1.3 General Speculation

[Pickle]

I predict..
- a hot fix within 12 hrs of 1.3 being released.. and another one after 36 hrs.
- that if too much is done to disturb the current meta (gat-flak) there will be toys thrown out of the pram.
- tears before bedtime.

[Echoez]

I just don't think it needed such a downside anyway with all the downsides it already has to its range is all. It won't destroy the weapon and surely won't keep me from running my Blenderfish, but it is an unessesary annoyance for sure.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Thing is (obviously will need testing) it's not stopping that balloon from being popped in 2 shots of heavy if you hit.

[HamsterIV]

I haven't played the new version yet, but let us not remove heavy clip gat from the equation. It may be still the most effective armor stripper at medium range. I speculate that this change will mean gunners get put on the gat more often since it will require two types of ammo to work at optimal efficiency. Also all engineer ships will be at a disadvantage if they can't control the range. Having heavy clip on the gat will put the ship at a disadvantage against a gat shooting charged or greased at close range, and vice versa for medium range.

Of course this is all rendered moot if the mine launcher replaces the gat for close range armor stripping.

[Piemanlives]

What should we expect in the way of performance? That is a question I must ask.

[Surette]

I haven't played the new version yet, but let us not remove heavy clip gat from the equation. It may be still the most effective armor stripper at medium range. I speculate that this change will mean gunners get put on the gat more often since it will require two types of ammo to work at optimal efficiency. Also all engineer ships will be at a disadvantage if they can't control the range. Having heavy clip on the gat will put the ship at a disadvantage against a gat shooting charged or greased at close range, and vice versa for medium range.

Agree with all of this.

Of course this is all rendered moot if the mine launcher replaces the gat for close range armor stripping.

Can't see this happening. The AoE is huge, you're not going to want to be using it in close range in any sort of brawling situation or you'll just be hurting yourself.

[N-Sunderland]

@Hamster Charged on a gat? No, greased is the only really viable option close up (other than heatsink most likely, but that's a different story).

I fear that the Gatling will have trouble staying that viable. The Gatling currently does 106 armour DPS (not counting the subsequent reload) assuming no buffs and 100% hit rate. With heavy clip, it'll do a paltry 69 DPS. And without heavy? Good luck getting a lot of hits in. You need to be at pretty much point blank to get a good hit rate.

I don't see the mine launcher being used in the place of a gat. You might be able to pull it off with lesmok... Sort of...

(I still think that mines will be OP, though)

[N-Sunderland]

I have a feeling that the merc was touched somehow with the latest balance changes... Whatever it is, I really, really hope it isn't this.

Upcoming is experimentation for Field Gun shots penetrating through objects.  Again, this is just testing for now although I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on it anyway.  For each NEW component the bullet hits, it will apply both primary and secondary damage.  Again, only NEW components.  A component cannot be hit twice with the same bullet.

[HamsterIV]

Charged and greased I have found to be pretty equivalent on the gat. Greased looks nicer with all the hit boxes, but for raw dps they are about the same.

69 DPS per gat isn't that bad when you have two of them in a trifecta. It will lengthen the engagement, but so long as my opponents aren't fielding a more effective combo it should be ok. I think it will be interesting playing the range game against ships setup with closer range equipment. Remember when we used to back peddle from flamethrowers?

[Pickle]

Charged, Greased and Incendiary are all options for the Gatling.  Nerfing Heavy Clip may influence the use of the Gat, but I predict that after a while it will have a greater impact on the Flak aspect of the pairing.  Gat will stay, but it will find new partners.

[Serenum]

Honestly I've never saw Heavy Clip as a must for the gatling. With the playstyle of most gat-flak users, greased or incendiary always seemed better to me, but then again I tend to experiment.

[Andrej Peribosky]

I fear that the Gatling will have trouble staying that viable. The Gatling currently does 106 armour DPS (not counting the subsequent reload) assuming no buffs and 100% hit rate. With heavy clip, it'll do a paltry 69 DPS. And without heavy? Good luck getting a lot of hits in. You need to be at pretty much point blank to get a good hit rate.

That's bad. I'd very much prefer to have a less damaging base gatling than an inaccurate one. It is so boring and frustrating to fire the normal gatling, shots go everywhere and its not funny.

[Imagine]

Honestly I've never saw Heavy Clip as a must for the gatling. With the playstyle of most gat-flak users, greased or incendiary always seemed better to me, but then again I tend to experiment.

It's more important to hit with the gat than it is to do anything that the other types of ammo accomplish. Heavy isn't the ONLY ammo usable for the gat, but it is probably the most reliable.

[Sir Mathias]

Obviously I haven't had the opportunity to test it myself yet, but it seems to me, if the only change to heavy clip in gatling is that the DPS is lower (even as significantly as 106 to 69) and all other aspects of performance (range, accuracy, etc) remain the same, this isn't so bad as some people are making it sound. In fact, I think it could really improve some things. I personally don't like ten second engagements, more time in the fray is more fun for me. And, I think something that shakes up the gat/flak meta is a good thing. Double gats are now needed? Bring on the fancier pilot maneuvers trying to get trifectas! Two ammo types are needed for optimum efficiency? The three class system is valid again! (Seriously, does no one else find it annoying to have only captain=pilot, crew=engi?)

All in all, I'm optimistic

[Echoez]

Thing is (obviously will need testing) it's not stopping that balloon from being popped in 2 shots of heavy if you hit.

Indeed you are right and I got informed that the Heavy clip isn't only receiving a nerf, but a slight buff on its spread reduction? Will it be 90% now? Sunderland can you confirm?

If that is true, it will greatly benefit the Hellhound's component disabling ability seeing how the weapon still has a pretty wide cone even with Heavy clip, so that makes me happy, hope it's true.

I personally don't like ten second engagements, more time in the fray is more fun for me. And, I think something that shakes up the gat/flak meta is a good thing. Double gats are now needed? Bring on the fancier pilot maneuvers trying to get trifectas! Two ammo types are needed for optimum efficiency? The three class system is valid again!

Completely agree, many valid points.