this is a game......not reality.
cannons with real life velocities would be total OP as we had in alpha/beta
everyone flew just with cannons
to sum it up:
BALANCE
So balance it by other means.
-Increased heat
-Increased mass
-Longer reload time
-Slower firing time
-Reduced ship maneuverability (Ammunition and weapon weights A LOT)
-More expensive ammunition
-Smaller magazine size (Perhaps even work like a naval gun, need to reload each shot)
-Reduced armour piercing ability (Good vs hull, low chance to hit internals)
-Reduced efficiency against shields
Real life velocity if looking at WW2 for SLOW artillery was 700-900 meters per second, we have about HALF that and it really looks BAD when I can lazily dodge a giant cannon shot and lazily follow its trajectory.
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the best choice for using this hardpoint for fighting small, nimble tagets, YES
but the huge hardpoint was never meant to be used this way....the huge HP is meant to fight slow, big targets. both weapons available in this size suggest this!
a class 4 beam or rail, or even a cannon with real life velocities would be total OP against smaller ships. imagine a FDL with a C4 Beam.....yeah......that would be really fun...but only for the FDL pilot ;-)
i think this is the reasoning behind this....
And when even sluggish ships literally DANCE around the huge rounds?
Slow is one thing, snailpace is another.
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a class 4 beam or rail, or even a cannon with real life velocities would be total OP against smaller ships. imagine a FDL with a C4 Beam.....yeah......that would be really fun...but only for the FDL pilot ;-)
I would give smaller ships the same chance as larger ships.
-Reduce accuracy of gimbals and turrets trying to hit and track ships smaller than themselves.
OR
-Increase Gimbal and Turret weapon spread against ships smaller than itself.
Larger ships resists damage better against smaller ships.
Smaller ships avoid hits against larger gimbals and turrets.