Terran Prowler being buffed

[Krinsath]

The problem with the prowler is more fundamental then just those guns being weak, it has to do with the economy of force.

This was originally posted on the OF, so I take no credit for the information, but it is pretty correct.

The problem with the prowler is that to be effective requires 3 people. The VS and the NC only require two. Now, the devs are constantly telling us that the populations are about equal, so it's as easy to gather 30 NC (i.e. - a full platoon) as it is to gather 30 TR. Now, pretend they all get battle tanks and crew them. The NC will be able to field 15 fully crewed tanks, the TR only 10. So it becomes an issue of numbers...yes in a one on one fight, a prowler stands a good chance against a vanguard. Against 2 to 1 odds though, the Vanguards will win easily (2 120mm > 2 100mm). Going with a straight numbers fight and assuming the Prowlers win all the 1 on 1s, your second round would be 10 Vanguards on 5 Prowlers, which would be a win for the Vanguards for certain (assuming roughly equal crew skills).

For what benefit? The only advantage is that you can engage air and armor simultaneously as the 12mm really doesn't inflict heavy damage on armor (it can, but not against most of the armor that a tank would find threatening). While it is useful to have the gun separate from the driver (as any lightning driver will tell you...trees are not so much fun when your turret is facing backwards), the fact that it requires higher crew costs means in a stand-up fight, the prowler comes up short because it's either A) outnumbered or B) under crewed and vulnerable to air and protected infantry.

That's the crux of the problem, and I don't see a real easy solution outside of giving the driver the ability to use the 12mm if he so desires (similar to the cannon on the Mag) and the increased ammo for that chaingun. Keep the ability to have the 3rd crewman, but don't make it mandatory. Otherwise, the numbers game comes into play too much. The also need to fix the problem with dual weapons not being targeted on the same point, but that's true of *every* dual weapon, not just the Prowler...fixing that would help tremendously though.

[BunBun]

I have a feeling that the reason the prowler has 12m instead of 20mm is becuase the it is designed to take out air targets and infantry targets with it. If they were to change it to 20mm then it would be very effective against enemy armor vastly decreasing the ttk rates.
The 20mm is a great armor killer, I am not positive that the vanguard has it (haven't look inside a van trunk in quite a while) but if it does, this is becuase the van cannot use both guns at once, unlike the prowler could if it was changed.
The 12mm gun is very effective against enemy aircraft, if you disagree, try taking a reaver or skeeter against a lightning head on and see how long you last. With proper aiming, the 12mm chews through air armor faster than they can get through yours.

Increasing the ammo for the 12mm seems like a great idea and should make this much more effective in an AA or AI role.