Heavy Carronade

[Queso]

After a good long time running a heavy carronade on the goldfish (the only ship it's really viable on), I've come to determination that it's almost entirely useless. At the rate it fires and reloads, you need to be firing constantly to keep an enemy down. Now compare that to the small carronade, and you barely have a reason to take the heavy. The only thing the heavy carronade has is component damage but even then, you're a sitting target while you balloon lock. Why waste the slot when the light is just as good?

[Captain Smollett]

Well... almost as good.  Heavy Carronade mathematically is still more powerful, longer range and tighter cone than the light, but the argument isn't any less valid since, not by all that much in any of the categories.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Has something changed with the carronade I'm not familiar with?  The Blender fish is one of the most lethal horrors of the battlefield.

[Helmic]

Last I checked that fucker will almost always win in any 1v1 scenario.

[Squash]

Helmic, I'm with you on that one, but its value plummets dramatically in a 2 v 2. I know the math on that doesn't sound right, but it's true. While you can carronade someone into the dirt and there's nothing they can do about it, it's an extremely slow death, and it doesn't prevent your target from shooting at your teammate. ESPECIALLY if they have drogue chute.

[HamsterIV]

Even in 1v1 a good gat/flack Pyrmidion or Junker stands a decent chance of killing a Blenderfish before it gets to the point where the Blenderfish has the upper hand. The entire crew of the pyra has to be working at the top of their game, where as the Blenderfish strategy can work if you have a few paste eaters on your crew.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Don't see an issue with the Heavy Carronade at all. I kill plenty of people with it, and quickly enough. A big point is to lock one guy down, letting your ally grab the other which is trying to get you off their ally thus out of position. It also works taking the stronger opponent out of the fight and leaving the weaker to try and fend off your ally.

Not all layouts focus on death in seconds.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Like hamster said, when I have a paste eater or two I switch to the blender.  I've also had incredible success juggling two ships by alternating who I balloon pop while also using Phoenix claw, tar and kerosene to keep moving into a superior position and deny access to weak approach areas I have.

I enjoy the current balance of this weapon as it grants a good tacticle advantage without always having to resort to brute force.

[Kyren]

I'm running a Carronade Goldfish since the Flak was changed, and while sometimes wondering if the weapon wasn't a bit too strong, I never found it weak or useless. I'd even say it's very well balanced - You can bring your enemy in a horrible position with it once you're above them, but have your gunner miss a single shot, or the enemy captain be smart enough to throw in kerosene or moonshine to move trough under your ship, there's enough time to get the balloon repaired and fly up higher than the carronade-ship with a quick use of hydrogen. It also effectively allows to cripple other ships to buy time for an allied ship to arrive or repair, I'd have it stay as it is.

[Pickle]

From the other point of view - as a regular Pyra pilot the carronade-'fish is one of the more frustrating builds to be up against when it's played as part of a coordinated team.  If I know there's one on the opposing team I know that I need a couple of appropriate counters on my pilot tools selection, and I know I have to be close attention to where that 'fish is throughout the match.  If I lose track of it and allow it to get close enough whilst above me, it's the opponent that's going to be the toughest to deal with.

But put a heavy carronade on a Galleon and I'm much less concerned about it.  And there's nothing wrong with that, an opposing Galleon causes me more tactical problems when it's operating in the long-range support role.

[Queso]

Okay, I've been using the wrong ammo type. When you can get range on that thing it's ridiculous. You can outclass a lumberjack easily. Without range it's about the same as the light carronade. With the range boost from heavy clip it's way better. I need to experiment some more.

Edit: After experimenting, lochnager is hilarious. 1 shot for balloon pop if you can aim. You don't really need it with the heavy clip though.

[RearAdmiralZill]

Yea, Heavy clip will do more damage at range than Charged because more is hitting vs a spread out Charged shot.

[The-Imperator]

Am I the only person still crazy enough to fit a carronade on my Galleon? Usually I use it as a sniping ship unleashing dual flak and howitzer fire on my enemies but when they finally come in close I make them over-shoot me and turn a carronade/manticore onto them. Mwahaha.

[HamsterIV]

Am I the only person still crazy enough to fit a carronade on my Galleon? Usually I use it as a sniping ship unleashing dual flak and howitzer fire on my enemies but when they finally come in close I make them over-shoot me and turn a carronade/manticore onto them. Mwahaha.

I have a carronade on the front right hard point of my galleon. I call it my backup shotgun. I can't really say I force people to overshoot, but I do my best to bring my right side guns on target if the enemy gets under my arming range.

[RearAdmiralZill]

I run a full carronade galleon to nice effect. Used it a good deal last night.