Combat Skills Ammo

I believe combat skills are ammo based and not cooldown based due to the weight mechanics. A character that specializes solely in combat abilities can carry up to four weapons but will incur a hefty recharge penalty. I would assume it was decided that players would trade an unlimited usage of powers in exchange for more guns to swap to for specific uses. Where a biotic might then use nova to damage nearby enemies, a combat oriented character simply swaps to a shotgun.

There's also the fact that some combat abilities have incredible damage potential, and always having them on had makes a lot of things trivial.

With all that said, I entirely agree that having ammunition on powers is not something I'm a fan of, and I agree even more when it involves hybrid profiles.

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@sirexodus84 wrote:

I don't actually remember if it was like this in prior Mass Effects. 

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Grenades were numbered. Whilst weaponry would make you 'slower', which meant more CD upon your powers, as already explained. Relying on powers would make you able to ditch weapons, making you lighter, better CD. Ammo types weren't consumables either, so as long as you could shoot, special ammo would always be delivered.

For this new setting, I wasn't charmed to use any power from the Combat tree. So I cannot really say if it bothers me or not. What I can grasp from enough feedbacks around here though, is that it tends to be really bad in Insanity, when you have enemies which are bullet sponges, which means you'll run out of powers before long, as you also may run out of ammo. The game starts feeling like Resident Evil, when you'll rely only on your melee weapon, if you are not wary of your ammunition.

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@PandaTar wrote:

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@sirexodus84 wrote:

I don't actually remember if it was like this in prior Mass Effects. 

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Grenades were numbered. Whilst weaponry would make you 'slower', which meant more CD upon your powers, as already explained. Relying on powers would make you able to ditch weapons, making you lighter, better CD. Ammo types weren't consumables either, so as long as you could shoot, special ammo would always be delivered.

For this new setting, I wasn't charmed to use any power from the Combat tree. So I cannot really say if it bothers me or not. What I can grasp from enough feedbacks around here though, is that it tends to be really bad in Insanity, when you have enemies which are bullet sponges, which means you'll run out of powers before long, as you also may run out of ammo. The game starts feeling like Resident Evil, when you'll rely only on your melee weapon, if you are not wary of your ammunition.

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I always have a weapon around that doesnt need ammo. So there is always one I can use.

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@sirexodus84 wrote:

I don't actually remember if it was like this in prior Mass Effects.

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Grenades and in later games heavy-weapon ammo was separate from normal weapons (cooldown/heatsinks).

Depending on which mass effect you are referring to.  They change this every game.

ME1:  No ammo necessary, can carry as many guns as you want(limited to 1 gun per category), but your guns will overheat.

ME2:  No longer overheat, but you will need Ammo.  You can only carry the type of guns permitted by your class.  Limited weapon selection.  Think the worst of the ME series in terms of availability of guns. 

ME3:  You can carry any type of weapon, but there is now a weight category.  If it's too heavy there will be power recharge penalties.  If you travel light then your power recharges faster.  You will still have a limit to ammo and you will need.  But instead of fixed weapon crates, you will need to pick spare ammo from the floor like loot.  Your grenades are also limited (think max is 6).  

There are exceptions to the above, think in the citadel dlc they brought back a Assault rifle(think its the lancer) that uses the overheat system.  Also the particle rifle doesnt use ammo but it's a beam.  

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@PandaTar wrote:

What I can grasp from enough feedbacks around here though, is that it tends to be really bad in Insanity, when you have enemies which are bullet sponges, which means you'll run out of powers before long, as you also may run out of ammo. The game starts feeling like Resident Evil, when you'll rely only on your melee weapon, if you are not wary of your ammunition.

Nah, its far from that. If you carry at least 2 weapons you always gonna have enough ammo, and lets face it most of us equip 2 as minimum. One for close range, one for medium-long.

Can confirm that, as im just doing my second playthrough on Insanity. Unless you making some totally OP build, the enemies tend to take some unrealistic amount of punishment to take down as you progress further in the game but i never found myself desperately needing ammo. Most guns have plenty to spare.