Recoil (no ontology)
From Mazeworld
The basic premise of the recoil system is to simulate the increasing spread and loss of accuracy as one fires more rounds. It is primarily intended to be a balancing mechanic, to avoid the phenomenon of "lucky mag dumps" which has been observed in the past (and has been universally admitted to sound ridiculous especially with high-capacity firearms).
NOTE: This mechanic evidently does NOT affect melee weapons, certain special weapons (Golden Gun...) due to their nature, or heavy weapons such as grenade launchers and rocket launchers; only conventional personal firearms. It also will not apply to the equipment used by certain enemies despite they are firearms as their users are non-human (or less-than-human), such as the Failed, the various drones, etc. (a notable exception being the Duplica Bot, naturally).
The recoil system
After one has decided the weapon, fire mode, amount of shots and target, then made their attack roll, the score is observed, and depending on the caliber fired and the fire mode chosen, as well as certain equipped accessories, the amount of shots that hit may be different from the amount of shots intended.
Statistically speaking, depending on the fire mode used and the amounts of shots fired, the dice score is affected by a dropoff after every Xth amount of shots; for every theshold of X shots passed, the score is considered to be decreased by 1.
- Example with Normal recoil (see below for Recoil Levels)
- For a score = A ; Shots 1-4: Score is considered to be A. Shots 5-8: A-1. Shots 9-12: A-2. Shots 13-16: A-3, and so on.
Five different Recoil Levels (RLs) will be observed, in which the concerned firearm calibers are classed into; while most affect full-auto and burst fire, the heaviest of recoil levels also have an impact on semi-automatic fire.
- Heavy recoil: Full-auto dropoff at every 3rd shot / Burst dropoff at every 2nd burst (FA: 1-2, 3-4... / B: B1-B2, B3-B4, B5)
- Normal recoil: Full-auto dropoff at every 5th shot / Burst dropoff at every 3rd burst (FA: 1-4, 5-8... / B: B1-B2-B3, B4-B5)
- Light recoil: Full-auto dropoff at every 7th shot / Burst dropoff at every 4th burst (FA: 1-6, 7-12... / B: B1-B2-B3-B4, B5)
And additionally:
- Punishing recoil is similar Heavy, but adds drop-off at every 3rd shot fired in Semi-auto. (1-2, 3-4...)
- No recoil is similar to Light, but Full-auto dropoff is at every 14th shot, and there no dropoff for bursts at all. (FA: 1-13, 14-26...)
Example: Weapons chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO are considered to have a RL 3 (Normal).
- The user has a weapon that fires this round
- This weapon is capable of fully-automatic fire, and is used in that mode
- The user attempts firing 11 shots.
- The user is aiming at a target that causes no penalty to accuracy, and nothing is further affecting the user's accuracy (no accessories, no meds, etc.)
- The user rolls their attack dice, and rolls a 7.
Then, the following happens:
- Shots 1-4 = Score is considered to be 7. Shots 1-4 hit.
- Shots 5-8 = Score is considered to be 6. Shots 5-8 hit.
- Shots 9-11 = Score is considered to be 5. Shots 9-11 miss.
Table of recoil levels
Recoil | None | Light | Normal | Heavy | Punishing |
Rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Accessories and recoil
New accessory types have been introduced in Mazeworld 2.3 alongside the very recoil system, to help contestants fight recoil and allowing more, or better-controlled shots. These are bipods, foregrips and muzzle brakes. All of those accessories are passive; when one is equipped, its effects are always applied.
Bipods
The bipod is the most versatile of weapon accessories, affecting weapon behavior in several ways.
- When a bipod-equipped weapon is used to fire in full-auto or bursts, the weapon's RL is reduced by 1. (A 5.56x45mm NATO weapon with a bipod would be considered to have a RL of 3-1 = 2.)
- When a bipod-equipped weapon is used to fire MULTIPLE shots in semi-auto, the bipod allows for +2 maximum shots per turn. This stacks with other shot-per-turn amount modifiers.
- When a bipod-equipped weapon is used to fire ONE shot only regardless of fire mode, in a single turn, the bipod then has an increased accuracy (FT-1) effect. This stacks with other accuracy modifiers.
Foregrips
Foregrips are simple but effective attachments which help the user to control their weapon. However, they are effective when used in conjunction with fully automatic fire only.
- Foregrips increase the drop-off thresholds by 1, meaning that instead of occuring at every Xth shot, it will occur at every X+1th shot.
Muzzle brakes
Muzzle brakes, also known as compensators (and sometimes affectionately nicknamed "loudeners" to compare them to silencers), are devices which redirect expelled gases upon firing a weapon towards the sides, sometimes upwards, decreasing the amount of recoil but at the cost of making the weapon louder and making the muzzle flash bigger.
Contrary to foregrips, muzzle brakes are less effective at controlling sustained, full-automatic fire, and are more useful in semi-automatic, or single-shot fire, as well as burst fire.
- When a compensated weapon is used to fire semi-automatic or single shots (anything non-full-auto, non-bursts), the muzzle brake allows for +2 maximum shots per turn. This stacks with other shot-per-turn amount modifiers.
- When a compensated weapon is used to fire bursts, the muzzle brake allows for +1 maximum burst per turn. This stacks with other shot-per-turn amount modifiers.
It must be noted that certain weapons may be equipped with flash hiders and ported barrels. While these contribute, in real life, to some marginal compensating effect, in Mazeworld these do not count as muzzle brakes for game purposes. Only weapons marked clearly as coming standard with one, or being integrally compensated, are treated as such.