Weapon range descriptions

[Daft Loon]

The weapon range descriptions in the ship screen and wilsons notes seem to be based directly on maximum range and are grouped rather oddly. This gives some rather misleading results, the minelauncher is "Very long range" and the flare gun is apparently the only medium range weapon.

Since the numbers for range are available too it seems like this could be changed to a judgement of effective range instead, hopefully making some small dent in the number of poorly chosen loadouts around.

Banshee, light flak, harpoon, minotaur and hwacha should be considered medium range rather than very long or long.
Hades should perhaps be long rather than very long.
Minelauncher should be short.

Any thoughts on what would be the most helpful description for each weapon?

[BlackenedPies]

I'd say short around 300 max, medium 500, long 1000, very long 1500

Short is carro flame mortar mine
Medium hwatcha gat flare harpoon
Long flaks artemis banshee hades mino
V long lumber merc

[Kamoba]

What Pies said, but with the addition that gat is short to long and Hades mid to long. Those two guns are just so effective.

[Daft Loon]

Currently it seems to be long < 1400, medium < 800, short < 500

What pies said is about right. Whether to account for lesmok where its common or not and whether to suggest a minimum range (arming times + artemis for turn speed and merc for arcs)?

[Hoja Lateralus]

It doesn't rustle my jimmies, but +1.

[BlackenedPies]

Lesmok should be taken into account because otherwise the hades and lumber would be medium range.

[ZnC]

I think it's not very important to change it; if players are interested to learn more about the weapons they can read and study the specs itself.

Note that the effective range of weapons are actually based on its projectile speed. A 5km range weapon with 100m/s projectile speed is not a long range weapon because it cannot consistently hit above 400m (4+ seconds). This is why a good number of pilots do not consider the Heavy Flak a long range weapon, but close to mid range - it has high shell life and maximum range, but very poor projectile speed without Lesmok.

Like Pies mentioned, being able to use Lesmok largely affects your effective range because it adds 70% projectile speed.

[Carn]

I'd consider the Hwatcha to be very long range, or long range. I've consistently hit targets at ranges experienced pilots thought I wouldn't.

[BlackenedPies]

Hwatcha could be considered long range due to max range of 1200, but since the hwatcha buff and heavy clip nerf its role has turned into a mid range gun.

The best example of the factor of projectile speed is the Minotaur 1800m @ 350m/s. Heavy flak is a long range gun because it's not difficult to hit large targets near 1000. You can hit a stationary galleon at 1500 but it's not a very long range gun, just skill intensive.

[ZnC]

The best example of the factor of projectile speed is the Minotaur 1800m @ 350m/s. Heavy flak is a long range gun because it's not difficult to hit large targets near 1000. You can hit a stationary galleon at 1500 but it's not a very long range gun, just skill intensive.

Pies I would usually not counter-argue and let people state their point, but what you wrote here is simply wrong.

It IS difficult to hit targets near 1k range with the Heavy Flak. The gunner has to account for the movement of both ships, and ships can move a lot in 4 seconds; there is no realistic situation in which both ships do not move. The most important point would probably be that explosive-based weapons like the H.Flak needs to consistently hit during hull breaks, and at 1k range it is pretty rare to land a shot during a hull break.

[BlackenedPies]

It's usually only the target ship that is moving. You can hit medium sized ships at 1k that are stationary, and can hit a galleon moving at any speed. If two spires are shooting at 1k it isn't hard to land the flak. There are many situations where there is no unpredictable movement of either ship, and your captain should say if you're drifting or moving vertically. Flak is certainly effective at 700m against medium ships which is enough for a long range gun. I expect anyone I put on flak to be able to hit a target as small as a charging pyra at 600.

Then again I was recruited by Smollet and Frogger after shooting flak spire. Ended the match with a perfect shot on moving junker atleast 600m, first shot hit right after break.

[Daft Loon]

I think it's not very important to change it; if players are interested to learn more about the weapons they can read and study the specs itself.

Its a very minor point but also easy to change and IMO worth doing to remove a small portion of the unnecessary part of the learning curve. At the very least the minelauncher description is blatant lies and should be hard coded to short.

[Carn]

Gotta agree when it comes to the Mine Launcher.

[DJ Logicalia]

The mine launcher is very long rage if you shoot one out and then run very far away

[Koali]

The mine launcher is very long rage if you shoot one out and then run very far away

...Yeah, I guess so.

Also it's range, not rage.

Silly Logic.