Chapters:
1. Briefing
2. The moving mechanic
3. The combat mechanic
4. summary
1. Briefing the idea
Now the idea is to add a mounted/deployable minigun like in L4D and MW2. And before you flame me saying "Well in L4D or Cawadooty you can't lift the minigun" Well here is where your wrong because in MW2 there is a campain mission where you find a crashed UH-60 blackhawk With a minigun, then you must contine to shoot down other helicopters/enemy infantry. In L4D it is used in the same way except you cannot move it and it overheats, it is really good when it comes down to mowing down zombies quickly, so therefore it was very powerful.
Now in both games these minigubs had something in simmilar. They overheated and they where dead powerful and innacurate and they had a shitload of ammo, but they not that innacurate, so therefore we could get down to the real work and talk about the mechanics and the way we could balance this into Ace of spades.
2. The moving mechanic.
Now you have heard about supply and demand and this will go into combat mechanics but for now lets talk about movement and traveling.
At the start of the game you will get a minigun neer your base tent and the enemy will also get theirs. The minigun can be picked up and droped with the key however picking up and putting down the minigun takes 5 seconds. The minigun (since it will play a significant role) will have its own minimap icon, this way both teams can stay alert about where the minigun is. So the enemy can attack the person carrying the minigun, and team mates can defend the player carrying the minigun. The person carrying the minigun has a certain few disadvantages. The first is that movespeed is decreased and the player may only jump up 1 block hights (Sprinting makes the player go normal walkspeed), During this Autoclimb is disabled and the player must jump up 1 block hights and cannot climb up 2 block hights. The second downside is that the player may not change or use any tools (Unless sidearms are imlemented. The third downside is that you must click and hold for it to mount to the ground. It would take roughly 5 seconds to place it. If a player may die while holding the minigun then it will be returned back to the main base.
When the player is carrying the minigun minigun they must be considerate of two things. They must need a 3x3 space and a 3 space hight.(unless the ground goes down), however the player cannot place the minigun if the ground goes up. However though If the ground goes down/up the user cannot turn 360 degrees. When the minigun is placed the block under cannot be demolished or the blocks in the 3x3 radius. So it stops griefers destroying it. But The best thing of all is that the minigun can be deployed in the water but after some time the weapon breaks because it is in the salty sea/muddy river water And if on land and teammate/enemy digs around and under the area the minigun is broken, and will not return until certain curcumstances.(See chapter 3).
In case players decide to hog the minigun add a timing system. When the player picks up the minigun they will have a certain time (3-5 minutes) otherwise it will be automatically droped. The same player that just carried it cannot carry it in a time limit. Also if people where to carry it in a row that would be impossible because the system would let others who haven't lifted it much or not at all will get a chance too. And if they are a beginner and somebody dies with it somebody else can always go back to the tent to get it.
Chapter 3. Combat mechanic
To use the minigun you must right click on it with your weapon and you must be in its 3x3 radius. Now the minigun is a very dangerous weapon, when the player uses it and begins holding LMB it will whir up for a short time. Just after it revs up it will easily shred a player doing 25 damage in close ranges with about 4 rounds . (1-16 blocks). But damage decreases during further ranges and spread takes effect after the first bullet hits accuratly. (Don't tell me what it will do. I am very bad with weapon balance) However the damage on blocks will be over the roof. Take the shotgun shooting a block close range. Now double the damage and make the heavy bullet go though about 5-8 blocks in the process. So this weapon is made for support. However as i mentioned the weapon can get destroyed from the ground around it being destroyed. However the team may get it back.
now when the team captures the inel twice in a row the minigun comes back. So that means teams must work harder to get the intel and to protect the minigun from being ruined. If the minigun still stands after every intel capture the weapon gets 50+ bullets. Now i have 2 mechanics that would come in movement and gunplay. The first is that the map needs boundrys for the minigun. Like halfway in the map only there can the minigun be placed but give it a large ammunition pool and lower damage. Or make it go close to the enemy base and give it a small ammunition pool but very high damage.
Now for the tough bit. The minigun can run out of ammo and overheat, firing for 15 seconds flat will cause the minigun barrel to glow red and smoke to emit, leaving the gun usless until it cools down, however in water it will NEVER overheat because of constant water cooling.
The gunner can rotate the gun 360 degrees and look almost strait up. The gunner cannot crouch when firing some his legs will be exposed unless he has a small wall. The gunner can aim down his sights get a better view of his target but the shots are slowed by half a second. Makeing it usefull in some ways and a pain in the ass in other ways.
Finally when the minigun runs dry you can do two things with it. Abandon it and let fate decide what happens to it ( Get stolen by enemy/destroyed by enemy) OR take it back in the tent and refill it with its default state of ammunition.
Chapter 4. Summary
Now to summerise this a minigun would be great to implement it to add to teamwork in the game such as people building stairs for the minigun carrier or to defend him or to take the enemy turret down. It also shows that both teams can acctually be stratigic and can take roles and people will be happy with the decisions. Also this means people wouldn't laze around and acctually be good for the team. Meaning that moral will be increased on the players team and decreased on the enemy team. And in the end all players will be noble and everbody gets along? (Hopefully.) and that we would have a huge bad-ass Mother f**king weapon that we can play with and have termendous fun with.
Image courtesy by valVe's game Left 4 dead.
-LancerG2-
