GATLING GUN : test, thoughts and improvements ideas

Hello,
After few days of use, here are my thoughts about the new weapon : GATLING GUN (GG)



It was absolutely necessary to hotfix the defence points issue for this weapon, considering the fact that it could do 0-1 dmg/bullet, this have been done


1) Pros
- adding a new weapon is good, and it introduces a little new gameplay
- it's pretty fun to use it
- trajectory is good, something like Blast Canon's shooting angle
- speed is good, it's not auto-hit like sniper canon but enough speed to hit some low speed ships


2) Cons

a) Shot Duration : emptying the entire clip takes a lifetime ! (chrono'ed at 3.7sec, say "3.5"), this means :
- you can't hide during 3.5 secs if you want to (try to) deal full damages
- you have to lead shots during 3.5 secs
- as you press "shoot" continuously, the game enter in zoom mode which means it's easier to lead shots, BUT you are also almost unable to drive correctly the ship nor see what is falling on you, during 3 sec ...
- after the 3.5 sec, you have to wait another 2 sec to be able to use another item/weapon, which means 5.5 sec for 2 weapons use, this is a lot of time when you usually use 3 weapons in 6 sec !
This also means that even if the cooldown is 7sec (with crew), time between 1st use and 2nd (beginning of) use will be 10.5 sec
=> This shot duration is cumulating A LOT of drawbacks that have to be taken into account

b) Clip and Reload :
- As long as the clip is not empty, the GG does not reload, which means if you shoot 14 bullets and have 1 left, you'll not be able to fully use your weapon untill you shoot the last bullet and wait for reload time
- I did not notice if other weapons reload when GG is shooting during 3.5 sec, does they ?

c) Cooldown Perk :
There is a dedicated cooldown perk for the GG, the Epic Perk is 2.5% cooldown, meaning 0.25 sec !
I understand you Devs don't want to make the weapon a very low cooldown weapon, but considering a global cooldown perk of 2% already exists, and putting 4 dedicated cooldown perks on GG would reduce cd by only 1 sec, this is really a useless perk


3) Conclusion :
In its current configuration, this weapon is pretty weak, considering all the drawbacks, mainly shot duration
- It will not be played by speeders nor fixers, nor enforcers (no time to waste, too many things to do), little played by shooters (why lose shoot time when you have 5 weapons)
- Only defenders can really be interested (good as they don't have a lot of viable choices)
- It will not break tesla shields (why spend 3 sec to break a shield !?)


4) Improvements :
- Shot Duration :
It should be reduced by half (double firerate), the weapon will still have these specific drawbacks, but in the current configuration they are really a very big issue for the weapon to be used.
- Clip and reload :
The weapon should start to reload as soon as it stopped shooting, like any other weapon
- Cooldown perk :
please buff this perk or transform it to another perk

Thanks
= KlocheTTe =

 

Like this!!!!!




Turkett

 

Nice post. Using it myself I agree with these. I wish it was more like a mini gun rather than a gat. One press of a button to unleash the chamber in a volley. I love the angle over waves. Also needs about a 10-20% buff over the event damage imo. Look up a Phalanx CIWS and see what I’m talking about. That would give you a nice visual of what I’m trying to say.

 

Main problem I see with it is skill tree. Most flare gun users aren’t going to sacrifice 15% dmg to max out GG. Other than that fun weapon, does decent dmg. But unloading a full clip leaves you exposed to enemy fire a bit too long. And the zoom needs to go away lol

 

Sorry you need to sacrifice 25% of flare gun to max GG

 

As a flare gun user I can say I don't mind sacrificing some damage for gat buffs. The major use of flare comes from the cannon burn perks and the ship usually sinks before my flare can even do full damage anyway.
I also agree that zoom should be disabled or at least limited to targets that are closer to the max range.

 

The gatling gun is bugged sometimes.

I had one match where it would shoot one round then go to global cooldown, one round to global cooldown, etc... After the 6th round, I spammed the shoot button with my finger and the gun did proper repeat fire and reloaded. After that I had no problem with rapid fire.

I have had multiple instances where I unload a full clip into an enemy ship at close range and they take no damage. I check replay and it doesn't appear my gun was even firing at that time even though I visually watched it empty bullets and go to reload cooldown (in game).

 

The devs need to create a new functionality where we can double tap the gun icon and start the reload even if there are bullets left in the clip

 

I'll list my main issues with the GG and what I believe to be the best solution.

1. Damage—I'm aware it got a 30% damage buff already, but the damage buff from the event on top of that is what makes it feel somewhat viable. In other words, another damage buff to compensate for the long firing time would be swell.
2. Global Cooldown (GCD)—GCD after firing any item is 2.5s. I believe the first shot of the GG should have this like any other weapon, but each additional shot should only add half of that duration. This would allow more fluid combos into other weapons so it doesn't feel like a huge waste of your time.
3. Zooming Camera—This affects GG the most but generally affects any weapon. Many of us would like a toggle for this, not just for the GG but just in general.
4. Fire Damage—There are perks for this, a couple of talents would be handy and also make a lot of sense considering the GG is in Burnice's talent tree.
5. Reload—Allow for manual reloading by double tapping the weapon icon without affecting your GCD while doing so. You're already putting it onto a 7s+ reload by doing this and without firing it, so reloading this way should not affect GCD.

My main solution isn't to make it stronger (than how strong they are in this event) but to make it feel more comfortable to use. I've been using it a lot in this event and the strongest drawback to me isn't its damage, it's the accessibility. I often have to hold back shots to save my GCD for other items, and this is the main issue. It should act as a side-arm like @BITTERSTEEL mentioned in the TOOBERS GG showcase.

Some of my points are the same as the OP, but I'd also considered some of his ideas as well, like increased fire rate. I also agree that the global Cooldown Perk is underpowered, an epic perk on most weapons will save you about 0.2s on your reload, which is less than preferred for pretty much any item considering the powerful alternatives.

1. Overboost—0.2s CD vs 0.8s duration
2. Blast Cannon—0.2s CD vs 8% damage
3. Flare Gun—0.2s CD vs 1.5s duration

These are just 3 examples of how easy it is to just not use a cooldown perk. Dropping better perks to shorten your cooldown is already weakening it severely, applying 4 of them should make the item act like a lighter version of it, having a noticeably shorter cooldown at the cost of power.

 

On a weapon like this, it seems to make natural sense that each consecutive hit builds the damage of the next shot. So it's like you build up to a max level of per-shot damage the more consecutive shots you land. Gives the player using the weapon a meaningful choice to either keep the damage rolling or cut bait and hide.

 

Nice

 

everything you said is correct 100% . i like to use GG . i am even about to unlock legendary by achievement but there is one problem . as i improved my other cannon i am using GG less then before . i fire only one or two magazine During battle . the need to improve it . increase dmg little bit , reduce clip fire duration and one of the main issue is if we fired 14 out of 15 bullets and die , even after respawn magazine don't reload to 15 . they should make it reload once we stopped firing gun .

 

Hi,
I think devs should try to make the GG more usable and practical.
At least to start, they should allow to toggle on/off the zooming after pressing the shoot button. And second the reload mechanism for something like double tapping the GG icon or as soon as you stop shooting and switch to another weapon.

I think damage should be looked into but at least I hope they target this two things first