Gameplay and Equipment Request

[CPTJayRaynor]

So, I've seen a few mods that all have parts and pieces of what would be awesome to see, but nothing that rolls them all up into one sweet package. This mod would be gameplay and equipment based, but rather than most mods which just "give" you the equipment, you'd be earning them. Installing this before a new game is recommended, as it develops game play over a longer time.

 

Weapon Modification: The ability to customize a weapon over time would be quite sweet. I've seen a mod do some of this before, but not a lot of it. The idea is that, naturally, you add things to a weapon to increase/change abilities. Items like the following:

 

-Laser Dot-Increases accuracy, but cuts your sneak by at least half (as you could be noticed). Can be turned on and off.

-Red Dot Scope-More expensive, increases weapon weight, but doesn't penalize sneak.

-Zoom Scope-For weapons that don't normally have them.

-Torchlight-Focused "flashlight" on the weapon so you don't have to be right on top of those feral ghouls in order to see them!

-Sturdy Buttstock-Increases weight significantly, but also increases accuracy (less recoil)

-Light Buttstock-Decreases weight significantly, but decreases accuracy

-Rechamber Weapon for new ammo-This would arguably be the hardest to do, but if it worked, it'd be awesome. Rechamber a weapon for different ammo to get different damage, accuracy, and mag-size capacity. A neat idea is to offer a .50 rechamber for the sniper rifle, but the size only allows for 2 rounds. .50 rounds would hurt everything.

-Combat Laser-A military-grade laser which adds some heft to the weapon, but has both "visible" laser and "invisible" laser for use with vision modes.

-Underslung Grenade Launcher: Need I say more?

-Underslung Shotgun for Rifles: Another "best of both worlds"

-Silencer, for those covert ops...

 

Possibly get rid of the unique weapons in the sense that they made sense in Elder Scrolls, but if they're not even going to get a redesign (exception: Lincoln's Repeater is a good boy) to look cooler, they seem somewhat silly.

 

Armor Mods: This new customization would find its way to all the armors, but the greatest effect would most likely be the power armors.

 

Include a form of goggles or glasses with some sort of techno-design that can support a "chip-mod", allowing the player to pick out what they'd find useful, such as...

 

-Ammo Counter/Health Display?: If you want to make the game slightly more challenging, take away the ammo counter and health display at first and make the player earn it back. This would go hand in hand with taking away specific VATS at first.

-Targetting Chip-Small bonuses to accuracy and crit chance, which can increase with the quality of chip found. Or even better, required to use VATS to the full extent! As in, without this, VATS is more like explosives, you just use VATS to queue your attacks on which targets, but getting the chip allows you to pick out body parts.

<I do not believe a targeting HUD would grant an AP bonus, as just because you can see better doesn't mean you act faster.>

-NightVision Chip-Well, Night Vision, duh. Of course, NV should be unusable in well-lit areas, meaning that you get blinded in areas that aren't dark or reflect a lot of light (remember the steam room from Splinter Cell 3?).

-Thermal Chip-Thermal vision, duh. For those moments when they blend in!

-Motion/IFF chip-This may be incompatible w/VATS, but...puts a red/blue/green outline on moving objects (to include projectiles!) for identification. This one is more passive than NV and Thermal, but is still based off Perception. The outline color determines Friend or Foe, but these outlines only appear on movement. Still enemies, or Stealth Enemies probably don't trip this off! Still, it's nice because unlike NV or thermal, you don't lose color, depth, or detail perception.

-Geiger Vision Chip: Does for radiation what the others do for their specialties. This of course entails overhauling the radiation to be more serious, and getting rid of the cheesy "green twinkle" which gives it away. Since all the Wasteland has at least a little rad in it, all non-Enclave/Vault would be visible, but the level of radiation affects how visible. Humans would generally be weak appearances, while Super-Mutants and Ghouls would shine like torches, and Glowing Ones would be like blinding angels. But Geiger Vision could also help create new quests and gameplay elements (if radiation gets overhauled), such as helping carve safe paths through the waste (I personally believe some areas should be radiated a little high and instead of so much cluttered terrain, more "death zones", like in front of a certain Vault). Or you might have to find the Enclave spy in the town (he's the guy that you can barely pick up on GV) or in a Vault, you find an outside spy (he shines compared to others). It's an idea.

 

There could be another vision modification, dunno.

 

The early glasses or goggles may only have one chip slot, but as the player levels up and finds better equipment, you find multi-chip models. Also, is it possible to affect the quality? Early model stuff may be shorter range, etc? If not, still neat concept.

 

And I fully expect someone to toss Splinter Cell goggles in there, just because. :)

 

 

For Leather Armor, the option to rig on metal plates early on for more protection at the cost of stealth and agility (before you can get combat or metal armor) is an option. Or weaving in things like lead-lining, which increase the weight by a few more pounds to increase rad protection (only useful if the mod makes radiation less of a joke, as well). Or a weave for fire resistance.

 

For Metal Armor, I don't suppose it's possible to include a Negative Energy Resistance? (as in, it does MORE damage?) And then you add on the non-conductive layer at the cost of weight? I'm really not sure what to do with the non-power armors.

 

The Recon Armor might want one or two of what the Power Armor's getting:

 

Too bad it's impossible to dynamically change an objects looks. I was hoping for paint job options!

 

Power Armor: Oh, where do I start?

 

-Inventory Pack (visually added to, as well)-Increases carry weight w/o Strength increase, but prevents use of Minigun or Gattling Laser (can't have two packs).

-Cloak-Get rid of stealth boys. Make it to where someone has to choose cloak as an "armor perk" and then it costs energy over time...like MF cells or Electron Charge packs. Or create a new energy type.

-Improved Motor Assist Servos (upper body) increases AG or just AP by increasing speed.

-Improved Motor Assist Servos (lower body) increase speed and evasion (lowers enemy accuracy).

-Energy Shielding: Deflects all damage at the cost of heat, regeneration, AND power cells. Might be too complex to work, but it'd be a neat option to have.

 

The Helmet of course can use the chips for the goggles. I'd recommend making PA helmet have less slots than the best goggles, so a player has to choose between function and protection. :)

 

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Not all the addons and chips will be possible or compatible with all weapons. A buttstock for the Assault Rifle won't work for the Combat Shotgun. A rechamber for a pistol won't work on the sniper rifle. Certain chips and armor mods may not work in others. Servos won't help recon armor (not powered), maybe Enclave may have energy shielding but not cloak (and their own motor types as well).

 

As for gameplay...how about some rare enemies that can sneak or go full-stealth? You can manually hit them if you "know" where they are, but generally you'll need thermal or GV (and it only works if their radcount is high enough) to catch them. Save this for much higher levels.

 

And as I mentioned earlier...radiation that matters! There are only three areas in the game which are "kill you with radiation!", and two of them are story-involved. The other is weak. Two hundred years might mean some radiation's gone, but a lot would still be present.

 

Speed! Why is a character with 20 pounds of equipment able to travel only as fast as someone with 200 lbs? Let's bring speed back into the equation. Oblivion managed both horses and speed boosts. Why can't Fallout at least have one of the two?

 

Darkness! Make some of those places like the subway pitch black. C'mon, power grid in some of these places had to have completely failed. Make the flashlight/vision mods not just useful, but needed.

 

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Just a suggestion. In my location, I don't really have the bandwidth do download GECK and get right on this. In a few more months, I could...