Yes.

It actually makes emptying the magazine take longer, though apparently some of the morons that hang around here can't wrap their heads around that.

I think it was you that just went full stupid and maybe you need to read the notes again.

It clearly says the skill now gives reduced lock-on time, which means the Swarm Launcher will have less lock-on time than it currently has.

It's able to fire 3 shots in 4 seconds. That's just terribad.

I just calculated that my personal AV fit will do about 10k damage to armor in about 5 seconds.

Don't armour tanks still have the broken reppers? Shouldn't those things kinda make up for a bit more swarm damage until vehicles and AV is properly re-balanced?

* The Swarm Launcher Operation skill bonus has been changed from increasing the clip size to reducing the lock-on time by 5%

0.0s Start lock #1
1.05s Fire #1
1.35s Start lock #2
2.4s Fire #2
2.7s Start lock #3
3.75s Fire #3

4 seconds to do three volleys... that's insane. You will need to have a completely modded tank to do anything, even then tanks are so slow they are pretty much toast as it is.

Somas are done, no reason to use them now. Only hardened maddys can take that kind of punishment, and not for very long.

everyone seems to be forgetting the flight time for swarms..... and if that swarm dude is right next to you, then just like the av nade's, thats your problem for letting them get so close

anyhows, as shield tanker, i couldnt give 2 fucks lol its like karma to you filthy maddy drivers that keep pissing in my cornflakes

@The Attorney General

I don't have any links, but I do recall people recently seeing the swarms as a LOLWUT weapon (in a bad way).

@Obi Wan-Jacobi

You just went full stupid. You can't go full stupid.

Read the patch notes again and read it carefully. Look at the calculations. From what we can gather from the notes, you will NOT BE ABLE TO DEAL 9000 DAMAGE IN A SECOND, YOU HAVE TO RE-LOCK AFTER EVERY SHOT AND THE LOCKING TIME HAS BEEN INCREASED. Oh look, my caps lock slipped again.

everyone seems to be forgetting the flight time for swarms..... and if that swarm dude is right next to you, then just like the av nade's, thats your problem for letting them get so close

anyhows, as shield tanker, i couldnt give 2 fucks lol its like karma to you filthy maddy drivers that keep pissing in my cornflakes

I thought pilots were in it together. Why do you want armor vehicles nerfed to the level shield vehicles are, instead of shield vehicles buffed to where armor vehicles are?

Let's see.

* The Swarm Launcher Operation skill bonus has been changed from increasing the clip size to reducing the lock-on time by 5%
* Swarm Launcher base lock-on time has been increased to 1.4 from 1.2 and its fire interval has been reduced from 2 to 0.3

Assuming level 5 on the skill book, that will reduce lock-on time to 1.05 seconds. Then there is the interval of 0.3 seconds. Yeah, about 3 shots in less than 4 seconds like you said. But keep in mind that is assuming every rocket in the volley hits. Most of the tanks that I see often use cover and often times a few of the rockets hit the hills or rocky spires before they reach their target.

But then again, we are talking NON-proto tanks here. We have no idea what kind of HPs the Proto-tanks will have when they come out.

it was a joke dude, hence the smiley thing

and my shield tank is fine and im quite content i chose it over amour, despite being paranoid about ninja blaster amour tanks lol although of course i wouldnt say "no" to some kind of buff

Also, i dont know how you fit a amour tank, but dont you guys use the resist plates? i have 3 on my gunlogi and end up with 39% resist includeing the 10% from the skill tree..

You seem to forget the fking follow you. Yea, cool there slow, but if there following me for 4 mins then 3 swarms are hitting me at once well im fked.

When they're damage mods, proficiency, and armor damage bonuses to swarms hardeners don't mean ****.

Your scenario is assuming a head-on AV to HAV engagement. In this case it's about threat, not whether you can destroy the HAV. Limiting their engagement possibilities. At the moment Swarms do this, post-change they still will. This is not the scenario this change impacts most heavily.

Another scenario, a speedy Medium or Scout taking the long route to offload on a HAV 'safely' behind their lines with no immediate escape route to block AV to HAV LoS. This new change will give Wiyrkomis an incredible alpha, 3 salvos impacting within 4 seconds of each other. In practice this means far more damage makes it in before active hardeners activate or reppers begin pulsing... this might equate to some of the best armour tankers getting toasted by one person's surprise attack before any real reaction is possible.

Alternately the same thing but from a tower, Swarms from above negate most cover. If an armour HAV notices this ahead of time their only recourse is to pick a god and pray they can recall before the 3 salvos make it.

Seriously, their potential with this change is utterly incredible.

Most likely a troll thread.

Not that it matters. In the absence of real changes to the render distance, swarms will remain invisible and their increased fire rate at proto will now mean that tanks will go blap even faster, while the dreaded Charybdis is still safe from harm.

Completely stupid really.

I see. But what about the armor plate changes mentioned in the patch notes? Do those only pertain to the dropsuit plates or vehicle plates (if any) as well? Pardon me for asking this because I never used them. I'm a shield-only scout. How much of an impact do you calculate the swarms will have when taking into account the plates being changed according to the patch notes? Same impact or somewhat mitigated?

general i used to question ccp but now i just smh in disappointment and embrace it cause they are going to screw vehicles over just as hard as they can.... in what world should an LAV take more damage than a tank?

No increase to armor plates for vehicles mentioned.

Most likely there will be no help for vehicles until 1.5 and even then there has to be sufficient skepticism about CCP having the ability to pull off a real balancing pass that doesn't muff it all up.

I know, it seems as if CCP has absolutely no idea of what they are doing.

When they give a buff to a lock on fire and forget weapon, while leaving the PLC as a second rate POS, then you know they are completely without a clue.

Swarms break lock between shots

Swarms will basically shoot three volleys in one second instapopping any armor tank before they can even react. This is THE stupidest thing i have seen from ccp in all my time on dust. This is one swarmer that will put out like 9000 damage in a second. **** if there two swarmers, just lol.

I dont care about the rest of the update. I dont get to enjoy the rest because ill be in a armor tank getting my **** pushed in. Now ill have too wait a month until this **** gets fixed. CCP wonders why we get pissed off when they dont tell us about the update. ITS BECAUSE WE DONT WANT STUPID **** LIKE THIS IN THE GAME.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you made this thread without first comprehending what the changes actually mean.....and people want to have a greater influence on the game's development

Your scenario is assuming a head-on AV to HAV engagement. In this case it's about threat, not whether you can destroy the HAV. Limiting their engagement possibilities. At the moment Swarms do this, post-change they still will. This is not the scenario this change impacts most heavily.

Another scenario, a speedy Medium or Scout taking the long route to offload on a HAV 'safely' behind their lines with no immediate escape route to block AV to HAV LoS. This new change will give Wiyrkomis an incredible alpha, 3 salvos impacting within 4 seconds of each other. In practice this means far more damage makes it in before active hardeners activate or reppers begin pulsing... this might equate to some of the best armour tankers getting toasted by one person's surprise attack before any real reaction is possible.

Alternately the same thing but from a tower, Swarms from above negate most cover. If an armour HAV notices this ahead of time their only recourse is to pick a god and pray they can recall before the 3 salvos make it.

Seriously, their potential with this change is utterly incredible.

I think the larger point here is that HAVs are NOT meant to operate without support. Maybe CCP wants a 1-to-1 engagement to end poorly for the HAV to make the point that HAVs are like--for lack of a better analogy--a Capital ship that operates with a support group. The support here are other Mercs.

Yea okay let me get the entire team to build a wall of mercs to stop the swarms from doing an alpha strike

Whatever you gotta do, man! Me, I'd probably, I dunno....maybe have my support shoot the guy with the SL.