Can Mercenaries be given Swap Ammo?

[shrikefire]

Over in the mastermind forum there was a discussion of Mercs as an underperforming powerset. One idea I have is to replace Serum with swap ammo. I am not sure how this could be best executed, but I think it would fit thematically and go a long way towards making Mercs more competitive. 

[General Idiot]

Mechanically it could be implemented the same way dual pistols is, by giving the pets' powers several conditional effects and then having the ammo swap powers you have just grant the pets the relevant ammo type the same way the existing upgrade powers work. Theoretically it should be that simple, but the standard code rant always applies to that.

[Redlynne]

Considering that the Mercenaries pets themselves don't have that many attack powers, it wouldn't be an absurdly labor intensive process to convert/port over the way that Swap Ammo works into their attack powers on the game mechanical level.  There might be some problems with the visual and sound FX, but that's an art assets issue, and some of that could presumably be cobbled together from Dual Pistols as well.  The key feature change would be that rather than the different ammo types being something which is a Self Only effect would instead need to be run via PBAoE toggle (presumably Supremacy range radius of 60ft) ... which then runs into a very interesting problem.  What happens when you have two Mercenaries Masterminds and they're each running different ammo types and their Supremacy auras overlap?  Do all of the Mercenaries start shooting "dual ammo" types because of the overlap in Swap Ammo auras?

 

Now, mind you, I'd argue that Mercenaries are "so far behind the curve" that allowing them to "multi-type" their ammo via overlapping Swap Ammo auras from multiple Masterminds would be a "fair" (needed?) multiplayer buff to the powerset ... but not everyone would be quite so forgiving of the implications.  Still, it IS an extra layer of possibility that needs to be accounted for and dealt with before proceeding to any kind of coding process (because if you can't "explain it" to the computer, the computer is unlikely to do what you actually want it to do).

[Vanden]

I really don’t think letting Mercs change a portion of their damage type is going to result in any meaningful increase in performance.

[shrikefire]

34 minutes ago, Vanden said:

I really don’t think letting Mercs change a portion of their damage type is going to result in any meaningful increase in performance.

Perhaps it could also include a straight damage buff?

[Monos King]

3 hours ago, Redlynne said:

What happens when you have two Mercenaries Masterminds and they're each running different ammo types and their Supremacy auras overlap?

That isn't possible luckily.

[Monos King]

When Galaxy and I were discussing merc changes, swap ammo came up. I had a really ridiculous idea for it involving temporarily unlocking new abilities in a way akin to equip and upgrades, which probably couldn't happen, but I'd love to see mercs get different ammunition types in any form. A direct DP port would definitely be cool, but it'd have to get some tweaks so it actually improves performance and isn't just pure fun factor.

[ImpousVileTerror]

Rather than the regular ammo types, I think it would be fantastic to have three NEW types:
   Ghost Busters - Adds minor Negative Energy Type Damage, extra Moderate-High Damage to True Undead.

   Lock and Shock - Adds minor Energy Type Damage, Chance for Stun, extra Moderate Damage to Robots.

   Anti-Incarnate Rounds - Adds minor Psionic Damage, instantly annihilates any Incarnates.

 

Or at least give these types of ammo to my main Villain, Commandant Nongratis.  It would be very on-brand for her.

[shrikefire]

20 hours ago, Monos King said:

When Galaxy and I were discussing merc changes, swap ammo came up. I had a really ridiculous idea for it involving temporarily unlocking new abilities in a way akin to equip and upgrades, which probably couldn't happen, but I'd love to see mercs get different ammunition types in any form. A direct DP port would definitely be cool, but it'd have to get some tweaks so it actually improves performance and isn't just pure fun factor.

Is this really ridiculous? I would actually hope for that kind of functionality - a kind of third upgrade with the same aoe application on a moderate recharge. You can even use the equip mercenary animation, since it's just throwing the merc a clip.

[Galaxy Brain]

20 hours ago, Monos King said:

When Galaxy and I were discussing merc changes, swap ammo came up. I had a really ridiculous idea for it involving temporarily unlocking new abilities in a way akin to equip and upgrades, which probably couldn't happen, but I'd love to see mercs get different ammunition types in any form. A direct DP port would definitely be cool, but it'd have to get some tweaks so it actually improves performance and isn't just pure fun factor.

 

5 minutes ago, shrikefire said:

Is this really ridiculous? I would actually hope for that kind of functionality - a kind of third upgrade with the same aoe application on a moderate recharge. You can even use the equip mercenary animation, since it's just throwing the merc a clip.

It would involve giving them a bunch of (Temp?) powers which gets very complex.

 

As we mentioned, the issue with Mercs isn't so much the damage types as just the way they apply damage. They have very very slow animations and/or very slow recharges which leads to poor performance. It would still be poor even if they shot Negative Energy damage which is the least resisted throughout the game.