Making the rangefinder useful

[michael.hauda]

So most of us hate that tool, why? first half the noobs take it and second it doesn't do squat for most ships, my solution is to add another heavy gun to the game.
we have a heavy mortar and a normal mortar but neither is a mortar, neither fires in a high arc (80 degrees) with the intent of hitting a distant target (LJ targeting the guy above them doesn't count), and the mercury doesn't fire that way (resembling a howitzer it should fire in a high as hell arc but it doesn't to play on the sniper fanboys that are among us)
so how about this;
Howitzer
Range 1,700
Size, Heavy
Damage (prim) 75 Explosive
Damage (sec)  400 Shatter
Burst Radius, 6
Projectile Speed, 300m/s
Clip size, 1
Reload time, 5 Seconds
Arc top to bottom 80-25
Arc left to right 20-20
ok, I know it looks unbalanced mostly due to a lack of additional drop, honestly I'm not savvy enough to do those calculations, the idea is to have the drop be so bad that you need to aim mostly up to hit targets at the maximum distance, with a distance this large and you only getting one shot you can have a crewmate use a range finder which will show you the arc of fire from the gun to the ground (the projectile never self detonates, it must hit ship or ground) also the fact that the shell will be hitting from above ideally means that the high shatter damage shouldn't be too debilitating but noticeable due to balloons taking the brunt of the impact at least half the time, also like the mine launcher I'd enable friendly fire (and self harm) with it to avoid people using it at closerange too much (I hate arming times and these sorts of artillery shells wouldn't have them)

I think it fills a long range indirect fire support role well with damn good disabling of guns and engines and it has STYLE lol, and good gunners wouldn't end up needing the rangefinder after enough time with the gun in play because they rock like that, also this gun is an awesome gun for spires and gives the goldfish a new gun that I think would be viable and yeah I like it, feel free to give input

[Zirilfer]

I think the biggest weakness of the ultra high arc gun idea is that all ships except the mobula can balloon block, so anything except flechette is useless without massive AoE. This is probably why the lumberjack is the only gun with high arcs at the moment.

[Crafeksterty]

People wont be using range finder anyway.

Most gunners that ive played with are just so good that they dont need help to determine their arcs.
The range finder doesnt exactly help them, it just helps newbies learn a gun.

For example, the hades+Lumberjack cheat sheet steam guides i made. You can use the range finder with those guides to better use those guns, but by the time you are used to it you will no longer see yourself using the range finder.

Same thing will happen with this gun. Lumberjack allready fits in the role of aiming up high. I mean no wonder it can aim up directly. But gunners (the class) have access to lesmok and lochnagar+greased for the different ranges it is at.



But your trying to fix the rangefinder with another gun. Not the best way to do it.
Tbh no one has really used the rangefinder anyway but its uselessnes does shine when you could have had a spyglass. Biggest problem with the range finder is that one needs to be looking at the ship gunners are firing at to give the help they need but even the gun indication is not super accurate.

The most usefull feature on the Rangefinder is the distance between you and the enemy ship. Would be best if the rangefinder can tap like a spyglass on an allready spotted ship and it will give players the enemies distance constantly without bringing the rangefinder up again.

[Indreams]

The most usefull feature on the Rangefinder is the distance between you and the enemy ship. Would be best if the rangefinder can tap like a spyglass on an allready spotted ship and it will give players the enemies distance constantly without bringing the rangefinder up again.

This is exactly what I was going to post. Salute!

Once the ship is marked, it should be open to the range finder to re-mark it.

The ship often needs all four crews doing something: shooting, repairing, piloting, spraying and buffing. It sucks when the Range Finder locks you down.

[Dementio]

Range finder was never intented to be useful. As far as I understand it was only made so gunners can teach themselves when to use lesmok rounds on a lumberjack or how high to aim with the hades when the enemy is this far away. It is purposfully made to be a completely useless tool as it only serves for gunners to practise aiming, a person that can already do that will not need a range finder. The circle the range finder creates was supposed to assist with aiming, but apparantly nobody really knows how that circle works.

But yes, I am also for this:

The most usefull feature on the Rangefinder is the distance between you and the enemy ship. Would be best if the rangefinder can tap like a spyglass on an allready spotted ship and it will give players the enemies distance constantly without bringing the rangefinder up again.

But considering it was only made for gunners, I am not sure if it locks down a gunner who is already locked down at his own gun. It would slow him down at best, but he can bring up the range during reloads and look at the enemy movement on the map for a second to adapt his aiming.

[Sammy B. T.]

As others have stated the range finder sits in an awkward paradox.

If you don't have the skill to know the ranges largely by visual, you probably don't have the skill to use the guns at such range.
If you have the skill to use guns at such range, you probably have the skill to know the range visually.

Rangefinder basically needs to be able to spot but then spyglass would need some sort of minor buff as well.

[Omniraptor]

I dunno, I think even an experienced player can benefit from rangefinder when assisting a carronade. When 2 blenders are charging at each other, both trying to shoot each other's gun, it can help to know the instant you're in range.

[Crafeksterty]

That is a tactic that ive used a few times with BlenderFish.

And that is the third unmentioned feature, the display of maximum range.
Which is mostly useable for weapons with short range.


But still, no one really took the time to use the range finder proper. Like do newbies on a gun that they havent fired before, hit more if you help them out with range finder?
Will your shortrange weapons start firing at the correct range if you have rangefinder? Will that win you the brawl?
Will it make sniping easier regardless of crew?

But then again, using it is a neusance. I have to have it zoomed in to work.
And the only class that can spend time using the thing is Captains. But then they loose a slot for another tool.
The only ships that allow a crew to have one is Goldfish.

However zooming in on the ship does automaticly encourage seeing exactly what the enemy crew is doing inside their own ship. Which can be abused for somekind of an advantage. Are they all hauled up at hull? 2 on guns? Are they repairing? Pilot isnt on helm!