I went the other extreme in my games and figured out a logical damage and range table based on cartridge caliber and weapon type. All .45's do 20-28 points of damage and have a range of 24and so on. After all to my reasoning it doesnt matter if the slug comes from a pistol or an SMG, there's not going to be that dramatic a change in the amounts of damage or range. The weapons might have differing magazine capacities, or range factors, or ap use points but it creates a believable situation where a point blank burst from any 9mm SMG is as likely to be fatal as a point blank burst from another 9mm SMG.
To keep it from feeling like a 'treasure hunt' I pretty much make all the calibers and basic weapon types available after the 3rd mission. I don't try to limit the equipment I have available or the computer has available, becuase it's a tactical game, I want to be able to 'think' my way through the fight, not overwhelm my opponent with Normandy beach firepower.
In order to keep from building a small arsenal of weapons to early in the game I have the 'junk weapon'. This is a trick that I use is creating three of the entities for the more common weapon types.
ie browningM2lootable, browningM2unlootable, browningM2nonfuctional. In my entities I created 4 of the heavy mutants that carry the browning's, 3 carry a non lootable browning for combat and a 'junk' gun in the inventory that has a discription of damaged in combat and a value of maybe 50 bucks for parts. Since I have an equal chance to get any of the 4 and only 1 has a good weapon, it sort of dampens the need to try and strip every corpse of everything on it.
I figure that even though your average raider hasn't had the training that a BOS recruit has, this guy still uses his weapons to shop for groceries. That would indicate that he's as likely to realize that a .30-06 rifle is gonna be more likely to punch a hole through someone than 5.56mm round. If he was smart enough to survive, then he's now got his choice of weapons, and you can bet that he'd hold onto the better of the two. :badgrin: A boss raider or one of his luetenants got that way by being the baddest guy around the last time the position came open, or made the position open up himself. He didn't get voted in. If there's a weapon in the compound that gives him an 'edge' in a fight, then you can bet its going to be on his hip. I've always thought that a boss with a standard hunting rifle is a let down to the game.
As far as the types of ammunition go, I wish I knew where to find lots of sprites, lol. I've made just about one of each type of ammunition type for each caliber then made them start becoming available at thought out points of the game (ie you don't need AP rounds to fight raiders, and ball ammo doesnt do you much good against a behemoth). Since all my .45 ammo and 7.62mm NATO uses the same sprite file sometimes it gets confusing if there's more than one ammo type in my inventory.
I also drastically limit the amount of ammo in my game and make what the QM sells out ungodly exspensive, since everything in the FoT game indicates they arent producing their own ammo but scavanging and hoarding caches and stockpiles of the stuff as they find it. Its not uncommon for me to find myself with my team packing enough armament to fight a small war in the middle of a map, but being down to loose 9mm rounds,boom bugs, and lead pipes becuase I'm out of everything else.
When I have ammo for my weapons, in random encounters, if I think I can take out my armed and shooting opponents with clubs I go that route to save the shells and then dope my injured list up with "ye' olde village shamans patented dreamy dust" rather than waste precious stimpacks.
In the worldscape as its painted in FoT, he without a weapon is a meal, so I believe everything in the game should be armed somehow. Since ammo is gold in my game, I tend to end up in lots of melee and a unarmed combat. When I found a sprite for a sword I was overjoyed
, becuase it gave me a little variety from machetes and axe handles. And the more decent sprites I can dig up for primitive melee, unarmed, and distance weapons the less ammo I'm going to laying on the map, making it that much tougher.
This actually 'makes' me use those melee and combat skills that I would otherwise probably never sink any points in if I had lots of big guns and limitless ammo to settle arguments with.
Finally, after I play through a map (usually), I look back at whatever methods I used to overcome, overwhelm, or slip around and win that fight, then go in and make one or two little changes that will keep me from being able to do it that way the next time I play that map. Maybe an additional guard post or maybe just removing a string of sandbags that I used to sneak in close enough for a kill shot. Since I have access to 'most' of the weapons and equipment in the game by the 3rd or fourth mission, and so do the opponents, this makes it more of a tactical challange than a 'kill the monster loot the teasure' type thing.
Hope something in this small novel helps you out Starfury.