[Suggestion] Magrider main gun charging ability

Mag main gun has the lowest velocity out of the other MBT tanks, but Vanu's trait is no bullet drop. Unless the mag pilot has pro aim, mainly the secondary is landing shots.

How about giving the mag a charging mechanic that increases the muzzle velocity at the cost of fire rate and damage.
Example on the FPC:

No Charge
Damage 1865
Muzzle Velocity 225 (maybe it should decrease a bit)

1st Charge
Damage 1715
Muzzle Velocity 275

2nd Charge
Damage 1415
Muzzle Velocity 375

3rd Charge
Damage 1100
Muzzle Velocity 650

The time it would take to charge could be the same as the Lancer, Vortex, or PhaseShift.

The numbers are for just visualizing the concept of the idea. Not sure if it would replace the main guns firing mode(a switch or completely) or if it would be an attachment.

I like it. No direct buff but sidegrade, and gives the VS the "Versatility" trait that belonged to them in PS1.

VS is 25m/s less than TR and 50m/s less than NC for HEAT and AP. All factions have the same muzzle velocity for HE.

The real thing that confounds Magrider primary weapon fire is how much the projectile is affected by gravity, not the speed at which the projectile travels. Increasing the muzzle velocity will deal with the drop from a backwards manner; but, then the weapon is no different from another faction's tank cannon. Actually, at the proposed muzzle velocities, the Magrider's main gun approaches a level that, in tank combat, is pretty much unavoidable.

I never knew gravity was a variable, I thought that it was all constant. Thanks.

I know that the proposed velocity would make it unavoidable by tanks, but consider the way this feature would work at close, medium, and long ranges. (Just to be clear, I am not being sarcastic. I assumed that like in RL everything has the same acceleration due to gravity.)

At close range (0 - 50 meters give or take a multiple of 10), charging would probably be useless. It would increase the time between shots and the tanks would be so close that no bullet drop compensation would be necessary.
At medium range (~50 - ~200) this trait would be somewhat useful as it would make it easier for the pilot to shoot a tank for the cost of some damage and refire time. However, many tankers could probably hit land vehicles at this so the mag pilot has the option to use it or not.
At long range (>~200 meters), this feature would shine. The mag pilot could easily peck at targets close to cover, or kill targets in the open. The real purpose is to complement the no bullet drop on the Saron and help increase the damage output of the mag at long ranges.

I would suggest no bullet drop, but that would be overpowered, and it is fun to arc mag shots over hills.

You stand there charging your low damage shot... Meanwhilerowler anchor down and fires faster projectiles with lower drop more damage and faster reload... yeah why not?

Well, It is a variable... however.... I believe all the MBT mainguns have the same value.

Two things make the Magrider seem like its much, much worse.

1) The slower velocity means that the same drop (gravity) causes the projectile to drop more over time.
2) The initial lower camera position of the Magrider makes the projectile appear to go up and then drop drastically... when in reality, the "actual" projectile is originating from a position higher than the cannon. The same mechanism is used on the prowler to negate the offset cannon issue. It means that the drop looks worse than it is.


Personally, I wouldn't even mind if they upp'd the velocity of the Mag's guns, but increased the gravity to allow for the equivalent drop as we have now. I can compensate for the drop with aiming skill, I can't compensate for the differences in velocity (without being lucky or psychic)

As for the Charge mechanic? Why would I want to reduce my already low alpha/dps of the Maingun? You will be reducing your DPS by having to wait for the charge already, then have it also have a penalty for doing so?

Oh, and having to learn 3-4 more drop levels, in addition to a zoom level... at multiple ranges... Just sounds like a b$#th to deal with. You know they'd consider it a buff as well, so we'd probably take another hit elsewhere to "balance" it as well.

wasnt this already discussed for empire-specific tank primaries a long time ago? i remember so (or i am totally wrong)

TR: quad-barrel tank cannon (higher firepower but much longer reload)
NC: railgun cannon (less drop, downside unknown)
VS: charge-up cannon OR lock-on plasma primary (less damage than normal default cannon)

So mageriders can already climb mountains and fly, and you want to more benefits to your main gun... lol

As much as i disagree with this gentlemans reasoning towards not wanting a magrider buff, i agree it doesnt really need a direct buff.

However to the gentleman im quoting this is a sidegrade. If what was proposed was implemented we would sacrifice damage for velocity, a fairly decent trade off.

This is a very good idea, I fully approve (even though I'm on the receiving end). I find the damage decrease a bit too much. After all, you need to charge the weapon.

Also, instead of the damage reduction, I suggest an increasing decrease in movement (especiall strafing) speed while the gun is charging.

That's a good point, but mags would have the mobility advantage at long range. At long ranges, the mag is able to strafe out of the way, dip in and out of cover, and get into better firing position.

Yes the prowler has it's anchor mode, but it is immobile. Sorta like sniping someone that is move versus sniping someone standing still.

At longer range, tank shells would miss more. The idea of the charge mechanic would be decrease the amount of misses the tank has.
For example: say at long range the mag only lands 1/5 non-charged shot, but another mag lands 3/4 non-charged shots. 3300 dmg is better than 1865 dmg.
Now consider a situation at long range where the mag lands 2/5 non-charged shots 3/4 charged shots. Since that pilot is able to land such powerful rounds at long range, they don't need to charge their shots. However, the rest of us normal folk are at least able to put out some damage rather than 0 damage. If the user does not need it, then they don't have to use it.

The only down side is that the charge up has to think for a second whether the user wants to charge or not. I don't think that would be too big of an issue since the pilot is just clicking once to fire.

Side Note: These numbers are for just visualizing the concept. I am in no way the ultimate lord of numbers and I do not know what number works best.

Can we just get "No Bullet Drop" instead ?

The real question is... will that be the only downside?

I'll grant you, its an interesting idea, especially for a sidegrade. However... its always been proposed next to the idea of new NC/TR weapons.... like a quad cannon or rail gun, like said before. So, maybe, if those weapons are true sidegrades as well, we might be okay... but if suddenly that quad cannon with lockdown can put out twice the dps of the Mag or a railgun can hitscan a Mag and not allow it to dodge, what good is a chargeup to help you hit them.

Personally, this is where I always see the issue..... especially with SOE (yes, I used SOE on purpose) as they had a history of widely swinging balance when manipulating these types of things.


I like the idea of new weapons and mechanics in theory... the fear I have is that they will be messed up in practice, thus throwing what little balance we have right now completely out of whack. Just a cynical player that has watched the pendulum swing constantly since technical test. (actually.... since PS1 release)

Do you seriously have that much issue with adjusting for the drop? or is it the time it takes for the projectile to reach the target, that the target has moved (IE, velocity) that is the issue? Granted, right now we have both issues.... but its not hard to compensate for drop (just aim X amount higher)... however, its pretty hard to anticipate where your target is moving (Especially things like harassers, esfs, libs/valks, infantry at range, etc)... especially for newer players who don't have the experience of seeing how those vehicles tend to dodge and maneuver. Even a tank who's reversing could suddenly stop... and no amount of nodrop will allow you to hit that once your projectile is on its way.

Also, a problem with no drop is the fact that you can't arch your shots over cover. I routinely use the drop to hit targets behind a ridge or rock that I wouldn't be able to with a no-drop shot. I'll give OP one thing... on a charge system like he is proposing, both drop and nodrop camps would have an option. (No drop guys could charge to level 3 and get a high enough velocity to be effectively little to no drop, whereas drop guys can stick with level 1)

Even though I agree, I don't want to get into the whole SOE's crappy balancing and implementation. That should be in another post.

This thread should be about flushing out this idea, and hopefully it gets added, so I can snipe some Vannys (not prowlers Vannys) between Howling Pass and Mao. Seems like you like the concept.

That is an option, but it seems a tad overpowered and restricts veteran mag drivers from shooting the way they are use to. Also, it wouldn't help sniping moving harassers.

I don't think there is any real need to drop the damage values. After all you will be dropping your DPS by the simple mechanic of the charge up time (after reload). Of course this would only affect targets that take multiple shots. Basically anything other than infantry, flash, or an ESP with AV rounds (I think that everything). With that in mind it does make me question the velocity values you're suggesting. 650 m/s would make it to easy to kill infantry and any range. I would probably suggest 25 ms for each level. That makes lvl 1 equal to the Prowler, lvl 2 equal to the Vangaurd, and lvl 3 would put it in the lead for velocity. This would give you an advantage against one shot kill targets, but not make to easy to hit them.

Again the numbers are in no way final.

I think the damage reduction is necessary because mobility + same damage + faster round sounds a little oped. It would probably work with the speeds you suggested (max 300 m/s), but I think that is a bit too slow to be more effective. I would like to see maybe 50-75m/s increase per level (max 375 - 450 m/s). At those speeds that I suggested, I think the damage is too high. 650 m/s and 1100 damage are just numbers thrown out there. The damage fall off could be 115 dmg per level (min dmg 1520). These numbers might need tweaking.

The idea was it gives the mag an advantage at long range open battles. You bring up a good point with it vs infantry. Maybe the last two levels could require a two shot kill on infantry by changing the round type per charge and increasing the resistance that infantry have vs that charged type fired at a higher speed.

Side note: I never used the prowler nor investigated the muzzle velocity increase lockdown gives it. How fast can it go in lockdown mode?

Statistically... not really true.

The Magrider's FPC has a 48.9% accuracy... while the Saron only comes in at 37.4%. The FPC even has better accuracy performance than the single-shot Magrider Halberd, at 46.3% accuracy.

So the Magrider's primary weapon tends to land more shots (as a percentage) than the secondary weapons.

The Magrider's FPC is also the most accurate MBT AP weapon... compared to the Vanguard's AP accuracy of 44.2% and the Prowler's AP accuracy of 39.5%.

If the Magrider cannons need an accuracy buff, then NC and TR options need even bigger buffs.

Sorry, in that quote I was referring to long range combat. I should have been more clear.

I am all for Vanguard and Prowler side grades, but that should be in another thread. Also, maybe each one could be something that complements or compensates for its ES secondary weapons rather than a copy & paste. (We have too much of that already.)

Also, that accuracy stats does not show the ranges those guns were used. This suggestion is about increasing the accuracy/muzzle velocity of the mag main gun at long range to complement the "no bullet drop" of the Saron. The cost of this buff would be damage per round and dps.

I would keep the default cannon if the round affected it's target with a 'plasma burn' that slowly ate away a little extra armor after a round hit but got a bonus for multiple hits.