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# System prepended metadata

title: Guncrafting & Combat

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# Guncrafting & Combat

Guncrafting notes, but also everything else because we need to establish a baseline.

**All of the below few sections are global, not just for guncrafting.**

# Firstly, combat balancing:

- Citadel RP is primarily action-roleplay perhaps with a 70:30 ratio of mechanics (equipment, numbers, etc) to 'roleplay' factors like themes, skills, and similar, when it comes to combat.
- We do not want combat to entirely depend on mechanical skill in clicking. That is unfun for people who are here to play characters.
- We do not want combat to entirely be focused on 'gotchas' (game mechanics knowledge like just blowing out a window to stun everyone) either. That is unfun for people who are here to play characters.
- We do not want combat to entirely be focused on having numbers, equipment, or any one specific facet. That is unfun for people who *do* care about everything else.

Thus, design-wise.

- Combat will be costly. The only way to win without a scratch is if you completely outclass your opponent in some way that is not mitigated by everything else.
- Teamwork / numbers is the most important thing when equipment / skill gap is not overwhelming.
- Equipment gap makes a difference but not all of the difference. It's going to be very hard to tank damage.
- Skill gap makes a difference but not all of the difference. Things will be tuned to make it hard to win just by clicking / dodging better, if you are otherwise outnumbered (but not necessarily outgunned). I prioritize teamwork and numbers more than equipment in that regards.

# Regarding guns specifically.

- Baymiss is being replaced with a new system that first injects inaccuracy to **dispersion** (angular deviation of your shot), and then secondarily to **accuracy** (% chance your shot misses even if it physically scans the target). The latter is only in play at extremely high **instability**; in most cases, baymiss will no longer be a factor.
- Hitscan weapons are undecided upon for now, overall. There's points for and against; I am not going to interfere with them outside of guncrafting/science/baseline systems for the time being.

# Regarding offmaps / antagonists / 'bad guys':

- **We do not balance around antagonists.** What this means is that we are not going to make it impossible to fight say, security, unless you have antagonist equipment. We are not going to make it impossible to fight cyborgs without an emag. **Conflict arises from characters, not antagonists.**
- Offmap design is discussed in https://canary.discord.com/channels/161574200581029888/1161188620632326155/1161188620632326155 for the most part. Everything in here is just the parts relevant to gun / combat balancing.
- **Offmaps** in this context does not necessarily mean offmap. It means **any non-crew injected by the game backend or event managers to play something out or perform an object.** They usually, but not always, have non-standard equipment / fluff from the station. That is where their conflict comes from
- "Asked to do" in this context = their fluff / objectives suggests that they do something, not that the game will tell them to. The game / storyteller will not do that.
- Offmaps **will always be outnumbered.** We will not have another 6-7 slot neutral offmap like the Talon ever again, outside of special cases. Neutral + Hostile offmaps, especially armed ones, are limited to 3-4 people, **maximum.** 
- Offmaps **will generally match or outgun you, in a similar-numbers fight with roundstart gear.**  Offmaps will have gear one tier above what the station generally has - this means that if the station's baseline is "combat personnel have pistols, with some special people having bigger weapons by default, with the heavy weapons mostly being secured in armory", the baseline for offmaps will be "anyone expected to fight the station has at **least** a pistol, with likely better weapons stored on their ship". Anyone *neutral* (not asked to fight the station, but not asked to refrain from doing so) might be more lightly / lesser armed.
- Offmaps will receive *slight* advantages to less mechanical stats like the upcoming skill system. We are not doing baystation skills; we are not going to have antagonists just automatically all be masters of combat skill-wise. That would be very unfun for everyone else.

# Regarding baseline armaments:

- The **baseline** is what I consider **everyone whom is asked to fight, on the station's side, will be equipped with.** 
- Anything readily available is considered 'baseline'; ergo security, pre-alert, is considered to have a baseline of stun weapons and light lethals (because you're kidding yourself if you think I won't give officers light lasers eventually), while post-alert security has armory gear.
- Cargo is tricky; we will assume that the cargo update has been completed, so unlimited DMRs will not be a thing anymore.
- **R&D** is the trickiest of all; once materials are in, anything accessible by them at their tech level *is automatically assumed baseline for any personnel sponsored by them, and potentially the entire station.* **This is the biggest balancing factor of guncrafting and similar science weapon designs.**

# Regarding the Science Department's armements:

- The only armaments that I will allow Science to continually keep without *much* interference from myself are **exosuit weapons.** Mecha are assumed to always be combat, all the time, because even the lightest mech can punch you pretty damn hard. Without a serious rework, I am simply going to consider that entire part of the department *all combat, all the time.*
- Everything else in science will follow this theme:
- **Normal weapons that can be replaced by a guncrafting system, will be.** This means saying goodbye to the Advaned Energy Gun, and similar. 
- Prototype weapons that cannot be put in such can continue to exist (melee weapons, current and upcoming; the fuel-rod accelerator, sonic guns, gravity guns, decloners, anything weird like that.)
- Science should generally have prototype, non-direct-output weapons. Anything that is **not** guncrafting will be heavily scrutinized - if it is a 'point and click someone horizontal' kind of weapon, there is a high chance of it not being allowed in. **Science is not a weapons factory.**
- Science should have indirect weapons, that are either 1. hard to use, 2. hard to figure out, 3. very hard to get, or 4. otherwise niche. **Xenoarcheology / Anomaly update will flat out have a suite of weaponization options, and it is within my design as it is not nearly as simple as print, shove in charger, and shoot.**

# Regarding the Armory

- Armory should have enough gear above baseline 'stun, weak lethals' to equip security, as it does now, as well as a small amount of gear two steps above baseline, like DMRs, and similar, for extreme emergencies.

# Regarding the Cargo Division

- Undecided. It will be decided in cargo update. Needless to say, they should have the greatest freedom in weapons acquisition, but at the same time, there's going to be more nuance in where they can get their weapons from / what is the semantics used to determine if something can be a cargo pack / item.

# Regarding Exploration + Everyone else

- I'm not touching this with a 50 foot pole right now, except that:
- Exploration should be *no more heavily armed than Security is at 'light armory' gear, for their roundstart gear.* Midround gear, whether they get it from science, whatever we rework the points vendors to cargo, etc, is out of the scope of my, frankly, fucks given. 

# -- Everything below here is only for guncrafting + science department. --

# Baseline, and how it pertains to Guncrafting

So here's where we're at.

- R&D can print infinite of something as long as the 1. tech is there and 2. materials are there
- We will restrict tech eventually in some techwebs update, but that's going to be eons away, and even then the design for that quite literally says to not restrict things that are already widely available (so most things would be available all the time)
- Materials will be rebalanced, and there will no longer be the ability to simply print 20 SMGs like it costs nothing. Cool.
- These two factors *mitigate* the ability of R&D to artificially elevate the baseline by manufacturing large amounts of gear for other crew/departments, but **do not entirely remove it.**
- Thus, **I am forced to assume that anything able to be created in R&D, guncrafting or otherwise, will be the baseline anytime after 30-45 minutes in.** Anything that does not require materials - **of which I will be adding more of, because it is still to be able to make certain weapons more complex but not other simpler weapons without materials** - is considered to be potentially baseline *at roundstart.*

# Here's the part where people hate me

- If you want *generalzed* high DPS *and* high tier (can punch through combat armor) guns in R&D, you can forget it. I do not want R&D erasing things with 1-2 'meta' weapons like the PDW with armor piercing, or a 2-round-burst laser sniper with penetration. No means no means no. This is non-negotiable.
- Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis.

# Guncrafting - Part Sources

This was originally meant to be science-only, but, I am expanding on it; though the other two departments that will be relevant will not be able to interface with this system until their or others' reworks are done.

- Guncrafting **is designed to be R&D / Security / Cargo, and therefore the station's, baseline.** Not anyone else. There will be the ability to make non-R&D parts, obviously, but at the end of the day, **if we have to resolve a design issue, it will always be with the assumption that the system was first and foremost built as the station's weapons manufacturing system.**
- We *may* allow security to have a lathe for this, much like we will give engineering lathes for machine parts and similar, in the distant future. Please do not ask me about it, because I cannot give you any answers right now.
- Cargo **will** be given the ability to order gun parts from vendors.
- R&D **will** be given the ability to print parts *from the three Corporations the main map is allied to*, Nanotrasen, Hephaestus, and Vey-Med.
- When / if security gets a lathe, they are linked to R&D's availability.
- Anything that is not meant to be acquired by the station will be available offmaps/event/admin-only.

# Guncrafting - Projectile Systems + Where Are Ballisitcs Going?

Guncrafting will be split into two:

- **Energy**; these just use power, along with other mechanics like potentially overheating, and similar, to work.
- **Magnetic**; these use the above, as well as a magazine or otherwise of kinetic projectiles to work.

**Ballistics are not included.** With the upcoming *attachment system*, I do not have a real interest in designing ballistic guncrafting - plus, they're frankly, just boring to code and I do not really have any plans for them.

Instead, R&D will get the following 'modular' ballistic weapon~~s~~:

- Something chambered in (undetermined semi-rifle caliber). Ammo for it can be printed of varying effects, e.g. hollow point, armor piercing, rubber, and with better tech, incendiary, EMP, so on, so forth.
- This weapon **will not use an existing, real-life caliber.** It will be using Eris ammo sprites and is meant to intentionally clash with the usual designs of firearms going around.
- This weapon is **semi-automatic without burst**, and support attachments.
- This weapon is *sort of* a carbine. It is meant to be 1. too big to fit in holsters/pockets (we do not want science glocks) and 2. too small to replace rifles usually found in the red armory/cargo weapons vendors/etc.

# Guncrafting - Planned Part / Frame Availability

With that in mind, here is the semi-finalized availability for what is included in R&D.

The relative small amounts will save us a lot of hassle with hunting down sprites and considering permutations; plus, more frames can always be added later. I do not really see the need for Science to have 6 different kinds of *an energy gun,* as an example.

**Energy Frames:**
- Pistol (large as energy pistol, fits in holsters, pockets, etc)
- Carbine (large as energy carbines yet to be added, does not fit in holsters/pockets) 
- Rifle (large as laser rifle)
- A prototype cannon frame will be considered in the future but will not make it into the first release, for balance/lessening permutations purposes.
- Ditto for other weird designs people can think of, like shotgun frames and whatnot. It is simply out of scope and against the spirit of what R&D should be about.

**Magnetic Frames:**
- Carbine - same deal as the only ballistic prototype, only it can be customized internally. The main differentiator of guncrafting vs attachments is things like scopes, stocks, barrel extensions, etc, go *externally.* Guncrafting is dealing with the gun's inherent, internal mechanics.
- Ditto as per energy frames for things like pistols/rifles/etc. Too many permutations and not enough balancing; gun frames are not the point of science.

# Energy-Based Guncrafting

## Things like scopes are attachments, which are external to the gun. Please do not ask me why I did not include external things like stocks and scopes; that is 100% intentional.

Gun components:
- Energy Handler (Defaulted)
- Focusing Lens (Defaulted, Multi)
- Power Unit (Defaulted)
- Cooling System (Defaulted)
- Internal Modules (Defaulted, Multi)
- Particle Array

Anything 'Defaulted' means that it is not strictly necessary for the gun to work. A sane, usable default will exist. 

Anything 'Multi' means that it may be possible to have multiple in one gun, depending on the frame.

- There can/will be **defective / broken versions of all of these.** It's possible for a gun to have that as the default instead of the actual default - meaning you can find a gun with bad parts you need to exchange out to good ones.

## Focusing Lens

Modifies the projectile as it passes through

**`range` refers to any stat that compounds range, whether it be literal range limit, falloff, stability / accuracy, or others.**

- Focused - + tier, - damage, + heat, + cost, + range
- Ablating - - tier, + damage, + heat, + cost, - range
- Divide-By-Two - - damage, + 1 parallel beam, + heat, + cost, - range; cannot stack with divide-by's
- Divide-By-Three - - damage, + 2 parallel beams, + heat, + cost, - range; cannot stack with divide-by's
- Neutron Pumped - emits passive radiation & slowly decays, each shot decays further but gets + damage, + heat; eventually requires replacement
- Electromagnetic Vent - - heat, each shot emits weak electronics disruption blowback onto user
- Accelerating - + speed, - damage, + tier

## Particle Array

This is the only *mandatory* component for a frame; this is what generates the actual effect of your shot.

### Hitscan - 'pulsed particle array'
- Laser - bog standard laser; the fluff is not an actual laser but players know what it means
- Discharge - ionized electrical discharge beam (so lightning)
- Stun - ionized electrical discharge beam but it doesn't burn and only deals pain
- Excavation - **only will exist until mining rework**  - mines a tile
- Antiparticle - Slightly more energy efficient laser, only works in space.
- Radioactive - weak radiation pulse on impact, mainly concentrated radiation

### Projectile - 'accelerated particle array'; generally *slightly* more efficient than equivalent pulsed array, and has less falloff/accuracy penalties at longer ranges
- Blaster - laser bolt, aka non-hitscan lasers from /tg/; slightly more energy efficient than laser.
- Electromagnetic - ion shots
- Stun - electrically charged stun bolts
- Antipellet - slightly more energy efficient blaster, only works in space.
- Radioactive - radiation pulse on impact

If you notice that this is a bit lacking, that is intentional. Laser cannons = "lol more damage". Low power lasers = "lol less damage". That isn't the primary role of the particle array. More exotic effects are furthermore xenoarcheology / exotic materials territory.

# Magnetic-Based Guncrafting

## Things like scopes are attachments, which are external to the gun. Please do not ask me why I did not include external things like stocks and scopes; that is 100% intentional.

Gun components:
- Energy Handler (Defaulted)
- Power Unit (Defaulted)
- Cooling System (Defaulted)
- Internal Modules (Defaulted, Multi) 
- Acceleration Coils (Defaulted)

Anything 'Defaulted' means that it is not strictly necessary for the gun to work. A sane, usable default will exist. 

Anything 'Multi' means that it may be possible to have multiple in one gun, depending on the frame.

- The gun's caliber is determined by the frame.

## Acceleration Coils

Modifies the projectile as it passes through.

**`range` refers to any stat that compounds range, whether it be literal range limit, falloff, stability / accuracy, or others.**

**Adverse effects may or may not be added fully.** What's likely is that official/proper parts/rounds automatically will work together to not `go wrong`, but if you use weird things, you can expect things like incendiary rounds airbursting after it leaves the barrel and other awful things.

- Thermal: Rounds deal a bit of burn on impact. **May or may not have adverse effects on thermally sensitive rounds.** + cost, + heat
- Energizing: Overcharges rounds that require charging; no effect on other rounds. **May or may not have adverse effects on charge-sensitive rounds.** + cost, + heat
- Overload: Energizing but more powerful, emits weak electronics disruption pulses on fire. + cost, + heat
- Overclocked: + speed, + tier, + heat, + cost

# Shared Modules

## Energy Handler

Actual power provider, interconnect between power unit and components

- Energy handlers can be overclocked in some cases, which increases heat, power draw, and can even damage components.

**`power` is an overall stat passed to the rest of the gun during firing and otherwise; all stats improve when power is higher.**

- Slide Charging: Must rack the gun before firing, and sometimes after changing modes. + power.
- Synchronous Slide Charging: `secret funny thing`

## Power Unit

The power supply for the gun.

- Guns generally have the ability to be hooked into an external power supply, for RIG/other purposes.
- You can modify the power draw to manually throttle a gun.

**`power` is an overall stat passed to the rest of the gun during firing and otherwise; all stats improve when power is higher.**

- Overdraw System: + power, = heat, - cost; will damage the cell during operation. can be pretty dangerous if the cell is too damaged.
- Reaction Intensifier: batteries that require reactions, like RTG-like / microfission cells, operate better with this. **potentially operating too 'better' for your own good.**

## Cooling System

Handles cooling the weapon. Vented heat goes directly to the atmosphere. No more magically cooled laser weapons under this system.

**Heat system is going to be a fun time in many ways. I am not going to elaborate.** 

- Exposed Vent: + cooling, but will increase negative effects on user from heat.
- Peltier System: - cooling, heat slightly converts back into power. 
- Slide Shunt: requires slide charging / synchronous slide charging; heat is ejected on slide.
- Active Ventilation: draws a bit of power to cool off, depending on how much heat there is.

## Internal Modules

- Target Cogitator: **Undecided.**; `Repeated shots to the same target are slightly very buffed in some way.`

## Batteries

- This is the territory of the batteries upgrade; but, suffice to say, expect:
- no more 100%, 200%, 300% upgrades to capacity. It makes balancing hell if I have to go "but what if science gets 4x capacity in an hour"? capacity upgrades will be more gradual
- funny gimmicks like microfission / RTG batteries like the AEG's, with weak self charging
- funny gimmicks like absorbing host energy
- funny gimmicks in general
- battery crafting?

Regardless, it is out of scope for guncrafting update; just know that you will be able to use any valid sized battery on guns.

# Ammunition 

Following ammo types are planned for the **hybrid magnetic** rounds.

Hybrid Rounds - contains propellant, can be fired without power at a disadvantage.

- Standard: Literally just a bullet.
- Fragmenting: - - tier, + damage
- Piercing: + tier, - damage
- Rubber: less than lethal

Magnetic Rounds - requires power to fire, does not contain propellant. You can probably notice that anything reactive / isn't just a solid mass of material is in here.

- High-Velocity: piercing ammunition, faster
- Concussive: low damage, non-piercing, disrupts many kinds of targets (especially simplemobs)
- Chemical: Terrible damage, but able to be laced with 2-3 units of reagents. 
- Shock: even less than lethal than rubber, almost a taser
- Incendiary: - damage, sets stuff on fire.
- Flash: flash rounds
- Smoke: very weak smoke rounds 
- Tracer: *very* bright, and will light up whatever it hits 
- Particle: **Xenoarcheology update required;** loaded with particles of a particular polarity.

## Attachments

Out of scope, but they'll be a thing. You can expect to not have many/most of these on guncrafted guns, though - as an example, while scopes and magnetic harnesses would not be an issue, you wouldn't be able to put an extended barrel on energy weapons.

