I've recently started to think the way we draw our weapons is strange.
They come from nowhere, they just appear and disappear.
I went to my Tabula Rasa archive and found comparable weapons to Dual Pistols and Rifles:
Sniper Skill Demonstration
As this video shows, when the weapons are not in use, they're clipped to a module on the back.
And from Mass Effect:
Shadow Broker Battle
In this video, weapons are collaspable and unfold as you remove them from a clamp on your armor.
In the Star Trek tv show, single hand weapons were carried in a holster on the belt, rifles were often carried by a strap over the shoulder.
So why doesn't Star Trek Online use a system like this?
Have the weapons visible somewhere in a holster or clip and pull them out when you start to use them?
Comments
Two rifles would be a problem, or at least look silly. Likewise, if you're carrying a set of dual pistols, and a regular one, where do you put the third? Or fourth, if you're carrying two sets of two?
I would like to see this though. Already requested they add stuff like a holstered phaser or tricorder as costume options. I suppose it could work if it only displayed the currently active weapon. That'd be simplest. Small arms on the belt, rifles straight down off the shoulder and the really big guns across the back. But still that would probably require a second model be made for each weapon in its holstered/worn state. (Perhaps that could be cut back on by having the holographic components inactive.)
And the big ones, rifles and beyond, are going to be problematic when you sit down on your bridge. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
That's exactly how they explained it away in Elite Force.
It's the new Bag of Holding.
I would love to see my characters and bridge officers holster their pistols and sling their rifles.
Also, I do not TRIBBLE that we have no visible Weapons and Equipment (like Tricorders) AT ALL.
In the Series, when they expectet to get involved in Combat the Crew always was visibly armed, at last in later Trek (Ds9, Voy, TNG Movies).
I suggestet a while ago to make at last sidearms part of the Costume (Could be nice to add the "fitting" weapon to each C-Store Costume; TOS Phasers for TOS uniforms, Ent Phase-Pistols for Ent-Uniform ect ect ect)
However, speaking of Holstering the weapons we really use, the "problem" with the diffrent holstered weapons (2 Rifles or 2 Dual Pistols=4 Pistols) can be easyly solved by just showing the ACTUALLY USED (active slot) weapon. And there can be other ways arround that.
By the way I'd love to see customisable Ground weapons, too.
Indeed, i think all they'd ever need to do is add aquick transporter effect to their appearance and disappearance.
I get the feeling my captain would constantly be visiting his CMO to get his back fixed up if he had to actually lug his assault weapons around.
You'd just have to design for one type of weapon and port that to all the others of a similar type.
Although I only used 1 sniper rifle in the Tabula rasa video, there were around 5-6 types.
But they were all of a uniform size, so it was only the meshes that changed.
So, you'd just have to code for Antiproton dual pistols, work out the mechanics of that, then port it to plasma dual pistols and so on, to choose an example.
And yes, in Tabula Rasa, it was only the active weapon you could see equipped at any given time, not the whole arsenal.
This was so you could see at a glance what weapon would be used when you hit draw weapon.