Atarlost wrote:You shouldn't be factoring the speedloader into the equation. It costs a slot and gives what the slot is worth. Slightly less, actually. The median enhancer is +50% and the speedloader only works out to +42%. If you run a speedloader on the Mark V and a Lithium Booster on the Tritium Cannon the DPS gap increases.
That's only applicable for the Wolfen, and only when running Corporate Command. For every playership with more than one spare device slot, the Lithium Booster exacerbates the difference, as it stacks with the speedloader to push the Mark V even farther above the other weapons of its level. Given that the stock Wolfen can outrun almost everything in the game, the major advantage provided by the range difference is more than enough to compensate for only being able to benefit from one of two enhancers at a time(as opposed to the tritium cannon, which can benefit from one of one enhancer with the Wolfen).
AP and George consider the lack of recoil a value. And for close fighting it is, particularly on the Sapphire.
It's a moderate subjective difference at best. I consider it an advantage, you consider it a disadvantage. The weapon's got almost a quarter more DPS(and twice its base DPS) on an optimized Sapphire than the much shorter ranged, 25% higher poweruse tritium cannon. That's a huge objective difference.
Ares are ion vulnerable and thermo resistant. Ranx are substantially thermo resistant. Rogue Fleet has ion resistant shields and thermo resistant armor, but gets more of its HP from armor, particularly accounting for the shallow poor natural resistance curves on shields.
The Ranx and Ares also tend to rely on capital ships, for which the passthrough doesn't really match WMD damage. The Rogue Fleet has two variants of the same slow, large gunship, an enemy type the Katana is specialized to kill, but they're also a minor faction that doesn't really threaten the player(they really do need their firerateadj toned way down).
The time gap between a howitzer shell reaching max range and a katana bolt is as great as the entire maximum travel time of the kinetics whose shot speed you always complain about.
Early game enemies feature many more light, fast foes, for which shot speed is more essential, especially considering the weapons there tend to be very close ranged, and enemies don't really move in straight lines. When fighting an enemy at long range, especially a capital ship, shot speed is a minor factor.
In addition, the difference there is more a result of the Katana shot being fast than the howitzer shot being slow.
Thermo does 66% more damage to level 6 armor than blast. It does 150% more damage to level 7 armor. It only does 25% more to level 5 armor, but at that point level 5 is generally mook armor that either weapon will smash through easily.
A lot of the better armor is only used by the player(and occasionally friendly ships). The Earth Slaver's armor, for example, doesn't resist thermo at all.
You can solo the Outer Realm except the Iocrym with a tritium cannon
I recall killing it with a MK V, so tritium should work too. In any case, there's no reasonable way anyone's killing Phoboses, Deimoses, or even Kobol with the tritium cannon and not having extreme difficulty.
or the New Beyond with a Ballista.
You can beat the New Beyond with a laser cannon, but that's really more the fault of the two major threats emigrating to the Ungoverned Territories.
You can solo the Ungoverned territories apart from the Charon fortresses with a dual laser.
There's no way anyone can reasonably kill Earth Slavers or Heliotrope destroyers with the dual laser. Not in any sensible amount of time, at least.
In any case, a weapon acquired at Rigel shouldn't be able to clear everything up until we start seeing CSCs without difficulty.
No it's not. 8d4 is significantly more than 4d8 and the laser collimator is the one enhancer that does more than the median 50%.
On average, it's two damage per shot better. That's slightly better than 10% damage in exchange for vastly higher range and much more damage to capital ships and stations. The laser collimator is good(good enough that the OTL crushes its particle counterpart), but ultimately it's only 25% of the original damage better than the kinetic enhancer.
The extra range is of no advantage in dogfighting.
Yes, it is. Pretty much every gunship in the region can be killed or almost killed with the Flenser in the time it takes them to close the distance between the Flenser's max range and the Xray's max range. If you're faster than the enemy, you can permanently stay out of their weapon range.
A dogfighting weapon needs almost no range, just enough that you can drop out of your target's explosion size for the last couple shots.
Only capital ships explode(well, explode enough to hurt, at least). The Xray doesn't have WMD, so it can't kill those(in theory). Dogfighting is for killing gunships, anyways, as dodging turret fire kills your DPS unless you've got the range to stay away from them or an omni weapon.
Back on topic, range definitely matters in dogfighting. Aside from the ability to get the jump on the enemy, a faster(or equally fast) gunship with higher range can just avoid ever getting hit.
This, incidentally, is why almost all of the middle of the road weapons are bad. They aren't getting the higher DPS of a short range configuration or the range for sniper duels and that that combat regime just isn't useful.
Isn't this my point? Omnidirectional weapons can always hit the target, so they have an advantage at short range, making them worthwhile. Howitzers can hit the target from outside retaliation range, making them worthwhile. Medium ranged weapons, like the tritium cannon, EI plasma cannon, or Lamplighter have similar or worse damage than howitzers without the higher range, leaving them desperately in need of an edge.
The most intuitive way of going about this is to divide up their strengths by target. Omni weapons are already best for killing small targets, which is a good niche for them to have. Right now, howitzers can kill everything except very small targets, and the Flenser/Lancer can outright kill anything easily. To make medium ranged weapons viable, Howitzer firerate should be reduced such that they are no longer effective for killing medium gunships and intercepting light gunships before they reach weapon range, making midrange fixed angle weapons the premier choice against medium - weight enemies like heavy gunships while retaining the ability to fight capital ships better than omni weapons and fight interceptors better than heavy weapons.
Basically, I'm saying that the APA is a good model for weapons of its class.
Edit:
Also, I’m sorry, Shrike. I’d started on that post before Atarlost had posted his own reply.
Ditto on that(though I started shortly after Atar's reply, of course).
Now, let's drop this and get back to the topic. What's everyone's opinion on the Uraks' weapon selection? Is the advanced Urak mass driver good enough for its level, and should the Urak howitzer get another buff or is it good as it is? Also, are standard Urak mass drivers used by their sentinels hit by the same problem as the Marauders' turbolaser cannons?
Also, should the Kiloton be buffed? It's a bit weak for a weapon with such heavy ammo, and the RDN definitely feels like a bit of a pushover now.
