Let's Discuss Railgun!

[Michael828 816]

Do you guys use high caliber rounds? The damage is insane!

Been using it for almost a year now. The damage is incredibly good, but the reload time is fairly depressing to be honest, it leaves no room for error. You either hit a target or die.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Do you guys use high caliber rounds? The damage is insane!

By "insane damage", what do you mean? What is your Railgun's damage range and approximately how much damage do you usually do with double damage enabled?

 

Been using it for almost a year now. The damage is incredibly good, but the reload time is fairly depressing to be honest, it leaves no room for error. You either hit a target or die.

What is your damage range and approximately what number of damage do you usually get (with double damage enabled)? 

[XxStriker 519]

M4 with large caliber has a damage range of 1120-2240, so on average it oneshot a medium hull, and with luck an heavy hull too.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

M4 with large caliber has a damage range of 1120-2240, so on average it oneshot a medium hull, and with luck an heavy hull too.

Yeah, I knew that by heart because M4 Railgun's damage range is easily rememberable. 

 

I'm having the suspicion that its damage range has been made negatively skewed either recently or a while ago. The average damage should be 1,680 but my 1,812 HP Hornet gets one-shotted almost every time. It's hitting above the average damage more times than it's hitting below or even on the average damage. And that is unjustly making Railgun more powerful than it should be. 

[Michael828 816]

What is your damage range and approximately what number of damage do you usually get (with double damage enabled)? 

(757-1516) +40% = (1060-2122)

 

Average number of hit points with DD? Not sure, but I'm capable of one-shooting unprotected medium hulls like 60-70% of the time.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

(757-1516) +40% = (1060-2122)

 

Average number of hit points with DD? Not sure, but I'm capable of one-shooting unprotected medium hulls like 60-70% of the time.

With your Railgun, your average damage with double damage enabled is 3182 damage.

 

So you find yourself one-shotting light hulls when you're on equal footing with them (both of you not having supplies or protections against each other or you with DD and the light hull with DA)? 

[Michael828 816]

With your Railgun, your average damage with double damage enabled is 3182 damage.

 

So you find yourself one-shotting light hulls when you're on equal footing with them (both of you not having supplies or protections against each other or you with DD and the light hull with DA)? 

I've seen it happen a couple of times before, but not frequently.

 

It mainly depends on how upgraded their hull is. If it's a stock m3 there's a good chance one of the shots will have enough damage to take it down.

[sythos 87]

By "insane damage", what do you mean? What is your Railgun's damage range and approximately how much damage do you usually do with double damage enabled?

 

M2 can do up to1700 damage without double damage. This alteration boots ur damage by 40% I think. With double damage you can literally 2 shot a mammoth. You don’t even have to worry about the enemy’s protection modules with this alteration.

Edited June 10, 2019 by sythos

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

I've seen it happen a couple of times before, but not frequently.

 

It mainly depends on how upgraded their hull is. If it's a stock m3 there's a good chance one of the shots will have enough damage to take it down.

What matters in this scenario is the average damage of the LCR Railgun and the HP of the light hull. Yes, there is a chance to one-shot them but how much of a chance is that? That depends on the average damage of the Railgun. If the average damage of the Railgun is lower than the Hornet's HP yet most of the time, it one-shots the Hornet, then there is a problem - it's hitting damage that it shouldn't too often. 

 

It's good that you saw that for you, you don't one-shot them as often as I see them doing it. 

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

M2 can do up to1700 damage without double damage. This alteration boots ur damage by 40% I think. With double damage you can literally 2 shot a mammoth. You don’t even have to worry about the enemy’s protection modules with this alteration.

With 1,700 damage, you can one-shot an unprotected M2 heavy hull. That is how powerful the Large Calibre Rounds alteration makes Railgun. I'm goign to assume that you have an M2 10/10 Railgun. Your average damage would be 1483 with LCR. 

 

That is worrisome . 

[Michael828 816]

 

Tried using some websites to calculate it.

 

Sadly I couldn't use all the data points in the range because their number exceeded 1000, so I had to reduce the sample size by nerfing the max. damage a little bit (to 2055). The results I got are listed below:

 

The probability of getting exactly 1060 is 0.042021

The probability of getting exactly 2055 is 0.041710

 

Not sure if this is accurate, but it should give a picture how low of a chance it is to get to the boundaries of the range. If you wanna try this go ahead, I think you need the standard deviation and the mean value of the range.

[sythos 87]

With 1,700 damage, you can one-shot an unprotected M2 heavy hull. That is how powerful the Large Calibre Rounds alteration makes Railgun. I'm goign to assume that you have an M2 10/10 Railgun. Your average damage would be 1483 with LCR. 

 

That is worrisome . 

I have m2 rail maxed. It’s literally the only gun I main :/

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Shell Destabilisation Railgun + Viking camped by the Overdrive supply box marker and got a flawless 1st place in DM. 

 

 

I tried to go after him 4 times and all of them ended up as a fail. I had my Overdrive and was going to get him and then suddenly, my Mammoth slipped off of the ramp; I don't even know how. Guy got lucky with Shell Destabilisation. It seems as if it's still powerful. He put a smiley face right as I had exited. 

[XxStriker 519]

Yep, destabilization is ridiculously strong. I do oneshots way too consistently. Seems it's more biased towards the median of the values, which means it's a direct upgrade, with the occasional 3k-4k shot oneshotting heavies too. And mine is only 2/10 m2. I could focus it and bring it to m3 without much hassle.

 

I often topscore with it, and I can basically brawl with most turrets even at close range, I pretty much forgot that striker m2 is in my garage because it's way too often forced to self damage and it doesn't have the same punch.

Edited June 16, 2019 by XxStriker

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Yep, destabilization is ridiculously strong. I do oneshots way too consistently. Seems it's more biased towards the median of the values, which means it's a direct upgrade, with the occasional 3k-4k shot oneshotting heavies too. And mine is only 2/10 m2. I could focus it and bring it to m3 without much hassle.

 

I often topscore with it, and I can basically brawl with most turrets even at close range, I pretty much forgot that striker m2 is in my garage because it's way too often forced to self damage and it doesn't have the same punch.

And this is exactly what was happening after its first buff when it was implemented. It felt as if its damage distribution was negatively skewed. Picture for reference:

 

 

 

Which basically means that it hits above the average damage way too often than it should be and is not hitting below the average damage as often as it should be. Which is why i saw Destabilisation Railguns dominating back then. You could have your medium hull with full health and DA and still get one-shotted. That hasn't stopped but the 20% maximum damage nerf helped. Buit it seems like they may have tweeked it again, idk. I was placed in another battle with the guy but this time, it was in Highland so he was bound to die at some point. Didn't feel good that him killing me was the first kill in the battle, and it was a one-shot (I have Mammoth M2.2 with 15% Railgun protection). Yeah, an M3 Railgun with Destabilisation has more than enough room to one-shot me if the damage distribution is negatively skewed. 

 

He got up to 9 kills until he died.

 

 

 

 

 

But then a Stock Railgun came first. I didn't expect that but it's not like Stock Railgun is unusable. Both of them took top spots. 

 

 

 

It could have just been that the guy had good protection modules for his rank:

 

[XxStriker 519]

And this is exactly what was happening after its first buff when it was implemented. It felt as if its damage distribution was negatively skewed. Picture for reference

 

Which basically means that it hits above the average damage way too often than it should be and is not hitting below the average damage as often as it should be. Which is why i saw Destabilisation Railguns dominating back then. You could have your medium hull with full health and DA and still get one-shotted. That hasn't stopped but the 20% maximum damage nerf helped. Buit it seems like they may have tweeked it again, idk. I was placed in another battle with the guy but this time, it was in Highland so he was bound to die at some point. Didn't feel good that him killing me was the first kill in the battle, and it was a one-shot (I have Mammoth M2.2 with 15% Railgun protection). Yeah, an M3 Railgun with Destabilisation has more than enough room to one-shot me if the damage distribution is negatively skewed. 

 

He got up to 9 kills until he died.

 

But then a Stock Railgun came first. I didn't expect that but it's not like Stock Railgun is unusable. Both of them took top spots. 

 

It could have just been that the guy had good protection modules for his rank:

 

Yeah, I oneshot protected people as well. A mammoth is hard to oneshot though, that's lucky. Must've been real close to the maximum. I once got oneshot with my dictator m2.9 and 28% rail so...

 

With that GS his rail/viking is definitely M3. If I used it stock I'd get 1/4 of the scores I do.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Must've been real close to the maximum.

An M3 Railgun with Shell Destabilisation is able to do up to 4,807 damage with double damage enabled. My Mammoth had 3,200 HP + 15% Railgun protection (I didn't have double armour activated). Without factoring in the Railgun protection, that Railgun reached 66% of its damage's protential. From 1 damage to 2403 damage, it achieved 1,600 (without factoring Railgun protection). That's a whole 803 damage more he could have done to me. So yeah, he had plenty of room to one-shot me still. 

 

 

If I used it stock I'd get 1/4 of the scores I do.

That's the problem with some alterations right there. They have no integrity. They outperform their Stock counterparts. You wouldn't see a Stock Railgun coming first in Legend battles as often as you'd see a Large Calibre Rounds or Shell Destabilisation Railgun. Do you get the same scores when you use Reinforced Aiming Transmission and Large Calibre Rounds? No, you'd get more score using Large Calibre Rounds on average. And Railgun's reload speed decreased which means the reload on that alteration decreased as well. 

 

Electromagnetic Accelerator "Scout" Railguns at M4 reloads a shot in about 1 second. You have a Railgun shooting every two seconds. That's not good. And those take down a medium hull faster on average, not to mention its retained impact force which shouldn't be. And people wonder why Railgun protection is so common. 

[SageoftheSixPaths 215]

Not very effective at legend ranks.

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

Not very effective at legend ranks.

Because of Falcon module?

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Not very effective at legend ranks.

Stock Railgun or all Railguns? 

[SageoftheSixPaths 215]

Not sure there is a big difference if you include alterations but just generally speaking Railgun is not effective unless you are a buyer. I will also upgrade my Falcon module next time because I want it to be the first module to get to 50%.

[wolverine848 13,097]

Not sure there is a big difference if you include alterations but just generally speaking Railgun is not effective unless you are a buyer. I will also upgrade my Falcon module next time because I want it to be the first module to get to 50%.

Lots of Rail in legend ranks so they must be somewhat effective.  Most have more than one option and they still choose rail.

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

Not sure there is a big difference if you include alterations but just generally speaking Railgun is not effective unless you are a buyer. I will also upgrade my Falcon module next time because I want it to be the first module to get to 50%.

Then upgrade your M3 Falcon now.

[XxStriker 519]

http://prntscr.com/o30j3t poor guys weren't wearing falcon module so... I oneshot them left and right. Almost feels wrong.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

Railgun by itself is good in theory. That reload time (2.7 seconds for M4) is fast. And when used with double damage, it's deadly. And alterations heighten that, especially the two that increase its maximum damage. That's when it's not faced with protections. 

 

When faced with high % numbers of protection and high numbers of protection modules, that's when it cripples, but isn't that the case for a lot of turrets? But then you have its alterations, that seemingly increase its overall effectiveness. Such alterations like Shell Destabilisation. Its average damage is increased and it has more room to do even more damage because the increase in maximum damage outweighs the decrease in minimum damage. And that has the same reload statistics of Stock Railgun. And Large Calibre Rounds makes the turret able to one-shot light hulls on equal footing - that sounds a bit unbalanced to me. M4 LCR Railgun reloads in 4 seconds. That's a short time in itself, not counting the increased shot delay. And they seem to take top spots even with many protections against them, because they use Hornet and Viking - Hornet especially. 

 

With Hornet, the hindrances that Railgun frequently encountered are no more during multiple 20-second bursts in battles. And if they avoid danger (and the battle continues long enough), they can have that Overdrive available more than 5 times per battle.

 

With Viking, LCR is better than Stock Railgun when used with Viking's Overdrive. It shoots one fewer projectile during the 7-second duration but the damage increase more than makes up for that projectile number decrease. They wipe teams off of the map with that Overdrive. And they save it for the best situations, which is understandable since Viking's Overdrive takes so long to recharge.

 

And now onto Electromagnetic Accelerator "Scout" Railguns: I find it worrying that this alteration allows M4 Railgun to reload a shot in less than 1.5 seconds, and then shoot it faster than M4 Thunder's reload time. And then the 40% decrease in the maximum damage. This decrease tightens the damage range by a large margin, similar to Shell Stabilisations damage range. Shell Stabilisation Railguns have a very compact damage range, with at most (at M0), a 22 damage difference. M4 Shell Stabilisation Railguns apparently have 1 number as their minimum and maximum damage which is 1,200. Shell-Stabilisation allows the Railgun user to consistently deal its average damage. But then you have EA"S". This puts the damage range below the avergae damage of the Stock Railgun and more so to the minimum dmaage, but it also increases the firing rate very noticeably. EA"S" Railguns have the ability to take out unprotected medium hulls very quickly but sacrifices the minimal chance to one-shot a medium hull when using double damage. That doesn't seem like a decent trade-off. It sounds like a trade-off in favour of EA"S" Railgun. 

 

For "Death Herald" Compulsator, it's basically Stock Railgun but upgraded. If you were knowledgable of the statistics for Railgun, you'd realise that it's objectively better to use ""Death Herald" than Stock Railgun. It's only a 10% increase in the shot delay...not the reload...the shot delay. But ya know, since it boasts the same unsatiable damage range of Stock Railgun so you're not gonna pick that. 

 

And lastly, we have Hyperspace Rounds. I looked at the statistics of that when it first came out and it was a blatant upgrade. It's one thing if the damage increases when penetrating enemies but it also increase when it penetrates allies. You just need one ally to be able to one-shot many unprotected (by double armour) hulls. That one ally starts the damage increase at 2x, and when it hits another enemye, that's 4x, and any enemy after that is dead. And that's assuming you only shoot through one ally. When I used Isida and I saw a Hyperspace Railgun on my team, I'd signal him and go i n front of him, but I'd make sure to check the angle of how I am so that I would not be totally blocking his view; the Railgun has to see whom he's shooting after all. And the player would get many kills when he used double damage because I started that damage first push of damage increase. That first push is the most crucial one. And what does Railgun lose when gaining this ability? It loses what little chance it had to one-shot a medium hull of its respective tier and also a decrease in its impact force. The impact force decrease is noticeable but that doesn't stop it from making me go on a detour when I'm heading to my base with their flag.

But alas, this alteration is situational while the others are more universal. If you want to make the best of this alteration, you'd need a teammate willing to sacrifice gaining points and valuable stars for your benefit...which is not something you'd get with random players. With LCR, EA"S" and SD, you wouldn't need to depend on your allies for your effectiveness. 

 

So Railgun by itself is good but with certain alterations, it becomes an upgrade more or less. And that triggers the number of protection modules there are. It's on of the turrets that can one-shot you from out of nowhere and most times, without warning. 

 

I think I made the right decision in buying Falcon over Fox. I encounter more Railguns than I do Firebird and it really helps for my survivability. Although sometimes, it feels like my purchase was a joke when  Destabilisation Railgun or a Large Calibre Rounds Railgun still one-shots me when I have protection (Falcon, not double armour). It's good to at least survive a shot and get to cover.