The Definitive "Buff the Shock Cannons!" Suggestion Thread

[CMDR The Riz]

I've been wavering on whether or not I should make this thread, but after really sitting down with these largely forgotten weapons since that last thread about them I've decided to pull all of my research / videos about Shock Cannons together into one last, definitive thread to get them the buffs they deserve.

The Current State of Shock Cannons

Released in the 3.0 update back in 2018, Shock Cannons are a blend of Cannons, Frag Cannons and Multicannons that can deal significant damage to targets very quickly. Despite some fanfare and a few YouTube videos demonstrating their capabilities, they were largely forgotten shortly after the update. It would also appear as though FDEV has forgotten about them as well, as the Odyssey graphics for them appear... unfinished:

For reference, this is what they look like in Horizons:

Now, to understand why Shock Cannons are one of Elite's most forgotten weapons, we first need to dive deep into its stats. Courtesy of Past Me, I created and uploaded a spreadsheet detailing how Shock Cannons compare to their stock and Engineered peers. That spreadsheet can be found here:

Shock Cannon Comparison Charts.xlsx

drive.google.com

In the Spoiler below, I have pulled out a few graphs showcasing how Class 3 (Large) Shock Cannons compare to their Overcharged Peers:

Spoiler: GRAPHS

A bit of a summary of the info presented in the spreadsheet, again courtesy of Past Me:

As a general TL-DR for the spreadsheet, Shock Cannons have:

1. The second highest DPS of all Kinetic Weapons
2. The highest Heat Per Second of all Kinetic Weapons
3. The highest Distributor Draw Per Second of all Kinetic Weapons
4. The lowest Potential Damage of all Kinetic Weapons*

*Gimballed Smalls actually have slightly more Potential Damage than Stock Gimballed Small Multicannons - by 6.4 MJ.

Secondly, we need to translate those stats into practical examples. Here are several videos showcasing Shock Cannons in a variety of combat situations:

Source: https://youtu.be/jabVYpdYIQs

Source: https://youtu.be/SDK8VLRW7iA

Source: https://youtu.be/u-2438mmcik

Source: https://youtu.be/LmsyRzQw1gE

Source: https://youtu.be/liWoON8sV7Y

Source: https://youtu.be/_aqdWultZXw


As demonstrated by its stats and the videos above, Shock Cannons are clearly powerful weapons, boasting an incredibly high burst DPS when all shots land on target. Unfortunately, that's all they have going for them, as they have several fatal downsides:

1. Virtually no reserve ammo
   1. Unable to complete High CZs without liberal use of the Clipper's 5th Hardpoint or multiple synths
   2. Barely able to take out one Engineered target in Pirate Activity Detected, again with liberal application of the Clipper's 5th Hardpoint
   3. Barely even able to take out tanky regular NPCs
2. Synthesis recipe is far too expensive
   1. In the Courier CZ video, I burnt through 5 full reloads for 3 Shock Cannons to make it through 1 and a bit CZs, which cost me:
      • 75 Grid Resistors
      • 45 Heat Dispersion Plates
      • 60 Focus Crystals
      • 75 Phase Alloys
      • 45 Units of Lead
3. No Engineering
   1. Shock Cannons fall far behind every other Engineerable weapon - including Modified Plasma Chargers - in DPS, DPE, and Total Potential Damage
   2. No access to other Experimental Effects
4. Extraordinarily high Thermal Load
   1. A Large Gimballed Shock Cannon has a Thermal Load equivalent to that of a Short Range Blaster Medium Railgun
   2. A Medium Gimballed Shock Cannon has a Thermal Load equivalent to a stock Medium Railgun's
5. High Distributor Draw
   1. Higher than all other Kinetic weapons
6. Bloom and Recoil
   1. Shock Cannons become highly inaccurate after the third consecutive shot at their maximum rate of fire (10 shots / second)
   2. As shown in the Courier CZ video, Shock Cannons actually have recoil (HUD projection of aiming point jumps)
   3. No other ship-based weapon operates like this

These flaws severely restrict the Shock Cannon's capabilities in comparison to more traditional alternatives, such as Overcharged Frag Cannons or Short Range Blaster Multicannons, in all aspects of combat in Elite. This is why Shock Cannons are typically unlocked, toyed about for a single session, then promptly relegated to storage if not outright sold, and forgotten about. Indeed, not even Spec Ops NPCs use them, yet they use Enzyme Missile Racks!

Suggestions for How to Improve Shock Cannons

To return them to relevancy, here are a number of my suggestions on how to improve Shock Cannons in order of importance:

1. Triple Current Ammo Reserves - at a Minimum

Elite's combat is 99% farming NPCs, either through Haz RESs, CZs, or mission stacking; as demonstrated in the videos above, Shock Cannons lack the longevity to complete a single High CZ or burn through a single hardened opponent without relying on excessive ramming. Furthermore, Shock Cannons have the ability to fire at a blistering 10 rounds per second, encouraging players to spam-fire them to achieve their high DPS rating while having to contend with the bloom; their current low ammo reserves of 256 shots heavily discourage players from using them in that capacity. A threefold increase in ammo from 256 to 768 shots would allow players to spam-fire them without worrying about running dry in 25 seconds.

2. Grant Them Engineering

Almost all weapons in Elite are now Engineerable in some form, even the Guardian weapons. It is past time for Shock Cannons to become Engineerable, and they should follow the same blueprint pattern (perhaps with some adjustments to the numbers) and have the same Experimental Effects as regular Cannons - with two notable differences:

1. Remove Force Shells
2. Replace High Yield Shells with Plasma Rounds - converts damage type to 50-100% Absolute, at the cost of 10-30% damage reduction
   1. Back when they were introduced in the 3.0 Beta, their original description made references to Shock Cannons being Energy projectile weapons (plasma). Even in Odyssey, Shock Cannons still have "PLASMA CNN" written on them as can be seen in the photos at the top of this post.

It should be noted that the current Autoloader that Shock Cannons have inherently should either be removed or changed to an actual removeable Experimental Effect to accommodate this change.

3. Thermal Load, Distributor Draw, Bloom and Recoil Adjustments

All weapons need their downsides in order to be balanced. Unfortunately for Shock Cannons, they were implemented with more downsides than upsides. In conjunction with the above two suggestions:

1. Cut the Thermal Load by up to half to pull it more in line with the Thermal Load of Overcharged Frag Cannons
2. Adjust the Bloom buildup slightly to start kicking in around the 5th-7th shot instead of the 3rd at maximum rate of fire
3. Leave the Distributor Draw as-is
4. Eliminate the recoil - rather redundant with the existence of Bloom on this weapon

4. Reduce the Requirements for Synthesis

Burning a ton of valuable materials just to keep Shock Cannons running for a single CZ isn't sustainable in a long-term conflict, such as over the course of a War. While increasing their ammo reserves should hopefully alleviate the need to synthesize additional ammo, there will be times when the magazine runs dry and there are more enemies to explode.

1. Greatly reduce the number of materials required for Synthesis
2. Remove 1-2 of the Manufactured materials from the Standard Synthesis recipe
3. Basic should only require Grid Resistors and Lead

5. Change Fire Mode to Fully Automatic

This one's more of a personal issue than a weapon flaw.

Elite's input polling is tied directly to framerate; the higher the framerate, the better the game is at detecting inputs. In Odyssey, FPS has decreased across the board for many players due to the new graphical train wreck engine. When using Shock Cannons, I use a macro to rapid fire them to prevent my expensive joystick's trigger from prematurely wearing out; I have noticed recently that Odyssey has been regularly dropping rapid inputs in low FPS situations (30-60ish FPS, typically around Settlements and even in space High CZs). This can also be demonstrated by trying to manually fire the P-15 Kinetic sidearm as fast as possible at a populated Settlement - Odyssey will occasionally drop an input and the gun will not fire as fast as you command it to.

To get around this issue and preserve our investments in our hardware, change the Shock Cannon's Firing mode to fully automatic. They'll still be subjected to high Thermal Loads, Distributor Draws and Bloom, as shown in all of the videos I posted above, so this change will not make Shock Cannons overpowered.

----

TDLR:
Shock Cannons bad, FDEV plz buff.

----
Edit 11.12.2022:

Added latest raw video about my Clipper in a Medium CZ at the Wandrama CG.

 

[Chaparral]

100% agree they need a buff. #4 seems like the low hanging fruit to me. Normal kinetic basic ammo reloads usually include a metal and a propellant, so I think that would be a good starting point. A G2-3 Metal mat + Phosphorus/Carbon/Sulfur.

 

[DemiserofD]

I agree with more ammo and lower synthesis costs. What fun is there in a weapon that can only kill one enemy?

 

[OrdinaryMan]

The first 600 hours of my 3000 hour elite adventure were spent in a clipper. Of these 600 hours, he passed the last 200 hours with the Clipper + 4 shock cannon.

I'm signing under your suggestions. When these are the thoughts that I became aware of when I learned the game fully.

I would love to go back to my Clipper with Shockcannon that has been sitting in my FC for 2000 hours. Actually, I play once in a while. But after getting used to other weapons, the shock cannon are a bit… meh. Even for PvE!

I've also actually seen NPC Spec Ops use enzyme missiles or even imperial hammers. Why not use shock cannon? Really! That would put us in a little more mood.

 

[St0rmFury]

I've also actually seen NPC Spec Ops use enzyme missiles or even imperial hammers. Why not use shock cannon? Really! That would put us in a little more mood.

Because even NPCs realized shock cannons suck.

 

[OrdinaryMan]

Because even NPCs realized shock cannons suck.

The sound of the gun is beautiful. lol

 

[CMDR The Riz]

Unfortunately, this "Definitive" thread turned out to be not-so-definitive. Oh well

I'm coming back here because I managed to land in the low Top 10% of the Combat Wandrama CG by almost exclusively using Shock Cannons, and I have this burning question in the back of my mind as it involves those brand-new Rapid Fire Phasing Multicannons from that CG. You might have seen my thread up in Dangerous Discussions and the video inside it about them:

I Tested the New Rapid Fire Phasing Multicannons... They're Crazy.

Ok, I've been looking forward to these since the Fed v. Grom CG last year and I will say they have been worth the wait. First, their stats: I slapped two of these on my Courier's nacelles and a regular Short Range Blaster | Corrosive Multicannon in the nose for some fun. Initial Haz Res tests...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Source: https://youtu.be/wIQB7P99YEY


The TLDR / TLDW is this: the new Multicannons are very good and pack quite the punch, allowing my Courier to tear through tough enemies with ease - even Spec Ops ships. In addition, just one of these can deal up to 13,600 MJ - though even when firing close to a target as I was, I wouldn't be surprised if only 50-70% of that is actually realized, thanks to that 3° of Jitter. As a reminder, a Large Fixed Shock Cannon can only deal a maximum of 4,633.60 MJ, and it also has bloom.

So, what's bothering me is this rather unfortunately pointed question that I can't quite phrase otherwise without it losing meaning:

If FDEV is ok with releasing a powerful weapon like this now, what is their apprehension / reluctance with fixing Shock Cannons?

I'm fully aware of Hanlon's razor (never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity... though I'd replace "stupidity" with "forgetfulness" here ), but if FDEV is able to take a regular Multicannon, modify it in this way, (hopefully) playtest it for balancing / bugs, and release it, I see no compelling reason as to why they haven't touched Shock Cannons in the four years they've been available with the feedback they've received about them.

And to be clear, I'm not looking for a Pre-Engineered variant. That would only result in a fixed hardpoint of a single size, which would be of no use on my Clipper and avoid the issue entirely. I'm looking for at least some of my suggestions to be implemented, because if we're fine with crazy Rapid Fire Phasing Multicannons that can allow a Courier to shred a Spec Ops wing... why aren't we with an Engineerable Shock Cannon that can actually last a CZ without relying on ramming as a primary damage source?

...Sorry. I think this ended up being more of a rant than I intended. Just a bit confused about the situation with Shock Cannons

 

[angusmadmac1]

I use my shock cannons on my assassination builds and they do just fine . Ok you can't do a multiple targets , if you want that then go to the beam and multicanons builds or other builds . This weapon is more nuanced . So has a role which it fits one target quick kills .

 

[CMDR The Riz]

I use my shock cannons on my assassination builds and they do just fine . Ok you can't do a multiple targets , if you want that then go to the beam and multicanons builds or other builds . This weapon is more nuanced . So has a role which it fits one target quick kills .

I have seen this argument in the past and I respectfully disagree with this assessment, as I stated in my OP:

Elite's combat is 99% farming NPCs, either through Haz RESs, CZs, or mission stacking; as demonstrated in the videos above, Shock Cannons lack the longevity to complete a single High CZ or burn through a single hardened opponent without relying on excessive ramming.

Unfortunately, Elite's PvE combat is largely based around and encourages NPC farming (i.e. destroy x targets in y time missions, Combat CGs, BGS transactions, etc.). Focusing on Assassination missions, Assassination targets can count toward Massacre Pirates mission totals if both missions target the same faction, thus stacking several Assassination missions with a Massacre Pirates mission can be highly lucrative. Indeed, many players seek out systems that offer those missions which all target a nearby Anarchy faction and stack them - see the many threads regarding the current state of Anarchy factions, pre- and post-Odyssey. If I brought Shock Cannons to these missions, I'd be out of ammo by the first or second Assassination target; that would mean a lengthy trip back to a station to rearm or eat the high cost of Synthesis to keep going.

Now, let's assume for a moment that a hypothetical player just wants to complete one and only one normal Assassination mission before returning to the station. Even in this limited example, I'd argue that Frag Cannons are a far superior choice as they:

1. have access to very powerful Engineering mods, such as Overcharged and Double Shot
2. can be further upgraded with very powerful Experimental Effects such as Incendiary Rounds, Drag Munitions, Screening Rounds and Corrosive Shell
3. have more Total Potential Damage than Shock Cannons (with proper range control), allowing our hypothetical player to eliminate the primary target and any other mission-related NPCs that spawn without fear of running out of ammo or needing to Synth more.
4. have higher DPS* than Shock Cannons (with proper range control), and thus will drop the Assassination target faster
5. are much easier on the Distributor even when Overcharged and therefore make Pip management less of a hassle, freeing up Pips for more boosting or stronger shields
6. have a far lower Thermal Load even when Overcharged and therefore run cooler, resulting in less / no heat damage

And that's just Frag Cannons. If our hypothetical player has access to them, those new Phasing Multis push that to 13 and allow small ships with two Medium hardpoints to do this on their own:

That's an enemy Captain with at least its FSD and Powerplant zeroed in a 1v1 from full HP. They're decently engineered targets that can withstand a great deal of punishment and more often than not end up High-Waking from the CZ if ignored, even when under focus fire from several NPCs. Those new Multis can quickly wear down the Captain's SCBs and drop their shields without Feedback Cascade Railguns, rip out modules, zero the hull and still have ammo to spare! Best part is Synthesis for these is (quite literally) dirt cheap, so I can keep them running if I insist on tackling every Python / Captain / Spec Ops Wing I see in CZs. If I tried to burn down a Captain with Shock Cannons, I'd run dry by the second or third SCB.

Looping back to the question in my previous post, with weapons like these in the game, why shouldn't Shock Cannons get more ammo and access to Engineering at the least?

----
* Apparently there's an issue with the Sustained DPS for Fixed Overcharged Frag Cannons in my graphs / spreadsheet above. It should be 51.4 MJ/s, not 38.

 

[DemiserofD]

I'd like to point out a few flaws in your arguments. First off, having high distro draw is irrelevant. What matters is DPE, and shock cannons have a DPE around 27, which is better than an overcharged C2 multicannon. The same goes for heat; heat per second doesn't matter, what matters is heat per damage.

The only real issue is the lack of total damage and high synthesis cost. It costs 94 units to synth a full reload, compared to 18 units for a standard multicannon. Oddly, it's actually more efficient to use standard synthesis, as it costs 98 but gives you the value of 98.7. A c2 shock cannon does 3328 damage, while a c2 overcharged multicannon does 8084 damage. Over time, the shock cannon will end up using up 12 times as many materials to sustain itself, and that's simply not sustainable.

Shock cannons should have either high synth cost OR a small ammo pool. Having both only results in exorbitant costs.

Solution 1: Give them the same total damage as multicannons. This would mean increasing their total ammo pool from 256 to 616. This will leave them about 5x less material efficient, but it may be enough for their cheapness and dps to make up the difference.

Solution 2: Reduce their synthesis cost from 94 to 18, likely by simply changing their synthesis to small munitions. This will leave them ~2.4x less material efficient than multicannons. This is my preferred method, leaving them distinct from multicannons but without being punishing.

Solution 3: Generate the bonus rounds from fuel. They would refuel the current magazine but not the stockpile. This would leave their material efficiency in the hands of the user, allowing them to be used efficiently for longer engagements or less efficiently for assassinations, per player preference.

 

[Nadreck]

One popular idea: let them do Absolute damage, not just kinetic. Or combo damage like a plasma weapon.

 

[Chaparral]

I'd like to point out a few flaws in your arguments. First off, having high distro draw is irrelevant. What matters is DPE, and shock cannons have a DPE around 27, which is better than an overcharged C2 multicannon. The same goes for heat; heat per second doesn't matter, what matters is heat per damage.

The only real issue is the lack of total damage and high synthesis cost. It costs 94 units to synth a full reload, compared to 18 units for a standard multicannon. Oddly, it's actually more efficient to use standard synthesis, as it costs 98 but gives you the value of 98.7. A c2 shock cannon does 3328 damage, while a c2 overcharged multicannon does 8084 damage. Over time, the shock cannon will end up using up 12 times as many materials to sustain itself, and that's simply not sustainable.

Shock cannons should have either high synth cost OR a small ammo pool. Having both only results in exorbitant costs.

Solution 1: Give them the same total damage as multicannons. This would mean increasing their total ammo pool from 256 to 616. This will leave them about 5x less material efficient, but it may be enough for their cheapness and dps to make up the difference.

Solution 2: Reduce their synthesis cost from 94 to 18, likely by simply changing their synthesis to small munitions. This will leave them ~2.4x less material efficient than multicannons. This is my preferred method, leaving them distinct from multicannons but without being punishing.

Solution 3: Generate the bonus rounds from fuel. They would refuel the current magazine but not the stockpile. This would leave their material efficiency in the hands of the user, allowing them to be used efficiently for longer engagements or less efficiently for assassinations, per player preference.

Some of your ideas are solid, but you seem to be missing the fact that farming the manufactured mats is more time intensive than farming the raws. Iron, sulfur and phosphorus (for multicannons) are by products of the financially lucrative mining process, where manufactured mat farming requires either HGSS farming with downtrading or purposefully bringing a limpet kit while bounty hunting / CZ farming. An 18 unit to 18 unit comparison is not really a fair 1 to 1 ratio.

If the manufactured mat requirement were removed, and higher tier raws were required for reload, I think we'd have a more realistic path on synthesis equalization.

 

[DemiserofD]

Some of your ideas are solid, but you seem to be missing the fact that farming the manufactured mats is more time intensive than farming the raws. Iron, sulfur and phosphorus (for multicannons) are by products of the financially lucrative mining process, where manufactured mat farming requires either HGSS farming with downtrading or purposefully bringing a limpet kit while bounty hunting / CZ farming. An 18 unit to 18 unit comparison is not really a fair 1 to 1 ratio.

If the manufactured mat requirement were removed, and higher tier raws were required for reload, I think we'd have a more realistic path on synthesis equalization.

I don't entirely agree with the thought process, but I agree with the conclusion, so I'll go with, 'sure'.

On the whole, I do prefer that they retain their relatively low ammo capacity, as it is a part of their identity. Reduced synth cost seems more in keeping with that identity.

 

[CMDR The Riz]

I'd like to point out a few flaws in your arguments. First off, having high distro draw is irrelevant. What matters is DPE, and shock cannons have a DPE around 27, which is better than an overcharged C2 multicannon.

DPE (Damage Per Energy) is a measure of efficiency derived from a weapon's per shot damage and its Distributor Draw; an inherently high Distro Draw greatly impacts the resultant DPE, and therefore shouldn't be disregarded as irrelevant. Indeed, Distro Draw also plays an important role in the actual heat generated when firing weapons. More on that later.

But if DPE is a driving concern for a build, there are better alternatives to Shock Cannons. Focusing on Fixed Class 2 (Medium) hardpoints for consistency since you quoted the DPE of a Fixed Class 2 Shock Cannon:

• Stock Frag Cannon: 97.3
  • Assuming 50% hit ratio of pellets from optimal range: 48.7
• Overcharged Frag Cannon: 123
  • 50% hit ratio: 61.3
• Efficient Frag Cannon: 219
  • 50% hit ratio: 110
• Stock Cannon: 52.1
• Overcharged Cannon: 65.7
• Short Range Blaster Cannon: 91.3
• Efficient Cannon: 118
• And for fun even though it's a Small hardpoint:
  • Overcharged Enforcer: 30.4
  • Efficient Enforcer: 54.5

Clearly, Shock Cannons aren't outliers in their DPE. If they had access to Overcharged, Short Range Blaster and Efficient, a Fixed Class 2 Shock Cannon's DPE for each modification would be 34.8, 48.4, and 62.4, respectively.

For comparison, Efficient and Short Range Blaster Class 2 Plasma Accelerators have DPEs of 14.2 and 11.0, respectively, yet are ubiquitous on PvP FDL builds.

The same goes for heat; heat per second doesn't matter, what matters is heat per damage.

Thermal Load is likewise a very relevant stat as is a high Distributor Draw, particularly with Shock Cannons and especially at their max cyclic rate.

Recall that I stated Distributor Draw plays an important role in the heat generated from firing weapons. In the "Detailed Heat Mechanics" thread, an equation was developed relating the observed heat generated from weapon fire and the Thermal Load in Outfitting:

T_h = Total heat generated from weapon firing
W_h = Weapon thermal load during firing (eg 20 for stock 2B rail gun, 12 stock for 1D rail gun)
D_T = WEP distributor total capacity
D_C = WEP distributor current capacity
W_D = Weapon distributor draw (eg for a stock 2B rail gun that is 5.11MW)

The above was quoted from baquar79 in this post in that thread:

[Research] Detailed Heat Mechanics

I think I might have a reasonable approximation of how to work out the WEP distributor heat generation for a single weapon, but of course it will need some pretty extenstive testing (Only tested with my AspX & Python): T_h = Total heat generated from weapon firing W_h = Weapon thermal load...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Now, I can fire Shock Cannons at their max cyclic rate thanks to my trigger macro (though at one point I could do that without the macro, when I had the beefy trigger of the old stock VKB Gladiator Mk. II). If we plug in the stats for a Class 2 Fixed Shock Cannon and my Clipper's 6A Charge Enhanced | Super Conduits Distributor, we get:

1. With a full WEP Capacitor: T_h = 1.8 (1 + 4( (45.6 - 45.6 + 0.47) / 45.6)) = 1.87
2. With an empty WEP Capacitor: T_h = 1.8 (1 + 4( (45.6 - 0 + 0.47) / 45.6)) = 9.07

Looking at my video above, I can drain my Clipper's entire WEP capacitor in a few moments with Shock Cannons, even with 4 Pips in WEP. In sustained fire situations, I'm always firing toward the bottom of my Capacitor and thus my Shock Cannons generate a ton more heat - up to 4.85x more than they would otherwise! That leads to my Clipper's heat spiking from 50-60% to 135-150% in the blink of an eye, incurring heat damage on my modules. For a hybrid / hulltank, heat damage saps module and MRP integrity, allowing opponents to snipe out modules easier when the shields drop (which happens often, especially if they're used as a battering ram). Heat damage noticeably manifests on my Clipper as a malfunctioning Chaff Launcher if I bottom out the Capacitor constantly, opening myself up to being torn to shreds by gimbals if I'm not careful.

Thus, Thermal Load and a high Distributor Draw are highly relevant when considering weapon choices and are interlinked by the above heat generation equation.

On the whole, I do prefer that they retain their relatively low ammo capacity, as it is a part of their identity. Reduced synth cost seems more in keeping with that identity.

I'd argue Shock Cannons' rapid-fire nature plus bloom is more on point for their identity than an arbitrarily tiny ammo pool. The only identity that such a small ammo pool gives Shock Cannons is that they aren't worth the hassle over more conventional options with longer longevity in the field or even against a single tanky target, such as a PvP-spec FDL or any Big 3 combat build.

Curiously, a little over a month ago you agreed that Shock Cannons needed more ammo:

I agree with more ammo and lower synthesis costs. What fun is there in a weapon that can only kill one enemy?

What was the thought process that lead to your change of opinion? (Not that there's anything wrong with changing opinions! )

 

[DemiserofD]

But if DPE is a driving concern for a build

It isn't, really, and I'm a bit perplexed that's what you took from my statement. I singled it out because YOU singled it out, specifically because anyone who has played the game for any reasonable length of time knows that DPE is just one factor among many.

The point of my statement was this: People primarily use overcharged multicannons over the other engineering options, because they have more than enough DPE even without going Efficient. The fact shock cannons have better DPE than that means they can achieve the same or better DPS, with the same distributor, without sacrificing on other equally important things, like range, or difficulty of use. You reference cannons and frags, without recognizing that both of those weapons have dramatic setbacks to compensate, most notably dramatically lower effective range, which is what compensates for their higher DPE and typically renders them weaker than multicannons, except for specialized purposes. There's a reason Multicannons are the defacto choice for most pve purposes. (enforcers are, of course, just powerplay multicannons, and as a powerplay weapon, SHOULD be superior to more easily accessible options).

Overcharged Multicannons are the standard choice because they offer a wide variety of uses without sacrificing on any particular domain. Thermal weapons are easier to hit with but have lower range and DPE. Frags and cannons have higher DPE and even DPS, but are much harder to hit with. Shock Cannons, by contrast, have better DPS, better SDPS, better Burst DPS, AND better DPE than fully engineered multicannons, all while allowing players the choice of whether to use them in a more traditional manner, or use them more aggressively with costs and benefits for doing so. You might as well be complaining that frag cannons generate all their heat in one short burst, despite that being a direct consequence of their main advantage and purpose!

As far as combat balance over a single enemy is concerned, you could easily make the case that Shock Cannons are already overpowered, offering results superior to full engineering, but purchasable at a station at will!

Their ONLY problem is low sustain and exorbitant synthesis cost. And, given their extreme combat power, those really SHOULD be limits they have to deal with, but not to the extent they currently face. That's where I agree with you, and that's as far as I agree with you, no further.

What was the thought process that lead to your change of opinion? (Not that there's anything wrong with changing opinions! )

As you presented those as independent options, it seemed reasonable that only one would ultimately be chosen, and those were the two solutions I found acceptable, one or the other. I am inclined more towards lower synthesis cost, but would accept more ammo as a second-rate alternative.

 

[Killerskullmk]

This needs to be fixed soon and I agree with the points... your data was very accurate and extremely valuable, if the frontier forgets to pay attention at least I recognize all your effort to collect all this data, good job CMDR.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

They should definitely get a buff, maybe if the engineer for them were in colonia, that would satisfy frontier's fears of creating something overpowered, because it would be so hard to get