Class 9 gun analysis (take 2)

[onca]

EDIT: --- SPOILER WARNING --- (heh heh)

Folks, I've reviewed and updated Yngen's table of Class 9 guns. I've added some columns which I feel weigh up the different guns quite nicely, not to mention revealing some horrible mis-balances (if there is such a word).

@Yngen I'm not trying to take the wind outa your sails mate.... just thought I'd make it a new post so as not to get buried in the debating on the first thread.

Columns:
1. Name
2. Shield damage /sec
3. Hull damage /sec
4. Power usage /sec
5. Projectile speed
6. Range
7. Fire rate
8. Efficiency (== hull damage/power usage)

Notes:
- I have listed Projectile speed but excluded Range -- since I find speed infinitely more useful when comparing weapons.
- Efficiency -- the higher number the better. In general, we'd expect guns with a higher rate and/or speed to be less efficient than those lower.
- I've not included Tizzy since it's in a class of its own.
- The numbers speak for themselves.... some faction's guns really suck while some absolutely rock.
- Another word about projectile speed: Where a faction has two different gun types, if they are same speed then it is a huge accuracy advantage even if the speeds are low. Eg, Kusari has two 600m/s guns which is great, whereas Liberty has two guns at the opposite ends of the spectrum (750 and 500), which make for really horrible accuracy.

EDIT: Added range column, and sorted by efficiency (ie. worst-to-best).

Here's the table: (sorry for all the `s, only way to make the things line up:P)

Gun```````````````Shld/s```Hull/s```Pwr/s```Speed```Range````Rate````Effy
Hornviper Mk II``````677`````1354`````562`````700`````700````5.88````2.41
Death's Hand V```````641`````1282`````500`````750`````600````5.88````2.56
Sammael``````````````875`````1749`````683`````750`````700````8.33````2.56
Natterturn Zwei``````688`````1376`````529`````750`````600````5.88````2.60
Reaver Mk III````````908`````1816`````616`````700`````650````8.33````2.95
Vengeance Mk V```````775`````1549`````509`````750`````600````8.33````3.04
Daito````````````````933`````1866`````600`````750`````600````8.33````3.11
Sunfrenzy 3``````````858`````1716`````533`````600`````600````8.33````3.22
Fury 4```````````````706`````1411`````400`````700`````650````5.88````3.53
Buckshot`````````````916`````1832`````489`````750`````750````4.00````3.65
Skyblast B```````````975`````1949`````525`````750`````600````8.33````3.71
Ultra Sunrail````````952`````1904`````504`````600`````600````4.00````3.78
Wyrm Type 2``````````988`````1976`````500`````700`````700````3.03````3.95
Vampire 4````````````862`````1724`````408`````700`````700````4.00````4.23
Drake D``````````````912`````1824`````428`````550`````550````4.00````4.26
Kraken Type 2```````1144`````2288`````504`````700`````700````4.00````4.54
Magma Hammer IV``````928`````1856`````394`````500`````600````2.00````4.71
Reaper V````````````1052`````2104`````440`````600`````550````4.00````4.78
Firekiss Mk II```````978`````1956`````408`````500`````600````2.00````4.79
Salamanca Mk II``````978`````1956`````391`````600`````600````4.00````5.00
Disinfector 3````````940`````1880`````368`````600`````550````4.00````5.10

[Koolmo]

I like this table more, no offence yngen, but it has all the important things i look at when getting new weps.

The hornviper 2 scares the bejesus outa me, as does the fury 4. The Rheinlanders should definetly have better guns than that.

---

<span style="color:#FFFF00">&quot;General Solo, is your strike team assembled?&quot;
&quot;Barely, they're pretty drunk.&quot; </span>
SCRA Recruiting--SCRA Feedback--SCRA Message Dump--SCRA Faction Status

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

[Nightfall]

umm, Salamanca is a Corsair weapon....

anyway, you should have included the range too, quite a few people pairing the guns by range, I do it by projectile speed, like you but I like to experiment too.

---

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God? - from 'Nightfall' by I. Asimov
The Outcasts consider Siniestre Nube a sacred place for several reasons. Early explorers discovered a jumphole within the depths of the cloud that leads to a strange world of ringed stars and strange craft. All ships in the burrial ground are placed facing that hole to honor the Alien Spirits. - An Outcast rumor

[Koolmo]

I dunno, at fighter speeds range rarely enters my equations

---

<span style="color:#FFFF00">&quot;General Solo, is your strike team assembled?&quot;
&quot;Barely, they're pretty drunk.&quot; </span>
SCRA Recruiting--SCRA Feedback--SCRA Message Dump--SCRA Faction Status

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

[Dab]

The hornviper 2 scares the bejesus outa me, as does the fury 4. The Rheinlanders should definetly have better guns than that.

I told you.:dry:

The Fury 4 just sucks, thats all I can say. Horrible damage, not bad efficiancy, but horrible damage. A problem with the 5.88 guns it is. They need a definite improvement. Fury 4 and Hornviper most of all..

---

[McNeo]

Take a look at the Deaths Hand mk V too, that is almost as bad as the hornviper mk II.

a total contrast to the Reaper V

[Virus]

Firekiss MKII is OK, it seems. (Though the gun speed is really slow for a fighter weapon.)

Hornviper is THAT bad?! Holy moly! I'm selling that bloody thing 'til its fix. Lots of 2.00 refire weapons on my ship. -.-

---

Into the Maelstrom - A Measure of Salvation - Reaver Company Database

[onca]

@Night: Ah yes your right.... but Outcast weps are not too shabby in both the damage and efficiency departments. (My Rogue char says: "Outcast, Friend!")

It good to see my table reaching its intended purpose.... highlight the blatant discrepancies in the various faction armament, and stir discussion.

ps. I'll post an Excel soon, so one can sort it and whatever.

[Ascendancy]

Salamanca Mk II's, I find to be very energy efficient (come on, 97 isn't too bad for a class 9 gun) and I carry a pair of them. Having slightly better range than other neutron cannons (549m vs 600m) and doing the damage of the Javelin Missile at 4.00 rate of fire, makes them a keeper on my ship. I think personally range is important too, but that's just my opinion.

---

Thanks to Cattman2236 of E-Studios Forums for the signature.

The Kalashnikov. Still sees use in the hands of Coalition-aligned anthropomorphic cats Sirius-wide.

[Igiss]

Hornviper Mk II, this is an original weapon. Its original damage is 217, I've upped it to 230. Still not enough, it seems. And another proof of how 'balanced' Vanilla is. Unfortunately it's impossible to fix everything, except for level 9 and 10th.

Firekiss Mk II, that one wasn't changed at all, and I think that here Vanilla is balanced enough. Won't be changed in future either, but don't expect faster firing weapons to have better damage rate.

Salamanca Mk II, yes a good weapon... and also not modified, and when I did try to reduce damage I've got complaints so I reverted it to original. So its fate now depends on your feedback.

And please enlighten me about Sammael, is it a good weapon or not... Yngen's and Onca's feedback on this differs too much.

Next, range is important... in Vanilla, weapons with better range deal less damage. Always. Should stay so in Discovery too. Range is calculated this way (weapon_equip.ini):

[Munition]
lifetime = 1.200000

[Gun]
muzzle_velocity = 500

(example from Firekiss II), multiply values and you get the range. 1.2x500=600. Range should definitely be included here if it's not too much work. muzzle_velocity maybe too, cause it's weapon projectile speed.