Ball Turret

[Spud Nick]

I want to see a ship with one of these on the bottom.

[Cheeseycom]

That picture is all kinds of awesome 

Having a turret underneath a ship could potentially be useful, but if the turning ability is no better than a side-mounted gun (including how far it can tilt up and down), it doesn't add anything to the game - in fact, it could potentially make things worse if it ends up being more difficult to mount/dismount than a regular turret (which it might not, depends how it is implemented).

However, the limited turning ability of most guns is part of the game balancing - if you were able to plug any kind of gun into that thing and suddenly have an ultra-manoeuvrable version of it, it might create some balance issues.

You could possibly limit which guns are able to be used in that slot, but this still creates the possibility of a ship with no blind spot (although I know some of them do have rear turrets, so it might not be such a problem).

Perhaps a ship with only belly-mounted ball turrets? Much in the way that the Mobula is only able to attack from the front, this ship could only be able to attack targets that are below it.

It could potentially be quite interesting.. although once players are wise to its limitations, I foresee a lot of battles taking place at the maps ceiling cap.. so maybe not 

[Gambrill]

Flechette would become mandatory for your allied ship

[Captain Magellan]

At first EPIC idea, but would be a huge balance issue. Two of these with carronades could balloon lock from above and you would STAY balloon locked. I had a similar idea where a single medium gun (possible two, mounted on either the top or bottom) had a 360 degree turn radius. However, it could not have total free movement, because of the previously stated issue.

[Rainer Zu Fall]

Maybe design a large weapon (as we currently only have medium) and make them have 360° arc. Only new designed ships could use them. Could be balanced - except for the positioning point.

[JaegerDelta]

unless its mounted with a baloon popper, the enemy just flies to max altitude and its useless. and since enemies spawn far away from you, even if you manage to get a kill with it they just spawn and fly in at max altitude. its cool, but as it is currently airships only fight other airships so there is not really a use for it.

[Captain Dragonovich]

I think it could work, but having 360 degree mobility on a gun without the ship turning would definitely be a hard thing to balance out I can only imagine.

[WhiteWeasel]

Perhaps it can be balanced by making so that it cannot aim up (obviously) or down very well. A flattened doughnut shaped FOV, sorta like a 360 degree merc. field gun.

[Cheeseycom]

Or alternatively it could have the same limited turning arc of whatever gun is placed there, but a greater degree of vertical movement (at least, the ability to look almost straight down).. that way, it could be used for 'bombing runs'.

[treseritops]

Is there currently a way to override the turning arc of a gun? Is this even possible in the current mechanics of the game?

I think it would be a really cool addition to the game, especially at a time when people are calling for more disabling power. I think saying "Oh this would work really well" is a *good* thing. This gun would be pretty self-balancing because it would be stuck pointing downwards. You would need to always be above your enemy. Even if someone is at the same altitude you probably could only reach their hull, not aim fully up to the balloon.

[Eukari]

I think the biggest thing here is that it's so unique that it's almost too much. The nice thing about the game right now is that every light gun can go on every ship, and every heavy gun can go on any ship that can carry heavy guns. So if I don't like brawling, I can outfit my ship to be a sniper. If I love to pop balloons and destroy guns, I can do that, and I can do that on whatever ship I want. Now, not every strategy works for every ship, but it's still my choice.

This gun would change that- you'd always have to play this ship in one manner, where you get above the enemy and shoot down at them. And if they ever got above you, you'd lose access to your one claim to fame ... and that's not even mentioning how much a Blenderfish would ruin your day.

I think the concept of ball turrets are cool, and in a more three dimensional air combat game could work really well (I'd love to see a WWII-era fighter plane simulator that has you in a flying fortress), but Guns of Icarus is still too much about the horizontal. Vertical positioning is important, but the focus is still on forward/back and left/right- this gun wrecks the curve, and not in a way that screams "easily balanced" to me.

[JaegerDelta]

I think the biggest thing here is that it's so unique that it's almost too much. The nice thing about the game right now is that every light gun can go on every ship, and every heavy gun can go on any ship that can carry heavy guns. So if I don't like brawling, I can outfit my ship to be a sniper. If I love to pop balloons and destroy guns, I can do that, and I can do that on whatever ship I want. Now, not every strategy works for every ship, but it's still my choice.

This gun would change that- you'd always have to play this ship in one manner, where you get above the enemy and shoot down at them. And if they ever got above you, you'd lose access to your one claim to fame ... and that's not even mentioning how much a Blenderfish would ruin your day.

I think the concept of ball turrets are cool, and in a more three dimensional air combat game could work really well (I'd love to see a WWII-era fighter plane simulator that has you in a flying fortress), but Guns of Icarus is still too much about the horizontal. Vertical positioning is important, but the focus is still on forward/back and left/right- this gun wrecks the curve, and not in a way that screams "easily balanced" to me.

^ quoted for truth

now thats not to say a ship with a ball turret doesnt exist in world. they would be great for attacking a city or settlement, but we dont show any of that in game currently, it wouldnt be very appropriate to send a downward facing ball turret on a mission to attack only other airships, which is the part of the world the game currently depicts.

[Dutch Vanya]

GoIO actually slightly reminded me of the of bomber plane mission in the expansion of the first call of duty game. Always thought a multiplayer version of something like that would be cool.

[Spud Nick]

Maybe just a new heavy gun that would look like this. Perhaps it could do less damage than other guns but have more hp?