As the title states. Minelaunchers are still in a bad state with their 2 second arming time.
I gonna keep this short and simple explaining why 2 seconds are just not good:
The original reasoning behind the increased arming time (up to 5 seconds at first) was that larger ships would recieve damage from their own mines because they detonated too early and haven't been floating behind their firing ship yet.
It then got reduced to 2 seconds which makes them useable again but far from viable and useful.
However, the argumentation in itself is flawed for multiple reasons:
1. Mines have a friend/foe targeting mechanism, meaning they do not detonate near their own firing ship.
2. The only way to recieve damage from friendly mines is to directly hit them or shoot them while being close
2.1 This means that the only way the stated damage in the original argumentation could have occured is by firing mines from a wrong hardpoint* or by intentionally fly through them.
3. The 2 second arming time causes mines to have a minimum deployment range that is just unfitting in their already extremely close combat usage.
4. Mines are extremele niché and one of the most unreliable weapons to use in this game. Nerfing them has an unhealthy impact on the already flawed game balance as it pushes users away from that playstyle, going back to regular modules which results in less variety among playstyles.
*Firing a minelauncher from a wrong hardpoint means that the hardpoint is simply not properly suited for a minelauncher. This can occur when a hardpoint is mounted on a ship in a way that a deployed mine canister does not escape the ship's hitbox in the direction the mine is deployed. So while floating backwards, as mines do, the mine collides with the own ship (and sometimes even passes through) and detonates as it has been hit directly, thus causing damage once armed. To work around this, the firing ship must change is trajectory in a way the mines float in a direction where it will not collide with the firing ship while slowing down. Examples are the medium hardpoints on the Corvette or the small hardpoints of a Type9/10. Because when flying in a straight line forwards, they will hit the firing ship.
With that in mind it can be said that the 2 second arming time not only nerfs minelaunchers directly but also that it doesn't solve the stated issue in the first place. Because even with a 2 second arming time the firing ships will still recieve their own mine damage when flying slow enough. Furthermore, since mines explode on that ship using that wrong hardpoint, mines should not be used on these ships in the first place as they are not suited for it. Lastly, competent minelauncher users can still work around the bad hardpoint placement for mines by changing the ship trajetory or flying FA-off and position the ship correctly so mines will not collide with the firing ship.
Conclusion and appeal (TL;DR):
I highly encourage the responsible team for balancing changes to simply reduce the arming time for minelaunchers value back to 1 second or even better: to 0.5. Because as we have seen, mines do not explode near the firing ship since they have a friend/foe targeting mechanism and the 2 second arming time is not tackling the orignally stated issue in the first place because the arming time is in no way connected to this very issue.
The solution to the orignally stated issue is to mount the minelaunchers on a different hardpoint and/or change the flight direction of the firing ship relative to its orientation so the mines won't collide with it. But increasing the arming time isn't (it merely acts as a lazy workaround rather than a direct fix for the issue) so please reduce the arming time back to 1 second or 0.5.
I gonna keep this short and simple explaining why 2 seconds are just not good:
The original reasoning behind the increased arming time (up to 5 seconds at first) was that larger ships would recieve damage from their own mines because they detonated too early and haven't been floating behind their firing ship yet.
It then got reduced to 2 seconds which makes them useable again but far from viable and useful.
However, the argumentation in itself is flawed for multiple reasons:
1. Mines have a friend/foe targeting mechanism, meaning they do not detonate near their own firing ship.
2. The only way to recieve damage from friendly mines is to directly hit them or shoot them while being close
2.1 This means that the only way the stated damage in the original argumentation could have occured is by firing mines from a wrong hardpoint* or by intentionally fly through them.
3. The 2 second arming time causes mines to have a minimum deployment range that is just unfitting in their already extremely close combat usage.
4. Mines are extremele niché and one of the most unreliable weapons to use in this game. Nerfing them has an unhealthy impact on the already flawed game balance as it pushes users away from that playstyle, going back to regular modules which results in less variety among playstyles.
*Firing a minelauncher from a wrong hardpoint means that the hardpoint is simply not properly suited for a minelauncher. This can occur when a hardpoint is mounted on a ship in a way that a deployed mine canister does not escape the ship's hitbox in the direction the mine is deployed. So while floating backwards, as mines do, the mine collides with the own ship (and sometimes even passes through) and detonates as it has been hit directly, thus causing damage once armed. To work around this, the firing ship must change is trajectory in a way the mines float in a direction where it will not collide with the firing ship while slowing down. Examples are the medium hardpoints on the Corvette or the small hardpoints of a Type9/10. Because when flying in a straight line forwards, they will hit the firing ship.
With that in mind it can be said that the 2 second arming time not only nerfs minelaunchers directly but also that it doesn't solve the stated issue in the first place. Because even with a 2 second arming time the firing ships will still recieve their own mine damage when flying slow enough. Furthermore, since mines explode on that ship using that wrong hardpoint, mines should not be used on these ships in the first place as they are not suited for it. Lastly, competent minelauncher users can still work around the bad hardpoint placement for mines by changing the ship trajetory or flying FA-off and position the ship correctly so mines will not collide with the firing ship.
Conclusion and appeal (TL;DR):
I highly encourage the responsible team for balancing changes to simply reduce the arming time for minelaunchers value back to 1 second or even better: to 0.5. Because as we have seen, mines do not explode near the firing ship since they have a friend/foe targeting mechanism and the 2 second arming time is not tackling the orignally stated issue in the first place because the arming time is in no way connected to this very issue.
The solution to the orignally stated issue is to mount the minelaunchers on a different hardpoint and/or change the flight direction of the firing ship relative to its orientation so the mines won't collide with it. But increasing the arming time isn't (it merely acts as a lazy workaround rather than a direct fix for the issue) so please reduce the arming time back to 1 second or 0.5.
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