Gundhandling is one important part when it comes down to give the vehicle a identity , or a certain playstyle. There are quite a few steps to improve a vehicle via the gundhandling, some are hidden stats (might be less important or for balancing reasons or for not having a overload of data) and some are shown. It also depends on the class itself and the overall vehicle design and its capabilities .
My favorites in order of importance
- Accuracy
- Bloom
- Shell velocity
- Aim time
- Penetration Power
- Shell variety
- Magazine Size / time
- Damage
Bloom - can be really annoying, as for example in SPG's and your slightly rotate your turret the circle goes wide and the re aim takes ages. Some regular vehicles have similar "issues" as it is clearly a balancing case, at least i would see it like that.
Shell velocity - Some may ask on why i rate it higher than aim time, well accuracy and shell velocity go hand in hand actually. The reason why i would like to see more often different shell speeds, is that some vehicles would be really good with a higher speed, as it would fit their playstyle a lot, while on the other hand not every class should have it to be fair. If you rely on sniping, shell velocity is a huge improvement to fit that role even better , so it should be considered that some classes get a higher velocity as a basic setting for all type of shells .
Aim time - is really important as it effectively lowers the time you are vulnerable or showing yourself the enemy. Though you can slightly work around a high aim time on some vehicles and classes with stopping beforehand and move slowly forward, so the bloom (look what is 2nd :) ) gets minimized . As mentioned for accuracy, this stat can be improved with retrofits.
Penetration Power - is a value which should be based of its caliber, shelldesign, shellmaterials, other factors like weather influence as a passive influence . Next to the real life points it should be considered, that there needs to be room for boosting it , to either fit the class or tier, but just to a certain point. Overall penetration power defines your actual role in a vehicle, as it limits you in your actions on the map itself. With low PP you need to be picky about your targets and have possibly more outplays to be good, while high PP just needs the right shell choice .
Shell variety - This is more a general and nice to have point, as this game promotes all its 3 general shell types , besides the 4th time, which are the support shells. KE, SC and HE are the 3 main options you have and depending on how they are put in the tech tree you will need all 3 of them to be good in almost every situation . For me it is important as different targets and situations require a different shell to use, so having these options is always a + for me.
Magazine Size / time - A really tricky part when it comes down to balance are vehicles that use a magazine, even though if i were Obsidian, i would limit this as much as i can, due the fact that magazine's are hard to balance. (either OP or UP, rarely I've seen the middle)
The reason why that is so, is the output in damage you can deal in a short amount of time. Either you pull out a ton of damage or you reach the point where the tradeoff is in a best case scenario good and in most cases equal or worse . Eitherway you balance it with the size and time, and latter one is the most important part here. And because of that, i still suggest to limit this kind of weapon system as much as you can, which means, don't transform vehicle's to be a magazine loader , while they are not in real life. (Abbot , Palmaria, Akatsiya, PzH 2000)
Damage - Why is damage the last ? Well Obsidian shouldn't promote a vehicle because it can one or two shot other vehicle's. This kind of playstyle isn't funny for the receiving end and will promote a rather one sided game itself, which should not be the goal . Though damage is an important stat, the focus on it, might be not as important as people might think. In the current state the difference is really big while the caliber difference isn't or as another example the difference in between the tier's and the damage increase to justify a improvements is not given, but sadly ignored to give people a reason to unlock that. The Power Creep is real at the moment .
Thoughts
This is just a general opinion and each class needs a clear identity, not only on paper and in the description, but shown in gun stats as well, as they do it with camo rating and vision. As this is meant to be a more general point, some vehicle's might need some extra love besides a class identity.
Retrofit slots
With the introduction of the retrofit system, Obsidian made a good call and another parameter to balance a vehicle. Some people might not see this potential, but if you take a closer look, retrofit slots can change a vehicle by quite a lot .
The reason on why that is so, are the retrofits itself, which give you certain bonuses too either boost a stat to be better, like adding a higher damage potential or view range, while it can negate somewhat bad stats, like a high aim time or bad accuracy . This potential is quite big and having 2 rfs or 4 rfs is a difference in power you can add. However rfs need to fit the class and vehicle, though Obsidian needs to figure out on what rfs fit it. I don't want to have a armor rfs on my TD in first place, as the possible boost is not big enough of an improvement , even though why would i boost this area of a vehicle anyway ?
Regarding that "problem", Obsidian needs to test those things out before they release a vehicle. Player's usually looking forward to get the maximum out of 1 vehicle, meaning they want to have a high efficiency or the best possible performance. Sure different player's have a different point of view and focus on certain stats, but overall they build similar things as they detect weak and strong parts of a vehicle .
- number of rfs
- the kind of rfs
The number of rfs decides on how much you can change the vehicle performance. The more slots you have , the more different load outs you can try and figure out strong and weak parts to be boost worthy.
The kind of rfs you can add is important as well, as this one limits you down to the 4 areas ( Armor / Firepower / Mobility / Technology ) or if they are generous you get universal slots, which are the best case scenario by far . For myself i would say, that limiting classes or vehicles to certain retrofits, shows the focus they should go down with the playstyle or if you want to say it like this, you define the direction .
Thoughts
Overall retrofits add another part of balancing, which is really good, but they need to be aware of the influence with the rfs themselves .
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