Ammunition
Game items that are use as resources for using weapons.
Like in the real world, ranged weapons in many games require Ammunition. This makes them a resources that needs to be conserved but may also provide possibilities to choose the ammunition types most suitable for specific situations.
Contents
Examples
The board game Frag has limited Ammunition for many of the more powerful weapons that players can receive through drawing from the aptly-named deck of "weapon cards".
Many combat-oriented computer games require players to keep track of ammunition, e.g. the Quake, Half-Life, and Crysis series. All games in the Fallout series requires different types of Ammunition for different types of Weapons. In addition all games but Fallout 3 provide several different types of Ammunition of most types of weapons, e.g. hollow point and armor piercing, giving players opportunities to specialize their equipment for various combat situations.
As for computer games, roleplaying games where guns can play a significant role, e.g. GURPS and Mutant, have rules for many type of specialized Ammunition (for GURPS, whole sections of the sourcebook High-Tech is dedicated to Ammunition and warheads[1]).
Zombie Lane uses Ammunition as a way of strictly regulating how many times a purchased weapon can be used before a new copy needs to be bought.
Using the pattern
Ammunition are Resources Weapons
and in some cases New Abilities, e.g. being incendiary.
While Ammunition is a Resource and can quite naturally be a Limited Resource that need to be collected as Pick-Ups or from Loot or Trading, it does not need to be so. However, Ammunition can be a Limited Resource in another way - having to reload (which requires Downtime) makes the shots in one's magazine a Limited Resource even if they are unlimited in the game.
An alternative to using Ammunition in a game is to instead use Cooldown since these have similar effects on gameplay.
Consequences
Ammunition is a design choice for requiring Resources to use Weapons. When they are Limited Resources, or even when reloading Ammunition requires Downtime, the use of the Ammunition pattern promotes Tactical Planning.
When players have several different types of Ammunition to choose from for a particular type of weapon, this provides players with a Freedom of Choice.
Relations
Can Instantiate
with Downtime or Limited Resources
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
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Can Be Modulated By
Downtime, Limited Resources, Loot, Pick-Ups, Trading
Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
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History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
Acknowledgements
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