Got me a Winghead and
a) was really excited to possess a cruiser with my fave "Accelerated Ammo Feeder". OH YES a big hammerhead!
b) ...only to find that the max forward ballistic mounts for it are two mediums. It is effective but not the storm of fire I was hoping to drop on an enemy. I suppose I could turn broadside to use the large and medium mounts that are rear facing...am I really supposed to use this beast as a broadsider? Gotta get me extended shields if that is case...
c) ...however the built-in hullmod "heavy weapons integration" doesn't appear to actually save 10 OP points when I mount a large weapon.
d) I should say that the number of small energy weapons that the Winghead can bring to bear in the forward arc is really impressive...so as a suppression build it rocks. It just makes me sad to build around the accelerated ammo feeder...perhaps replace with high energy focus? Or give it a mobility ship system?
It is an odd ship to say the least.
I have not found a use for either the Winghead or the Mokarran. The Mokarran cost 42 OP and delivers a pretty sub par performance I think. Feels like the fire power of a cruiser, with poor shields, meh armour, and speed of a capital. Its armour is kinda meh compared to other poor shield capitals (Onslaught) which is less OP to field and will wreck most ships, the Mokarran for sure.
The Winghead with its main battery facing the back is just strange for firepower/shield facing forward type of ship. It also follows the Mokarran in meh kind of stats. This ships at least has solid armour for its class. Maybe a damage sponge for meathead AI? But why when I can field 1.5 Patriots with high energy focus, omni shields, only 200 less armor, good weapons coverage, and 25 more speed. I am pretty sure the loss of a weird facing large turret is worth it. Even the Apogee would knife fight this thing for fun and do it with less OP.
I am honestly at a loss for both these ships. They just don't make sense to me on why I would field them over what I feel are way better options. I would field and Conquest or an Arjuna way before the Mokarran, we all know the conquest is not the cream of the crop. As mentioned, I would field a Patriot, Apogee or Sarrisa way before the Winghead.
I might be being a tad hard on these two ships but I honestly just don't see the point of either.
The Mokarran was much better in the past.
Here is the list of changes I've made since 0.8, though I've come to see that they might not be the best.
Mokarran vs Mokarran 0.9
315 OP
Top speeed 55->40
acceleration 25->20
deceleration 20->15
Max turn rate 8->6
turn acceleration 6->4
shield arc 300->90
shield efficiency 1.0->1.2
frontal medium ballistic turrets -> frontal medium energy turrets
frontal hybrid smalls -> frontal energy smalls
frontal mediuim composites -> frontal medium ballistics
frontal large composite -> frontal ballistic composite
As for the Winghead, it had four converging medium ballistics along with 5 hybrid smalls that could also fire forward. In combination with AAF, it shredded a lot of targets, so I'm thinking of switching everything on the head of the Winghead to ballistic and going back to the original configuration of two synergy/two composite medium hardpoints and a hybrid small turret up front.
This is very insightful, so thank you for the feedback!
Edit:
Here are my proposed changes, this should turn the Mokarran back into its 0.8 form with a couple minor changes.
-Mokarran buffs to speed and manuverability, firepower, defense.
Top speed 40->50
Acceleration 20->25
Max turn rate 6->8
Turn acceleration 4->6
Shield Arc 90->270
Shield efficiency 1.2->1.1
Frontal medium energy turrets -> frontal medium ballistic turrets
frontal energy small turrets -> frontal hybrid small trurets
frontal medium ballistic hardpoints -> frontal medium composite hardpoints
I've done some testing with these changes and I'm sure it will more than deserve that 42 DP spot.