History Main / OverHeating

** When a firearm overheats due to over use, it does not stop it´s function. It just makes it incredibly unsafe, the barrel warps and degrades faster, thus making the gun inaccurate, and in some cases, the gun simply won't stop firing because the red-hot chamber ignites the propellent in the bullets [known as "cook-off"]. Still, it will fire regardless. Kalashnikov type rifles can even be used while ON FIRE!

* GrandChase does this with Mari's GunSlinger job. The "heat gauge" fills up each round fired and will start to drain out if you stop shooting. If the gauge fills up all they full, the gun doesn't fire at all for a short time, leaving you with an attack that does nothing. However, it does not disable your [[SpecailMove MP Attacks]] at all, but only one of those uses the gun anyhow.

A particularly bizarre version can occur in games that feature mounted and handheld versions of the same machine gun, which may be governed by totally seperate rules; for example, one may require reloading while the other does not but is able to overheat. Real mounted weapons often have rather obvious and bulky extra cooling hardware installed, though this is rarely reflected in-game.

This can be partly considered an example of TruthInTelevision, as the dissipation of waste heat from various forms of technology is a major design consideration that is often overlooked; however, in videogames the effect is typically enormously exaggerated in terms of speed and under-exaggerated in terms of severity; overheating a machine gun will typically cause it to steam as if it has a water jacket, without the risk of rounds spontaneously igniting or permanent barrel damage that come with overheating a real gun. Typically, the quick-change barrels of modern machine guns are not represented, there being no way to deal with an overheated barrel but wait for it to cool back down (which happens surprisingly fast).

* ''MassEffect 2'' went for a system that works like a typical shooter with limited shots before reloading. They attempt to reduce the degree of RetCon by explaining it as ejecting the heat sink of your gun and inserting a new one. Which, naturally, should prevent you from [[OneBulletClips reloading single shots into a gun that fires multiple shots per heatsink]]... but doesn't. And while it would make sense to be able to wait for the heat sinks to cool and use them again instead of throwing them all away and trying to scavenge new ones, that's not an option. Of course, all this only applies to ''you''. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Computer-controlled]] characters still have BottomlessMagazines.

*** Including retroactively. The survivors of a shipwreck 10 years ago (before the first game) still drop thermal clips when found in ''MassEffect 2''.

* In the ''[[BattlefieldSeries Battlefield]]'' series, there are mounted and man-portable machine guns. The previous has infinite ammo and the latter has limited ammo to force an occasional reload. They have effectively infinite reloads since the support class has the ability to supply ammunition.

* This is how Dwarven Technologist Janos' {{Mana}} Meter is explained in ''{{Mage Knight}}: Apocalypse''. He starts with zero heat, gains heat whenever he uses a skill, and when heat reaches 100, he must wait or use a 'coolant' potion.

* Rapid firing firearms (such as machine guns) do get hot when used; various cooling methods have been devised to assist cooling (conductive fins, liquid jackets, etc…) or otherwise deal with heating (such as barrels that can quickly be swapped without dismantling the gun itself in the process.)

** When a firearm overheats due to over use, it does not stop it´s function. It just makes it incredibly unsafe, the barrel warps and degrades faster, thus making the gun inaccurate, and in some cases, the gun simply won´t stop firing because the red-hot chamber ignites the propellent in the bullets [known as "cook-off"]. Still, it will fire regardless. Kalashnikov type rifles can even be used while ON FIRE!

<<|TruthInTelevision|>>

** Subverted with the Plasma Repeater which still has to cool but can be vented,which is...just like reloading.

A particularly bizarre version can occur in games that feature mounted and handheld versions of the same machine gun, which may be governed by totally seperate rules; for example, one may require reloading while the other does not but is able to overheat.

* Rapid firing firearms (such as machine guns) do get hot when used; various cooling methods have been devised to assist cooling [conductive fins, liquid jackets, etc] or otherwise deal with heating [such as barrels that can quickly be swapped without dismantling the gun itself in the process].

* ''{{Warhawk}}s'' have unlimited machine gun ammo. But their guns will overheat and temporarily jam after only a few seconds of continuous fire.

This can be partly considered an example of TruthInTelevision, as the dissipation of waste heat from various forms of technology is a major design consideration that is often overlooked; however, in videogames the effect is typically enormously exaggerated in terms of speed and under-exaggerated in terms of severity; overheating a machine gun will typically cause it to steam as if it has a water jacket, without the risk of rounds spontaneously igniting or permanent barrel damage that come with overheating a real gun. Typically, the quick-change barrels of modern machine guns are not represented, there being no way to deal with an overheated barrel but wait for it to cool back down.

* Happens with Covenant weapons in {{Halo}} that don't have to be reloaded. Those weapons also need to be replaced after they run out of ammo.
** Same thing in the fan game HaloZero.

* Many of the guns in ''Star Wars: Battlefront'' follow this trope. Your backup pistol has unlimited ammo, but overheats quite quickly (and has less power than any other weapon in the game, so using it is ill-advised); vehicle-based weapons all have some sort of heat meter, and the Clone Commander's chaingun in ''Battlefront II'' uses the overheating mechanic to avoid becoming a GameBreaker.

* In the BattlefieldSeries there are mounted and man-portable machine guns. The previous has infinite ammo and the latter has limited ammo to force an occasional reload. They have effectively infinite reloads since the support class has the ability to supply ammunition.

* In the third SlyCooper game, you drive a machine-gun-mounted gondola in a few missions. Using the machine gun too much will stop you from using it.

* This is how Dwarven Technologist Janos' {{Mana}} Meter is explained in {{Mage Knight}}: Apocalypse. He starts with zero heat, gains heat whenever he uses a skill, and when heat reaches 100, he must wait or use a 'coolant' potion.

* Happens in ''ResidentEvil5'' when you continuously firing the humvee machine gun for too long.
* Your entire mech can have this problem in Armored Core 3. It was quite the ScrappyMechanic.

* Machine guns in ''{{Crysis}}'' can overheat, and the ice-shard firing MOAC gun also works this way.
* In ''{{Metroid}} Zero Mission'', the emergency pistol that Samus wields during the StealthBasedMission takes time to recharge to full power after each shot. If rapid-fired, its projectiles have reduced range and barely stun enemies at all.
** Whereas in Metroid Prime, the Power Beam can overheat and begin giving heat hazes, but will still fire as if there is nothing wrong.

* One character in Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad and Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers has a pair of guns with infinite ammo, but you have to reload clips when they run out.

* ''Battletech''. Many weapons caused heating, requiring mechs to have heat sinks to neutralize it. If a mech overheated, their weapons may malfunction, the whole mech could shut down, or the onboard ammunition could ''explode''.

* In ''{{Gears of War}}'', the mounted and man-portable machine guns will overheat and require you to "vent" it by using the Reload button.
** The venting mechanism brought untold annoyance to this troper during his first play through of Gears of War 2. Mainly due to the fact that the game doesn't tell you that you can vent the guns and it's not AllThereInTheManual. This made the one flying chase sequence boss fight REALLY hard.