One thing that really annoys me is that you need to lock on the centre of the vehicle. If a tank's treads are poking out you can't lock on until you can see the turret. I find this really annoying and frequently fatal.

1. I would make the lock-on take longer for distance. This also makes sense because Scan Resolution behaves the same way in EVE Online, and the effect has long been factored into long-range "sniper" ship fittings.

2. Let's break that one down, and tell me if I got something wrong:
>make the launch sequence longer
>Missiles in the sequence that leave the tube after the lock-on is broken dumbfire
In effect, this changes the Swarm Launcher from an instant fire-and-forget weapon to one that requires maintaining visual and aim on the target to deal maximum damage.
I like this one, as it basically gives a reason for the Swarm Launcher to.... well, launch swarms instead of one big rocket. It also lets dropships maneuver out of lock-on range before the entire swarm is in flight to escape being insta-popped, which i'm all for.

3. I have another idea - E-War!
>Burst ECM would break active locks, but have a long cooldown
>Targeted ECM would be a lightweight module assigned to gunners, as you need some manner of aiming ability to maintain a jam of ALL lock-on attempts of whatever enemy you have it pointed at. Of course, this would only last a short time, but with a shorter cooldown than the Burst ECM.
>Your idea reminds me of a recent addition to EVE: the Target Spectrum Breaker. It basically jams only the ships that are targeting you, but becomes stronger if more entities are locked-on to you. A version of this module would be a good replacement IMO, as it also relies on interference while requiring some skill of the pilot to avoid being destroyed.

So it would seem very hard to lock on to an object much further away from you than another object, yet in Dust this is not the case. Since I don't like that and think it promotes the no-skill too much, I think that introducing a little precision into the Swarm Launcher could go a long way.

1. With target-range, the reticule should shrink correspondingly, so that at great distances (I believe 400 is the max) your reticule becomes very small and it would take some good tracking precision to keep that target within reticule.

Or

2. Slow down the shot-time (not lock on time or cooldown time) so that it takes a little longer to fire out the succession of missiles. While this shot takes longer, the user must maintain the lock the whole time for all missiles to register a lock on. Any that are fired with a failed lock just go straight dumbfire.

&

3. Introduce ways to "clutter" Swarm Locks. For instance, missiles from the MCC could interfere with a lock on a Dropship beyond them. Other Swarms in the reticule could cause the same thing so that either coordinated attacks are promoted and spam is penalized.

I don't know how far these will go with Team Kong's unspoken AV changes upcoming but really what's the point of such a fire and forget weapon that is too powerful for such ease of use. These are not direct lock-on time or damage nerfs merely requisites for a little more precision in use.

So it would seem very hard to lock on to an object much further away from you than another object, yet in Dust this is not the case. Since I don't like that and think it promotes the no-skill too much, I think that introducing a little precision into the Swarm Launcher could go a long way.

1. With target-range, the reticule should shrink correspondingly, so that at great distances (I believe 400 is the max) your reticule becomes very small and it would take some good tracking precision to keep that target within reticule.

Or

2. Slow down the shot-time (not lock on time or cooldown time) so that it takes a little longer to fire out the succession of missiles. While this shot takes longer, the user must maintain the lock the whole time for all missiles to register a lock on. Any that are fired with a failed lock just go straight dumbfire.

&

3. Introduce ways to "clutter" Swarm Locks. For instance, missiles from the MCC could interfere with a lock on a Dropship beyond them. Other Swarms in the reticule could cause the same thing so that either coordinated attacks are promoted and spam is penalized.

I don't know how far these will go with Team Kong's unspoken AV changes upcoming but really what's the point of such a fire and forget weapon that is too powerful for such ease of use. These are not direct lock-on time or damage nerfs merely requisites for a little more precision in use.