Spiral Knights - Can some old-timers tell me more about bombs' history?

Can some old-timers tell me more about bombs' history?

4 replies [Last post]

Sat, 08/11/2012 - 06:22

Geosmin

I read somewhere around here that an early build of SK had bombs with non-charged attacks, but that such functionality was dropped because the charge attacks were just ignored. I'm guessing it was before the "v1.0" public build for April 2011, but not sure. More importantly, what was the normal attack like?

I am thinking that bombs would be much more appealing if they had some kind of piddly non-charged attack, specifically a melee bash with power and speed comparable to guns but obviously without the reach. IOW, like a gun but with no reach: low damage, little or no knockback, similar mobility disruption, the works. Does this sound utterly useless and/or game-breaking? I would like to be able to take quick swipes more or less like how I use a gun for whittling damage in a tight furball where even my toothpick is too slow to use safely. Also, the idea of using a live grenade as a blunt weapon amuses me greatly and might have me using bombs as often as I use guns and swords, if not more.

Sat, 08/11/2012 - 07:26

Shoebox

It's true, all bombs had a

It's true, all bombs had a non-charged attack.

You could drop 3 bombs at a time for a small amount of damage (though all combined it was probably more than a single charge), they had the same fuse as a charged attack but not the same radius.

For blast bombs and the like the non charged attack was just a medium sized explosion with knockback similar to the second hit of a 2-hit sword.

For the Mist bombs the non charged attack made a weaker field of the status in question that didn't last as long, but was easier to spam on single enemies due to the overlapping.

The crystal bombs shot out in 4 directions rather than 8, which added the total count to 12 when they were all placed. You could circle strafe larger monsters like Trojans and just dump bombs all around them getting them in the back with 4 crystals guaranteed.

I wouldn't be surprised if the change in the Crystal Bomb's mechanics is a precursor to them bringing the old function back.

EDIT: This was sometime in late 2009 or Early 2010 I believe.

Sat, 08/11/2012 - 22:20

Geosmin

Thanks!

I was afraid my simple melee idea would seem overpowered considering what I heard before, but what you just described sounds much more powerful, especially for shards. No thoughts on my non-charged attack idea? Which sounds more appealing: spammable mini-bombs (much weaker than before, I guess) or brutal bomb bashing?

I would probably prefer the simple, fast smash to the explosive non-charged attack, but for the new shard bombs I could see a revival of the old functionality; it might be a perfect "Mad Bomber weapon" that way since the only serious problem I have with the new shard bombs in particular is the pushing of monsters. The low DPS I'm totally fine with and I can live with the minimum range, but applying knock so long after I release control of the weapon makes it hard for me to use safely, but now that you've got me thinking about it, I _might_ be okay with the increased hazard if the DPS were cranked up crazy high instead.

I was thinking they should just drop the knockback from the shard bombs' final explosions, possibly adding knockdown (like Spinecone and Magnus) and trading the minimum range mechanic for bounciness like Blast Jelly chunks, for something that trades a lot of DPS for ability to use freely in parties. Going the opposite way by simply allowing us to spam these dangerous bombs would be neat too, though definitely not in PUGs... Which way would you like to see the shard bombs change? Safer for parties, more powerful for madness, or something else entirely?

Sun, 08/12/2012 - 00:06

Shoebox

I think the problem with the

I think the problem with the non-charge attack is that you would have to drop at least one bomb or swing in order to start charging, regardless of whether you wanted to or not. Unless you used the shield charge bug.

And you know, surrounded by enemies, you really don't want to put your shield up to start charging because you will knock them all away.

I think just a short range (1-2 tiles) toss would do. Drop a single mini-bomb to help with group control. Maybe two or three would be acceptable if you couldn't place them in an overlap.

Sun, 08/12/2012 - 05:41

Geosmin

Oh, derp. I feel stupid now.

Somehow, it just failed to occur to me that you'd have to drop a mini-bomb or shield-charge to use a full-power bomb. As for the swing, the whole point in my mind is to have something quick and handy for when there's not enough breathing room to charge a bomb. Effectiveness-wise, it's not a big deal for most of us; it's more of a fun and aesthetics thing (except for pure bombers, perhaps...) since I understand that I'm in a small minority for considering a gun to be as important a melee weapon as a sword due to how little opening I need to shoot vs. slashing even at close range. Giving similar functionality to bombs, but melee-range-only, would allow me to consider swapping my gun for a bomb so I have my Brandish for big DPS and fast mini-bomb-like charge attack, and a wailing bomb for the type of melee attacks I value my Catalysers for but with a different kaboom, or a haze field, or a vortex, or whatever else bombs might offer later on.

As is, there's little any bombs offer me that the Brandishes and Roarmulus guns don't, at least in terms of effectiveness, because I am very reluctant to give up either the guns' or swords' melee functionality since they are both important to me. For most people, it seems, the swipe would be much less important and more of a "Lol, look at this hilarious and fun means of dealing chip damage!" thing. "I wish" there were some way for us to see relative statistics for weapon use in terms of which mixes of weapon class are equipped how frequently, sorted by number of weapon slots...

edit: I failed to articulate a point that I meant to: a quick swipe with no knockback could have its animation length subtracted from the charge time for negligible adverse gameplay impact so I'm sure the issue is not a big deal there. (CTR means a wee bit less, situational awkwarness with frozen monsters, maybe other little issues...)

Search

Can some old-timers tell me more about bombs' history?