Spaceship weapon names (type+size)

Writing for Games Game Design

Started by Acharis August 29, 2016 05:28 PM

2 comments, last by BahamutKaiser 7 years, 7 months ago

5,990

Author

August 29, 2016 05:28 PM

I'm looking for spaceships weapon names. The weapon name should convey 2 information: what is the type of weapon (Laser, Ion, Plasma, etc) and what is it's size (how big damage it will deal, for example Beam does less damage than Cannon).

In total I would need like 4-6 types of weapons each having like 3-5 grades of size.

Example (I'm not very happy with those examples, so feel free to modify those or propose something completelly different):

Laser Beam (1-6 damage)

Twin Laser Beam (4-12 damage)

Laser Cannon (10-20 damage)

Laser Mega Cannon (30-50 damage)

Ion Beam (1-6 damage)

Ion Blaster (4-12 damage)

Ion Cannon (10-20 damage)

Ion Auto Cannon (30-50 damage)

Plasma Beam (1-6 damage)

Plasma Emitter (4-12 damage)

Plasma Gun (10-20 damage)

Plasma Disintegrator (30-50 damage)

The premise is so the player can at the glance (of the name) gauge how powerfull the weapon is (without reading the numbers) and what type of damage it deals (resistances).

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Paragon123

620

September 01, 2016 07:18 PM

Seemed like a good test for my Rng Script Interpreter...

Didn't spend much time tweaking everything, but here is 50 Procedurally generated Ship weapons

-----------------

I tried again (could add below... so added above)

This time, the name isn't as creative... but the dmg formula is more linked to the class...

Each projectile type (laser, plasma, photon, etc) has

a type (Energy/ballistic/explosive),

a base die count,

a base die size,

a base minimun damage

and a cool down modifier

Each Hardware type (Cannon, Turrent, Blaster.. etc)

has a salvo size and a base cooldown

Each Hardware size (small, med, large)

has a dieSize modifier, a minDmg modifier and a total damage modifier

The damage formula for a given weapon is

totalDmgMod*(salvoSize*baseDieCount)d(baseDieSize*dieSizeModifier)+(baseMinDmg*minDmgModifier)

PhotonBlaster
Class:Small Energy Blaster
Cooldown: 1 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*1)@(6*1)+(0*1)) [1 to 6]
**************************************************************
MissileRack
Class:Large Explosive Rack
Cooldown: 180 seconds
Salvo Size:6
Dmg:1*((6*5)@(10*2)+(100*2)) [260 to 800]
**************************************************************
MissileCannon
Class:Medium Explosive Cannon
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*5)@(10*1.5)+(100*1.5)) [158 to 225]
**************************************************************
TorpedoLauncher
Class:Medium Explosive Launcher
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*5)@(10*1.5)+(100*1.5)) [158 to 225]
**************************************************************
PhotonTwin Turrent
Class:Massive Energy Twin Turrent
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Salvo Size:2
Dmg:2*((2*1)@(6*3)+(0*3)) [12 to 72]
**************************************************************
MissileLauncher
Class:Massive Explosive Launcher
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:2*((1*5)@(10*3)+(100*3)) [630 to 900]
**************************************************************
PhotonCannon
Class:Large Energy Cannon
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*1)@(6*2)+(0*2)) [2 to 12]
**************************************************************
MissileLauncher
Class:Massive Explosive Launcher
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:2*((1*5)@(10*3)+(100*3)) [630 to 900]
**************************************************************
Anti-MatterAuto Turrent
Class:Large Ballistic Auto Turrent
Cooldown: 1 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*1)@(4*2)+(2*2)) [6 to 12]
**************************************************************
PlasmaCannon
Class:Small Energy Cannon
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*1)@(6*1)+(0*1)) [1 to 6]
**************************************************************
PlasmaAuto Cannon
Class:Medium Energy Auto Cannon
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Salvo Size:1
Dmg:1*((1*1)@(6*1.5)+(0*1.5)) [2 to 9]
**************************************************************

LorenzoGatti

4,648

September 14, 2016 07:16 AM

Laser weapons have names that correspond to different types, not to different power level: a "Cannon" suggests a discontinuous pattern of shots, not necessarily stronger than a continuous "Beam", and a "twin" beam could be expected to be exactly as powerful as two simple beams (and good for hitting targets more easily, not harder) . Only the "Mega Cannon" sounds stronger than the "Cannon".

Ion weapons follow a similar pattern: "Beam" continuous,the others using shots, the "Auto Cannon" shooting faster than the "Cannon" (but the same shots), the "Blaster" completely vague.

Plasma weapons have the most generic names; a "Disintegrator" seems to be qualitatively different, not stronger.

I would simply use such descriptive names for weapon variants, if present, and unambiguous numerical attributes to represent power: a level 7 laser beam has similar power requirements and average DPS to a level 7 laser cannon but it is continuous, and it is strictly stronger than a level 6 laser beam, and it exactly equivalent to one fourth of a level 7 quad laser beam

Weapon levels should be exponentially spaced for ease of calculation: a level N weapon should do A times as much damage as a level N-1 weapon of the same type using B times more power, usually with A>B reflecting higher tech level, size efficiency, etc.

Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru

BahamutKaiser

178

September 14, 2016 08:18 PM

Armored Core has a lot of Sci Fi weapons, maybe you can lift some stuff from that.

I notice the omission of anything resembling solid matter weapons.

Spaceship weapon names (type+size)

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