Hey guys, I have been playing since just after premium beta and always lurked but did not make a forum account. I keep seeing threads on here and reddit about cannons being terrible so I thought i'd register and provide my two cents. During beta, cannons were only available fixed and were essentially a high damage near insta hit. They quickly came to dominate weapons used in pvp (usually fitted to vipers). Both were nerfed a bit (and needed it). I flew an all cannon anaconda which was a complete monster 
.
Since release, I have been having fun mostly bounty hunting and trying different weapon loadouts. I want to state that multicannons are probably your most consistent hull damage dealer and seem to be very popular. I don't however, think that cannons are getting the love from people that they deserve because they are a bit more situational. Since the projectile speed was lowered, they are no longer a sniper weapon so one must be quite close. This range dependence makes them very powerful fitted to fast and maneuverable ships that can dictate combat range at will. They seem to do INSANE damage to subsystems compared to multicannons so if you fit a fast and maneuverable ship with great thrusters, shields, and chaff/boosters...you can build yourself an awfully powerful brawler. I used all cannon setups on viper, cobra, and asp. If you are a good pilot and can take hits getting under their guns, you will absolutely WRECK anything. My cobra especially was completely ridiculous. The asp is quite fun with them but obviously is a bit less nimble so the weapons will lose their effectiveness against a smaller ship that knows to put distance between you. Cannons do quite a bit of damage vs shields but as stated before, they can quickly disable subsystems. Using them at close range vs anacondas while targeting power plants will get you kills sometimes with as high as 60% of their hull remaining. I've one shot disabled drives on the smaller ships and cackled maniacally while they tumbled into oblivion.
Just wanted to throw in some feedback and see if anyone has used them like me, overall multis have a better range and are more consistent but DAT BURST!
Also I'd like to ask the devsies to add a little more OOMPH back to the cannon sounds, I feel like they used to sound more powerful in beta. Multicannons also sound a bit more like pea shooters than avenger cannons and I would love to hear a nice BRRRRRRRRRT when I squeeze that trigger. I only make these comments because the sound in this game overall is incredible and will probably only improve!
Sorry for the rambling guys! Fly DANGEROUS!!!
. Since release, I have been having fun mostly bounty hunting and trying different weapon loadouts. I want to state that multicannons are probably your most consistent hull damage dealer and seem to be very popular. I don't however, think that cannons are getting the love from people that they deserve because they are a bit more situational. Since the projectile speed was lowered, they are no longer a sniper weapon so one must be quite close. This range dependence makes them very powerful fitted to fast and maneuverable ships that can dictate combat range at will. They seem to do INSANE damage to subsystems compared to multicannons so if you fit a fast and maneuverable ship with great thrusters, shields, and chaff/boosters...you can build yourself an awfully powerful brawler. I used all cannon setups on viper, cobra, and asp. If you are a good pilot and can take hits getting under their guns, you will absolutely WRECK anything. My cobra especially was completely ridiculous. The asp is quite fun with them but obviously is a bit less nimble so the weapons will lose their effectiveness against a smaller ship that knows to put distance between you. Cannons do quite a bit of damage vs shields but as stated before, they can quickly disable subsystems. Using them at close range vs anacondas while targeting power plants will get you kills sometimes with as high as 60% of their hull remaining. I've one shot disabled drives on the smaller ships and cackled maniacally while they tumbled into oblivion.
Just wanted to throw in some feedback and see if anyone has used them like me, overall multis have a better range and are more consistent but DAT BURST!
Also I'd like to ask the devsies to add a little more OOMPH back to the cannon sounds, I feel like they used to sound more powerful in beta. Multicannons also sound a bit more like pea shooters than avenger cannons and I would love to hear a nice BRRRRRRRRRT when I squeeze that trigger. I only make these comments because the sound in this game overall is incredible and will probably only improve!
Sorry for the rambling guys! Fly DANGEROUS!!!
