Cross-post from the PCC forum:

I've had this idea kicking around in my head for some months now as a new spin on the old Beam Cannon weapon.

As it stands right now, there's not any good, long-range "Main guns" for the player-controlled Trident Type M. Most of the players who fly them either choose to equip mine launchers or a Gatling Turret for some improved anti-fighter coverage on the front of the ship. Neither of these weapons is especially useful against other capital ships because of their short range. The ammo-based options aren't practical because of the 30km+ trip to the docks to reload.

Name: Capital Charge Beam Cannon
Description: "Fires a high-powered beam of focused energy."

Damage: (Charged, 4 levels) 200, 1000, 5000, 30000
Velocity: Instantaneous
Range: 4000m
Inaccuracy: Like the Hive Queen Gatling Cannon
Energy: (Charged, 4 levels) 0-149, 150-249, 250-299, 300
Charge rate: 45/sec
Delay: 6s
Grid Usage: 21 (See: http://vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/27565 )
Mass: 80000kg
Volume (as cargo): 10 cu
AutoAim similar to a Neutron Blaster.

I've put these stats together to make a weapon that's effective against capital ships even at medium-to-long range (high damage output, similar to a Mega Positron Blaster), but would be difficult to abuse against fighters unless they get very close to the business end of it.

Thoughts?

+1... i like the range also...Devs ....give shields or range....

A good idea... but what about duration? If it's instantaneous (i.e. a single shot) and it has the same inaccuracy of the hive gat it will be fairly ineffective given the charge rate. I'd suggest giving the beam a duration (3 secs, maybe), adjusting damage accordingly per second. Then make it so the beam essentially moves around like the hive gat does for those three seconds. This would improve the ability to hit the target and reduce the amount of times a player would feel they completely wasted 45 seconds of their life.

Also, I think the delay should be dependent upon the previous charged rate... meaning if you fire a fully charged blast you should have to wait longer than a lesser charged blast.

The inaccuracy should be similar but not the same as the hive gat since we are talking about using as a long range weapon. I assume you just wanted to make sure there was some built in miss capability, but if it was as inaccurate as the hive gat by the time you get to 4000m the beam could be missing by as much as 700-1000m.

Finally there is the question of other ships crossing the path of this beam -- do they get damaged? Does it stop or go through those ships?

Fairly ineffective? Let's do a bit of math.

At 45/sec it'll take 6.7s to charge up a full 30000 damage blast. This is the same as a Heavy Powercell charge rate, so there's no need to wait for your battery to recharge before charging the next beam shot.

That's ~4500 damage per second average, more than the Megaposi. That's higher than the Teradon's gun, and has longer range. Still think it's ineffective?

I chose to put the delay at 6s to make it impossible to "chainsaw" this thing with a bind or plugin. It's most effective when charged to max capacity.

if it was as inaccurate as the hive gat by the time you get to 4000m the beam could be missing by as much as 700-1000m.

Does anyone know what the actual angle error on the Hive Gat is? Last I checked it's around half the scatter of a normal Gatling. Anyway, yeah this can be adjusted. It's just there to make sure people can't use it as a sure-fire 1-hit-kill against small ships, but can still land hits against large targets like capships.

Does it stop or go through those ships?
Good question! :)

I do like this very much.
+1

I read the charge rate wrong... seems fine.

+1