There might have been some missunderstanding of my post above, and I would like to rectify what seems to potentially be the most obvious one.
Quote:I don't mean to propose a replacement for the SNAC, just an alternative that would potentially be more effective with good tactical coordination and leadership.
I discussed the Supernova Pulse Cannon + Nova Torp combo idea with Jinx a while back.
The biggest flaw with the idea is gunboats being able to dodge the torps, and the Nova being detrimental to the bomber's face if something happens to detonate the torp anywhere near it.
Which brings up a question.. are gunboats too powerful vs. fighters and bombers as they are now?
EDIT: To expand on that question: Perhaps we should take another look at GB shielding, they currently have pretty large capacity and a huge regen.
Also really, turning the SN into a shieldbuster is imo a pretty terrible idea. Bombers (barghest aside) have two torp slots, not three. This change would mean to kill a cap you'd need a nova AND an sn. So, every cap just leaves? Great bomber. At the moment you get to choose what you put in your torp slots. That would no longer be the case. It would all be proscribed, and you'd also have to fly in fleets. And not just fly in fleets either. You'd also have to have a really boring time flying in fleets. You're the nova guy? Enjoy flying in circles for 20 minutes while the SN guy shoots down the shield. And vice versa. Unless you had both, in which case as I already said, any cap user in danger of dying would just fly away and laugh at you for flying a stupid ship class with no use.
Really, I don't understand why this is a problem. I'm a really, really bad fighter pilot, and I've fought and died against bombers many times, and I've never been hit by an SN.
Benjamin, the best i can pull from that is that your assuming the Nova / SN Bomber is flying solo. Or that the second or third bomber or even the local allied fighter doesn't have a TCD.
Someone with only Nova torp wouldnt have to wait till the "SN guy" shot down the shields. They would simply use their guns to assist with the Shield, -debilitating- its regeneration.
Funny thing is, when you joust a bomber, you get SNACed. It's not hard to SNAC a fighter, I've done it hundreds of times. I'm not talking about -me- getting killed in a fighter with a SNAC, but others.
For example, in minor a few days ago, we had an Order vs. BHG battle. It was pretty fair, the sides were even. We had a BH bomber on our side that got 6 or 7 kills on FIGHTERS in a row, with little effort. It does NOT take that much skill to kill a fighter that jousts you in a bomber. It DOES take ten times more skill to kill a fighter in a fighter, which I think is just wrong.
Why fly a fighter? I can just go out and get a bomber and kill 90% of the fighters out there that will joust me in one shot. While with a fighter, you actually have to whittle down their hull slowly.
Currently, the bomber is the closest thing to a "jack of all trades" ship that we have.
I think the SNAC itself should be left alone.
What we need is an overhaul of the philosophy of bomber design.
As has been stated before in umpteen threads on the subject, the bomber can kill just about anything - other bombers, VHFs, SHFs, transports, gunboats. A group of 3 or more can kill any big cap. LFs cause discomfort, but that can be solved by a missile launcher or two.
This is my idea of what a bomber could be: 5-10% larger, 25% larger powercore (or an increased powercore regen rate), slightly increased strafing capability but a reduced turning rate. 3 hardpoints for guns and missiles but 3 slots for a cd, torp and an SNAC.
The idea is to have the bomber be a heavy hitter against caps. With increased strafe they'll be able to avoid AA fire better, but will have serious problems dealing with VHF escorts. Bombers would have more difficulty SNACing an VHF that can easily out turn it.
Bombers would lose tactical flexibility and would need fighter escorts to protect them. Even more than now.
Which is why it would be nice to boost fighters rather than nerf bombers. Or yeah, just lay off the missiles.
Raisu:
So this change would not only stop bombers flying solo, it would mean they'd have to fly with specific other bombers. What if two SN+TCD bombers are around at the same time? They're useless. And in my experience, using the guns against cap shields is pretty fruitless. They do very minimal damage, and the risk you put yourself in by flying around 600m away from a cap is huge. So it would basically make bombers way less fun to fly, and encourage/force people to use more of them at once. I can't really see how that is fun for anyone.
