One source novel per railgun... among all the novels of the EU. They're just not popular, and thus don't mesh with the idea the vast majority of people have of Star Wars.

 

*shrugs*

 

We're in a different era from the ones we're typically comfortable with (vis–à–vis Clone Wars/Rebellion/Post-Imperial Era). So, it's fair to say that perhaps they're not popular then, but that they were popular now, three thousand years in the past.

 

Railguns are different, but make perfect sense in Star Wars to me. Also, the whole three-thousand-year difference also makes it easier for me to mash the idea of stealth-equipped Interceptors (which, by all indications, are forthcoming to GSF) with the quote of "No ship that small has a cloaking device!"

 

From a lore perspective, railguns stand to be valid now, but are likely going to become less and less popular over the next three thousand years due to advances in shield, laser and missile technologies. The era in which we're set allows me to suspend my disbelief with regards to technology.

Edited March 25, 2014 by QuinMantha

I still don't really know what so many people are complaining about concerning the GS. I fly mainly scout and GS and with the gun ship, even with all possible + accuracy modifiers available hit only 50% of the time. Moreover, since the last nerf it takes my mastered gun ship, on average, no less than 3 shots to destroy an enemy. Usually 4. Again, IF I can even hit them.

Gunships themselves are not overpowered and fairly balanced, the issue is how multiple gunships boost the odds in their team's favor exponentially. They can hit from extreme ranges and can cover each other from even more range, no other class can cover each other like gunships can. And with this game turning into nothing more than giant gunship battles lately this giant overlapping field of cover becomes even more of an issue. A group of scouts or strikes need to be flying almost in formation to cover each other with their short ranges, yet gunships can form a net with each other as long as they are in the same general half of the map, this is when they start to become an issue.

As I play more and more I am becoming less and less convinced that supported gunships are as unassailable as people claim. I've found that, particularly when up against more than one competent gunship, the correct answer is to get on my scout. Two competent gunships are very hard to attack with another gunship, but as long as you have good spatial awareness they aren't that hard to shut down in a Type 2 scout.

As I play more and more I am becoming less and less convinced that supported gunships are as unassailable as people claim. I've found that, particularly when up against more than one competent gunship, the correct answer is to get on my scout. Two competent gunships are very hard to attack with another gunship, but as long as you have good spatial awareness they aren't that hard to shut down in a Type 2 scout.

 

I prefer the type 1, personally. As long as the rest of my team isn't ***, gunships are rarely a problem, even stacked. If you are the only pilot they target, of course 6 gunships are unassailable, but if you have 6 quality pilots harassing those gunships, those gunships are doomed.

 

I haven't used my gunship in almost a month. I'm better in my blackbolt.

As I play more and more I am becoming less and less convinced that supported gunships are as unassailable as people claim. I've found that, particularly when up against more than one competent gunship, the correct answer is to get on my scout. Two competent gunships are very hard to attack with another gunship, but as long as you have good spatial awareness they aren't that hard to shut down in a Type 2 scout.

I have a couple on Harbinger that you would not want to tangle with. When they have target of target running they are nearly invincible, plus they seem to always have a helper scout or fighter around. I have not seen them loose a match for probably 50 or more times. I just dedicate myself to harassing them as much as possible and get a rare kill. 5000 hull maybe..... Which is the point, just a couple of ships should not be able to completely dominate matches just because they are coordinated. It is hard enough to get any kind of balanced PUG group and then run into this on a regular basis. And don't just tell me that this is MMO and form your own group, it is not that easy.

I have a couple on Harbinger that you would not want to tangle with. When they have target of target running they are nearly invincible, plus they seem to always have a helper scout or fighter around. I have not seen them loose a match for probably 50 or more times. I just dedicate myself to harassing them as much as possible and get a rare kill. 5000 hull maybe..... Which is the point, just a couple of ships should not be able to completely dominate matches just because they are coordinated. It is hard enough to get any kind of balanced PUG group and then run into this on a regular basis. And don't just tell me that this is MMO and form your own group, it is not that easy.

 

A couple of highly skilled scouts can do exactly the same kind of damage. On my server, the super pilots are all scout pilots, and they murder everything, even if there's only one or two in game. The only time I see gunships do better than they do is when the other team is really bad. There's no way to nerf skill and coordination, and that's the only factor at work here, the gunships are just a coincidence.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Vid-szhite

Alright, immediately coming off the Twitch stream with Chris and Eric. (Thanks, guys, we really appreciate hearing from you and watching Chris show he's clearly not a Scout pilot!)

 

Straight from Chris's mouth, he's not pleased with Ion Railguns. It's likely we can expect some work done on them.

 

Also, Gunships are like either bears from Pennsylvania or alligators on land in Louisiana...you don't run from them in a straight line, because they'll catch you. Instead, you run around a tree and so forth. This is a strategy that, I think, will help folks to survive them more often.

(Thanks, guys, we really appreciate hearing from you and watching Chris show he's clearly not a Scout pilot!)

Whats wrong with Scout pilots?!?

 

 

Also, Gunships are like either bears from Pennsylvania or alligators on land in Louisiana...you don't run from them in a straight line, because they'll catch you. Instead, you run around a tree and so forth. This is a strategy that, I think, will help folks to survive them more often.

If those alligators and bears had ion railguns I doubt many people would be making it to the tree.

If those alligators and bears had ion railguns I doubt many people would be making it to the tree.

 

LMAO!! About time though. Bet the scout community will rejoice

Whats wrong with Scout pilots?!?

 

Do you have time for this? I have a list as long as my arm.

 

Kidding. No, no, Scout pilots are fine, Chris just clearly isn't one of them. He wasn't...well...

 

To be fair, he was talking the whole time he was flying. Divided attention. I can't do that.

 

If those alligators and bears had ion railguns I doubt many people would be making it to the tree.

 

There was another point that he made with regard to how you approach them. But I liked the imagery of bears and alligators, in that they're actually pretty fast over a straight distance.

 

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense...a Gunship is like an alligator. You don't reach for the front end when you want to grab it, either. Thus, approach it from an angle (preferably its six) and don't run in straight lines. Keep turning.