Should certain weapons be more dangerous?

[Snarfbuckle]

Usually ships have primary weapons and secondary weapons.

In our case we have damage types but also different kind of weapons.

Lasers, multi cannons and cannons feel like the staple weapons and then we have more specialized weapons like railguns and plasma accelerators.

But missiles feel...off.

They are usually limited in ammunition and at most give an AOE to take out external modules.

Perhaps it's just me but should not missiles be more powerful due to their limited amount?

- Seeker missiles feel like the staple "kill shot" missiles with their limited ammunition while rockets should be more against larger slower ships or ground targets.

- Mines are either defensive or should be a good "bomb" against ground targets as well.

I know rockets were extremely powerful before and got nerfed but why not keep their damage lower but increase total ammunition amount? The ordnance amount in this game feels extremely limited even with buffs and engineering (pack launchers excluded...)

 

[StiTch]

Seekers can be used by a toddler, require dedicated loadout concessions to actively defend against, and on contact are already the premier weapon/utility/thruster disintegrators. Ask a hulltank how they feel about emissive missile loadouts; they certainly won't commend you for getting them buffed. And with the high cap mod, a class 2 missile rack will be relatively sustainable even in PvE.

Dumbfire missiles I could get behind this on, provided careful handling of the penetrator missile effect. And perhaps a damage boost for PAs. And maybe fixed cannons, at that. Okay the PA has its uses but none of their output really matches the awkwardness of connecting shots with them against an enemy around your skill level.

 

[fu9ar]

Pack Hounds blow things up real nice.

You can also load up on mats and synth stuff on the fly.

 

[Myrm]

Weapons not powerful enough to help you win a fight? A bad workman always blames his tools. I’ve always wanted to say this: git gud!

Seriously though, I am vary happy with the current state of weapons. I wouldn’t want weapons that would take somebody out with one hit. That would get boring vary quickly.

 

[ForeverN00b]

Dumbfire missiles I could get behind this on, provided careful handling of the penetrator missile effect. And perhaps a damage boost for PAs. And maybe fixed cannons, at that. Okay the PA has its uses but none of their output really matches the awkwardness of connecting shots with them against an enemy around your skill level.

PAs do get the benefit of absolute damage and TLB. While neither of those things matter against NPCs, they sure do against humans. I don't believe for a second that PAs need a buff, they are already a staple of PvP.

Edit: It's also possible to increase the shot speed of PAs with the LR modification. As to how viable this is versus efficient, I've never tried it myself.

 

[Aashenfox]

I have several times considered making a thread telling people just how awesome seekers are. I never used them for the longest time, simply because I felt they were more 'falcon 4.0' than Elite: Dangerous.

You know where they REALLY shine? Taking out small ships which would otherwise necessitate a turning fight.

I think they are perfectly balanced, EXCEPT one thing. It is truly curious why the smaller missile pods would have LESS missiles and the larger ones more. That's just backwards. But I don't really mind.

 

[StiTch]

PAs do get the benefit of absolute damage and TLB. While neither of those things matter against NPCs, they sure do against humans. I don't believe for a second that PAs need a buff, they are already a staple of PvP.

Absolute damage can work against the player in PvE, and in PvP while they can be effective against a larger ship they're absolutely not staple or infallible. Even experienced pilots will profess that a semi-agile ship can reliably dodge PA shots with minimal work from anything other than point blank range.

Not to slate them as useless, but...why not? Worst comes to worst we have a high-skill weapon with some actual prominence, some offset for larger ships shield stacking, and some reward for connecting the shots with anything smaller than a python.

EDIT: TLB could do with a slight cooldown though, I'll agree on that. It doesn't actually bother me as much as it might, but a cooldown would add a bit of consistency and remove them as a somewhat ironic crutch for pilots that rely on hugging a big ship with 2 or more of them.

 

[Aashenfox]

PAs are by their very nature, a weapon only for use on high powered ships for taking out larger ships. I think they could do with a nerf, it's kinda silly how quick I can take out anything larger than a python. Focused speeds up the projectile about 90% which makes A HUGE difference to their usability, but then you WILL have heat issues, and as you say, they are still 'not quite' fast enough for taking out small agile ships.

PAs are 'almost' the ultimate weapon in Elite, they have all the power, but also all the drawbacks. They are one of the single things that has been implemented so well, as to go toward what makes this game 'great', railguns the same, and are 'the' ultimate weapon in Elite.

I fly the FAS with medium rails and large PAs and the only thing I hate is facing another FAS.

 

[ALGOMATIC]

Hounds and seakers should get a nurf.
They are click to win weapon with no skill required. They are lethal against any hull tank, mod them with rapid fire and just hold the fire button. Click to win!

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Hounds and seakers should get a nurf.
They are click to win weapon with no skill required. They are lethal against any hull tank, mod them with rapid fire and just hold the fire button. Click to win!

Same could be said for turrets and gimbals. Lol

Don't touch my missiles. I spent a full year waiting for missiles to become a valid weapon.
Now they're actually useful, I put a couple on all my ships, to mix up just holding the trigger down.

Missile often require careful timing between ECMs, or to get the maximum rear hit to take out thrusters.

They also look flippin' awesome.

Don't nerf missiles.

You have ECM and PD if you want to defend yourself from them. Not to mention preventing a lock in the first place.

If anything, missiles are amongst the most balanced of weapons.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Kaocraft]

I have several times considered making a thread telling people just how awesome seekers are. I never used them for the longest time, simply because I felt they were more 'falcon 4.0' than Elite: Dangerous.

You know where they REALLY shine? Taking out small ships which would otherwise necessitate a turning fight.

I think they are perfectly balanced, EXCEPT one thing. It is truly curious why the smaller missile pods would have LESS missiles and the larger ones more. That's just backwards. But I don't really mind.

Theres only one size of missile. So a larger pod just holds more of the same type of missile as the smaller pods.

 

[clinton]

The Huge Plasmas need to be more nasty. Except in cases where you're facing particularly high resistances, there's little reason to choose them over a beam laser, which can do more DPS without the difficulty of leading shots.

I'd bump the medium, large and huge plasmas mass to 8T, 24T and 64T respectively, and with that added mass also increase their damage, progressively more so for the large and then huge versions. They should be bloody scary weapons.

 

[askavir]

Usually ships have primary weapons and secondary weapons.

In our case we have damage types but also different kind of weapons.

Lasers, multi cannons and cannons feel like the staple weapons and then we have more specialized weapons like railguns and plasma accelerators.

But missiles feel...off.

They are usually limited in ammunition and at most give an AOE to take out external modules.

Perhaps it's just me but should not missiles be more powerful due to their limited amount?

- Seeker missiles feel like the staple "kill shot" missiles with their limited ammunition while rockets should be more against larger slower ships or ground targets.

- Mines are either defensive or should be a good "bomb" against ground targets as well.

I know rockets were extremely powerful before and got nerfed but why not keep their damage lower but increase total ammunition amount? The ordnance amount in this game feels extremely limited even with buffs and engineering (pack launchers excluded...)

All weapons are "balanced" for PvP, so don't expect anything in the combat part of the game to make any sense. Most of the weapons, related gear and the combat mechanics are quite silly if you think a little about it.

 

[Aashenfox]

Theres only one size of missile. So a larger pod just holds more of the same type of missile as the smaller pods.

That clears that up, thanks

 

[StiTch]

All weapons are "balanced" for PvP

*chuckles* tell me all about them several thousand mj resistant shields, and emissive packhounds, that were balanced for PvP.

The correct statement is that they are balanced with the help of PvPers; the PvE community here doesn't make a stellar effort to achieve any "balance" other than whatever lets them mow through NPCs at the touch of a button.

Missile often require careful timing between ECMs...

If anything, missiles are amongst the most balanced of weapons.

I've never seen an ECM be effective, and the cooldown on them is accepted to be poor enough missiles can easily be launched through it in between.

The only things balancing missiles at present are point defence (requires multiple of the desperately important utility slots to counter multiple launchers)...and their damage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njDy9ZhTFOQ

As I said, when it comes to dumbfires, awesome. Make 'em shine! Seeker missiles though are effort-free hull mashing.

 

[Conch]

what we need is a size 4 APA!!

 

[ALGOMATIC]

*chuckles* tell me all about them several thousand mj resistant shields, and emissive packhounds, that were balanced for PvP.

The correct statement is that they are balanced with the help of PvPers; the PvE community here doesn't make a stellar effort to achieve any "balance" other than whatever lets them mow through NPCs at the touch of a button.




I've never seen an ECM be effective, and the cooldown on them is accepted to be poor enough missiles can easily be launched through it in between.

The only things balancing missiles at present are point defence (requires multiple of the desperately important utility slots to counter multiple launchers)...and their damage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njDy9ZhTFOQ

As I said, when it comes to dumbfires, awesome. Make 'em shine! Seeker missiles though are effort-free hull mashing.

This.

Ecm and PD dont work against hounds, only screening shells frags, which waste ammo to try and shoot the hounds. Lame lame lame. Rapid fire premium packhounds against a hull tank = click to win at its best.

 

[ALGOMATIC]

Same could be said for turrets and gimbals. Lol

Don't touch my missiles. I spent a full year waiting for missiles to become a valid weapon.
Now they're actually useful, I put a couple on all my ships, to mix up just holding the trigger down.

Missile often require careful timing between ECMs, or to get the maximum rear hit to take out thrusters.

They also look flippin' awesome.

Don't nerf missiles.

You have ECM and PD if you want to defend yourself from them. Not to mention preventing a lock in the first place.

If anything, missiles are amongst the most balanced of weapons.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

Gimbals countered with chaff, TLB and dispersal effect, depends on gimbaled arc you still need to aim, also they suffer a penalty damage.

Turrets are useless in PvP regardless of anything, suffer from the same counter as gimbals.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Seekers can be used by a toddler, require dedicated loadout concessions to actively defend against, and on contact are already the premier weapon/utility/thruster disintegrators. Ask a hulltank how they feel about emissive missile loadouts; they certainly won't commend you for getting them buffed. And with the high cap mod, a class 2 missile rack will be relatively sustainable even in PvE.

Dumbfire missiles I could get behind this on, provided careful handling of the penetrator missile effect. And perhaps a damage boost for PAs. And maybe fixed cannons, at that. Okay the PA has its uses but none of their output really matches the awkwardness of connecting shots with them against an enemy around your skill level.

It's a long one, since I combined a couple of things here, but missiles? I've got missiles...

[video=youtube;MoTU7k-A5hY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoTU7k-A5hY&t=565s[/video]

 

[Shinji Ikari]

Gimbals countered with chaff, TLB and dispersal effect, depends on gimbaled arc you still need to aim, also they suffer a penalty damage.

Turrets are useless in PvP regardless of anything, suffer from the same counter as gimbals.

I think there was once a thread that explained that chaff was just too short to be effective.