0015117: Gravity Lance, Armor-Piercing very underpowered - DEV Arcen

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0015117	The Last Federation	Gameplay Issue		May 12, 2014 11:50 pm	May 13, 2014 2:06 am

Reporter	Histidine	Assigned To
Status	new	Resolution	open
Product Version	1.017 (Back From A Long Quest)

Summary	0015117: Gravity Lance, Armor-Piercing very underpowered
Description	-They have terrible DPS (from the game I have in front of me: AP does 9000 DPS and G-Lance 13,920, while Energy Blaster has 21,000) -The "shoot through multiple enemies" is almost never relevant, since enemies don't obligingly line up for you (and with the lance it has to be a really short line anyway) -G-Lance has very short range -Quite a few things (turrets in particular) have gravity resistance; I don't think I've ever seen a ship with gravity vulnerability Suggestion: Since Gravity Lance is basically the knife weapon, just give it a huge damage buff. AP needs something that doesn't make it conflict with Mass Driver; perhaps retool it as a sniper weapon?
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GC13 May 12, 2014 11:58 pm reporter ~0037946	Most enemies have hulls that are strong against the energy blaster and weak against the gravity lance, though the bigger, stronger enemies tend to have both shields and hulls weak against the energy blaster. For the standard enemy, though, standard operating procedure is to take down the shields with the energy blaster then close range to pop them in a single turn with the gravity lance. My minigun can't do it so quickly, and my energy blaster can barely harm them. Spreadshot (before the nerf)/Minigun (now) for small ships, Energy Blaster for shields, and Gravity Lance for hull are my standard loadout. I do like the buff that mass driver received, but since I put a premium on speed I'm sticking with my gravity lance. You might be on to something with the Armor Piercing, though. I only tried it once, and didn't see the point. Whatever was wrong with it, I switched away and never looked back.

Histidine May 13, 2014 12:23 am reporter ~0037947	I find Mass Driver (especially after buff) to be better than the Gravity Lance for punching out deshielded ships; it has better range and much higher DPS, and AFAIK more ships have a specific weakness to it. Although really, Disruptor makes everything else obsolete for the anti-flagship role simply because it saves you the trouble of getting through the shields in the first place. I should probably make an issue report on that one sometime.

Drak May 13, 2014 1:10 am reporter ~0037948	Take a look at my ticket (0015119 - listed as related) and tell me what you think - retooled all weapons.

Ragwortshire May 13, 2014 2:06 am reporter ~0037955	Please don't forget that Gravity Lance is impossible to dodge! This alone IMO more than makes up for the reduced DPS. It's a situational weapon, sure, but when the situation comes up it's pretty much essential. An Armor Piercing buff, perhaps a little extra range, I could maybe see, but remember it already has the advantage of passing through enemies and destroying enemy shots.

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
May 12, 2014 11:50 pm	Histidine	New Issue
May 12, 2014 11:58 pm	GC13	Note Added: 0037946
May 13, 2014 12:23 am	Histidine	Note Added: 0037947
May 13, 2014 1:08 am	Drak	Relationship added	related to 0015119
May 13, 2014 1:10 am	Drak	Note Added: 0037948
May 13, 2014 2:06 am	Ragwortshire	Note Added: 0037955