WAR: WTB Squig Launcher

From June's 'News from the front':

"To: Requisition Office
Type: Requisition Order
Request: Building Materials, Class II
Requestor: Brimold, Engineer
Reason: (Following is a direct dictation from Engineer Brimold transcribed by Aelior, high elven Archmage stationed on-site – or as well as he can make out)
Damn this thrice-cursed piece o’ goblin dung! Tis like a greenskin buil’ it! This turret’ll ne’er las’ the week! Here I be with my mates sittin’ on this horde o’ gems for the Doomstrikers, waitin’ for transport when we be attacked! I be tryin’ me hardes’ to defend this here place from those fool Sun Boyz o’ wha’ev’r they fancy themsel’es but I kin only be buil’in trash wit’ wha’ I ‘ave. I need me some truly outstandin’ parts to build me a turret proper-like! I saw a wild pack o’ lumberin’ green apes run through and trash me mates’ turrets like they was nuthin’ but paper! Great Thorgrim’s Beard Buckles! Like paper! Ne’er before has dwarf engineerin’ fallen so low!

Now dun get me wrong. Them turrets be fine on their own fightin’ wolves, but we no’ fightin’ wolves! We be fightin’ orcs o’ the blackest kind, and even worse: squigs…and lo’s o’ ‘em. Now…I kin imagine you sittin’ there readin’ this wi’ a dumb expression on yer face thinkin’ ‘squigs? Now how is them worse ‘en orcs o’ the blackest kind?’. Well…I’ll tell ye. Orcs be fierce, no doubtin’, but they not be in the numbers we be seeing these squigs! This place be crawlin’ wit ‘em! And what’s worse ‘en their numbers? The smell. Downright putrid! I saw me own cousin belchin’ out his own breakfast they smell so bad! And he’s a hearty one!

‘So how’s this ha’e anythin’ to do wit’ this requisition order’ you be askin’. Well, wha’s the best way to be fightin’ a squig? From a distance, o’ course – that way you cannae smell ‘em. And to be fightin’ from a distance, I need to be builin’ me best turret! But I cannae do tha’ unless I be havin’ the proper buildin’ materials! So there be yer damnable reason. I’ll be waitin’ for the materials in the usual place. Dun leave me waitin’!

To: Brimold, Engineer
From: Requisition Office
Type: Requisition Denial
Reason: Fellow engineer! It be known the squig menace is something bad in your area, but at this time, we be unable to comply with your requisition order. We currently do not have the available materials. When the material be made available, we will send it to you post-haste. Meanwhile, it be suggested by our educated elven brethren that you should make clever with items near at hand as your materials. Since it seems you are swamped with squigs dead or living, it was suggested: “squig launcher”. That is all. "

This may have just been a funny fiction piece, but I think this should be in the game. Of course, it would be used by Dwarf Engineers.

How would I get a Squig Launcher?

• Kill X amount of Squigs
• Renown award

What it should and should not do:

• SHOULD be fun to use! I would like to see a great animation of a Squig getting hurled through the air.
• SHOULD be hard to get, but never go obsolete.
  
• SHOULD be statless. The actual launcher should be generic. Lets have the ammunition be what decides the result.
• SHOULD NOT be required. At no point should it be a must-have weapon to accomplish anything.
• SHOULD be useful, but not overpowered. That is easier said than done of course. I see the launcher being used to add short-lived AoE debuff's.
• SHOULD have a long induction timer. I see this as a support weapon, not a primary weapon.
• SHOULD have a cooldown timer. This is not a primary weapon, so no need for a quick cooldown.
  

Ammunition would be Squigs of course. There are a couple ways to go here:

• Collect dead Squigs to use as ammo
• Squigs are abstracted and you just choose which type to use in the weapon.

I like the latter option. The first would lead to people searching out rare Squigs (as they may have a different effect when launched). Also before a battle you may have to go farm some Squigs. That is a slippery slope I do not want to get started on.

If we can set the weapon to use a certain kind of Squig, it opens up even more rewards and customization options, which are always a good thing.

The most important aspect of a Squig Launcher is that it should be fun to use. Good animations and good sounds are a must. Sadly, this weapon probably is not in the game but it does not hurt to hope.

Posted in: WAR