Instead of making a big tl;dr post, I will simply state what I think would make this game better in terms of weapon improvements.

Rifle: Lower recoil by half, Slightly increase hipfire reticule (because getting lucky hipfire headshots is too easy), Decrease fog and noise within the iron sights so far off targets don't bend in and become near invisible like they currently do.

Grenade: Increase range which they can be thrown by 1.5x

Now for new weapon ideas. All the proposed weapons would be switched out at base camp by clicking the left mouse button to switch your currently selected weapon. Example: You want to switch your rifle, have your rifle out while at base and clicck the left mouse button to scroll through the weapon choices, when the weapon you want is selected move away from the base and your rifle will be replaced!

New weapon ideas;

1. TNT - TNT would replace grenades. TNT would be represented by a placeable block that looks like a bundle of TNT. It would have a 5x5 blast radius. You can hold only one TNT block at a time. You detonate the TNT by placing the block and clicking on it with the right mouse button, you could pick the TNT up by clicking on it with the left mouse button, same as placing it. It would have a 10 second fuse and begin making a hissing noise while activated, during that time a right click by you or an enemy player would disable it. This would be a great addition to the game for saboteurs who sneak behind enemy lines and would be an excellent breaching tool if players teamed up and set them off in tandem near an enemy structure. If the player who placed a TNT block is killed ow switches sides before the TNT explodes, the TNT block would disappear.

2. Sniper Rifle- A sniper rifle would have the same damage as a standard rifle except do 50 damage to the body instead of 40, same hipfire without the hipfire reticule, and double the recoil of the current rifle. When aiming with the rifle circled crosshairs would appear in the center of your screen in which all images would be blown up to x4 scale, while half the area of your screen is blackened out. This would keep the rifle from being OP as it would make tracking a moving target aware of your position very difficult. The report on the rifle would be twice as loud to the enemy and the tracer would be 1.5 times longer for easier spotting. The rifle would hold 5 rounds instead of 10 with a maximum of 35 (5 chambered with 30 in reserve) the rifle would fire twice as slow as the standard rifle. All these limiters would keep the rifle balanced, but the zoom would still make picking off targets behind cover or in key positions easier then using the standard rifle. It would fill a nice niche without making use of the standard rifle redundant.

3. Machinegun - The machinegun would be a unique weapon in the sense you could not fire it while moving. It would have the same accuracy of the current hipfire area of the rifle, and could not be aimed in. On the other hand, the gun would have no recoil and fire at 2.5x the speed of the standard rifle. While moving with the machinegun it would look as if you were carrying the weapon, in order to fire the weapon it would need to be placed like a block using the right trigger. After being placed it would be controlled like a turret with an image of the weapon showing up similar to when aiming with the rifle, including zoom, except the barrel will not go to the center of the screen and there would be no aiming crosshairs (so you would aim using your judgment of what is center of the screen, although your tacers would be fully visible as if you were looking down slightly on your line of sight which would help with aiming) there would be full mobility in the sense you could look in any direction, and the weapon would be fired with the left trigger button as is standard. To exit aiming mode and move with the weapon again you would click the right trigger. The weapon would have 100 rounds (50 chambered with 50 in reserve) and reloading would take 1.5x longer then the rifles. The Machinegun would take 5 bullets to destroy a block and have the same damage of the rifle, except headshots would only do 50 damage. All these limitations would keep people from going all rambo with the gun, but also fill a nice niche of adding more defense against enemy raids against your base or intel as you could have several gunners set up as defense.

I spent a lot of time thinking about these weapon ideas and have come to the conclusion they are all very balanced.

Running around with an MG would get you killed on account of the setup time and fact you couldn't move.

Playing with the sniper aggressively would you get you spotted and killed on account of the enemy having greater mobility while aiming (meaning they could take evasive measures while still being able to fire upon a sniper)

TNT wouldn't be OP on account the hissing noise while its activated would alert enemies to potentially find and disable it (plus each player could only carry one)

The rifle would still be useful for its well rounded characteristic in mobility and accuracy.

Plus we all know the grenades need a range modifier, since they can be pretty useless with how short of a distance they can be thrown.

What does everybody think? Am I crazy? Suggestions? Support?

(also I can use Slab6 very well, and could potentially help with any of the gun designs if bcoolface thinks any of these ideas are good, and would do it all for free as long as I got credit for the designs)

WHOOPS! it ended up being a tl;rd anyway...

I'd prefer that something like the Sniper Rifle and TNT be obtainable only by hitting so many points and being able to trade them in for a limited number of spawns with those items.

I say this largely because a Sniper Rifle isn't really necessary given how the game is. You can snipe pretty easy already. Also, TNT would make griefing enemy structures (or allied structures...) too easy. So making them a kind of temporary upgrade for players who are doing well would at least encourage players to complete objectives and be good players/team members.

As for the machine gun, I'd much prefer that a team started with gun emplacements that could be picked up and moved. They could be destroyed, perhaps even captured. If points could be traded in, perhaps a team could purchase more (though the total number a team can have should be limited for the sake of balance)

The actual stats for the weapons you listed are fine by me though.

Great ideas, I can see you definitely put a lot of thoughts on those. I especially like the balanced sniper.

@Drakengard

As for griefing with TNT I agree, but there will be a rep system implements so if somebody is griefing people can give hem bad reps or just learn how to kick people.

Making upgrades on account of scoring would require a lot more programming to put into play, plus players would all be wanting to have the person who has intel die so they can return it themselves to get the "upgrades" (none of them are real upgrades, as 5 grenades can do about as much damage as 1 TNT block with less accuracy and more noise to be found out by, and the wepon ideas are all balanced)

The scope WOULD make it easier to snipe on account of shooting at an enemies head that is 4x larger to you then yours is to an enemies, while making an enemy less obscured by cover would be VERY helpful (plus it would be most effective for taking out people using a Machinegun

Also, if MG's had a set position, how would they be reloaded? if they could be destroyed then where would you get more? people would just go around destroying all the MG's and their inclusion in the game would be redundant)

Can't wait for that rep system abuse.

Cool, but like the other thread said, we need some form of armory distribution, to make the weapons work well

Well, I'm tired, so I only read the bit about the machine gun. For the most part, I agree with what you've said about the machine gun. The only issues that I have with it are:

Doing only 50 percent damage per headshot. In my opinion, it should be a one hit kill weapon, just like the rifle. If you're only going to have 100 rounds (which is definitely not a lot for a machine gun), then they need to be just as powerful as the rifle rounds. You also mentioned that this would be to prevent people from trying to Rambo their way across the map, but that just won't happen. It is already ridiculously easy to snipe in this game, all it takes is one well hidden sniper (hell, one guy standing out in the open) with one well-placed headshot to render the machine gun useless (until someone else can get a chance to man it, and even then, the sniper will be waiting).

I had more to say, but eh...I don't know, I am tired.

@Galaxy
On second thought I agree with you that MG's killing in one headshot wouldn't be OP, especially on account aiming would be more difficult without any crosshairs to aim with on top of the reasons you mentioned.

Take account that this is WW1, and sniper rifles are mostly bolt actions. Aside from the extra recoil, slower rate of fire, you would have to unscope to load the next shot.

Also, 30 reserved rounds are a bit too much. If it only takes 2 body shots or 1 headshot to kill an enemy, I think 6 for clip capacity and 12 for reserved rounds should be adequate enough. Sniper rifles should be applied at strategic spots, not to be used at random places to frag people at a distance.

@fryingnemo
I prefer 5 rounds loaded as it is tradition, and it having a firerate which is half of the rifles would simulate pulling the bolt back to fire again, maybe making it 3x as slow? and what about 15 in reserve?

As for having you unscope after each shot, that would make things difficult on account of the programming involved. Plus its not like the sniper would get any advantages to being scoped in between shots as the roil would throw off their aim, and aiming would be instantaneous like with the rifle.

@TheOperator
Yeah, in another thought, 5 is actually the right number for bolt action rifles, I was distressed by the odd number. I guess people would have to aim for head anyways, odd or even number doesn't matter. 5/15, I say yes.

Reducing rate of fire yet again.. well, in the case, I'd have to recommend to increase the body shot damage. It's either speed or damage; sniper rifle has to be intimidating enough in long range, so, as enemies see the sniper bullet trail or hear the gun firing, their immediate action HAVE TO be hiding in cover for counter-sniping. Nerfing would reduce this intimidation.

I am a programmer as well, and I completely understand your concerns. However, let's not let our imaginations be restrained by that, or anything else.

Ya sorry, realised that, so I deleted the nade comment asap. Apparently you got there first :3

@fryingnemo

As for damage, how about this.
Head = 100 (obviously)
Body = 65
arms = 35

That way unless you are a poor shot and keep hitting their arms you will be killing people in either 1 shot or two. Plus bringing down a players health by 35 by simply clipping them would be great on account it decreases the number of rifle shots needed to kill the enemy by your teamates by a large margin. Anything more then that is a bit too powerful IMHO for an arm shot, but either way it would cause a lot of damage and make 2 shot kills easier on account of one on the body and one to the arm could kill.

and I think having the rifle fire at 30% the speed of the regular rifle is a good sum.

@TheOperator
Hand shake for the gentlemen's agreement.

How about we can grab a TNT bundle from HQ , allowing only one to be carried.

And use it to blow up one of those annoying bunkers entirely in one shot, WITHOUT replacing the grenades. :)

@Trotski

The reason I didn't suggest that is because then there would be no drawback to using the TNT and it would be TOO easy destroying bunkers with the ability to carry 4 grenades and a TNT block. Plus the extra programming to add another slot for equipment

Unless you are saying they would have to be holding the block and couldn't switch to their other equipment while holding it, in that case the person couldn't dig tunnels while carrying a TNT, and TNT would be most effective using in tulles underneath an enemy intel tower or bunker, so it would make the TNT ineffective and nobody would use it.

FIRST: I really like the machine-gun idea. Something you can carry and have to emplace seems very realistic and superappropriate for this game.

SECOND: Some sort of explosive charge is awesomesauce, but I think it should be a remote detonated deal and not a fuse. so it'd be: place dynamite---> back up while holding a spool of wire and a detonator switch-----> blow something the fuck up!

remote detonating== ambush fun
limited range== more balance
should be the size of a grenade, not a full block== aesthetics

THIRD: A sniper rifle may or may not be redundant, depending on how much you hate the idea of iron-sights. I would say that sniping is exactly the way it should be already

Bump

All of these weapons suggestions just don't sound like they would fit into a simple game like AoS.

personally i think the sniper has to many limitations causing it to be less useful than the regular rifle and the machine-gun should be recoil galore not have no-recoil and due to the fact that the machine gun has a much higher rate of fire it shouldn't have almost the same damage as a rifle imho
blocks=10
head=25%
body=15%
arms+head=10%
but hey this is me ranting but i really do recommend you think on what i said

I don't think a sniper rifle would have much use. If you've played the game for a while scoring headshots is pretty easy, so the extra damage is moot. The extra limitations on reload rate and ammo capacity would far outweigh any benefits. Plus, the vision distance is short enough in AoS that a scope would mean little advantage anyways.

For a machine gun, it would have to be placed before being operational like you said, and then would function like a turret. To be true to WWI type warfare (and also balanced) it would have to be very defense-oriented. It should have high recoil, dubious accuracy, substantial rate of fire, and probably a little less damage than a rifle. Ammunition would be supplied via a box that can be picked up at the tent (swap out for grenades) A box would contain enough bullets for maybe 20sec of sustained fire (no reload/clip deal) and then then a new box needs to be obtained. A team should only be allowed to have so many machine guns on the map at one time (3?).

- Barbed Wire

This would be a replacement for the grenades
basically you would get 25 "barbed wire" blocks that the enemy would take 25 damage walking through. The enemy would have to use either the pickaxe or shovel to destroy the blocks. The blocks would remain even after the player who placed them dies.

Would be great to place along riverbanks or at ground level where the enemy couldn't dig under them and would force them to take the time and destroy them while players could pick them off, it would pair nicely with machine gun emplacements

What about a point type system to go with some of this stuff? Make it so every time the intel comes to your base it pumps out some tnt or a machine gun (like if the intel is plans for a weapon system) or allows a mortar strike to be called in (like if the intel was the location of bases being sent to command.) I think that would work.
Also make the MG captureable (not a word?) so if a green bunker with a MG in it is taken then the blues could take the MG and any ammo left in it with them.

In my opinion the sniper rifle should do the same damage as the rifle. Being realistic a sniper rifle and a semi automatic battle rifle would have the same cartridge. The sniper rifle should shoot at 50% speed but zoom in 3x. It should also have a 5 round magazine and 15 extra rounds.

Grenades should be boosted back up to 4 grenades at once, and TNT should be added as an alternative. TNT is placed like a block, and as soon as you place it a plunger gets added to your hands. You can't switch weapons until you place it, and it also gets placed like a block. Once you place it, both it and the TNT can be removed by pick-axe. (removing TNT removes plunger, but not vice versa) Right clicking the plunger sets off the TNT, which should blow up a 5 by 5 by 5 cube of blocks (or something like that). You only get one TNT.

The grenade range has been increased, so no need for that.
For the sense of TNT, you could just disarm and kick, and with rep points, bam! Problem solved.
I suggest the sniper damage be around 60. and have 20 spare (5 in the chamber)
For the MG, lower the damage to 30, headshot stays at 50.

@AxleTheNinja

are you implying that there are battle raflies that fire .338 Lapua or 7x64mm Brenneke rounds? Because that would be a kick-ass rifle!

I think that the sniper should be like the MG, you get it from the base after a capture and then you place it in a bunker or something. This idea would also mean that that the damage would be raised. But in order to keep it from being overpowered we add a "one bullet in the chamber at time with longer reload" rule. Also with limited ammo. This limited ammo thing should also apply to the MG.

Also, what if going with my intel rewards idea we add a rocket launcher to the mix.Say an enemy base is preventing you from moving over the hill, so one of your team mates fires off a shit ton of rockets and levels that base and everyone in it.

those who say the sniper is useless obviously have not read the 4 time zoom part
I don't know if he intended for a reduction in fog at that zoom or not, but even still this would balance out the machine-gun as well as giving a way to defend a base from a watchtower while not easily getting sniped from it except by fellow snipers and those who flank.

@ drewgon13
your rocket launcher idea needs some major nerfing

1. for balance
and
2. for anti-griefing