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Gameplay / Gunner vs. Buff Engi on Heavy Carronade
« on: April 01, 2016, 01:02:08 am »
Is a gunner still necessary on a blenderfish, or is the heavy carronade now just another buff-engi gun?
Before the 1.4.5 patch, lochnagar was almost necessary on a heavy carronade so a gunner was a must. With loch now nonviable on the carronade though, is taking a gunner really that helpful? With a gunner, you obviously gain access to the two additional ammo types past charged and gunner stamina. So therein lies two questions:
1. Are the additional ammo types helpful?
2. Is gunner stamina helpful?
For the first question, I can see situations where heavy, incendiary, and heatsink all have their uses, but I'm not sure the advantages justify taking a gunner over an engi with charged. For the second, I believe only the effects of stamina on vertical arcs are relevant (reload speed and horizontal arcs probably don't matter much). However, if I'm understanding the wiki correctly, stamina adds +40% to vertical arcs, which is only an additional 4 degrees down and 8 degrees up (arcs are 10 down and 20 up initially). These could be relevant for sure - rising into the face of a hwachafish for example - but how relevant?
As for taking a buff engi, there are two additional questions about benefits:
3. Is the effect of buffing the carronade relevant?
4. Do the added repair tools make a difference?
Charged already breaks a balloon in one clip, so does applying a buff to it really make that much of a difference? It will obviously contribute towards armor break, but so does the ground so maybe that's not relevant. Repair tools may or may not make a noticeable difference, that's past my predictive abilities.
Anyways, I'm caught somewhere in the middle of these two alternatives so I would really appreciate some community input. Thanks in advance,
- Cunning
Before the 1.4.5 patch, lochnagar was almost necessary on a heavy carronade so a gunner was a must. With loch now nonviable on the carronade though, is taking a gunner really that helpful? With a gunner, you obviously gain access to the two additional ammo types past charged and gunner stamina. So therein lies two questions:
1. Are the additional ammo types helpful?
2. Is gunner stamina helpful?
For the first question, I can see situations where heavy, incendiary, and heatsink all have their uses, but I'm not sure the advantages justify taking a gunner over an engi with charged. For the second, I believe only the effects of stamina on vertical arcs are relevant (reload speed and horizontal arcs probably don't matter much). However, if I'm understanding the wiki correctly, stamina adds +40% to vertical arcs, which is only an additional 4 degrees down and 8 degrees up (arcs are 10 down and 20 up initially). These could be relevant for sure - rising into the face of a hwachafish for example - but how relevant?
As for taking a buff engi, there are two additional questions about benefits:
3. Is the effect of buffing the carronade relevant?
4. Do the added repair tools make a difference?
Charged already breaks a balloon in one clip, so does applying a buff to it really make that much of a difference? It will obviously contribute towards armor break, but so does the ground so maybe that's not relevant. Repair tools may or may not make a noticeable difference, that's past my predictive abilities.
Anyways, I'm caught somewhere in the middle of these two alternatives so I would really appreciate some community input. Thanks in advance,
- Cunning