OK, I have an agenda - yes, this is a ‘buff plasma shot speed’ request.
During 2.1 Beta cannons rightly received a massive buff to their previously risible projectile velocity. Plasma stayed the same. Here is how they compare now:-
Before the buff, cannons were much slower than plasma - the huge was almost half the speed.
For the avoidance of doubt I’m not asking for a cadence to be added to plasma, by weapon size - the fact that all plasma projectiles have the same velocity is a good thing, though the velocity itself may not be.
I know that it may seem odd to compare plasma with cannons as the two are so different but such a comparison is natural for some of us, because for so long plasma and cannons were the only two huge weapons available. For the stats of all weapons in game, see my thread here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/246086-Official-FDev-Damage-Stats-for-Every-Weapon
It is worth noting that the low distributor draw of cannons and multi-cannons mean that missed shots are largely ‘free’, whereas with plasma, every miss hurts.
At the same time, the likely speed of the target vessel has altered drastically (in PvP, at least). Compare Plasma’s 700 speed to the approx max speed of some typical combat builds, pre- and post- 2.1:
One point to note is that increasing the speeds of the targets effectively buffs the relative effectiveness of hit scan weapons compared to those that require lead. In short, 2.1 has reduced the effectiveness of plasma relative to both cannons and lasers. Indeed, I would go further and argue that plasma's relative effectiveness has also reduced compared to multis, by reason of the greater effect that the target's speed has on accuracy when you are firing shots at 700 mps rather than 1,600 mps.
It seems to me that in a faster Galaxy, plasma deserves a bit of shot speed love.
Do you agree? And whether you agree or not, what projectile speed do YOU believe plasma should have?
During 2.1 Beta cannons rightly received a massive buff to their previously risible projectile velocity. Plasma stayed the same. Here is how they compare now:-
| Plasma | Cannon | |
| Huge | 700 | 750 |
| Large | 700 | 800 |
| Medium | 700 | 875 |
Before the buff, cannons were much slower than plasma - the huge was almost half the speed.
For the avoidance of doubt I’m not asking for a cadence to be added to plasma, by weapon size - the fact that all plasma projectiles have the same velocity is a good thing, though the velocity itself may not be.
I know that it may seem odd to compare plasma with cannons as the two are so different but such a comparison is natural for some of us, because for so long plasma and cannons were the only two huge weapons available. For the stats of all weapons in game, see my thread here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/246086-Official-FDev-Damage-Stats-for-Every-Weapon
It is worth noting that the low distributor draw of cannons and multi-cannons mean that missed shots are largely ‘free’, whereas with plasma, every miss hurts.
At the same time, the likely speed of the target vessel has altered drastically (in PvP, at least). Compare Plasma’s 700 speed to the approx max speed of some typical combat builds, pre- and post- 2.1:
| 2.0 | 2.1 | |
| Fer-de-Lance | 390 | 480 |
| iCourier | 390 | 600 |
| iClipper | 430 | 530 |
One point to note is that increasing the speeds of the targets effectively buffs the relative effectiveness of hit scan weapons compared to those that require lead. In short, 2.1 has reduced the effectiveness of plasma relative to both cannons and lasers. Indeed, I would go further and argue that plasma's relative effectiveness has also reduced compared to multis, by reason of the greater effect that the target's speed has on accuracy when you are firing shots at 700 mps rather than 1,600 mps.
It seems to me that in a faster Galaxy, plasma deserves a bit of shot speed love.
Do you agree? And whether you agree or not, what projectile speed do YOU believe plasma should have?
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