Ashes of Phoenix: The Arsenal
Hello wanderers!
Today we’ll take a a look at the weapons you will come across in Phoenix.
Our philosophy is to render every item useful in some way. As stated in the FAQ, there are three tiers of items:
Tier 1 is the category for the starting items with low value and low damage. As for firearms, only the most basic pistols and rifles fall into this category to preserve as many items as possible for the next tier. The only tier 1 armors are the brown robes.
Tier 2 makes up the bulk of the weapons with about 80 in total, counting melee weapons as well as individual upgrades (which play a big role). Everything from the Desert Eagle to the Avenger will be tier 2 and will be equally effective. Every weapon will have certain advantages and drawbacks and there are only few weapons that are strictly “better” than other guns. All armor except for the robes and the Power Armor are tier 2, meaning that a leather jacket might be just as effective as a combat armor if used correctly.
Tier 3 includes advanced weapons like Gauss, Vindicator, Bozar, G11e, Pulse Rifle as well as the Power Armor. While they will be quite expensive and rare, it is totally possible to obtain and use them.
Now, in order to achieve the equality we had in mind for all the tier 2 weapons, we rebuild the whole weapon system. Instead of using the same gun with different builds to achieve different playstyles, we made the build less important but introduced different weapon classes to cater to certain playstyles.
In general, there are 7 major weapon classes and most weapons fit into one of them. Melee weapons and Energy Weapons are exceptions, with their own special roles related to the way armor works. Finally, there are a bunch of other weapons that don't really fit in any category, like rocket launcher or flamers. Those have specific capabilities.
- Assault Rifles
The most common and most versatile class of all, assault rifles have a decent burst, a decent aimed-shot damage and a good range. While their burst is weaker than that of machine guns and their singleshot is weaker than that of sniper rifles, they are very good all around weapons. - Light Machine Guns
The machine guns like the LSW or the M60 fall into the small gun category and are very similar to the assault rifles in terms of playstyle. While they do have higher damage and a higher a magazine size, they lack single shot capabilities and have a very long reload time. - Heavy Machine Guns
This is the smallest class with only 4 entries: Minigun, Avenger, Vindicator and Gatling Laser, but they are quite expensive. Their high damage output is balanced with very high reload costs and the fact that you can not run with them makes it hard to find a proper position. - Sniper Rifles
Sniper rifles have the highest range in the game and apply a special Bleed effect which makes the target lose HP over time. They do however lack dps and would most likely be inferior to any other weapon class in a direct standoff. - Sub-machine Guns
SMG’s are devastating at very short ranges (1hex) but their ranged damage is far worse than that of any other burst weapon. - Shotguns
Shotguns probably feature the best burst-damage capabilities but their effective range is easily surpassed by any other weapon class. Their reload time also is pretty long, rendering them vulnerable after their attack. - Pistols
Pistols come in two different variants, single shot spammers and “sniper” pistols. While they seem to be best suited as a backup weapon, a Pistolero might be just as succesfull as a machine gunner.
Be sure to stick around for more information about the combat system and other game mechanics, next time.