652Graystripe
Plantera
Although one of the major assets of ranged weapons is the variety of useful ammo types you can use, there are a few that take it too far. Niche ammo types made for specific weapons end up cluttering the game, forcing more micromanagement. While that might be a way to make the parent weapons less viable, specificity isn't a proper way to balance things out.
I understand that this may seem heavy-handed, but please see beyond the "pruning" I'm doing here and understand that it's just to keep ammo less granular and easier to manage.
You'll notice there are a few weapons here that I left out, like the Snowball Cannon and Bone Glove. For those, I ignored them because they're using ammo that's 1) already throwable and 2) not purchased.
This is relatively simple:
Stake Launcher
-Now fires arrows, turning wooden ones into stakes (this also means that it can benefit from the Archery Potion)
Candy Corn Rifle
-Now fires bullets, turning normal ones into candy corn
Stynger
-Now fires rockets, turning them into stynger bolts
Nail Gun
-Now fires rockets, turning them into nails (share the damage value of the rocket used)
Jack 'O Lantern Launcher
-Turns rockets into Explosive Jack 'o Lanterns (which share the damage value of the rocket used)
Note that this would buff the launcher rather significantly, since Explosive Jack 'o Lanterns currently have only 30 base damage and have a mechanic where they double their damage on a direct hit. Since the Launcher isn't a terrible weapon already, it would likely require a (small) nerf to its base damage to compensate. Or it could be left as is, really, since there are also better options out there.
OR
-Now fires any type of cannonball
-Damage reduced to 15 (to compensate for cannonballs' damage)
-Use time increased to 40 (1.5 shots/sec)
-No longer hits twice upon impact
Explosive Jack 'o Lantern
Note that these changes only go with the second iteration of the Jack 'O Lantern Launcher. In the first, I think it would be best to remove these from the game.
-Classified as a cannonball
-Damage increased from 30 to 300
-Leaves napalm on the ground (similarly to Greek Fire attack)
One last thing here - what about the balance? One thing that was nerfing a lot of these weapons was the specificity of their ammo, and now that they're universally compatible, they're theoretically stronger.
To that I'll answer that a lot of them (all of them except the Stynger) were already niche or outright bad weapons, and frankly they could use a little bit of a buff. There's one that really benefits here, the Candy Corn Rifle, which was previously a godawful choice because of its piercing causing invincibility frames. Now piercing is optional, since it works with any bullet, so if you're willing to bring cursed bullets or something it becomes a mid-ground between the Chain Gun and Megashark.
With the Stynger, Rocket I's cost 50 copper to the Stynger Bolts' 75 copper - it's really not a big change, and it won't make the Stynger overpowered or anything. This is just a tiny ripple in the pond, balance-wise.
I understand that this may seem heavy-handed, but please see beyond the "pruning" I'm doing here and understand that it's just to keep ammo less granular and easier to manage.
You'll notice there are a few weapons here that I left out, like the Snowball Cannon and Bone Glove. For those, I ignored them because they're using ammo that's 1) already throwable and 2) not purchased.
This is relatively simple:
Stake Launcher
-Now fires arrows, turning wooden ones into stakes (this also means that it can benefit from the Archery Potion)
Candy Corn Rifle
-Now fires bullets, turning normal ones into candy corn
Stynger
-Now fires rockets, turning them into stynger bolts
Nail Gun
-Now fires rockets, turning them into nails (share the damage value of the rocket used)
Jack 'O Lantern Launcher
-Turns rockets into Explosive Jack 'o Lanterns (which share the damage value of the rocket used)
Note that this would buff the launcher rather significantly, since Explosive Jack 'o Lanterns currently have only 30 base damage and have a mechanic where they double their damage on a direct hit. Since the Launcher isn't a terrible weapon already, it would likely require a (small) nerf to its base damage to compensate. Or it could be left as is, really, since there are also better options out there.
OR
-Now fires any type of cannonball
-Damage reduced to 15 (to compensate for cannonballs' damage)
-Use time increased to 40 (1.5 shots/sec)
-No longer hits twice upon impact
Explosive Jack 'o Lantern
Note that these changes only go with the second iteration of the Jack 'O Lantern Launcher. In the first, I think it would be best to remove these from the game.
-Classified as a cannonball
-Damage increased from 30 to 300
-Leaves napalm on the ground (similarly to Greek Fire attack)
3 Dec 2018: As per my own thoughts and several commenters, removed special ammo entirely and made these weapons the only ones able to fire them.
18 June 2020: Bunny Cannon can stay.
6 July 2020: Updated Jack 'O Lantern Launcher to reflect another potential solution (I still want handheld cannons so desperately). Also, apparently I've been putting the apostrophe on the wrong side of the O this whole time.
18 June 2020: Bunny Cannon can stay.
6 July 2020: Updated Jack 'O Lantern Launcher to reflect another potential solution (I still want handheld cannons so desperately). Also, apparently I've been putting the apostrophe on the wrong side of the O this whole time.
One last thing here - what about the balance? One thing that was nerfing a lot of these weapons was the specificity of their ammo, and now that they're universally compatible, they're theoretically stronger.
To that I'll answer that a lot of them (all of them except the Stynger) were already niche or outright bad weapons, and frankly they could use a little bit of a buff. There's one that really benefits here, the Candy Corn Rifle, which was previously a godawful choice because of its piercing causing invincibility frames. Now piercing is optional, since it works with any bullet, so if you're willing to bring cursed bullets or something it becomes a mid-ground between the Chain Gun and Megashark.
With the Stynger, Rocket I's cost 50 copper to the Stynger Bolts' 75 copper - it's really not a big change, and it won't make the Stynger overpowered or anything. This is just a tiny ripple in the pond, balance-wise.
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