As you guys know, they fixed the bug where railguns were using the primary weapon's firing arc. Railguns had a listed arc of 15 degrees, but in practice the arc would vary from 20 degrees (heavy laser) to 24 degrees (laser) to 28 degrees (light laser) to 32 degrees (burst laser) to all those values plus four (max of 38 degrees with the companion and burst laser cannon).

 

Fifteen degrees is VERY small- a gunship would have a ludicrous time hitting anything- that scope size (the non gray part of the screen) would be smaller than the proton torpedo targeting circle.

 

So when they fixed the bug, they also assigned the lowest value any gunship actually uses- the 20 degree arc on heavy laser- for slug and ion.

 

But for plasma, they picked 24 degrees. So this is a hidden advantage of plasma railgun that you guys might want to know about.

An interesting point. Though I hesitate to call that a buff. Up to four additional degrees means up to 20% more of a tracking penalty. At the edge like that, you're not going to be hitting much to begin with. If an ion or slug hits the 20 degree mark, it will start moving the central focus. So while the 4 extra degrees 'might' allow you to peg a moving target you otherwise wouldn't have been able to get under your crosshairs, the extra accuracy penalty might hurt you more than using a slug since the slug would just move along its edge with a 20% less to hit penalty.

An interesting point. Though I hesitate to call that a buff. Up to four additional degrees means up to 20% more of a tracking penalty.

 

You may have noticed that the tracking penalty doesn't normally apply in full. This is because normally you are at 67% zoom by default. Pretend you are at 0% zoom, and someone is 2 degrees off. Depending on your railgun, that's a 10 or 20% penalty. But with the default zoom, you'll see him as further off edge. You'll still hit him based on how much off center he actually is, however.

 

At the edge like that, you're not going to be hitting much to begin with.

 

I routinely land shots at the edges, and did before. Yes, there's a penalty. No, it isn't normally that bad.

 

since the slug would just move along its edge with a 20% less to hit penalty.

 

Again, it's not 20% less penalty unless you are fully voomed out (in which case you likely don't have the issue). The big deal is that a laterally moving target can be tracked further and better.

 

 

It's a buff in all situations. Now, it's not a very BIG buff, but still- plasma has an easier time tracking a moving target, so that is something.

Irrelevant given that plasma sucks.

Irrelevant given that plasma sucks.

 

Plasma railguns do not suck. The combination of min charge Ion railgun and full charge slug is just too powerful.

 

If they'd lower the damage of slug railguns (like it was intended according to patch notes) and would let ion railguns debuffs only apply at full charge, than Plasma railguns would become much more useful.

I call it a gunship nerf. My target circle is almost half the size it was. I have went from a hit % near 60% to maybe 35% since this nerf went in.

The bugfix was indeed a nerf, but only because it was never intended to be that good.

 

The Type 1 gunship was using the targeting circle of burst laser cannon (rarely light laser cannon) and the Type 2 gunship would often use the smaller circle of heavy laser cannon just because that's better as a thing. What happened was the intended arc of railguns (15 degrees) was never applied.

 

But plasma didn't get fixed as hard

I want to love my Plasma Cannon, as its fully upgraded. I stuck with it, even when it was clear that Slugs were the better choice.

 

I am now upgrading my Slug cannon