HvZ, in my experience at many institutions now, is a game of mobility, accuracy, and rate of fire. Of those things, Blowguns have accuracy. Now, I'll be the last person to discount the value of blowguns. They're kinda my thing. The way I see it, blowguns are more likely to be relegated to "secondary" status, and as I said earlier: strapped to other blasters. They're great in certain situations, but I don't think a blowgun is a practical main blaster in comparison to the Elite line.

Honestly, I don't think a blowgun was EVER practical as a primary, with a fer exceptions (I am loathe to lump your designs in with 2.5' of 1/2" PVC).  However, they definitely have a purpose for being as lightweight and unobtrusive as they are, in certain situations.

Basically, I don't think the Elite line invalidated them any more than they were already invalidated, and after seeing the Centurion, I don't believe it will replace the blowgun either.

I don't have a chip on my shoulder as TK04 suggests. My NDA has me on lockdown, be it a curse or gift I don't know, but as a fan first and foremost I love the leaks, I can't cover them right now until my NDA is lifted so it's good fun to read it from others.

Just as a note, when you signed the NDA you stopped being a "fan" and became a Hasbro representative, first and foremost.  That's kind of the nature of the beast when you sign a legally-binding document that requires you to put the needs of the manufacturer first.

That said, the worrymongering really does come across as somewhat passive-aggressive, but that may just be an implied tone (welcome to the Internet!).  From RS09's perspective, he has no way of knowing that what he purchased was stolen aside from non-Hasbro employee handwringing, so it's really a tempest in a teacup at this point.

Players WILL object. Some may have valid reasons. Some may not.

Let's say I were to go gung-ho into my first game and show up with a Rapidstrike or a highly-modified blaster or, heaven's sake, a Hailfire with 8 18-round clips. Now let's say I show up for my first ever mission with my Man Cannon (tm) ready to kick some undead ass, only to be told that I have to use wadded-up footwear instead.

And let's say that, because I am a newbie, I join the horde in the first mission. Understandable, right?

Now you, as a first-time Mod, get to explain to me why that wasn't a crap ruling by a crap Mod who doesn't know how to find his backside with both hands and a map. You get to explain to me why I should stick around for the rest of the game and why I should be happy and confident about how the game in going.

In other words, I discourage weapon restrictions in general. They CAN be used effectively, but all too often it's a case of "that toy you wanted to use? No." As you developers experience running games, you'll likely have less of an issue making those sorts of calls, but I strongly discourage it for a first-ever mission.

If humans can and do stun zombies at range, then this gives humans more power in terms of deciding the location of engagement because it limits the places where zombies can safely lurk (specifically, it prevents them from luring away from cover). So, stunning at range provides both an immediate benefit ("if you need to head in that direction..."), and acts as a useful deterrent. This applies both to large swarms during missions and smaller numbers in day-to-day play.

As a Human, I don't want cover anywhere near me, unless it's something like a 4-foot-high wall that I can shoot over, but that will keep most of the Zombies away.  Otherwise, I'd be much happier being able to run AT the zombies, shooting on the move, and break through any encirclers.

This is not exactly a difficult thing to accomplish unless numbers are completely against you.

Also, as was discussed previously, there is a synergistic effect when darts are fired quickly; dodging 8 darts at once is much harder than 8 darts sequentially, so humans can have a better darts-to-stuns ratio with rapid fire.

Firing 8 darts to get 1 stun is already a winning proposition for the Zombies.  Firing 8 darts and getting 0 stuns isn't really that much worse.  In either situation, you'd be better off holding your fire (at least, most of the time--exceptions exist to every rule).

Your game is VERY different from mine, then. Here, a typical zombie being within 5 feet of a human means they are probably lunging or running and within less than human reaction time of a tag. There are certain zombies (recall my mention of dodgers/ninjas) that WILL kill you if you let them that close, because you will NOT shoot them.

A zombie within 5' of a Human is not a zombie tagging a Human, even if they are diving or lunging.  And if they are too close and getting the tag before you can react, then I would go ahead and make the assumption that no amount of firepower is going to save you.  Either you can pull the trigger fast enough or you cannot.

You seem to be missing that I never once said people should be arbitrarily shooting at zombies who are clearly not doing anything or are not a threat. I mentioned engaging zombies at longer range. Not all zombies at longer range are passive. They may be incoming chargers, or they may be loitering, distracting humans, calling reinforcements, camping an objective, forming up for a charge... It is in the best interest of humans to shoot at them.

A zombie at 50' isn't a threat.  If they are charging, wonderful--they are commiting to a path of forward motion that will make them easier to fire when I don't have to worry about accounting for the inaccurate nature of darts in general (note:  TAMU allows slightly weighted darts, but even then, I'm not wasting ammo).  And your missions are definitely different if zombies are calling for reinforcements--typically the zombies already know where the Humans are heading and cut them off en mass here.

A loitering or blocking zombie is a non-threat until such time as one has the luxury of dealing with them, or until he or she becomes a threat.  Deal with the zombies that matter first, then worry about those who don't.

Besides, while respawns may make hunting zombies during day to day mostly a waste of ammo and energy, during a mission, there may only be 1 or 2 respawn periods elapsed during a given firefight which makes aggressive stunning viable. If you come across a random zombie and shoot them, that is one less man the enemy has for any actions within the next 15 minutes. That is the entire basis of skirmishing and human offensive tactics in general.

Yeah, your experience is very different than mine.  I don't think I have EVER seen 15-minute stun timers during a mission.  I've certainly seen far more 2-minute timers than I have 5-minute, for example.  At least around here, stunning a zombie that isn't directly involved in a situation is just wasting a dart to make them pull their headband down until they feel like doing something.

Not to start a discussion of how people's games differ, but I am betting a lot of people also consider it normal to have a zed within 5 feet of them at some point. For me that is emergency territory.

5 feet is still "safe."  Sure, a zombie within that range is going to get my immediate and personal attention, but I can pull the trigger a lot faster than he/she can move the 2.5' needed to get a tag on me.

With regards to never engaging zeds that aren't an immediate threat or would take more than a single round to eliminate, I thought that approach died around 2010 with the rise of skirmishing and the increased focus on preemptive action...

Even with skirmishing, there isn't a reason to waste ammunition on a zombie that isn't doing anything.  Sure, if you need to head in that direction, get the stun, but otherwise, you're wasting a finite resource with very little reason.  Admittedly, if the zombie is any sort of high-profile player, that's another issue, but the average guy trying to catch his breath 30' away from me isn't worth my ammo when I know that either myself or another Human will shoot him as soon as he starts running.

Ask yourself this--if you shoot a zombie who wasn't going to be charging any time soon anyway, what have you accomplished?

But what if the zeds are not sitting ducks that are easily shot, but running or dodging? Or not at 10 feet, but 50 feet?

I have to genuinely wonder if your HvZ experience isn't drastically different from just about everyone else's. 

Generally speaking, from my experience, Zombies are sitting ducks and there is never a reason to waste multiple darts stunning one unless you are all by your lonesome and severely outnumbered.  In fact, I would consider any shot taken at 50' to be a wasted shot even if it hits--why stun a zombie that is in no way a threat at that time?  You may delay a charge, but unless you're bringing far more ammunition than the typical serious HvZ player, the math isn't in your favor.

Even fully stock, the Rapidstrike was hitting what, 2.6 darts per second?  That's a pretty respectable rate of fire for a newbie.  If it only takes 3 Trustfires to hit that sort of cyclic speed, we're going to see a lot of fun.

I'm still likely to keep my EAT as my "base" primary and use the NitroStryfe for missions where I don't mind spamming discs into the horde.  That said, I'm sure there will be a major push from at least one of the squads on TAMU campus to get everyone armed with a modified Rapidstrike (particularly if the underslung shotgun/grenade launcher thing is also a reality).

http://www.orangemodworks.com/product_p/spg-u4.htm

That's what I thought.  I'll be swinging by OMW on Friday.  Might be able to get some more chrony data and such.

Stock, it's a relatively impressive blaster.  And I tend to "play" better with an AT anyway.

Chrono numbers for EAT AR removal and OMW spring are up.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq5iwVrHW-YPdFdvdlktRlVLTFRNd25sVGtfRUM0TVE&usp=sharing

Serious question here.  What OMW spring was used?

[Post Merge: May 05, 2013, 06:28:09 PM]

For the record, I really don't much care for arm-mounting anything, as it greatly increases the risk of a spill leading to a nasty wrist injury. That said, a gravity clip is a lot easier for making a ridiculously long feed and requires very little work.

As Bobo said, a Reactor spring and a UV tube protector will allow you to extend a standard 10-round clip to hold 33 discs while remaining ridiculously light. I should have some footage of the final mission tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

I will say that the NitroStryfe is really quite frightening from an HvZ perspective. The combination of rapid-fire discs with the single-fire Stryfe for lone chargers is just... Nice.
Post Merge: May 05, 2013, 06:28:09 PMWell, my camera skills failed me horribly, but the Nitron served as a hordebuster on several occasions while the Stryfe let me restun zombies that stayed too close.  Unfortunately, I didn't last very long, but I did score a ton of stuns while I was around.

Hey guys, long-time lurker here with a Stryfe question.
I removed the locks on mine as soon as I got it, but because I didn't have access to the proper tools I left the electronics alone. In about a week I'll be getting access to said tools, but I don't know much about batteries and motors.
I'm thinking about getting the Solarbotics motors (http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/611). Would Trustfires be enough to power these? If so, how many/what kind?

Solarbotics motors are rated for 9 volts of maximum current. Trustfires, while rated at 3.7 volts, provide 4.2 at maximum charge. Use 2 Trustfires and 2 spacers and you're good to go.

Note that the motors drain batteries relatively quickly, so be sure to keep them well-charged.

More to the point, is it possible that the OZ was stunned at the time he touched you originally?  Lots of little incidental ways for a stunned OZ to act the part of a Human and quell suspicion.

That means losing velocity. That is not an option.

In fairness, if the options are "losing velocity" or "having a non-working Stampede," I'd say that a weaker spring isn't so much an option as a necessity.

Unrelenting aggression.  Seriously.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Column charges are a good idea when outnumbered.  So is using ambushes and terrain to your advantage.  Focus on one Human at a time and try to turn him or her.

I'd say go after stragglers, but a decent Human herd won't have stragglers.  Instead, look for close clumps and target those.  The proximity of other Humans will mean that not all of them can fire at the zombies and if you are coming in as a column, you should be able to get a few tags here and there.

Ah I see. I might have to look on nrev or haven to see if anyone has that attachment because I believe it was either a Wal-Mart or TRUS exclusive. Did you have to cut the turret barrel at all? As was done here: http://nerfhaven.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17586

I followed that tutorial pretty darned closely, although these days I would have used a 1/2" PVC coupler instead of a CPVC one for the airgun.  I honestly do not believe I have ever fired it singled--I have more than adequate NIC-style primaries and a strong dislike of airguns in general.  I know that I have, at one point, thrown a 19-round absolver on it for fun and fired about 14 barrels in a foam rain.  Fun stuff.

I still believe the Berserker is a useful primary for HvZ, but its size and the difficulty of reloading means it is only for a specialized player.

The scattergun can likely be made with a large endcap, a reducing bushing, and some creative putty work to remove deadspace, to be honest.