Forums » Suggestions
Flechettes
As they stand, flechettes are among the worst guns in the game - which is why no one uses them. While they fire quickly and are wide for easier hits, their auto aim seems to be pretty bad, so it's very hard to hit anything with them, and when they do hit, they don't do very much damage. I'd like to suggest that at least the Mk II get better auto aim so that flechettes are at least somewhat useful in PvP combat, and thus have some use in the game.
Catastrophically low damage, poor shot velocity, terrible accuracy... basically, the Flechette is a gun where everything is wrong. Even the rate of fire is no bonus, because the gun hits so infrequently it's not really plausible to do enough damage to make the gun worth its own weight.
The entire weapon should be redone. Once it's workable, then we can make a MkII that is actually an improvement worth using.
The entire weapon should be redone. Once it's workable, then we can make a MkII that is actually an improvement worth using.
The difference between the flechette and the gatling cannon is minimal...
"catastrophically low damage, poor shot velocity"
Not that the flechette doesn't need some work, but lets be fair here.
a) The basic flechette cannon theoretically can do 2778 damage per second. This makes it about average in damage output.
b) The basic flechette cannon has a shot velocity of 190 m/s. This makes it one of the fastest munitions in the game.
The flechette cannon has two basic problems, and you only managed to mention one of them while criticizing two of its stronger points.
The two fixes necessary for a flechette are:
a) The flechette is an energy hog that consumes more energy per second than just about any other small weapon while at the same time has a design that encourages a high rate of sustained fire. My calculations are that it uses at least 40% more energy than is practical for the weapons effects. At most, the basic weapon should consome about 5 energy per shot. We could take this number significantly lower without breaking the weapon.
b) The imposed limitations on the accuracy of the weapon are two harsh. This is not an autoaim problem. The railgun is an example of poor autoaim. This is an extra characteristic imposed on the weapon that makes it impossible to aim with or without autoaim. In theory, it could actually make the weapon attractive and nearly impossible to dodge. In practice, the variation is too great to score hits consistantly beyond about 40m. If the variation in the angle was reduced, this problem would be greatly reduced, though it still would not be an ideal weapon to use against a Vulture (but then again, no direct fire weapon is).
Not that the flechette doesn't need some work, but lets be fair here.
a) The basic flechette cannon theoretically can do 2778 damage per second. This makes it about average in damage output.
b) The basic flechette cannon has a shot velocity of 190 m/s. This makes it one of the fastest munitions in the game.
The flechette cannon has two basic problems, and you only managed to mention one of them while criticizing two of its stronger points.
The two fixes necessary for a flechette are:
a) The flechette is an energy hog that consumes more energy per second than just about any other small weapon while at the same time has a design that encourages a high rate of sustained fire. My calculations are that it uses at least 40% more energy than is practical for the weapons effects. At most, the basic weapon should consome about 5 energy per shot. We could take this number significantly lower without breaking the weapon.
b) The imposed limitations on the accuracy of the weapon are two harsh. This is not an autoaim problem. The railgun is an example of poor autoaim. This is an extra characteristic imposed on the weapon that makes it impossible to aim with or without autoaim. In theory, it could actually make the weapon attractive and nearly impossible to dodge. In practice, the variation is too great to score hits consistantly beyond about 40m. If the variation in the angle was reduced, this problem would be greatly reduced, though it still would not be an ideal weapon to use against a Vulture (but then again, no direct fire weapon is).
I agree with Celebrim's proposed fixes.