Vortex Blaster · force, not a conventional bullet

Released baseline: Minecraft 1.20.1 / AoA 3.7.1. Upgrade status: concept exploration; no native upgraded weapon accepted.

The Vortex Blaster is a Spirit-powered crowd-control weapon. Its released firing override gathers nearby living entities through an axis-aligned box query and applies scaled knockback. Its tooltip says “Creates a large pushing force.” The redesign should make that shove readable and satisfying while retaining the old silver/black flared-muzzle silhouette.

Original contract

Field	Pinned released value / meaning
Registry ID	aoa3:vortex_blaster
Stored base damage	0.0; this override does not directly call a damage method
Durability	2,870
Stored firing delay	1 tick; actual use, resource and server timing still govern firing
Base charge field	1 tick through the constructor chain
Base Spirit cost	130.0 before inherited modifiers/exemptions
Item ammunition	Not a conventional bullet-magazine contract
Knockback call	Strength 7.0, X/Y/Z ratios 1, 1, 1
Sound	ITEM_GRAVITY_BLASTER_FIRE
Original flight projectile	None spawned in this firing override

Zero stored damage does not mean harmless: displacement can lead to falls, hazards or other game interactions. Strength 7 is an input to a helper, not seven blocks of guaranteed travel.

Targeting and compatibility caveats

The released method computes direction from yaw/pitch, then inflates the shooter's box with each signed direction component × 7 + 1. Do not describe this as a clean cone, sphere or seven-block ray. Negative components, all headings/pitches, target sizes, self-selection and occlusion need native tests. This method does not show an explicit ray/line-of-sight filter or shooter exclusion.

The knockback helper respects its Forge knockback event/cancellation, attacker attack-knockback and target resistance attributes, and a player eligibility check. It normalizes target-minus-attacker position, incorporates half the attacker's motion, scales by adjusted strength, and can add a small same-height grounded lift before setting motion. Preserve these interactions instead of replacing them with a universal fixed shove.

The legacy BaseBlaster call returns no ShotInfo from this override path, so the generic ShotInfo firing-effects branch is skipped while the firing sound path remains. New pressure rings shown below are proposed presentation, not evidence of an original rendered projectile.

Acquisition

No matching string was found in shipped data/**/*.json, including recipes/loot data. This bounded scan does not establish that the weapon is unobtainable: Java-coded trades/drops and progression still require review. Do not invent a crafting recipe to fill the gap.

Upgrade concept and attachment directions

The revised concept keeps the broad bell muzzle, silver/charcoal bands, compact body and rear grip. The v1 trigger was too far from the grip; v2 moves it beside the grip with a smaller open guard. This is visual concept correction, not measured hand-rig clearance.

• Repulsion pulse: recessed concentric rings compress inward then release a readable expanding air ripple. Bind visuals to accepted gameplay events; no extra damage.
• Focused impulse collar: narrower visual aperture and a precise targeting proposal. Any actual targeting change requires its own rule/upgrade, cost and UI description.
• Wide field ring: larger ring assembly, broader distortion and slower settling. A wider real query would be a gameplay upgrade with tested caps, not an accidental result of a cosmetic mesh.
• Stabilizer grip: restrained recoil animation and handling option, without bypassing the source knockback hooks.
• Inspect: collar segments unlock briefly, a miniature pressure ripple forms inside the bell, then all rings settle before the weapon becomes usable. Avoid blocking the muzzle or passing through hands.
• Optional recharge presentation: Spirit remains the default resource. Do not add mandatory magazine reloading to an energy weapon solely because the TaCZ presentation supports it.

Earlier v1 concept remains available.

Acceptance gates

• Capture original use and displaced targets in the pinned game; label original flight projectile as not applicable rather than fabricating one.
• Verify all cardinal headings, diagonal angles, up/down aiming, obstruction, self-selection and resistant/immune targets.
• Preserve Spirit spending, durability, cooldown/use rules and Forge event behavior.
• Validate grip/trigger reach, glove and support-hand clearance, aim occlusion and attachment envelopes on an actual rig.
• Test interrupt/swap/death/reconnect for ring/inspect state and effect deduplication.
• Measure real server query cost and client distortion/particle cost; cap cosmetic work independently of gameplay.
• Validate the native model, sound, renderer, multiplayer and save contracts before upgrading status.

Evidence

Class hashes, values and limits · Reproduction tool and exact concept prompts · Official source comparison

The source comparison is newer than the pinned release; released bytecode was independently inspected. Original mod and sprite credit: Tslat and AoA contributors. Generated concepts are design proposals, not borrowed COD assets or in-game captures.