The powerup gives you ammo.
But, it's not only the fact that you get more ammo using it (I'll get to that later), it's that the ammo is not distributed evenly among all the weapons. It seems the powerup favors weaker weapons (handguns), but in a very odd manner. Some weapons will have ammo refilled + gain an additional mag, some will have ammo refilled and have their mag sized increased, and some will straight up refill ammo and gain 2-3 additional mags/flares/loaders.
Here's a demonstration:
Pistol: 12 | 1 ===> 12 | 2 (1 new mag) [30] [6] Pistol .45: 10 | 1 ===> 10 | 2 (1 new mag) [30] [0] Magnum: 6 | 1 ===> 6 | 2 (1 new mag) [18] [0] Revolver: 6 | 1 ===> 6 | 4 (3 new speedloaders) [30] [0] Uzi: 25 | 1 ===> 30 | 1 (Increased mag size) [30] [25] M. Pistol: 25 | 1 ===> 30 | 1 (Increased mag size) [30] [25] Flare gun: 1 | 3 ===> 1 | 5 (2 new flares) [6] [0]In this table you will find the following peculiarities:
- The Pistol has 6 regular rounds to spare after the incendiary ammo is spent. There's no reason for this to be a thing as all other weapons receive an amount of fire ammo that is equal to that inside of one full magazine.
- The Uzi and Machine Pistol only have the size of the first magazine increased. You may accidentally prematurely reload and lose a few fire rounds, or forget that the second magazine is smaller after you've spent the first one. Why not give 25 incendiary rounds to begin with?
- How come the Revolver receives 3 new mags (speedloaders) as opposed to the rest of the weapons which only receive 1 or not at all? It's not like it was so weak it required a buff.
Tommygun: 35 | 1 ===> 35 | 1 ( - ) [35] [35] Assault Rifle: 24 | 1 ===> 24 | 1 ( - ) [24] [24] MP50: 30 | 1 ===> 30 | 1 ( - ) [30] [30] SMG: 30 | 1 ===> 30 | 1 ( - ) [30] [30] Bow: 10 | - ===> 10 | - ( - ) [10] [0] Bazooka: 1 | 2 ===> 1 | 2 ( - ) [3] [0] GL: 1 | 2 ===> 1 | 2 ( - ) [3] [0]None of the weapons receive new mags, and the incendiary round amount matches the exact amount of rounds in one full magazine. You understand that once you reload, you're done shooting fire, simple. If it's a power weapon all projectiles will be affected and no additional ones will be gained from using the powerup. This is how things should be done.
Then, there's the carbine, which, like the Pistol, leaves you with 6 regular bullets to spare for seemingly no reason. It also receives an additional magazine, unlike most other primaries.
Carbine: 12 | 1 ===> 12 | 2 (1 new mag) [30] [6]After seeing the Bazooka and GL and assuming power weapons/primaries will not be receiving more ammo from the pickup, in comes the Sniper Rifle, which gets an additional mag for some reason, as if it wasn't powerful enough:
Sniper Rifle: 3 | 1 ===> 3 | 2 (1 new mag) [9] [0]
Now come the real big changes - ones to the shotgun ammo pools.Normally, picking up two of the same type of shotgun will simply double the amount of shells you're carrying. This is only the case with the Pump-action when it comes to incendiary ammo; you'll be getting more than double the ammo if you pick up the powerup, in addition to instantly setting players on Stage 2 fire with one pellet turning the shotgun into a very chaotic sniper rifle.
Pump-action: 6 | 6 ===> 6 | 12 (6 new shells) [18] [0] Riot shotgun: 5 | 5 ===> 5 | 13 (7 new shells) [18] [0] Sawed-off: 2 | 6 ===> 2 | 16 (10 new shells) [18] [0]This is incredibly strong and should be nerfed as the shotguns never require more ammo to be effective especially when said ammo sets things ablaze and puts fighters on Stage 2 fire.
To fix all these inconsistencies, I would suggest the following changes be made to the powerup:
- All weapons - should NOT be granted additional magazines - like most primaries currently. If the first magazine is half-empty, fill it up - but do not gain additional mags. Fire ammo is already strong enough, giving players more ammo is excessive.
- Secondaries - only affect the first mag - like most primaries currently. You've decided to use fire ammo on a secondary, live with the choice - this is the case with the Laser Sight powerup. You should not receive as much incendiary ammo as a primary weapon takes. This also removes the ridiculous 6-spare-rounds nonsense.
- Flare gun - no reason for it to receive 2 additional flares, as the Bow doesn't get more arrows and the Bazooka/GL don't get more rockets/nades.
- Carbine / Sniper Rifle - no additional mags should be gained, like other primaries.
- Uzi / Machine Pistol - mag size should stay the same. Get 25 fire rounds instead of 30.
- Shotguns - no additional shells should be gained, only the first batch should be affected (2/5/6 in each weapon respectively).
