Gunner Tool: Wrench Vs Spanner

[FredTheFifth]

In my opinion wrench is always more useful than spanner for a gunner, you get much better repair power by using a wrench over a spanner, meaning you can repair your own gun (especially when that gun is a heavy gun) taking significant pressure off the engineers and also help repair other components when your gun isn't in arc or has a long reload time. You also don't gain much with a spanner except slightly better rebuild power but if you rebuild something with just a spanner it will still be low on health so will most likely die soon anyway.
What are peoples thoughts? Is there any advantage to spanner? If not, can we please get rid of the spanner achievements for gunners?

[Replaceable]

I agree pipe is far more useful. As it balances repair and rebuild.

The only time i would consider a spanner is with a hwatcha on enemy team. Or maybe an artemis.
For faster rebuild as constant breaking.
But even so a pipe wrench isn't much worse. And can repair.

So idk.

[Wundsalz]

I prefer a wrench over a spanner. Always.

[DMaximus]

Wrench for sure. Any time I've brought a spanner I've immediately regretted it.

[AbbyTheRat]

I actually prefer Spanner as a pilot, as the only time I'd be using my engineering tool is when parts broken, can't be fixed (says in tone of Kaylee)

[sparklerfish]

Gunner should always have pipe wrench.  The spanner achievements are basicially rewarding you for playing the game less effectively rather than actually doing something challenging for a reason.  The default gunner tool for powder monkeys is also a spanner and that really really ought to be changed to help new players learn the best possible loadout to bring right from the start.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

I've found some appreciation for spanners on gunners. The achievement forced me to use it but during that time, I started to see in disable battles that the quick rebuild was more helpful overall. Guns wouldn't stay up no matter what I'd do so I'd have to wait until an ally would bail our ship out. In the meantime I could rebuild balloons, hull, and engines much faster. Engineers would only have to mallet and then could run off to the next part. They also didn't like a Wrench hit screwing up their repair times.

So...I guess at the end of the day...its situational. Most normal situations I'd say, Wrench hands down. But I have seen the ones where a Spanner is helpful.

Agree about pilot switching to spanner. I did this awhile back and haven't gone back. Especially helpful for Junker flying as you can rebuild the balloon quicker and engies can focus on hull more. The HP that the Wrench gives is just negligible when it comes to dealing with balloons. You aren't going to gain enough from one swat to be able to Hydro. Heck even a mallet doesn't gain enough for a quick Hydro, which shows how Hydro still needs work.

[Hoja Lateralus]

Wrench is more idiot-friendly; simple and quite universal and doing its job. Wrench should be a default repairing tool.

[RearAdmiralZill]

So...I guess at the end of the day...its situational. Most normal situations I'd say, Wrench hands down. But I have seen the ones where a Spanner is helpful.

Pretty much this. If you expect a lot of disables, and your gunner to have easy access to engie help (galleon lower decks comes to mind), then a spanner may help more. The easy pick is wrench. Spanner is more advanced and situational.

[FredTheFifth]

Well, on a galleon I find that the engineer does go top deck a lot to help repair in combat, and even if you have a rebuilt heavy gun its going to be low on health meaning you cant turn it towards the enemy or shoot fast. As for pilot I agree spanner is best except on a spire/galleon/junker where the pilot can repair some components while the crew shoot as on these ships some components are very close to the helm. The in-game gunner tutorial also should be changed so it advises gunners to take a wrench, or at least state the choice (still imo, always wrench)

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Goldfish gunner would be another spanner choice since most of the time your gun will be dead and ship survival revolves around that single gun. You often times cannot hop off and repair in time to keep it topped as fire will be concentrated on it. Also engineers have quick access to it for malleting. Being able to get the gun up faster would be beneficial and less time wasted if it got shot out again immediately. Engineers wouldn't have to sit around helping you and could focus on more critical tasks.

In tank cases, you'd have 3 spanners for the hull on a ship which has a quick rebuild for it's size. Thats just win right there.

[FredTheFifth]

well. as I said before a heavy gun that cant turn because it is damaged or fire fast really isn't as good as a heavy gun that can point towards the enemy and have a faster rate of fire. A lot of times on a fish one engineer is on the side engines and another is on balloon meaning the gunner in that scenario has to repair both his gun and the hull in which case a wrench is optimal.

I'm not completely sure but I think 2 spanners and a wrench gets the hull up in the same time a spanner does as with 3 spanners you get a lot of excess rebuild power.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

For light ships, even one tick of rebuild is crucial between survival or not. You don't think of it as much but I've been in a lot of situations where we were just about to get it back up and then a shot landed. One extra spanner hit was literally what mattered the most.

Again, in heavy disable situations where you've got mercs or arts constantly shooting out a main gun, a wrench just takes too long and it often won't repair enough to make it matter if you can't get a repair in. Unless your foe is sitting right in front of your gun, you won't be able to get a shot anyways. Puggers will do this but vet pilots won't hang around and wait for you to rebuild, they'll be moving to blind spots or points where there is less risk. During that time, you've got engines going out, armor going nuts. If a gunner is able to leave the gun after a preload rebuild, then head back and rebuild engines while engineers focus on more critical tasks, that helps. Even if the engine doesn't stay up for very long, just being able to move slightly in some cases can make a difference for a pilot.

Heck they can preload rebuilds on multiple items faster and all an engineer has to do is come by and whack it once. In heavy tank situations, every second counts.

[Melon McCrabernathy]

I personally always take a spanner as a gunner and I didn't realise how much I was in the minority for doing so. I just feel that the rebuild and repair power of the wrench is too insignificant, and the spanner has sufficient enough repair power to keep guns shiny, whilst also being able to help with other components.

[Alistair MacBain]

Id always say wrench.
I remember to many situations where i just rebuild my gun with a spanner and then couldnt do alot for to long just because the gun was at low hp.
Id rather time my rebuild, give another repair hit and am able to shoot then. A spanner wouldnt give me that possibility.