Crewfinity wrote:its more or less like autocannon havocs
just with 60 dps instead of 45 and 44 range instead of 55. plus their dps decreases as models die. might be a potential problem but i think its fine.
Fair points!
There are a couple of reasons I think the psy-purg goes over the top of a setup auto-cannons, and why I think burst duration is the right place to alter them. These are largely in the context of their ability to ambush and spike down vehicles. a lot of it has to do with the benefits of their firing pattern:
-The 1 or 2 seconds (havok/hwt respectivly) of down time the other cannons have is a pretty big deal. If a vehicle is within the firing arc of a Psy for 3.1 seconds, it will receive 2 full bursts, which is a lot of extra damage. The 1/2 extra seconds the others give, going up to 4/5 seconds between volleys, is a really big deal. 2x damage is no joke when 2 volleys can kill some vehicles, and 3 kill quite a few. All 3 weapons have a 3s burst duration, but the time between the begining of these bursts is 3/4/5s respectivly. Since one burst starts, the whole payload will hit the same unit, that time window is a REALLY big deal when trying to save a vehicle from death.
-This time between shots translates into 33% more dps then havoks and 66% more then hwt. So psy cannons have the same spike, but better dps and easier ability to hit the 2nd burst.
-The setup/teardown time on Psys makes them muuuuuch more capable of chasing/hunting. Compare .6/.4 to 3/3 and 4/3 (setup/teardown)!
-I find in a suprising number of situations that the 45 range of the psy-cannons is better then the 55 of setups. Crazy you say? The trick is the timing of the clear vision buff. You can maneuver psycannons to a range where they start firing at your target with the 45 range, then activate clear vision as they move away to get that 2nd volley in. With setup teams, they fire at range 55 (giving themselves away) and a smart enemy will back up their vehicle. As soon as the first psy volley starts, you are very likely gonna hit the 2nd one too.
-This gets into the whole "composition" aspect a bit, but mindblades and WATH combo amazingly well with psy-purgs. Speed boost on a .6s setup team allows for some super good rushdown, and the mind-blades means that if you get off the 2nd volley, you're dealing 450 damage to a vehicle.
The reason I am focusing on the burst duration instead of time between volleys is because I think the constant stream of fire from the Pry cannons is both unique and nice aesthetically. It's important to note that reducing the burst duration wouldn't alter the dps in a sustained fight, just allow more time to get the hell away.
By contrast giving it a weapon cooldown would decrease the dps, though I'm less certain that it needs it. A .1 cooldown would likely not change much except give it vulnerability to suppression. Like I mentioned in the LRR comments, I don't like "hidden" abilities. Psy-purgs eing immune to suppression (MOK Havoks too fwiw) seems like a weird bonus that is never explained. Only players with understandings of the minutia of the game would even suspect it to be true.