I like most of this, but could you give specifics on how PC would be used for area denial? If it's just "This causes giant deadly explosion", then I approve. I think PC should kill everything that doesn't have special armor/invulnerability.

I'm not sure I agree with HB being a jack of all trades. I don't disagree, it's just that the HB is not a jack of all trades in any of the books I've read or in TT. It isn't really effective against vehicles. (If a dev squad has tank hunters it would at least have a decent chance of causing glancing hits, but that was taken away from me after 3rd edition CSM codex. jerks.) I also don't want that suppression effect to go away. That seriously makes me want to main a havoc or dark reaper (if they have something similar).

The tabletop has autocannons and missile launchers being the jack of all trades. My preference goes to the autocannon with the main purpose being popping light vehicles (mostly transports).

Didn't Brent say that Pistols are only for Assault classes atm ? Not that I'm endorsing that. I think a Pistol/Knife is weak enough to not make them particularly good at it. Need to have a search. Was in a recent LS.

No, all the footage shown with melee is the tactical class pistol/knife combo.

Just to collect thoughts. Do the patterns below behave any differently from each other be it charge times, ways of firing (rate of fire, straight shot, arc), or blast effects (do they simply explode, leave an AoE, or apply a burn to targets)? (info found @wikia)

Space Marines

• Erasmus Pattern Mk I - Heavily utilized by the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter, the Erasmus Pattern Plasma Cannon uses replaceable charges rather than a carried power-supply. This makes the weapon lighter, allowing for other gear to be carried, but reduces the overall number of shots possible.
• Mark XII "Comet" Pattern - A notable pattern of Plasma Cannon utilised by the Novamarines Space Marine Chapter.
• Mark XII Ryza Pattern - A notable pattern of Plasma Cannon utilised by the Red Scorpions Space Marine Chapter.
• Mark XIII "Ragefire" Pattern - The Mark XIII is the most common pattern of Plasma Cannon used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in the late 41st Millennium.
• Monocore Ryza Pattern - A notable pattern of Plasma Cannon utilised by the Executioners Space Marine Chapter.
• M31 Pattern - An ancient pattern of Plasma Cannon still used by the Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines

Orks

• Kustom Mega-Blasta - Sometimes built by Ork Mekboyz, Kustom Mega-Blastas are weapons that are far greater than the sum of their parts, a marvel of Ork technology that fires a focused blast of pure energy at its targets.

Eldar has the Starcannon which is only mounted on vehicles or fire support platforms so I didn't include them.

Also I didn't know Plasma missiles were a thing. Which sounds like it would work similar to some abilities from the game Destiny, explosion + AoE for more damage & area denial only with plasma also effective against vehicles.

"Plasma Missiles utilise a deliberate plasma containment failure that erupts into a blast of white-hot energy upon impact. The dense plasma core of the missile is rarely entirely consumed in the initial explosion and will leave behind a glowing, energised orb that acts like a miniature sun that leaves the immediate area of the impact unapproachable for some time. Plasma Missiles are especially effective against vehicles as the plasma core can quickly penetrate most vehicles' armour."​

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Splash damage size I'd say big enough to hit 3-4 space marines standing shoulder to shoulder should be a fine start, from there lower or increase as necessary. Would plasma have a damage drop of from the center of the blast though? I'd think it would but not much. The most drop off would be at the very edge of the blast radius to targets with half of their bodies in the AoE. But still the splash shouldn't be too much or the risk of making the weapon too easy arises.

Firing at targets in cover I think of:

• Unlikely since it's not the same type of weapon but I still bring it up, could PC shots behave like the airburst support class weapon in Battlefield 4? (video here to show anyone that doesn't know of it it)
• Next the same thought but differently, if a PC blast detonates at an angle where targets are still behind cover from the blast but it being a plasma explosion:
  • The targets still take low damage when crouched behind cover.
  • If standing (aiming & firing) behind waist high cover they take medium to full damage as parts of their body are exposed to the blast.

---OFF-TOPIC---
I would think hvy weapons classes would get at least a basic pistol. Can't exactly holster their big weapons to fight effectively in melee after all so a knife would be pointless. But they could probably still carry their weapon with one arm and fire a pistol with the other, at the cost of agility maybe.
EDIT: Maybe only for weapons that could allow it such as the Hvy Bolter drum magazine shown in livestream and the Erasmus Pattern Mk I plasma cannon shown above, which would be lighter and take less load out points (I assume anyway). I also think a pistol would only be necessary for hvy weapons that reload as a means to fight back if caught reloading.

Work it the same as the lazcannon, only with explosive splash damage. Hold to charge, release to fire, holding to long can cause a misfire. Lascannon should fly straight, plasma canon should lose range and start falling, like a projectile.

...do we have heavy weapons misfires in the game?

Correct. I was thinking of the Q&A reply below as it relates to Heavies but yeah, I don't know where I pulled the "no sidearm" thing for other classes from

I don't like that idea but as with most wish list items I'll defer to the Dev's internal testing.

Yeah that's pretty much what I was leaning to with cover denial. What would be interesting is if the Charge function allowed you to select the range at which the plasma bolt detonates, similar to a RL airburst round. Sort of crossing the Airburst mechanic with UT's Shock Rifle combo effect, where you manually sit on the Charge to pick the range and the bolt detonates at that prescribed distance for an immense blast. Failing that it would just explode on contact for the usual blast radius.

Anyway, regardless of sneaky mechanics I think the radius from the Shock Rifle combo is a good size and makes it a hell of a weapon for controlling choke points and splashing enemy cover. The music sucks but you only need to watch the first 8 seconds if you've forgotten what that looks like.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrxXPJiBRfI

That does look like a good radius for the blast.

Wow, I missed that piece. Yeah that would suck. It looks like they are going to get less kills than tacticals as it is due to accuracy with HB anyway. Should definitely be able to pull out knife and pistol. Maybe with the option of ditching one or the other to add more ammo capacity.