At present, one of the more useless frigate weapons is the heavy blaster. It literally takes ages to warm up, and sprays laser fire in an unpredictable pattern.
So I propose a tweak.
Give the heavy blaster mechanics similar to the Coil Mortar. Now before all the hate begins, let me explain what this does NOT mean.
I am not suggesting the heavy blaster be turned into a proximity detonation weapon. I am not suggesting the heavy blaster be turned into a hitscan weapon.
I AM suggesting that the four (or six) barrels of the heavy blaster cycle like the coil mortar and shoot a single, high-powered beam with a moderately fast projectile speed that is devastating upon a direct hit. Kinda like a turbolaser in Star Wars.
IMO slow barrels are required, even though I hate it. It’s a suppression weapon; without heavy barrels, you can simply spray it at intys. (Besides, it looks nicer this way.)
Solders do you even play this game? Most useless frigate weapon? you kidding me, there is nothing worse than beam lazers, that IS the ultimate useless weapon on frigates.
Hwy Blaster is a weapon designed to have a role and it is getting stronger and stronger at that role with all these buffs, it does NOT need any changes, it is fine as it is.
Solders do you even play this game? Most useless frigate weapon?
I didn’t say most, I said “more”. I personally find positron cannons harder to use. My personal opinion of effectiveness is: 1. Coil Mortar, 2. Beam Lasers, 3. Heavy Blasters, 4. Positron Cannon
In my experience using blasters, they are most effective against frigates and moderately effective at area suppression against fighters and intys. I don’t hate them, I just think that they could use some improvement. Currently I find beam lasers more effective than blasters at chasing intys off a beacon. This is mainly due to effective weapon range.
I created this thread because I’ve seen some similar musings by other pilots, and I figured it might gain some traction.
One thing to consider when using a weapon, how good can you defend yourself against an agile interceptor. HB tends to fail in this regard. You can’t always rely on teammates to kill your attacker.
The actual Heavy blaster is one of the most powerfull weapon to punish bad positionning (Frigates and Low mobility Fighter).
Or prevent to be rushed by frigates.
On one hand, I like the idea of putting a Coil Mortar mechanic on this and make it act as a turbolaser.
That could be a good weapon suggestion. Or a really interresting rework for the “Beam Laser”.
If I remember correctly, the Heavy Blaster combine Lazor and Railgun/Plasma Mechanics. (the Jericho’s Implant rank 6 works for the Overheating time(laser part) and the projectiles speed (railgun/plasma part). So this idea is possible, maybe?
What SF is suggesting remind me the Arcadia and Atlantis’ main weapons (Captain Harlock), the laser turrets they used in medium/long range battle.
That could be a good weapon suggestion. Or a really interresting rework for the “Beam Laser”.
If I remember correctly, the Heavy Blaster combine Lazor and Railgun/Plasma Mechanics. (the Jericho’s Implant rank 6 works for the Overheating time(laser part) and the projectiles speed (railgun/plasma part). So this idea is possible, maybe?
What SF is suggesting remind me the Arcadia and Atlantis’ main weapons (Captain Harlock), the laser turrets they used in medium/long range battle.
I meant it exactly as I typed it. I still say that’s not the best mechanic for this weapon, considering its name, nor the range.
This is because a blaster usually has a very short range. So it’s fair to keep its current mechanic, shorten its range to 2km-ish, remove slow barrels, reduce damage by a lot and keep the RoF. It’ll then be used as an anti-Ceptor weapon more effectively. The next step is to change the Coil Mortar a bit to remove its current anti-Ceptor capabilities without letting it die entirely…
I meant it exactly as I typed it. I still say that’s not the best mechanic for this weapon, considering its name, nor the range.
This is because a blaster usually has a very short range. So it’s fair to keep its current mechanic, shorten its range to 2km-ish, remove slow barrels, reduce damage by a lot and keep the RoF. It’ll then be used as an anti-Ceptor weapon more effectively. The next step is to change the Coil Mortar a bit to remove its current anti-Ceptor capabilities without letting it die entirely…
I like that, no slow barrel, less dmg and less range, but I think it would need more projectile speed imo to be efficient against ceptors trying to hide in your blind spots.
I meant it exactly as I typed it. I still say that’s not the best mechanic for this weapon, considering its name, nor the range.
This is because a blaster usually has a very short range. So it’s fair to keep its current mechanic, shorten its range to 2km-ish, remove slow barrels, reduce damage by a lot and keep the RoF. It’ll then be used as an anti-Ceptor weapon more effectively. The next step is to change the Coil Mortar a bit to remove its current anti-Ceptor capabilities without letting it die entirely…
Noooo! Noooo! leave it alone ! Bad enough having every Ceptor under the sun preying on you if your in a FRIGATE be it LRF\Guard\Engineer.
Coil Mortar lacking in range… best you maybe able to do is 5K.
CM is fine as is. Period. Not being able to dodge it is completely the enemy pilot’s fault.
Heavy blasters… just… do something about them. Assault lasers too. These are just both horrible. HB may be good vs other frigs at close range and brain-dead fighters, but thats where their utility in PVP ends.
CM is fine as is. Period. Not being able to dodge it is completely the enemy pilot’s fault.
Heavy blasters… just… do something about them. Assault lasers too. These are just both horrible. HB may be good vs other frigs at close range and brain-dead fighters, but thats where their utility in PVP ends.
CM is NOT fine, at all. It’s just a rocket machine gun, at this point. As it is, it’s an anti-everything weapon and that won’t do.