That's what this thread is suppose to be about, discussing the idea. I just had hoped for more people discussing how-to-fix instead of what-to-fix
Then, I guess let's get down to more discussion!
Look, one thing the majority agrees on is that 300 is a tad too much. We could gimp the mech as much as we want in other areas, give it tons of disadvantages, but that doesn't make it a good idea. SS with that ~215 max is already something that chunks players and their health bars, pretty much softening them up for a team mate to take out... But 300 wouldn't be softening someone up, it'd be serving them up on a platter.
I think it'd benefit this mech to have lower damage output without as many disadvantages. But as for damage, we still want this gauss/railgun/cannon beastie to pack a punch, we just need to consider gameplay over the 'awesome' factor, sorry.
So WITH the SS ability, we can hit ~215 (guys, that that include a shot from the slug rifle? Or just the secondary?). So with this mech, if we get the armament it's popular for by locking down, we're essentially using an ability. However, as a C class turret mode, there's no cooldown besides fire rate of the weapon itself, whereas the SS has to wait for a hefty cooldown before it can reach that 200 quota again. So it only stands to reason that the big beastie cannon that can fire more often would have a lower damage rating, BUT, still brought higher than the standard output of the SS without using its ability. I'm looking at something like 180, what do you guys think?
HOWEVER... This is assuming that we even have the signature weapon available/boosted with a C class turret mode, I'm just assuming. These details need to be worked out. I also see it as the best possible approach imo.
But aside from all this, we need to consider its standard armaments when not using its ability. Of course, short range weapons like the SMC, RPR, even that burst weapon I haven't used (everyone keeps suggesting we need individual mech weapons, so that we can buff damage on one SMC for one mech and not another... this would be perfect because that burst weapon needs a serious buff for any other mech, but works with tech well) so that it can have a range of personal defense weapons, as such. It can still 'partially' handle itself in a fight or duel, at least contributing to a chaotic team fight on short notice instead of having to position perfectly to use its cannon just to be useful.
As for its secondary weapon, this brings on the question of whether or not it should be THE cannon we're talking about. Standard damage weapon, precise but hard to hit in normal fighting, just like the sabot. But when locked down or switched into the turret mode, it acts as the beefy weapon. But this is where we REALLY need to discuss, as you want the cannon in place of the C class 'arms'. Does this mean it gets no damage mitigation when in turret mode due to a lack of arms acting as riot shields? Does this mean that we need another secondary weapon unrelated to its sniper cannon as the cannon sits atop it? Is the sniper cannon the secondary? Who was phone?
That's my two cents, AND just my suggestions on what we really need to discuss here. What about you guys?