Firing mechanism and damage explanation

[Kanharn]

Good Guide.

[Yor Trison]

Could some one from Muse explain how the physics of the harpoon rope work?
What causes it to detach?
How is force applied to the harpooning and the harpooned ship?
What airship properties (drag, mass, impact location) effect the harpoon physics?
Is there a timer between when the harpoon strikes and when the rope goes "tight"?
Is the thrust of your engines lessened while harpooned?

There seem to be a lot of variables in play for this mechanic and I am not sure how they all work together.

This is complicated question but here is the tl;dr version:

• A harpoon will detach automatically at 120 seconds
• Max length is 600m before breaking
• The harpoon will apply a constant pulling force (right when harpoon makes contact with hull) from the ship that fired the harpoon to the point where the harpoon is attached.  Movement and overall affect is similar to if the two ship bodies are afloat in water (air is also a liquid) but of course with the additional Y-axis movement.  It responds 100% accurately to how force would affect these bodies in liquid based on the two points of attachment as well as the drag profile of each body
• Engine force output is not affected

With that said... it's extremely difficult to predict the movement on your own.  It also takes into account engine movement and will further augment the outcome of these effects, making them even harder to predict.  We're looking into simplifying this system to make it less real and more gamey.  Easier to predict and actually do something that you'd like it to e.g. maintain range instead of pulling all of the time (because that's not always helpful).

However, I've heard that from the recent pull force reduction that harpoons are useful in some situations.  Although this is a small subset of the player set that can actually use them effectively.

Nothing is set in stone right now.  It's a decently sized feature request.

I would love to use the Harpoon gun not only for a role playing 'wailer' but also in the context of a truly competitive Pyra. I used it in a few of my beginning matches but the issue is the that it would drop before we got to them rendering it useless. I admit that  I haven't used it much recently but I would love to see it used more often.

[HamsterIV]

Yor Trison, keep in mind that was awkm's explanation back in 2013. The harpoon mechanics have changed a bit since then. It was always unwieldy and often a waste of space. During the glory days of the harpoon it would stay attached until you fired a 2nd harpoon and act like a bungee chord between the two ships. Most of the time the harpoon will make both ships flounder about with no direction control, but if you setup the situation just right you could use the harpoon to fling enemy ships into walls. Sadly the game physics don't allow for that level of stupidity anymore.