Guns and Shooting

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Zircon Gun Statistics



As everyone knows, Zircon is very heavily based on wide open areas set up in a grid format. The purpose of this grid format is to increase base exploration and to allow players to really use ranged weapons such as guns and bows. In previous seasons guns were much less desirable than even a baseball bat considering the fact that all rooms were enclosed spaces and walking up to someone and clubbing them was faster, quieter, and just as effective as a cannon. Zircon hopes to alleviate this problem with the grid system allowing larger areas of use for guns and an element of escaping after taking shots as you are not limited to 2-3 directions to run that are effectively straight lines. In order to accommodate this there must be ranges for all the weapons and effects. Below I have listed the various base weapon classes and their effective ranges along with any special effects.

Please note that these are the base cases and are not all reaching. There may be variations from these standards, especially among the starting weapons. Example changes include things like a longer barrel or some kind of grip on the weapon. These would cause greater accuracy at the cost of the weapon being even larger. I expect players wish to have their starting weapons be somewhat unique so players MUST speak with me before the game starts to finalize weapons and their stats. I will attempt to contact and speak with every player about their weapon, but player who I am unable to be reach will go into the game either with one of these base weapons or none at all. Next we will discuss range and accuracy, also known as how to hit people.

Shooting and Missing


Certain weapons excel at specific ranges and are, hopefully, high quality pieces of equipment. This isn't a perfect world though and it is very possible to miss your target. A number of factors will go into me determining if a shot or burst of shots connect with their target. These factors are the following:
Distance
Wind
Weapon
Recoil
Stress
Sight
These are the primary factors I will take into account when deciding accuracy. I will give a short explanation on how they will affect accuracy here. Distance will affect your accuracy the farther away from your effective range you are. This is due to gravity pulling on the bullet as it travels farther or not taking enough affect and your bullet flying high. The wind will be changing over the course of time and I will NOT alert players to it unless the wind grows to more extreme levels that would physically affect your characters bodies. Based on the direction of the wind your effective range can get longer or shorter as well as causing projectiles to veer to the sides. Certain weapons are affected more by wind, specifically bows and crossbows suffer the most from wind. Weapons in general will affect your accuracy based on their ability to be handled and aimed. The recoil of weapons will affect the initial shot slightly, but only a little. Firing any weapon rapidly will result in more recoil and less accuracy. Stress is a unique factor that will be determined at the moment of the shot. Being shot at or being under other forms of pressure means your character might be shaky or unable to focus solely on shooting. The more stress, the less accurate. Sight is very simple in that if you can't see your target you are getting HUGE deductions on any chance to hit. A shot in the dark is exactly that and will be a one in a million shot. Be careful, just because you missed your target, doesn't mean you won't hit some bystander. Friendly fire exists, well unless you only have enemies.


The Effects of Gunfire

When a gun is fired it can make all levels of noise and images. This section is designed to explain to everyone what to expect when you fire those weapons of destruction. First of all is the sound, that trademark "BANG" when the trigger is pulled. I will not be telling you all how far the sound of specific weapons carries but you can expect larger weapons make louder noises. I will alert ALL players in the sound range of it so expect immediate reactions from players who hear gunfire. Next is the visual appearances of the guns being fired. When the majority of guns are fired the barrel lets loose a small blast of fire as the hammer triggers the bullet. Only players who are looking in your general direction and are near will see the flash. Different weapons have differing levels of visual queues so not all weapons give off the same image. The last special note goes off to the biggest of weapons, explosives and snipers. These weapons have what I am calling the blast wave. In terms of explosives its the explosion itself, resulting in damage and death. A large sniper actually creates such a boom when it is fired that there is a shock-wave when it is fired. This would be like getting punched by a wall of air and the shooter as well as those nearby may be flat out knocked off their feet.