Replacing Shot RNG

[OnePotWonder]

Variable shot spread, A.K.A. shot RNG. Most people consider it a necessary evil, a requirement for balancing weapons like shooters and ensuring that they can't fight at peak capacity for an extended period of time. The problem is that it doesn't work. It doesn't matter if a shooter loses their accuracy because they can reset it with half a second in swim form. Shot spread does nothing to limit a shooter's ability to paint for an extended period of time; in fact, it only makes a weapon better at covering more turf. Simply put, shot spread doesn't do its job.

And of course, this wouldn't be a OnePotWonder thread without a spicy, avant-garde solution.

Shot spread will be completely removed with the changes, affecting four weapon classes; shooters, dualies, splatlings, and blasters.

Blasters are the simplest class to counter-balance since their spread only applies in mid-air. Blasters' blast radii would all be decreased by 25% in mid-air, giving them the one-shot precision they want at the cost of ledge-poking ability. It's a win-win for everyone.
S-BLAST is a tricky case due to its relationship with jumping and RNG. A 10% nerf to its short-range blast radius should compensate for its perfect short-range accuracy, and it would obviously have the same blast radius jumping with its long-range mode. As much as I could nerf its short-range direct shot, I will always advocate for smaller AoE over less powerful directs.

Splatlings are arguably simpler; I would argue they don't need counter-balancing. Shot spread barely affects most splatlings and the class as a whole could use an overarching buff of this sort. If need be, a few splatlings could have their firing durations slightly decreased, but I can't think of any that would need it off the top of my head.

Then we have shooters and dualies. I have a brand new idea to balance out these classes, limiting their uptime and paint power without any impact on their fighting ability, when they're played well. Allow me to introduce: Shot rounds.

Shooters and dualies will have to recharge for around half a second after firing a set number of shots, called a round. A shot round can be reset in much the same way shot RNG is reset; by entering swim form, which recovers one shot per frame, or using a dodge roll for dualies to recover all shots. The idea is to limit shooters' and dualies' sustained firepower outside of fights without annihilating their ink efficiency. Statistics are as follows:

Sploosh-o-matic
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 40 frames

Splattershot Jr.
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 15 frames

Splash-o-matic
Shots per round: Unlimited

Aerospray
Shots per round: 30
Reload time: 60 frames

Splattershot
Shots per round: 15
Reload time: 30 frames

.52 Gal
Shots per round: 5
Reload time: 20 frames

N-ZAP
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 30 frames

Splattershot Pro
Shots per round: 15
Reload time: 30 frames

.96 Gal
Shots per round: 5
Reload time: 30 frames

Jet Squelcher
Shots per round: 15
Reload time: 30 frames

Splattershot Nova
Shots per round: Unlimited

Squeezer (Painting Mode)
Shots per round: 15
Reload time: 30 frames

Dapple Dualies
Shots per round: 16
Reload time: 30 frames

Splat Dualies
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 30 frames

Glooga Dualies
Shots per round: 16 (10 in turret mode)
Reload time: 30 frames

Dualie Squelchers
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 20 frames

Tetra Dualies
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 30 frames

Douser Dualies FF
Shots per round: 20
Reload time: 30 frames

That should be all of them. Feel free to suggest alternatives below if you think anything is too harsh, but I remind you in advance that these are all fairly easy to reset and come with the bonus of perfect accuracy. Helpful feedback is always appreciated.
Thank you for reading this post (and hopefully sharing your thoughts). Have a wonderful day.

 

[solz]

Would it be easier just to increase white time?

 

[missingno]

It doesn't matter if a shooter loses their accuracy because they can reset it with half a second in swim form.

If you were to stop firing for a full 30 frames mid-fight, that is more than enough time to lose the fight. Also, you're just referring to how accuracy gets worse if you continue firing for too long, this merely resets you to base accuracy, which is a thing that very much already matters.

Splatoon already has a reload mechanic, it's your ink tank. I don't see why a second one is necessary.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Would it be easier just to increase white time?

I have no clue how white ink frames have any correlation to what I'm posting. You'll have to elaborate.

If you were to stop firing for a full 30 frames mid-fight, that is more than enough time to lose the fight. Also, you're just referring to how accuracy gets worse if you continue firing for too long, this merely resets you to base accuracy, which is a thing that very much already matters.

If you stop firing for 30 frames to swim away and/or throw a bomb, then no, you aren't going to lose the fight. If you stop firing and stand around like an idiot for half a second, then yes, you will lose the fight.
In the case of current Splatoon, shooters can also choose to keep firing and strafing forward and put up with the 30% chance to miss while painting the exact same.
In the case of my new system, they're forced to stand around like an idiot or reposition if they shoot for too long. Tactical limitation.

My rounds mechanic basically makes resetting your accuracy mandatory. It's even based off of the number of shots it takes for a weapon to reach minimum accuracy, and the amount of time it takes for your accuracy to recover.

And, ah yes, the standard 1%-2%-3% chance to miss with base accuracy definitely matters. The point is a weapon in a multiplayer shooter game shouldn't be balanced by random factors. That alone should be obvious enough to consider an alternative.

Splatoon already has a reload mechanic, it's your ink tank. I don't see why a second one is necessary.

Would you prefer if I halved every shooter's ink efficiency? That way there would still be only one reload mechanic.

 

[missingno]

If you stop firing for 30 frames to swim away and/or throw a bomb, then no, you aren't going to lose the fight.

If you are in any way forced to play defense for 30 or more frames, that is a disadvantage state that can and will lead to losing a fight. You think they won't chase you down?

In the case of my new system, they're forced to stand around like an idiot or reposition if they shoot for too long. Tactical limitation.

But I thought you just said having to flee a fight for 30 frames or more isn't a problem anyway.

 

[OnePotWonder]

If you are in any way forced to play defense for 30 or more frames, that is a disadvantage state that can and will lead to losing a fight. You think they won't chase you down?

No. You’re playing a shooter. Nine times out of ten you’ll have a bomb between you and your would-be pursuer.

But I thought you just said having to flee a fight for 30 frames or more isn't a problem anyway.

It’s not. I’m primarily encouraging a more active style of play by eliminating the option of continuing to shoot with full RNG. Therefore decreasing shooters’ paint power and ability to spam specials. Options like Aerospray will more than likely benefit from the changes.

 

[QuagSass]

I wont touch on how the lack of shot RNG affects the other classes, simply because I don't care about them enough to weigh in.
But I'd argue that removing shot RNG on Splatlings is less an upgrade and moreof a side-grade, borderline on nerf for some.

Yes, when fighting the shot RNG is hardly noticeable on Splatlings. They still hit their shots quickly and reliably with how many bullets get shot out. But when painting and going for fall-off shots, that shot RNG is suddenly quite important.
The shot RNG is what lets the Splatlings have good long-range paint, which is an important advantage they have over Chargers. It's one of the big reasons why you would pick a Splatling over a Charger. Without it, you now have to spend more bullets painting the same area as you would with shot RNG. In fact, one of Ballpoint's biggest weaknesses is it's poor paint at range. Granted, this is partially because it shoots slower in it's long mode, but the perfect accuracy is a contributing factor.

Now the other thing I mentioned is fall-off. And in this case, removing the shot RNG would be a buff to every Splatling. Now every Splatling can fight more reliably at their max range, no more worry about the shot RNG at the very tip of their range screwing them over and letting their enemy escape. Is that a good thing?
Let's say you're an Inkbrush, you tried to rush a Heavy head-on for some reason and manage to just barely escape and are now hiding behind a block. The Heavy tries to get fall-off on you to finish you off. If the Heavy has shot RNG, they might miss a shot or 3, letting you know that you're not safe and retreat further. A Heavy with perfect accuracy would just take you out immeadiately.

This is something that Ballpoint can do reliably and it is admittedly something that requires a bit of skill. I'm not exactly againts this part of the change. Making fall-off shots more reliable on all Splatlings would be quite fun. But I do kinda worry about the implications of a Nautilus or a Hydra with perfect accuracy fall-off. Could be annoying to fight againts.


Anyways, point is removing shot RNG from Splatlings isn't a strict upgrade imo. It's a more important aspect of the class than one might think.

 

[missingno]

No. You’re playing a shooter. Nine times out of ten you’ll have a bomb between you and your would-be pursuer.

Bombs cost a lot of ink. They're also slow. You use them to poke at opponents you are not in active combat with, they aren't mid-fight panic buttons once they have engaged on you. Sometimes you can roll triangle bombs to defend, but certainly not nine times out of ten, and this does not apply to any other type of bomb.

 

[OnePotWonder]

I realize now that I've been arguing the wrong point.

If you are in any way forced to play defense for 30 or more frames, that is a disadvantage state that can and will lead to losing a fight. You think they won't chase you down?

Then you should lose the fight. If a shooter player expends all of their shots, whether fighting or painting, they should be left vulnerable. That's the entire point of this change; adding skill expression to shooters by making them more accurate and more difficult, removing their ability to completely avoid a disadvantaged state in fights with no effort, as well as reducing their paint to be more similar to other classes by reducing their spread and uptime.

A shot round can be replenished with just a few frames in swim form so long as it isn't fully expended. I feel like it's not to much to ask that shooters swim around a little while painting and fighting rather than mindlessly holding down the trigger and strafing forward. That's what they're supposed to do, anyway.

 

[missingno]

If you stop firing for 30 frames to swim away and/or throw a bomb, then no, you aren't going to lose the fight.

Then you should lose the fight.

Well which is it?

 

[OnePotWonder]

Well which is it?

Assuming a player has enough ink for a bomb, they should be able to scrape away without dying (true of any weapon with a lethal bomb), but it depends; do you consider losing a fight to mean getting splatted, or losing a fight to mean being forced to give up space? I consider it the latter.

 

[missingno]

Let's rewind. You started in the OP by saying that needing to stop fighting for 30 frames doesn't lose a fight, which I called into question. Then you said 30 frames loses the fight. Now you're not sure what it means to lose a fight.

You tell me what it means, 'cause I don't know what your argument is anymore beyond "whatever lets me be mad at Shooters".

 

[OnePotWonder]

Let's rewind. You started in the OP by saying that needing to stop fighting for 30 frames doesn't lose a fight, which I called into question. Then you said 30 frames loses the fight. Now you're not sure what it means to lose a fight.

You tell me what it means, 'cause I don't know what your argument is anymore beyond "whatever lets me be mad at Shooters".

Okay. First of all, I never mentioned anything about fighting in the original post.
And it seems as though you're more confused in this argument than I am. Allow me to spell it out for you.

Running into your round cooldown in the middle of a fight puts you at a significant disadvantage. This disadvantage doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose the fight, but it does obviously worsen your odds. Even so, if you do run into your cooldown, you should lose the fight; as in, you deserve to. Avoiding the cooldown is extremely easy.
Entering swim form for a fraction of a second recovers most of your shots, if you haven't run out. As long as you don't thoughtlessly hold down the trigger with your shooter, you can fight just as well, in most cases better. That's the point; completely removing the possibility of getting any results by mindlessly holding forward.
You don't get to be careless, miss a dozen shots and treat it like nothing; shooters get a punishment window along with every other class.

I would appreciate it if you avoid jumping to conclusions in future. You can generally trust that I always have sound reasoning.