PvP game design

[Snowreap]

if you posit the existence of advanced rifles that take ammo magazines, with the shells in those magazines being of different interchangeable types (armor piercing, hollowpoint, concussion, fragmentation, etc.), then there are some possibilities.

if emptying and refilling magazines can only be done out-of-combat, and if your only in-combat options are to shoot whatever's in your current magazine, or switch magazines, then preparation makes a difference.

how much of a difference depends on what you loaded.

remember Moonraker (I think it was), the James Bond movie where he got a wristwatch with a little mini-rocket launcher in the band? he also got some poison-tipped rockets with it, as well as some explosive-tipped. he used that rocket launcher twice in the movie, and both times he had exactly the right ammo loaded. the movie would have turned out very different if he'd chosen a different ammo type in either of those situations.

likewise, if you have 12 'pockets', choosing to carry 12 magazines can result in a very different outcome than carrying 10 magazines and 2 big knives. especially if you're trained in 2-handed knife fighting and you find yourself in an area with a lot of cover.

-ken