Going along with my cruiser razor thread, this is a suggestion to allow gunboats more anti-cap capability through the implementation of a mortar-style heavy turret.
"Mini mortar"
- 1200 range (just beyond GB pulse range which is 1170)
-350k power to fire, meaning a light gunboat would need to essentially have a full power core and a heavy gunboat would not be able to fire two at once
- 600m/s projectile speed, which would make it harder to use against fighters but not impossible
- somewhere around 30-50k hull damage
-moderate refire, around 0.25 maybe, it should generally be a matter of core recharge limiting fire rate
This should create play and counter play between gunboats and cruisers, and even allow gunboats to be moderately useful In capship fights instead of being relegated to a strictly anti snub role
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Gunboats need 2 pulses to fight caps effectively, having 1 mortar and 1 pulse won't do enough shield damage. It would end up being misused against snubs rather than caps, that's why it cannot work.
Also gunboats are very potent against caps, try cerb+pulse loadouts. You won't get touched by a cap if he doesn't have the proper loadout.
You mean GB's being even more capable vs cruisers? Thats all they exist for nowadays, hardly you will deal with snubs in a gb if not with specific load and decently skilled.
On other hand, vs caps you can hit em from limit of your range while if you not a complete noob and cap an ace, he wont be able to deal damage to you.
*Brace for salt* If something should change in gb's would be exactly opposite: a small nerf on its anti-cap capacity (or leave as it is, fine by me while seems a lil too much) and buff its anti-snub weapondry.
(01-16-2019, 07:19 PM)Felipe Wrote: You mean GB's being even more capable vs cruisers? Thats all they exist for nowadays, hardly you will deal with snubs in a gb if not with specific load and decently skilled.
On other hand, vs caps you can hit em from limit of your range while if you not a complete noob and cap an ace, he wont be able to deal damage to you.
*Brace for salt* If something should change in gb's would be exactly opposite: a small nerf on its anti-cap capacity (or leave as it is, fine by me while seems a lil too much) and buff its anti-snub weapondry.
Read the sister thread I linked (Cruiser/Battlecruiser razors). If that can be sorted out, it would be a direct counter to mini mortar gunboats. Also, if the mini mortar is made 350k power requirement, it can only be refired every 6~ seconds, which with a 35k damage amount comes out to a little under 6k DPS against hull (keep in mind you'd only be able to run a single pulse turret as well). Gunboat razors are over 9k DPS, and gunboat cerbs (which are light hardpoints) are 6k DPS. The advantage here would be that, properly flown, a mini-mortar gunboat would be able to move in at the right time, get off a bit of burst damage, and move back out. At the same time, a cruiser or bc (or bs even) using a razor would have the same amount of time to smack the gunboat for something like 50k damage with a razor shot.
A cruiser should definitely be able to dodge a 600m/s projectile at 1200 range, that's two seconds for impact. If we can dodge battleship turrets at 1300-1700 range on many cruisers, this shouldnt be an issue. likewise, a gunboat may not be able to dodge a 1200-1300m/s projectile at 900 range, but if he manages range well enough that shouldnt be a problem.
Play and counterplay. One weapon that counters another, and it's up to the pilot skill of both ships to determine who wins.
As far as anti-snub weaponry, prims and solaris (and even gb razors) seem fine for that right now, The real issue is that unless you're running dual razors (or get lucky with vandal missiles) on a gunboat, you wont be able to actually -kill- any snub that doesnt want to die. You end up being nothing more than a small amount of area denial for enemy snubs.
Silencer missiles are a real problem too, they only deal 7500 damage, which is absolute crap when you consider that it requires ammo. Fighters have missiles that deal more damage than that. The only way a gunboat can effectively be declared 'anti-snub' is if it can eliminate the snubs, not just run them off.