Gunboat Balance

[RickJames]

I know this is mentioned all over the place on the forums and it might have its own thread. However, if it does not I thought I would make one for constructive thoughts on it.

The issue appears to be that with 2 or 3 gunboats loaded with certain weapons can fairly easily take out any other ship or combination of ships.

Most recently this was proved at Crete. Were 3 nomad GBs took out a number of fighters, gunboats, and 2 Osiris BSs.

Id like to get admin, developer, and player opinions on what the role of a Gunboat is in discovery.

Are they anti-fighter, anti-gunboat, anti-cruiser, anti-BS? Some combination of those? Or are they supposed to be able to take out any combination of ship classes?

If something is already being done about them would the developers share it with us?

The primary issue seems to be how much damage they can do and how often they can do it. Which is tons and all the time. While at the same time being fairly hard to hit.

I think the best thing would be to alter their power plants. Either giving them less energy or making their energy regen much much slower.

Ill be testing them myself in a bit and will post more specific data, like actual numbers, when I can.

[RickJames]

I should add that all the nomad GB's lived and all the Corsair ships were destroyed.

[alance]

My -opinion- of the GB role is one of fighter/bomber killer. If it can beat down cruisers and BSes then its anti-capship abilities are too good. In my -opinion-.

Paper < Scissors < Rock

Cruiser/BS < Bombers < Gunship
Bomber < Fighter < Gunship

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&quot;To gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence;
to subjugate the enemy's army without doing battle is the highest of excellence.&quot;

[Jwnantze]

in numbers thay should be able to do that, or an extremly good pilot.
IE, Dab's repeeted rampaging at crete agianst corsair gbs....
But the nomad GB has a funky hit box (I think) and a full load out of cerbs makes it ridicualas....

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There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for. -Elizabeth Elliott

[Drake]

in numbers thay should be able to do that, or an extremly good pilot.
IE, Dab's repeeted rampaging at crete agianst corsair gbs....
But the nomad GB has a funky hit box (I think) and a full load out of cerbs makes it ridicualas....

Keepers supposedly use mostly Nomad weapons, not full Cerbs.

Also, gunboats are more anti-fighter than other capships, but a pair of decently flown VHFs can take out a single gunboat without to much trouble.

I think once Cerbs get fixed most gunboats will be reasonably balanced. There are some exceptions, but hopefully they'll get fixed as well.

[galaktik]

Example: Once we ware in iota in 3 vipers fighting vs 3 wild GB. we are goot team so we managed to damage one Gb badly damaged and he fled out of combat, then nomad Npc patrol showed up, so one of them start doing circles around NPC BS, we tryd to took him out but then his wingman shoted our and fraking our chances to nail second Gb, so 2 viper shooting at Gb and doing some damage to his hull, then another nomad patrol showed up. and thus outguned another viper id dead, leaving me alone, yes i saw this is pointless as i could not take out Gb shields and stop shoting to be killed....

As you can see good team work can take down even BS with VHFs, and not to mention CR and Gbs....

As for current Gb u have to be really good pilot to take down alone CR, wich is now very hard since they have longer range and faster weps....

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not here

[chopper]

I think they are something in between.
2 Gunboats were always able to beat the crap out of Battleship.
And 1 gunboat (if pilot is a good aimer) can make a massacre on small crafts.

They are ships made for small battles, or solo playing if you like it.
Their survivability is not really the best in big battles.
Imagine how long would 3 gunboats last in fight against 5,6 fighters:)
This was not about gunships, it was about gunboats.

So, RickJames, i can understand and see the Osiris battleships dying.
But i can't imagine why fighters + battleships didn't have a teamwork.
For example, if each of the battleships took 1 gb as a target,
they would both have to take distance so they can recover their shields.
In that moment, fighters are essential, to hurt their hull, once they are out of BS range.
1 GB that is left can be ignored, he can only damage fighters, he is useless against battleships.
So, if you already have 2 BSs (which is funny also), then use them well.

Gunboats are not imbalanced, people just don't know to fight them.

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It is every Corsair's responsibility to die a beautiful death in defense of Crete, regardless of how OORP or how capwhoring the opposition is. Launch your fighter, joust the battlecruisers and die a beautiful death. Then, drink it down in the bar.

Can't let you bash folks in your sig Chopper-Del

[RingoW]

The number is important, along with the equipment.

Single GB's are for patrol duties along the trade lanes to defend traders and to hunt down smugglers in the ZoI.
A GB taskforce with forward guns are for surprise attacks against warship rows.
Within a BS taskforce, they are for reconnaissance duties (eyes and ears of the fleet).

My pov

Respectfully
AoM

[Jinx]

gunboats are OK versus fighters at the moment, i think. they do their jobs well, offering a good portion of protection, agility and firepower to take down fast and agile targets.

but how can we try to get them in line with bigger ships. all capships are freighters. there is no difference from a fighter armor and a battleship armor. both take the same amount of damage from a gun. the only difference is that the battleship has more hitpoint. ( which we call armor, but its sort of confusing )

if it was balanced, the gunship was doing like 100% damage to a fighter/freighter/transport and basicly anything of its own size and smaller. but it would do like only 50% damage to something with a thick capship armor, cause not only the battleship has more hitpoints but also cause the armor is simply absorbing more damage.

however, its impossible to do that - i mean, even the capship weapons do not know different types, they are all the same, and origin aswell as projectile looks are only cosmetics. if capship weapons were different classes like the fighter ones, there d be a greater chance for big ships - depending of the shield they use, since a weapon that hits a shield that is designed for such a weapon only does 80% damage while it does 120% if the shield is not designed for it.
20% less damage if the capship carries the correct shield can make a difference. if such a calculation could be applied to armor aswell, ( like not only capship armor VII, but instead "reflective capship armor VIII ( against lasers etc.", "reactive capship armor VIII ( against particles etc )", "<in need for a better name> capship armor VIII ( against neutrons etc. )" a cruiser / battleship could endure a gunboat easier - IF the gunboat had the wrong weaponloadout.

another way is to simply buff up capships, but i don t think thats what the community wants:laugh:(faster projectiles to hit the gunboats. - but ... maybe special turrets that do lower damage ( compared to other basic BS turrets, like 1500 dam, but with a projectile speed of 5000 - might do a job )

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC

[chopper]

Jinx, you really like to complicate it:D

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It is every Corsair's responsibility to die a beautiful death in defense of Crete, regardless of how OORP or how capwhoring the opposition is. Launch your fighter, joust the battlecruisers and die a beautiful death. Then, drink it down in the bar.

Can't let you bash folks in your sig Chopper-Del