Weapon Overheating R&D

[Amineri]

Has anyone poked around the code (written, but inactive) for weapon overheating?

 

In particular, EWeaponProperty [11] (defined in enum EWeaponProperty << XGTacticalGameCoreData << XcomGame.upk) is:

 

eWP_Overheats

 

I've also seen a lot of code about overheating sprinkled throughout XcomGame.

 

As I recall from some of the "behind-the-scene" videos, the designers of the tactical game were heavily influenced the the GW game Necromunda.

 

In the GW universe, plasma weapons are very powerful, but unpredictable. In general, if you missed when shooting with a plasma weapon by rolling a 1 on a d6, the plasma weapon would overheat. You would then make a second overheat-roll. On a 2+ the weapon would be jammed (unavailable to shoot next turn), and on a 1, the weapon would vent plasma on the user, causing the user to take damage.

 

It definitely looks like something like this feature was planned and implemented, but I'm wondering how complete it is. I'm also wondering how interesting people would find this "feature" if it were unlocked.

 

Thoughts?

[anUser]

I definitively wouldn't like my weapons to jam or to blow up randomly, and while weapon overheating may be something to consider in a FPS, specially and tipycally with machineguns, here you're already punished for shooting many times by having to reload. I don't see any use for it in that sense, but maybe all this overheat engine can be used for some other purpouse.

[johnnylump]

As a mechanism in the game, it would be in an interesting one. But IMO it would need a strategic justifcation for inclusion. I can think of two options:

 

1) It is simply a nerf to plasma weapons. This is in line with Warspace's mechanic of balancing the three weapon classes, rather than vanilla (and Long War's), in which plasma is superior in all facets, and the opportunity cost of employing it is all the resources you devote to developing it, as opposed to other technologies.

 

Corollary: It's a nerf to the extremely powerful foundry ammo bonus, which by its nature encourages repeated firings of all weapons.

 

2) Alternately, it's an initial problem with plasma weapons that can be cancelled by developing some other technology or foundry project. So it's a hazard of plasma at first, and you can devote additional resources to remove it. I personally would prefer this option, but it would be harder to code.