The Glade 4.0

So, the design deep dive on hardpoints is out. It's late, and I'm tired, so I'm not going to quote and format the whole thing here.

TL;DR, though:

Most size 2 and up weapon mounts (excepting a few where the physical design of the ship makes it not sensible) will be (as this stuff gets converted, I'm assuming, no timeline was given) able to mount new items that can convert them to gimbal (or, as the official terminology is moving to, "unmanned turret") mounts. Likewise, existing Class 2 weapons will be broken into a hardpoint with a stock unmanned turret mount.

The catch? The size of weapon an unmanned turret mount can accept is at least one size smaller than the size of the hardpoint it attaches to. So if you're mousing, or good with head-tracking peripherals, you can leverage the greater accuracy and precision you have over using a stick to point your ship at your target, but you'll be giving up some raw firepower to do so. This had been talked about unofficially and in less explicit detail the past couple weeks.

The part I wasn't expecting is that the same system is being applied to manned turrets; manned turrets require dropping an additional size. AND, on top of that (affecting both unmanned and manned turrets, I think), turrets that mount multiple smaller weapons will be the same size (and interchangeable with) turrets of the same type that mount a single larger weapon. The total of the mounted weapons in the turret are considered additive.

So, as an example, you could have one manned turret that accepts twin size-1 guns. That's 2x1 for the guns, +1 for the turret, +1 for the manned nature, for a hardpoint size of 4. Conversely, you could use a different size 4 turret item that gave you one size 3 gun on an unmanned turret. And so on.

Also unexpected, but welcome if you ask me, is news that hardpoints and item compatibility has more to it than just raw size. The "pipes" for that hardpoint have to match up. Pipes are how the game tracks systems like power draw, heat generation and dispersion, "CPU load", and more. So it's suggested that unmanned turrets will have CPU requirements that have to share finite CPU cycles with other systems on your ship, like other unmanned turrets, your targeting system, and more. So that's cool -- I was wondering when CPU would come into play, and how.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Just proves their is not point to be looked into anything at this time. Which is perfectly fine not matter what the six omvi super hornet crowd tell you

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Chris posted on the forums to clear up some confusion the design doc apparently created among the community.

Mostly, it's assuring us that the new system will come with changes to the current stats as it gets implemented, and is a broad rule that will have exceptions (some ship geometries might work fine for dual turrets, but a single bigger weapon would clip into the ship on the same hardpoint; other hardpoints might not allow for fixed weapons when they're intended for manned turrets, and so on).

In addition, he gave a few examples that give us a little more info into what they're thinking some of the most common/popular current and upcoming ships will shake out as:

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I figured as much. I'm looking forward to getting to try out some different configurations as this progresses. This really feeds into the idea of finding the right configuration to suit your needs and playstyle as opposed to their being one perfect solution. Do I trade the size threes for a couple of auto tracking pea shooters? If so then how do I configure my skids? I could
Very much see the answer being different based on offensive verses defensive roles

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"