EntranceJew
commented
11 months ago I have some considerations I'd like to bring up in relation to this, just some things to chew on while this is under discussion:
Random Weapon Spawn incompatible with Spawnable Equipment
I would find it useful when arming maps, to be able to do so by placing special equipment spawns for a short-list of spawn enabled equipment items like a flare guns or a taser. The reason this is the problem, is that the existing "random weapon spawn" considers special equipment already, so nobody using the spawn editor can create "random equipment spawns" without them also appearing in the general pool of random weapon spawns.
Remember Spawn Editor Settings
The spawn editor tool should remember the last amount of ammo set for the previous spawn point, bouncing the number of ammo spawns for each weapon up and from zero for every spawn point placed really gets in the way. If there were a spawn point configuration UI introduced, then it should retain the last setting for that spawn point type that was modified when a new one is placed. Or some sort of copy/paste in the hypothetical UI menu.
Simplify Spawn Editor Options
If possible, since the spawn editor tool is the only weapon in the inventory when in use, the "slot" hotkeys should cycle the slot that the spawn editor is spawning for. Another thing would be I'd really prefer fewer entries in the list of operation modes for the spawn editor. It should be cut down to:
- Player Spawn
- Weapon Spawn [Weighted Random, Primary, Secondary, Pistol, Shotgun, Sniper]
- A "mode" switch button while any of these are selected should switch to "ammo" for the same category of weapon. When placing shotguns, and ammo for shotguns, they should be one key press away, not 8, and not in a completely different order.
- Grenade Spawn
- These feel unique, they're both ammo and a weapon.
- Misc [Melee, Holster, Held, Equipment, Extra, Class]
Weapon Scarcity
Weapons that are Spawnable frequently have disproportionate utility, for example, flash bangs might be a really good and useful item, but never useful enough to consider buying one for a credit depending on how a server is set up -- it would be worthwhile if each base weapon had the 0:100% weight the way role distribution does. It'd be even better if all eligible weapons were configurable all on the same screen with sliders that offset each-other's weight, but short of that, just having the percentage weight could help mitigate overly abundant equipment.
Weighted Random Spawn
I have thought that the linked workshop spawn ratio addon is really excellent, the only thing it is missing is adjustable weights per category of weapon (primary / secondary / throwable / etc). IMO this should become the default replacement for random weapon spawns. In combination with a point above, too frequently does the introduction of one weapon type knock on the distribution of every other weapon in the game.
Configurable Spawn Point
It would be nice if there were a UI that allowed opting into specific tags like type: primary or ammo: sniper. Another major factor in how I've been arming maps has been the effective range of weapons and their availability, controlling ammo scarcity to where the fewest firefights happen at specific ranges. Rather than focus narrowly down whether the new balance post-ammo change is going to heavily emphasize Ammo Type or Slot Type, having a more generally configurable node would be . I understand there's adversity to complexity, when the goal is to simplify, but in this situation a more general approach might be a powerful tool in simplifying the palette for the spawn editor.
Register Ammo Types With TTT2
And while things are being worked on in that department, we should add a hook for registering additional ammo types for those that wish to restore ammo spawns to the five, or introduce new ones such as a hypothetical AR2 bullet for most large machine guns. It'd be really stellar to have that integration all the way down to the spawn point editor:
- Set the base gmod ammo type
- Set the entity that extends
base_ammo_ttt - Set the VGUI icons / strings for it
Other Notes
For what it's worth, I really think wget got it right with their rework in terms of ammo variety. Really, the only thing I would do different is make most SMG classified weapons a secondary instead of a primary but that's just my opinion.
Math
I happened to have a file on hand showing what ammo types Lykrast's Weapons + Stock Weapons look like in terms of ammo distribution, and I made a few versions tallying up what their new types would reasonably be shifted to if this reduction to 4 ammo types were to occur: ammo type breakdown.
The most balanced distribution I could come up with by hand would be version 06:
ammo now change
DEAGLE 3 0
9MM 12 13
SMG 14 0
RIFLE 5 21
SHOTGUN 3 3Ammo Boxes
Personally I'd use the 9mm box for RIFLE, SMG box for 9mm, and the buckshot box as-is. (3, 4, 5) -- for whatever reason magnum / sniper ammo catches light the least out of all ammo boxes.
Right now there are five kinds of ammo in the game:
Reducing these to three doesn't remove any tactics from the game, but improves visual distinctiveness between those (when using 2, 4, 5). It also simplifies many things such as distinct icons for each type. It also makes it clear to players that they need ammo X for pistol-like weapons for example.
This means we'd reduce it to three types:
there might be more descriptive names for these three types,
Related to this change is a rebalance of the spawning, as there are now fewer spawns than before and some are unused. There are already addons that tackle this where we could take a look at: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2990353959
This might also be slightly related to #1107
While reworking the ammo, the materials could also be replaced with higher resolution / better looking versions.
Also the targetID integration from https://github.com/TTT-2/ttt2-weaponstats should be partly integrated into base TTT2. ammo should show its kind of ammo and also if it can be picked up with the curently selected weapon / another (also which) weapon from the inventory