The Power Cell Blaster has incredible auto-aim along with very high speed projectiles and low power draw. I imagine this is so that a chasing ship has a better chance to land a few shots on a fleeing enemy. But what it also enables is holding the trigger indefinitely and essentially immobilizing any ship that is heavier than yours. Having been on both sides of this, it's not very fun.

The real suggestion: Lower the PCB's autoaim to that of a gauss cannon, allowing it to reliably score hit on larger enemies while still taking a modicum of skill to keep consistently lined up. It will still be useful in small ship combat, as well, due to the higher autoaim for a blaster type weapon, but it won't be nearly as cheesy.

I think the above will work just fine, but it wasn't my original suggestion. However, I don't know how easily the following would be to implement, so...

The original suggestion: Give the PCB a deadzone of about 75m where its autoaim will not work, or is decreased, and then after that, bump it to the current levels. This will allow a chaser to lay down accurate fire on a fleeing ship but make it less useful in a close-up fight.

If the latter is possible, I'd definitely advocate for that because I love the PCB as is during a chase, but hate it during an actual fight.

The Suggestion that led to the PCB buff:

Improve PCB autoaim (2019)

After the range nerf to the powercell blaster I believe the PCB is in a fine place at the moment. Keep tweaking and tweaking it...

Yes the module can be annoying but it falls off as range increases.

Right now I see this as change for the sake of change.

PCB is fine where it is after the buff. Leave the poor thing alone

This would definitely take it in the right direction and with the drop in autoaim the projectile lifespan should be increased twofold with a different blaster effect to differentiate it visually from the ion blasters.

Currently the very short range/shot lifespan makes it much less effective in chases and extremely effective in point blank dogfights where it kinda breaks stuff, atlasx with a pcb and a gat is a disgustingly effective/annoying to deal with and does way too good a job to compensate for lack of aim on the offending pilot's part.

TL;DR:

Cut the autoaim down
Increase range
make it distinct from ion blasters.

As you might expect I don't think this is a good idea.

I'd rather see your frustration addressed by adding new content (such as more mechanical or non-energy use weaponry and counter measures).

But yeah, sometimes a fighter with PCB is going to pwn you because of the ultimate tradeoff both of you make in your ship and addon selection, which is the intention of the game design as far as I understand it.

"not being fun" isn't good reasoning.

If it were just “not fun” I’d agree. There are plenty of sudden or unavoidable deaths that could theoretically be frustrating, but the issue is twofold:

1. It requires very, very little skill to pull off, even with relatively matched ships. Most “easy” tactics require either finesse or leave your enemy large opportunities to avoid them (see: swarm spamming, MGCs, and hell, even if you hate the skyprom you can at least run away from it). As it stands if you can keep the enemy on your screen and stay even relatively close, you’re landing a ton of hits.
2. As Kiith points out, the current range and auto-aim mean the thing is better as a close up cheese weapon than its intended chasing purpose.

I definitely wouldn’t be against it being comparably potent up close if, say, the autocannons someone suggested recently were added as a counter. But while those weapons don’t exist, there really isn’t a counter except flares, which are markedly less dangerous/easier to avoid when an energy weapon isn’t backing them up.

Lastly, I only suggested bringing it to gauss levels of auto-aim, which are still notable. Even with the extreme weight, gauss cannons are quite dangerous weapons due to their auto-aim. Couple the PCB’s lower mass, higher velocity, and higher ROF, and I bet it will still be quite possible to PCB-lock a small ship - just not brain dead easy.

(And, of course, if it’s possible I’d love the auto-aim to be higher at range to maintain its power while chasing)

than its intended chasing purpose.

Who said it's purpose was for chasing? Nobody. It's an immobilizer to be used however anyone wants to use it.

And it is already VERY different from ion blasters.

Unnecessary tinkering.

And it is already VERY different from ion blasters.

The projectile output is the same, Greenwall. They're both using the small blaster red bolt. That pilot was only asking for a visual change so its more identifiable in an engagement. That, I understand, and wouldn't disagree with. You know, there's this pink pulsating blast from a charge cannon at level 2 charge that isn't used elsewhere 😏

I tend to use PCBs in fighter v fighter situations, usually in group events. I find myself just neutral on whether it needs a change or if this is the change needed; not overly for or against it.

Ok to change the color. Make it purple, purple has not been used yet.
The other modifications nope. Even with this autoaim level it can be dodged easily by a pilot in a fighter.

+1 and also +1 to color change; it looks exactly like a Raven so when a pilot has both equipped it is a nightmare to deal with.