I recently returned to the game after a long hiatus and started playing with my favorite turret, the <Guass>. I noticed that the reload time was much longer than when I stopped, so I read the patchnotes. I found a patchnote from August 26th of 2022 saying this about the <Gauss>: "Gauss was supposed to be a mobile sniper. Instead, we got a version that needs to stop and stand in a place for a long time to aim. Aiming in movement takes time, and the target hold time is too short. We got this version after a batch of changes that were needed to fix other problems. For example, when we added augments for this turret, we wanted players to use the turret this way: you deal most of the damage with a salvo shot and finish them with an arcade shot. Therefore, a variant with a long reload after a salvo was not used, because then the status effect would definitely finish before the turret reload. Now for all status-related augments, we add an option to apply status effects with critical shots, randomly, and you can still apply it guaranteed (for example, with a pellet from the last shot of Hammer or with a salvo of Gauss). Thus, it became possible to implement the combination with finishing opponents in the reverse order. First, the enemy receives critical damage with a status effect applied, and then you finish them with a salvo. Thanks to this model, now the Gauss turret can be returned to the original idea of being a mobile sniper." TL;DR: People weren't using the <Guass> how they wanted and weren't being as mobile as they wanted, so they changed it so you can be mobile again with it. But, there are a couple of problems with this. 1. Just my personal preference, it feels really clunky to use the new style of arcade and then sniper shot. 2. This one is general and has nothing to do with augments. One of the advantages of the <Guass> over its contemporaries is that it has no laser sight or tracer round. Both of those let you know where you got shot from, and if you're not dead to take cover. The new <Guass> can't take advantage of this. Now when you get hit by a shot, it won't kill and you can get to cover. 3. What happens if the first shot doesn't crit? They made changes to the <Guass> considering that people do the combo in the opposite order. Arcade shot and then sniping mode. With that in mind, they changed the augments so they have a chance to inflict the status effects when you crit in arcade, and then you can go for a sniper shot. But what if you just don't crit? Then you have a gun that is strictly worse than before. 4. What are you supposed to do against multiple enemies? Like, I know you were boned before the change as well, but you could at least take one person down. You can't even really do that now, because by the time you're ready to fire your sniper shot, you're dead. The arcade shot took too long. 5. What if you just don't have the augments that they had in mind when making the changes? If you don't have the augments that help on your crits, you're out of luck. You can't do what they want because it just won't do enough damage in enough time. You can't even buy them with gems, they are completely luck based too. In all, I feel like this version of the <Guass> is not just strictly worse than the old version, but worse than its contemporaries. Just use the railgun. It does basically everything better than the <Guass>. Better range, better reload time, about the same crowd control, and better damage. It just feels like there is no point in using the <Guass> anymore when I have to rely on a 16% chance to crit to then conduct my gameplan when I could just use the railgun and do what <Guass> does but better. I wish they would make changes to this, not necessarily reverting it back, but at least changing it so it isn't just worse than the railgun without augments.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm fine with how Gauss is now, I just want a change so that when a tank moves in front of your aim, it doesn't interrupt it. That's it. If an object does, than it should work like it does now, but if a tank moves in front of it, it just keeps charging the gun. Like how the railgun keeps charging, but only when your aiming at tanks so you can't do the railgun peak shot. I don't want the old Gauss back, while I would like the Gauss to get a little buff, its a little underpowered right now, I can advocate for that later. Ngl this change is much more of a quality of life change than anything else.

Although that does sound like a good idea, that's not what I was aiming for. I was more thinking about ways to make getting off shots into large crowds easier to do the thing Gauss is actually good at. And to make it easier to get shots off it needs to be that tanks can't interrupt the charge shot. Otherwise it just keeps getting interrupted. I do like that idea though.

One of the main points for Gauss over a turret like Shaft is the fact that it can hit multiple targets with its explosive rounds. That is all well and good, until you realize what it takes. Already that's a tradeoff that doesn't happen often, but the problem comes in when you realize how hard it is to even do that. The main problem, as I see it, is that if a large group of tanks are bunched up together, it's very hard to get a sniper shot off. This is because tanks constantly move around each other and it's impossible to fix on one tank. Your charging will keep getting interrupted by other tanks that move in front of the tank you were aiming at, and it's not like when an object obstructs the aim, when an object does that it doesn't reset the charge for a little, but when other tanks go in front it does. You lock on to the new tank and it resets the charge. I propose that instead of that, if a different tank moves in front of a tank you were aiming at, the charge stays. That way you don't feel cheated out of a shot when it is physically impossible for you to keep your lock on. Another problem with the way it works now is that if you do get a shot off, it's not likely that people are grouped together and you will get less for it. Overall, it currently seems like a slightly worse version of Shaft and I think this fixes that while still differentiating the playstyles of both guns and keeping their strongsuits. TL;DR: Gauss' sniping mode should be changed so that it keeps the charge if a different tank moves infront of the one you were aiming at.