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When weapons like the Pulverizer have a slowdown effect from having them equipped on the back, are there plans to give them weapon inertia as well, as in they handle slower than other weapons?

TL;DRHeavy weapons don't apply a fixed slowdown, only systemic weight, and the armor work is discussing giving heavier weapons more inertia and sway unless the wearer has heavier arms.

Zac PreeceFPS Systems Designer

So just to start off that, they don't have a slowdown effect, they just weigh a lot, and depending on how much weight you have on your character, your character moves slower. So we don't do a "oh, this gives you a 20% movement speed debuff just because you have this weapon on." It's systemic, there's weight. The more weight you have, the more you slow down. But yeah, go on, with the weapon inertia. Do you want to handle it?

Luke PressleySenior Principal Designer, Systems Design

The thing is, I thought this had come last, so I thought I'd have done my spiel.

Zac PreeceFPS Systems Designer

So one thing we're talking about with the armor work is essentially, correct me if I'm wrong, but the heavier the weapon is, the more weapon inertia you get. So if you've got heavier arms, it's easier to handle heavier weapons. So if you're wearing light arms and you have an LMG, you'll essentially have a lot more weapon sway. Think with the Fresnel, how long that takes to correct the sight picture. That's an example of something that, if you had light and you picked up heavy, it's a way of saying, cool, you want to fit in the archetype, that fantasy of being, oh, I'm a super heavy armor wearing, I've got my LMG, I'm walking in a location, versus, oh, I'm light and I've got a pistol. Because as you know, in real life, the shorter the barrel of a weapon is, the lighter it is, the easier it is to move around. I was talking to Luke about this, and the reason why pirates always have short swords is because if they're on boats and they're killing people close, that's why they have short swords. That's why people clear rooms with pistols and SMGs and things like that.

Star Citizen Live›Q&A FPS Gameplay·
Published on this date.12 Mar 2026