The four issues listed have only become more prevalent now.

 

What's worse, the upcoming new Gunship variant (which includes missiles instead of a second railgun) may already be dead on arrival if it doesn't have access to an Ion Railgun (which is likely) or doesn't have access to Burst Laser Cannons (which is possible).

 

The addition of Missiles does not make up for the lack of either of those components given their current power, and the advantages they give to the original Gunship variant.

 

It's already DOA. Missiles are just straight-up inferior to railguns, full stop.

I'm pretty sure the devs are well aware of this thread by now. If balancing fixes are not made in the next patch, I wouldn't be surprised if this were because they are waiting for the dust to settle from bombers before going in and tweaking stuff.

 

Not that I'd mind fixes right away, and I'd be surprised if there were no balancing fixes at all.

It's already DOA. Missiles are just straight-up inferior to railguns, full stop.

 

Possibly.

 

Looking at the datamined text descriptions of the Republic and Imperial Dogfighting Gunship Variant, they contain phrases such as:

* basic railgun

* sensor range and ammunition capacity is less than that of similar ships

* dogfighting missiles

* more powerful short-range laser cannons

* faster and more maneuverable than its counterparts

* variety of shields and engines

* survivability

* ship-to-ship missiles

* unleash volleys from enhanced close-range laser cannons

* additional speed, maneuverability and equipment options

 

Going by all of this, my guess is that the Dogfighting Gunship Variant will only have access to the slug railgun. It will still have Armor and Reactor Minor Components, but it will not have the Magazine or Sensor Minor Components. Instead it will get Thrusters and (by process of elimination) a Capacitor (which lets it "enhance" its primary weapons to be "more powerful").

 

Additionally, it will likely have access to more "traditional dogfighting" shield and engine selections than the Double-Railgun Gunship Variant, such as Directional Shield, Retro Thrusters, etc. Look at the Sting compared to the Blackbolt for guidance of what to expect.

 

What really puzzles me is the reference to "enhanced close-range laser cannons". The "enhanced" part probably prefers to the buff from the Capacitor Minor Component. But Burst Laser Cannons are the gold-standard for close-up fighting, and the original Gunship Variant already has those. It's possible that "close range" refers to any non-railgun weapons, in which case it might have access to Quad Cannons, which are what the "dogfighting" Scout Variant got exclusive access to.

 

All that being said, I agree that at present, the new Gunship variant does not look very appealing compared to the current Gunship. For it to really be worth trying out, I think three things would have to happen:

 

1) Correct the Ion Railgun so that "love taps" do not deliver full magnitude debuffs

2) Give the Dogfighting Gunship Variant Burst Laser Cannons and Cluster Missiles to emphasize its versatility as both a long-range artillery and short-range satellite capper/guarder

3) Remove Burst Laser Cannons from the Double-Railgun Gunship Variant to reinforce its purpose as long-range artillery and decrease its ability to fight up-close

Edited January 7, 2014 by Nemarus

Not seeing evidence that any of these issues are even acknowledged, let alone resolved in the current PTS build. Devs?

Time to bring this back up again, seeing HEAVY usage of all exploits listed by gunship users.

 

And honestly, it really ruins GSF to the point I can't even bother logging, it's just no fun anymore.

And to the people saying "gunships are easy" try it with 2 scouts/fighters picking you off due to constant de-buff. Or how to counter FRIENDLY gunships?

There are no exploits. You are simply raging because you got killed by a gunship. Roll a scout, learn to play it and go have fun killing the gunships.

No. No it isn't. There are plenty of threads already discussing this.

 

But, since you brought it up....

 

PTS currently has nerfs for two of the issues with expectations for them to be rolled out next week. Bypass is being dropped to 16% to prevent one-shots, and railguns will require a minimum charge to fire, preventing love taps from the Ion guns. It's also been said (although I lack a source at the moment) that gunships can no longer interrupt a BR by entering sniper mode.

 

So issues being addressed. Whether you believe it's enough is up for debate, but they are at least making some changes to account for the worst of this.

I've not seen those listed on the PTS changelist.

 

And the expected "just learn!" popped up so soon too. I've killed plenty of gunships. I know how to do so. But they're still wholesomely out of place in here, and ruining the fun most have dogfighting.

And you didn't account how this scouting thing would help me get rid of friendly gunships either...

Indeed... the GSF queue starts to take a lot longer already and 8vs8 more pre-dominant than 12vs12.

I wont say Gunships are responsible, but I wouldn't be surprised if many people didn't stop playing due to them already.

 

I've asked people and they don't like being one-shotted by gunships so they are either playing GSF less or not at all.

Bypass is being dropped to 16% to prevent one-shots...

 

oh great. nerf the ONE AND ONLY thing that actually allows T1 scouts to deal with gunships.

 

brilliant. just fracking brilliant.

 

i think I might have to sign up for Space Citizen.

oh great. nerf the ONE AND ONLY thing that actually allows T1 scouts to deal with gunships.

 

brilliant. just fracking brilliant.

 

i think I might have to sign up for Space Citizen.

 

I believe these Scouts are getting an EMP weapon which may actually be more useful than bypass.

I believe these Scouts are getting an EMP weapon which may actually be more useful than bypass.

 

aha, the mythical EMP weapon that no-one's actually tested on the PTS because A: you need to 'earn' PTS ship requisition and B: GSF pops on the PTS are on par with discoveries of genuine rocking horse manure. i'll be interested to see what it does and what i'll be required to sacrifice in order to take it.

 

sheesh, GSF in general and gunships in particular only need a few MINOR tweaks.

 

if they were looking to nerf Bypass, I'd have suggested reducing the duration to the same as Concentrated Fire.

aha, the mythical EMP weapon that no-one's actually tested on the PTS because A: you need to 'earn' PTS ship requisition and B: GSF pops on the PTS are on par with discoveries of genuine rocking horse manure. i'll be interested to see what it does and what i'll be required to sacrifice in order to take it.

 

sheesh, GSF in general and gunships in particular only need a few MINOR tweaks.

 

if they were looking to nerf Bypass, I'd have suggested reducing the duration to the same as Concentrated Fire.

 

From the description it actually sounds pretty cool but at the moment it certainly is "mythical" due to the lack of GSF pops on PTS.

Looking at both the EMP field and the Strike's new missile, they both look to be variations off of the ion rail's disabling affects. In other words post 2.6 is going to be the war of the AoE control weapons. Honestly I think Dfield and Burst lasers will be the least of our troubles once everyone stats stacking the CC.