Ok, when we had the agt thing, we first had a reduced aiming *cone*, can it be reduced back to that for the beam guns? so at least a small fighter with enough balls can slip in under one and shoot the hell out of it ? (was an issue with the agt, should be a feature for the beam guns)

I actually really dislike the idea of a fighter "shooting the hell" out of any turret from the safety of a blind spot. A well designed cap ship would have very few of these blind spots. Getting in close to a cap ship would indeed be fun and could have payoffs due to weak points in the cap ship or what not, but doing so should require constant maneuvering rather than finding a blind spot and staying put.

If the beam turrets were going to be nerfed at all, I'd recommend reducing the range rather than the firing arc. Personally, I think they are OK as they are.

Well, those beam guns just aren't designed for dealing with ships up close.

and forcing people to pull strafing runs at close range seems like a good way to add skillful gameplay.

remember that those blind spots are going to be moving with the capship, so staying inside of one would be an art.

Also... I expect that many of the beam turrets on the cap ship are going to be replaced with other types of weapons, super-AGT and other ship to ship long range cannons.

Yeah, they already said something along those lines, but the beam guns are just, well, too much :P once one has you in range and targetted, it IS hitting you, so no skill comes into it, you just stay away from em and spam them. Also getting in close enough and staying there would be _hard_ .

Yesterday in Sedina B-8 there was an Itani lag ship me and a few others were determined to destroy, and well, I got bored of the stay 1100m away and spam missiles at it technique, and grabbed a cent mk2, and died over and over trying to get close, and well, the few times I made it, I got zapped anyway.

ATM, theres just no *fun* way to deal with a frigate, and well, this isnt RL, I try to leave *work* there. Reducing the range would just reduce the distance you spam from.

Even with the beam cannons, the best way I've found to get inside it's defenses is to take out the rear turrets, either the top or bottom, preferably the top. Once those are out that entire part of the ship is undefended and you can get in close enough to slip along the skin of the ship and right up onto a turret and nuke it. Problem is that when in the middle of a battle the cap ships do not sit still and slight adjustments from them and your too far from the ship and then your inrange and dead. Or, other caps get you while your attacking, or nation defenders. Of course timing is everything =)

Reducing the range would be nice on the beams, but my personal suggestion would be to make the "beams" not insta-hits, but that they have a 3-5 second beam strength in which you can make sweeping motions and cut ships to do damage and then the beams go dead for a few seconds while they recharge. This way, if you are in a fast enough ship, you have the potential to dodge the beam and come in close. And if all were fired at once, it leaves the ship defenseless until they can recharge.

But honestly, once they caps have variety with the turrets I dont' think it will be as big an issue as it currently is.