Class 4 weapons

Imo, any chemical energy weapon firing projectiles at sub 1,000 m/s is a bit silly in a space game. IF other values of the weapons must be addressed to make such velocities on larger cannons "balanced" so be it. What we're shooting atm are comparable to medium velocity grenades and it's just too darn silly.

Exactly, I can have a C4 cannon against a ship within 500 meters and even when LEADING the target I can SEE the projectile slowly making it's way and having the target lazily turn to the side, having SECONDS before the shot impacts.

Within 500 meters weapons should essentially almost be hitscan speeds.
 
f18 tops out at roughly 1750 fps. A sabot round from a modern L44 120mm does over 5,000 fps, 5,500 fps has been topped from euro l55 guns as well (that's almost mach 5). Even the lower velocity heat rounds are fired at over twice the velocity of a full burner f-18 at 40,000 ft. F-18 is is one of the slower fighters btw.

Imo, any chemical energy weapon firing projectiles at sub 1,000 m/s is a bit silly in a space game. IF other values of the weapons must be addressed to make such velocities on larger cannons "balanced" so be it. What we're shooting atm are comparable to medium velocity grenades and it's just too darn silly.

It is easy to imagine pilots crying for a nerf as soon as in game rounds reach IRL velocities...

ePgAxLD.jpg

Nooice... (the kind of damages an APFSDS does on thick non composite armor)
 
Cannon has an average measured projectile flight time of 2,695s which results in an estimated speed of 371,05m/s if timed with 1000m.
Plasma Accelerator has an average measured projectile flight time of 1,67s which results in an estimated speed of 596,81m/s if timed with 1000m.

Thanks for the link!

The velocities determined above put the class 4 PA and the class 4 Cannon well in range of 20th century low-recoil/recoilless guns like the M40 (post-WWII, USA) or the LG 42 (WWII, Germany).


P.S.: Now I understand why the FdL sometimes reminds me of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M50_Ontos
 
Thanks for the link!

The velocities determined above put the class 4 PA and the class 4 Cannon well in range of 20th century low-recoil/recoilless guns like the M40 (post-WWII, USA) or the LG 42 (WWII, Germany).


P.S.: Now I understand why the FdL sometimes reminds me of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M50_Ontos

That's rather depressing if 900 years of conflict have given us WW2/Cold War guns in space.

If anything the Cannon should be a SABOT round OR have the EXPLOSIVE damage status BUT can damage shields.

For a comparison.

A modern CROSSBOW have the ability to reach 410 kilometers per hour or 114 meters per second speed. Aproximately 1/4 of our 900 year more advanced cannon.
 
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That's rather depressing if 900 years of conflict have given us WW2/Cold War guns in space.

If anything the Cannon should be a SABOT round OR have the EXPLOSIVE damage status BUT can damage shields.

Or even allow to swap between the two types of shells. That would be quite cool.
 
Darpa guided bullet evolved. Because why not.
zorg-demos-the-zf-1-o.gif


PS : I realized it could be just what Clipper pilots have been waiting for... Fixed machine gun that comes in a pod and do the aiming for them :D
 
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Honestly, i just want a C4 pulse laser. Too hard to find power for stuff like beams on an FdL.

-Burst Fire Cannons
-Plasma Repeaters (more pew-pew guns)
-More Pack-Launcher missile designs (when they make missiles USEFUL)
-Laser repeaters (FA Burst Fire Lasers as a mix between beam and pulse)
 
-Burst Fire Cannons
-Plasma Repeaters (more pew-pew guns)
-More Pack-Launcher missile designs (when they make missiles USEFUL)
-Laser repeaters (FA Burst Fire Lasers as a mix between beam and pulse)

Would the Laser repeater be like a laser Gatling gun? Slow DPS which lead up to an increase of DPS over time that resets when you stop holding it?
 
They could also balance by making the large auto cannon generate more heat... why always less ammo... -_-'

It's actually impossible for many ships to hold as many rounds they do for the C3 cannon. The boor is too big, 100 rounds of ammo for that gun should take up half a diamondback explorer.
 
The Huge hardpoint on a Fer De Lance is just a sad panda.

The ship has 4 medium mounts annnnd.. a huge mount with 2 options. a Fixed Cannon, or a Fixed 14million CR PAC.

or, to put it another way, 4 med mounts, and another mount not used to its full potential (I currently have a C3 Gimbaled Beam laser there)

I guess for now we can all just dream of such bounty hunter goodness as...
[dangit! no good video links- its just too old]
Well, [gotta be old enough to remember it] as good a weapon as that time in Macross Saga when SDF-1 fired its main gun from the planets surface for the first time.... remember? destroyed an entire fleet in the "shot", and put a good tubular gouge out of the nearby island that got in the way a bit...
 
It is going to be really hard to balance a class 4 hit scan weapon, you'd either have to give it such a high power draw that half your other guns would have to be powered down, or make it wildly inaccurate. The Class 4 PA and Cannon have such slow projectile speeds as balancing factors. A class 3 rail gun sounds really OP to me, I can't even imagine a class 4, or it's required power draw. FD have done a good job balancing most of the weapons so far (missiles and mines need help), I'll be interested to see what else they implement, especially at the top end.
 
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