New Weapon = EMP (Electro-magnetic Pulse)

[toaster]

By the way, I'd like to see the flags look like the weapons once they're on the tanks. The BAAH flag would be particularly funny, I think.

[Death Barrel]

BAAH Flag = Big Ass Attached Hammer Flag >> it is a flag with a Big Ass Hammer attached to it and if you come near it it will smash your tank until you die from it. I think this is a lot more "realistic" or "real world" type flag than an EMP.

I also think the ELB Flag is a good idea also and it is much more "real world" ELB=egg laying bot flag... once you grab the ELB flag your tank will then lay dozens of tiny tank eggs and they will hatch and out will pop dozens of tiny super bot tanks that destroy every tank except the mommy tank that layed the eggs..... much more realistic than a boring old "EMP" flag....

DB

[jbeek]

I could only imagine the lag with ten people having the ELB flag with 100 mini tanks running around.

I am all for some type of "dropped mine" however.

[Death Barrel]

it sure would be a sight to see though wouldn't it ?

[toaster]

The minitanks are neat. I think, in keeping with the spirit of tech names, they should be "nanotanks" even if they aren't that small. No sense in letting reality get in the way of game play.

They should die if you run over them. Swarm behavior around the nearest enemies?

Hey, what about a nanotank flag that turns you very tiny? Then, you could hide under really low objects. Sort of like burrow, but would work on top of buildings, too.

[sid6.7]

im too am kinda liking the idea of spawning
a swarm of nanotanks...kinda a horror show
thing maybe....killer bees? willard "rats"
Aliens? night of the living dead!! muwhahahahah

bztanks run amok!

[too much loving]

It could be like the Shockwave but only 3x's bigger.
It could disable every tank in the range for three seconds.
justy

Hmm how about just blinding them or disabling their radar? Then they would have a chance to escape?

[Loki]

An EMP flag is a good idea ...btw: EMP's do not REQUIRE a nuclear explosion, although nuclear explosions were the first to create an EMP strong enough to be destructive over a wide area (I think). Besides, any society that can engineer tanks that jump hundreds of meters into the air can surely develop some device that can produce a serious EMP.

How about if the EMP flag temporarily causes all flags to be ineffective, i.e. your flag no longer provides the particular enhancement? You would not drop your flag but for a time your shots (or your cloak, etc.) would be normal. If the flag worked like this, one problem (or feature?) would be anyone with the OO flag inside a wall would be stuck for a while, or maybe instantly killed (I've heard that rematerializing inside a solid object is not recommended). The flag could be given a "range" like the shockwave.

The affect of the EMP flag implemented like this would be to level the playing field for a period of time without forcing eveyone to give up their flag. One thing, though...if the EMP worked as I've described here, I think the EMP would have to either be a one shot flag or one with an extremely long reload time.

[Homonculus]

An EMP of enough magnitude to go take out a tank (as previously posted) would need tremendous amounts of power. We can assume that our BZFlag "society" has built something to make this EMP. Now considering it's size and power, shouldn't it be a shockwave/EMP? the local blast would be a shockave like a nuke (or the shockwave flag), and the rest of the tanks would have their flags disabled.

Another idea for the EMP flag is it could turn a good flag that a tank is holding into a bad flag, as if it "fried" the tanks curcuits.

Yet another idea: HERF. HERFs have much the same effect as an EMP, but are concentrated at one frequency, directional, and CW. Picture a directional shockwave 3x as long as a normal shockwave shooting out of the front of your tank.

[Workaphobia]

Without reading this entire thread (because it's old, and I'm lazy;)), I think loki has a good idea. It should disable the effects of carried flags within its blast radius, have a slow relead time, and a fast to moderate recovery time for its targets - just enough to leave a GM camper vulnerable. Its radius should be comparable to that of a shockwave, but I don't think it should be lethal in any direct way.

Perhaps it could also destroy all unheld flags in its radius as well, or corrupt them in a way that cannot be determined until you pick it up. This could take away the advantage from a team that has a considerable cache of flags nearby its base.

Oh, and an emp should effect all teams alike - no excluding friendly fire. The only exception would be if the flagholder himself remained unaffected, and he would have to deal with the reload time anyway.