I was thinking about how hard it is for slow ships to fight back against agile ones. They get right up in your face and shoot you while you have no recourse but to try and run since they move too fast to aim at. And it becomes even more difficult to keep your distance since the heavy/heavy combo can only sustain it's speed for a limited time. So I thought maybe a weapon to discourage players from getting up in your face while you're in a heavy ship would so some good. I know the adv. gatling was designed for this, but it is very expensive and very maneuverable ships can stay away from the LOS of these slow turning trade ships and blow them to smitherenes.

So I was thinking a gun that works just like the lightning mine. Equiped to an L-port, press the trigger and a bolt of electricity is shot at anyone within 30m-40m (depending on play-testing to find balance) of you. Same damage as the L-Mine and it drains 75-100 energy per second (depending on what is found to be the ideal drain after some playtesting) so that the ship can only sustain it for 5 seconds with a heavy. It would be good enough to discourage rammers, but anyone that stays more than 30m-40m need not worry.

I think this weapon is too powerful. Currently a larger ship with a gat can back strafe making it difficult for the smaller ship to close the distance, but if the smaller ship gets in close they should have the advantage, until the larger ship creates distance again. (flares currently muck with this idea but they hopefully will be dealt with seperately).

MMmmmmmmm. I like it.

Or we could be more direct and have something that does damage directly to everything within some sphere, or pushes things away from you. Or both.

Hey! Why do people taking suggestions I've made months before? I've asked for a lightning shield back in 3.1.x. Damn you!!

=(

Anyway, I don't think it would be unbalanced. The job of the advanced gatling turret is essentially the same--to keep enemies at bay so they don't get close enough to outmaneuver you. That's a heavy ship's main weakness, and defensive weapons NEED to be made to seal that gap to help protect them. Otherwise they're just flying coffins. The l-mine shield would do the same thing of keeping fighters at bay. If bombers are ever going to be useful, they'll need to have better defensive weapons than they do now. Otherwise only one or two people will fly 'em for novelty reasons. Fighter escorts are pretty much out of the question. Until the attitude of many players change, I wouldn't rely too much on escorts.

PS: The devs have a gun that shoots lightning mines. It hurts... A LOT.

5 seconds of sustained lightning mine, 1800 dmg per second, would be ummm...

9000 dmg, enough to almost take a valk out, i say tone it down to 1250 dmg\sec, which would be 6250

Or, if we want it more defensive oriented:

range: 100
dmg per shot: 250
reload time: .25 seconds, or 4 shots per second.
energy drain: 30\shot (90 per second)

Keep in mind a fast charge battery recharges at 60\sec

the more steady damage it a weapon does the more defensive it is, 15000 dmg in one shot with a 5 second reload is devastating, a 5000 dmg in one shot with a 1 second reload is more steady but does the same damage in the same amount of time.

Yes it does lay down a lot of damage, but it only works within 30m. An agile ship can leave it's radius in a flash, so the ship could never really put all that damage on it. If it tried it would drain it's battery and if it happens to be running a heavy it would end up a sitting duck for a while. Maybe it will need to be toned down a little damage-wise, but not too much. I'm not disagreeing with you, I think you're right. I'm just suggesting caution.

'tis my Electron Flux from the toys thread :P