Within those guidelines, Thrax, I believe the only items mentioned in this thread that would fit would be the following:
1. Charge-up, time to be determined
2. Pre-shot visible effect from the rifle
3. Laser-type rifle, but limited by cells (ammo, non recharging)
4. A bullet-type rifle, with ammunition
5. (I have probably missed one)
Personnaly, I wouldn't mind any of the above, but that's just me.
To toss out
another idea, why not leave the rifle as it is now, but when someone aims at you with it, your radar HUD pings as if you were being picked up by pulse sensors? Perhaps it could show up as a different color, say purple for instance.
'Aiming at you' == laser rifle in hand, reticle placed on your body so they can see your name/health.
You could explain it through the older technology--leakage from the energy cells, not-quite-up-to-snuff optiks. Perhaps it could even be a
good thing, back in those times of honorable combat--an electronic version of the sniper's dick he could wave around and love-tap people with before he put a hole in their skulls.
I belive the result of such a HUD signal is that an attentive player would have just a hair's worth of warning more than someone just cruising along, and it would promote a little dodging skill too.
I don't know, however, how it would address the o//oob-sniping problem. Certainly the defenders could check their HUDs and go 'that bastard is o-sniping us again', but this wouldn't stop Mr. Rank Offender from actually
doing it.
*shrug* I think you need an admin for such things, myself.
*edit* wording *edit*