Good day,
I think the Plasma Gun, an iconic weapon besides the Bolter or the Lasgun, needs a rework. It just does not perform in a practical way as it could and I am sure these issues I see with it can effectively be resolved.
I will therefore first state what changes I propose, followed by an explanation and my reasoning for them.
Plasma Gun
-
Action
– Special Action - Switch between Standard and Supercharge Mode
– Primary Action - Hip-fire
– Secondary Action - ADS -
Heat
– Standard: one shot max. 12%
– Supercharge: one shot min. 45% -
Damage (based on Diff III)
– Standard: one-shot “Rager” (bodyshot)
– Supercharge: one-shot Crusher (bodyshot) -
Heat dissipation
– Standard: Delay 1,5 sec - Cooling 12%/second
– Supercharge: Delay 4 sec - Cooling 20%/second -
Emergency-Overpressure Vent
– Auto vent >=90% heat, cool down to 40%
– Shooting disabled until cooled (at least <=70%)
– weapon can not be swapped until at least heat <=70%
– no damage to user
– Switching between modes disabled until <=40% -
Animation:
– remove resetting of the Emergency-Vent at the end of the reload (1. I do not think it is needed but even if then 2. do this reset while the cask is changed)
Mode of operation:
The weapon would overall operate more like other weapons, but mainly as it works now. The first key difference would be that the Special action would no longer mess with the vent (like in real life, overpressure vents are HANDS OFF), but change between “Standard” and “Supercharge” mode.
- Standard would be the like the primary mode there is now
- Supercharge would be like the “charged shot” there is now
Difference:
- Standard would have ADS functionality on secondary action
- Supercharge would have hip-fire functionality on primary action
This would give the player, regardless of mode, the ability do make “aimed, accurate” shots, while still being able to shoot in close quarters (without ADS).
Also the supercharge mode would charge faster as of now (see further down for reasoning), but gets a bigger delay while dissipating heat.
To bring the weapon more in line with other powerhouses like the bolter, the damage or at least penetration, would increase greatly to one-shot most specials/elites with the standard shot and one-shot e.g. the Ogryns while in supercharge mode.
Regarding other weapons, like the Bolter and Flamer, but also if taken instances from other sources like games, e.g. Dawn of War, Fire Warrior, Space Marine, or the Table Top itself, this damage change would make it overall more viable without messing with the main task:
- Outstanding punishment against heavy targets
To define/ balance this, normal shots would generate less heat as of now, so that there is still the possibility to overheat, but less likely (so the weapon can, like in other sources, used more freely).
In contrast to this, the supercharge feature would, like the “charged shot” now, fire a bigger, hotter and more dangerous plasma bolt with the drawback that it creates at least 45% heat (just the charging, holding it creates additional heat) and needs some moments to charge.
Consequently the “passive heat venting” would be changed to 12% in standard mode, so that after a short delay additional shoots could be fired (and not like now, where the guns is useless for quite some time or at least for as long as a reload takes).
For the supercharge mode the delay would be longer, but a bit faster, so that it would be possible to fire several supercharge shots, so long as there is enough opportunity for it.
Still, especially in the supercharge mode, the delay and heat build-up would make the weapon likely to explode, if one does not take care. This is one element to balance the weapon (and the supercharge mode).
The other element to balance the power is the emergency-overpressure vent.
Unlike now, this would work automatically if the weapon reaches at least 90% heat and cools it down to 40%.
During this time additional shots are not possible, furthermore it is not possible to put the weapon away until sufficiently cooled (at least <=70%).
Because the veteran has experience and keeps the hands off the vent, there is no damage any more, but to switch between the modes the weapon needs to reaches an operational level again <=40%.
To offset the removed damage and because a catastrophic explosion being avoided, the emergency vent cools only with 10%/sec.
- Clarification: If the last shot takes the weapon heat OVER 100% it will explode. The vent is no invulnerability mechanism.
Since we already put our hands off the vent and because, like in real life, vents function on their own -there are no hands involved or needed while operating the machine normally (it would be too dangerous)- they are also staying off during the reload.
Meaning the reload will be faster, but still take quite some time.
Reasoning:
As already hinted at, the main point for the proposed changes are other games which show/ use plasma guns/ plasma weapons. Main contestants were for me:
- Dawn of War (RTS game)
- Fire Warrior (FPS game)
- Space Marine (TPS game)
Also I compared the current Plasma Gun with other iconic W40k weapons we have in DT:
- Bolter
- Flamer
- Lasgun
Bolter, because it is the jack-of-all-trades weapon with almost no weakness and as many strengths. Flamer, because it is the Preachers special and while not as versatile as the Bolter with even more raw power.
Lasgun, because she is a reliable and effective weapon, doing all things equally good, without being outstanding. The Lasgun IS outstanding, to be sure, but not as a bolter or flamer.
Last but not least I compared the mentioned weapons(and some more) with the data of the tabletop game and began to work on the proposal.
Used Data (from the Datasheets):
Following Data is coded as
[weapon name], [firing mode], [number of shots], [power of shot/ strength], [armour penetration], [damage/ wounds]
- Lasgun, NA, 1, 3, 0, 1
- Boltgun, NA, 1, 4, 0, 1
- Heavy Bolter, NA, 3, 5, -1, 2
- Plasma Gun, Standard, 1, 7, -3, 1
- Plasma Gun, Supercharge, 1, 8, -3, 2
- Plasma Caliver, Standard, 2, 7, -3, 1
- Plasma Caliver, Supercharge, 2, 8, -3, 2
- Meltagun, NA, 1, 8, -4, up to 6
What I gathered from all the Data was that Bolter and Plasma Gun should be much more comparable with the KEY DIFFERENCE, that Bolter is a beast against every-and-anything while the Plasma Gun brings extreme power and armour penetration to the fight.
This is also one reason for the faster charge up time I propose for shots in supercharge mode. Another piece of information for this is from the description of the plasma gun:
While one can conclude from that, that a charged shot also uses more ammo, I see it as a base for the longer delay until the heat dissipation starts.
Closing note:
With all the proposed changes I am confident, that this rework could be done, which would make the Plasma gun much stronger, without being imbalanced, while also demand skill of the user and bringing enjoyment when using it at the same time.
Thanks for reading.
Stay safe and praise the Omnissiah.
Cheers
TL;DR:
Make the Plasma Gun a heavy and armour obliterator while increasing the versatility a bit. Add supercharge mode/ rework charged shots and change heat/ heat dissipation accordingly.
