So, I was bored again. I looked at a few things; shots to kill, kills per clip and how upping the clip size to 25, upping the min damage to 167 and how reducing the short reload speed to 1.80s impacts these stats. CURRENT STATE Shots to kill: The AC-X11 is the only carbine that can kill a target with 5 shots. However, to do this, all shots have to hit for 200 damage and the target cannot have any form of damage mitigation. Under these same ideal circumstances, the Mercenary, Gauss Burst, Gauss S and Razor can kill in 6 shots, and the GD-7f in 7. If even a single bullet does not hit at maximum damage, or the target possesses some form of damage mitigation, shots to kill increases by 1 across the board; 6,7 and 8 (respectively). I found the shots to kill curve interesting. The AC-X11 can kill in 6 shots if 4 or 3 shots land at maximium damage; any fewer and the AC-X11 requires 7 shots to kill. The Mercenary, Gauss Burst, Gauss S and Razor can kill in 7 shots if 5,4 or 3 shots land at maximum damage, otherwise these guns require 8 shots to kill. The GD-7F can kill in 8 shots if 6, 5, 4, or 3 shots land at maximum damage; otherwise the GD-7F requires 9 shots to kill. Kills per magazine: Assuming you were able to land all shots at maximum damage and the target possessed no damage mitigation, the AC-X11 and GD-7F are both capable of 4 kills per magazine; the Mercenary, Gauss Burst, Gauss S and Razor are all capable of 5 kills per magazine. This is obviously an ideal situation and would rarely, if ever, occur. The AC-X11 is capable of 3 kills per magazine as long as a single bullet hits for maxium damage and in a situation where 0 shots do maximum damage, the AC-X11 is capable of 2 kills per magazine. The Mercenary, Gauss Burst, Gauss S and Razor are capable of 4 kills per magazine as long as a two bullets do maximum damage; when 1 or 0 bullets hit for maximum damage, these carbines are capable of 3 kills per magazine. The GD-7F is capable of 4 kills per magazine as long as 7, 6 or 5 bullets hit for maximum damage; when 4 or fewer land for maximum damage the GD-7F is capable of 3 kills per magazine. Conclusion: The AC-X11 "advantage" of killing a target in 5 shots only exists under ideal conditions, and the 20 round magazine handicaps the gun in the majority of situations. Under ideal conditions, the AC-X11 is capable of killing 4 targes with a full magazine, which is the same amount kills the other carbines can accomplish under the majority of conditions. Changing the magazine size to 25 puts the kills per magazine of the AC-X11 identical to the Mercenary, Gauss Burst, Gauss S and Razor. Changing the min damage of the AC-X11 damage to 167 has a couple affects: 1) obviously, the max damage isn't changing with this suggestion, so the AC-X11 can still drop a target in 5 shots under ideal conditions. What does change is the fact the AC-X11 can drop a target with 6 shots even if no shots hit at max damage. 2) the AC-X11 can still only drop 4 targets per magazine under ideal conditions, but can drop 3 targets under all other conditions. Changing the min damage to 167 increases the kills per magazine from 2 to 3 when no max damage shots land on the targets. Changing the reload time of the AC-X11 to 1.8s/3.05s (Reaper DMR stats): This actually changes very little in terms of how the AC-X11 performs relative to the other carbines. It makes the AC-X11 the fastest gun to cycle 2 magazines assuming short reload times, and the second fastest assuming long reload times. Currently, the AC-X11 is the second fastest assuming short / long reload times. I don't like using DPS as a comparison metric (as it is so dependent on rate of fire) but decreasing the reload time increases the AC-X11 max and min DPS over 2 clips (looking at short & long reload times) to a level competitive with the other carbines. It is still the worst, but by a smaller margin. Final Thoughts: I would prefer (and this is solely my opinion based on how I enjoy playing) to see a 25 round magazine and a reduced reload time implemented. I can deal with the lower minimum damage (and I think it fits, given the design of carbine rifles). If I had to choose one single aspect to be looked at, it would be the magazine size, as I feel the AC-X11 is unfairly handicapped by the 20 round magazine in terms of it's killing potential. Despite the higher damage of the rounds, the slow velocity, high recoil & long reload times compounds the effects of each of these balancing features resulting in a gun that has excellent potential, but is unfairly handicapped.
actually being a Vanu nerd, I know that the warden, Eilidon and the other weapon like that have 20 rounds per mag, but are semi-auto and cost 1000 certs or 700 station cash. so I think that The AC-X11 is better than those
Did you even read any of the other posts? Who's talking about the AC-X11 as a CQC weapon? If the discussion is too hard for you, just try to follow along.
Amazingly good nerdy number crunching. I'm glad people like you exist. I love the AC-X11 (obviously), and while I can kill with it, after having used most of the carbines across all the factions.. its the only one that seems seriously lacking when you need it the most. The clip is too small and the reload time is too long. If either of these were addressed it would put it on par with the other carbines. Of course you can kill with it in its current state.. but people can kill with the Warden (and the other BRs) too, and everybody knows they stink.
Looking at your maths and reasoning it does indeed seem like the AC-X11 at the very least deserves a 25 round clip. (and then either velocity or reload buff)
Never knew the ACX had a minimum damage of only 143- that helps explain a lot. I really want to like this weapon but with all the drawbacks it is difficult not to run with something else. Max 200 damage and extra damage drop off just negates any long range advantage, so what is the point. No wonder I now prefer slugs in a shotgun.
Bump Agreed this gun is awesome but with only 20 rounds in the magazine it has left me wanting in many situations. A 25 round mag will bring it in line with the other carbines without making it unbalanced. Of all things mentioned this definitely needs to be done. I would like to see the minimum damage increased as well but we all know this is not going to happen. In lieu of this I would also like to see the base velocity increased. From 480 to 500 would be nice. It's a marksmen rifle and its rounds are slow as crap. Kinda backward thinking. I know we have to balance things out but really, the high recoil and slow rate of fire balance this gun out already it doesn't need to be slower then a Sunderer too...
560 is more reasonable. That's the bullet velocity of the Razor, the AC-X11's competition for long-range carbine. There is no reason for their to be such a huge disparity in bullet velocities.
