Unfortunately with at the onset of 1.7 I skilled into Scouts because I was expecting Scout-content soon, so my heavy skills came late to the party.

But ever since I've skilled past Forgegun 3 I've had similar findings to you. This is because the Forgegun scales very well.

From the top of my head:
25% DPS bonus from Forgegun operation 5, 25% DPS bonus from normal to assault forgegun, 20% DPS bonus from standard to prototype, 15% DPS bonus from proficiency, ~17% DPS bonus from two complex damage mods. This adds up to a total DPS bonus of 250% from a militia FG to a prototype assault FG, not even considering the difference in clip size.

Consider now that a militia forgegun has a higher DPS than a prototype swarm launcher and you may start to imagine the power a well skilled forgegun user wields.

Of course a Railrifle will still kill this forgegun user within 1.5 seconds at 70 meter range, but that's not the topic here. My conclusion is that two comparatively well skilled forgunners can absolutely deter or destroy most HAVs in the field.

I am an AV soldier...

I like tanks they provide a serious threat to infantry and take work to destroy them
The only time I cannot deal with them is when 4/5 stay in close proximity of each other

WE NEED TANK NUMBERS REDUCED!!!!

4 HAV max in Skirmish
3 HAV max in domination
2 HAV max in ambush

these numbers are per team.... and this change would go a long way to balance vehicles

Unfortunately with at the onset of 1.7 I skilled into Scouts because I was expecting Scout-content soon, so my heavy skills came late to the party.

But ever since I've skilled past Forgegun 3 I've had similar findings to you. This is because the Forgegun scales very well.

From the top of my head:
25% DPS bonus from Forgegun operation 5, 25% DPS bonus from normal to assault forgegun, 20% DPS bonus from standard to prototype, 15% DPS bonus from proficiency, ~17% DPS bonus from two complex damage mods. This adds up to a total DPS bonus of 250% from a militia FG to a prototype assault FG, not even considering the difference in clip size.

Consider now that a militia forgegun has a higher DPS than a prototype swarm launcher and you may start to imagine the power a well skilled forgegun user wields.

Of course a Railrifle will still kill this forgegun user within 1.5 seconds at 70 meter range, but that's not the topic here. My conclusion is that two comparatively well skilled forgunners can absolutely deter or destroy most HAVs in the field.

Mistakes! First, the operations skill reduces the charge time by 5% not damage. The Ishukone Assault does base 1500, plus 2 complex dmg mods (18.6%) + 15% prof 5 = 33.6% buff, that's 2040 per round, every 3.1 or so seconds. Also, no difference in clip size until you get to officer. Please check stats before posting.

Forge gun is still useful, don't talk to me about swarms, they were over nerfed, you're sad, we know, continue applying lotion, maybe it'll assuage the butthurt.

ANYWAY.

For those who are willing to ADAPT, from a TOTALLY FRESH character you can have a good proto forge fitting for 2.5M. Many of these skills are luxuries, and aren't necessary to kill a tank (for example, I prefer using the DAU over the Ishukone). Others of these are cross-skills, like some of the weaponry skill, grenade skills, and weapon upgrades. Now. Without further ado:

NECESSITIES.

Weaponry 5 = 311k
Heavy Weapon Op 3 = 136k
Forge Gun 4 = 311k

You are now the proud owner of an Assault Forge Gun, and can kill most tanks without a problem. Assuming you're not a scrub.

NICE THINGS TO HAVE.

Dropsuit Command 3 = 89k
Amarr Heavy Frame 3 = 274k
Forge Gun Op 5 = (a further) 311k
Forge Gun Proficiency 1 = 32k
Explosives 1 = 13k
Grenadier 2 = 100k

You now have a nicely rounded Ishukone Assault fitting with some STD Packed nades.

ROUNDING THAT SHIT OUT.

Forge Gun Proficiency 3 = (a further) 311k (feel free to go further if you really want; 3 is where it starts to get expensive)
Handheld Weapon Upgrades 5 = 621k (Does this even need saying? Should I even add this? Doesn't everyone own this skill?)
Grenadier 4 (5) = 622k (1.24M)

You're done. You now have a double complex damage modded proficiency three Ishukone Assault Forge Gun fitting, with either EX-11 or Lai Dai Packed AV Grenades.

Comes to about 3M (3.5M) SP all up, of which 2M is dedicated to the fitting, where the rest is cross-compatible, and most people have them already (grenades and damage mods)

If you can't kill my HAV with this, you're a bad player (assuming I'm not using my scrub permahardened fittings). I'm sorry but there's no polite way to put it.
My HAV is a fully proto-fit Gunnlogi, in case you're wondering.

Now. I've invested this much SP into forges, and, more importantly, triple this on HAVs. I know people who have 20+M invested into HAVs. This fitting will screw them all.

But you guys don't want to work to kill tanks, you just want to bitch. I guess I've wasted my time.


IMPORTANT EDIT: IF I GOT SOMETHING WRONG, PLEASE POINT IT OUT AND I WILL FIX IT WITH CREDIT GIVEN.

@OP - the only flaw in your fitting would be using AV nades, I get the concept, but honestly coming from a FGunner, use the fluxes instead. They are still anti-vehicle-ish, but can also remove uplinks and shields from infantry to let your SMG burn them down. NO TANK should ever be close enough to get popped with AV nades when you have a FG, and the times that they are, are very few and far between. The beautiful part about the FG in current build is it is literally the most versatile weapon on the field; Tanks? Check. Infantry? Check. Lavs? Check. Uplinks? Check. Gimme another FG on the mushroom and Bolas? Check.

Nah, I like my way better.

Only 650k SP left untill I can wield a Particle Cannon...

Got that on day one :P forge is more fun though.

Forges may be fun, but Particle Cannons are evil...

I like evil.

Forge gun is still useful, don't talk to me about swarms, they were over nerfed, you're sad, we know, continue applying lotion, maybe it'll assuage the butthurt.

ANYWAY.

For those who are willing to ADAPT, from a TOTALLY FRESH character you can have a good proto forge fitting for 2.5M. Many of these skills are luxuries, and aren't necessary to kill a tank (for example, I prefer using the DAU over the Ishukone). Others of these are cross-skills, like some of the weaponry skill, grenade skills, and weapon upgrades. Now. Without further ado:

NECESSITIES.

Weaponry 5 = 311k
Heavy Weapon Op 3 = 136k
Forge Gun 4 = 311k

You are now the proud owner of an Assault Forge Gun, and can kill most tanks without a problem. Assuming you're not a scrub.

NICE THINGS TO HAVE.

Dropsuit Command 3 = 89k
Amarr Heavy Frame 3 = 274k
Forge Gun Op 5 = (a further) 311k
Forge Gun Proficiency 1 = 32k
Explosives 1 = 13k
Grenadier 2 = 100k

You now have a nicely rounded Ishukone Assault fitting with some STD Packed nades.

ROUNDING THAT SHIT OUT.

Forge Gun Proficiency 3 = (a further) 311k (feel free to go further if you really want; 3 is where it starts to get expensive)
Handheld Weapon Upgrades 5 = 621k (Does this even need saying? Should I even add this? Doesn't everyone own this skill?)
Grenadier 4 (5) = 622k (1.24M)

You're done. You now have a double complex damage modded proficiency three Ishukone Assault Forge Gun fitting, with either EX-11 or Lai Dai Packed AV Grenades.

Comes to about 3M (3.5M) SP all up, of which 2M is dedicated to the fitting, where the rest is cross-compatible, and most people have them already (grenades and damage mods)

If you can't kill my HAV with this, you're a bad player (assuming I'm not using my scrub permahardened fittings). I'm sorry but there's no polite way to put it.
My HAV is a fully proto-fit Gunnlogi, in case you're wondering.

Now. I've invested this much SP into forges, and, more importantly, triple this on HAVs. I know people who have 20+M invested into HAVs. This fitting will screw them all.

But you guys don't want to work to kill tanks, you just want to bitch. I guess I've wasted my time.


IMPORTANT EDIT: IF I GOT SOMETHING WRONG, PLEASE POINT IT OUT AND I WILL FIX IT WITH CREDIT GIVEN.

why? You can get into a boss tank for way less. I got a Maddy pilot fresh out of the academy that can kill tanks way better. I can murder infantry by the score. I get all the installations at the start of a battle. Even kill plenty of dropships. I have proto forge on my main. Its a waste of money. Ill explain. My tank costs 230k. I'm damn near invincible, I get 10-30 infantry kills per game and at least 3 tanks. I spend 0 isk as long as I am cautious. My forge fitting is 173k I get 2-3 infantry kills maybe a tank, most likely an assist. I die alot more and lose isk every match. Go with the tank its easy money

On a side note, to any pure FG users out there....Has anyone else been getting the FG glitch where it charges and fires normally, but does not expell the charge and the clip still reads you have not fired a shot? Its similar to the rail gun glitch on tanks. I get this literally 1-2x PER match. Have not reported in bugs section yet due to lack of video evidence.

You're not the only one, I get this a lot as well. A lot of people have survived when they shouldn't because of it.

YES! Sooo many damn tanks fleeing and I get that stupid dummy round that should pop them. I currently don't have any video capabilities set up, but have seriously thought about it just to report to CCP to get it fixed.

Lag, maybe?

If you keep the trigger down, will the next shot work? Or does the issue only occur when you let go of the trigger immediately after the shooting-animation has played?

I'm asking because maybe locally the charge-timer ran out and the shooting-animation played while server-side the weapon wasn't charged yet at the time the client told it that the trigger went up. In that case a player-side solution would be to keep the trigger down even well after the shot has visually fired, even if the clip is empty and the reloading animation starts.