Bomb Rework

Suggestions
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I know a total rework is unlikely but I wanted to flesh out the full idea in case some parts of it can be used. Here are the main things accomplished by this rework.

  1. Differentiate bombs from slingbows and fists in combat
  2. Solve lag-related issues when using healing bombs
  3. Allow bombs to be used in group hunts without unintentional griefing
  4. Provide a limited way to bomb mine

The basic behavior of bombs changes. They now create little AOE zones that damage enemies standing in them.

  • The zones can overlap.
  • Enemies take damage per second for each bomb zone they’re in.
  • The zones last for 3 seconds by default.
  • Bombs detonate on impact with ground or enemy.
  • Bombs no longer do any damage to terrain by default.
  • Bombs no longer have knockback as a stat.

A bunch of new bomb augments are added to the game to provide other types of AOE effects. There’s a ton of ideas that could be implemented; here are some of my favorite ideas.

Heal Bomb Augments
Changes the zone effect from damaging enemies to healing other players. Also increases the zone lifespan from 3 seconds to 10 seconds. This solves lag-related healing issues as you now create a zone that other players stand in to channel healing over time.

Slow Bomb Augments
Enemies entering the zone have their movement slowed for a few seconds. This includes wildstock charge attacks.

Gravity Bomb Augments
Flying enemies who fly over the zone are pulled to the ground. Jumping enemies can’t jump when in the zone.

Lure Bomb Augments
A stuffed citizen appears in the zone. Enemies treat these as threatening and may attack them instead of real players.

Okay, so with those we’ve differentiated bombs from slingbows and fists. Bombs no longer have to compete with them on DPS alone because they provide combat utility in addition to some damage.

The new behavior combos well with many of the existing tools and weapons. A player going into battle with a bomb and a grapple may choose to place down damaging zones and then use the grapple to hold enemies in the zone. Other players may want to use gravity bombs to pull enemies closer so their fist attacks are easier to land. Pure DPS builds can use a lure augment to help mitigate damage.

Since we moved the heal effect to an augment there’s no need for it to be a forge boon anymore. And since bombs don’t do knockback there’s no need for those forge effects either. There should be new forge effects added for zone duration. All the other existing bomb forge effects compliment the augments.

Last thing on the menu, can we bring back some form of bomb mining?

Demolition Bomb Augments
Zone effect damages terrain instead of enemies.

Cool, that was easy. Demolition bombs are a way to get AOE mining without dipping into the forge system. But they’re slow at dealing damage so they aren’t too broken either.

That should be enough detail to get the conversation rolling.

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Augments need to stack much higher than they do right now and I think it would make the idea work well. They’re basically ammunition in a lot of ways.

Some good bomb ideas though!

I would like to mention that bombs shouldn’t work in the area of a meteor to just straight up prevent block destruction griefing. A crappy 3x3 shovel gets the job done just fine.

Another Bomb augment I think would be cool and maybe a little late game is some way to suck all the enemies into a central location. Would make it cool for putting Wildstock and Spitters in killing pits. The augment would even have an extra explosion at the end of it. So sort of like a black hole sucking up hostile creatures and then blowing up to let them all fall down to the ground.

:+1:

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I danced around this one a bit because I’ve seen tornado or black hole abilities stack with AOE in other games to create devastating, hard to balance combos.

The lure effect can pull wildstocks to a central area or a pit, as long as there’s nothing more threatening around. And the gravity effect can group up hoppers and cuttletrunks in the z-axis. This felt like a good place to start. I think we would need more enemy archetypes and a deeper combat system before it warranted players having the full ability to freely stack foes.

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Yeah I guess that’s true.

I kind of just want a larger variety of weapons in general. Augments as well. I mentioned firearms in other threads and I think that fits perfectly in the whole science fiction and futuristic theme the developers want to roll with.

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Im really hoping we get a good combat overhaul soon and I agree a slight tweak to bombs is a good start to shake it up a bit. I like all of what you suggested but this one the most.

I’d definitely be more interested in combat with some of the changes u listed. Maybe we could also have some beneficial bombs to introduce a support role as well. It would be similar to choosing between brew crafting vs food crafting where you can only choose to be a dps bomber or support bomber. Have bombs that apply a buff to the people in range. Maybe keep healing bombs available to dps as well but a support bomber using a healing bomb would also apply a heal over time. But first they would need to fix how bombs are making people lag out for sure.

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Capsule bombs could be fun, where instead of an explosion, you get a rock formations the size of the blast radius. Could be useful for creating quick barriers and also adds a build mechanic to battling. This would also go great with blast radius buff in the forge.

There could be a multi blast buff available from forging that causes the bomb to go off several times with a second or two in between. Could be nice for digging fast pits.

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I think another fun thing for bombs could be landmines. You could plant land mines around a meteor between waves and watch the chaos ensue :star_struck:

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Those sound like fun to use in player made pvp arenas if we’re ever able get that to be a thing in the game. Devs said they will try and experiment with pvp so landmines could work wonderfully well for that. :smiley:

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Bombs are soo far away from meeting expectations at the moment. They need a lot of TLC/balance. They are currently only good for healing, regen or <0.1% for situational circumstances while meteor hunting.

Make Bombs Useful Again.

Simply being able to remove terrain damage would be a start… ya know, so ya don’t create a cratered lunar surface trying to kill a wildstock?

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Oh and flak bombs that shred flying critters would be fun!

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Flak bombs reminds me of some of the old threads that discussed turrets and settlement defenses. :smiley:

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These ideas feel like they’d make using bombs so much fun. Although, I do think bombs should keep the knockback aspect because of…well…explosive forces.

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Can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier: freeze bombs. Lava and water would go solid and creatures would be frozen for a few seconds

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Bombs that light up an area with a glow in the dark substance. Applies a decal graphic to blocks or creates a cloud that illuminates an area.

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