Yes you heard me right. The Gunship is in a state where it simply isn't viable for anything compared to other ships.
A quick overview:
Average hull tanking potential
Bad shields
Worst mobility
Bad speed
Good firepower
Excellent hardpoint palcements
Average internal space
Average hitbox
Fighter Bay
As you can see it doesn't really has any outstanding properties other ships don't have. It's main issue is the insanely slow turning rate and speed which makes it such an easy target to hit in PvE, PvP and even makes it inconvinient to fly it. It has about as many hitpoints as any other medium ship such as the Assault ship, FDL or Python (depending on its loadout). But then again, it turns slower than an Anaconda.
Its fighter bay won't save it from anything. Sure, fighters have insane damage potential and can put alot of pressure on hostiles but they are oneshot by NPCs and players with hitscan weaponary.
One additional important fact to mention is that a NPC crew member is required to make use of its fighter bay so first we have to live with expert ranked NPCs that drain 12% of our credit incomes even when unused or just fill another C6 SCB or whatnot but since its original balancing was done to justify a fighter bay we would just have a worse dropship.
As a contrast: The dropship has more tanking potential than a gunship.
Flying a Gunship has no benefits compared to the other dropship family ships. The fighter bay doesn't make up for the slow turning rate, speed and lack of tanking potential.
In order to create some justice here I'd suggest the following:
(Choose ONE)
- Increase Gunship's agility OR speed. Either make it turn faster than a dropship (but slower than an assault ship) OR give it a maximum boost speed of ~ 440 m/s with 130% G5 DD Thrusters.
- Give the Gunship more firepower. It basically has the same firepower as the dropship with two more utility slots aka small hardpoints. Small hardpoints have never been signifcant in damage and do not count as hardpoints on anything bigger than a Viper. Turn it to a large one and add two more smalls or keep the smalls and give it two more mediums.
- Increase shield strength and add one more C4/5 military slot. It's one of the easies ttargets to hit and needs decent protection which it doesn't have at the moment. Especially in CZs/RES/wingfights the Gunship barely survives for more than a minute when focused. Its lacking ability to avoid fire while having the same amount of hitpoints than its siblings makes it not a viable choice.
I can turn it all the way I want but I don't see a point in the gunship. It hasn't got much more firepower than anything, it doesn't have an outstanding property and certainly is not a pwoerful ship at all. NPC fighters are too unrelyable to consider them into that equation as it comes down to hitscan weaponary to shoot them down. Also their lacking abiltiy to use reboot/repair or self-destruct when planted makes them not viable. In PvP this is extremely common leaving a gunship without the ability to launch additional fighters as the planted one is disabled and has to be shot down first in order to launch another one.
With the incoming core game improvements maybe this can help to make the Gunship viable.
A quick overview:
Average hull tanking potential
Bad shields
Worst mobility
Bad speed
Good firepower
Excellent hardpoint palcements
Average internal space
Average hitbox
Fighter Bay
As you can see it doesn't really has any outstanding properties other ships don't have. It's main issue is the insanely slow turning rate and speed which makes it such an easy target to hit in PvE, PvP and even makes it inconvinient to fly it. It has about as many hitpoints as any other medium ship such as the Assault ship, FDL or Python (depending on its loadout). But then again, it turns slower than an Anaconda.
Its fighter bay won't save it from anything. Sure, fighters have insane damage potential and can put alot of pressure on hostiles but they are oneshot by NPCs and players with hitscan weaponary.
One additional important fact to mention is that a NPC crew member is required to make use of its fighter bay so first we have to live with expert ranked NPCs that drain 12% of our credit incomes even when unused or just fill another C6 SCB or whatnot but since its original balancing was done to justify a fighter bay we would just have a worse dropship.
As a contrast: The dropship has more tanking potential than a gunship.
Flying a Gunship has no benefits compared to the other dropship family ships. The fighter bay doesn't make up for the slow turning rate, speed and lack of tanking potential.
In order to create some justice here I'd suggest the following:
(Choose ONE)
- Increase Gunship's agility OR speed. Either make it turn faster than a dropship (but slower than an assault ship) OR give it a maximum boost speed of ~ 440 m/s with 130% G5 DD Thrusters.
- Give the Gunship more firepower. It basically has the same firepower as the dropship with two more utility slots aka small hardpoints. Small hardpoints have never been signifcant in damage and do not count as hardpoints on anything bigger than a Viper. Turn it to a large one and add two more smalls or keep the smalls and give it two more mediums.
- Increase shield strength and add one more C4/5 military slot. It's one of the easies ttargets to hit and needs decent protection which it doesn't have at the moment. Especially in CZs/RES/wingfights the Gunship barely survives for more than a minute when focused. Its lacking ability to avoid fire while having the same amount of hitpoints than its siblings makes it not a viable choice.
I can turn it all the way I want but I don't see a point in the gunship. It hasn't got much more firepower than anything, it doesn't have an outstanding property and certainly is not a pwoerful ship at all. NPC fighters are too unrelyable to consider them into that equation as it comes down to hitscan weaponary to shoot them down. Also their lacking abiltiy to use reboot/repair or self-destruct when planted makes them not viable. In PvP this is extremely common leaving a gunship without the ability to launch additional fighters as the planted one is disabled and has to be shot down first in order to launch another one.
With the incoming core game improvements maybe this can help to make the Gunship viable.
