Dispersion Pistol damage statistics (primary/secondary/splash) at each level?
Posted: 23 Nov 2012, 07:49
I apologize if this has already been covered in a detailed way somewhere, but I've been reading around and can't find a concrete statistical breakdown of all the different amounts of damage dealt by the dispersion pistol, in different situations (and also how those numbers are effected by the various levels of powerups).
If I understand correctly, there are 3 possible firing modes for the dispersion pistol, at any given powerup "level":
(1) primary fire - does a fixed amount of damage with a direct hit, little or no splash damage
(2) secondary fire (without charging up) - tap the button and it sends out a bolt that does a fixed amount of damage with a direct hit, or can do a lesser amount of "splash damage" to one or more opponents within a certain radius
(3) charged secondary fire - by holding down the secondary fire button, one can "charge up" an amount of energy equivalent to 100%-500% of a primary fire bolt (depending on how long you hold down the button) and then release it at your opponent. A direct hit does full damage, and nearby opponents may also take some splash damage.
In addition to these variations, there are also 5 different power levels available for the DP, starting with the bare DP with no powerup, and increasing with each additional powerup until the 4th powerup.
According the the UnrealSP Weapons page (http://www.unrealsp.org/gameguide/armoury.html), "each charge only does a pitiful 15 points of damage ... unless you have a powerup that increases the power of its primary fire mode."
So I take it that the powerups do not increase the damage of the secondary fire mode (whose bolts remain blue, even when the primary bolts reach the red level)?
Does an "uncharged" secondary fire bolt (where you just tap the alternate fire button) always do the same damage, regardless of the powerup level?
And does each stage of "charged" secondary fire (from 100%-500%) always do the same amount of damage with a direct hit, regardless of the powerup level?
If so, would that mean that a single "red" (primary fire) DP bolt does the same damage as a fully charged secondary fire DP bolt at any level (= 500% of the "base damage" of 15 points that a primary "blue" bolt does)? Or does the damage not scale in a linear fashion with each level of powerup? (Does a red shot not do 5 times as much damage as a blue shot? And does a yellow shot not do double the damage of a blue shot, etc?)
Another way of phrasing the question would be: does charging up a secondary fire bolt to certain "level" of charging yield the same amount of potential damage as sending out a primary fire bolt with the equivalent "level" of powerups installed?
Basically I've been realizing that I rarely remember to use the secondary fire of the DP, even after playing through most of the reviewed map packs on this site. And I'm wondering if I'm overlooking some important gaming tactics by not using the secondary mode enough. I'm also confused about whether there is still any increase in overall damage, or in "damage per unit of energy", to be gained from charging up a secondary shot, once your DP reaches level 4 or 5 (with red primary shots)? Or is it just the ability to do splash damage that makes the secondary fire useful, for those higher levels of DP? (Is it only at the lower levels of DP that you can experience a significant gain in damage-dealt-per-shot by charging up a secondary bolt?)
I think I've read that secondary DP shots are helpful when taking out certain kind of pests like pupae (isn't that UBerserker's advice?). Is that because those enemies have both low hit points and also jump around a lot and dodge your shots, so you might not land a direct hit but can still kill them that way with splash damage? And would you use "uncharged" secondary shots for the most part (just tapping alternate fire instead of holding it down), in that situation? What strategic uses would there be, if any, for charging up a secondary shot - once you get your DP powered up to one of the higher levels?
Finally, is there a formula for calculating the splash damage that a given enemy would receive from being in the radius of effect of a secondary DP bolt? Would the amount of damage received be affected by whether it was an "uncharged" or "charged up" secondary bolt, or by the distance of the enemy from the point where that bolt first struck something, or by the powerup level of the DP that sent the bolt?
Thanks to anyone who can help clarify these questions!
P.s.: Maybe this answers some of my questions?:
http://www.oldunreal.com/wiki/index.php?title=Dispersion_Pistol
If I understand correctly, there are 3 possible firing modes for the dispersion pistol, at any given powerup "level":
(1) primary fire - does a fixed amount of damage with a direct hit, little or no splash damage
(2) secondary fire (without charging up) - tap the button and it sends out a bolt that does a fixed amount of damage with a direct hit, or can do a lesser amount of "splash damage" to one or more opponents within a certain radius
(3) charged secondary fire - by holding down the secondary fire button, one can "charge up" an amount of energy equivalent to 100%-500% of a primary fire bolt (depending on how long you hold down the button) and then release it at your opponent. A direct hit does full damage, and nearby opponents may also take some splash damage.
In addition to these variations, there are also 5 different power levels available for the DP, starting with the bare DP with no powerup, and increasing with each additional powerup until the 4th powerup.
According the the UnrealSP Weapons page (http://www.unrealsp.org/gameguide/armoury.html), "each charge only does a pitiful 15 points of damage ... unless you have a powerup that increases the power of its primary fire mode."
So I take it that the powerups do not increase the damage of the secondary fire mode (whose bolts remain blue, even when the primary bolts reach the red level)?
Does an "uncharged" secondary fire bolt (where you just tap the alternate fire button) always do the same damage, regardless of the powerup level?
And does each stage of "charged" secondary fire (from 100%-500%) always do the same amount of damage with a direct hit, regardless of the powerup level?
If so, would that mean that a single "red" (primary fire) DP bolt does the same damage as a fully charged secondary fire DP bolt at any level (= 500% of the "base damage" of 15 points that a primary "blue" bolt does)? Or does the damage not scale in a linear fashion with each level of powerup? (Does a red shot not do 5 times as much damage as a blue shot? And does a yellow shot not do double the damage of a blue shot, etc?)
Another way of phrasing the question would be: does charging up a secondary fire bolt to certain "level" of charging yield the same amount of potential damage as sending out a primary fire bolt with the equivalent "level" of powerups installed?
Basically I've been realizing that I rarely remember to use the secondary fire of the DP, even after playing through most of the reviewed map packs on this site. And I'm wondering if I'm overlooking some important gaming tactics by not using the secondary mode enough. I'm also confused about whether there is still any increase in overall damage, or in "damage per unit of energy", to be gained from charging up a secondary shot, once your DP reaches level 4 or 5 (with red primary shots)? Or is it just the ability to do splash damage that makes the secondary fire useful, for those higher levels of DP? (Is it only at the lower levels of DP that you can experience a significant gain in damage-dealt-per-shot by charging up a secondary bolt?)
I think I've read that secondary DP shots are helpful when taking out certain kind of pests like pupae (isn't that UBerserker's advice?). Is that because those enemies have both low hit points and also jump around a lot and dodge your shots, so you might not land a direct hit but can still kill them that way with splash damage? And would you use "uncharged" secondary shots for the most part (just tapping alternate fire instead of holding it down), in that situation? What strategic uses would there be, if any, for charging up a secondary shot - once you get your DP powered up to one of the higher levels?
Finally, is there a formula for calculating the splash damage that a given enemy would receive from being in the radius of effect of a secondary DP bolt? Would the amount of damage received be affected by whether it was an "uncharged" or "charged up" secondary bolt, or by the distance of the enemy from the point where that bolt first struck something, or by the powerup level of the DP that sent the bolt?
Thanks to anyone who can help clarify these questions!
P.s.: Maybe this answers some of my questions?:
http://www.oldunreal.com/wiki/index.php?title=Dispersion_Pistol