Watching Kevin and Coolthulhu go at it in these suggestion threads is the reason why I come to this forum! Kidding.
So, Coolthulhu wants to reduce the number of skills based on his own opinion that there are too many. Kevin wants to flesh out the system even more for the sake of realism and because replacing the current system is a lot of work. Both of you guys have good ideas.
Here’s my opion: sorry Coolthulhu, but I just don’t know if merging the skills into “small guns” and “big guns” like Fallout: New Vegas is the solution, nor is taking away any of the 8 ranged skills already in the game. Each ranged skill category should represent true understanding and knowledge of a certain type of weapon, down to the components themselves, recoil patterns, and techniques. Having a high skill level in them means that you should be proficient in the operation, maintenance, and modification of those specific weapons. It’s not realistic to merge these together, and C:DDA is aiming to be realistic.
The number of skills should remain the way they are because it represents the reality that, yes, there are many types of guns out there and they are all operated differently from each other. It’s reasonable to assume that as a person’s familiarity grows with a type of weapon, that they can operate weapons like it more easily—you get used to reloading it, aiming it, clearing jams quickly, and also your stance and grip of the gun itself will evolve as your skill grows. You adopt techniques from trial and error to more easily handle a weapon at different ranges of engagement. It’s not simple—you can take classes to learn these techniques, and they teach them to you in the military.
You want to merge rifles and shotguns together as the same skill group, or perhaps merging them all into small guns and big guns. This isn’t realistic. I can tell you, having fired them, that rifles and shotguns are not similar in any way other than you hold them with two hands, aim, and pull the trigger. You don’t operate a bolt on a shotgun, you don’t load magazines into one (with some exceptions), the recoil of firing one is much different, the weight and length of the weapon is different (depending on the weapon type), the internal mechanisms are different, and the iron sights are different. Conversely, you don’t load shells into a rifle, you don’t pump a rifle, you hold a rifle in a different grip, and there are different methods to, for example, clearing a jam. My point is that these two types of guns deserve to have their own skills associated with their general use, because they are different enough to justify having them separate. Same thing for the other 6 skills.
Yes, it’s true, a certain level of skill with using firearms carries over to other firearms—the subconscious muscle memory associated with aiming and shooting. We have this system represented in the game already as the Marksmanship skill (none of the Fallout games even have a marksmanship skill, by the way). So, for example, if you’re used to shooting a rifle, you SHOULD be able to switch from a rifle to a shotgun and be reasonably accurate if you have a high Marksmanship skill, but every other aspect of operating the shotgun—like reloading it and maintaining it—will be foreign to you, though to be fair it isn’t very difficult in comparison to a rifle.
Coolthulhu, you want to balance out all, or at least some, of the weapon types so that they aren’t overshadowed by Rifles. That is understandable from a video-game perspective where everything has to be balanced to encourage different modes of play, but as for me, I think rifles SHOULD be the best weapons in the game. This is how it is in reality, and just look to our militaries for proof; all of our modern military forces use assault rifles as their go-to weapon because it is simply better in more situations than any other weapon. Other types of weapons are situational, and pistols are always a backup; it’s rare to see a soldier use a shotgun or any other weapon unless they KNOW that they are going to be in a situation that better calls for one over an assault rifle (discounting special units like machinegunners, designated marksmen, snipers, etc). Assault rifles are the end-game weapon in reality, and so they should be the end-game weapon in the game too. Calling for the weaker guns to be balanced to contend with the stronger ones is just missing the point of this game: to be realistic.
Now, this isn’t to say that there isn’t some balancing to do. I think that rifles DO over-perform at least a bit, because of the whole “accuracy is always better” meta going on. Once they figure out how to fix the aiming acquirement problem, I think it will give more reason to forego your AK or your bolt-action and pick up a Skorpion instead.
Also, as an off topic, I would love to see ranged abilities that are performed with the same vein as melee moves. Maybe things like a quick-shot, holding your breath, putting the gun directly to a zombie’s skull before firing, spray-n-pray to hit several targets in front of you with a machine gun, shooting and moving at the same time—risky and versatile moves that would be possible with certain types of weapons to help differentiate them a bit. Oh, and having a system where your character becomes more familiar with an individual weapon would be cool, as everyone realistic does prefer certain guns over others, even if they’re the same type.
