Gunboats balance

[Telbasta]

Ok, here's my take on the whole situation-

I think more gunboats need to be made like the kusari GB, bounty hunter gunship, etc. Small, fast, manuverable, but with limited firepower.

I fly a kusari gunboat, and it's manuverable enough to easily avoid supernova shots. So far I've gone up against three bombers, and in all three fights I never took a single supernova hit, as well as doding most standard fire directed at me. I dont have any problems at all taking out fighters or bombers, but anything larger than a transport is a bit difficult to handle.

Right now on my kusari GB, my setup is two kusari defense turrets, two kusari missile turrets, and the kusari gb forward gun. The fifth turret slot I leave empty, because it's rear-fire only and as such isnt very usefull.

The forward gun is the real saving grace on the ship... It does twice as much damage as a razor for only slightly more energy than a single razor takes. It has a fast refire rate, but isnt easy to aim. That weapon is the only thing that gives me a chance against any type of capship or transport - without it, I wouldnt have enough damage output to take down anyone's shields.

However, that forward gun's power also allows me to focus the rest of my ship's setup on anti-fighter weaponry, which is really where the focus of a gunboat should be. A GB isnt meant to take out large, well armored and well shielded capital ships unless you're working in groups. Last night myself and another kusari gunboat went up against a rheinland cruiser, and if he had not fled from the engagement the two of us could have easily taken him out - we could dodge his fire without much effort, and between the forward gun and our two defense turrets each we'd have been able to take him down over time.

I think more gunboats need to be made like that - only 4-5 turrets (if 5, one rear-facing only), but with a powerful forward gun that can make up for lack of damage against transports and capships. Personally I dont consider any GB-class vessel without that forward gun a true gunboat, but instead a gunship - it may have more turrets but in the end it lacks the firepower a gunboat with a forward gun has.

I'd just prefer that more gb's be made small, manuverable, and with 4~ forward turrets and a gun instead of 6-8 turrets only.

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