[Weapon idea] Light Howitzer

[ZnC]

Fires a single round that releases a large amount of shrapnel on impact. Effective against Hull and Balloon.

I thought it would be interesting to have a long range harass weapon that won't do as much flechette as the Lumberjack or Carronades, but will slowly wear down Balloons. It wouldn't be an instant disable, but ignoring it will kill you fast due to its shrapnel mechanic.

This is, of course, inspired by the Howitzer.

Overview

• A harass weapon against Balloon and Hull at long range.
• You can also use it close range, but it does not have as much firepower as other close range weapons.
• Releases a large amount of shrapnel at point of impact, slightly similar to the Carronades' buckshot.
• Incendiary Rounds work great for shrapnel.
• Poor horizontal angles would make it mostly for forward facing mounts.

Gun Statistics

• Direct: 100 Explosive
• Burst: 75 Flechette
• Effective Vs. Hull, Balloon
• Rate of Fire: 0.8
• Reload Speed: 0.14
• Magazine Size: 2
• Projectile Speed: 400-600 m/s
• Projectile Drop: Mediocre
• Range: about 1k

• Shrapnels: 25

• Horizontal Angles: Mediocre
• Upward Angles: Good
• Downward Angles: Poor
• Rotation Speed: Low

Ammo Types

• Incendiary Rounds - Works on every shrapnel. Would benefit this under-used ammo type a lot.
• Charged Rounds - This is an option, but remember it has mediocre damage and a significant reload.
• Lesmok Rounds - Because of the low clip size you won't use Lesmok often.

I envision the Light Howitzer as a weapon to harass long range ships (e.g. Mobulas) as you approach them. Let me know if you find that this idea has potential, or even if it's just bad.

Zanc

[BlackenedPies]

I always liked the idea of a flechette explosive weapon. Merc howitzer pyra meta!

[Hoja Lateralus]

• A harass weapon against Balloon and Hull at long range.
• You can also use it close range, but it does not have as much firepower as other close range weapons.

Yay, because that's what we want more in GOIO: baloon killers and sniper battles.
Also, wouldn't a gun effective against baloon and hull be OP?

[Koali]

YO EVERYONE GUESS WHAT THE MERC WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED A HOWITZER

*Cough.*

Anyway, I like the idea.

[ZnC]

Yay, because that's what we want more in GOIO: baloon killers and sniper battles.
Also, wouldn't a gun effective against baloon and hull be OP?

Not if the damage is low enough. The only flechette weapons currently are the Lumberjack and Carronades, both are really quick balloon poppers and suppression. The key feature of this gun is the sharpnel effect, making it punishing if the engineers do not extinguish the large amount of incendiary sharpnel. I imagine this would force ships like the Mobula or Galleon to have to spend more time repairing instead of firing away freely.

I don't think it would be a sniper weapon because it is mid range (about 1k), has limited horizontal angles, and doesn't have enough insta-disable sniper weapons need. Contrary to that, it is an anti-sniper weapon for ships that want to approach (i.e. Squid, Pyra, Junker).

[c-ponter]

Cool idea but you mentioned using incendiary over long range, would that not make it  incredibly hard to hit (or easy to dodge) Because of the lowered projectile speed?

[ZnC]

Cool idea but you mentioned using incendiary over long range, would that not make it  incredibly hard to hit (or easy to dodge) Because of the lowered projectile speed?

That is why I want it to have relatively high base projectile speed (about 500m/s). With Incendiary it is lowered to 350m/s, same as the Light Flak.
Remember this is a mid-range harass weapon, not a sniper range weapon like the Mercury, Lesmok Lumberjack, or Artemis. I'll reword my post - it is misleading when I say long range, I don't mean sniper range (>1.5k).

It shouldn't be as hard to hit as a Heavy Flak, but not as easy as a Merc. I guess it would be similar to the projectile of the Light Flak but with significant shell drop.

P.S. Can't edit my older posts :C

[MidnightWonko]

I'll have to plug those numbers into my spreadsheet when I get home to see how it compares to other weapons.

Unless someone beats me to it.

[ZnC]

@Midnight: The numbers are approximate and I've already changed them slightly, but I can't edit the main post. With my own spreadsheets I carefully calculated them so it's close to what I hope to achieve.

Hope you enjoy the comparison and the idea.

[MidnightWonko]

@Midnight: The numbers are approximate and I've already changed them slightly, but I can't edit the main post. With my own spreadsheets I carefully calculated them so it's close to what I hope to achieve.

Hope you enjoy the comparison and the idea.

Oh yeah, you're the guy who helped me by pointing out a minor oversight in the equation I was using to calculate DPS!  Thanks again for that!

I still wanna plug those numbers in my spreadsheet, though.

[MidnightWonko]

Gun Statistics

• Direct: 100 Explosive
• Burst: 75 Flechette
• Effective Vs. Hull, Balloon
• Rate of Fire: 0.8
• Reload Speed: 0.14
• Magazine Size: 2
• Projectile Speed: 400-600 m/s
• Projectile Drop: Mediocre
• Range: about 1k

How is that red part supposed to work?  I've only ever seen reload stats listed in reload time.  I don't know how reload speed translates to reload time.

[ZnC]

Reload time = 1 / Reload Speed

So 0.14 reload speed is about 7 seconds reload.

[MidnightWonko]

Ah, okay.

In that case, this weapon would be slightly stronger than the Banshee and slightly weaker than the Hades against balloons, and almost the same power as an Artemis against hulls.  This is considering DPS only, and I do recognize that you're building this weapon around the concept of its flight mechanics and possible spike damage rather than damage per second.  25 particles with incendiary modifiers means 25 20% chances to cause fire; this works out to an average of 5 stacks of fire per shot, or 10 fires in a matter of less than two seconds.

I'm guessing you expect the particles to spray perhaps in all directions?  Perhaps within a cone based on the original projectile's flight path?  5 stacks of fire SEEMS pretty dangerous, though if those 5 stacks are spread around different components (or possible a few flew away from the ship, igniting nothing at all), then it doesn't sound too bad.

Actually, how DO you envision the particles' flight after the original projectile impacts with the target?

[ZnC]

You brought up something interesting because I actually wanted about 10 stacks of fire per shot.

It seems this weapon does damage in two parts - the shrapnel round which does direct damage and the fragments which would do the burst portion. When I calculated the values for fragments and incendiary rounds, I mistakenly doubled the fire chance for direct damage, not taking into account the single shrapnel round. If that is the case, the amount of fragments should be increased.

The fragments should spread forward in the direction of fire, causing most, if not all of them to hit the target.
However, these are details that require balance testing for a period of time.

[macmacnick]

There WAS going to be a heavy howitzer, as a huge-ass gun. Here's a picture:

(Subtext: It Kills Villages...)