Flak Cannon Turret

[Nutter]

We have had Flak cannons since 1910's and were a pretty effective anti fighter weapon fired from the ground.

Large ships struggle with small fighters that sit in their blind spot slowly wearing them down and normally cause the large ships to high wake from the annoying mosquito..

I've always felt that we should have some form of flak turret on larger ships, size 3 and up. They should certainly put the fear into those fighters who try to hide in blind spots and a direct hit should really hurt! Not to mention how lovely they would look. A fighter should know that when the flak starts is going to be a risky business taking on a large ship equipped with flak.

What do you think FD?

Nutter

o7

 

[Farmboy]

Aren't you describing a turret mounted fragmentation canon?

 

[Weps]

Don't turreted fragmentation cannons fall in this category?

But in any case, I wouldn't mind a high-explosive proximity based projectile as an engineer mod for cannons. Hit your target with them and it provides high damage. Miss your target and the projectile still detonates based on proximity, dealing some damage to the target which triggered the detonation.

 

[Nutter]

Aren't you describing a turret mounted fragmentation canon?

Flak worked like an air burst of shrapnel, a height/distance would be set manually or by computer, then when it reach the set distance would explode in a ball of death! Frag cannons are more akin to a scatter gun.

 

[Gunnet]

Then we just need some kind of electrical weapon and it's ionised flak time.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Frag canons don't work too well at range, and generally not good as turrets.

Having said that, having occasionally gotten too close to an Anaconda with turretted frag canons, it can damn well hurt.

 

[Garix]

Frag canons don't work too well at range, and generally not good as turrets.

Having said that, having occasionally gotten too close to an Anaconda with turretted frag canons, it can damn well hurt.

They'd be better if you could set a "max distance to engage" on them. So they only open fire when a ships is within 250m (for example) Last time I tried them I found they were attacking targets to far away (but within the max distance of the weapon) so most of the ammo was wasted.

 

[Nutter]

They'd be better if you could set a "max distance to engage" on them. So they only open fire when a ships is within 250m (for example) Last time I tried them I found they were attacking targets to far away (but within the max distance of the weapon) so most of the ammo was wasted.

Hence the need for proper flack

 

[Junky Juke]

They'd be better if you could set a "max distance to engage" on them. So they only open fire when a ships is within 250m (for example) Last time I tried them I found they were attacking targets to far away (but within the max distance of the weapon) so most of the ammo was wasted.

This. Projectile turrets are not a viable choice because of ammo waste. By now the only choice we have to protect our big ships from small attackers are pulse/beam/burst turrets (I have to say they do their job very well).

 

[Tim Crimson]

Perhaps having an engineer mod for flak cannons that's like Roadhog's secondary fire from Overwatch could be fun

If you're not familiar his primary fire shoots a short range scatter as flak cannons do now, where as the alt fire shoots a ball which then explodes into a more condensed scatter at medium range.

 

[Muetdhiver]

Flak worked like an air burst of shrapnel, a height/distance would be set manually or by computer, then when it reach the set distance would explode in a ball of death! Frag cannons are more akin to a scatter gun.

http://i.vimeocdn.com/video/309921962_1280x720.jpg

Actually, modern flak/artillery works with proximity fuses, which makes for a much higher efficiency.
In fact it was a big advantage of the allies in WWII and was use carefully in fear that one unexploded shell could find its way to the Axis hands.

Could be a cannon experimental effect. No pen, but explodes if it gets closer than a certain range off the target. (i.e. kin => expl + kin damage)

 

[Gryphorim]

Cannon turrets engineered with high yield experimental effect. Same explosive property as missiles.

 

[PulsarShark]

This. Projectile turrets are not a viable choice because of ammo waste. By now the only choice we have to protect our big ships from small attackers are pulse/beam/burst turrets (I have to say they do their job very well).

Class 1 multi turrets are very effective against fighters and ammo waste is not a serious issue if you bother to control them proactively. On my Corvette, i have multi turrets in both class 1 slots, set to Trigger 2 and only in one fire group. That lets me choose exactly when to use them and when to shut them up. They have Corrosive and Emissive effects, so they only get used when a target's shields are down, or to track a very small ship better than any of the other weapons can. Non-fighter target? Shields up? Chaff active? Switch out of that fire group. Saves the ammo and makes it count.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

AFAIK our Point Defenses did that (to a very small degree) in the distant past, as they attacked hostile Ships in very close proximity.

The way I see it, an array of Point Defense Grades might help that and it would make sense. That's what a Point Defense is for, not only to counter i.e. Missiles.
Lots of ammo, high firing rate - but a limited effect only. Fairly irrelevant for Medium and especially Big Targets.

0I Point Defense = what we have today
0H Point Defense = increased Range
0G Point Defense = longer Range Missile Defense System
0F Point Defense = will also engage with limited Effectiveness against small unshielded Targets (Short Range, i.e. 200m)
0E Point Defense = will also engage with limited Effectiveness against small unshielded Targets (Medium Range, i.e. 350m)
0D Point Defense = will also engage with limited Effectiveness against small unshielded Targets (Longer Range, i.e. 500m)
0C Point Defense = will also engage with some Effectiveness against small Targets, uses a Burst attack pattern vs. small Ships (Short Range, i.e. 200m)
0B Point Defense = will also engage with some Effectiveness against small Targets, uses a Burst attack pattern vs. small Ships (Medium Range, i.e. 350m)
0A Enhanced Point Defense = will also engage with medium Effectiveness against small Targets, uses a Plasma attack vs. small Ships (Longer Range, i.e. 500m), poses a notable Threat even to nearby Medium Ships if ignored

Balancing : Power Draw, Distributor Draw and Weight (i.e. slapping 8 0A Enhanced Point Defenses onto an Anaconda would cut quite deep into its other capabilities, similar to i.e. running 8x modded 0A Shield Boosters)

Sure wouldn't mind seeing something roughtly to that tune.
Arguably, one could implement them as a compeltely new Utility - a CIWS dedicated mostly to counter small attacking Ships with only rather limited Missile defense capabilities.
Then a Player could choose to put emphasis either on a good Missile Defense or on a good Small Ship Defense - or run a combination.

 

[Farmboy]

A tweak to the turret AI for projectile weapons so that they don't fire until the target is within a defined 'effective range' wouldn't hurt at all. Even nicer would be for that to be tunable by the the user - would seem a good source of turret specific engineer tweaks if nothing else.

 

[UnhappyDev]

I like your idea, but I think that a beam turret would turn out to be more effective - no travel time to the target.

Anyway, turrets are easily countered with chaff

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Flak is an outdated concept from a time where precision, guided munitions and warheads were limited. We don't need WW II tech in future tech spacegames.

 

[InsanityOvrload]

AFAIK our Point Defenses did that (to a very small degree) in the distant past, as they attacked hostile Ships in very close proximity.

The way I see it, an array of Point Defense Grades might help that and it would make sense. That's what a Point Defense is for, not only to counter i.e. Missiles.
Lots of ammo, high firing rate - but a limited effect only. Fairly irrelevant for Medium and especially Big Targets.

0I Point Defense = what we have today
0H Point Defense = increased Range
0G Point Defense = longer Range Missile Defense System
0F Point Defense = will also engage with limited Effectiveness against small unshielded Targets (Short Range, i.e. 200m)
0E Point Defense = will also engage with limited Effectiveness against small unshielded Targets (Medium Range, i.e. 350m)
0D Point Defense = will also engage with limited Effectiveness against small unshielded Targets (Longer Range, i.e. 500m)
0C Point Defense = will also engage with some Effectiveness against small Targets, uses a Burst attack pattern vs. small Ships (Short Range, i.e. 200m)
0B Point Defense = will also engage with some Effectiveness against small Targets, uses a Burst attack pattern vs. small Ships (Medium Range, i.e. 350m)
0A Enhanced Point Defense = will also engage with medium Effectiveness against small Targets, uses a Plasma attack vs. small Ships (Longer Range, i.e. 500m), poses a notable Threat even to nearby Medium Ships if ignored

Balancing : Power Draw, Distributor Draw and Weight (i.e. slapping 8 0A Enhanced Point Defenses onto an Anaconda would cut quite deep into its other capabilitieslable, similar to i.e. running 8x modded 0A Shield Boosters)

Sure wouldn't mind seeing something roughtly to that tune.
Arguably, one could implement them as a compeltely new Utility - a CIWS dedicated mostly to counter small attacking Ships with only rather limited Missile defense capabilities.
Then a Player could choose to put emphasis either on a good Missile Defense or on a good Small Ship Defense - or run a combination.

This is an awesome idea. May even encourage some sub-target play besides powerplant too.

+1

 

[Muetdhiver]

Flak is an outdated concept from a time where precision, guided munitions and warheads were limited. We don't need WW II tech in future tech spacegames.

Indeed. Yet we have cannons with unguided shells, sensors blind to anything happening at more than a few km and kinetic projectile that lose energy in the vacuum. So... :S

 

[RamirezKurita]

Flak is an outdated concept from a time where precision, guided munitions and warheads were limited. We don't need WW II tech in future tech spacegames.

You say that, except that most ships are still equipped with a 76-127mm multipurpose gun, which is quite capable of shooting down both low flying aircraft as well as projectiles. On top of that, heavier CIWS are surprisingly multipurpose and are not just limited to shooting down projectiles.