Posts: 3,192
Threads: 196
Joined: Nov 2009
Staff roles: Systems Lead
I'm gonna play the devil's advocate here and say that after a bit of testing scatterguns might not seem so bad after all. DPS to efficiency ratio aside (which imo is the only change they need - more efficiency, less raw damage), they work pretty well.
The main reason people, myself included, immediately thought they're overpowered is because of potency against snubs, especially in Connecticut (actual math: 16k dps x 4 on most bombers = whooping 64x potential dps, an average snub with an AU VIII has around 25k hull). I definitely agree bombers can duel fighters in Connecticut now and win most of the times. Granted, they do a bit too much damage so at the moment you can probably duel a VHF in a real fight as well, but if their DPS was to get nerfed I don't see it being the case. When it comes to an actual fight where regens, ammo and multiple people come into play, it's not so easy to kill a snub anymore. The "random" component or spread comes heavily into play when shooting something that's running away from you. It doesn't depend on your aim as much and hitting anything more than 1 scattergun above 250m on a snub is unlikely. Your best bet is still a duel, but any kind of a chase fight you won't have the core to sustain the guns given how inefficient they are.
Their primary role was supposed to be fighting gunboats and cruisers. When comparing its effectiveness with a SNAC, a tool mostly used against gunboats as a primary damage source, here's my observation. Compared to the SNAC, they are high risk - high reward - less skill. High risk because you have to get as close as you did before if you want most your guns to hit (200-300m against most gunboats, 400 against cruisers), but you have to stay there for 3-4 seconds instead of shooting a SNAC and immediately disengaging, taking more fire in return. High reward because if you stay for full 3-4 seconds until your core is gone, you will do much more damage overall. And finally less skill, because the gun is 700 m/s compared to SNAC's 280, it's much less punishing if you miss, and with the spread you're always guaranteed that something hits. Against battleships they're too inefficient to be a primary damage tool, but the same thing applies as with caps mentioned above with much more emphasis on risk. You have to get in -really- close to a BS, stay there for some time, and run away always at the risk of getting instakilled, but you dish out more damage.
Overall, a well designed weapon that just needs a bit more finetuning. Taking away some burst for efficiency further emphasizes its use against caps while not being as good against snubs.
