Zap is probably the most hated module in the game in this post I will explain why.
I have played some speed zap in the past and I did notice something interesting. Zap is the only module where the game gets worse the more zap players there are. Here is why:
Imagine u are the only zap player in the lobby and you are minding your own business. Then suddenly someone else picks zap because you have been destroying the past 10 games with zap. Now there are 2 zap players in the lobby. Those 2 zap players cant zap each other because they would just get zapped back, with is pointless. Instead, they will focus on the other 4 players because they cant zap them back. This is coordinated teaming, which hurts the game, but it’s just the best strategy to play for zappers in such lobbies. The more zap players there are in a game the lower the game quality will be.
But why is that? Well, the problem lays in the design of Zap.
Zap has a circular hitbox around the ship. This hitbox has the consequence that if two zap players meet there will be a moment where they can both zap each other. This is probably the biggest design flaw in the game at the moment. The consequence of this is that zap players have no reason to go for each other. Zap ironically is its own counter.
There are 2 ways to fix this:
- The first fix is obvious and easy. Just change it so that the hitbox is not a perfect circle around the ship anymore. The idea of zap is great, a close-range shock that steals a lot of points, but players should not be able to hit each other symmetrically.
- Additional rules like “if u hit zap you get a shield for 1 sec” could work.
I will give you a worse example. Imagine if zap would steal points over time and had the range of timebomb around the ship. Now 2 players would just stay close and trade points infinitely with no one getting any advantage. Zap current form has the exact same flaw but it’s just not as obvious because it’s not overtime.
How i would do it:
I would suggest moving zap’s hitbox circle in front of the ship. Or making it a triangle. If that is insufficient try the shield rule.
I don’t think that zap is a bad power at all. It’s powerful for newer and experienced players, but it’s current hitbox hurts the game. I’m pretty sure that if you would change the hitbox the complaints about zap would drastically decrease and it would just be another power like scattershot.
I need to mention that this only occurs when zap is used as primary power. It also makes room for some interesting stuff. For example, zap is its own counter. If there are 3 zap players in the lobby you can pick zap and maybe laser and always trade with the other zappers while also having the ability to laser them. But shield is still a better counter to zap ^^
Thanks for reading. Have a lovely day.
Riomo