Field Gun v1.3.1 Discussion

[awkm]

I made one for you.

[N-Sunderland]

The new merc is nice. The lowered projectile speed combined with the changes to lesmok make it considerably harder to use. It's much more interesting now. And, of course, quad mercs lose so much power from the changes. It's all looking very good to me.

[Captain Smollett]

Yeah I like the merc changes, seem pretty good to me.

[dragonmere]

The optimal arc range for a merc on the top left of the pyramidion is; balloon-armor beak tip to front nose tip (where people play "Titanic"), and between the two ropes. Thought I'd pass this along.

I have no outright problems with the changes to field gun. Quite enjoy it, really. The only concern I have is that with the tiny arc-range, this weapon now becomes a bit more about the captains ability to keep an enemy in the tiny box, as opposed to the gunner's ability to lead shots and aim for components. In short, my merc seems as effective as it always has been, but I find that I get hit by an enemy's quite rarely.

[N-Sunderland]

Yeah, the one gripe I have with the changes is that the downward arc reduction is a bit excessive.

[awkm]

This is a repost of something on MAPS.  Serenum said the following about Field Gun changes and below that is my response.

It was fine as it [Field Gun] was.
Sniping was a greatly exaggerated problem, you only need a working brain to deal with it. But no. Whiners win.

You know, I would agree with you here.  To be blatantly honest, the Field Gun has been the bane of my existence since this game went into beta.  It's had so many problems.  It's been literally on the razor's edge since it's inception.  Even without any changes for the past 3 months (let's not count penetration testing since it never made it to production) there's another sudden outburst where there was not a day that went by where we had tons of emails complaining specifically about this gun.  That doesn't even include the banter that goes on here on the forum.

Still, I ignored it also because I thought it was totally fine.

However, during a pickup match with devs my team was completely disabled and kept at bay.  Granted my team didn't have the best overall loadout to deal with the situation, we knew what we had to do and it was very very difficult doing it.  Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have cared because we might have been playing against an organized team.  However, we release passwords to our locked pickup games on global chat and it fills up very very quickly.  I don't believe the enemy ships played together much, if at all, previously.

What this shows that is it's possible for relatively new players to get on a dbl Field Gun Pyramidion and completely suck the fun out for the opposing team.  For us devs, knowing exactly what was happening, it was pretty aggravating.  Imagine how that would feel for an average player or a newbie?  I bet they'd feel helpless and that's not the kind of game I want to make.  I want to have it so with a little planning, you'll a variety of options available to you to deal with the situation.

Veteran players will always expose the nastiest of metas and give me a big headache.  That's fine, though.  Most of the time these strategies do require a lot of work and coordination, but they are evidence that smaller work can be done to mitigate them if they're being pulled off that consistently (by no means am I not recognizing the skill and coordination that veterans have, I just want to give them something fresh to work with).  However, once the metas start trickling down to new players and they can pull them off relatively easily too then that's a good indication of something being unbalanced.  This past few weeks we had TGS/Polaris videos go up and a ton of people in the game.  Even anecdotal evidence from our Teachers claimed that Field Gun was a go to meta and was extremely deadly as soon as had the right loadout and minor coordination.  Not good.

So that's what happened.  Whiners only give me part of the equation and without trickle down confirmation whiners rarely win.

[Zenark]

I haven't shot the new merc, but as a pilot, I had to really communicate with my gunnery find the new arcs. I wouldn't say it's hard to keep the arc pointed towards the enemy, and the range nerf didn't look that bad either (level three gungineer was using it fine). The one shot lesmok change is harsh, but honestly seems fair as well.

So, from a pilots standpoint, it looks pretty balanced, it just requires more coordination now. So far, I like the changes.

[Mr. Ace Rimmer]

As a merc gunner, and a relative newb, I have to say I agree with the nerf. When I found myself landing 7 out of 8 shots onto the enemy well out  of their firing range, I knew something was up. I'm having to re-adjust to the new arc and the projectile speed drop but all in all I think it is a balanced nerf.

[Letus]

I am relatively mixed with it.  I'll just say it...I feel like there is less of a counter for an expertise Lumberjack gunner than before....I feel safer knowing all I have to do is below them a bit.

In the other fact, I enjoy it.  It basically makes the gunner a good option for a field cannon.  With the newer arc, the slower speed, and the lack of aiming down, there are enough shots out there to help you out, your current trouble is going to be your own skill.  For example, maybe the enemy ship is just out of your arc for whatever component you want down...well...perhaps incendiary rounds would make your arc drop faster, as the shot is slower, and hit where you want (also fire.)

The fix still keeps the gun a nasty long-range punch, but it also makes it easier to counter.

[Piemanlives]

I personally don't mind the changes to the Howitzer, it's still a fairly effective weapon in the right hands with the right ammo.

[Thaago]

I think the changes are extremely good, though I was not using Lesmock so can't comment on that.

Engineering on a Junker with 1 side double mercury: it was an effective support platform at range when we were parked. Not crippling, but with communication with our captain we could lay down a pretty steady fire. If we moved at all, our hit rate at long range went down to maybe 1/8. The guns were completely useless at close range - once the enemy team found out they pressured us and we had to switch completely to the brawling side.

This is IMO exactly as it should be.

My only complaint is that the lack of downward arc ruined a completely ridiculous Mobula build that RomanKar had developed. It was so horrendously effective that it probably would have been meta in like a week .

[N-Sunderland]

Yeah, as I said 5 degrees might be overkill. Boosting it up to 10 would still leave it at the level of the carronade, so you'd still be able to shoot stuff slightly below you. As it is now, they need to be level with or above the merc.

[Zenark]

Oh yes, Roman introduced me to his Mobula and I fell in love with it. The new merc makes the setup tougher in closer ranges, but that's the whole point, so..... I think the merc is just right

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Not really happy with it. The nerf on it's range kinda makes countering extreme range jackers impossible. The rest of the nerf is fine but it didn't need a range cut. Think if this was combined with a lumberjack nerf, it would be great. Make it so their shells only go a similar distance. Will completely remove extreme range engagements from the game.

[Letus]

Actually, I am beginning to like using the Merc more now with the fix...well using...
It's really fun to watch an incendiary shot land right where you wanted it to on a ship that was out of your arc....the projectile is still practically unlimited, the difference is how you aim.

And I just love watching shots arc down into ships...something just feels so right when you watch projectile hit target, but I guess I'm just an old Tribes 2 fan....