Pvt Numnutz
Prophets of the Velocirapture
2
   |
Posted - 2015.10.02 04:22:00 -
[1] - Quote
really excited about hotfix foxfour! My caldari bones tremble with excitement.
Anyway I was reading through the feedback thread and it didnt surprise me that swarmers and pilots were at it again. A lot was said in the feedback thread.
I just wanted to touch on a subject and see how swarmers feel about it. Soraya Xel feels very strongly that the reduction of lock range (i believe it was 25m) will make swarms unable to preform the role of killing ADS and the like. One of the tiered arguments between dropship pilots and swarm launchers is the "it takes two (swarms) to kill a dropship that can be flown by one player" leading to the OP 2 vs 1, 4 vs 2 force multiplier argument. I actually happen to think this is fair, and ill explain why.
Dropships usually never get the first move due to everything looking like the same small dot or swarms not rendering, If you are a swarmer im sure you have heard this from dropship pilots many times. Now I read in the feedback thread many times (looking at you soraya) that dropships can easily escape from a swarms lock range. now I'm kind of an oddity in the sense that i fly with a dedicated gunner meaning my hp pools are slightly lower than that of a solo fit dropship, not by much mind you only a few hundread HP difference, that being said when a swarm volley hits me i know the second is on the way, since i usually cant see where they were coming from the only option to go is out and away. The typical tactic is to hit afterburners and slam your nose down to get max speed out, the only time i've ever felt running from swarms to be "easy" "or "effortless" is when its a milita swarm.
Even when I am engagin an enemy force and see a swarm launcher fire its first shot its already too late to really engage it. I have to assume its proto or on a minmando (you loose less ships this way) so you have to turn and burn, swarm launchers have always excelled at area denial, it use to deny 400m but was reduced to 175m.
Av has had points added when damaging vehicles, i must say it is very satisfying that when i smack a tank or dropship with my forge gun and send them running for the red line that +75 is a nice bonus. They did also add points for dropships, although the points are quite meager compared to getting kills or vehicle kill assists, where the +75 for damaging felt rewarding as a forge gunner the +18 for transport assist is more disappointing. There is also Mcru Points which is +50 but unless your clone has been terminated you wont get the option to spawn in the ship, and there is only basic Mcrus so no faster spawns meaning those 3 sec uplinks look much better than that 10 sec dropship. This really limits our wp, sp, and isk making to killing.
So swarms are a commandos weapon, i know they can be placed on all suits but like the scrambler it works best with a certain suit which is currently the minmando but will go to the calmando in foxfour. Commandos have the ability to fight against infantry and in the calmandos case provide overwatch to your squad.
Now this brings me to why i think 2 vs 1 to kill a dropship is, in my opinion, fair. One swarm launcher will be able to provide cover for a squad in a 150m radius. If the swarm launcher is staying near a group of blues or greens or a point and a dropship comes in to harass them then the swarm can deny the dropship that AO, saving his team mates from the dropship and earning points in the process. I have always thought of swarms as that kind of area denial and the forge gun as the serious AV killing machine.
However when you add two swarms to the mix your pretty much guaranteed to get the kill on a dropship.
meaning 1 swarm launcher is enough to force the dropship for the AO, denying him the kills he needs to earn wp, sp and isk. Although you don't kill the dropship you gain wp for your work protecting your allies and can still support them with a light weapon earning wp on the ground. the dropship may get a few sneaky kills before you chase it off but if you just want to murder any dropship you see i say your being unreasonable to any dropship pilots position.
This also means that two swarm launchers working together will guarantee the dropship dies but does require help from another swarm or a forge gun.
so my question to the swarm community,
Is it unfair to not get the kill on a dropship even when you are denying it its primary role and in turn earning your keep for fulfilling your role as anti vehicle?
Master Skyshark rider
Kaalaka dakka tamer
|