🚀 go-pugleaf

John Caruso (car...@nova.umuc.edu) wrote:

: A friend and I fired up a 2-player network game to test the damage levels
: of the different weapons in Descent, and we found some interesting results.
: These are the numbers:

:       Laser level 1:  20 points total (10 per laser bolt)
:             level 2:  22 points total (11 per...)
:             level 3:  24 points total (12 per...)
:             level 4:  26 points total (13 per...)
:       Quad: (Not tested, but we assumed it just doubles the totals)

:       Spreadfire: 6 points for each of the three shots in each burst; so
:                   18 points total for a full hit
:       Vulcan:  6 points per burst (a burst being the shortest shot we
:                could get by just tapping CTRL)

:       Concussion missiles:  25 points
:       Homing missiles:      27 points

:       Bombs:  24 points (if I remember correctly...)

:       Ramming: 6 (5?) points per ram...for a "continuous" ram, the total
:                cycles down at a medium pace in one point units.


: The totals given for lasers are for a full hit, meaning that you hit the
: opponent with both laser bolts--level 1 lasers are 20 total, but if you
: only hit with one bolt you only do 10 points of damage.  The ramming test
: was for those times when you're invulnerable and you want to know how long
: it's going to take to mash your opponent to death.  :-)

: We were really surprised to see that there's so little difference between
: the different laser levels.  Level 3 lasers *seem* so much better...but
: it still takes 5 (full) hits to take out a fresh player, same as it does
: with level 1 lasers.  Another surprise was that the spreadfire total is
: lower than that of any of the levels of laser.  It seems like such an
: Uberweapon, but that may be mainly due to its close-enough-still-does-
: some-damage feature.

: Also, we were surprised that a missile strike is just a few points more
: than a full laser hit.  Missiles seem so much more destructive in battle,
: but that might be due to the collateral damage from near misses (which we
: didn't test).  Also, they're all or nothing--there are probably lots of
: single-bolt hits with lasers in a fight, so the lasers end up seeming half
: as powerful as they really are.

: Don't know if it affects my strategy, but it's good to know the numbers.

: ----------------------------------------------------------------------
:  John Caruso               \   On the surface he seems sensible
:  car...@paradiso.umuc.edu   \   But underneath the logic is crazy...
:  caruso@UMUC (Bitnet)        \      -- Mark Burgess
: ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Thanks for the info. I've allways wondered about this.