Deviation Actions
So, you’re all probably familiar with MOTAS VS. Mode, in where Time Sweepers can use Tom Tom Weapons. I haven’t written anything on this yet so it’s a good time as any, especially since you all know I’m quite interested in how VS. Mode works.
I believe the developers gave the Time Sweepers this ability so that weapons can be treated as pickups. Another reason could be to make up for the player (playing as a Time Sweeper) not having any trash when the round starts, though the rest of your teammates have infinite trash. Or, it’s too give the Time Sweepers some weapon variety, even if it’s just in VS mode.
My thought is that it is a bit unnecessary for the Time Sweepers to be given this ability. It probably makes VS. Mode unbalanced when you give the Time Sweepers a greater arsenal. The weapons could be restricted to Tom Toms use only, much like trash for Time Sweepers.
Time Sweepers with their sweepers aren’t at a disadvantage against the Tom Toms either. Any person playing as the Time Sweepers (who knows what they’re doing) can win against a person playing as the Tom Toms without using Tom Tom weapons, so long as they utilise time controls.
If I have enough cash after a round, I might buy a teammate one of the stronger weapons like a BAZ-006 because they’ll consistently inflict more damage than with a sweeper with regular trash. Most of the time I don’t bother.
From another perspective, Time Sweepers being proficient with Tom Tom Weapons implies they are trained by the Time Factory. Guard Sweepers are trained to wield a PiG-38, TON16A and other weapons (with deadly accuracy I might add) so this training could be extended to Time Sweepers as well. It would certainly give Time Sweepers more options when faced with a situation.
It’s probably not impossible for a Time Sweeper to use space controls as well. Let’s say a Time Sweepers takes out a Tom Tom. The Time Sweeper then chooses to loot the Tom Tom of his guns and space controls. The space controls are conveniently stored in a bag which removes some of the hassles of stealing it. Now if the Time Sweepers uses the space controls, it’s a matter of opening the can then throwing the space control at the desired location.
The lids of the space control cans in Carlos’ shop have serrated edges, suggesting the cans are opened using a sharp object, maybe a knife. How a Time Sweeper would open the cans, I don’t know (claws?), which may prevent Time Sweepers from even using them. Let’s pretend a Time Sweeper can open a space control with ease, then they can use the space control like any Tom Tom would.
Likewise, a Tom Tom could technically use a sweeper. Sweepers aren’t treated like pickups so obviously Tom Toms can’t use them in VS. Mode. But ignoring that, a Tom Tom could figure out how to use a sweeper. There are only two important buttons: one to sweep and shoot, the other to use time controls. A Tom Tom wouldn’t necessarily need the training to wield it, but they’ll have some difficulty with the recoil. You may know of the coastal fight concept art that Oshima posted on his Twitter last year, the most interesting detail is a Tom Tom holding a square-shaped sweeper.
Side note: I think I see another Tom Tom in the far distance holding a sweeper too.
A Tom Tom could acquire a sweeper by taking down a Time Sweeper and stealing their sweeper. The Tom Tom will probably not use the sweeper as it doesn’t fit the stealthy tactics of the Tom Toms but if a situation called for it, perhaps. At the very least, a Tom Tom activating Time Controls from a sweeper would be useful, though they’re already halfway there with PAUSE grenades.
In the end, having to fight military cats who can use your own weapons against you isn’t going to be a good time (though the G300 Ray and the Time Control Neutraliser are the exceptions, they’re stolen after all).
I am 22
Going on holiday
I met my boyfriend through Blinx the Time Sweeper
Submissions to HandRendered are closed
I do have mixed feelings on the idea of Tom Toms being able to use sweepers. For one, if they really don't know how it works, it really won't be that simple, at least on most models like the TS-4000 line that have tons of additional buttons and a slider and whatnot. Of course, if a Tom Tom could simply relieve a sweeper of its owner and bring it back to HQ, then they'd surely be able to figure it out, but nothing seems to suggest they have any interest in doing such a thing. Even if sweepers take a ton of training to handle properly (perhaps if one assumes it takes great discipline to suck up a single desired object instead of everything around it, for instance), the Tom Toms could certainly figure it out on their own HQ, but they seem to have elected not to do so. The best reason I can think of is that they think of using sweepers as beneath them due to their general distaste for the cats and their technology (some exceptions like the G300 RAY aside). Even if they didn't have anything against the idea in principle, though, they might also say "why bother figuring out how to use their weapons when I have my own that I like more?" Tom Toms also load up on ammo before an outing, too, so having to suddenly worry about acquiring ammunition from the environment would probably be awkward for them.
Certainly feels easier to explain away anything odd that's done by the Tom Toms than anything involving the Sweepers. "Because I (and/or Benito) feel(s) like it" is a sufficient justification for just about anything they'll do.