Ranger Archive

• If it is a proper weapon thenwe no longer would be rooted in place to use traps.


• If it is a proper weapon thenwe would have a weapon switch delay added.


• If it is a proper weapon then using an additional charge would only be dependent on the speed of the weapon and our skills, not on the throwing animation.


• Art resources are limited. Would the Ewok crossbow seem a reasonable model for the launcher?


• If it is a proper weapon then how would decay work? Would it be like a lightsaber where the body does not decay but only the components (maybe some string or a quiver of bolts for the crossbow idea)? Or would it be better to make it a repairable weapon?


• If it is a proper weapon then what abilities should it have? I don't think it should be powerful enough to replace a player's primary weapon but should it be experimentable for damage and such? Would there be any specials (maybe "throwing" multiple traps to improve the success chance)?


• If it is not a proper weapon then will it be used like traps currently are (as in you "use" the item and a charge is thrown)?


• Is an AoE effect appropriate?


• Should ground traps use a similar system (with a trap layer instead of a trap launcher, you use it to place a trap and some condition is lost from the inserts)


• How would graphic effects be handled? Would the particle systems be able to handle generation of the effects based on the components without causing too much lag? Would graphic effects be important to the implementation?


• If it is a proper weapon then would it work in PvP and PvNPC combat? If so, would the trap effects take hold? And would the effects stay the same or would some need to be modified (like phenacine darts possibly causing posture down and adhesive mesh causing knockdown)?


• Lots of other stuff I've probably forgotten

I'm throwing this out in a very rough form mainly because I know I won't have the time to polish it up anytime soon and I am interested to see what people think. I hope this makes some sense.

• How long should a set of trap effects last? Should I be able to load my launcher up once a week and forget about it or am I going to need to check it after each lair?

Personally, I would think something like 100 uses per loading would be appropriate. This is enough that you don't have to constantly check it but not so high as to be permanent. I would think that experimenting on the condition of the effects (i.e. the number of uses) should be possible, though.

I really like the trap launcher idea. I think the devs tried to give us this idea in the form of trap-launching droids. However I find that given the choice between a combat droid, a harvesting droid, and a trap-launching droid, the trap launching one is at the bottom of the list.

I see having to stop and throw a trap being the same problem that dodge used to have (remember everytime you dodged you stopped dead in your tracks?)- it actually kills you more often than it helps you survive.

Just an additional idea to throw out there - weapons can be modified during the manufacturing process. You can add specialized barrels, vibro motors, etc. Would it be possible to make the the trap launcher something built into/onto the weapon? I actually say this with teras kasi in mind. I've always loved the idea of a wrist-mounted cross-bow. The spy-movie fan in me I guess. I can see this trap-launcher mod as something addable to both melee and ranged weapons.

Problems: would the demand be there to mass-produce them in a factory or would they end up being special order items and therefore more expensive and possiblly lesser quality? Also would take additional art, which I think the Ithorians, mystery-species, tailors and IDs have dibs on before us.

Anyway, that idea is not as well thought out as yours, which I like very much, but I thought I would throw it out there.

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Vorpaks wrote:
I really like the trap launcher idea. I think the devs tried to give us this idea in the form of trap-launching droids. However I find that given the choice between a combat droid, a harvesting droid, and a trap-launching droid, the trap launching one is at the bottom of the list.

I see having to stop and throw a trap being the same problem that dodge used to have (remember everytime you dodged you stopped dead in your tracks?)- it actually kills you more often than it helps you survive.

Just an additional idea to throw out there - weapons can be modified during the manufacturing process. You can add specialized barrels, vibro motors, etc. Would it be possible to make the the trap launcher something built into/onto the weapon? I actually say this with teras kasi in mind. I've always loved the idea of a wrist-mounted cross-bow. The spy-movie fan in me I guess. I can see this trap-launcher mod as something addable to both melee and ranged weapons.

Problems: would the demand be there to mass-produce them in a factory or would they end up being special order items and therefore more expensive and possiblly lesser quality? Also would take additional art, which I think the Ithorians, mystery-species, tailors and IDs have dibs on before us.

Anyway, that idea is not as well thought out as yours, which I like very much, but I thought I would throw it out there.

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For the weapon modification, I think it would be easier to just make the launcher a usable item. The effect should be the same (possibly even with a wrist mounted launching graphic) while not requiring the work to modify the weapon (most of the other work would be the same, though). It would be really cool to have it built in but I don't see the Devs spending the time to do that when a much easier and equivalent way of doing it is available. But then the Devs do sometimes make semi questionable decisions that potentially waste development time...