Home Run Bat And Mantis Traitor/Caster Updates

[Sha-Seng]

About the PR

Updated the Home Run Bat and Twinned Manifold (the mantis equivalent) to be 60 TC instead of 80, because those weapons are not twice as good as an energy sword, which is only 40 TC.

Also made it so that the lethal casters (the traitor-purchasable magazines that let the mantis guns kill people) recharge over the course of 60 seconds, and reduced their prices based on the DPS of the weapons they're for. The shotgun is 30 TC, the SMG and revolver are 25 TC, and the pistol is 20 TC.

I also updated the charge numbers of all casters just for cleaner math, but that's not really a balance change since they all shoot the same number of times as they did before. Notable changes from that update are that the capgun casters now recharge in two minutes instead of five. No CL for that one since since it's minor and they're semi-hidden items (in the mantis vendor, which isn't mapped everywhere).

Once this PR is up, I'll go make a direction thread about it to discuss it! I just wanted to present these ideas in code form first, for the discussion.

Why / Balance

For more info, see the thread, because I'll post screenshots from Fiend (Kono Kuno's player) regarding their review of these weapons and their costs and what works and what doesn't on Den. I don't know anyone who's more well versed in antag play that's both functional and fun for everyone on this server. But to explain a bit of it:

For the bat and manifold, their extreme knockback makes them very powerful on other servers because you can just RR people by hitting them into space, and they'll sail off so fast they'll be totally unrecoverable. We don't really do that here, but on other servers, that's really their primary gimmick.

Again, comparing them to an energy sword, the knockback makes them better at preventing your single target from fighting back, thus they're 20 TC more than an esword. But the second someone else shows up, that play is over. Due to this weakness, they shouldn't really cost 80% of your entire TC budget as a traitor. That's really just choosing to shoot yourself in the foot in a catastrophic way.

Since TC is meant to represent the power of the item, a 50% increased cost over that of the esword seems fair and worth playtesting, in my opinion.

For the lethal casters, you were buying five shots of a shotgun for 40 TC (40% of your entire budget), and it could only be refilled at a cell recharger. That's made these items basically useless compared to your other options. Notably, with a 60 second recharge time (which is twice that of an antique laser pistol), they are STILL useless for prolonged standoffs. This change turns them into stealthy hit-and-run items.

Their new costs (30, 25, and 20 TC for shotgun, smg/revolver, and pistol) reflect their respective DPS values, which I got from June, which you can see here:

The pistol is the reliable baseline, the revolver and SMG hit harder by trading ammo and handling for lethality respectively (but do about the same dps), and then the shotgun trades ammo and range for extra lethality (you have five shots and have to chase your target, good luck idiot).

With their current strengths and costs, literally just taking a Python and extra magazines lets you kill quickly, reload easily, and doesn't destroy the rest of your possible kit with huge costs. Sooo here we are.

Technical details

Really the only technical changes are the caster charge numbers, which I explained above. Standard casters now have a maxCharge of 120, and lethal casters now have a maxCharge of 600 (5x that, but their fireCosts are also 5x) which means they take 30 seconds to recharge in a cell recharger. Faster as a bonus for relying on a stationary piece of equipment, but not so fast that it's better than just running for your life.

Media

Requirements

• I have read and am following the Pull Request and Changelog Guidelines.
• I have added media to this PR or it does not require an ingame showcase.
• I have tested any changes or additions.
• I can confirm this PR contains no AI-generated content, and did not use any AI-generated content.

Breaking changes

Changelog

🆑 Shaman

• tweak: The Home Run Bat and Twinned Manifold (mantis equivalent) are now 60 TC instead of 80 to reflect their effectiveness
• tweak: Lethal mantis casters (traitor items) have had their TC costs adjusted per gun and now recharge over 60 seconds

[Sha-Seng]

Direction question thread made, titled Reduce TC Cost of Home Run Bat/Twinned Manifold and Casters, probably go there to chat about it! Seems smart.