Overheating: Difference between revisions

* In the shooter minigame in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' the laser becomes less and less powerful if used continuously and you must wait for it to recharge.

* Many of the guns in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Star Wars Battlefront|Battlefront]]'' follow this trope. Your backup pistol has unlimited ammo, but overheats quite quickly (and has less power than any other weapon in the game, so using it is ill-advised); vehicle-based weapons all have some sort of heat meter, and the Clone Commander's chaingun in ''Battlefront II'' uses the overheating mechanic to avoid becoming a [[Game Breaker]].

** Though it should be noted that with adequate equipment, you can easily make it so the guns will ''never'' overheat. Alternately, make it take a very long time to overheat and add some firepower. The Infiltrator class has the ability to lower the heat output on firing weapons which when combined with damage upgrades makes the class output the most damage over time in the game.

** It is, however, thoroughly impossible to do so with any weapon using High Explosive Rounds, as they generate +500% heat.

** Alternatively, go the other way and cram on extra-heat, extra-damage mods onto your [[Sniper Rifle]] and accept the fact it'll overheat after every shot, essentially making the equivalent of a cannon. Which begs the question: aren't any parts being damaged by being subjected to +550% over standard heat on a regular basis?

* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' went for a system that works like a typical shooter with limited shots before reloading. They attempt to reduce the degree of [[Retcon]] by explaining it as ejecting the heat sink of your gun and inserting a new one. Which, naturally, should prevent you from [[One Bullet Clips|reloading single shots into a gun that fires multiple shots per heatsink]]... but doesn't. And while it would make sense to be able to wait for the heat sinks to cool and use them again instead of throwing them all away and trying to scavenge new ones, that's not an option. Of course, all this only applies to ''you''. [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|Computer-controlled]] characters still have [[Bottomless Magazines]]. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]] is in full effect here.

** However, that really applies only to energy<ref>lasers, particle cannon, flamethrowers</ref> and missile<ref>rockets, guided missiles</ref> weapons: ballistic weapons<ref>cannon, machine guns, gauss rifles</ref> generate (almost) no heat at all, the only exception being the gatling-style Rotary AutoCannon, which overheat distressingly quickly.

** This is an important part of the [[Competitive Balance]] of the various weapons, usually weighed against its ammo stock: laser weapons have [[Bottomless Magazines]] but build up heat quickly, making them ideal for a long but low-intensity fight, whereas ballistic weapons had little heat buildup and fired rapidly, but ran out of ammo in a longer engagement. In addition, a mech could spend tonnage on "heat sinks" that increased the rate it cooled down at, allowing it to mitigate the heat of its weapons at the cost of having fewer of them.