We shared a quick glimpse into the work-in-progress vehicle weapon system a little while ago. Now it is time to check out the whole system in action and find out what you can do with it!
Initial Thoughts and Concepts
For a long time during development, we struggled with finding the right solution for our vehicle and vehicle equipment or weapon system. On paper, it sounds very easy: give vehicles two weapon slots to equip some vehicle-specific weapons and be done with it.
When looking at vehicles, the first thing you notice is the variety of vehicle types. There are small trucks, light and medium Tanks, ATVs, and Walkers. All of these should, in theory, be able to use all the weapons, but the 3D Models are not compatible, so the number of different weapon prefabs you need to do quickly explodes into the hundreds, which is not doable for a small team like ours. Also, different weapons have different sizes. A large tank cannon can not be slotted into a tiny truck, so each vehicle type, or chassis, needs a variety of differently sized weapon slots.
Given all of the above and considering our limited resources, we opted for the simplest route: Each vehicle is a unique, handcrafted variant that cannot be changed. A pirate truck with a rocket organ is a fixed entity, while an IFV with an Autocannon is another. There is no swapping of weapons or loadouts.
Given the procedural nature of MENACE and the importance of army building to us, we could not keep it that way. We decided to put in a lot of work to create a completely modular vehicle weapon system that gives players maximum freedom to build any vehicle as they like.
Chassis
The whole system is based on vehicle chassis. These are the bases that support all the different weapons and equipment options. A pilot can not be deployed to battle without a vehicle assigned.
Each chassis has a variety of characteristics, such as armor and hit points, but more importantly, it has a selection of different vehicle weapon slots. These can be equipped with a vehicle-mounted weapon of the appropriate size in any combination.
Vehicle Weapon Slots: Light, Medium, Heavy
There are three sizes of vehicle weapon slots:
Light Vehicle Weapons
These are the equivalent of infantry special weapons. Examples are light and medium machine guns, light flamethrowers, or plasma rifles. Adding a light weapon does not affect the vehicle's performance or abilities in any way.
Medium Vehicle Weapons
Medium weapons are larger than any infantry-operated weapon system, with the exception of some tripod-based infantry support weapons. These weapons typically come equipped with a designated turret mounted on the vehicle. Examples are: Laser Lances, Heavy Machine-guns, Rocket Launchers, or Heavy Flamethrowers. Adding a light weapon does not affect the vehicle's performance or abilities in any way.
Heavy Vehicle Weapons
These include extraordinarily heavy and powerful weapons. Equipping a heavy weapon on a vehicle will remove its transport capacity if it had any. Sometimes, a heavy weapon will completely change the look of a vehicle. For example, equipping a heavy mortar in the light carrier will not only change the turret but also the whole model.
Examples of heavy weapons include tank cannons, heavy mortars, and all variants of twin-linked weapons, such as twin-linked heavy machine guns or miniguns.
Vehicle Loadout Examples
Let's look at the pirate rocket truck and the light carrier. The truck has one medium weapon slot in the vehicle's trunk. It cannot take on a light or heavy weapon.
The light carrier, which can also transport a squad, has a light and a heavy weapon slot. Note that the heavy slot can take a medium weapon as well.
Below are examples using the pirate rocket truck and the light carrier to show how loadouts affect both capability and appearance.
Pirate Truck and Light Carrier (No Weapon Equipped)
Pirate Truck and Light Carrier with Autocannon (Medium Weapon)
Light Carrier with and without Autocannon + Light Machine Gun
Note: Adding a light weapon to the light carrier looks different depending on whether a medium weapon is installed or not.
Light Carrier with Tank Cannon (Heavy Weapon)
Light Carrier with Heavy Mortar and Flamethrower
As you can see, the appearance of the vehicles depends not only on the chassis but also on the weapons they are equipped with. Finally, here is an overview of some of the weapon and chassis combinations currently available in the game. There are more variants, and we will add more during development.
Walkers
There are various types of walkers with different weapon slots. However, the medium walker is currently the only chassis that can take two medium weapons. These can either be different ones or the same one twice.
Some vehicles can also equip two of the same weapon, but these are combined into a single twin-linked weapon that requires a heavy slot for installation, rather than a medium one.
Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed
That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.
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