Recently I've seen a trend among Large Train users mounting all Gunboat turrets on their ships instead of Transport turrets. Though there's no rules against it and I'm not suggesting there should be, I think it's horribly unbalancing, as it gives a simple trading vessel greater firepower than a fully loaded military Gunboat. Large Trains are fairly tough with a hull multiplier and the best freighter shield already, all weaponry on-board should really be defensive, which Gunboat turrets are definitely not.
A fix I would suggest is downgrading Freighter weapon slots to level 8, thus making it impossible to mount Gunboat level 9 weapons, but unfortunately doing this also affects the Assault Freighters like the Turanic... though maybe that could use a little nerfing anyway, it'll probably be stronger than Gunboats if Mortars get removed.
I mention this as I think it's a pretty big issue, the majority of players on have at least one Large Train character, and it's still very difficult to cruise disrupt them effectively. Successful pirating is practically confined to capships while Trains are this strong :0/
I seriously doubt a large train can handle a full load of gunboat turrets.
Also, a trading ship that can beat a well-piloted gunboat sounds rather insane.
I'm sorry for being so against your motion but well i'm just expressing my view on this situation.
Jamez ... I think you are on crossed purposes here. Both of you don't want to see this,
as I read it. Nor do I. Its another use of loopholes to overspec a ship. Winning at all cost
again ... Mmm, Balance.
Hoodlum
Quote:crossed purposes here
Erm, what?
Excuse my dimness but I don't understand what you mean.
Neither of you want to see gunboat turrets on freighters. So you wouldn't be against Badgers
motion. So no argument then. Crossed purposes ... Arguing the same point.
Hoodlum
Probably you were seing me in my Exploreon Large Train.
I mounted the Gunboat turrets on that train *temporarily*.
The objective is to have a Cryer Pharmaceuticals ID instead of a Neutral ID. I did that because I wanted to fix my CRY reputation to get the ID. Dumping the Neutral ID will make RP more interesting.
Also, I didn't want to buy a VHF to take on the missions and then have to re-buy the train and loose alot of money in between.
When I fix this character's rep I will return to "normality", so to speak.
Even then, it took me almost 30 minutes to aim those Gunboat turrets at the fighters - which hapen to be corsairs, the bastards use alot of bats and bots...
I'm not sure (I'd have to check) but I'm fairly certain trains have a lower energy output than gunboats.
Regardless, I'm not pointing fingers here, I've seen tens of players doing the same thing. My point is transports shouldn't be capable of that much firepower at all, whether they can maintain it is a moot point, you could probably down the best VHF shield in one or two salvos with those armaments.
Behemoth, like I've explained, this isn't aimed at you at all, that train just happened to nudge the part of my memory I'd been storing this post in. That said- I think you should have to battle your way to get ID's, even trader ones, as everyone has enemies. To do this you should also use assault craft, not trade specific vehicles. It's just unfortunate for you that you hadn't decided on a role to play before earning your train. That's my view anyway.
Perhaps the class downgrade is still too stern a solution, just some way of prohibiting capship weapon use on non-capships... that same age-old quibble with Discovery :0/
My Lrg train has all gunboat turrets and everytime i fire, my energy goes down by 2 blocks. Yes, they are powerful but i dont think that they are unbalancing because they use alot of energy.
Also my train is meant to inflict as much damage as possible in a short time, perhaps to make the enemy retreat or to distract him while i try to escape.
its not like i want to fight when im in my train but i think my energy will be nearly used up by the time i escape. That means maximum damage in a minimum time.
Just my opinion on this topic.
Well, you have to remember that the "Theif" is an assault freighter. The way I see that one working is in conjunction with one or two fighters, perhaps a gunboat, and snagging any loot the target drops. Then they beet feet and squable over percentages when they reach port.
As for the gunboat turrets on large trains... I'll have to agree with you that it's another case of "Just because it fit's dosn't mean you should." Transport turrets, MAYBE one or two gunboat turrets. Maximum.
Me? I don't use 'em. Just another thing to be repaired on my run, and if I ever get disrupted by PC pirates, I just pay 'em. No point in not.