As I am playing this game I am starting to see some of the cracks. Mind you that is not a bad thing, but there are things that can be fixed. I’m writing this post as my recommendations to the devs, if they read this, as to “how the game should be balanced”.

*I have not used all the weapons in the game but based most of my numbers on other comments in the community as well as general feel of the other versions of weapons in the game. All weapons that I have not personally used is marked with the * after its name.

**These weapons have been made by me and stated by myself and have nothing to do with the developers. Just thought they would be a cool addition to the game.

Assault Rifle

I want to start off with ol’ faithful, the Liberator. Reason for this is that the AR-23 Liberator is the first weapon you unlock as default. With this it is good to use as a benchmark for other weapons. Let’s get started;

AR-23 Liberator

Damage: 60

Capacity: 45

Recoil: 15

Fire Rate: 640

Light Armour Penetrating

Increasing the damage is minor but should hopefully place the weapon in a better spot in the meta, and with its counterparts. The weapon still has Light Armour Penetrating and is overall a great work horse to use in the game to start and throughout the missions.

Next is the AR-23P Liberator Penetrator. This weapon should be an upgrade to its original weapon that loses out on some but gains on others, for example;

Next is the AR-23P Liberator Penetrator. This weapon should be an upgrade to its original weapon that loses out on some but gains on others, for example;

AR-23P Liberator Penetrator

Damage: 70

Capacity: 32

Recoil: 18

Fire Rate: 640

Medium Armour Penetrating

The idea behind this is that the weapon uses a “different caliber” but the same platform (AR-10 vs AR-15). This means that it hits harder, goes through more material, but bigger rounds means less ammo capacity. The 3 round burst makes the weapon itself feel different, I personally use it in single fire mode.

*Updated the weapon stats;

Damage: 80 > 70

Capacity: 35 > 32

Recoil: 20 > 18

Fire Rate: 590 > 640

Last in this category is the AR-23E Liberator Explosive. This is one of the premium warbond’s first unlocks, so not many players will have direct access to it at first, but over time it should become a part of the community.

AR-23E Liberator Explosive

Damage: 100

Capacity: 25

Recoil: 20

Fire Rate: 430

Light Armour Penetrating

Explosive

I personally do not like this weapon, but can’t figure out the problem. It does the same damage in the current patch as the original liberator but I feel like I do less damage. To fix this, we alter how the ammo works. On impact the weapon would deal 50 damage then take an additional 50 explosive damage. The idea of the weapon is to be more useful against armoured enemies, while also not breaking the game. This should allow the player to be able to take out striders/walkers but not be able to just kill a charger BUT to remove it’s armoured hide with a few magazines (30-40 rounds to remove, and another 5-10 to kill).

*Updated the weapon stats;

Recoil: 25 > 20

Fire Rate: 590 > 430

Note: This weapon’s explosive capabilities does not allow it to take out nests or other buildings.

Marksman Rifle

These weapons should focus on the player’s ability to be accurate and take out targets at ranges with ease. The AR-63 Diligence is the first unlocked, so let’s dive into it;

AR-63 Diligence

Damage: 125

Capacity: 20

Recoil: 35

Fire Rate: 350

Light Armour Penetrating

Like the Liberator there is not much change needed other than a small damage boost to fall more inline with the other weapons and changes.

The R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper* on the other hand may be the biggest change so far as I personally would like to add something to the game. More of a recommendation of sorts that this game seems to be missing.

R-63CS Diligence Counter Sniper \*

Damage: 150

Capacity: 15

Recoil: 50

Fire Rate 300

Light Armour Penetrating

Silenced

That’s right, an integrally suppressed weapon. This will allow for the stealth gameplay that has popped up to take off. The damage increase is mainly “cosmetic” but does set the weapon apart from the original stat wise and less over the silencer.

Submachine Gun

Sadly there is only one SMG in the game at this moment and I do not see much use out of it. Some of my friends have used the SMG-37 Defender, but normally default back to something else. Here is my recommendation to bring it back in line;

SMG-37 Defender

Damage:53

Capacity: 60

Recoil: 10

Fire Rate: 710

Light Armour Penetrating

One Handed

Math time. Currently the SMG does 3150 damage if every round hits, so to keep in line with that damage output, we increase the capacity while also lowering the damage. This means the new damage amount is 3180. More than it was originally, but not overpowering anything else. The One Handed capability is a great idea for transport missions if more appear in the future, so we keep it in. (This also means you can blind fire when running backwards still)Edit note: This gun is amazing! I love the fact that you can easily blindfire and still be accurate-ish

SMG-45 Infiltrator** is not in the game nor is it planned on being in the game, just something I came up with for the purpose of having something to compare it with. Using the methodology from above we can come to a stat line as follows;

SMG-45 Infiltrator *\*

Damage: 70

Capacity: 45

Recoil: 25

Fire Rate: 1100

Light Armour Penetrating

One Handed

Silenced

The intent behind this design is that it is more of a primary weapon compared to the Defender, but also suppressed. Even though this does more damage than the LIberator AND has a higher Fire Rate, the increased Recoil should stop it from being a lazerbeam as we have those weapons. We could also give the weapon the option of a 3 round burst which would be its default setting.

Shotgun

Hear me out before you go and get made about my proposed changes. Shotguns in this game feel great. But we all know of one shotgun that is ruining it for the rest of them so we have to address a few things to make “them” not the best in slot weapon. First off, I think that their headshot multiplier should be reduced or removed. This would give other weapons an edge over these as well as allowing shotguns to have much higher damage. I also think that shotguns should do what they do best, pellets.

Each shotgun should have its own type of pellets that alter how the weapons handle and their uses. To explain this more let’s look into the SG-8 Punisher;

SG-8 Punisher

Damage: 320

Capacity: 16

Recoil: 110

Fire Rate: 80

Light Armour Penetrating

Rounds Reload

000 Buck (8 pellets)

Let’s talk about types of loads :). A shotgun can either have Slugs or Shot (Buck/Bird) (we don’t talk about Flechette rounds). Slug is self explanatory as it shoots one large pellet at your target, while buckshot/shot have a size gauge that determines how many pellets are going down range at one target. 000 is the largest buckshot size allowing for 8 pellets to be stored inside a shell at a time. 8 pellets at 40 damage a pellet puts us to the 320 damage number shown above.

Alright, let’s talk about the SG-225 Breaker. It can snipe bots like a rifle and deal with hordes like crazy. So let’s pick one.We have two versions of shotguns at the moment in the game; Magazine Fed (Breaker) and Tube Fed (Punisher). Let’s say that the Tube Fed shotguns act more like shotguns in real life and that Magazine Fed shotguns act more like video game shotguns. The difference being that IRL shotguns can be very accurate at ranges and video game shotguns have no range. Then we would have a better way of balancing the weapons as follows;

SG-225 Breaker

Damage: 384

Capacity: 12

Recoil: 30

Fire Rate: 300

Light Armour Penetrating

0 Buck (12 pellets)

The goal here is to make the Breaker a hoard clearing monster. It may no longer be able to two-shot something at a distance, but it’ll clear out anything in front of you.

The SG-8S Slugger* is the best example of the Tube vs Magazine debate. The intent of the Slugger is to have a shotgun that has more range than its counterparts. There is just one issue; how do we make this shotgun feel unique if the Marksman Rifles already do this job?

The answer is actually quite simple really, let me show you;

SG-8S Slugger *

Damage: 250

Capacity: 16

Recoil: 160

Fire Rate: 160

Rounds Reload

The goal here is that this weapon is to be used as a close range spot weapon, comparable to the Marksman Rifles. This weapon is designed to be used at Mid-Close ranges while the Marksman Rifles are Mid-Far. To balance out the massive damage per bullet it should lose the armor penetrating capabilities as it is throwing a lead stone at something.

Next on our list is the SG-225SP Breaker Spray & Pray*. So let’s take everything we’ve discussed and put it into action;

SG-225SP Breaker Spray & Pray *

Damage: 384

Capacity: 20

Recoil: 30

Fire Rate: 300

Light Armour Penetrating

1 Buck (24 Pellets)

The idea here is that the Spray & Pray capitalize on its high pellet count without losing its damage. Instead of 12 pellets @ 32 damage, you get 24 x 16. Same capability but has much more pellets. This could also mean that the weapon could have a larger MOA (Minute of Angle, IRL weapons term for accuracy of a weapon).

Finally we have the SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary*. This again is a premium weapon from the war bonds. The idea behind this weapon is similar to the Liberator Explosive, splitting some of the damage into its effect.

SG-225IE Breaker Incendiary *

Damage: 384

Capacity: 16

Recoil: 30

Fire Rate: 300

0 Dragon Breath Buck (12 pellets)

The idea here is that when you hit the target you would deal 16 damage from impact and then deal over time 16 damage of fire damage. Each pellet can cause the target to catch fire, with the more pellets hitting the target the higher the chance (determined later what that causes and the damage that it does). It would also be nice if this shotgun came equipped with a choke that would alter how the pellets would leave the barrel. The idea is to have it installed with a “duck bill” choke to have the pellets leave in an oval horizontally instead of a circle.

Energy-Based

These weapons are cool in nature but really don’t feel like they have a place yet. The idea is to buff them slightly in a way that makes them unique while also making sure they do not feel overpowered. The LAS-5 Scythe is a great example of this. I feel like this weapon needs a small tweak to get it on the right path;

LAS-5 Scythe

Damage/Sec: 300

Fire Rate: 10

Recoil: 1

Stun Time: 0.5s

This means that the LAS-5 has a higher DPS and the half-second stun should mean that the first thing you hit with this weapon at least has to stop before continuing allowing for Commissars and Bug Callers animations to be canceled before it’s too late.

The only other Energy-Based weapon in the game is the PLAS-1 Scorcher*. This is the last weapon you can unlock in the game and most people do not have access to it yet, so it is hard to actually balance this, but the idea is there so let’s get it grounded;

PLAS-1 Scorcher *

Damage: 150

Capacity: 15

Recoil: 30

Fire Rate: 250

Medium Armour Penetrating

Explosive

The goal here is that the explosion made by this weapon is not large enough to rival the Grenade Launcher, nor is it as small as the Liberator Explosive. But, it is large enough to take out a few clumped enemies if the situation is right. This would make this weapon a unique addition to the game and bring something different to the table when using it.

Note: This weapon’s explosive capabilities does not allow it to take out nests or other buildings.

Explosive

The JAR-5 Dominator* is the only weapon that is a primary based explosive weapon. This is the last primary weapon to be unlocked in the premium warbond pass. Other weapons may be added into the game at later dates, but for not this is what we have;

JAR-5 Dominator *

Damage: 200

Capacity: 15

Recoil: 75

Fire Rate: 250

Medium Armour Penetrating

The idea is that this is a Gyrojet ammo based weapon that has explosive tipped bullets. The idea is to have the center of impact deal the max damage and have it drop off after that.

This weapon should have the capability to close bug nests as well as machine manufacturing plants, but needs 3-5 shots to destroy (and the correct angle for the plants).

Pistol

Pistols are your only option to stop yourself from being a casualty of war, and as we all know switching to your sidearm is faster than reloading. The P-2 Peacemaker is the sidearm that everyone starts with, but is overshadowed by the P-19 Redeemer. With that in mind let’s fix that;

P-2 Peacemaker

Damage: 80

Capacity: 15

Recoil: 23

Fire Rate: 750

One Handed

Silenced

The idea here is that this sidearm can be used as a stealth alternative early on before anything else silenced is unlocked, allowing for stealth operations to happen. Increasing the damage to 80 makes the weapon unique from the P-19. The silencer would be a toggleable option.

The P-19 Redeemer is probably the best sidearm in the game at the moment because it is just better than the P-2 due to capacity and damage. With the change made above let’s see what happens;

P-19 Redeemer

Damage: 60

Capacity: 30

Recoil: 11

Fire Rate: 900

One Handed

This makes the weapon still unique on its own and having full auto capability makes it a great back-up weapon. Not having a silencer option however may make some players reconsider this weapon though.

Last but not least, we have the P-4 Senator. This is a part of the premium warbond but can be unlocked early as it is on the first page. This weapon just does not hold up against the other two. It’s lack-luster as the damage increase does not hedge out the slow reload time. So let’s fix that and make this weapon and actual option to take as a sidearm;

P-4 Senator

Damage: 160

Capacity: 6

Recoil: 40

Fire Rate: 200

Light Armour Penetrating

One Handed

Rounds Reload

Increase the damage to be double the P-2, which when compared to the current patch is only 150. The idea is that there is a secret bonus to this weapon. When reloaded from empty (No rounds in the weapon) a speed loader is used allowing for the weapon to be quickly reloaded. This means that emptying the magazine is faster than reloading midway. This allows for the weapon to rival the P-2 while also offering light armour penetration.

Light Armour Penetration

This word means nothing if every gun in the game has it. This should mean something and is why I removed it from some weapons, while others retained it. There was a big debate as to whether or not all shotguns should lose this ability or not but I decided it would be best to just remove it from the slugger to allow the Marksman Rifles to have something that it does not (other than a scope).

This concludes my Ted Talk, thank you for coming.

But honestly this game needs a balance tweak in regards to weapons as some of these are just “useless” on the current build. The dev’s are doing a fantastic job ATM and even this build is great and fun to play, but we all want change in a good way and I believe that this is the way to do it.

If you have recommendations please feel free to comment and share. If a dev does come across this post I want them to see the conversation that is happening around these weapons.

Edit: I used some of the weapons and felt that the stats needed changes. Mainly the Penetrator.