1!!!11!

Edited December 4, 2014 by Lag_Killed_You_Not_Me