So, fairly straightforward question which I can’t seem to find an answer to on the forum at all: What do the Cannon, Harpoon, and Torpedo stat bonuses on the different weapons actually do? I saw something about Harpoons on one of the little info blurbs on the loading screen, but it went by way too quick for me to read.
Torpedoes I can’t comment on, as I’ve not used any, but harpoon weapons allow the “Flensing Salvo” attack, which does extra crew damage and more injury to most zee-beasts, but little hull damage.
I like it as it is usually faster to clear the deck of enemy crew than sink the ship.
Cannons seem to be the default weapon, and torpedos may offer high damage, but use up ammo/supplies to fire. Again, I’m not 100% sure on that last part.
Well, there is a weapon or two that gives a +1 cannons, so I figured that was something apart from the normal combat power represented by Iron. I’m curious because I’m trying to decide between the deck weapon that gives +20 iron vs the one that gives +15 iron and +1 cannons. The latter is a bit cheaper, so I presume not quite as good, but the otherwise inaccessible cannons trait might be worth the drop in raw offensive.
I bealive most here will recommend you to save up for the 1000 echo guns from the wierdo mystic dude, since they pack the biggest punch and also give you harpoons :)
Yes, it’s best to get the 2 1000 echo weapons from the Masters. You can equip both at the same time and one gives you Harpoons so it’s really the best combo so far.
I bought the +1 cannons deck mod thinking much like you, “hey I wonder what this will do”. Alas nothing for now, maybe later it will do something, maybe it’s something that the dev’s have yet to implement.
As for Torpedos, they are kind of a last resort weapon for players at the beginning of the game with low iron or not enough Echos for the +20 guns. Neat if you run into Lifebergs, Flukes, Wartrimarans and Mt. Nomad since they blow holes the size of the Bazaar into things and give you a fighting chance.
For daily usage i wouldn’t recomend it, because every salvo will cost you 50 Echos and as soon as you have Harpoons you rule the Zee.
Cannons +1 is still a mystery, maybe two salvos in the time of one…
The weapon mechanics, at this point, are not consistent or balanced - I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that they’re not finished. I wouldn’t be surprised if, some time down the line, the damage Harpoons do to ships and crew is considerably reduced, mandating the use of Cannons or Harpoons when not facing beasties.
I would hope not. The combat system needs to go deeper, not wider. Several nuaces should be explored, such as fuel-using moves, flank speed or potent flares. In addition, there should be some scrutiny at the numbers of the combat system.
Adding new features not would just make a mess.
Unless we get the choice of switching guns while at Zee, or new weapons so that we can have deck and aft guns, you have to make the choice before you set sail. For me harpoons deal with most things at the moment but I do have the others in my hold just in case things change.
I have a feeling balancing combat is low on their list atm. It seems like finishing the content is more in line for future patches.
Can anyone explain how to use/equip harpoons, exactly? I got one of the guns that allows flensing attacks, but when I try to do one, it says “needs harpoons 1 (you have 0)”??
Did you go to your Hold tab and equip the gun to your ship?
Yeah…
EDIT undid it and redid it and VOILA it works. okeydokey then.
edited by raallar on 7/12/2014
Then I am unsure what to say. That should have been all that is necessary to unlock Flensing Salvos in combat.
Other than double-checking to ensure that you didn’t accidentally purchase the wrong gun, All I can suggest is a bug report, as I have not heard of this error before.
I tested torpedoes out on both an Angler Crab and an Unfinished-Men pirate boat, both of which had about the same ‘hull’ points.
Against the zee monster it looked like it did the same damage as a heavy salvo, but for the warm-up and illumination cost of a light salvo.
Against the pirates it was a one-shot kill.
Harpoons are very useful right now, the flensing attack really speeds things up with the Lifebers, which are the safest, cheapest and most rewarding enemy to fight right now, so there’s extra incentive there (and pretty much essential for me now that I switched to the Serpentine engine, which guzzles fuel like there’s no tomorrow -a trip to the Iron Republic and back cost me 9 fuel… ouch)
I think torpedoes would be essential for taking on the largest enemies, but I dare not try it out :)
Harpoons, in my opinion, are the best weapon to have on board because they do both additional damage to zee monsters and take out crew on enemy vessels. Very useful.
I’d say they’re -too- effective, as it is. There’s no point ever using cannons or torpedoes, because two or three flensing salvoes can kill the entire crew of even the largest and best-armoured vessel. My approach - and I have no idea whether this is even possible in the engine, I’m just thinking out loud here - would be to sharply limit how many crew can be killed at a time, but impose a progressive debuff on enemy ships based on how much crew they’ve lost, and/or make seizing defeated ships easier/more rewarding if they’ve been captured without much hull damage. FBG are almost certainly way ahead of me, of course.
The idea of making ships easier to capture if you target their crew is certainly interesting. As it is, even the 80% chance for the pinnaces is too risky.
Also, a ship with less crew should be harder to handle, at least if the crew drops below 50% which is required to sail at full speed.