@missioncreek2

Small port gatling turret with excellent autoaim would make light fighters deadlier then ever.
Have you thought about that?

The really hot light fighter pilots use neuts or AAP because they are light, high velocity, and very energy efficient. The Small Port Gat possesses none of these qualities. In fact, it is less efficient and slower than Gauss. I really don't think that the small port gauss is the super weapon that you all fear.

RE: Hornet

Okay, now the hornet, as far as I'm concerned, is an oddball that just needs to be used "right". And I'm not saying I've figured it out myself. Like many, I'm sure, I've tried loading all four ports with energy weapons and it does good....until I can't keep enough battery power to fire but one shot at a time. Then I've also tried two energy and two missiles or rockets which isn't bad, but it still seems to drain down the battery really fast with neuts. And in fact the best weapon I've used with a hornet, at least outside of PvP, is the flechette. Again, however, this is a fast fire weapon, something that, from an old goat sim pilot who is use to air dogfights, is meant for dogfights.

But it's too spread a pattern that has too short of a range.

I truly think that what you, specifically, are looking for is a better way to aim, and if that's the case it's better that there be a second form of flight computer specifically for people like you. It makes more sense than a gun that's waving around on a light craft. The physics alone doesn't work with that.

For me, I just want the rapid fire of something like a gatling cannon or turret. That's it. Forget the autoaim aspect. Aside from the flechette, there just really is no other substitute I've found for the gatlings in the small port weapons.

Well, so you have something. The Flechette. Maybe there should be a new variant of that, instead of an entirely new weapon.

I'm rather for diversification instead of entirely new strands.

Just thought of something in particular with regards to the Hornet. Maybe a small port addition of a weapons chain drive. What does a weapons chain drive do? It drives the other small weapons in a firing link. So instead of firing all at once, they will fire in succession, say the speed of the flechette. So you can rapid fire neuts or other weapons at the cost of a pretty rapid battery drop and the loss of one small port.

The Prom turns slow. Therefor, pilots use weapons that have forgiving auto-aim, i.e. Gauss/Devestator or Gatling Turrets/Rockets. It has nothing to do with fads, or that Prom's strafing ability, or it's heavy armor, or the fact that it's Serco. It's because it turns like a hippopotamus. You can *LEARN 2 PLAY N00b* all you want, but the ship simply will not let you turn faster than an IBG can accelerate circles around you.

The hornet is in the precise same boat. It turns like a heavy ship, but lacks the Gatling that deters most fighters from 'Taurs/Proms/Rags. Would four of these be overpowered? Probably. Would one with rockets be any more game breaking than the infamous SCP? Don't make me sneer. Is there a mechanic in place for preventing a ship such as the hornet from equipping 4 overpowered small port weapons, such as the Corvus Widowmaker? Gosh, now I think there is, but I can't for the life me remember what it could possibly be.

But oh no! If we let light fighters have these, then they'll be really fast! If only there was a mechanic that slowed ships down proportionally to their size, or something. Maybe we could give them new stats called "thrust" and "spin torque", and let that be proportional to their unloaded weight, so that heavy ships are less impacted by loading heavy weapons than small ships would be. Golly gee willikers!

Ergo:

Small Port Gatling Turret / Large Port Gatling Turret
Damage: 300 / 400
Velocity: 180 / 180
Energy: 12/blast / 12/blast
Delay: 0.150s / 0.100s
Mass: 2000kg / 2000kg
Targeting: Ala Gatling Turret
Grid Energy: 8 / 4
DPE: 25 / 33.33
DPS: 2000 / 4000
Level: 5/5/4/-/- / 5/-/5/-/-

Good thinking Mynt. The extra weight is required. It was a little light at 1000kg. 1500 kg is apropriatly scaled. Also, I had the energy per shot low at 8 - 9 is scaled correctly. However, I see no reason to penalize Hornet and Rag drivers with the big grid energy. That prevents them from filling all the slots - they simply won't use it with such a large grid energy. If a hornet driver wants to haul around that much weight and have that short a fire time - let em. At 180 m/s this is not the insta-kill weapon some fear.

Heres a small port gat scaled to the regular gat

Small Port Gatling Turret / Large Port Gatling Turret
Damage: 300 / 400
Velocity: 180 / 180
Energy: 9/blast / 12/blast
Delay: 0.100s / 0.100s
Mass: 1500kg / 2000kg
Targeting: Ala Gatling Turret
Grid Energy: 4 / 4
DPE: 33.33 / 33.33
DPS: 3000 / 4000
Level: 5/5/-/-/- / 5/-/5/-/-

I did my stats with the following reasoning behind them: with 8 grid, a hornet pilot could carry one of these, and 3 rockets. Not quite a Prom, but definitely more agile. On the other hand, a Valkyrie could at most carry two of these, with one rocket, which would effectively fly like a Warthog with a single gat and a rocket. (It'd maneuver the same, and be about the same size.)

Sold! Though I'm still not sure about the whole autoaim thing for small port weapons, at least that idea is balanced. Great job you two.

bump

Y'know, I agree with Pointsman on this. Small port gats are plain stupid, imagine two on a vulture.
Learn
To
Aim

Aye, this is full of fail. If you have terrible aim with energy, get nasty with rails or gauss. Or mount flares.

Just give the Flechett Cannon a bit of a buff. Popcorn is funz.

I have to agree with Fluffy, the Flechett Cannon is pretty cool but... its a terrible weapon.

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/22529

Stop resurrecting long-dead threads that you disagree with, anyways!

here's what i think about this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MLry6Cn_D4&feature=related.

turn it off after the first three seconds.

man after one minute i can feel my brain liquefying and seeping into my sinuses.

this one is better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoMgnJDXd3k&feature=related.

this thread had died a natural death.

I still think there is a place for a small port gat. Criticism from guys who have expert aim is misplaced. They will still shoot circles around a lesser player armed with a small port gat. The lesser player would at least land a few hits and feel like they were a participant in the fight.

Have you considered a better player with a turret weapon?

Listen, the advantage of the gatling turret isn't that it makes your aim better... it's that the player can focus on maneuverability rather than aiming. None of even the best players in a fast-paced small fighter dog fight can land every single hit if they're literally nose-to-nose with the other person, but a gatling turret can.