Having gone through some effort to get get a Gungnir, I find it somewhat underwhelming. While by no means should it be excessively better than other Imperial LRFs, neither, I think, should it be significantly worse. It should have something going for it that makes players say, “I want to spend my time and effort(and/or money) getting this. It does something no other ship can do.” Because I have no desire to use the ship in it’s current form, or throw good resources after bad, I haven’t yet built the modules or Le Claire, so if those change the dynamics more than I’m expecting(not at all), please let me know.
So, let’s have some ideas! What could be done to make this ship more viable? I have a few ideas to start us off, but don’t feel tied to them, what could be done that I didn’t think of? These ideas are non-inclusive; any one or two will probably do the job, more than that would probably be swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction.
Beam Artillery Disintegrator:
- Increase aiming speed to be comparable to other ILRFs. Apparently we’re getting out and hand cranking this sucker into firing position, by which time anything faster than a spavined snail has moved, completely canceling the benefit of the instant hit laser. Even shooting stationary targets is less effective than using a standard ILRF unless we
- Increase the damage. This is pretty weak, considering the penalties involved in landing. Having to shoot torpedoes twice is just sad. Some sort of added effect would also be acceptable, a DoT or something. Decreasing max shield for x seconds would be new, I think. Another effect could be taking on the attribute of whatever you have equipped as a main weapon, i.e., a Dag’tnith’ main weapon decreases maneuverability on artillery hit, or a Coil Mortar increases splash damage.
- Increase the range. Isn’t that the usual effect of stabilizing your firing platform? While it would likely exacerbate the object obstruction problem, it would be a unique bonus and could be handy on the rare occasion you have a clear line of sight to your target.
Landing bonuses: You’re losing at minimum 180 degrees of targeting ability, 100% of your mobility, repositioning is a pain and firing any missile slot weapon other than mines makes you take off… 45 points of hull resistance is not an adequate recompense.
- A bonus shield. Probably not like Pilgrim, but perhaps something like a Diffusion Shield that uses energy. I’m not sure what a good rate would be, something with staying power, but still overwhelmable.
- A radar cloak. Perhaps a higher level MGS-Box Camo. Something to that effect.
- A defensive weapon. Something similar to the A1MA, a Pulsar, or an auto drone like the Partner.
- A bonus to nearby allies, something to encourage people to protect your stationary sitting duck, rather than just move on.
- Also fix the missile thing.
LeClaire and Modules:
- Increase Le Claire range. Do you know what I don’t look for on my Long. Range. Frigates? Less range than most Interceptor weapons! In particular on a weapon that damages you if it goes off too close. If some thought went into this beyond “Hur hur, this will be funny”, I can’t imagine what it was. Hell, I feel like most of the so-called long range weapons are far too short as it is, there’s a reason I keep building Dag’tnith’s to put on every frigate I want to use, other than the Hammerhead.Turning off the self damage would help a lot too.
- Barrier Blast could be useful if the aiming speed comes up to par. Otherwise, I’d say make the name meaningful, and have it do more damage proportional to the amount or number of shields the target has up, sort of a shield inverter damage.
- TY-7 optics system. Meh. I suppose this is the reason the aiming speed is so slow, it gets quite twitchy at max zoom. If it actually increased range that that would be one thing, but as it is, it feels more like a toy and a detriment than a utility. There’s got to be something useful it could be doing.
So those are my thoughts. Currently my Gungnir is on permanent patrol duty, and there it will stay until something happens. What do you think? Is the Gungnir actually the best ship ever, and I’m overlooking it’s massive potential? Smarten me up, I want to her it! Or what would you do to bring it in line with other 16+ SP ships?
I might be less critical if I actually liked Conquest, and got the ship for doing something I was going to do anyway, but I didn’t. I actually hate Conquest and getting the ship was a slog.