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[AxleMC131]

As in the title, I had this thought just now while playing a campaign game, and it occurred to me that along with various uses for commodities being added in 0.8 (heavy machinery for salvage and surveying, volatiles for this neutrino detector thingy) that it isn't too far-fetched that hand weapons may also have an impact on gameplay.

The immediate connection was "Hand Weapons" + "Marines" = "Better chance of successful boarding". Basically, you can improve the effectiveness of your marines by providing additional weapons for them to use while boarding an enemy ship.

(Further nerdy examples and ideas in the spoiler, none of which you have to pay attention to.   )

Spoiler

This could be balanced with a limitation that states a marine cannot hold more than one weapon at a time, ie. You are only increasing the effectiveness of your marines by carrying more and more hand weapons up to the point where you have as many hand weapons as marines, at which point the benefit caps.

The math could also work by a percentage or ratio of "Armed Marines" to "Unarmed Marines", so the actual numbers aren't important, only the number of hand weapons compared to marines. Perhaps when you have no hand weapons, your marines have a slightly degraded effectiveness (not much though). As you have more hand weapons that effectiveness goes up, so if half of your marines are "armed" they get a universal 10% effectiveness buff. Maybe when all your marines are armed the benefit caps at 25%. Not much, but enough perhaps to warrant carrying hand weapons alongside other commodities for your own purposes.

[close]

"Increased effectiveness", by the way, could refer both to increasing the chance of successfully boarding a ship, as well as decreasing the chance of losing marines in the action.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Yeah, I know, boarding is being removed in 0.8. But still, could be food for thought for future versions with certain adaptions?

[TaLaR]

There is no boarding in next version. It's replaced by salvage/recovery mechanics.

[AxleMC131]

There is no boarding in next version. It's replaced by salvage/recovery mechanics.

....... Oh yeah. 

[Techhead]

This suggestion always makes me laugh. Marines canonically are equipped with weapons and power armor, but people still think they'd perform noticeably better with extra gun.

Heavily armed and equipped with powered armor, marines specialize in breaching and boarding disabled ships and providing security for planetside operations.

If boarding remained a thing, I'd rather see hand weapons allow crew to function as budget marines. But it's not a thing anymore.

[AxleMC131]

This suggestion always makes me laugh. Marines canonically are equipped with weapons and power armor, but people still think they'd perform noticeably better with extra gun.

Heavily armed and equipped with powered armor, marines specialize in breaching and boarding disabled ships and providing security for planetside operations.

If boarding remained a thing, I'd rather see hand weapons allow crew to function as budget marines. But it's not a thing anymore.

True. It just seems weird to me that marines come with guns, yet hand weapons are an independent commodity. XD Guess I just wanted to see some sort of union there.

The thing about arming regular crew as budget marines had also occurred to me, but that would be a few levels more complicated I feel.

And yeah, as stated, boarding is being removed.  Derp.

[Megas]

The hand weapons could be even bigger guns than the marines' default weaponry.  After all, several games give marines a dinky pistol (or underpowered rifle that might as well be the pistol) as standard issue, then get an optional, separate gun upgrade purchase like a shotgun, machine gun, laser, or even simply "(Warrior) now has extra shot power!"

With boarding gone, marines will only be useful as easy money, if player can still buy them at 233 credits at any pirate market without a free port (where player can easily crash stability to zero).

[PerturbedPug]

True. It just seems weird to me that marines come with guns, yet hand weapons are an independent commodity. XD Guess I just wanted to see some sort of union there.

The thing about arming regular crew as budget marines had also occurred to me, but that would be a few levels more complicated I feel.

And yeah, as stated, boarding is being removed.  Derp.

I always thought that hand weapons were for non-powered armor police, guards and private citizens.

Also the description for hand weapons is kind of weird. It says that they are banned on many worlds, yet citizens can own a fully outfitted battleship with no problem?

[Inventor Raccoon]

yet citizens can own a fully outfitted battleship with no problem?

Apparently "bounty hunter" is a perfectly acceptable thing to put on your resume, so when a Hegemony patrol comes over and asks why you own a massive warship, you just tell them it's for work. It just happens to be that pirate-hunting is your job. What can they fine you for? Doing your legal job, which you might even have a commission for? You (probably) even paid taxes on that Onslaught, contributing to the Hegemony war effort, funding that very patrol. In all likeliness, you bought it from their own military surplus, because you're trusted with that sort of thing.

If anything, they should be very respectful of you, citizen owning the equivalent of a heavy tank.

What does a citizen need an assault rifle for? There are already law enforcement on the planet. If they want to legally own an assault rifle, they should become a marine and do it as a job.

[SafariJohn]

What does a citizen need an assault rifle for? There are already law enforcement on the planet. If they want to legally own an assault rifle, they should become a marine and do it as a job.

lol

[PerturbedPug]

What does a citizen need an assault rifle for? There are already law enforcement on the planet. If they want to legally own an assault rifle, they should become a marine and do it as a job.

This might be going off topic a bit, but aren't pirate raids on stations and planets rather common? In the event of an invasion it would be useful to have extra rifle men to help the professional security.

[Midnight Kitsune]

True. It just seems weird to me that marines come with guns, yet hand weapons are an independent commodity. XD Guess I just wanted to see some sort of union there.

The thing about arming regular crew as budget marines had also occurred to me, but that would be a few levels more complicated I feel.

And yeah, as stated, boarding is being removed.  Derp.

I always thought that hand weapons were for non-powered armor police, guards and private citizens.

Also the description for hand weapons is kind of weird. It says that they are banned on many worlds, yet citizens can own a fully outfitted battleship with no problem?

Some states outlaw owning most firearms, yet others don't. We don't know the laws of these factions, nor what "Hand Weapons" means. They could be anything from simple handguns to milspec plasma, gauss or some other kind of anti (power) armor weapon.

Also, an "assault rifle" could be just a military looking gun that is in a common civilian caliber. And other calibers could be multi purpose.

[Inventor Raccoon]

This might be going off topic a bit, but aren't pirate raids on stations and planets rather common? In the event of an invasion it would be useful to have extra rifle men to help the professional security.

On stations and planets? I kind of doubt that they would be too common. The number of pirates that would reasonably raid a planet would probably not be as large as the amount of professional soldiers, marines and mercenaries on hand, and if there are that many, you'd have reinforcements arrive.

[Midnight Kitsune]

This might be going off topic a bit, but aren't pirate raids on stations and planets rather common? In the event of an invasion it would be useful to have extra rifle men to help the professional security.

On stations and planets? I kind of doubt that they would be too common. The number of pirates that would reasonably raid a planet would probably not be as large as the amount of professional soldiers, marines and mercenaries on hand, and if there are that many, you'd have reinforcements arrive.

Yeah.... I call BS. Unless the station or city was a major location, I could see low level pirates hitting underdefended stations and planets. And LOL at "reinforcements"! In this kind of place, the only help you would get is from the local Militia, which WOULD need the guns, or your family/ friends/ neighbors

[Inventor Raccoon]

Yeah.... I call BS. Unless the station or city was a major location, I could see low level pirates hitting underdefended stations and planets. And LOL at "reinforcements"! In this kind of place, the only help you would get is from the local Militia, which WOULD need the guns, or your family/ friends/ neighbors

Well, an Independent planet would probably not get any outside help, or at most a couple of nearby fame-seeking mercenary groups helping out, hence, Independents don't outlaw firearms. A Hegemony, Tri-Tachyon, Sindrian Diktat, planet/station, though? Especially those with tens or hundreds of thousands of residents? I'd assume that if the matter wasn't immediately resolved by local patrols (who, judging by how sensors and communications work, almost certainly know about the raiders by the time they enter orbit), a nearby patrol from another planet would be diverted. Like, in real life, criminals don't just waltz over into small towns and ransack the place, the local cops stop them and if that fails, more come until eventually your criminals get a more heavily-armed team on them. This is like the space equivalent. And if a Luddic Church planet was attacked, you'd have religious zealots and Pathers beyond count throwing themselves at the problem.

[Toxcity]

The only factions that ban Hand Weapons in game are the Hegemony (who can call in the reinforcements if something goes bad), and the Sindrian Diktat (who seem to be in a bad situation 100% of the time).

Also if you read the description for the mission Coral Nebula, it does mention that the Luddic Church and Pathers sent out help to overthrow the government of the planet/system.