Post by redonihunter in Brainstorm - Flamethrower in a game where the player only has one bullet

Viewing post in Brainstorm - Flamethrower in a game where the player only has one bullet

By one bullet you mean one bullet on screen, I presume.

A flamethrower in space is ... not what you think it is.

Your spaceship already has a flamethrower. It blasts out back and gives propulsion. Any other type of actual flames would not really work. Oh sure, one could imagine any type of chemical exhaust that somehow would self-ignite in vacuum without exploding the very exhaust valve it came from. And that would still be faster than the ship that spew it out front, instead of instantly beeing flewn through by the ship doing no damage at all, since it is just fire and your ship's hull does not care.

Easiest would be to just increase the existing propulsion stream for a short duration and make it do damage. You would fly to your target, take a sharp turn and blast it with your boosters. That is actually a maneuver you might read or see in science fiction settings. Sort of an improvised weapon.

If you want to install a front "flame thrower", the ship could stop for the duration of the blast, as it counters and mirrors the propulsion blast. It could even fly backward for a short time. Anything that is not concentrated energy and put out by your ship as some stream, is bound to move your ship, if it has high enough energy to be considered a weapon.

Something similar to a flame thrower in spirit would be a stream of plasma, contained by magnetic fields. Which would also do more damage than a mere flame. The effect might look similar to an electric arc traveling along two wires that are V shaped. The reasoning is, you might want to hand wave why your high energy "fire ball" would not travel further and has short range. And most things you would fire as an actual weapon would just do that in space. But if you need to contain the plasma in a field generated at your ship, outside of that field, it would just disperse quickly.

Explanations aside, instead of one "." flying over the screen, "shooting" out something like this, should do the trick:

o oo ooo oooo ooooo xoooo xxooo xxxoo xxxxo xxxxx _xxxx __xxx ___xx ____x ______

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Combat Dices Team102 days ago

I agree that a space flamethrower in reality is stupid. But for arcade games, it’s not the realism that’s important, it’s the way it plays.

Actually, you gave a good idea to use the term not “not a flamethrower”, but “energy flow”. But I still don’t understand how this accounts for the concept of a single player bullet on the screen. Am I right in thinking that you can make a V-shaped plasma flow that only shoots a short distance?

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redonihunter102 days ago(+1)

I am not sure if you are talking about the fluff or the visuals or the mechanics.

But I still don’t understand how this accounts for the concept of a single player bullet on the screen.

Your single bullet at a time still is a threat to the enemy for a short duration. Repeatedly.

So whatever different weapon you would implement, it should be cooldown based and have a finite duration.

So if you want an effect in front of the ship, it would appear, stay a short amount of time, and dissappear. It's advantage would be spread/area coverage, it's disadvantage range. Basically it is a melee attack.

The current bullet you fire is traveling not instantly. It's advantage is range, it's disadvantage is flight time and thus inaccuracy. The cooldown is implicit, since you cannot have more than one bullet on screen. Which would make shots near the edge of the screen be better, since you could fire sooner - or maybe there is a cooldown independant of a bullet on screen, I do not know. Basically it is a slow ranged attack.

A fast ranged attack would be a laser shot. It's advantage is speed, it's disadvantage is timing. While the bullet flys slow enough to dodge, it also flys slow enough that you have more opportunities to hit the opponent that crosses the flight path of the bullet.

From mechanics and fluff, I prefer the booster burn. Go to close range, turn or pass, or lure enemies to fly behind you, and burn your opponent by ramping up the thrusters. This might also be used to dodge. And it would be closest to what a flame thrower would feel, plus paying tribute to the mechanics of a free fall space vessel.

And that is what I meant with energy flow. If you do have particles in a stream exhausting a space vessel, that would influence it's flight path. It would matter little, if the gas is your air or is burning. I believe that is literally rocket science. The ~~burning~~ exploding would just propel the gas faster and give more thrust.

If we go away from "flames", plasma comes to mind. It is hotter than fire and does not burn up oxygen. It basically is just hot matter. Very hot. Solid, liquid, gas, plasma. And since you can influence it electrically/magnetically, that would be a way to handle it. A solar prominence is plasma flowing along magnetic lines. There are also toroidal structures such a plasma can have.

So, hurling plasma at your enemies might be made to look similar to a flame thrower's mechanics.

The V thing is a different concept, I think it would not work in space. But a plasma filament might expand in a similar manner, if guided by magnetic fields, see solar prominences again. It is V shaped electrodes. Or rather \ / and between those you apply a strong electric force. There will be an arc travelling from bottom to top between the wires.

Mechanical and visual, you might want to either have a \ / area or a | | area of threat. The area would be a death zone for a short time with a recharged period. There could be an ellipse traveling from bottom to top. Or mirrored effect of your thrusters. Or any other effect like desribed above from those old games. Range, recharge period and how long it would be a threat zone, would be the balancing screws to make it comparable to a bullet as a weapon.

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Combat Dices Team101 days ago

So if you want an effect in front of the ship, it would appear, stay a short amount of time, and dissappear. It’s advantage would be spread/area coverage, it’s disadvantage range. Basically it is a melee attack.

The more comments I read about space flamethrowers, the more I understand what players would expect. Thank you for your activity.

A flamethrower in games in the popular understanding is really something for close combat and mass destruction.

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Combat Dices Team101 days ago

Anyway, in the near future I’ll try to make an arc moving in front of the ship in a V shape. And a fire emission from behind the ship, burning enemies and giving a boost. Both options. Just one will be a weapon, and the other will be an ability. I hope you like it. And playtests will show how good these mechanics are and how they should be changed.

I’d be glad if you share more ideas! Any. Not necessarily about a flamethrower and a laser.

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