A new gun idea: The Mortar (but ya know, one that actually shoots like a mortar)

[Locutus of borg]

Hey guys, so as I was shooting a lumberjack the other day on a spire the thought occurred to me that they call this a heavy mortar but if you think about it, it shoots a lot more like a cannon.  Now I might be pulling this out of thin air but i'm pretty sure mortars are suppose to shoot above 45 degrees, so my thought: a gun that is ACTUALLY a mortar. 

The gun would have a maximum downward of arc of 45 degrees above horizontal (it always points up).  Obviously the gunner would not be staring straight into the sky, (that would be kind of dumb) but rather, straight ahead with a sight similar to that of an LJ, accept with range indicators next to the notches (calibrated for vanilla rounds) to help the gunner. So in essence from the perspective of the gunner it would be similar to aiming any other gun except when you fire the rounds they go "up" instead of out.  I think the gun could fire either a banshee like clip or a burst similar to that of a hwatcha.  The idea of all this being that you shoot a gun that actually fires like a mortar with high arcing shells raining down terror from above.  I think this could have a few benefits, first among which, it would make the range finder a necessity on all ships carrying this gun, since a lot of people complain about it being useless, a gun with unintuitive arcs and aiming completely dependent on range would certainly increase the utility of the range finder tool. It could also create some fun piloting techniques as captains use hydrogen to quickly ascend after watching a burst launch from an enemy ship in order to dodge the barrage.

My thought was mainly coming from the perspective of "hmmm wouldn't this be a really fun thing to shoot" and balance is not my strong suit.  Id be interested to hear you-all's thoughts on what sort of damage might be appropriate and at what sort of ranges.  I thought impact damage could be cool since its not used much and it would be effective against many different parts of the ship, seeing as gunner's would most likely not be so ambitious as to aim for a particular component but rather just try their darndest to hit the ship.  I could also see the gun being effective all the way from 10m (look out for friendly fire) to say roughly 800m (btw i cant remember if the game uses meters or feet, i could mean feet)  Its weakness of course would be difficulty of operation requiring coordination between crew-mates and perhaps some simple arithmetic to recalibrate the sight mentally should you want to use lesmok or greased rounds (but with my math skills i think I would stick to burst)

Anyway, my main thought was just that I think it could really cool to have a gun that actually fires like a mortar as it would be something manifestly different from everything else you shoot in game, and these are just a few thoughts on how it could be done, I would love to hear what you guys think,

Thanks 

[DaOrks]

The lumberjack is more or less a howitzer. (Cannon = Straight, Mortar = Way up, Howitzer = Way up but less than a Mortar)

A more mortary mortar would be fun, Dakka from above. Although I will say if you made like it a real-life mortar it would fire moronically high, as in rounds would almost always land at such an angle as to hit the balloon. (Ignoring the Mobula obviously)

[Locutus of borg]

Maybe it could have flachette primary damage and shatter aoe, so you could rain down ballon death from above and get some components with aoe (like engine on a junker or squid, pesky front guns on a pyra, literally everything on a mobula)

[Daft Loon]

It could have a proximity trigger and very high aoe making it fire somewhat like aggressive use of the minelauncher, trying to land shots behind,beside and in front of the target and avoiding tying its use to damage from above.

Learning to hit targets high above (while not looking directly at them) and far below (by allowing the shot to drop all the way) would be great fun. Hitting things out of line of sight already is with the current lumberjack and would be more so with a proper mortar.

[Richard LeMoon]

Make the secondary damage Impact and give it force like mines and Mino. This would push enemies straight down. Or, it could do primary impact and push enemies up as well.

Should have a long arming time so it does not do its main damage until falling.

Also, I would make it fire one round that flies up, airbursts at apex, and rains down multiple high-damage, high proximity radius shells over a wide area. So, long range mine launcher-ish that could hit multiple enemies at once. Sounds like a good candidate for a heavy gun. Just for fun, add in a built in flare that always falls in the exact center and lasts a few seconds to help adjust your aim for the next shot.

[ShadedExalt]

Slow speed, loud whistle as it falls, satisfying thump when you fire.

Pushing enemies down with primary impact (not a lot) is a great idea, and it should have tons of shatter with a wide AoE for secondary.

[Locutus of borg]

could be great for attacking points too (especially in desert scrap) and flying against a ship wielding such a weapon would certainly encourage movement instead of just stationary shootouts in dessert scrap

could also be an awesome combo with the LJ, pop the balloon and then force the ship into the ground.

 

[Helios.]

the mine launcher's effective range is modified by the speed fo the projectile and the arming time, using this kind of nuanced modification, where the mortar came down could be modified by using faster or slower ammo. the slower ammo woudl make a shorter arc, so come down closer, the faster ones would make a longer, taller arc, and come down further away. if you aim it lower it would also affect the shape of the arc to make it come down further away, similarly aiming it upwards would tighten up the arc, bringing the final resting place of the shell closer to your ship.

no matter how you slice it though, this is going to be a really really hard weapon to hit with without a LOOOOOT of practice