Lets Talk Gatling

[HamsterIV]

The problem with the Gatling is that new players don't know how to compensate for ship turning/movement and miss with what is arguably one of the easiest weapons in the game. The number of times I have watched a novice gunner dump a full clip of Gatling into the empty sky to the left or right of a target saddens me to no end. I think it has something to do with the tracers in client space not syncing with the tracers in server space.

[Omniraptor]

It's supposed to be difficult.. The problem is that it's counter-intuitive.

[Moike]

I think the Gatling is actually some of the most balanced it has been for a while - with a good Hades gunner it can be outdone at range.

Back when I started out I remember getting told to bring nothing but heavy clip, sitting on the Gatling and watching it literally shoot for miles. Let's not go back to that please 

[pandatopia]

The problem with the Gatling is that new players don't know how to compensate for ship turning/movement and miss with what is arguably one of the easiest weapons in the game. The number of times I have watched a novice gunner dump a full clip of Gatling into the empty sky to the left or right of a target saddens me to no end. I think it has something to do with the tracers in client space not syncing with the tracers in server space.

Tracers mean absolutely nothing yep.

Gatling projectiles are not projectiles - they are actually invisible just like carronade shots. The tracer shots are just a client artefact that does nothing but confuse.

[Lochiel]

I thought they addressed that a few patches back.

I stopped playing around then so I never saw how that worked out. Sounds like it didn't

[GeoRmr]

I thought they addressed that a few patches back.

I stopped playing around then so I never saw how that worked out. Sounds like it didn't

They made the tracers closer to what the weapon was doing, but didn't manage to completely fix it.

[Tanya Phenole]

Gilder each post of yours regarding balance is considerably more hilarious than the previous one
At this point I'm not even sure what game you're imagining you're playing while in GoIo.

A visual novel obviously  (please don't kill me for that joke)

From personal expierence of gatling engineer and anti-gatling hull healer, I may say that it is significantly skill-dependent gun, but it is not that obvious than with other guns. It is hard to understand difference   of missing 30/98 bullets and missing 15/98, especially with the community's erotic fetish of pyramidions, but once you meet a decent junker/galleon, difference shows itself.
Gatling does not really need a change. Since I got a brief knowledge of game's history, the gun been changed multiple times, and it is came to the point where the gun should be left on it's position.

But I feel like there is great potential of introducing new ammo types. Currently, Gatling is used with heavy or greased ammo. If we think of an ammo type, which will work on gat as well, we may get more gunners on this position. That is the way to rebalance the gun, but the direct changes of gat are really unnecessary 

[obliviondoll]

Just FYI, greased does the same total damage as normal, with the caveat that it expends the clip faster.

That is the only benefit of greased rounds.

Increased DPS means less delay before the explosions start eating hull instead of armour.

Gatling BY ITSELF is a pretty weak gun because it can't hurt much other than armour.

Gatling in a bifecta with anything capable of significant hull damage is absolutely devastating.

[Piemanlives]

I did actually include repairs when I said that. The thing is you won't get more than 1 mallet hit in before the gatling has finished it's clip so to double check my math, figure out how much damage a gat can do in 1 clip (dmgpshot * shotsinclip) and compare it to the armor of whatever you're shooting at (add in the repair power for a mallet if you want).

This may sound insulting but using a mallet to fight a gatling is kind of idiotic, while if you take into account ammo types they can take down armor quicker, using the spanner as the repair tool allows for a more consistent repair and stave off complete armor degradation long enough for them to waste the clip, and if need be because of the short cool down you can pop the mallet in an emergency.

[pandatopia]

This may sound insulting but using a mallet to fight a gatling is kind of idiotic, while if you take into account ammo types they can take down armor quicker, using the spanner as the repair tool allows for a more consistent repair and stave off complete armor degradation long enough for them to waste the clip, and if need be because of the short cool down you can pop the mallet in an emergency.

I don't understand your statement, and it is a bit insulting (even though I don't think i'm the person you're responding to XD).

It is without a doubt a fact that mallet is the most efficient repair tool, time wise.

Repairing is also a commutative action, namely mallet then spanner = spanner then mallet.

I want to also point out a corollary to this: mallet allows you 9 (-whatever seconds it takes to breach hull) seconds to run around, spanner effectively gives you ZERO seconds to run around, since there isn't enough turnaround time on any ship to hit something else then come back.

These are the rules.

Now, if what you're saying is "pad the gatling strip with spanner until you can mallet with 100% efficiency" then yes, I agree with you. Theoretically the maximum time you can buy with efficiency is spanner -> wrench -> mallet given general gunner accuracy/greased use. However, the engie is rarely going to have all 3 tools. So you go spanner -> spanner -> mallet.

If what you're saying is "pad the gatling strip with spanner until 1% hull then mallet" then I will have to completely disagree with you.

One - Once overflow is out of the question, if you do 4 spanner hits you are already losing in efficiency (yes timewise) to a mallet.

Two - If you have enough time to pad out excess spanners, you could have appended those to the end of the mallet and have the same net repair amount -  in fact, if you had taken those spanners out and double mallet hit instead - you'd be WAY ahead on hp repaired.

Three - if you misjudge the lower the hull goes the more chance they will breach the hull, and then its all over. High risk, low reward.

[Alistair MacBain]

He got a point.
When you want to keep up your armor against a gatling or any other oneclipkill weapon (hades) the only way to keep it alive is to keep hitting it with a spanner aslong as possible. Save the mallet for the last possible second. That way you might have a chance to not get oneclipped by a gat.
Assuming he is hitting correct aka armor and no components.
Atleast for a pyra. Even a buffed one ...

When you use a mallet you will surely loose your armor if hes not missing half his clip. With spanner you might survive it without a armorbreak.
Which is the only way the engineer can fight metamidions cause mortar will surely kill you before you can rebuild.

[Piemanlives]

-Snip-

No, the point is to hold the hull as long as possible, against the gatling alone you should be able to hold it for a period of time, it can and will breach it eventually, that's not the point, you hold against that gatling until a change in environment allows you to do something else.

So in response to specific points:

1. Considering the mallets superior repair ability, of course it'll out class the spanner (Which is used for rebuilds) in time and investment that you could be spending elsewhere, while the armor is slowly and surely being stripped faster than you can repair it, it's meant to extend the time between mallet swings, if they are necessary at all, I find it often that the gatling is impacting components which in a way shields the hull from fragments of damage for a time.

2. Honestly, I believe opening with a mallet swing while more immediately against the gatling is more damaging in the long run, opening with the spanner allows a greater deal of flexibility, which includes, and more likely will lead to a mallet swing.

3. That's a risk someone has to be willing to make, though it's not one you should rely on 24/7, hell I would advocate avoiding doing so whenever possible. If you are taking increasing damage against the gatling the possibility of missing a last minute mallet hit increases, it's something I try to avoid when I engineer and something I work to prevent when I pilot.

Again, if there is a gat you should probably do something to disable their ability use it, whether it be taking down the gun or moving out of arc something has to be done, you shouldn't be sitting there taking the damage if you can help it.

[Omniraptor]

You guys (except alistair) are agreeing. Optimal repair of armor is 2-3 spanner hits (padding), then a mallet swing at full efficiency, then go do something else (or not). Certainly don't wait until last second to use mallet, use mallet as soon as there's a large enough dent in armor (but not sooner).

[Crafeksterty]

That depends on the speed of the armor draining or the armor you are repairing.

On junkers and galleons, you may just have enough time to put 2 maximum gain mallets in
while on pyras and on, the mallet cooldown wouldnt hold up against good shots. So its better to spanner in the last second of armor.

Again, it still depends on ship, armor, ammount of piercing taken and high level play.
So its very hard to tell an early mallet will be good or a late mallet.