[FEATURE/PERK] Chance to collect brass when firing ammunition.

[Slaps]

This is simple.

 

In real life, your used brass falls on the ground when shooting. So why not add a perk or overall feature that gives players a percentage chance to collect brass when firing weapons? Makes it feel realistic, and gives incentive to players for spending time collecting the materials to make those bullets in the first place. They get some of that material back and can re-forge it to make a little more ammo for future use.

 

I imagine it would work as simply as you fire, and when it procs, you would see brass get instantly added to your inventory. How much brass you get is up for discussion. Maybe since it's only a chance, when you do get it, you get as much brass as it takes to make 1 brass casing? I suppose it depends on how often it would proc. Especially when firing full auto and blowing say 250 rounds quickly. Maybe, in that scenario, players could expect an average of enough brass to forge 100-125 casings?

 

Getting back enough material to equal half the casings you spent seems fair.

[zztong]

IIRC, somebody made a modlet with a "Brass Catcher" mod for weapons. I think that would make a neat addition to the game. The weapon mod approach gives it a nice tradeoff for the player to consider. For instance:

 

https://www.ssusa.org/content/review-battenfeld-ar15-pic-rail-brass-catcher/

Edited June 12, 2023 by zztong (see edit history)

[SylenThunder]

Dunno, on my weekend playthrough we had more brass than any other material on Day 5. Brass usually isn't trivial to get, and when it doubt, it's easy to smelt Dukes.

[BFT2020]

I believe Khaine has a brass catcher mod in his Darkness Falls mod.

[Riamus]

1 hour ago, SylenThunder said:

Dunno, on my weekend playthrough we had more brass than any other material on Day 5. Brass usually isn't trivial to get, and when it doubt, it's easy to smelt Dukes.

Early game, you will have what seems like a lot of brass because you aren't really using it.  But late game, brass is one of the more difficult resources to obtain in quantities large enough to supply your own weapons as well as turrets if you use multiple turrets.  It can't be mined and there isn't a recipe to craft your own from other resources (I'd actually prefer that over a brass catcher).  And loot options are somewhat limited.  Brass lamps or candlesticks are the best but they aren't found everywhere so you can find yourself stuck running the same POIs over and over.

 

Radiators wouldn't be so bad as a source of brass if they stacked higher... at least in the forge itself.  They give you a good amount but unless you're hanging around the base while smelting, they are gone too quickly in the forge with only 5 of them in a stack.  You can, of course, scrap them and that's often the better option even with the 25% loss and if you're open to doing that, you can end up with a good source of brass.  But if you don't like doing that, it's not so great. Heh.

 

But yeah, early game it feels like you have a lot of brass.  It just doesn't last long when you actually start needing it.

[SylenThunder]

Maybe I'm not explaining it properly. I'm used to having a lot of brass early game. 

However, on this playthrough I had about three times more brass than I would usually have early game.

[Syphon583]

For SP brass shouldn't ever be an issue, even in late game running a full loadout and multiple turrets. There is so much brass in the world, it makes sense why it can't be mined. I generally play with no loot respawn as well and have never had an issue getting enough brass to support my ammo needs. Late game you should also be swimming in extra dukes that you don't know what to do with that can also be smelted.

 

That being said, I could see it being more of an issue in MP depending on how many players you are with and how frugal you are (or aren't) with your ammo consumption. I would imagine most MP servers play with loot respawn on, but with the new system were some containers go poof after they are looted, some loot will never respawn regardless of that setting, so I could see there being a potential supply issue.

 

Overall though, I wouldn't mind if there were a brass catcher weapon mod that has trade offs. Doubtful it would ever be implemented by TFP, though. As mentioned, there are at least a couple of mods out there that will do this.