Talk:Boss Nova

Questioning the "High projectile speed" of the Boss Nova
I don't think that the Boss Nova actually has high projectile speed. In fact, after much testing and observation, I don't think the Boss Nova even HAS a projectile. I think it has a hitscan effect that draws a line from the barrel of the gun until it finds an inert surface like a wall or floor, and then spawns a nova at that intercept point.

I have two main reasons for suggesting this. First, the nova doesn't just spawn quickly after you pull the trigger--it spawns instantly. Second, the item card lists the damage of the nova; If, as the page suggests, there were an invisible projectile that penetrates enemies but deals no damage, wouldn't this cause problems for the display of the weapon card? Assuming, in the case of the invisible projectile, that the developers combine the effects of previous guns (high projectile speed, penetration, and invisible bullets), then in order for the projectile to not damage enemies directly it would have to have 0 damage. The Thunderfire, a weapon with fire novas identical in size and appearance to the novas produced by the Boss Nova, does NOT list or include the nova damage on its weapon card. The similarity in these nova effects, combined with the lack of inclusion of the Thunderfire's nova damage on its weapon card, would seem to indicate that a weapon like the Boss Nova should list the PROJECTILE'S damage, and not that of the nova.

Of course it's possible that the developers simply coded around that, and that in fact ithe Boss Nova DOES fire an invisible super-fast projectile that somehow doesn't damage enemies, but it seems to me that it would be less complicated to simply program a hitscan effect that spawns a nova if it detects collision with an inert surface.

This is, admittedly, dubiously esoteric, but for thes ake of clarity I somewhat desire to change the wording of the page to describe what appears to me to be a far more likely effect than an "invisible super-fast penetrating projectile that does no damage to enemies." You must admit that when you say it out loud, it sounds a bit silly--why would the devs go to the trouble of making such a bizzarely complicated projectile effect when hitscan is one of the easiest functions to program in an FPS?

Stumped,

Amorra (talk) 02:43, January 2, 2017 (UTC)Amorra