Vinnie D

The stonewall is a decent shield in its self, but to balance things out, if someone is carrying a stonewall they should also occupy one of their weapon "slots" with the accompanying mini sword. If you for instance allow 3 weapons, a primary, a sidearm, and a melee, then they couldn't have a marauder with the shield. Perhaps even go as far as making the shield occupy another slot.

The best way to handle the stampede shield on the stampede would probably just be to not count gun hits when it's equipped. Though the shield its self would be more mobile if placed on a sidearm, so it's more the user trading off between the two advantages.

I'm in agreement that heavy ammo (arrows, missles, balls) should count as hits when they hit a shield, essentially making them shield piercers in function. And it gives people an excuse to use bigger ammo (that some of us plain find more fun. I like arrows myself.)

So it looks like a reconmav. I'm betting that's a recon style plunger tube in there. Which while not a great plunger, sure beats the tiny plunger of the maverick. We might have a nice revolver on our hands. A slight sacrifice in capacity for an improvement in power.

I'm a bit disappointed that the barrels are in front of the reverse plungers instead of nested inside them. That design would have saved space and improved the efficiency of air delivery to the dart. The smaller than recon plungers are also a let down. With a lower capacity, and less power than the recon I can't see any practical use for this thing without some heavy modding.

I'm sure it's fun to screw around with but so is a double shot in that regard.

I could see it being possible though to cut it down some, saw off a good chunk of barrel lenght, replace the dart holders with couplers, and relocate the barrels to inside the plunger tube, but it would be a lot of work with some bit of trial and error.

The upside is there seems to be a lot of space behind the barrels, so if you want to slap some air tanks back there instead of plungers you might have something worth while. Like two AT2Ks slapped together. If you saw it off, change out the power source and rebarrel it could be a great secondary, or at least a fun indoor primary, but unmodded it doesn't look like anything more than a gun to goof off with. Mind you thing wrong with goofing off, I keep a double shot and a deploy by my computer chair for that very reason.

The vulcan still does kind of fill a niche in a way. the 25 shot belt is still more than the stampede's extended clips (not sure if the stampede will work with a drum, that might throw the timing off). So if you just need a long stream of automatic fire it might be functional. Plus I still like its overall look. Maybe not a functional gun but it certainly is a fun type of gun.

With an expanded ammo box, and doubled chains, and a plug in mod, the vulcan can still function as a stationary emplacement. Though the Stampede is certainly a sturdier and more mobile kind of gun. I'd say it fills the role of a machine gun. Light and high rate of fire, while the Vulcan is a stationary machine gun, big, heavy and high capacity.

Though it seems most of the N-strike series is centered around the idea of every gun being just slightly different, to fill different niches. Like the Alpha Trooper which is basically a more balanced raider at the cost of smaller capacity, or the Deploy which is a good light secondary weapon. Not as light as a pistol recon, but the pump grip gives it better handling, for a higher rate of fire.

Still the Stampede does look like a solid weapon for those who love high rate of fire. I do wonder about modding potential. Outside of minimization I don't see much you can do without messing it up. I'm hoping this means that Vulcans go on clearance. I've been meaning to pick one up on the cheap to screw around with.

Sorry I should have mentioned about the Belt Blaster, that you should drum mod it. It's as easy as cutting two holes in a tupperware container and using a bit of velcro to affix it to the bottom of the gun. The chain feeds out of the container and keeps your chain from dangling, breaking, or clattering.

If melee is allowed, consider adding a bayonet to your gun. Not having to holster the gun and draw your blade can be a life saver, but that goes for any nerf game that allows for melee.