Forums » Suggestions

Yet another thread. AGT changes!

«12
Apr 21, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
referring to my above post, and after experimentation:

even if the Gatling Cannon sees an increase of auto-aim to approximately gauss levels, it should still see a speed increase to 200-210 m/s, a damage increase to 600-625, and maybe even a rate-of-fire increase to .05s, provided it doesn't lag out a sector. "But then it'll be more powerful than the neutron III!" Well yes, on paper it does appear to be super-uber, but you forget that even with the slightly increased auto-aim, there are still very few ships with L-ports that could use it effectively. As it is, even the Atlas X can only hope to hit targets that don't dodge with the Gatling Cannon. Shape came out from a fight with me completely unscathed, and I was working really hard to even get my crosshairs to merge with the pipper. On top of that, but the Gatlings are the most inaccurate energy weapons in the game. Just fire it straight forward and you'll see what I mean. They're all over the place, as opposed to nearly all s-port guns which fire in nice, neat lines.

The Gatling Turret should probably see a damage increase to 625-650, a speed of 190-200m/s, and a rof increase to .075. With a narrower auto-aim cone, it won't allow as many viable targeting solutions, so it needs to hit harder to compensate.

And with both gatlings, a 1 or 2 second spin up from maybe .5 seconds per shot to the maximum speed would be nice, so quick snap shots would still be possible, but maximum damage could not be inflicted until later.
Apr 21, 2005 Hoax link
If it has a spin up delay then I think we may truly see some gatling spam.

People in an active fight will always be pressing the trigger on a just-in-case basis so that their target hasn't flown past by the time they start shooting.

CP's idea quoted below might solve that prob though:
>Another possibility no delay before firing, but it has a 1-2
>second "spin up" time so it starts with a low firing rate and then
>increases to its max rate.
Apr 21, 2005 softy2 link
Hoax : Battery consumption will not support such a tactic.

In general, thinking about this more, the "spin-up" will really make the AGT into "stand-off" weapon, instead of the close-up killer it is. I.e. people will use the AGT to keep light fighters off their back, instead of what is happening right now where AGT-users close it to toast the light fighters.

I am not sure this is a good or bad thing, but at least it'll make the AGT a weapon more interesting to use than what it is right now.
Apr 21, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
softy2: the AGT will still be used to toast light fighters, but the point is that even if there's a spin-up from low-rof to high-rof, the experience of the player, and his timing to get a maximum rof when the opponent is most vulnerable is what's necessary. While a no-firing delay would do this too, I fear that it will cause too many people to miss opportunities completely and just get wasted. With the firing spin-up, you at least have the opportunity to get hits, even if it's not as many hits as it possibly could be.
Apr 23, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
I wonder if anyone's experimented to see what the maximum rate of fire is without causing excessive lag.

I'm just wondering because a properly alternated dual neutron 2/3 has a firing rate higher than both the GT and GC (alternated neuts is .07/s, the GC is .075/s, and the GT is 0.1/s), and do more damage per shot. About 50% more. So consequently a dual neutron 3 does... hmm... 9214.28 damage per second, and the gatling cannon and gatling turret both max out at 4000. Now you may argue that the neutron is harder to aim than the gatling turret, but you're neglecting several facts.

One, the gatling cannon has the same auto-aim as the neutron, and is less accurate, so consequently it's harder to hit with, two, both the gatling turret and gatling cannon are l-port weapons, so they must be loaded on platforms less maneuverable than dual neuts can (primarily the IBG and Rev-C cent, as well as the vult series). So therefore, an IBG or Rev-C can easily keep up with what a medium ship can do, while the medium ship has a far more difficult time.

So in essence, the light fighters have a distinct advantage over middle and heavy ships (with the exception of the prom) in speed, maneuverability, and damage, with their only weakness being lower armor, but in the case of the Atlas, it has the same armor as a Vulture...

So probably good improvements to the gatlings, as they are L-ports and need some sort of advantage over S-ports, higher firing rate, slightly higher damage, better auto-aim for the gatling cannon, slightly less auto-aim for the gatling turret, and the firing rate spin up.