Plasma Macro-Guns.

[Arya]

As somebody who never played the TT, and who's only now getting serious about playing IN - I'd like to know more about these.

For starters, what are they? They look like Macros, they sound like Macros, and yet they're rated to a 12 KM range. Are they a Macro cannon that fires a plasma-filled shell? a Macro-sized directed Plasma weapon?

[Pikhalich]

I guess they use electro magnetic launcher to launch the projectile.

[Aranador]

I think the propellant of the round is different, a plasma propellant - giving the weapon greater range.

[CTC]

In the TT the Tyrant has "superfired plasma batteries" whatever that means while in the TT game Rogue Trader there is the option for straight up space plasma cannons, the "Hecutor-pattern Plasma Battery" which gives the ship more range.

[Gekko]

Is it just me or does anybody else think that they are utter rubbish long-range weapons, especially compared the lances that actually hit every time they fire.

Any upgrades that actually Really help? because so far I am really regretting my Retribution because of this.

[Origin]

In terms of balance. The reason why Plasma Macro's are garbage pretty much comes down to the same reason why close range lances are garbage.

The Devs have decided to directly transfer stats from the table top game to the pc game.

1 raw dps = 1str in TT.


The problem comes in with the way accuracy works in this game.

IE a sliding scale ranging from 100% at 0k - 0% at 15k (for imps and chaos)

In the TT, gun batteries (of all types and flavors), worked on a 2 step scale. Close range or any other range (Other factors aswell, but not sure if relevant to this discussion).

Meaning that long range guns were a lot more viable. but all gun close range damage was much less.


For example, the Overlord Battlecruiser, would only have ~20% less firepower than the Acheron at long range, but had torps to make up for it.

the problem is sort of compounded by the devs buffing some ships (ex. Acheron) to make up for low lance dps, in comparison to close range gun dps.

Leading to the current Chaos kiting meta.

Introducing a 2 step scale to mirror TT would massively impact the pace of the game though. And all damage would have to be buffed to make up for it.



In relation to the Retribution. the problem (in addition to range problems) also comes from the fact that torpedo's don't function as they did in tt (a hard translation to make).

the 9 str torps on the retribution, would rival a str 18 (or 18 raw dps in this games terms) weapons battery in the average damage it did.


Over all close range gun damage is much higher than in TT, while long range guns are pretty much worthless.

Most lances (exept Acheron) mirror their TT damage output.

[Gekko]

Makes sense, thanks for that buddy!

[ShiroiWolf]

In terms of Macro batteries(Plasma, Light, regular, heavy, Missile, equivelent macro turrets/ batteries, Ork "Lotsa Gunz" "Lotsa Heavy Gunz" "Mega Kannon" and similar), all macro buffing upgrades and skills affect them.For Imperium and Chaos ships, (and argubly Space marines once they're released, though they prefer boarding actions and use of their own special weapon: Bombardment Cannons) this means Targeting Matrix upgrade is a very solid upgrade for ships that heavily rely on them.

As for name
In Table Top, for simiplicity's sake, their stat lines simply read "Macro battery" with the relevant Firepower rating and range, with a little bit of fluff explaining what exactly their firing. But all had the same effect. Send a number of huge shells/balls of plasma/Missiles/metal and flesh eating bugs/etc towards the enemy ship.

Accuracy in TT was also a bit more in depth for Macro batteries. You had to compare the guns Firepower rating, to two things: Distance (based on centimeters) and enemy ship's facing (Broadside gave best, Prow second best, and Stern was lowest, justified as your ship's targeters having to deal with getting a solid lock through the energy and visual flare from that ships engines).

You also had to subtract for things like being heavily damaged or interfereance from dissipating blast and debris from other attacks. This determined how many hits you scored. Each Shield that was up, blocked 1 hit (so the ratio is 1 Shield=100 Shield here in the video game) Once the enemy's shields collapsed, you then rolled against their armor (think Armor Class in Dungeons and Dragons3.X/Pathfinder.) When you got all of that to deal with, plus the paper and pencil work of keeping track of your ships status, obviously don't care too much if what's hitting the ship is a huge friggin shell, or a miniture star.

Here though, when players don't have to consult a chart every time they fire, since the computer does that for them, the Devs can now play a bit closer to the fluff. Add things like shell velocity and visual appearance, while still keeping to the overall spirit of the TT rules.

[Chaos Marine]

Macro is merely the scale of weapon. A macro cannon fires an enormously large shell. It'd be like comparing a tank shell to a battleship's cannon shell.