What does the Shock Cannon want to be?

[hs0003]

Woopty doo, a Shock Cannon thread.
As the newest weapon we can get our hands on (at least fairly quickly), I figured I'd do a little comparison between the fixed kinetic weapons(unengineered) to try and find out what the shock cannon wants to be.

Some stats first in the following order Damage Per Mag, Damage Potential, Damage Per MJ (And dps)
Multi Cannon: 219/4818/19.9 (15.6)
Cannon: 221/4646/52.7 (17)
Frag Cannon: 107.5/6555/96.8 (179.1)
And Finally
Shock Cannon: 221/3328/27.7 (130) (The shock cannon gets 17 shots in a mag because Autoloader will ALWAYS be able to reload one shot at minimum)

From this we can see the Shock Cannon enjoys a shared first spot with the Cannon in damage per magazine, but at the same time, the worst damage potential among all the kinetic weapons.
It's also clear the energy needed to fire is closer to the multi cannon than the other cannons.
The Shock Cannon also have a new 'feature' of becoming increasingly inaccurate as you spam the trigger.

From the look of things, the Shock Cannon wants to be a mix between the multi cannon and the frag cannon, by having a drain and damage per magazine of the MC, and the pure dps of the frag cannon.
And due to the spread 'feature' of the weapon, it basically takes on the accuracy features of the weapon it's being used as(More dps = less accurate).
However in this trade, it loses it's ability to stick around for long fights or several small fights. (And although not as important, it's also a very hot weapon)

These are my late night thoughts.
ps. It sure looks like a thermal weapon when you fire it.
pss. What would you guys think if the full reload was removed from the Shock Cannon, leaving it to the auto loader to fill up the loaded ammo, but in return it had unlimited ammo like lasers? (Edit: At 1.5 seconds per auto load, that would result in 8.67 sustained dps if you shot like a mad man and never missed)

 

[Vasious]

The Shock cannon is Cool, (no bad pun intended)

Been trying the Fixed variety, a pair on a Cobra Mk.IV and a pair and quad on a Fer De Lance.

They certainly fit the aesthetic of the FDL

Yes it become inaccurate if you spray and pray, but try a firing pattern of:
Single Tap, pause, Double Tap, Pause, Repeat
That controls the muzzle flip and thermals and offers a good rate of fire with good accuracy
Treat them like a handgun watching the recoil on the point of aim.

Plus note that it Auto Loads so long as you are not firing, and a 2500 damage drop off you you can fire a slow but continuous accurate fire at range.

If you are close and have a large target you can fire empty the magazine into the target, and then make another pass.

Really wish we could get Class 1 Shock cannons as I want them for my Sidewinder!

 

[Luniticisi]

What does the Shock Cannon want to be?

The god damned Lock Ness monster!

 

[Frenotx]

It looks like it could be a fun and versatile weapon if it wasn't so limited by its ammo supply.

As for your idea, that would be interesting. The numbers would likely need to be tweaked though, since that would involve a big hit to its sustained DPS.

 

[hs0003]

As for your idea, that would be interesting. The numbers would likely need to be tweaked though, since that would involve a big hit to its sustained DPS.

If it's true that it reloads one shot per 1.5 seconds with 13 damage per shot, it would give it a sustained dps of 8.67(assuming true damage), Which I think is rather fair considering it's burst potential and lowered penalty for jousting.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

I love this gun. Absolutely brilliant. My favourite weapon.

 

[Frenotx]

If it's true that it reloads one shot per 1.5 seconds with 13 damage per shot, it would give it a sustained dps of 8.67(assuming true damage), Which I think is rather fair considering it's burst potential and lowered penalty for jousting.

Burst potential is nice and all, but a medium gimballed pulse laser does 9.6 DPS, is hit scan, and doesn't have to worry about accuracy bloom. 8.67 is very low. Players would be better off just using a frag cannon if they wanted the burst damage, or literally almost any other weapon if they cared about DPS. Also consider that shock cannons can't be engineered while other weapons can, so shock cannons need to be quite good if they're to be attractive.

 

[hs0003]

Burst potential is nice and all, but a medium gimballed pulse laser does 9.6 DPS, is hit scan, and doesn't have to worry about accuracy bloom. 8.67 is very low. Players would be better off just using a frag cannon if they wanted the burst damage, or literally almost any other weapon if they cared about DPS. Also consider that shock cannons can't be engineered while other weapons can, so shock cannons need to be quite good if they're to be attractive.

Can't compare anything to engineered stuff, and sure it's dps would be lower in that case, but you also have to consider on target time in a fight.

 

[cyberus]

The real question here: is the weapon viable in current game state?

Well the answere is definetly NOT!

I understand logic of FD... release nerfed... buff if needed.... but the pace rate of FD to get things were it's suppose to be takes literally light years to change.

Right now this beautiful gun lacks actually couple of things:

Ammo capacity
Size availability ( at least small one since we already have class 2) but preferably large one needed too.
And ofc engineering .... but this one could be ruled out IF... as already experimental weapon the some effects could be already preselected to avoid engeneering

So long this issues with the gun not addressed there will be not much use of it tbh.... since there is always will be better choice out of different guns.

So let's hope ( and I won't hold my breath ) that FD address this before make it gun viable as alternative to other weapons..... but I don't expect that this will happened sooner then half a year from now.

In my personal opinion it's just waste of materials to unlock it right now.

 

[hs0003]

So let's hope ( and I won't hold my breath ) that FD address this before make it gun viable as alternative to other weapons..... but I don't expect that this will happened sooner then half a year from now.

Have you noticed how cool weapons are usually worse than more basic looking guns?

The Shock Cannon looks and feels cool as hell, the large turreted AX multi cannon looks and sounds cool as hell, but both are trash compared to old but engineerable weapons.

 

[Threeofseven]

The shock Cannon is another weapon that Frontier added without prior thinking. It's almost totally useless, especially for PVP, because it runs out of ammo before you can do anything.

 

[cyberus]

The shock Cannon is another weapon that Frontier added without prior thinking. It's almost totally useless, especially for PVP, because it runs out of ammo before you can do anything.

Not only for PVP .... it's not viable in any aspect of the game. Shame.... because it could be a good alternative weapon

 

[Deleted member 110222]

The shock Cannon is another weapon that Frontier added without prior thinking. It's almost totally useless, especially for PVP, because it runs out of ammo before you can do anything.

Works just fine for me on my Cobra. Definitely not useless for PvE. YMMV

 

[Good Death]

What does the Shock Cannon want to be?

The god damned Lock Ness monster!

[haha] virt rep.

 

[cyberus]

Works just fine for me on my Cobra. Definitely not useless for PvE. YMMV

Cobra is not the only one ship we can fly with in ED.... and facing anything bigger then small ships will dry your magazine very quick .... or you could not finish the battle at all because you will run out of ammo faster then targeted ship dies

 

[IndigoWyrd]

From the beta, I was quite fond of the Shock Cannon - it was highly effective, but it's near non-existent ammo supply severely hampered it. They did increase it by a whole 90 rounds, which is about 1/100 of what it needs to really be a weapon of consideration.

For an otherwise non-combat ship, such as a transport or data shuttle, that isn't going to have to do much more than engage a mission wrinkle pirate, it's amazing.
For bounty hunting, not so much.
For an Assassin ship, it's great.
For Wing Assassinations, you better have a backup weapon or three, because it's going to run out when you need it most.

What does the Shock Cannon want to be? Engineered with Plasma Slug.

 

[GunnerBill]

Loved, don’t we all? [cry]

 

[hs0003]

From the beta, I was quite fond of the Shock Cannon - it was highly effective, but it's near non-existent ammo supply severely hampered it. They did increase it by a whole 90 rounds, which is about 1/100 of what it needs to really be a weapon of consideration.

For an otherwise non-combat ship, such as a transport or data shuttle, that isn't going to have to do much more than engage a mission wrinkle pirate, it's amazing.
For bounty hunting, not so much.
For an Assassin ship, it's great.
For Wing Assassinations, you better have a backup weapon or three, because it's going to run out when you need it most.

What does the Shock Cannon want to be? Engineered with Plasma Slug.

It could certainly do with a solid 700 spare shots.

 

[rebelarms]

Would be an awesome weapon which would be great for both early AND end game if it could be engineered, otherwise its just not viable for fighting bigger ships. There is better weapons out there

 

[CMDR The Riz]

I'll just leave this here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/405400-Beta-2-Shock-Cannon-Testing-and-Analysis - Back from 3.0 Beta 2, but aside from the ammo data everything else there should be good.

They can absolutely shred a target if you land enough shots, but outside of that they really don't have the reserve ammunition for multiple fights or even a single prolonged one. They received an ammo buff, but it's still not enough to make them viable vs. other stock options. Current lack of engineering also hampers their performance relative to their peers, though Sandro did say in the last 3.0 Beta Livestream that it is highly likely that Shock Cannons and other Experimental Weapons / Modules will receive Engineering. Keep in mind that this was before the Guardian Powerplant Engineering debacle.

That being said, for me it's currently a toss-up between Shock Cannons and Plasma Accelerators for my Courier. Efficient PA's are maintainable with good pip management, can last me at least 45 minutes in a HazRes, be effective vs. a variety of targets and can deal a good amount of damage to internal modules. Shock cannons are able to shred hulls at a much faster rate, but I frequently run into heat issues when the Distributor is less than half full regardless of the number of pips; add to that the fact they only last me a very small handful of engagements, lack of Engineering options to mitigate thermal or weight issues and lackluster internal module damage... it's a very tough sell vs. the PA's. I want to use the Shock Cannons, but since my endgame here is PVP I'm thinking in both terms of sustained damage and longevity for weapons. At present, they're hardly viable for PVE, let alone PVP.

So what do they want to be?

A unique weapon. One that needs some fine tuning to get right.

----

Fun fact: The original Shock Cannon description mentioned that it was an experimental energy projectile weapon. When I pointed out that the damage type was listed as Kinetic in the above thread, the description was changed. Pictures below:

Spoiler

Beta:

Taken just minutes ago:

But if they aren't firing energy projectiles THEN EXPLAIN THIS:

PLASMA CNN?! [woah] Where's my absolute damage type lol.