Type-33 needler: Difference between revisions

While the Type-33 GML is incredibly effective against most infantry, it is much less effective against vehicles. The crystalline projectiles are slow and ineffective to even light armor and will simply bounce off of them. The needler is suited to a very limited medium range, as the projectiles have too great a travel time for longer range attacks, due to losing velocity and altitude the further they travel, while at close range the target can simply move towards the usee and attempt to kill them with the resulting explosion, thus rendering the attack useless. Related to this is the needlers lack of instant results; ie. the user could shoot a target with the 7 needles required to super-combine, but be killed by the target before the needles detonate or even impact. Next, in order for the tracking ability to be most effective the targeting reticule on the user's heads up display must acquire the target, or if no targeting reticule is available the user must judge how close they must be to a target in order to effectively use the weapon. While the homing ability is incredibly useful, the crystalline shard cannot track a target relentlessly - turning at a certain angle will cause the projectile to simply keep flying and miss the target completely. Fast turns at certain angles will also cause the projectile to lose the target and travel onward. The needler is also ineffective against linear energy fields, like [[Kig-Yar]] [[Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet|point defense gauntlets]], or stationary energy shields, as the projectiles are repelled without detonating. Finally, a more minor disadvantage is that the needler is unsuited to setting off explosive devices like [[Fusion Coil]]s, often requiring several clips of ammunition to destroy one, as the shards typically bounce off the fusion coils instead.