Weapons and projectiles in Deus Ex tend to differ in accuracy, damage, explosion radius, and so forth between singleplayer and multiplayer modes.
Example from the tranq dart script:
Code: Select all
simulated function PreBeginPlay()
{
Super.PreBeginPlay();
if ( Level.NetMode != NM_Standalone )
Damage = mpDamage;
}
Now, here's the one for plasma bolts:
Code: Select all
simulated function PreBeginPlay()
{
Super.PreBeginPlay();
Damage = mpDamage;
blastRadius = mpBlastRadius;
}
This is pretty important, since the multiplayer values are 8 damage and 300 radius, compared to the normal values of 40 or 50 (seems to vary depending on the patch?) and 128 radius. Higher radius generally does mean more damage, but the difference between 8 and 40/50 is so great that it's pretty obvious here why direct shots with the plasma rifle do not work very well.
The mistake involved is confirmed by looking at the plasma rifle code in the unpatched, non-multiplayer version of Deus Ex, where the damage is 40.
Fixing this does make the weapon a whole lot more dangerous in enemy hands, though... or makes Energy Shield more appealing, depending on your perspective.