The Hard Time Rifle

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Wednesday, May 01, 2013, 15:03 (4011 days ago) @ ncsuDuncan

A support type medium ranged weapon. Loaded with specialized, oddly large rounds, this single shot weapon makes use of The Traveler's unexplainable powers to distort time around an enemy combatant. The gun, rather than the ammo, is the object exposed to The Traveler. Each hand crafted round acts as a conduit, and is used to both hold the time distortion field the gun creates, and to deliver it to the target enemy. The gun can fire one shot before it must slowly recharge and firing the gun briefly distorts time for anyone the round passes near, even the person holding the weapon. On impact the specialized round encases an enemy in a time distortion, causing greatly slowed reaction and terrible enemy accuracy. An enemy is also more vulnerable due to its slowed movement speed.

The visual effect of the gun, while charged, is as if there's a very thin form fitting bubble around it, refracting the image around it like looking through thick glass or a glass of water. The refracted images are also from a couple of seconds in the past, creating a somewhat jarring effect. The visual effect of firing is that refracted effect takes up the entire screen of the shooter, as he is temporarily affected. A similar distortion travels along the path of the round, lingering a bit to visually trace the path of the bullet. Think Halo's sniper trails, but a little wider and with the distortion effect instead of smoke.

The effect on the enemy is similar. They are encased in a distortion. Any weapon shots fired by the enemy or directed at the enemy get stuck in the distortion, and travel very slowly until they impact the enemy, or escape to travel normally at that unit's target. As a nice visual touch other incidental particles like leaves, rain, splashes, kicked up grass or dirt, etc all get stuck in the distortion. Not all of it, as that would cause too much clutter, but just enough to create a cool visual effect.

The rifle is really only effective on small to mid sized targets and vehicles as the time distortion's duration is based on the size of the target it is trying to cover. The gun itself looks cool. Refer to this composite image I commissioned from several of our community's talented artists:

Special variants of this gun, all named with clever time puns, can be found throughout the world. They feature upgrades such as increased clip size, increased spare ammo, and increased distortion time.