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 modulating Weapons. Designing them consists of selecting first which Weapons need to use Ammunition and then how players can get hold of it.
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.
Several different types of Ammunition can exist for one type of Weapons, and is typically done to allow Improved Abilities. This can be simply as part of creating increased power levels as gameplay progresses so that a Red Queen Dilemma can be maintained. It may however also be to let players selected between different types of Improved Abilities, e.g. ones that target specific Vulnerabilities. The Improved Abilities may be balanced by Decreased Abilities to require players to do Tradeoffs. Varieties of Ammunition may in some cases provide New Abilities rather than Improved Abilities, e.g. by being incendiary.
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
Freedom of Choice, Resources, Vulnerabilities
with Downtime or Limited Resources
with Decreased Abilities and Improved Abilities
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
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Can Be Modulated By
Decreased Abilities, Downtime, Improved Abilities, Limited Resources, Loot, New Abilities, 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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