Scheneighnay McBob
Bojo's School of the Trades
1455
   |
Posted - 2013.06.07 23:53:00 -
[1] - Quote
I'm sure we all know that as far as light AV swarm launchers are infinitely greater than plasma cannons- but the cannons are dumbfire, so let's compare them to a forge gun!
Damage:
Plasma cannon (STD): 1050
Forge gun (STD): 1320
Time between shots:
Plasma cannon: After the first shot, you have a 3.5 second reload, and a .6 second charge= 4.1 seconds
Forge gun: has a 4 round clip, and a 3.5 second charge= 3.5 seconds (until reload)
So guesstimating .5 seconds between firing and preparing the next shot, a standard Forge gun 5280 damage in 16 seconds before reloading.
In that 16 seconds, the Plasma cannon only does 3150 damage
"but heavy weapons should always be better than light weapons" (as if anyone thinks plasma cannons are fine)
This is true, but forge guns have yet another strength to make up for the slow movement of heavies-
While I don't have exact numbers, forge guns have a MUCH longer range than plasma cannons, while plasma cannons also fire on an arc. So medium/light dropsuits have to get into dangerously close range to actually hit their target.
So to propose a fix for plasma cannons, I think they should keep up the Gallente style by keeping their short range, but dealing far more damage: with standard ones at 2000 per shot.
This would mean that in 16 seconds, plasma cannons would deal 6000 damage: 720 more than forge guns.
This change would cause plasma cannons to become AV shotguns- great damage with low range. |
Scheneighnay McBob
Bojo's School of the Trades
1497
|
Posted - 2013.06.09 15:31:00 -
[2] - Quote
Ten-Sidhe wrote:A faster reload would also work to balance it. Fast enough reload becomes a charge time with a magazine the size of the total ammo carried.
Adding a secondary skill to increase plasma ball speed (this would reduce both amount of arc and travel time) 5% level for plasma sharpshooter would be a huge buff.
The two suggested balance options in post above sound like a breech and an assault variant to me, with current filling both roles to a lesser degree. Assault being Ai with 3 round mag and reduced direct and more splash and Breach being 2000hp direct with less ammo and less splash. Current would then make a good jack of all master of none weapon, with variants filling the gallente av and grenade launcher roles.
As far as reload speed by itself, that's not really an issue because there's a skill for it.
However, having the assault have a 2-3 round mag might work.
I guess breach would be like the breach mass driver- steeper arc, higher direct damage, much less splash. |