Kestril's ideas on a short-ranged heavy piercing weapons

[Kestril]

It's been noted that there is a significant gap--the lack of piercing heavy weapons-- that needs to be addressed. While I don't know if muse is planning on implementing one soon, I figure I'd put all my ideas on one place and see what I can come up with. The aim is to have these weapons be unique in and of themselves, be fun to shoot, as well as be fun to play against. I'll probably do another one of these threads for long-range piercing weapons when i get the chance. Anyways, here goes:


Zeus Kinetic Silver Cannon
Max range with standard ammo: medium
Optimal range for standard ammo: close
Primary Damage: Piercing (medium)
Secondary Damage: Piercing (high)
Projectile speed: medium.
Projectile arc: a low arc, perhaps even lower than the  heavy flak.

Turret horizontal arc: Limited
Turret vertical arc: Normal
Gun tracking speed: medium.
Clipsize: 1-2
Reload speed: low-medium.

When fired, the Zeus unleashes one giant slug of kinetic silver capable of shredding through the hull armor. However, after a certain range the projectile will deteriorate, and only deal the weapon's primary damage. In essence, this weapon has a "reverse arming time." As a visual indicator of when this weapon becomes less effective, the projectile will cease to leave a silvery trail when it passes into medium range, and ceases to deal it's secondary damage.




Moros autogun
Max range with standard ammo: short-medium
Optimal range for standard ammo: close
Primary Damage: Piercing (low-medium)
Secondary Damage: Impact (low) (If impact is not possible, then perhaps shatter like the Gatling)
Projectile speed: medium-fast; (Just slower than the light flak), this weapon is not a hitscan weapon
Projectile arc: No arc to the projectiles.
Rate of fire: Medium.

Turret horizontal arc: Normal
Turret vertical arc: Normal
Gun tracking speed: slow.
Clipsize: 15-20
Reload speed: slow.
Spread of projectiles: high.

The Moros fires heavy rounds with a wide spread. Under sustained fire, these projectiles could push an enemy ship around. However, the mass of the projectiles makes the gun track very slowly, so it requires teamwork and a good gunner to land these shots.

Tesla Coil
Max range with standard ammo: short
Optimal range for standard ammo: short
Primary Damage: Piercing (low)
Secondary Damage: Fire (low-medium)
Projectile speed: Hitscan
Spread: Wide (carronade wide)
Rate of fire: Fast. (Gatling fast!)

Turret horizontal arc: Normal
Turret vertical arc: Normal
Gun tracking speed: Normal
Clipsize: medium-large
Reload speed: medium
Spread of projectiles: Very high

When fired, a deluge of static electricity will rake across the enemy's ship, stripping off armor extremely quickly and igniting fires. While it's not too difficult to shoot, it requires a crafty captain to get in close. This gun energizes particularly well with the banshee carousel, and would be great to mount on a goldfish.

[Omniraptor]

A medium piercing weapon would make goldfish extremely strong, which I think is good but not everyone might agree.

[Zander Broda]

i really like the idea of the airgun, anything that moves ships around is awesome in my book.


i've had an idea for a heavy weapon for some time, might as well post it...

basically its a heavy flame thrower, but its a liquid, a thermite hose if you will, it only goes forward a little bit, maybe even less than the flame thrower, but it arcs down, so if you are above them you can shoot a ship below you pretty easily. It'd deal fire and piercing damage. on a goldfish it'd allow more ramming, and on the side of a galleon it could pair with a hwacha for a close range brawling kill.

due to its extremely short range it shouldn't imbalance the heavy(medium?) weapons, and because of its downward arc to adds something newish to the game.

[Omniraptor]

Sounds a lot like the hades. kind of an artemis/hwacha parallel.

[Milevan Faent]

I hope they fix that soon. It's kind of annoying that everyone has become confused about the Medium weapons. The game has no Heavy weapons yet. That said, this is a nice concept.

[Buchou]

My biggest problem with this is that to compensate for close-rangedness, damage needs to be increased. With the amount of weapons that do explosive damage that can be paired with a piercing medium gun, this makes killing far too easy and quick IMO. Paired with a hwacha or even a loch flak on a galleon for quick kills that previously would have taken time with Gatling gun or hades as well. Goldfishes could easily strip armor in a short time then deliver an easy ram kill. Spires could become devastating at close ranges with 2 forward mounted mortars and a close range medium weapon.

I'm only criticizing, though. There is definitely a lot of merit to this idea, but you have to consider the possible reasons as to why this hasn't been done yet. I'm sure there is an easy compromise that will allow this kind of weapon to be balanced vs other close ranged builds.

Edit: This whole thing got me thinking, though. Dreaming weapons up is fun, I'll admit.

How about a high risk, high reward gun that expends it's entire clip in a single shot but has a lengthy reload. I imagined a gun that had barrels arranged in a circle and each fired a round in sequence so you ended firing a circle of projectiles that almost all hit at the same time. If they all hit, it would guarantee armor was destroyed, but if a few missed then the armor would remain intact (but very low). Allows for fun insta-kills on certain ships when paired with the right weapons and ammo, but takes a lot of skill to use this way.

Or maybe this. How about a weapon that deals moderate piercing damage up close, but once it reaches an "arming range", the projectile explodes, dealing fire/explosive damage in a radius instead. I have a feeling this idea might be way too overpowered unless the damage it dealt was not very high or it was hard to aim.

[Kestril]

My biggest problem with this is that to compensate for close-rangedness, damage needs to be increased. With the amount of weapons that do explosive damage that can be paired with a piercing medium gun, this makes killing far too easy and quick IMO. Paired with a hwacha or even a loch flak on a galleon for quick kills that previously would have taken time with Gatling gun or hades as well. Goldfishes could easily strip armor in a short time then deliver an easy ram kill. Spires could become devastating at close ranges with 2 forward mounted mortars and a close range medium weapon.

Yeah, I'm aware. I've been trying to copensate for that by by making the guns hard-to-use in some way. The limited arc or the extremely short range, for instance.  As for the goldfish, I think it needs a little buff as far as killing power goes.  Right now, it's primarily a disabling and support ship,  which is okay, but I think the goldfish needs a few more options.

How about a high risk, high reward gun that expends it's entire clip in a single shot but has a lengthy reload. I imagined a gun that had barrels arranged in a circle and each fired a round in sequence so you ended firing a circle of projectiles that almost all hit at the same time. If they all hit, it would guarantee armor was destroyed, but if a few missed then the armor would remain intact (but very low). Allows for fun insta-kills on certain ships when paired with the right weapons and ammo, but takes a lot of skill to use this way.

That's the niche I wanted the Zeus to fill. The 2-shot high-risk/reward weapon.

[Buchou]

Whoops, I read your "reload speed" as "reload time"