Wall of text! Just a discussion about the striker, little bit of number "crunching", and some suggestions that "may" make Striker somewhat useful again. My suggestions are aren't related to raw damage by the way, I'm not here to simply say "buff the damage". Striker is simply very unrewarding when you consider the time you spend to hit your target, while leaving yourself vulnerable. So, suggestions are mainly based on how it can be improved to make the users less exposed, and about the guidance. If you are interested to hear what I am here to say, thanks. Point out anything you don't understand / or I made an error. Lets talk about the state of the Striker. As you may know, Striker needs the user to keep the target in sight. This is one of the problems with the striker, and secondly, the exposure. I will be comparing Striker to Annihilator since both can lock on to the all vehicles. First of all, take a look at the simple calculations below, I will be talking about the "problems" afterwards. Skip if you want, calculations aren't that relevant. @100m // @300m // @450m (base calculations are done for 300m, all are color coded accordingly) Striker, lock-on 2 // 2.25 // 2.25 seconds, around 2.5-3 seconds to fire all the missiles, 1 // 3 // 4.5 seconds afterwards till the last rocket hit, reload 5 seconds For full damage, user is exposed for at least 5.5-6 // 7.75-8.25 // 9.25 - 9.75 seconds (averages will be taken for simplicity) Ready to fire again (after a full salvo hit) in 10.5 - 11 // 12.75-13.25 // 14.25 - 14.75 seconds (averages will be taken for simplicity) Raw damage output: 334 * 5 = 1670 Raw DPS: 1670 / 5.75 ~= 304 // 1670 / 8 ~= 209 // 1670 / 9.5 ~= 176 Raw DPS with reload: 1670 / 10.75 ~= 155 // 1670 / 13 ~= 130 // 1670 / 14.5 ~= 115 In 30 seconds, a Striker can... Land 15 // 12+ // 10 rockets on the target for a total of 5010 // 4008+ // 3340 raw damage (+ signifies that there will be rockets in flight) In 10 seconds, 5 rockets for a total of 1670 raw damage Annihilator, lock-on 1.5 // 2.5 // 2.5 seconds, reload 4.7 seconds User exposed for at least 1.5 // 2.5 // 2.5 seconds (it is never the least amount, assuming the perfect condition for both Striker and Annihilator) Ready to fire again in 6.2 // 7.2 // 7.2 seconds Raw damage output: 1000 Raw DPS: 1000 / 1.5 ~= 667 // 1000 / 2.5 ~= 400// 1000 / 2.5 ~= 400 Raw DPS with reload: 1000 / 6.2 ~= 161 // 1000 / 7.2 ~= 139 // 1000 / 7.2 ~= 139 In 30 seconds, an Annihilator can... Fire 5 // 4 // 4 rockets on the target for a total of 5000 // 4000 // 4000 raw damage In 10 seconds, 2 rockets for a total of 2000 raw damage In general, as you can see on the crappy colored **** above, on short range, the raw DPS potential is around the same. On medium ranges, Striker will be suffering a little bit compared to Annihilator (on the 30 second example, you will be shooting your next volley, but there will be rockets on their way but hasn't landed yet - keep that in mind). On long ranges, Striker suffers heavily as the user has to keep the lock on the target vehicle. When you consider the 10 second example however, the Annihilator is always better than the Striker. Guidance discussion, and a suggestion: As said above, or as you may know it, Striker requires a direct line of sight to target, if it is broken, the guidance is lost and the missiles still on flight will just fly towards the sky. This system is very unforgiving. For this system, I'd suggest a "grace period" of X amount of seconds (thinking of something between 0.25 to 0.75 seconds, anything above will make Striker perform as before); a grace period where the lock-on is retained, till the direct line of sight to target is restored. If the user fails to restore the direct line of sight, then the missiles lose the guidance, and fly towards the sky. The reason I'm suggesting this is, simple obstructions in the world (trees, antennas, etc...) causes Striker to lose the guidance. Such a grace period will make the Striker somewhat useful again. Exposure discussion, and two suggestions related to it: Annihilator has minimal exposure, as the user only needs to lock-on and fire the missile, then retreat to cover while reloading. Striker on the other hand suffers heavily from this thing. Most of the time, due to the guidance problem mentioned above, all the exposure is usually for nothing; in other words, the user exposes itself for much, much longer than an Annihilator user, and if something gets in between the user and the target, the guidance is lost and all that time the user was exposing itself will be for nothing. Not to mention that, in that time users are prone to enemy fire. I'd like to suggest a speed boost for Striker missiles to shave some of that exposure time. For example, an increase of 25m/s will shave off 0.2 to 0.9 seconds off from it. It will help most against distant targets, as the benefit of the increased rocket speed will be felt more on long distances, and thus decrease the time exposed a little bit. Currently, Striker has 400RPM I believe. Increasing this value will also help with the time an user spent exposing themselves. Also, a fire mode toggle to fire all of the rockets one after another to reduce the user delay might also help just a little bit (or does it has one already? Never checked, got curious now). What about other Empire Specific Launchers? I am planning to make different topics for these as well, especially the Phoenix since it performs below expectations in my opinion. NC players may think it is the least useful one, but at this current stage, I'd argue that least useful place belongs to the Striker for now, because it does not have a unique use; Phoenix is TV guided missile, Lancer is basically a Lascannon, and Striker is a lock-on with dumber guidance systems and 5 rockets to shoot. I wish Striker was unique in its own way, but with what we have, I can come up with these little suggestions that might remedy some of its issues mentioned above. I own all of these, in case you are wondering. PhoenixNC players, do not let Phoenix damage fool you. Vehicles have wildly varying resistances against your specific launcher, which should be mentioned in the game to be honest. At the current state, this weapon is niche one in my opinion. It is a great tool on defending, where exposure can be minimized to nothing (firing from the spawn room). On offense, the exposure can be minimized to nothing as well, given that there are no flanking enemies hunting the users of this weapon, who are standing still while guiding the rocket. Can be used against slow moving / fat aircrafts, but the limited FOV, limited agility and the limited range of the guided rocket makes it the least useful against these targets. Range is very limited, DPS is probably the lowest due to slow moving projectile, and shares a trait with Strikers: since rockets can be shot down, user can spend their time for nothing. On the extreme scenario (assuming target is at 250 meters), it takes around 6 seconds for the rocket to hit the target, however if it is shot just before it hits, all that 6 seconds would be for nothing. Very lethal against land targets when used in groups. LancerHas more uses than Phoenix and Striker in my opinion. Since it is a "dumbfire" launcher, it allows the users to use this weapon against MAX units, as well as slow or fat air targets. Not just that, but the unique charge-up mechanic allows users to charge ahead, expose themselves to shoot, then retreat to cover again, for more damage. The no-drop on this weapon also allows it to be an "OK" choice on long ranges as well, however AV Mana turrets "override/outclass" this choice in my opinion. The balancing part of this weapon is the damage falloff on distance. Very lethal against any targets when used in groups. Conclusion: Damage, etc... weren't the point of this topic, however it can be looked at as well since in short periods, like the 10 second example, Annihilator always come at the top. My only suggestions are as mentioned above, a grace period, and faster rockets for the Striker, which will make it somewhat useful again in my opinion. Thanks for reading!
Keep with the spammy TR culture and just make the striker dumb-fire only. That would be fun as hell, and not piss off all the other factions with beep-beep-beepin'. The other faction's specialty launchers have the cool/fun factor (and can fire at anything/anybody), whereas the striker is a meh/ok version of the generic lock-ons
Thanks for the input. I wish Striker was unique in its own way, rather than being a lock-on RL with "dumber" guidance systems, and 5 rockets in a magazine. Without suggesting a buff to the raw damage output of a magazine, these are the best suggestions that I can come up with; all are related to the exposure time.
My suggestion: Make the Striker just the same as all the other lock-ons i.e. same damage, fire and forget. But make its "special" feature that as well as locking on to vehicles and aircraft, it can get a lock on MAXes.
