Wrangler basic
Small Port
8/8/-/-/-
Damage: none
Velocity: Instantaneous
Range: 400m
Energy: 70/sec
Delay: continuous (hold to fire)
Grid Usage: 16
Mass: 1400kg
[Edit] No Auto Aim

Wrangler XL
Large Port
8/-/8/-/-
Damage: none
Velocity: Instantaneous
Range: 600m
Energy: 75/sec
Delay: continuous (hold to fire)
Grid Usage: 16
Mass: 1700kg
[Edit] No Auto Aim

Projects a continuous dampening beam at the target, disabling (or hindering) the ships ability to turbo as long as the beam is held on the target

(all numbers are subject to tweaking)

notes:
The idea behind this weapon is to give chasers a way to shut down a runner by sacrificing all but one additional weapon. This weapon is heavy enough that anyone flying with one of these as well as another weapon will be very heavy and easy to hit.

Ideally this weapon would be used in groups by someone with a job dedicated to "wrangling" targets. The wrangler's wingman would then use weapons to fight the target, while the weaponless wrangler stays in the area to make sure the target can't run.
This has applications in pirate pursuit, anti-pirate/escort combat, and large or small group furballs.
It would be difficult for a player to abuse this weapon as the mass and grid requirement of it prohibit flying with more than 1 additional common weapon with the wrangler. The device encourages teamwork.
The range of the weapon still allows a crafty runner to get away by staying out of weapons range.

Drawbacks:

-This weapon would obviously make greyspace travel more dangerous.
-Disabling turbo makes players particularly vulnerable to swarms (possibly more of a problem with swarm tracking accuracy balance)

Pros:

-Encourages teamplay, escort and pursuit.
-Allows a team of players to deal with hit n'run types.

Flame away

More fun to be had if no auto aim were the rule.

agreed lets make this weapon take some skill no to little auto aim please

I don't dissagree. No autoaim would appropriately make the weapon more challenging to use.

Such a beam weapon needs higher drain. Twice, or even triple the charging rate of a FC would not be wrong, in my opinion, since all you have to do is 'paint' a target once at a range of 600m.

He's implying that as long as the beam is on the target, the target cannot turbo; causing them to stutter once would not be helpful.

What about making the range of the XL greater, say 800m? And the drain 100/s? This would make people really work for it. 200m is not a significant difference from 400.

the idea isn't to make the Large port version a MUCH better version, but rather just the large port variant of the basic one.

Gives the player a choice of using their large or small port for the utility.

I see, I like it.

I still say the basic variant should have 100e/s drain, and the XL 120-140e/s.

What about the 70ish drain one having a nuetron - gauss auto aim?

I think the auto aim thing would have to be gameplay tested honestly. Energy drain, as well, would need real testing to find out where it should be. We have to consider that it's likely someone will be turboing while pursuing their target, so too much drain would kill your engines too quickly. Having to turbo tap to aim causes you to lose enough speed as it is.

I like the idea of the device being fairly challenging to use (no auto aim) but I wouldn't want it to be so difficult that the utility is abandoned.

Hmm, you have a point. I'd like to see these as turreted weapons on capital ships, as well as on single-seaters. A Teradon, or even a Trident, could raise its efficiency some by keeping the fighters within reach of their turrets for a longer period of time.

Yikes!!! Maybe not a continous firing rate? Hehe
*hides*