User blog:Willbachbakal/Co-Op Weapons: Catapult

Back again! After getting some work done, I figured I'd do the grenade launcher-type weapon for my conjectural co-op mode. As an implement that lets you create various kinds of explosions at will, it's supposed to feel awesome and powerful. However, with someone firing the same explosives alongside you and dealing as much damage, it could easily lose its uniqueness. Other than that, it's never really allowed for very complex strategies, save for smart Proximity Mine placement. Hopefully, the suggestions below will cater to that:

Description
As this is another weapon based off my Big Brother's arsenal, the Catapult'd look like one of those toy catapults on wheels, except with a handle, a trigger and a small feeder ramp for the explosives. Gameplay-wise there's nothing to fundamentally improve, although it could benefit from some sort of graduated vertical rail on the side to indicate its falloff while zoomed.
 * Clip Size: Four rounds.
 * Ammo Carry Capacity: 16/8/8

Base Ammo

 * Frag Grenades: Nothing new here.

Rare Ammo

 * Proximity Mines: Take a second to deploy, and can stick to live targets. Other than that, no changes.
 * Nitrogen Canisters: Deal no damage. Upon impact, freeze every enemy in a large radius. In addition, every frozen enemy is linked to the other, so if any one foe receives damage, every other one frozen with them will be hurt by the same amount.
 * Flak Bomblets: Fires as a hail of small projectiles, each one a lot less powerful than would be one large bomb, but spread out to cover a wide area.

Inventable Ammo

 * Heat-Seeking RPGs: Instead of dealing full damage, deal a moderate amount of damage upon explosion and set the target area on fire. However, have a much smaller radius. Also, leave a trail of smoke behind them, allowing you to see where your shot went.
 * Shock Bombs: Upon impact, send out a blast of electricity in a short radius, shocking and dealing moderate damage to enemies, and bounce. Can bounce a total of three times before detonating in a large electrical burst.
 * Cannonballs: Fly in a straight line instead of arcing. Explode upon impact, dealing heavy knockback to every enemy and physics object in its area of effect. However, only damage enemies they hit directly. On the other hand, enemies who bump into anything mid-flight take damage. If fired at the floor below you, can be used to jump to great heights and distances. In addition, each shot is loaded manually, rather than in groups of four, albeit at a faster pace.

Upgrades

 * Backblast Bleeders: Renders you immune to the effects of your own explosives.
 * Cluster Bombs: Just like in BioShock 2, your projectiles explode into several smaller explosives upon detonation.
 * Agitator: Holding down the fire button allows you to increase the power of the explosive you're about to throw, rendering it up to twice as potent. Has a small cooldown after charging a shot, proportionate to how much you increased its power.
 * Breaker Bombs: Enemies recently affected by your explosives become more vulnerable to you and your partner's Plasmids. Conversely, enemies recently affected by your Plasmids take extra damage from the Catapult.
 * Remote Explosives: Firing an explosive at your partner will cause them to store it. Can store a maximum of any three projectiles at a time this way. Zooming, pointing at your partner and pressing the fire button will cause them to violently eject their stored explosives in the form of small bomblets all around them.
 * Improved Projectiles: Upgrades each ammo type individually, granting them new abilities:
 * Frag Grenades turn into Uranium Slugs. Shots irradiate the target area, dealing continuous damage to any enemy within it.
 * Proximity Mines turn into Rolling Mines. If an enemy approaches them, they detach from the scenery and roll towards them before exploding. Pressing the use button on them will allow you to manually turn them back into Proximity Mines again.
 * Nitrogen Canisters turn into Deep-Freeze Tanks. Freeze every affected enemy into a block of ice, allowing you to loot them after killing them. In addition, chill enemies around the area of effect, slowing them down and increasing their vulnerability to damage.
 * Flak Bomblets turn into Flashbang Bomblets. Upon detonation, explode into a flash of light and sound, momentarily blinding all nearby enemies and dazing them afterwards, causing them to temporarily forgo certain tactics such as dodging, taking cover or flanking.
 * Heat-Seeking RPGs turn into Meta-Rockets. Upon firing, splits into three mini-rockets, each dealing as much damage as the original. Only a maximum of two will seek any single enemy at a time, and if there are no enemies to seek the rockets will crash harmlessly into the scenery.
 * Shock Bombs turn into Stun Grenades. Bounce up to six times and this time divert their own rebound angle so as to home in on enemies.
 * Cannonballs turn into Singularity Orbs. Moments after exploding, create a gravitational singularity at their point of impact, dragging all enemies in range back in. If the victims bump into anything, they take damage.

Alright! That took some time to type. So how do you find my Catapult? If there's any sort of weapon-type addition you had in mind and would like to share, feel free to do so in the comments section. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading.

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