Think of a bunker buster but for space...

Jackhammer Rocket Launcher Mk2 or Lightningbolt Rocket Launcher
Large Port
Requirements: Hive Queen Hunter II or 8/0/8/0/0 or Veteran Hive Hunter III
Cost: 20,000-40,000c

Capacity: 7
Delay: 1s
Damage: 10,000
Splash Radius: 5m
Detonation: Contact
Velocity: 120m/s
Grid Usage: 10
Mass: 4,000kg
Volume (as cargo): 4cu

Emits a green light slightly darker than a neutron blaster.

Given these stats, what is this thing's purpose?

I'd probably make an alt just to fly around in Dau L-10 with these and one-shot n00bs. I can't think of any other possible use for a contact detonation rocket with so little ammo, though.

I think this thing actually does more damage per reload than the old avalons did.

Srsly, not seeing the purpose of it..

hmm, perhaps good against shields.

Nah, I'd rather stack a tube of cswarms against shields. The way that shields work in VO you don't want a Big Freaking Bomb, you want a big pile of little bombs all exploding at the same time. I agree there has to be a better solution to this than chaos swarms, but this is most certainly not it.

I like it. I see it as primarily a weapon against Queens, Levis and Cappies. Maybe it Splash Radius: The one thing I would change is the splash damage. 5 meters seems low for such high damage... I would say 15 meters at least.

This weapon could serve as a fighter-borne anti-capital ship missile.

The heavy damage load would make it highly effective against shields, but would pose problems with the sheer amount a single Ragnorok could carry. 14 of these poses a 140,000 dmg capability.

I like the missile, especially since it adequately replaces the sheer damage potential of Avalon Missiles but without the collateral damage, I would just recommend taking the payload per launcher from 7 to maybe 3-5 per tube.

I can understand a capacity reduction to reduce the awesome fire potential of this weapon. Perhaps a capacity of 5, with the grid limits, a total damage potential of 100,000 and theoretically only 5-7 are needed to bust a 100% shielded queen but probably not the Hive Skirmish Queens with 200% shields.

EDIT: The main reason for the weapon, as stated a few times above, is to be an anti-capital ship buster for armor and shields. To be effective in delivering a similar payload system like a flare rocket but focusing that explosion into a single direction, much like a shape charge or 'penetrator' IEDs. Hence why the limited splash radius from the rocket since almost of all of the potential damage is concentrated on the nose of the rocket and into the object it hits. The speed of the rocket is also to give the impression of a rocket designed to penetrate fortified objects and to be incredibly difficult to dodge by large ships. Of course with these stats it must be contact detonation to discourage this as a legitimate fighter vs fighter weapon. The only problem is the name, for me, I'm not sure what would suit this weapon properly. Hammerhead perhaps or maybe Lance?

I don't mean to troll, but is there really any use for a weapon like this? Couldn't you just load up a rag with swarms and gems and use that instead?

Okay, I have a better understanding of what you're trying to accomplish now, Surb, and I think this could be a good idea. I'd suggest a couple modifications though to make this more specifically an anti-capship weapon.

Firelance Anti-Capital Torpedo

blah blah requirements cost whatever blah

Capacity: 5
Delay: .7 s
Damage: 10,000
Splash Radius: 5m
Detonation: Contact
Velocity: 5 m/s (Yes, you read that right. The speed of this weapon is pretty close to the speed of the launching ship. Facilitates more precise stacking, and makes it almost useless against fighters.)
Grid Usage: 10
Mass: 4,000kg
Volume (as cargo): 1cu (Weapons are always 1 cu of cargo space, aren't they?)

The biggest change is the massive speed reduction. Since this weapon is designed for attacking capital ships in Vendetta and not Russian tanks or something, a high speed isn't really necessary or even desirable. The point of this weapon is to drop a huge amount of damage into a very small area, quickly. You would be able to stack these even at 220 m/s, which is actually almost 3 times the speed of targeted missiles. Because of that I think it would be possible to make a more accurate bombing run with a couple tubes of these that it would if their speed was 120 m/s, which would require you to make an awkward turbo-from-full-stop run starting about 3km from the target. If needed we could drop the delay on these even further to .5 s, since the firing mechanism on these would be pretty simple; rotate the drum and release.

Edit: Oh here are some stats for comparison

Damage per tube:
Jackhammer: 24000
Chaos Swarm: 34000
Screamer: 48000
Firelance: 50000

Damage per loadout:
3 gems + 2 cswarms: 119300
3 sunnies + 2 jacks: 102000
2 firelances (grid usage precludes carrying any other weapons): 100000

So, the total damage potential is actually a little less than that of a standard bomber rag loadout, On the other hand, this weapon is easier to stack and can be stacked at higher velocities, which makes it better suited for attacking capital ships. You would be likely to do the full 100000 damage with a tube of these, while you will lose a few missiles in a missile spam run simply due to the fact that they spray around all over the place. Long story short, these are a very effective dedicated bombing weapon, rather than an improvised one like the cswarm/gem loadout.

Aye, nice. But I would imagine that what with the amount of explosive/power/younameit this has to stack in, it wouldn't have much of a thruster. Perhaps even 0 m/s, just detaches itself from the ship. Drop a few and curve away.

Muska is on to something here, any rocket that has some starting speed in addition to that of a ship will need to be fired while accelerating (to give rockets fired later more speed so they can catch up).
I'm not entirely sure but at 5m/s they are likely to be pretty much *unstackable*.
If it just has speed of the ship then there is no such issue, in fact you now must make sure to maintain same speed.
Makes it absolutely useless against anything that moves too.

0 starting velocity? Huge damage? Yes please!
I've always wanted something more like a bomb and less like a torpedo..

Velocity driven projectile, not a bad idea, it resembles a bunker buster even more.

And an alternative use for this weapon would be contact detonation mines, as powerful as the BioCom mine but more breathing room.

Okay, 0 m/s starting velocity it is. That was originally going to be the suggestion I made, actually. I changed it because the thing *should* be able to detach itself from the ship somewhat. I'm pretty sure I could stack a 5 m/s rocket pretty consistently, but if 0 m/s is widely preferred then that is certainly acceptable.

Hm, i suppose you could fire one at say 50m/s, overtake it a bit (since it'll move away from you before you can shoot again), slow down to 50m/s, fire next one.
Kinda tricky but i suppose doable.
Guess both could work.

You could start about 1200 m away at 15 m/s less than your max turbo speed, hold down turbo and start firing. You'd have to play with the numbers slightly but it isn't too hard to stack rockets that way. You can even do it with jacks and such.

I agree with ladron's assessment and change of the stats re: launch delay/stacking.

I like the weapon as a whole, otherwise. I propose code-name 'Rico'.

I would also like to propose upping the ammo capacity up to 10, since this is practically dive bombing, not homing missiles that we use today, but unguided 'free fall' munitions meaning a great degree of error in its use.