The Barracuda Sky Torpedo

[Squidslinger Gilder]

That is an idea. A long range disabler. But there is already jack and hwacha for that. Do we need another? Ehh. Personally I'd rather have another piercing option and ship killer. Mostly because the medium flak just sucks.

[Mattilald Anguisad]

Problem with that combo is that one is very sfficcient at stripping armor and other extremely efficient at destroying permahull. So if it has to have both that it should be slow enough for players to be able to destroy one.

[James T. Kirk]

Hawcha?
A long range disabler?
Even with telling my gunner to bring heavy, I must be using mine wrong...

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Its medium-long but yeah you can get some very deadly hits at range with hwacha with a good gunner. Similar to the medium flak atm. Flak originally used to be like Merc shots. You could hit those things clear across the map easily before the nerf. So Barracudas would fit into these ranges but be capable of hitting in lumberjack range.

Mattilald that is the idea. Torpedoes would not be fast movers. The whole concept is having something that packs a punch but moves slow enough so that it is not super OP. Requires good awareness from pilots and also gunners to plan the trajectory of the torpedo.

All the weapons have some form of animation for reloading as well as firing. Can't just have a stack of tubes sitting there with only sounds to tell if its reloading. So really it would need a form of animation at least showing torpedoes being loaded. Which refers to the ammo box underneath idea with rotating barrels if you went with that approach. Or you'd just have a single box like turret with torpedo openings on the other end. Then when it reloads you see through cracks in the side of it, torpedoes being lifted and brought into position maybe being belt fed up from the ammo box.

[Pickle]

That is an idea. A long range disabler. But there is already jack and hwacha for that. Do we need another? Ehh. Personally I'd rather have another piercing option and ship killer. Mostly because the medium flak just sucks.

They're both medium.  There isn't a light option for disabling at long range.

The lack of an effective long-range piercing weapon in the medium category is perhaps a separate problem.  The Mercury already has this covered for the light weapon category.

[N-Sunderland]

There isn't a light option for disabling at long range.

The merc is a perfectly good disabler.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Yeah the merc is a fine disabler on the light gun mount. Currently what we have is a lot of mercs getting put onto galleons and spires for armor pen and disabling. Bringing in a medium mount armor piercer would open up a new build possibility. Hence what this is all about.

I've thought about like a giant ballista weapon for similar use but ultimately, it just doesn't excite me much in the end. Just mounting a huge crossbow with possible harpoon features. Just ehh. Harpoon physics as they are doesn't impress much either. So here is a solution. Sky Torpedoes.

[Pickle]

I'm not sure how anyone with a merc will disable a sniper with two (or now four) mercs camping at the end of a map.  The merc doesn't have the AoE general disabling abilities of the Hwacha or Lumberjack.  It will knock out one or two components, whereas the hwacha is good for disabling an opposing broadside plus any engines in view.

[Mattilald Anguisad]

I belive banshe is tehnicaly long, and I know Artemis is long range (Artemis has mere 25m less range than hawacha, withm much more accuracy). Beside mine launcher would probably have to be a heavy weapon, considering the range and dealyness (piercing-explosive combo).

[Captain Smollett]

Why not just give it impact damage like mines?  Then it can destroy everything.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

That is an idea. I'm just not sure if Muse is going to nerf mines or not. Right now they are literally a do everything weapon and I love them for it. Armor, disabling, flames...I'd love torpedoes to have this capability but mostly I want that piercing damage. Having a new weapon on medium mounts that does something different would be nice. So yeah, if it behaved like mines on impact, that would be awesome. I'd just wonder about balancing. But, with a slow fire rate, reload, and travel speed...ya know you got a point. Having that impact do everything damage on a torpedo would be sweet!

[Machiavelliest]

An aerial unguided torpedo is a rocket. An aerial guided torpedo is a missile (barring an in-depth technical discussion).  We're basically talking about a bigger Artemis, aren't we?

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Then just put a propeller on it if your stuck on that. Gah, you technical freaks and your refusal to ignore logic! 1...it needs to be big. 2...it needs to have a contrail when it fires so it looks cool. 3...it needs to make a large enough impact that captains will freak out and attempt to either shoot it down or evade. 4...Torpedo sounds a heck of a lot better than another plain rocket. 5...the Guns world doesn't make much sense anyways.

Think about the lore. WWI era did have torpedoes so what happens to all of them in this world? Get turned into sky torpedoes! The device could come from Arashi league or Anglean areas. Like someone took a big submarine torpedo, and converted it for aerial use. So its big, its long, slow traveling, and it packs a punch!

[HamsterIV]

Some what related to the guidance concept: What if the torpedo was guided by flares? If there are no flares in the air the torpedo flies strait. If there is one flare in the air within a 30 degree cone of the torpedo's forward vector, the torpedo will turn towards the flare. If there are multiple flares the torpedo turns towards the one most recently shot (hottest). This could lead to some interesting tactics like having a squid paint a target for a brace of torpedo's from a galleon, or shooting flares to distract a torpedo if it is inbound.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

But would heatseekers really fit in with the world? From what we've seen I'd say likely no. Why I was thinkin if there was a tracking capability, have them be magnetic. That would be a neat idea tho if they were combined with flares. You would suddenly have an all new purpose and reason for having flares.