So, I saw a post about ship "side-grades" and saw the mention of cannon ammunition types. Thought I would leave a list of ideas I and others have had. I have no illusion that some of these are far fetched, but I thought including them anyway would make for good reading at the least.
- Round Shot: The default ammo we currently use. It has a radius of damage around the impact site, with the possibility of knocking players back. Can blow holes in the hull.
- Flame Shot: A cannonball wrapped in pitch soaked rags and ignited by being fired. The flame shot lands on the enemy ship (or land) and ignites a small area around impact with flames. The flames deal 10% damage to health every second and last for 15 seconds, but do not spread. The projectile has a much steeper firing arc than the round shot. Require water or vomit to put out. Does not harm ship for simplicity reasons. Can blow holes in the hull.
- Chain Shot: Fired at the enemy's masts, hitting them will prevent the masts from turning for roughly 40 seconds. Can do damage to players, but not to ship hulls.
- Grape Shot: Damages the sails of a ship, and players in a shotgun like effect. The closer you are the more damage to a player is done, but sails take damage as a factor of speed. The percentage of grape shot that hits the sails equals out to a maximum of 15% speed loss from that sail for 2 minutes (the sail repairs holes after this time). Can't blow holes in the hull.
- Man Shot: This is how players are loaded into the cannon to be fired a great distance as we already do.
- Light Shot: A slow burning ball of phosphorus attached to a parachute. Fired up in the air, they provide a warm yellow light to a very large area as they slowly fall back down. Can't blow holes in the hull.
- Snake Shot: When you have a captured snake on board, you can load it and its cage into the cannon to fire at the enemy. If landing on ship decks or land, the cage will bust open and a very irritated snake will (with great speed) roam the ship looking for people to bite and poison. Can't blow holes in the hull.
- Hook Shot: A large grappling hook attached to a long rope. If an enemy ship is hit, it is anchored to the other ship, unable to go further than the tether allows. The rope can be cut at the site of impact (can be cut also by attacking the hook if it penetrated a lower deck) or shot with good aim. The effect of being caught on the hook shot's maximum distance is similar to lowering the anchor. Players can be damaged by the hook, but more importantly can be attatched to the hook if they do not die from the damage. Can blow holes in the hull, but only start leaking water when the hook is removed.
- Spear Shot: A massive harpoon, designed to pierce through the toughest armor. Fired from a cannon can do massive damage to players, sea creatures and the like, but can also pierce both sides of a ship if aimed correctly. Much steeper firing arc than frag shot and slower travel time.
- Enhanced Shot: Load a gunpowder barrel into a cannon, then insert a cannon ball normally (only works with frag shot and man shot). The arc of the shot, becomes much more shallow and the range is nearly doubled. Allowing for much more accurate fire.
- Explosive Shot: A shot similar to round shot, but with an added bang, and a danger to your own ship. Before loading the shot into the cannon, the player must ignite the explosive shot's fuse, which puts it on a timer of 6 seconds. If the shot is not fired before time runs out the cannon will explode dealing three holes of damage to the ship and obviously kill anyone at the cannon or nearby it. After being fired the timer is deleted, and it will explode on contact with whatever it hits first dealing 2 holes worth of damage.
What do you guys think? Any thoughts are appreciated especially on balance, as i just threw this up to start the discussion.
User Suggested Ammos:
Net Shot ( @Kotetsuchiha ) : Immobilizes players in a small AOE. Can be cut free after 10 sword swings by those imprisoned, or 5 swings from a crew member. Wears off after 20 seconds. Cannot damage ship hulls.
