Ultimate-MOD

[Seik]

I think those MachineGun components (even Lvl.1) is much to strong.

To compare it with the Depleted U.Cannon:
the Gun does much more damage, has longer range and is cheaper.

Nobody will use the "old" weapon.

What do you think?

[Rich04]

DUC's start doing more damage eventually. Tonnage wise it looks like the machine cannons are more powerful. But remember that the dammage is scattered. You can hit a ship alot without taking anything out. One hit by the DUC and chunks usually fly.

[Seik]

Yeah, but scattering also means - you will do most times at least a little bit damage.
DUCs all or nothing (to compare with GUNs).

And you get 6 GUNs for 1 DUC.

[geoschmo]

Hadn't really thought about the balance, but I sure like the sound effect.

Geoschmo

[Rich04]

I have seen several battles where Guns have scored a dozen hits over several turns and taken not a single component out. Just one hit by a DUC and one or more components go. Possibly cripling the opponent. And if the DUC ship wins, all the partial damaged components are healed. Sure the six-Gun armed vessel could have max range and outdistance the DUC ship. But good luck taking out anything on that ship in 30 turns.
Of course I am talking about very early ships (the ones most likely to use Guns in a primary role) without shields. Soon conventional weapons outstrip their usefulness.

[geoschmo]

They could be very useful to a race with enhanced ship attack characteristics. Give each shot more of a chance to hit, and you might get some real damage.

Also, in the early game, escort v escort, the escorts gets a defensive bonus. It might be intersting to see what 3 or 4 escorts with the machine gun could do against a single larger ship (eg destroyer, LC). Since the larger ships wouldn't have as much of a defensive bonus, that might make a differance.

Geo

[This message has been edited by geoschmo (edited 31 August 2001).]