EMP

[Azarael]

Well, I was invited to...

EMP is a flawed game design for the following reasons:

1) EMP is a long range hitscan weapon and scorpions are unable to dodge these - flying vehicles and hovercraft remain the only possible platforms with enough movement to require any skill for vehicle combat, yet both are incompatible with racing because they're so fast and agile
2) Being brought to a stop for about 5 seconds each time you are hit is extremely tedious and kills any sense of "action" which was meant to be added to race by arming the cars
3) The effect can be applied in quick succession, further adding to the rage of the victim
4) In certain areas it's a free kill (when approaching a jump or travelling some difficult region reliant on constant speed)
5) EMP serves only to slow down the map overall and it seems an arbitrary choice of weapon as it doesn't really add any depth over any other weapon

[iZumo]

Well, I was invited to...

EMP is a flawed game design for the following reasons:

1) EMP is a long range hitscan weapon and scorpions are unable to dodge these - flying vehicles and hovercraft remain the only possible platforms with enough movement to require any skill for vehicle combat, yet both are incompatible with racing because they're so fast and agile
2) Being brought to a stop for about 5 seconds each time you are hit is extremely tedious and kills any sense of "action" which was meant to be added to race by arming the cars
3) The effect can be applied in quick succession, further adding to the rage of the victim
4) In certain areas it's a free kill (when approaching a jump or travelling some difficult region reliant on constant speed)
5) EMP serves only to slow down the map overall and it seems an arbitrary choice of weapon as it doesn't really add any depth over any other weapon

So, first to say, EMP is at it's first revision, however:

1) Yes, limited ability to dodge is there, but compensated by requiring fairly a large amount of nitro to fire (45%, just like shielding). Better dodging ability can be given by adjusting shield (perhaps make it stealth, so enemy doesn't know you shielded or not).

3) That is the "ganging" problem, which I'll probably resolve by having a "recovery shield" for several seconds to gain back speed. If this will be active, you won't be able to fire back (also resolving "payback" problem). But yeah this is perhaps the most annoying issue now.

4) It is, but not really here (you can still use handbrake), it is on movers mostly.

2, 5) This isn't really issue about EMP, it is about point of view on the racing - any gunning will slow down or force you to go all the track again because you get killed and have to drive from start again (which EMP doesn't do in most cases). The depth that gunning adds is being able to slow down your opponents in some way. However our goal is not to make the race mode as fastest as possible, right? I'd rather define our goal as to make some balance between driving and gunning, making it somewhat unique to other games and keeping its relaxed gameplay. Action and faster pace was brought by the nitro itself.

[Socio]

How about making it a projectile weapon like the EMP in the admin Venom? Would add a better chance of escaping/dodging it.
Also another idea. Instead of sling-blades make the alt-fire deploy a Paladin-type shield that would stop the EMP from taking effect (can be used instead of regular NV shield on unarmed maps)? Also using it would drain nitro like 10% per second.

[Azarael]

One thing that's just come to me now is the idea of a reflector shield. If any of you played Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic had an ability which created a split-second shield. I'm thinking something similar, except with the ability to reflect projectiles if timed correctly, in the vein of a "counter-attack".

[iZumo]

Not a bad idea about the reflection: So EMP would inherit velocity like normal scorp does now, and would be at similar speed. However you won't be able to aim your shield pretty much, because mostly you'd use it against someone behind you, so you won't see where are you driving. But yeah it could be toggleable.

[iZumo]

So, going to change this in EMP:
- instagib towards walkers on the track
- weapon will charge for 1.5 second but remains instant (charging is visible)
- you'll need bigger speed to charge nitro, to the one of anticamp shock scorp (8 mph)
- shielding is stealth (shows effect only on hit like normal shield pickup)
- when EMPed, you'll get a recovery (visible) shield to gain speed back for 4.5 seconds, during which you cannot fire

I'm not sure about reflection when shielded, it would only work when you're exactly behind your target.