tl;dr at bottom with spreadsheet.

The Rail Rifle is supposed to be a long range weapon. Cool, I'm fine with that. The excessive kick makes it difficult to use in CQC, but it is not ubearable. I can and do get kills with it, even against Amarr Assaults with a pinch of luck. But I feel like the RR is overshadowed by nearly all the other rifles in what is supposed to be the RR's niche: long range warfare. Now I believe a major overhaul of the RR function is the best, however I will lay out a different approach in this thread.

The major problem I see with the RR is the excessive kick while in ADS. Not only is it difficult to keep it on target at range, where the RR is supposed to shine, but it also forces me to stop firing, requiring far too long to charge up and continue firing (more on that later) So Therefore, I would ask for a reduction to ADS kick, in order to let me get those long range kills I'm supposed to be going after with the RR.

Next, the charge time. I seem to remember Rattati even saying he couldn't figure out the increased charge time. 0.6 seconds is far too long, especially if the enemy is bobbing and weaving in and out of cover. By the time I am spooled up, he's back safe behind cover, which frustrates me to no end. Therefore, I propose reducing the charge time to 0.4 seconds. This is still a longer charge time than the pre-nerf RR (0.3s)

Some math to assuage people who are going to complain that a reduction in charge time will make the RR OP again. Assuming you have to stop shooting every 15 shots (go grab an RR and try keeping it on target for 15 shots in hipfire) And Knowing the RR ROF of 461.54, that means we can get 461 shots off in 1 minute of time. Now factoring in a charge time of 0.4 seconds every 15 shots, we would have to stop firing and charge again about 30 times within those 461 shots (461/15 is about 30). This means that we would spend 12 seconds of that minute charging our rifle and doing no damage (30x0.4s + 12s) So of that minute, only 48 seconds of it would be time we are actually dealing damage. Percentage wise, 20% of our minute is spent dealing no damage while charging. Factoring this in, that means we only get ~368 shots in that minute (461x80% is 368.8) now my multiplying that number by 51.7 (base damage of a proto RR) and dividing it by 60 seconds in a minute, we get a DPS value of 317. For comparison a proto RR DPS values are for the given conditions, assuming you charge after every 15 shots:

No charge time: 397 DPS
Current charge time (0.6s): 274 DPS
My proposed charge time (0.4s): 317 DPS
Duvolle AR (pre-buff): 453 DPS

As you can see, buffing the charge time still has the AR over 100 DPS more than the RR. That is plenty. The shorter spool time helps hit targets at range before they get into cover, and barely aids in CQC combat, only buffing my potential DPS with the given conditions by a measly 43 DPS. These changes allow the RR to be good at it's intended niche: long range dominance.

tl;dr reduce RR ADS kick, reduce spool time to 0.4s from 0.6s.

That buffs it in CQC more than range, and makes the ARR outDPS the AR, which should never happen. The problem isn't damage, its damage application. That's all that needs fixing.

1. recoil on a railgun is actually very unrealistic to how it would possibly be real world (sound wise, you'd hear the bastard shooting miles away apparently, as reported by several town's hearing the sound of the railgun being fired off of a navy vessel or vessal or whatever its spelled)

2. that's not ACTUAL recoil, thats visual recoil that becomes distorted after dispensing more than 30+ rounds (remove visual recoils from the RR and only make it go upward from the supposed recoil)

3. charging mechanic makes it unique, but the ARR needs to become more like it's militia variant, so that it becomes a TRUE assault weapon, something that can at least help the variant be on par with other weapons

RRs are pretty good. Exceptional range, damage bonus to armor which is where the majority of the HP in this game is tied up, and do about the same DPS as other rifles. /thread