u/Sgt_Mendaz

Before I dive deep into this, I am a firearms instructor, security professional and consultant for the professional and entertainment industries. Though I do this stuff (much more in depth) for a paycheck, this here is for funsies!

I am a non-lethal player in nearly every game that gives me the option, and DE is no exception. I also am a big gun nerd, so seeing cool sci-fi designs gets me excited.... And critical this is one of those cases. There is a full video of this linked below, but this post will cover the exact same thing you're reading so no need to watch it.

Analyzing the PAX-22:

Because this is a non-lethal tranquilizer rifle, it inherently comes with a practical drawback. The ammo. So, remote delivery devices (RDD) are the 'dart' that delivered the sedative to the target. These can vary in weight, shape, size, velocity and price. Though people can use tranquilizers on other humans, every shot must be specifically calibrated to the target due to weight, immunity, gender, resistance, distance to target, specific anatomy and even their clothing. On a practical standpoint, this would take way too long to do every time for every shot. IF however we assume there is some smart tech (which is an in universe upgrade), that automatically calibrates these variables it may be viable.

The break action design is not unrealistic, as there are many current designs that do this today. However, a break action does create issues for training (because it is likely the only weapon a user is getting trained on with a break action) and it would suck to do this from a prone position.

Barrel length and the suppressor are great and match real life with in game performance! Airguns really need longer dwell times, so a longer barrel is good. Realistically the shot wouldn't be 'silent' as portrayed in game, but the suppressor is a real option that would certainly be a nice addition for the use case in game.

The stock with its wrap around cheek rest kinda sucks. The wrap would interfere with a proper grip (this is displayed in the video using one of my personal rifles). The stock wrap is covering what appears to be just a rounded bar, this doesn't serve a practical function and looks like it would be uncomfortable. To be honest, if a shooter needs to add an aftermarket component like the wrap, we should update the design to be more effective.

The grip is pretty aggressively back swept, which was common during the time of this game's development, however we have found a more vertical grip to be more comfortable and reduce strain in the arm muscles.

Le big change, the air tank! This is a huge snag point and would really suck to try and use this rifle in a dynamic situation. The model in game is using a high pressure air (HPA) style tank, which is accurate from a realism and consistency point of view! Due to the limited range of the RDD, marksmanship additions to the design wouldn't help too much anyway. Though this is based on a real design, that doesn't mean it is the best design for its use case.

Disclaimers:

Games are made to be fun and interesting, this is Rule if Cool. When there are in lore justifications for the cool item's existence, this is Rule of Lore. When the cool design and/or lore implications are realistic or practical, this is Rule of Practical. When all three of these exist it is extremely easy to immerse a player into a believable world!

Another thing I've never fully explained, the created item in game must match the art style of the world and the player's expectations. In this case the PAX-22 has a long barrel and scope, which helps imply it is a 'sniper-esque' design to the player. It also doesn't look cartoony or overly scifi which allows it to match the world perfectly!

With that said, my intention is NOT to say the original is bad or doesn't fit. I am here to say, what if the manufacturer decided to make a version 2 with design upgrades, what would that look like?

Reworking the PAX-22:

Right away, we are going to assume the scope and RDD are linked and can smartly manage dosages and pressures to ensure proper delivery of the sedative.

I do remove the under barrel component of the original design, because it doesn't appear to add any practical purpose. This reduces manufacturing time and cost to the end user.

The stock has slightly changed geometry to allow for a more comfortable shooting position for the shooters face and hand. This could also be a folding stock because there's no functional components within, but I decided not to add that to the edit.

The action has a big change, instead of a break action we are going to assume a falling block style of action. This rear 'bolt' piece will be pulled rearward by about 1.5" and dropped down another inch (animated in the video). Thus allowing easy ergonomic access to the loading breach that is more natural for the shooter.

Lastly, the tank is now parallel to the barrel. Due to how HPA systems work it's angle and pneumatic routing won't change anything for function. So, may as well make it easier to handle and manipulate.

Conclusion:

For gameplay purposes it's cool to see a tranquilizer rifle in a game! However, realistically this would be a poor option. This is however an interesting case where an in-game bug is realistic. Sometimes when a target is hit with a PAX-22, they are killed instead of knocked out. Considering this is a heavy spiked dart coming to a sudden stop in someone's head or heart.... Yea i'd say that's how that would work. Either way, awesome work on a great design to the original artists, animators and devs, I'll never stop using it!

Full video:

https://youtu.be/Co4Fmbc5-9Q?is=I3curJKhOlF30y-G

For context myself and some friends are making a 5+ year project come alive! Just a few months ago we turned the corner from concept into playable, but some technicalities are just beyond our skill level.

I for example do mostly the graphic design and mechanics side of the project whereas my friend is doing the programming. We are working on a turn based tactical game that is not grid based. All maps, characters and assets are created in mind to calculate their position, target and everything in between. The *in between* part is where my question exists.

I have map files, broken down in layers (elevation, brush, buildings, walls, etc) and am perfectly able to upload and scale them into unity. HOWEVER, how do I add the necessary effects to the layer?

For example, the black lines should block line of sight and movement, whereas the orange line only blocks movement. Similarly the yellow area is a building with its elevation just as much as the brown>white color change indicates elevation change. All of these map factors influence the *in between* math. Is there a way to add these effects to the whole layer or must they be manually drawn onto the layer?

Hello!

I am a physical security specialist, instructor and consultant for the entertainment and professional industries. I need your help finding a location in FC5 to perform an analysis!

Context:

I will be applying real security techniques, standards and practices to the fictional world. With over 30 certs and over 10 years in the field, there are sure to be areas for improvement!

Why is this important? These reviews can help real security professionals visualize their own vulnerabilities and how to correct them. The assessment can also help devs/artists/writers to create more lived in and believable worlds!

Where can you help:

Tonight I will be roaming around Montana to find a location. Unfortunately it has been years since I have last played, so any direction from you all will help me find a location faster!

*The above is an example of some earlier work I did rebuilding the Morita rifle from Starship Troopers, more in this at the end*

Let's discuss art style for weapons (mostly applying to guns)!

According to some official surveys, general opinions and common sense, it turns out people love a unique style with the weapons they use in game!

But there's a catch...

The weapon design must *look and feel* right for how it behaves and the world it exists in. For that reason, I'm gunna get into the details!

Disclaimer:

I'm an instructor, security specialist and consultant for the professional and entertainment industries. Though I do this for a paycheck, I also do this for fun on the side! What I am discussing today is heavily subjective and may not vibe with everyone. That's fine! Ideally this will bring a strong appreciation to those awesome artists out there that make those iconic designs!

Also, because I'm a gun guy I do like an authentic/realistic design most of the time. Hence why I am destroying art styles with my work above!

Role:

According to the studies, the weapon must *feel* right to the player. Depending on what you're going for, this can be described as a powerful pistol kickin hard, thunderous sound and eccentric effect on target. Now imagine if the audio was changed and it sounded like someone just saying BANG. Funny but not fitting to the player's expectations.

This can be broken into a million categories, but players have the general expectations:

Pistol - weak, last resort

Rifle - balanced all around

Sniper rifle - accurate and slow

Shotgun - high damage at low range

Once we have identified the role of the weapon (which therefore explains the mechanics to implement), now we can do some art!

Art within the Role:

Here's where it gets tricky. If a shotgun has a magazine it can now look like a rifle, therefore betraying the player's expectation. Likewise for a short barreled sniper rifle. Turns out, the big identifiers for our association with role is based on the stock, magazine and barrel within the art style.

Long barrels are associated with accuracy

Complex stocks are associated with control

Magazines can indicate larger capacity

These art style indicators tell the user at a glance what they can do, but that doesn't make it realistic.

Balancing Art Style and Realism:

If your game is a fun, non serious and bombastic vibe, this won't really apply. HOWEVER, keeping realism or identifying components consistent between real life and the game can help some players (like me) heavily engaged. We have hundreds of years of engineering, development, training and usage to draw on for what works well and what doesn't in firearms. If you're creating a near future serious shooter and the pistol is a toggle lock action, I will be heavily taken out of the world because of this 'cool' design.

Why? Because the toggle lock is a notoriously complex and expensive component to manufacture and it is pretty unreliable when it gets dirty (compared to traditional blowback designs). Is it cool? Yes, but the weapon does not fit the suggested 'style' for the game.

Conclusion:

It's perfectly fine to have an awesome and unique art style. Embrace it and let the creative juices flow! But if the art style doesn't match the role or feel of the game, it can often detract from the goal of the game. In the above image I simply made 'realism' changes to the Morita but retained the original image and profile. These realism changes are based on those hundreds of years of science and development, therefore making it feel more like an updated version from the original.

How far does art style go for you?

The laser pistol/rifle/shotgun/etc from Fallout 4 is one of the signature weapons in the Fallout universe. The specific version in F4 allows for quite a modular depth though is lacking some elements that would (or should) be present in a common service weapon, let's get into it!

Disclaimer first:

I am an instructor, security specialist and consultant for the entertainment and professional industries; though I do this for a living, this is just for love of the game! Also, due to the nature of this Analysis and Rework, I will be destroying some artistic design and lore. Feel free to let me know if I missed something or if I have told ya something you didn't know!

Games are designed to be fun and interesting, this is Rule of Cool (RoC). When something is designed to be cool, there is often some justification within the lore for its existence, this is Rule of Lore (RoL). If the lore and design have practical/realistic elements or considerations, this is Rule of Practical (RoP). When all three exist, they create easily believable and digestible worlds! There is a video version of this post below, but this post covers all of the same topics.

Gun guys like myself are VERY particular. Everything on the weapon serves a purpose, anything that doesn't is a liability. We have hundreds of years of firearms development and training that has refined firearms design, so when I point the RoC design directly at RoP.... There will be changes.

Immediate issue:

Handheld, man portable laser tech doesn't exist in our real world as it does in Fallout's. I cannot review/edit the inner workings of the design for this reason, so I am assuming the main body of the AER9 must be the way that it is to make it function. Though I won't be addressing the function, the implications within lore however will be addressed below, and I can only think of one way it could be justified.

Analyzing the Laser Pistol:

For the purposes of the analysis, we will be looking at the smallest default model available. 

The role of a pistol is to be the most compact weapon available, for this reason they often lack accuracy, control and firepower. Because pistols are generally a backup compact weapon, our primary changes will be made with this in mind.

Immediately we see the receiver where the battery, gain medium and focusing lenses are housed. All of our modern examples of lasers are much larger, but if they condensed it down here to work then alrighty.

On the front muzzle end we see a squared off end with heat/reinforcing fins. We can also see a separation between the inner and outer components which indicates the outer visible side is just a heat shield. All of this is fine and dandy. Considering a pistol will likely be holstered, protecting against potential heat is a good idea. 

Moving rearward we see an articulating "slide" that only works during reloads. Because lasers don't really require moving parts, I'm not sure what this is, however if it is necessary for the function of the weapon, we would want it added below the heat shield to protect it from dirt and debris.

In this same area we see a yellow wire that runs along the top and side to the muzzle. This may be a rangefinder to help with proper focusing of the laser lenses, though we would not want an exposed wire. In chaotic combat environments shrapnel and other things could potentially damage this. Let's protect that with our already in place shield.

The magazine/cell is an interesting issue. The cylindrical nature of the design makes it fairly easy to put in backwards. If this cell is unique to weaponry only, then it should be designed in a way that it cannot be physically placed backwards. Because there is good reason to believe the cell is useful in more than weaponry, I don't ultimately make any changes. A great way to think of this is when changing the batteries on your remote or a kids toy. Ya usually gotta take an extra second or so to look and confirm positive and negative alignment... Not something ya wanna do in a fight.

The big exposed piece of metal next to the cell is a huge bulk and snag hazard. It doesn't appear to be used when loading or unloading so its purpose is questionable. Because this is such a deviation from the initial role of a pistol, it will be altered and removed.

Lastly from the upper section, the sights. There appears to be a high front sight and a trough along the top. Generally, the front sight should be dropped into a notch or aperture on the rear, this allows for proper alignment of the weapon (equal height equal light). However, the trough is too low to be used as a rear sight, meaning it is very difficult to get proper sight alignment resulting in more frequent misses. Though a dedicated trough sight may be viable, the sheer size of this weapon dictates there is no reason not to add properly functional sights.

The lower frame appears to have a foregrip, which is nice to see on a larger and heavier platform such as this. Though there is some excessive size and bulk that can be reduced here.

The trigger guard, trigger and grip all have weird and uncomfortable geometry. The trigger guard itself is sharp and excessively bulky. The grip does not allow for proper grip establishment for the web of the hand (between the thumb and index). The large bulk at the base of the grip also does not appear to be necessary. The bulk and weight that could be reduced through this singular component can't be ignored. Lastly, a small button/lever exists along the left side of the weapon, I'm unsure exactly what it does, but it is very exposed and breakable.

Reworking the Laser Pistol:

The primary goal of the rework is to push it closer to its role as a pistol. So bulk and weight reduction, along with ergonomic changes to facilitate easier handling.

As for the receiver, it's mostly bulk and snag reduction only. The sliding bit is removed and assumed, if necessary, to be covered under the heat shield. The large snaggy lever and exposed wire have also been removed. However, a rear sight is added to allow for some form of accuracy when firing.

The lower frame also is getting a weight/bulk reduction treatment. Starting with tightening up the foregrip and reducing the trigger guard's complexity. The grip has been moved slightly forward to reduce its overall dimensions which makes storage, holstering and logistics slightly easier. The large bulk at the base is also being heavily reduced as urly does not appear to serve a specific function.

Lore implications:

I won't dive too deep into the math, but the rough and dirty of being able to ashify a human is ~200MJ of energy. Why select humans instead of something like super mutants which can also be obliterated? Because there are ~8 billion options to pull real world averages from, whereas there are no super mutants. So if a single shot of the laser pistol could potentially reduce a human to ashes, which is about 200MJ of energy, and there are 30 of these shots per cell.... The power storage and delivery systems in this universe are immense and profoundly underutilized for their capabilities. 

Now yes, these cells are in use in powering several buildings and vehicles... but this power level is equal to several days of average american home usage. Similarly, if it is usable in a small laser pistol, the vehicles they're used in dont need to be as large as depicted. This is likely just a byproduct of creating a recognizable image of a vehicle instead of a realistic one for the implied science. Weapon wise, if a single cell could discharge its entire payload at once instead of over 30 shots... this would be a city block devastating weapon. The mini nuke is cool and iconic, but a shoulder fired fusion cell dumping tube would be more powerful AND likely not leave a radioactive crater afterwards.

This can make sense if the bombs dropped during a transitional period for the laser weapons. For example, in the late 1800s black powder, smokeless powder and self contained cartridges all existed at the same time. It took several years, but the self contained smokeless cartridge did prevail, reducing the former tech to... well ashes. Under the assumption that laser tech was recently mastered before the bombs dropped and was in the process of being implemented... then this could justify the severe tech's existence alongside conventional weapons.

Full video:

https://youtu.be/3FYpLE_5XC8?si=deTgY_8rU1g69Td3