Roll the game back to 1.1 and we'll see other combinations again. Specially a return to the old flamer ability and chem spray. But to be honest, even then Pyra was king. But before the 1.2 mess it was more about pilot skill, not ram fests like it is now.
Um, ramming is harder to do now in the pyramid. So, it requires more skill to ram now than it did back in 1.1
Yeah, I'm... baffled by the supposition that piloting skill was more prevalent in 1.1. I suspect it's innate resistance to change, but the ship speed rework was pretty much entirely beneficial. The Pyramidion lost maneuverability it simply didn't deserve and turned into one of the worst turners in the game (which is good considering its excellent survivability, speed, and firepower, as well as its ramming capability), while other ships got adjustments they sorely needed (the Junker comes to mind).
The new speeds may have been harmful to the Squid, in that they could have shortened the disparity between it and other ships, thus devaluing its niche. But I can't be sure of that.
I think once we start seeing the implementation of more piercing
and more disabling weapons that surpass the Gatling Gun and Mercury in certain fields (whether they be disabling, armor peeling, raw damage output, or what have you) the meta will take on a new shape.
For instance, the Gatling Gun could remain an intermediate, medium-range hybrid weapon capable of disabling and defeating armor, while a new piercing weapon could be solely dedicated to destroying armor. There could be one for close and long range. There could be another medium range disabling weapon, while the Flamethrower could receive a buff to place it back in the "close-range disabler" niche (instead of the "joke weapon" niche it occupies presently).
The addition of these weapons would allow the Gatling Gun to be modified for a specific purpose. It's currently the only close range armor piercing option, and it
also deals shatter damage. A weapon that dealt a lot more piercing damage without the shatter damage would be good for pure killing setups, but you'd lose out on disabling potential. So there'd be choice.
Meanwhile, buffing the Carousel (and perhaps even the Mortar, slightly) should present more options instead of the Light Flak. I mention the Mortar because, as it does deal slightly more DPS, it's far less reliable
and has a poorer effective range, not to mention an inferior rotation speed. I don't think its slight DPS advantage is quite worth it; a little more, probably just 10 damage a shot would be enough to nudge it into competitiveness. The Carousel could use a damage buff as well; however, buffing fire first would be advisable. It stands to reason that the Carousel is similar to the Gatling, in that it has kill potential (explosive damage) and disable potential (incendiary change). Unfortunately, there isn't a Mortar or Light Flak for Piercing damage yet. But, this may change in the near future.
Finally, the fact Gat/flak is so popular is a possible indication that disabling in general is not effective enough. While this is a dangerous pitfall, as disabling is not only loathed by developers and casual players alike for its anti-fun nature, it's also easy to become an optimal solution. An enemy that cannot fight back is far easier to kill, even when lacking raw damage output. As I recall, repair and rebuild times were rebalanced recently; this might be worth looking at.
