1.3.6 Harpoon Changes

[awkm]

Fun?  Not fun?  Still useless?

Your commentary here.

[vyew]

Insanely fun.  Hard to use as well due to the slow projectile velocity even with Lesmok; this is good! Makes harpooning from 800m (I haven't gotten a hit yet but I'm working on it) rewarding for skilled gunners.

I've had some silly fun doing a ramming Pyramidion with double front harpoons and moonshine Is there a speed limit in this game?

However I have a feeling that just as the harpoon is excellent against low-mass ships (even the 1.3.5 harpoon was enough to drag Mobulas into walls), no sane captain would mount one on them either. GeoRmr tells me that the Squid is an exception due to having enough engine power to deal with this issue.

I am excited to see if I can make the harpoon work as more of a tactical engagement control tool, able to prevent an enemy from escaping, close distance in 5 seconds, and readjust positions of ships.

As for dragging enemy ships into terrain, the 5 second window to move your ship in a position to do so is tough to use-I need more experience with it on Paritan and Canyon to see if I can make it work. Then again, this is good, otherwise consistent drag kills would prove super frustrating for the enemy team.

So far so good, but I see how it could be frustrating for newer players to counter when it's on the side of a galleon (for example). No escape, Hwachas and carronades.

[Mod Josie]

The harpoon is a lot of fun now! I was running a Flamer Junker this afternoon against a dual Harpoon Pyra on Paritan. It really gave me a challenge, thinking about my positioning. When the harpoons go out, I would stick on Phoenix Claw to turn my back to them, then Kerosene away from their nose. It was a great little to-and-fro. A little tar made it even sweeter

[Queso]

I want to see if the old squid chute slam dunk is possible again.

[macmacnick]

...I guess that my Harpoon Munker is viable... Time for some 'Fatal Attraction'...




And some Mine-iacal laughter...

[CallMeCoop]

happy to see the changes. It's nice knowing a harpoon wont be flinging 2 ships in what seemed like two random directions for 2 minutes anymore. would like to see damage changes to be viable on ships with a small number of guns with same arc, but i don't know how that would go and one fix at a time is nice. haven't worked with it too much with it will post again if anything else comes up

[Richard LeMoon]

Playing a match as a harpoon gunner, not fun at all. I think we have all pilots talking up there. It is irritating, slow, and un-fulfilling.

Fire.

Miss.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait....

Fire.

Hit.

Pull.

Bump.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait...

Frustration.

At least the flare gun has two shots, and landing even one of them feels like an accomplishment. Landing a harpoon feels like "I hope this does what we want.... now comes the wait."

Missing the reload is even worse. Without lesmok, you might was well just reload again, as your chances of hitting anything not right in front of you are minimal.

Making the pull stronger made the gun more fun. Adding the long reload removed every ounce of that fun.

I stick by my original suggestion. Reduce the pull by 50%, reduce piercing, make the reload one second longer than the rope duration. That would give the harpoon long, slower reels requiring a gunner's constant attention instead of a short maybe-if-you-don't-miss jerk and intolerable wait.

[Imagine]

Alternatively, don't miss.

Either way, harpoons probably shouldn't be the focus of a ship as it is.

[Cancaro]

I can see the fun of the harpoon right now (it has become a totally different weapon from before), but isn't the recharge time too much? I mean, it's pretty much a tactical weapon that does no damage, it just swap and randomize ships placement. Let's say you use it for rams, it's a little too impredictable and it puts you at the mercy of the other(s) ship(s), even if you succeed (that is rare if the enemy has experienced engeneers).

No ship would use it as a main gun so, why the long recharge time? It can become a pretty useful weapon on rarely-used gun slots if it can shoot faster.

[Dimometer]

When I used the harpoon in the dev app, with a short reload duration, it was very easy to spam. For example, repeatedly bouncing a squid of a galleons hull until the squid explodes.

[Rainer Zu Fall]

Finally we got a legit ramming build for the pyra with a harpoon and gatling in the front. Hitting the harpoon with lesmok isn't such a difficult task.

[AbbyTheRat]

I was thinking the same thing, Rainer.. but I think it need a slightly faster reload for it to be worth taking.

[Rainer Zu Fall]

It worked out quite well today. You will have to time your harpoon shot though.

[Spud Nick]

I would like to see the reload time reduced a bit.

[-Mad Maverick-]

agreed with reload buff... although I also wouldn't mind it doing a tad more piercing damage