Working on a board, blah, blah, blah... I was wondering... How many weapons are too many? In a level I'm working on, you cannot really see another weapon if you are looking at one; meaning, I don't have weapons stacked in piles and laying around everywhere. However, once I take stock of what I have in my level, I think the numbers are quite large. Here it is: 25 Weapons, consisting of 11 unique weapons. It should be noted that of these, my Rocket Launcher only has two rockets, respawns at the max time limit, and is really only useful to dislodge an out-of-reach weapon; that Morphine/Timeless apparently didn't see, by the way. Anyhow, I'm very curious to know your weapon counts if you wouldn't mind sharing, or providing feedback... Thank you.
I'm not exactly an expert on this, so I would suggest comparing the size of your map to the relative size of bungie's maps, finding a close size match, and counting their weapons.
I've done that, and it is interesting to see what Bungie decided. What I'm interested in is hearing from forgers here that have made maps that have received tremendous praise. Take .DifferentLevel, for example. I think the weapon placement there is perfect. Everything seems like it is where it should be. Also, check Unchained; great weapon placement. I mean no disrespect, but the forge community's opinion is what I'm after; not Bungie's.
I must agree, different level is an excellent example of weapon placement. It is so good, it feels like you are playing the fourth map from the heroic map pack. In my experience, it is always best to have very few weapons, and test the map that way, as a rule, say you are on a foundry map, that being one of the most common, no more than one rocket launcher, no more than one spartan laser, no more than one fuel rod. It all depends on the gametype as well, you might want to have 2 rockets that are super high up and hard to reach, but you can be sniped and br'd the whole way up to them. I always say it is best to err on the side of fewer weapons, test it, and see if anyone tells you there aren't enough weapons. Generally people will use there assault rifle or br until they find a shottie, brute shot, sniper, or rocket. So, you almost can't over-do it on the little duel wielders, but just because you have 1 plasma rifle lying on the ground, doesn't mean there should be 2. Hope this helps, the whole theory is that less is more, it creates competition for what little there is on the map.
To expand upon what JediWithASniper was saying, you also should use the premise of risk versus reward if you don't already. You want that rocket launcher? Fine, but you might pay for it. Like the Shotgun Hall on Guardian. That thing will do you no good if someone catches you picking it up; but if you make it out of there, Shotgun Spree. And I'm a firm believer of changing the spawn times on all grenades to at least 30 seconds. Flame Grenades are a default 60 seconds for me. If you think back to the Halo CE days, it seemed like forever for those grenades to respawn. It can cut down on the grenade spamming tremendously.
Thanks guys. I try to instill a risk/reward for the powerful weapons. For example, there is a Rocket Launcher (2 rockets only) and within 20 feet there is an Energy Sword. If you want the sword, you can only access it by shooting it with a rocket to dislodge it from it's resting place. I've not been able to find another way to get it. However, the sword is gonna fly somewhere once you shoot it and, really, anyone close can grab it unless you get there in time. By the numbers, 15 of the 24 weapons (63%) I have are close-quarters weapons. Of those 15, 12 (80%) are duals-wielders. I guess when I look at it like that, as opposed to a list, I might be in good shape. This level will be my first submission to ForgeHub, and after being thumped by the quality of a lot of the maps here and the "meh" responses to other maps that are similar to mine, I'm slightly gun-shy to release the map. Regardless, one day soon I'll post this booger. Thanks for the feedback!
Weapon placement is one of the key parts of level design, this little element is 8 parts science, 2 parts art. I'm going to take a try at the "Science" part of this. Now before I start, please take into mind that it is very difficult to make sense of this and the post is very subjective. Here is a hypothetical map example: First of all we have a ton of different weapons, with a bunch of different uses and levels of power. So lets say you have a map that is perfectly cube and 10 single walls wide, long, and tall. So, this map is decently small unless you use a lot of the higher level space. In which case said map would be controlled by weapons such as the sword, duels, and the AR, a very accurate BR user would have a chance against the AR, but not against the duels. As such we have a map that is Close-Quarters oriented with to either thin angles in which mid/long range usually triumphs which conflicts with dual wielding, or areas that require skilled grenade use to defeat duels. Now at this point, you may be saying "But Nick, duels suck in Halo 3! You can't throw grenades or use the overpowered melee!" The thing about that, is that , though duel wielding has been downpowered since Halo 2 they still beat most Extreme-Close range weapons and, long/mid range weapons at close range. Back on topic, you need to establish the likelihood of how often you run out of ammo, this is usually the best way to establish the amount of weapons on map. So say that there was only one plasma rifle on 30 second respawn, and two spikers, this would make it so that unless players got lucky with the spawns and dropped weapons only one player could have the advanced plasma/spiker combo at a time, making duels much less powerful, in that case you need more weapons because your duels are too weak to answer any of the extreme-close weapons. 'Tis all a matter of balance, you have to also make sure that all power weapons and control areas require risk to attain, oposite of weak weapons, which should be relatively easy. I hope that you find something useful in that giant slab of text I just wrote.
@TurboGerbil That makes sense, and I'll certainly compare the ease of obtaining a weapon with it's damage dealing capabilities. I am partial to duals because there is slightly more strategy, in my opinion, involved in holding two weapons and how to discharge them and reloading and such, but I find it kinda hard to justify with myself actually placing them. My architectural mind wants things to be symmetrical, and if they become asymmetrical, I have trouble deciding on places to rest a weapon for fear of over-balancing sections of a level. I guess I just need to post the map and get feedback once people potentially play it. You like the three 'P' words in a row there?
Duels are barely about the reloading thing. They are about the choice between faster firing+higher damage and reduced clip efficiency with the additional penalties of slower transition to/from grenades and meleeing, and weapon placement doesn't have to be symmetrical, think Snowbound with the carbines and BRs. or narrows, with the camo and overshields, and a duel wield combo, when placed together, in my mind is one weapon choice.
It also depends on the effect you are going for with the map/mode.... I stock up on the FRC's and RL's on some maps because it creates the blast-fest that I am seeking. Another tip.....use your game mode settings to save cash....no since starting everyone with AR's and then just placing BR's all over the map.....start them off with BR's and you don't have to place but a couple for refills. Also, using "random" in the second slot can also be an effective way of bringing a mix of different weapons onto the map over time (as folks die and drop their load-outs).