On Bayonets and Shields

[phazonjunkie]

After watching the cinematic in which Gen. Warfield is forced to fight zerg in CQB after running out of ammo, I got to thinking about all the discussions on various forums a couple of years back complaining about the marine's bayonets and shields being out of place.

This cinematic alone is probably the ultimate vindication of the counter argument. The fact that Warfield's rifle WAS equiped with a bayonet is arguably what allowed him to survive long enough to be saved. Had he and his remaining soldiers been equipped with shields, they would've stood a better chance of surviving, and he would've likely been able to keep his right arm.

[Drake Clawfang]

I believe the War Pigs mercenaries have bayonets too. Warfield I took as a callback to the Marine bayonets. Like "we cut the bayonets from the game, they were too badass to waste on Marines, so we gave one to Warfield".

[phazonjunkie]

'Too badass to waste on marines'....I suppose that could be a legitimate explantation.


BTW, you ARE indeed a 'Prophet'!

[Pandonetho]

I agree, Bayonets are badass. But they looked terrible on the marine model.

Also, bayonets really probably aren't worth their cost. Warfield took out ONE Zergling with it. Realistically I don't know if it'd be a worthy investment for every rifle, especially considering that a sidearm would be much more useful. And against the Protoss it'd look like a butter knife.

The shield however, I have always supported the shield.

[Drake Clawfang]

BTW, you ARE indeed a 'Prophet'!

TY.

[mr. peasant]

I agree, Bayonets are badass. But they looked terrible on the marine model.

Also, bayonets really probably aren't worth their cost. Warfield took out ONE Zergling with it. Realistically I don't know if it'd be a worthy investment for every rifle, especially considering that a sidearm would be much more useful. And against the Protoss it'd look like a butter knife.

The shield however, I have always supported the shield.

The cost of a shard of metal would be almost negligible versus the cost of a single gauss rifle never mind the relative cost of the Marine's power armor.

[Pandonetho]

The cost of a shard of metal would be almost negligible versus the cost of a single gauss rifle never mind the relative cost of the Marine's power armor.

How do you know? We don't know whether that metal is neosteel, or what. Plus, there's the cost of devoting parts of your factories to shaping the metal, and then inputting the mechanisms that allow the Bayonet to slide in and out of the weapon.

When you're adding it onto millions of guns, it probably does add up. And it doesn't exactly look like it sees much use either.

Let's face it, it ain't useful against anything but a couple of Zerglings. Any larger strain of Zerg and you'll need a gun. We shouldn't even factor in the Protoss here either.

[l33telboi]

I'd say a bayonet is a pretty good investment for marines. First off, it's not going to cost a whole lot and given the design of the gun it's not in the way of anything either.

When fighting zerg I imagine the risk of running out of ammo is pretty high. I mean, we're talking about an enemy whose modus operandi revolves around drowning the enemy in numbers. Having a weapon that's not reliant on ammunition seems like a good thing to have as backup. The fact that you have powered armor adding to the strength behind a thrust means that thing is going to do some pretty terrible damage to whatever the marines hit.

As for the shields? I dunno. They're basically a slab of metal that you can pick up and drop whenever you want. You're not going to run into the problem of too much added weight either, given the increased strength provided by the marine armor.

[pure.Wasted]

Let's face it, it ain't useful against anything but a couple of Zerglings. Any larger strain of Zerg and you'll need a gun. We shouldn't even factor in the Protoss here either.

Don't forget that Warfield went fist-to-face with Hydralisks, too. Not just Zerglings.

Obviously it wouldn't help in fighting Hydralisks in an open battlefield, but I get the impression that Marines find themselves being ambushed at close range quite a bit.

[Blasterion]

obviously a power suit punch to the face hurts more that bayonets any day but it'd be nice to have them for example give marines a melee attack like roaches and hydras but the shield, i have never had a game w/o shielding my marines