The MPR ("Modular Polyvalent Rifle")

Would you like to see this Weapon/build in the game at some point?


  • Total voters
    12

Terib.Shadow

Omni Ace
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Jul 26, 2016
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#1
An idea for EM-8ER i had suggested to Grummz not long ago, he suggested i'd post it here to see what you all think, so here it is.


You get the main Weapon, I suggested the name Modular Polyvalent Rifle (MPR for short)
It's a 2 handed weapon for your omniframe, equipping it unlocks all of the following abilities :

There's 2 types of abilities you unlock, passive, ammunition type based, and the active ones, to change your weapon type.

First the ammunition,
You start with the first ability, MPR basic ammunition, which is normal ammunition, with no upsides or downsides. This ability, like the following, remains constantly active until you activate another ammunition ability. You could research and unlock different type of ammunitions, like MPR explosive to deal with crowds, MPR energy, MPR plasma, etc... This in itself is only a change in damage type, which is all about the player knowing when to switch for which target, skill based!

Then, the weapons, this is where it gets fun,
You could get the different, firing mode abilities, which could simply take the attack pattern of other weapons to save on development costs. do keep in mind the above ammo type could have a combined effect with the following.
MPR Mortar mode, to have long range, AOE damage and the other benefits of such weapons.
MPR Full auto mode, switches to assault rifle/SMG attack pattern to fight in closer encounters
MPR Precision mode, augments the rifle's single target capabilities, making it even snipier
MPR Healing beam mode, y'all know what this means, Nanites flying to your buddy's omniframe and repairing it. (something along those lines at least)

And those are just a few exemples.

Basically the idea is the weapon can convert both its damage type and what weapon it is, effectively making you able to carry more weapons in a way, however the cost of that is every extra ammunition or firing mode also costs you an ability slot, which balances things out. And the best part? Tons of other weapon's assets could be taken to make this, heavily reducing the costs.

This might remind you of the Firefall Arsenal dreadnaught frame, but in a different way.

All in all, it's a weapon focused build, but players could still pick other abilities not related to this if they so choose, this way people can still make the builds they like, which is a most important part.

This probably would be limited to the Light omniframe, as this does sound like a weapon that'd be a specialisation in itself.


Do tell what you think of this in the comments below or in the poll above. Of course, this is a general idea, tweaking would be done by the dev team to adjust and balance stuff.
 
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Terib.Shadow

Omni Ace
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Jul 26, 2016
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Baal Secundus
#6
Could you make too some kind of gunblade or something like that (half melee, half ranged weapon)?
Dunno, this seems like it'd be a bit more complicated, a melee weapon sure but a combo weapon i'm not too sure.
Definitely seems like it'd be doable for a melee weapon, problem is i'm not sure what kind of extra advantage i can imagine besides having multiple weapons in one.
Worth thinking about a bit ^^.
 
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VRK9

Active Member
Sep 15, 2017
123
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#7
The ranged weapon is good if we like to have several types of ranged weapons in one, the same with the melee, but if i want one type of ranged weapon and one type of melee, could combine those in one weapon.
 

Faeryl

Omni Ace
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Community Manager
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Jul 26, 2016
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discord.gg
#8
we only get 2 ability slots, so you can only equip up to 2 ammo types.

Taken directly from Grummz in Discord:

June 29, 2019
==========
Grummz: All frames have 2 weapon slots, you choose what weapons to put in there
Grummz: There is alt-fire
Grummz: FF abilities will be there but may work a bit differently
Grummz: There are 3 weapon slots in Em8ER (shoulder is one)

[All frames get shoulder weapons?]
Grummz: Yes, but in the case of the light frame it might be more of a drone thing, like PSO

June 30, 2019
==========
Grummz: There are 7 swappable slots planned on the Omniframes
head
shoulders
forearms
boosters
wing
thigh plates
lower leg
Plus one weapon body slot: Shoulder Mount
 

Terib.Shadow

Omni Ace
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Jul 26, 2016
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#12
So it seems. I checked the vision book to confirm this, and seems like you were right but the slots aren't the same there as well, seems like they're actually "categories" of slots, not just a single on each.
See here :

1562968498248.png

This doesn't say the amount of abilities you can have, since both active and passive are plural i assume it's at least 2, which does correlate with what grummz told you during that chief chat, but having 2 abilities along with a single HKM is even less than in firefall, if that remains the case i'll be a bit disappointed, but so be it.

We might need Grummz to re-confirm what's what about abilities, he should see this soon either way.
 
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Wyntyr

Omni Ace
Ark Liege
Jul 26, 2016
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#13
How it all plays together is still a tad vague. I'm inclined to promote players choosing from a large pool of varying weaponry AND ability types (active/passive) myself. Although I don't mind trade-offs (use X but lose Y) either.

With that said I would love to promote that any active ability be able to be placed in the HKM/Ultimate slot instead of having those separated (active abilities are HKM's / HKM's are active abilities). Imagine an afterburner ability slotted in the HKM spot. Typically will have less times being used due to HKM build up being slower than the ability cooldown BUT when you hit that HKM afterburner...WATCH OUT!!!
 

Faeryl

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Community Manager
Kaiju Slayer
Jul 26, 2016
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discord.gg
#14
@Terib.Shadow and @zdoofop I don't know what Chief Chat Grummz may have mentioned ability slots but, the following is pretty recent in Discord:
June 29, 2019
Grummz: Haven't decided on ability slots yet
Let's wait until after the Multiplayer Demo and Weapons Demo before worrying TOO much about specifics on abilities. Although I wouldn't be surprised if @Grummz has those next on his list.

:cool:
 
Jul 26, 2016
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#15
cool. It's basically a futuristic multi-caliber firearm like say the P&R M47 Medusa revolver or practially any AR with other weapons added on it's rails.

That would be cool. It would make the game less restrictive in combat.
 

PIghead Elderberry

Kaiju Slayer
JUMBO KAIJU SLAYER
Jun 4, 2017
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CA USA
#16
I had to be a naysayer, as it seems to me (if I am understanding this suggestion correctly) that it is basically suggesting taking a number of weapons and abilities and putting them all into one single weapon that changes based on ammo/or skills.

What then is the point of having a variety of weapons with different visuals/audios crafting, skins, look and feel...?

Am I misunderstanding?

I like the way FF and most other games have different weapons and different abilities. I can choose an SMG to play with an SMG for example, I don't simply have one weapon which does it all. That in my mind limits variety of what we see / hear ourselves and when seeing other players use weapons. It's all a computer game, so it makes no difference other than aesthetics. We could all hold a stick and lump of rock and just "mod" it to be anything...
 
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Terib.Shadow

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Jul 26, 2016
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#17
I had to be a naysayer, as it seems to me (if I am understanding this suggestion correctly) that it is basically suggesting taking a number of weapons and abilities and putting them all into one single weapon that changes based on ammo/or skills.

What then is the point of having a variety of weapons with different visuals/audios crafting, skins, look and feel...?

Am I misunderstanding?

I like the way FF and most other games have different weapons and different abilities. I can choose an SMG to play with an SMG for example, I don't simply have one weapon which does it all. That in my mind limits variety of what we see / hear ourselves and when seeing other players use weapons. It's all a computer game, so it makes no difference other than aesthetics. We could all hold a stick and lump of rock and just "mod" it to be anything...
One of the main points is, you can have more than just the basic amount of weapons we'd normally be able to with this, the default is 1 primary, 1 secondary and 1 melee weapon (+1 secondary for medium onmiframes, +1 melee for light omniframes and +shield for heavy omniframes, you probably know that detail already)
With this, you'd be able to, for exemple, have 3 or 4 primary weapons, however each extra weapon would be one less ability you could equip, same for the ammunition types, we don't know how ammo will work quite yet in EM-8ER, but another ammo type would also cost an ability slot.

It's all about knowing how to balance this build properly, and anyone can balance it the way they want, someone deciding to use this main weapon wouldn't be stopped from using the normally available abilities, it's just extra options.

As for the point of the "variety of weapons" you mentioned, that's not quite relevant, those weapons will still be there, for anyone who doesn't want to invest in multiple weapon and prefer pure abilities. Which logically should be a lot of players, after all, not everyone would use this build don't you think?
Especially if the abilities turn out to be extra flashy ^^.

But @SomeUnregPunk got the idea, in a way, a rifle with a bunch of rail attachments isn't too far off.
 
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Pandagnome

Kaiju Slayer
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Jul 27, 2016
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#20
I like the fact have it all in one and that it could in useful for the various situation and even environments you are in. However is it just going to look the same is there potential for customization in look?

How would the gun compare to the standalone weapon e,g a MPR vs say a Plasma cannon
if they both used the same ammo and had the same firing mode would the plasma cannon still excel since it is made for that specifically than the MPR? or will it act the same?


Could this modular type weapon example say i want to focus mainly on a
lightening gun that fires electricity since i am using that as my main, researching a modular system core for that particular gun would it mean electricity would be my main and still use other ammo although not as effective as the electricity ?

The idea is good just think if we still have various weapon type why not use a special modular system core that could be put into any weapon that way we still have the style we want e,g, it could be a flame thrower look that cooks stuff primarily but can switch to a plasma cannon perhaps and change the appearance too?

The more you can change it would just be the jack of all trades but never be as good as the standalone weapon? or then again a weapon that could change to just 2 different weapons.
E.g. A sniper that could switch to a p90 or an Axe that could turn into a pole arm
perhaps there could be some morph changing effect then changes to the new weapon and its appearance.

I like the idea of switching to at least 2 weapons but if you could change to any weapon ammo type does this just leave the other so called weapons forgotten and overlooked?

If this MPR could have various amount of skins, just like how it could change ammo types and firing modes then this could be really nice perhaps it could but depends on which ammo you use
e.g. if i was using plasma ammo and something else the MPR could let me use the plasma skin and the MPR skin when switching so when i change ammo mode it could morph to the smexy plasma cannon look

Is there a place for this MPR i'd like to think so and would want it to be an alternative way to play than be a one gun does all.