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« on: July 05, 2022, 01:58:22 PM »
Currently the Hephaestus Assault Gun is outperformed by the Hellbore in armor cracking, and DPS vs any armor heavier than ~318. Mjolnir also outclasses it in efficiency vs armor in the 240-1733 range, while dealing higher DPS and higher DPS against shields.
At armor values of 318 the Hellbore has more effective DPS than the HAG, due to the latter's lower shot damage. The only ships with armor this low are some (primarily civilian) frigates.
HAG fills a different role than the Hellbore. It is primarily useful for dealing DPS on stripped armor. In spite of this, they have the same flux efficiency. A HAG firing at any armor heavier than the breakpoint is going to be doing damage less efficiently than the Hellbore. I do not believe the the HAG's advantages, such as higher shot speed, accuracy, and tracking, warrant the same efficiency as the Hellbore. It's higher DPS than the Hellbore at the same efficiency means not many ships can afford it's flux cost, and those that can (Conquest) can use Mjolnir's instead. Mjolnir's currently are more efficient than HAGs on armor values past 240, even with the 1.25 flux efficiency. The HAG becomes more effective back at ~1733 due to 85% damage cap.
The HAG has a role firing at light targets such as frigates and destroyers. As a large weapon, it's primarily going to be found on capitals and some cruisers. Capitals have the secondary armaments that can fill the same role as the HAG, and the range boost to make medium mounts more competitive. What capitals cannot do is replace the functionality of the Hellbore with smaller armaments, outside of limited missiles.
I propose buffing the HAG by increasing its flux efficiency, giving it more of a niche as a hull-stripper. Dropping it from 1.0 to 0.8 or 0.7 would give it roughly the same flux footprint as a Mk.IX/Storm Needler, and make it much more comparable to the Hellbore.
At 0.9 efficiency the HAG is ~58% as efficient damage-per-flux as the Hellbore at shooting at 318 armor, and doing the same DPS. DPS and relative efficiency comparisons against the Hellbore just get worse past this point. At this efficiency it would have a flux cost of 432 flux/sec. Still higher than every large ballistic but the Gauss and Mjolnir. Mjolnir's become more efficient at ~560 - 1520 armor.
At 0.8, it would be ~65% as efficient at 318 armor and take 384 flux/sec. A smidge on the high side compared to the Mk. IX. Mjolnir's cannot be more efficient than Hepheastus' at this point, due to the 85% cap.
At 0.7, it would be ~75% as efficient at 318 armor and take 336 flux/sec. It would probably be too strong at this efficiency.
At ~0.53 efficiency it's as efficient as a Hellbore vs 318+ armor. Essentially a Devastator Cannon without the shot spread and lower hit strength.
In conclusion, increasing efficiency would make the Hephaestus more usable, and more competitive in use on a large mount. I recommend increasing efficiency to 0.8 (384 /s) at the minimum, possibly even to 0.75 (360 /s) to make the flux cost more comparable to other 'standard' ballistic weapons and to compensate for the relatively low hit strength.
Edit: Mjolnir damage forgets that HE deals 2x damage to armor, not just for hit strength calculations. Inaccurate sections have been crossed out.
