Best and Worst Hwacha Angles for every ship?

[MightyKeb]

Just bringing out an absent thought since the hwacha buff. Probably wouldn't take that long to uncover them all but I havent had enough experience with the ins and outs of a hwacha so I leave this to the more experienced veteran playerbase. Ie, I think the top of a pyra's front is almost horrible for really disabling anything or a Junker's front where you have to make up your mind on which side to focus and the main engine is sitting at the opposite side safely.


So what are they?

[BlackenedPies]

The hwatcha has a burst radius of 7m and each shot does 98 component damage. At the edge of the radius damage is 50%. Disabling the front guns on the pyra is the hardest, especially from above. At close range with burst ammo a hwatcha will break everything. At longer range with heavy clip the hwatcha is most effective against spires, galleons, and junkers (with good aim). It's least effective against pyras (two small front targets) and mobulas (very spread out).

[MightyKeb]

The hwatcha has a burst radius of 7m and each shot does 98 component damage. At the edge of the radius damage is 50%. Disabling the front guns on the pyra is the hardest, especially from above. At close range with burst ammo a hwatcha will break everything. At longer range with heavy clip the hwatcha is most effective against spires, galleons, and junkers (with good aim). It's least effective against pyras (two small front targets) and mobulas (very spread out).

Ah, thanks, but what I was looking for was more of a theoretically best-case-scenario angle to present against a hwacha for every ship, though mostly for my squid game.

[Daft Loon]

For the squid i would guess front left, slightly above the hwacha. Hopefully preserving the right side engines, and non front guns.

For the mobula slightly above and directly in front of the hwacha. If the gunner attempts to land most of the shots many will hit balloon. If attempting to hit all the guns many will miss over the top of the ship. A slight angle might make the guns on the other side safer but risks an engine and having more shots hit the armor areas (the side plates on the ship and the larger profile of the front bumpers)

Not sure about other ships

[BlackenedPies]

Squids are very vulnerable to close range burst hwatcha (engines=life). I recommend tempting them into shooting at mid range and dodging (ex stamina down). Quickly burn in and do what you can during the reload. It's easist to dodge hwatcha at longer range. If you get hit tank engines and go vertical. Lead them low and hydro when they shoot. Save your stamina for vertical. Staying very close makes it easy to avoid hwatcha arcs but be wary of them using tools and stamina.

[Extirminator]

At the edge of the radius damage is 50%.

Not exactly... I'll just link the wiki and the relevant infopic I made for the wiki.

http://gunsoficarusonline.wikia.com/wiki/Hit_Mechanics#Secondary_Damage

[BlackenedPies]

I remembered associating burst radius with the terms linearly and 20%, but a quick search didn't help so I took a guess and assumed it dropped linearly to 50%. It's interesting and makes sense that it deals full damage at half radius. I also learned that hydro and chute vent last for 3 seconds not 5 like I've always claimed.

As for angles against hwatchas, there aren't many options. Heavy clip hwatcha is generally not a problem except against heavy guns/engines, the main issue is mid-close burst. There are 3 options: stay out of effective range, stay above arcs, or stay below. Tactics differ whether your ship relies on maneuverability or firepower. If you use tools/stamina/buffs well you can dodge a hwatcha volley but sometimes this isn't an option. If you get hit a good tactic is waiting to rebuild until next volley because it's unlikely that you can rebuild and shoot effectively before the hwatcha finishes reloading.

For squid against fish you have 2 options: avoid the shot or start low. Burn in, give them an easy shot, and dodge. That'll buy time while they reload. It's safest to avoid arcs altogether but this limits options of how to engage. The other option is staying low and draw them downwards then hydro up. They'll have downward momentum and you'll shoot upwards. Quickly get as close as possible.

[MightyKeb]

I remembered associating burst radius with the terms linearly and 20%, but a quick search didn't help so I took a guess and assumed it dropped linearly to 50%. It's interesting and makes sense that it deals full damage at half radius. I also learned that hydro and chute vent last for 3 seconds not 5 like I've always claimed.

As for angles against hwatchas, there aren't many options. Heavy clip hwatcha is generally not a problem except against heavy guns/engines, the main issue is mid-close burst. There are 3 options: stay out of effective range, stay above arcs, or stay below. Tactics differ whether your ship relies on maneuverability or firepower. If you use tools/stamina/buffs well you can dodge a hwatcha volley but sometimes this isn't an option. If you get hit a good tactic is waiting to rebuild until next volley because it's unlikely that you can rebuild and shoot effectively before the hwatcha finishes reloading.

For squid against fish you have 2 options: avoid the shot or start low. Burn in, give them an easy shot, and dodge. That'll buy time while they reload. It's safest to avoid arcs altogether but this limits options of how to engage. The other option is staying low and draw them downwards then hydro up. They'll have downward momentum and you'll shoot upwards. Quickly get as close as possible.

And how effective is the opposite strategy of luring them up before chuting In the event that a pilot tries to get around that with hydrogen?(which should give me an ideal angle for gat/explosive builds anyway but I'm still curious)



Another problem is the momentarily ridicilous arcs + equally ridicilous accuracy of the hwacha after the latest patch which just happened to break touch on the game's problems with Hwacha not being meta enough. A pilot worth his salt and a grain more would just stop momentum early and pelt me with the increased arcs.


But generally as a squid, I try to play mindgames with Hwachafishes or avoid it altogether.

[BlackenedPies]

Chute vent will work too. The closer you are the more restricted the arcs so get close fast. Due to the big arcs it'll be hard to avoid arcs the whole time so you might have to dodge a shot and use their reload. Don't worry about the reload speed, it's still at least 12.4 and will use up all their stamina.

Fighting fish with squid is tricky and I'm no squid expert. Fish have relatively slow turning so your best bet is point blank and lots of engines.

[VomAct]

To answer your original quistion, the most effective angles to disable ships from with a hwacha is as follows (from my experience)

Pyramidion: Portside Broadside
Goldfish: Any Broadside
Galleon: Portside Rear Corner (45-60 degrees off the long axis)
Mobula: Rear
Spire: Broadside, or slightly angled off the broadside
Squid: if you can hit them, you can make them very, very sad

The reasoning behind these is simple: If you can disable most of the guns and most of the engines, you have succeeded in your goal to disable.