Buff Sturdy

[DemiserofD]

Sturdy isn't generally useful. In fact, the only place I've found it relevant is on Advanced Missile Racks, against thargoids.

The reason is because the bonus to Armor Piercing just isn't good enough to compete with much less limited bonuses to damage. Just doing 70-75% more damage from Overcharged or Short Range is going to be much superior, because it works against Shields too, as well as smaller ships where AP isn't a factor. Even if hull tanks were regularly used, I still wouldn't imagine I'd see Sturdy used very often, since being able to survive incoming damage just isn't as helpful as stopping that damage before it happens.

With that in mind, what about this?

Sturdy
+60% Armor Piercing
+200% Integrity
-30% Fire Rate
+60% Damage
(thermal bonus removed)

So, the new Sturdy would shoot more slowly, but hit harder when it does hit. It would do about 12% more DPS universally, would generate about 30% less heat(compared to the current -30% thermal load - IE, the same), and would consume 30% less ammo.

Against hulls specifically, assuming the full AP bonus could be applied, Sturdy weapons would do about 80% more DPS(compared to 60% currently). This could be compared to 75% from Short Ranged, or 70% from overcharged; however, Sturdy would mostly not apply to shields, keeping it in balance.

Tldr; Compared to currently, Sturdy would do 12% more damage and use 30% less ammo, making it a more viable option for its intended purpose.

 

[Rubbernuke]

If I could, I'd remove this effect entirely and have it that retracted hardpoints inherit the armour of the ship (and that only superpen or other such rounds) can directly hit.

But saying that, I'd up the integrity to something like 300%, mainly because its got to have some overwhelming advantage compared to the rest, perhaps up the fire rate by a touch (say, 5 or 10% due to a stiffer mount) and have a slightly lower DPS boost (say, 20 or 30%) due to better accuracy. I'd bump up the protection value mainly because module bulkheads don't cover external modules, so you need to really make it pay off.

 

[DemiserofD]

If I could, I'd remove this effect entirely and have it that retracted hardpoints inherit the armour of the ship (and that only superpen or other such rounds) can directly hit.

But saying that, I'd up the integrity to something like 300%, mainly because its got to have some overwhelming advantage compared to the rest, perhaps up the fire rate by a touch (say, 5 or 10% due to a stiffer mount) and have a slightly lower DPS boost (say, 20 or 30%) due to better accuracy. I'd bump up the protection value mainly because module bulkheads don't cover external modules, so you need to really make it pay off.

No thoughts on my idea? I thought it was kinda neat, giving each shot a much more 'sturdy' blow.

 

[Rubbernuke]

No thoughts on my idea? I thought it was kinda neat, giving each shot a much more 'sturdy' blow.

In general I like the idea, because sturdy is largely pointless (mainly due to shields being the meta and actual structural integrity is almost an afterthought). Its just quibbles on the perks really.

I just feel it should be sturdy first (and really chonky), and that it has mild benefits because of that rigidity (being able to sustain accuracy with higher rate of fire and power).

 

[CardioTherapy]

Sturdy isn't generally useful. In fact, the only place I've found it relevant is on Advanced Missile Racks, against thargoids.

The reason is because the bonus to Armor Piercing just isn't good enough to compete with much less limited bonuses to damage. Just doing 70-75% more damage from Overcharged or Short Range is going to be much superior, because it works against Shields too, as well as smaller ships where AP isn't a factor. Even if hull tanks were regularly used, I still wouldn't imagine I'd see Sturdy used very often, since being able to survive incoming damage just isn't as helpful as stopping that damage before it happens.

With that in mind, what about this?

Sturdy
+60% Armor Piercing
+200% Integrity
-30% Fire Rate
+60% Damage
(thermal bonus removed)

So, the new Sturdy would shoot more slowly, but hit harder when it does hit. It would do about 12% more DPS universally, would generate about 30% less heat(compared to the current -30% thermal load - IE, the same), and would consume 30% less ammo.

Against hulls specifically, assuming the full AP bonus could be applied, Sturdy weapons would do about 80% more DPS(compared to 60% currently). This could be compared to 75% from Short Ranged, or 70% from overcharged; however, Sturdy would mostly not apply to shields, keeping it in balance.

Tldr; Compared to currently, Sturdy would do 12% more damage and use 30% less ammo, making it a more viable option for its intended purpose.

I use sturdy only on pve builds of fast ships with mainly rails loadout. As an example a FAS with 3 rails or FDL with 4 rails. For pve I make the rails sturdy + plasma slug and synth premium ammo. I can spam the rails without overheating and that is pretty efficient and ton of fun. So I am against removing thermal bonus from sturdy but i am OK for adding damage bonus instead of piercing.

 

[DemiserofD]

I use sturdy only on pve builds of fast ships with mainly rails loadout. As an example a FAS with 3 rails or FDL with 4 rails. For pve I make the rails sturdy + plasma slug and synth premium ammo. I can spam the rails without overheating and that is pretty efficient and ton of fun. So I am against removing thermal bonus from sturdy but i am OK for adding damage bonus instead of piercing.

Well, the idea is that by reducing the fire rate, the thermal bonus is preserved, just invisible. Because each shot gives more heat, but happens less often, so still less heat in the long term.

 

[DemiserofD]

In general I like the idea, because sturdy is largely pointless (mainly due to shields being the meta and actual structural integrity is almost an afterthought). Its just quibbles on the perks really.

I just feel it should be sturdy first (and really chonky), and that it has mild benefits because of that rigidity (being able to sustain accuracy with higher rate of fire and power).

I see. I guess the way I saw it was, the weapon was now sturdy enough to upgrade to a higher calibre of bullets, dealing more damage per shot and also piercing the enemy hull better, but reducing the fire rate a bit to compensate.

I can't really see the correlation between faster fire rate and armor piercing. Perhaps faster bullet speed, but that starts to overlap with Focused a bit too much.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I see. I guess the way I saw it was, the weapon was now sturdy enough to upgrade to a higher calibre of bullets, dealing more damage per shot and also piercing the enemy hull better, but reducing the fire rate a bit to compensate.

I can't really see the correlation between faster fire rate and armor piercing. Perhaps faster bullet speed, but that starts to overlap with Focused a bit too much.

I saw the sturdier mount as an opportunity for the the weapon to allow better fire because its bolted down better- so it would not suffer with jitter as with RF does (IIRC) so in line with your idea just slightly different perk.

But at a basic level I agree making sturdy much more sturdy