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To rephrase Cunjo's point, even if you can aim, the gatling cannon won't hit anything, and if you can not aim, it will hit even less.
The gatling cannon is actually "okay" in only one config that I've found. Hog with the cannon and an n2. The cannon fire masks the neutron blasts and you get a nice mix of accuracy with the n2 and spray from the cannon to make it difficult to dodge. The energy usage is low as well so you can keep up a long stream of fire. Of course, you'll get outmanuvered by a light ship up close and can be out gunned by a ship with more firepower, but that seems to be the problem with the hog no matter what config. In retrospect, unless you're bored, may as well use the gat turret and just turn aa off.
Increasing the rate of fire on the cannon could be interesting though...
Once we get more ships and specific ports, a use for this might be found. They could be used in a relatively light ship, say about the stats of a vulture, that has 2 L ports. The catch being that these 2 L ports would be Gatling Cannon specific, so the ship couldn't mount anything else but dual gatling cannons.
A light ship with 2 gatling cannons could be pretty decent and fun to fly as well. Another reason why I think balance should wait until after 2.0/more ships/content comes in.
Increasing the rate of fire on the cannon could be interesting though...
Once we get more ships and specific ports, a use for this might be found. They could be used in a relatively light ship, say about the stats of a vulture, that has 2 L ports. The catch being that these 2 L ports would be Gatling Cannon specific, so the ship couldn't mount anything else but dual gatling cannons.
A light ship with 2 gatling cannons could be pretty decent and fun to fly as well. Another reason why I think balance should wait until after 2.0/more ships/content comes in.
With all due respect Roda and Cunjo, I think you're wrong about the gat. A hog with the basic gat and geminis was one of my favorite setups as a newb in alpha (of course botting had no practical purpose other than to drive up your bounty).
If the spread of the gat is its biggest drawback, then why is the gatling turret so effective? It has the same spread as the gatling cannon as far as I can tell. (To test this try firing the turret with autoaim off, then compare it to the gatling cannon).
The gat isn't bad at taking down collectors you just have to get in close and point your nose in the right direction (collectors like to drift up close anyway as I recall, try it in a revenant). Stingrays on the other hand require you to return to the station to reload every 14 shots which makes reaching HW1 a bothersome task. They are more of a support weapon than a grinding weapon.
I'm not suggesting we force all newbs to use the gat, I just think that a heavy spread cannon like the gat would be more interesting at level 0 than a beefed up version of the plasma cannon (e.g. the plasma devastator). It's a different weapon, requiring different tactics, and really not all that hard to use. Consider that choosing an auto-aiming blaster over a fixed spread cannon is a matter of preference.
At any rate the discussion is academic at this point. The devs always have balanced weaponry as they see fit.
If the spread of the gat is its biggest drawback, then why is the gatling turret so effective? It has the same spread as the gatling cannon as far as I can tell. (To test this try firing the turret with autoaim off, then compare it to the gatling cannon).
The gat isn't bad at taking down collectors you just have to get in close and point your nose in the right direction (collectors like to drift up close anyway as I recall, try it in a revenant). Stingrays on the other hand require you to return to the station to reload every 14 shots which makes reaching HW1 a bothersome task. They are more of a support weapon than a grinding weapon.
I'm not suggesting we force all newbs to use the gat, I just think that a heavy spread cannon like the gat would be more interesting at level 0 than a beefed up version of the plasma cannon (e.g. the plasma devastator). It's a different weapon, requiring different tactics, and really not all that hard to use. Consider that choosing an auto-aiming blaster over a fixed spread cannon is a matter of preference.
At any rate the discussion is academic at this point. The devs always have balanced weaponry as they see fit.