~Let's Talk Chainsaws~

[Electric Jesus]

Edit: I used to make map and wonder weapon ideas all the time! Not out of speculation, but for fun! I haven't made this type of thread in a while, but now that it's done and I see how fun it is, I expect I'll be doing it more often from here on out.

AHHH, ze chainsaw. A weapon which has been idolized as the ultimate defense in the slaughter of countless undead. Many have dreamed of it. Few have voiced their desire. Ladies, gentlemen, and all-powerful omnipotent beings alike, could our greatest dream be within our grasp?

Now, in real life a chainsaw isn't as effective as one might think, since it's need for gasoline defeats the purpose of the 3rd fundamental zombie-slaying law: blades don't need reloading. However, in a world where ammo appears for free in floating green spinny containers, I see no reason why this wouldn't be a glorious addition to the game we know and love. 

The introduction of buildables creates a perfect opportunity for the chainsaw to be incorporated. But think of it this way. It is nearly impossible for our crew to be able to build such a complex machine. You could argue that about the other buildables, but most of those have an "original" design, whereas a chainsaw has a set in stone design. What I mean is that it doesn't make sense to build a chainsaw from scrap parts. My idea is that the chainsaw itself is already on the building table opened up, and we must search for various parts and components to make a pre-existing chainsaw work again, rather than build one from scratch.

Anyway, essentially this is a really powerful, fully-automatic melee weapon. Imagine your regular knife, slashing fifteen times per second, able to hit multiple zombies at a time!

Now this might seem OP, but it has a slew of limitations. Firstly is its ammo / reload. My idea is that you have reserve gas tanks which you lock into the bottom like a magazine. Then you have to pull the cord repeatedly to reload. As you can imagine, it has quite a long reload. Also there would likely be only a few reserve tanks and only a certain amount of continuous running time per tank. For example, each tank has ammo like the black ops flamethrower attachment, with up to 30 seconds of continuous firing per tank.

Here is another Idea I have. I personally prefer wonderweapons like the sliquifier and the 31-79 JG Fractalizer. (ain't nobody for time fo dat.) they require actual work on the player's part, rather than just pressing a button and BAM! They're all dead immediately. People also like interactive features. since I sure do love killing 2 birds with one stone, how about upon reloading and pulling the cord, You are prompted to tap X / square repeatedly. This way you can use your own 1337 trigger finger skills to compensate for the slow reload. Like I said this requires actual effort rather than it just doing the work for you.

The second is mobility and range. As this is a melee weapon you can only reach zombie's directly in front of you. That increases the possibility of you getting hit while using it. also contrary to our old friend the ballistic knife, realistically this weighs as much as a heavy assault rifle or a light machine gun. You won't be able to dance around slashing like a little fairy princess with this bad boy.

Oh yeah, and there's Also the fact that you have to build it.

So yeah, those are my ideas for how to incorporate a chainsaw and make it balanced. Note that no buildables so far has been compatible with Pack-A-Punch, so it is unlikely that we will ever be able to upgrade a chainsaw, but a Russian can dream, can't he?

Like any professional, I accept that my opinion and ideas are not the only ones, nor are they likely the best. So I ask of you all, from professional to professional...

WHADDAYA THINK?! GOT ANY IDEERS?!

[Young Gucci Messiah]

This is great! I believe it is in L4D and if it was added to COD man.... it be like an early Christmas present.

[ThrowAmonkeyBomb]

Edit: I used to make map and wonder weapon ideas all the time! Not out of speculation, but for fun! I haven't made this type of thread in a while, but now that it's done and I see how fun it is, I expect I'll be doing it more often from here on out.

AHHH, ze chainsaw. A weapon which has been idolized as the ultimate defense in the slaughter of countless undead. Many have dreamed of it. Few have voiced their desire. Ladies, gentlemen, and all-powerful omnipotent beings alike, could our greatest dream be within our grasp?

Now, in real life a chainsaw isn't as effective as one might think, since it's need for gasoline defeats the purpose of the 3rd fundamental zombie-slaying law: blades don't need reloading. However, in a world where ammo appears for free in floating green spinny containers, I see no reason why this wouldn't be a glorious addition to the game we know and love. 

The introduction of buildables creates a perfect opportunity for the chainsaw to be incorporated. But think of it this way. It is nearly impossible for our crew to be able to build such a complex machine. You could argue that about the other buildables, but most of those have an "original" design, whereas a chainsaw has a set in stone design. What I mean is that it doesn't make sense to build a chainsaw from scrap parts. My idea is that the chainsaw itself is already on the building table opened up, and we must search for various parts and components to make a pre-existing chainsaw work again, rather than build one from scratch.

Anyway, essentially this is a really powerful, fully-automatic melee weapon. Imagine your regular knife, slashing fifteen times per second, able to hit multiple zombies at a time!

Now this might seem OP, but it has a slew of limitations. Firstly is its ammo / reload. My idea is that you have reserve gas tanks which you lock into the bottom like a magazine. Then you have to pull the cord repeatedly to reload. As you can imagine, it has quite a long reload. Also there would likely be only a few reserve tanks and only a certain amount of continuous running time per tank. For example, each tank has ammo like the black ops flamethrower attachment, with up to 30 seconds of continuous firing per tank.

Here is another Idea I have. I personally prefer wonderweapons like the sliquifier and the 31-79 JG Fractalizer. (ain't nobody for time fo dat.) they require actual work on the player's part, rather than just pressing a button and BAM! They're all dead immediately. People also like interactive features. since I sure do love killing 2 birds with one stone, how about upon reloading and pulling the cord, You are prompted to tap X / square repeatedly. This way you can use your own 1337 trigger finger skills to compensate for the slow reload. Like I said this requires actual effort rather than it just doing the work for you.

The second is mobility and range. As this is a melee weapon you can only reach zombie's directly in front of you. That increases the possibility of you getting hit while using it. also contrary to our old friend the ballistic knife, realistically this weighs as much as a heavy assault rifle or a light machine gun. You won't be able to dance around slashing like a little fairy princess with this bad boy.

Oh yeah, and there's Also the fact that you have to build it.

So yeah, those are my ideas for how to incorporate a chainsaw and make it balanced. Note that no buildables so far has been compatible with Pack-A-Punch, so it is unlikely that we will ever be able to upgrade a chainsaw, but a Russian can dream, can't he?

Like any professional, I accept that my opinion and ideas are not the only ones, nor are they likely the best. So I ask of you all, from professional to professional...

WHADDAYA THINK?! GOT ANY IDEERS?!

awesome idea man!this deserves 1+

[Gamecrazy1]

Speaking of flamethrowers... I need them back before we get any more fuel based weapons! >:(

[ThrowAmonkeyBomb]

Speaking of flamethrowers... I need them back before we get any more fuel based weapons! >

agreed bring emm back!!! :D

[ETEl2NAL407]

I like the idea of having to rip the pull starter cord as a way to reload. I'd say we'd have say 4 reloads (gas magazines), but that should be represented as a progress bar that will take about 30 seconds to use up if you hold the trigger and should not be diminished while just running in idle.

The benefit should be in the chainsaws ability to save you from an "Oh shit!" moment and also in racking up points fast like with other melee weapons, such as the Galvaknuckles.

So, if you're surrounded, you should be able to pull out the chainsaw without having to pull the cord and quickly saw through the surrounding horde without taking too much damage. I think if we have to pull the cord and mash a button to speed up this process, that would take away from the chainsaw being effective in these situations, thus it may lose real ability and be reduced to a weapon that just looks cool.

The cord idea makes it authentic and limits its power, but it also detracts from making it a viable choice.

Maybe it could be designed to only have to pull the cord when you reload, so if I have say half a bar left of fuel and I put my saw away, when I switch to it again it's ready to go with the remainder of my fuel. If I run out of fuel and have to reload, I will have to restart my chainsaw before I can use it.

[Matuzz]

Chainsaw is in both Black Ops and Black Ops 2 coding. Its called sabertoorh and you could actually use it in Black Ops but it didnt have model. So you were basically holding invisible chainsaw.

So what this means is they have considered it twice but have decided to abond the idea. Maybe it was supposed to be buildable in BO2. But they have taken it away for probably good reason.

[ZaquiriDaquiri]

That would be way too funny if I went to far and my chainsaw un-plugged.

Still want my c4!

[Electric Jesus]

Maybe it could be designed to only have to pull the cord when you reload, so if I have say half a bar left of fuel and I put my saw away, when I switch to it again it's ready to go with the remainder of my fuel. If I run out of fuel and have to reload, I will have to restart my chainsaw before I can use it.

Yeah I didn't mean like you have to mash the button the entire time, just when you reload from empty.

Well like I said it seems like buildables present an opportunity to incorporate them effectively. So even if they haven't put it in the game yet, it doesn't mean they are never going to.

[MysteryMachineX]

I think it would be interesting if the reload time varied, like it would in real life.

For example, you run out of gas, so you reload. But once you've done the reload animation, you must do the cord-pull animation. Sometimes it takes 5 pulls. Sometimes you get it on the first pull.

EDIT: Or just ignore...

[ETEl2NAL407]

Another great idea is to regulate the animations for certain actions, i.e...

When I hit the right trigger, I rev up the saw and make a swipe from bottom right (hip level) to overhead left. If I hold the trigger down, the swipe continues in the opposite direction and becomes faster (so that I end up looking like a crazed lumberjack feverishly trying to saw through anything and everything). If I hit the melee button, I perform a half of a rev and do a quick stab with the saw (intended for singular zombie kills).

A left trigger could be optional, but, when held, could just present the chainsaw in a defensive posture and let it use a contiuous half-rev, blocking any zombies, but not killing them as effectively as a swipe or melee, so they can crowd in and around you and you may start taking hits if you aren't actively trying to get away while using the chainsaw to defend.

So, if 30 seconds at full rev is equal to a full fuel magazine, that would mean that one full swipe takes one second to animate granting you 30 of those, individually, prior to reload. A melee animation is a half-second long and you can perform 60 of those before reloading, or you can block continuously for 60 seconds before reload.

Doesn't sound OP to me, especially if a reload requires the player to tap their reload button and get that pull starter ripped properly. Many players might get so involved in slaying with the chainsaw, they forget and just hit reload then try to go back to slaying and are presented with an unstarted/dead saw that still animates, but doesn't actually hurt the zombies.

IMO, wielding this weapon as a primary would require some skill and the benefits would be more points and the gory animations that should ONLY be reserved for the chainsaw. I think it would be a treat for skilled players and a death warrant for those that didn't know how to use it. Sounds like your normal wonder weapon to me...

[Electric Jesus]

You're right it doesn't sound OP, but to me it seems a bit over-complicated. My idea was that you hold it out in front of you in one position, and holding down the trigger just makes the blade spin. Then you just move yourself around to actually make contact with the zombies. If there were an entirely new control scheme rather than just the classic "hold down this button and it does stuff" it would just be too complicated. Plus usually the best solution is the easiest one. I know all too well how easy it is to have a good idea then add stuff to it until it breaks the core idea.

Some other things I forgot to mention in the OP...

It would definitely take up a weapon slot.

It gets transferred to the mystery box after you lose it like the sliquifier.

It can cut them in half to make crawlers, or just chop arms off.

[ETEl2NAL407]

I get that and I agree that over-complicating things does tend to ruin good ideas, but I think to make this good idea bare fruit as a good weapon we'd need to complicate more than just holding it out in front of you and moving around to kill.

Why? Because this chainsaw is too cool to dumb down for the sake of gaming restraints.

I was basing those animation ideas off the Zombie Shield, as it also has three seperate animations linked to different buttons. When you melee, the player shoves the shield out and kills a zombie. When you hold the right trigger, the shield is extended outwards and you can ram zombies without being damaged. When you hold the left trigger then press the right (I have to play with this to get it to work), the shield is placed on the ground.

It wouldn't be much more to do the same thing to the chainsaw. The real programming would come in which animation deals how much damage and getting all that to translate effectively.

Dumbing it down though would not make it have the effect it should. You stated in your OP,

AHHH, ze chainsaw. A weapon which has been idolized as the ultimate defense in the slaughter of countless undead.

I agree completely, but if the first time CoD Zombies brought me a chainsaw in game they dumbed down things for the sake of coding and didn't exploit the gore or options in slaying the undead, I'd call foul.

If I want to use a chainsaw instead of my normal guns and it's not some awesome OP WW like the thundergun, the only reason I'm using it is because I expect it to be a fun change. So, I expect gore and possibly a learning curve in using it effectively. I like your idea of allowing it to create crawlers, one I didn't even think of, but if there were a 'slash' animation, that could make several crawlers, then the following slash would end our crawlers. So players would have the option of creating crawlers.

I'm all for this idea and I know it's your idea, but if it becomes a reality and Treyarch doesn't give us some advanced control with the saw, I'd be disappointed.

[Electric Jesus]

I'm all for this idea and I know it's your idea, but if it becomes a reality and Treyarch doesn't give us some advanced control with the saw, I'd be disappointed.

Yeah the thing is that it's NOT my idea. People have been fantasizing about this for ages. It's as much yours as mine. I actually didn't know that about the zombie shield, but bearing that in mind I can totally see this happening! and you're right, it does need a little revive something extra to be a worthwhile weapon, otherwise ballistics would still be better, and it would just fall to the backs of our minds like the china lake and war machine. well, so far buildables weapons have all been really powerful, so you never know.

[ETEl2NAL407]

If Trollarch wanted to be completely lazy buffoons and still give us something like a chainsaw, they could just take the Sliquifier and re-model it so that it shot out mini circular saws that would continually cut through zombies as long as they were horded close together. Maybe at random a certain percentage become crawlers and the rest just die.

...Just throwing out ideas in case the devs see this.

Is it obvious how much I want a SAW of some kind?

[bagel_]

Oh god. This sounds good. The only thing I would want to come with it is

a) This is NOT the new map's wonder weapon.

Fuel isn't as low as Jet Gun's heat up or "ammo" as continuous use.

c) Held in the "equipment" slot. Idk how you'd be able to reload the knife slot, and I don't think I'd take it as a normal weapon slot.

d) You could use it to do extra things with it in the new map. For example, cut through vines in the way to access shortcuts.

e) Ridiculously gory. It's all about ze fleshhhhhh.

This is definitely a thing to have in a zombie game. I've seen it in every one I've played, excluding Resident Evil.

[Electric Jesus]

Well the reason I said it should take up a weapon slot is that it's really powerful. The jet gun could be carried alongside 2 normal weapons, while the sliquifier, a much more powerful weapon, took up a slot. Of course this might have been because mule kick was in die rise, but it will likely be in the next map as well so we may encounter the issue of people loading up with the ultimate bull S$&@ loadout: Chainsaw, raygun, wonderweapon, and M&S. Seriously, four weapons?

I say either it takes up a gun slot, or it takes up a equipment slot only if there is no mule kick.

Also there is the issue of concerned parents not wanting their kids to play a blood-splattering gory chainsaw massacre game. But hey, if they are too young to play the game the parents shouldn't bitch at the developers, they should just stop being bad parents and buying their kids games outside their age range. I say BRING ON THE CHUNKS!