Commando Archive

Although it would be a joyous occasion should the devs ever see fit to fix the weapons we do have, I was pondering the idea of fixed weapon emplacements that we could aquire as faction weapons. I know the devs have said they intend to add new weapons to the game at some point, but how about these for the far flung future?

These could be used for the defence/attacking of faction bases (should THEY ever be fixed), the defence of faction allied player cities, NPC cities (such as Bestine and Anchorhead) and even player camps made by rangers.

These things should be one use only, meaning that once they are placed, they stay put until you have expended the ammunition or some such and they cant be repositioned once set up. These would an extra element to raids and what have you.

Some ideas to kick off with:

Acannon emplacement. Weve all seen Empire Strikes Back, right? The huge Tripod mounted cannon that the stormies set up in the Hoth caverns would be nice. Set these up at the entrance to your base or city and mow down the incoming.

Rotary mortars/artillery. An extension of that nice M203 idea in the grenade thread, but a static emplacement. Provides supporting fire from the rear, arcing bombs onto an area of land to kill those present and discourage its occupation.

Anyone that has taken part in a raid on a faction base will know about the troopers and players that hang out round the entrance. Stand back at 70 meters, set up your mortar and lay waste to the area with airborne proton grenades. Would you really want to stand around there after that? Some area of effect!

Also, denizens of Anchorhead and Bestine will be familiar of those two ridges from which the enemy often mounts raids and snipes into the town. Want them off that hill? Shell it!

Any more?

While I like the idea in the spirit, there are practical hurdles to overcome.

In terms of using what would essentially be a machine-gun, how would you work it into a RPG battle system? They work great as elements of FPS games (And others, too. The stationary guns are the only cool part of the on-foot Rebel Strike missions) since you can literally mow down incoming enemies, but in SWG's combat system it seems kinda cumbersome.

Also, wouldn't a station like this be made obsolete by the already existing gun turrets?

Funny you should mention this, as I went a way and a had a ponder about it after I wrote this post.

With a cannon I think it would either be a case of manually switching targets with the tab key OR an area of effect so you zap whatever is in a cone in front of you. Add the chance of some states being applied to those caught in the area of effect or hit by direct fire, such as knockdown, dizzy, stun etc and you have a pretty cool tool at your disposal.

For the mortar or arty, Id like to see the overhead map being made use of. If youve placed any sort of structure youll know the view you get when you pick your spot. A birds eye view of the surrounding area with a footprint where you place your structure right?

Well, do the same thing with a targeting reticle centered on the area of effect you want your shells to land.

The basic mechanics are already in-place, it wouldnt be that hard to implement it.