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Original post by no hit wonder Finding it a bit more difficult though to make these issues be manifested though in my project, which is a over-head viewed squad based tactical. Something along the lines of XCom in perspective. Don't know if any of you know what game that is, it's not exactly recent.

I find that interesting, as I am/was/will be working on something similar. Do you have any more information about it avaliable (a website? some screenshots)? Just curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to share that.

Sorry for the off-topic.

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Original post by no hit wonder Any ideas? What can be done to allow small weapons, like pistols or compact smg's, to retain thier usefulness in a game that also features a selection of rifles and larger weapons.

In a past FPS i was working on we got very good feedback on our rifle/pistol balance:
1) Give the pistols a good damage ammount - equal to that of a rifle!
2) Give rifles a small "spray cone" (so they hit allmost where you aim)
3) But give rifles a large ammount of recoil (so its hard to stay on target once you start shooting)
4) Give pistols a large "spray cone" (so they dont allways land close to the crosshair)
5) Give pistols a small amount of recoil (so you can keep your aim on target while blasting away).

This makes rifles suited to long range, as you can aim properly, then shoot in bursts and you will hit your target.
It also makes pistols suited to close range, as the large spray cone means you can't hit targets at long range, but the low recoil makes it easy to pump a clip into a close target.

I'm a huge fan of XCOM and the newer UFO series (I believe they are clerically unrelated, but it's obvious that UFO is a spiritual successor to XCOM).

Now, without knowing anything about your specific design ideas, it's hard to say exactly how to give sidearms a niche-advantage over rifles. But everyone here has said more or less the same thing; sidearms are maneuverable and can be used in otherwise awkward situations.

So, if you're using a time-points model, sidearms should generally be less expensive to use, reload, and move with. If you're using continuous time (like in UFO) then things like movement speed and time to aim and fire weapons could be modified.

Another though I had is that a character should be able to carry more ammo for his/her sidearm than for a rifle. Again, I don't know what your inventory model is, but having greater encumbrance from larger ammo types, and making encumbrance have some significant effect on outcome would be good.

One thing I loved from UFO: Aftershock was taking a fast moving character with throwing knives, they were not particularly powerful weapons, but there's something to be said for the stealth that they award you. So that's another thought; it's easier to be stealthy when you're carrying small weapons.

I'd love to see what you're working on, web-site?

Play Halo. Not Halo 2, the original. The pistol is useful even though you can have an assualt rifle, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and a bunch of crazy alien stuff. It's just the best all around weapon. Everything else is only good at one thing, if anything (needler...), but the pistol is just the best utilitarian weapon. It is technically a sidearm still because in most situations you'll want to use a specialized weapon, but you'll always come back to the pistol.

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Original post by balohna Play Halo. Not Halo 2, the original. The pistol is useful even though you can have an assualt rifle, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and a bunch of crazy alien stuff. It's just the best all around weapon. Everything else is only good at one thing, if anything (needler...), but the pistol is just the best utilitarian weapon. It is technically a sidearm still because in most situations you'll want to use a specialized weapon, but you'll always come back to the pistol.

I agree that the pistol in Halo 1 was the absolute essential weapon. You could pretty much kill anything with it. But I think the SMG was very unbalanced. Actually, compared to all of the other weapons, it was almost worthless. It didn't really make a lot of sense that one pistol head shot kills while six SMG head shots does not. Personally, I would have thought an SMG would have been the most ideal weapon in an environment like Halo, so perhaps that's why they turned down its potential by unrealistic degrees.

I've always had a thing for seemingly-primitive earth-based projectile weapons. Even in games like Halo and X-Com, I always get a lot more satisfaction from firing off lead than I do plasma or lasers.

Yeah, the laser doesn't feel like it's doing anything.