Possible OC Deck Cannon Overhaul/Balance

[vague ermine]

(this is kinda just a crapshoot that i thought of, feedback is appreciated)

OC causes a pneumatics/coolant system to activate, suppressing recoil and vibrations made by the cannons, which both reduces sound made/crew stun time and increases stability while firing/increased effective fire rate. However, the recoil suppresser reduces projectile speed/effective range (and possibly penetration/damage) even further, and the pneumatic system requires alternating mode to be turned on to function in order to balance itself

This would make the OC DC much less reliant on shear alpha damage, instead turning into a much more consistent stream of damage that doesn't just oneshot like half a ship

also this would break the current built in OC DC kites but imo OC DC just doesn't work well/feel fun to play against at all (both on paper and in practice) due to reliance on alpha damage and the insane projectile speed making dodging impossible

[coral bolt]

The 'making dodging impossible' part so far as I'm aware is intended and very desired because of how difficult it is to land shots with them elsewise.

Without the OC, typically the only way to guarantee hits is strictly through ramlocks, which isn't a good state for DCs. This alternative overclock would not offer them something that helps them achieve usage and viability, as it only makes their egregious problems worse.

For such reasons I'm personally opposed, though I thought I'd explain why rather than just throw a at your forhead

[frigid cliff]

I won't! :)

[nova sandal]

could actually see this being an interesting mod, but I don't think most would appreciate what's just a better small cannon in every way

(i assume this has reduced ammo consumption in its upgraded sustain, because stun isn't the whole of the struggle to maintain it)

[neat breach]

If the impossibility of dodging is intended, then what is the intended counterplay against OCDC? Just having more health? That doesn't seem to be a good pattern.

[nova sandal]

already is for railguns 😅

[neat breach]

but railguns do have counterplay -- ramming them stops them from rotating and concentrating damage; this is not true for OCDC. It's arguable whether OC rails are balanced or not, and whether the counterplay is actually effective, but there is definitely at least one intended strategy there.

[harsh cradle]

while they do have quite high projectile speed, they still don't have great accuracy, meaning they're not too effective at range. their turret also rotates quite slowly

and their lack of raw DPS compared to base DC or other 'brawler' weapons means 'just having more health' is easier vs OCDC than it may be vs other things

[vague ermine]

i feel like currently them having lower dps doesnt really matter cause of how oc dc does all its damage in a giant burst, which just either eats sheilds all at once without having any regen time, or gets sunk into armor which can just be massively debuffed with a trl

also turret speed doesnt matter to much as you can usually get away with just having them always face forward and just turn ur ship faster, almost like a rail fan, but its deck mounted and is capable of aiming during a ram

[harsh cradle]

that is fair

[vague ermine]

^ most of my problem with this is above

just making a weapon impossible to dodge also further shrinks the piloting side of the already currently abysmal defense-offence-piloting triangle, def not the solution we want

[coral bolt]

I suppose I ought to specify that I meant harder to dodge, to make dodging not a guaranteed, consistent, always reliable defense like it was in the past. It hitting every time, I agree, is just as bad as never hitting at all

[severe inlet]

If you manage to ram a rail as things are, either you where in a cloud and ambushed a kite, or the rail ship was poorly built. If you try to do that frontally, you'll be up for a bad day more often than not.
If it's normal rails, stacked Large Shields or Flacks work perfectly fine. If it's Oc Rail, only Oc Flack work when auto-firing but normal Flack isn't (which is why I keep saying reducing projectile speed to allow Flacks to have time to react, which it doesn't most of the times, is needed)
.
Returning to the DC, they already lowered projectile speed and projectile HP, making Flack and PD (mostly PD) more effective against them. How about testing that? Because last time I checked, Flack was already having an effect against DC if properly protected by shields

[nova sandal]

.13 small lasers were speed 80
.15 small lasers were speed 260
.30 small lasers are speed 408

and basically everything except missiles follows this trend

[vague ermine]

choco's point mostly applies to pvp due to ai not rotating/faning, most people dont build full on kites in pvp out of courtesy cause its boring, and ai rails aren't affected by ramming all too much.

the DC projectile speed nerf does almost nothing in pvp, feels pretty much just as undodgeble as before, and the projectile health nerf doesn't justify digging out a section of armor and replacing it with far squishier and expensive or annoying to sheild forward pd/flak

[severe inlet]

the nerf make it easier to shoot down, which is exactly what I was talking about.
IDK why PD & Flack would be "annoying to shield" more than armour or weapons, but Flack in a diagonal design could work on an armoured ship (for instance). Or rather, they are currently so rarely used in PvP right now from what I've seen that I wouldn't mind them having a bigger role

[stable cave]

kinda feels like stepping on the toes of the chain gun

[severe inlet]

? how?

[stable cave]

a stream of bullets is the chain gun's thing

[severe inlet]

If you are talking about Flack, first Flack have always been like that and have been here before CG
second, if anything Oc CG is stepping into Flack territory with it's area damage
third, Flack has never been great as a weapon, and we are talking about defensive uses.
.
If you are talking about Oc DC, it's not a stream but a volley, so I don't understand what you are talking about

[neat breach]

PD doesn't really do anything against OCDC (bc of projectile velocity) and good luck mounting it on the front in sufficient quantities; the front is usually where you want armor / weapons. Yes, flak does work, but no other weapons system (not even missiles, which can be managed by 2-3 PD per side and a bit of armor) requires you to invest half your budget in countering it.

[neat breach]

Flak and PD are "annoying to shield" because you would much rather have armor / weapons where you now need to put PD. This would be fine except for the fact that flak eats up a good percentage of your budget and PD is useless in 90% of fights.

[severe inlet]

So... reduce Flack cost, is what I'm hearing?