The gun is fine.

I did some experiments last night and found the actual rate of fire(or at least close to it) at 105 RPM(for comparison using the same methodology used below the mass driver is 58 RPM - which is less than 4% off of what the documentation says which is 60 RPM).

Coincidentally the mass driver and the flaylock both take the same amount of time to fire all of their ammo(27s including reloads which makes this next part a better comparison). Damage for the entire amount is similar for direct damage at the prototype level but far off for splash damage. 266.2 direct and 127.6 splash on Freedom Mass driver, 239.8 direct and 214.5 splash on the Core Flaylock.

That is 4791.6 potential direct damage(266.2*18 shots) and 2296.8 splash damage for the Freedom Mass Driver(47.9% splash compared to direct damage).

That is 5035.8 potential direct damage(239.8*21 shots) and 4504.5 splash damage for the Core Flaylock Pistol(89.45% splash compared to direct damage).

Direct damage is fine(it takes some skill to get direct hits) but the splash damage is severely disproportionate to other weapons with splash damage.


TL;DR

For proper weapon balancing direct damage should remain the same but the splash damage should be reduced by half. The splash radius is fine on the Core Flaylock but it does need to be adjusted on the standard and advanced models(I would suggest increasing them to 1.75m and 1.85m).


RPM Methodology
Methodology: take fully stocked standard flaylock, create macro on mouse to trigger m1 every 60ms, hold fire until rounds finished, time with stopwatch.

Average time to finish rounds is 27s(makes it easier - actual times were 27.78, 27.56 ,26.83, 26.95, 26.70 ,26.92 - actual average of 27.1s or 27.061s removing the upper and lower outliers).

21 rounds
2.5s reload
3 rounds per clip
21 / 3 = 7 clips
7 - 1 = 6 reloads(no reload after last clip)
6 * 2.5 = 15s reload time

27 - 15 = 12s to fire all 21 rounds

21 / 12 = 1.75 rounds per second
1.75 * 60s = 105 RPM
END RPM Methodology





Flaylock Pistol Operation - 621,920 - required - spec into
Flaylock Pistol Proficiency - 1,554,920 - very useful - spec into
Flaylock Pistol Rapid Reload - 1,865,920 - mildly useful(2.5s reload down to 1.88s reload) - do not spec as you can kill most suits in 1 clip)
Flaylock Pistol Fitting Optimization - 1,865,920 - nearly worthless - do not spec unless you need a single PG on the core flaylock(no effect on other variants)
Flaylock Pistol Ammo Capacity - 932,920 - mildly useful - an extra 5 shots - do not spec, advanced nanohives are a better investment than this skill

While you are technically correct you are realistically wrong. Just over 2 million to fully utilize this weapon, just under another 5 for nearly useless bonuses(they are placeholder bonuses and may eventually become useful but as it is nobody will have fully specced into flaylock pistols).

I think he proved himself pretty smart and shot your BS argument full of holes. Saying the gun isn't out of balance because it takes a lot of SP is not a valid argument. If everyone knows it's a waste of time why did you try to use it in your argument to begin with? He did his homework and demonstrated how the flaylock does not require accuracy to very quickly dish out crazy damage.