Flares are a great tool, but very heavy. For the pilot with sure aim, I present to you the lunch portion flare rack. The grid usage prevents mounting more than two, and the ammo count paired with the damage guarantees that mounted alone, it is a support weapon- not enough to score the kill alone. The proximity is also a bit lower than other flares, to make the weapon more skill dependent.

Frostflare
Damage: 1400
Velocity: 85 m/s
Delay: 1.0 s
Mass: 500 kg
Splash: 60m Proximity (20m)
Ammo: 5
License: 7/7/5/-/-
Grid usage: 8

Interesting. I don't know if anyone would really use these though. Loading 2 of these would be similar to having 1 sunflare launcher, but not as good (in any way), so I don't see why anyone would really use it. I wouldn't. Bring the ammo up to 9 and the speed up to 90 m/s, and then you might have something. With those tweaks, I would see this as being balanced compared to the current lineup of flares.

Why does this have a grid usage of 8? It makes its usage prohibitive as anything other than a primary weapon on a two-port ship.

The use is not as a replacement for existing flares, gentlemen. It is to allow the biflare or dual energy/flare pilot to have a great deal more evasion ability while still having the utility of flares. It is a duelist's dream, in other words.

Adding more ammo to this weapon would completely overpower it, as the only balance for the current lineup of flares is their large mass, which this lacks entirely. Quite honestly, I wish all flare racks simply had less ammo. No one wants to dodge rockets for twenty minutes before they can begin to fight back- which is why I so rarely dodge flares. It is utterly boring.

Scuba: It is designed to be the secondary weapon on a 3 port ship, or the primary on a 3 port ship if mounted in a pair. I don't see it being used on a 2 port vessel.

Ah, got it. Makes sense, but it doesn't fit my playing style. This would probably make great use as a secondary in BS and BP as well as nation war.

Cutting the tube and weight in half makes a lot of sense. However, I think I speak for the common folk around here when I say that the screamer speed/prox stats are incredibly hard to use effectively, if not impossible. My thought would be to raise prox to 30m, keep splash, and therefore safety distance, at 60m, and cut damage to about 1200. No, you're not going to take down a Centaur with one alone, but I see the weapon as a tactical tool instead of the primary killing weapon on a ship.

Some things to keep in mind:
Sunflares move at 80m/s, have a 30m safety, do 1500 damage, and are armed with 12 rockets.

My proposed changes would make it faster than the sunflare, and let it hit within the same radius, but at the same time it would double the safety distance and lower damage, making it more of a tactical tool than a primary weapon.

Just my thoughts

Small port rockets are fun.
Sunflares are on top of the usage list because of their speed and damage potential. Keep the sunnies as they are.

Lower speed & damage makes Straflares and Iceflares virtually unused in VO.
Give them a boost in speed and ammo only and they will become usable in combat.

Starflares, speed 85 m/s, ammo 16
Iceflares, speed 85 m/ , ammo 20

P.S. I remember when sunnies had 16 ammo, that was heaps of fun.:D

"It is a duelist's dream"

May I present the duelist's (dual?) nirvana.

That is a tinkerer's nirvana.