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BUTTROCK, DISCO AND FACISTS: PLANETSIDE WITH GOONS Like all guides, this one is meant more as an overview and general introduction. It attempts to condense down goon knowledge into a document for those who are newer at the game - as you get experience, you'll find what works for you and not need the extra direction. It is also not an instruction manual for trying to figure out what the buttons do. When in doubt, join Mumble, go out there and shoot mans with goons. Most goons play on the Emerald server - GOON if you're NC (as well as occasionally playing TR as K0TH), GOKU if you're VS (GOKU also maintains LWTX on the NC and FRZA on TR). You'll figure things out eventually. Posts Updated As Of: 3/11/2015 CLASSES AND WHAT THEY DO: CHOOSING THE RIGHT PANTS  1) Infiltrator Primary role: Worthless sniper Secondary role: Being actually useful/Sensor buoy Weapons: Sniper Rifle, Scout Rifle, Submachine Gun, Pistol By default, the infiltrator is a sniper that uses a cloak and a rifle to, well, snipe people. This is the most common use of the class and the least useful one. Infiltrators are far more effective as close-range combatants and force multipliers with their utility skills. Hacking terminals in advance of an attack (or during one) is useful, and recon darts/motion sensors are invaluable for alerting teammates to where they can find people to shoot (and earns you certs by doing so). Your best weapons are medium to close range; the long range sniper rifles are mostly a trap. Even the best snipers can rarely kill fast enough or effectively enough to have any real impact. Either way this class is heavily dependent on positioning to get an advantage, and is better once you've got a reasonable feel for map layouts. Important notes: The cloak does NOT make you invisible. Anyone paying even vague attention can and does see you as a blurry outline. The cloak makes you harder to see and has you disappear from the mini-map but you CAN be seen so don't assume otherwise. This concealment gets considerably better when crouched and stationary, at which point you're nearly invisible - this is easiest to do with the Stalker cloak. When you're cloaked, also keep in mind that your shields will not recharge (though the recharge timer will count down) and you cannot be healed by medics. As a side note, infiltrators have 100 fewer shields than other classes - 900 total health/shield rather than 1000. This puts you at a disadvantage in any straight up fight. Suggested cert usage: Start by upping the Hunter cloak a bit - the Nano-Armor and Stalker cloaks are niche and should not be used until you better understand the class (Stalker is the more useful - it only drains when you're moving and can perma-cloak you, but you lose use of your primary weapon). Put a level or two into Hacking, since it's cheap and useful. Both cloak and hacking can be maxed later on as they're handy but don't give as much bang for your buck. Then concentrate on upping your recon tool to at least level 3. The Motion Spotter is a deployable version that lasts longer but you can only have one out - get it to level 3, as well. Max both when you can and there is zero reason you should not use them both ALL of the time. EMP grenades are worth buying and may be the best grenade in the game; decoy grenades are not and shouldn't be bothered with. Pick up either a medical kit or mines for your utility slot, depending on personal taste. Recommended suit slots: Nanoweave (for close range hit and run), Ammunition Belt (for sniping), Grenade Bandolier (if you really like EMP grenades, and you should) 500 cert build: EMP Grenade (200 certs), Recon Detect Device 2 (80 certs), Motion Spotter 2 (80 certs), Hunter Cloaking Device 2 (60 certs), Nanoweave 3 (61 certs), Advanced Hacking 1 (1 cert) 2000 cert build: Advanced Hacking 3 (81 certs), Recon Detect Device 3 (280 certs), Motion Spotter 3 (280 certs), Hunter Cloaking Device 5 (310 certs), EMP Grenade (200 certs), Mines 2 (600 certs), Nanoweave 4 (211 certs)  2) Light Assault Primary role: Flanker/Roamer Secondary role: Demolitions Weapons: Carbine, Submachine Gun, Shotgun, Pistol The light assault's defining aspect is the jetpack. It allows you to get into places and come at people from all sorts of weird angles and get into otherwise inaccessible perches. By definition you're usually going to be further out from the main fight than others are as you maneuver to attack enemy positions from behind/above/below/through the window. Learning maps and angles of attack are really important. Like the infiltrator this is a class that won't really shine until you get more experience, and can be frustrating for new players. When in doubt, never touch the ground. Keep in mind that most of your weapons are close range, so you'll usually be engaging at under 30m if not under 10m. This isn't universal, however, as the LA is great at finding high perches and picking off stragglers. C4 is also crucial to good light assault play - one direct hit will kill any non-flak armored infantry (including MAXes), and two will destroy most vehicles (exception: Sunderers, Liberators, Galaxies, shielded Vanguards). Because you can approach from so many angles, the light assault is the go-to class for getting C4 onto targets and blowing them up. Important notes: Map knowledge is crucial for a LA. The key to your success is odd angles of attack and hitting people from where they aren't expecting. To do this you really need to learn to spot entrances, ambush points, etc. Also be aware that while people don't look up, someone 50m back has a wide enough field of vision to see you without looking up. Suggested cert usage: Get your jumpjets up ASAP, at least a few levels. Get level 5 when you can, it's worth it. Drifters are niche but can be handy on rare occasions; Icarus are currently mostly useless. Get two blocks of C4 as soon as you can, too. They're critical to the class and one brick alone won't cut it. The alternate grenades are okay but not spectacular - smoke's duration is a bit short for the cost and flash works better as part of a combination than on it's own. Recommended suit slots: Ammunition Belt (depending on weapon), Grenade Bandolier, Advanced Shield Capacitor 500 cert build: Jump Jets 3 (160 certs), C4 (200 certs), Grenade Bandolier 1 (100 certs), Ammunition Belt 2 (11 certs) 2000 cert build: Jump Jets 6 (810 certs), C4 2 (700 certs), Ammunition Belt 3 (111 certs), Grenade Bandolier 2 (250 certs)  3) Combat Medic Primary role: Medium Assault Secondary role: Revive Dispenser Weapons: Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Pistol Medics are probably the easiest class for new players and one of the best ones to play frequently. You will always be useful, you're capable both at getting kills and supporting the team, and it prints certs fast. You've got a fool-proof method for XP gain in healing/reviving, and the basic assault rifle is probably the best all-around weapon in the game. Medics usually end up slightly behind the main battle line just by virtue of slowing to revive people, but are just as capable in a fight as other classes and fill a medium role between the light and heavy assault classes. Watch your minimap and screen for + symbols (meaning someone you can heal) and skulls (meaning someone you can revive). That's really it - heal who you can, revive who you can, shoot mans with your rifle. Not a lot of tactical complexity. Important notes: First things first - ALWAYS revive the MAX first if possible. Revive grenades do NOT get a MAX up, you have to do it by hand. Second, do NOT run out into open ground that's under fire to revive or heal someone. It will get you killed and is dumb. Get them from cover or when there's a little breathing space. Remember that if they died there, that's in someone's firing lane. Oh and third, healing is a bright green glow that lights up both you and who you're healing. Be very careful about using it when it's night or in smoke - your healing and shield auras will light up every friendly within range, and that can make them all huge targets. Lastly, when you've got the medtool out? Right click to rez, left click to heal. Just in case you get stuck on that. Suggested cert usage: Max your medical tool. It is 100% worth it and will pay those certs back fast. Next buy up the Nano-Regen Device (your heal aura) - get at least level 4, max it when able. It's also worth it. The Regeneration Field is a good alternative, creating a shield-regenerating zone that's great for forward positions. Revive Grenades are similarly worth the certs and should be picked up as soon as possible. Heal grenades, not so much, they're rarely useful. Triage is minimally useful, don't waste certs on it until you have a ton to spare. Pick up C4 when you can, it's useful but it isn't required. Recommended suit slots: Grenade Bandolier (for revive grenades), Flak Armor (to survive grenades so you can revive everyone else), Advanced Shield Capacitor (for maximum uptime medium assault) 500 cert build: Medical Applicator 5 (190 certs), Nano-Regen Device 4 (41 certs), Regeneration Field 3 (180 certs), Advanced Shield Capacitor 3 (41 certs) 2000 cert build: Medical Applicator 6 (690 certs), Nano-Regen Device 6 (291 certs), Nanite Revive Grenade (400), Advanced Shield Capacitor 5 (341 certs), Regeneration Field 3 (180 certs)  4) Engineer Primary role: Vehicle driver/support Secondary role: Defense Weapons: Carbine, Battle Rifle, Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Turret, Pistol Engineers are the other support class that works well for new players. You can repair vehicles, turrets and MAX suits for easy points, and your ability to drop ammo packs is both useful and lucrative. (Ammo packs also work for pathfinding - pubbies tend to run towards them, so they're useful for putting at a forward point of cover and enticing the zerg to advance. But please remember to put them down BEHIND cover, not in the middle of doorways.) Most vehicle drivers are engineers so they can repair, and you should be too if you're going to be a gunner. Your secondary role is holding defensive positions - you supply ammo, repair MAXes, lay mines and set up turrets for shooting galleries. Watch for the wrench symbol on your minimap and in your vision, that indicates what you can repair. Important notes: Resupply XP has a cap and in any reasonably sized fight you will quickly get a pop-up that says Resupply with no reward. The only way to restart the XP flow is to die because  . Like healing, your repair tool also generates a glow as it works and you (and your repair target) will be significantly more visible at night.Suggested cert usage: Start by raising the Nano-Armor Kit to level 3 or 4 - max it eventually, but it isn't as crucial as the medic tool's last level. Upping the ammo pack to level 3 is also suggested for the extra resupply radius. Further is nice but not required as you'll just cap out your resupply XP faster. Mines are a must-get - you want at least level 1 in tank mines (2 mines) and level 2 in anti-personnel (2 mines). Tank mines are amazing, AP are useful but more situationally so. C4 is less useful as a result. Sticky grenades are nice, particularly if you're bad at guessing the bounce. I'll cover the turret certs when we get to them under weapons. Recommended suit slots: Flak Armor, Utility Pouch (for mine laying, then take it off and put Flak Armor back on). 500 cert build: Nano-Armor Kit 4 (90 certs), Ammunition Package 3 (160 certs), AT Mines (100 certs), Flak Armor 3 (61 points) 2000 cert build: Nano-Armor Kit 6 (740 certs), Ammunition Package 4 (310 certs), AP Mines 2 (250 certs), AT Mines (100 certs), Sticky Grenades (100 certs), Flak Armor 4 (211 certs)  5) Heavy Assault Primary role: Anti-Vehicle Secondary role: Rambo Weapons: Light Machine Gun, Battle Rifle, Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Rocket Launcher, Pistol The heavy's job is to kill things. Lots of things. You're the toughest non-MAX class out there, have two primary weapons, tons of battlefield longevity and are effective against everything. While not invincible, the HA has the advantages to win any straight 1v1 matchup (and most 2v1s). Using the HA is also pretty easy - shoot mans, shield at the right time, put rockets into things. It's more about getting the appropriate loadout for your situation and aiming. Note that the HA is the most effective infantry class against vehicles - you're the only one who can consistently damage armor at range and you're basically it for infantry-based AA work. Important notes: When your shield is on you are going to glow like a Christmas tree, even through smoke. The shield also reduces your movement speed by about 25% so be wary when trying to move to cover with it on. Your weapons also have very slow equip and reload times, so be careful as you're more likely than others to be caught with your pants down. Suggested cert usage: Take the easy certs to boost the Nanite Mesh Generator to level 3 - higher is good but more expensive and not critical. Resist is a good shield that's more costly and needs to be used differently, but can have nearly 100% uptime if used smartly. (Note: Resist Shield does not stack with Flak/Nanoweave, so don't run those with it. Run Advanced Shield Capacitor, it meshes in amazing ways.) In short, NMG should be activated in response to getting shot, Resist needs to be preemptively turned on to get the full effect. Adrenaline Shield is not advised until you're more experienced and even then only if you're a killing machine. Certing C4 is not a priority as it's somewhat redundant but it can be useful in a pure AV loadout; medkits are the normal go-to instead. Both Anti-Vehicle and Concussion grenades are worthwhile; AV less for vehicles and more that it one-shots MAX suits, and concussion grenades are just generally great. Recommended suit slots: Flak Armor (for AV work), Nanoweave (when storming a room), Munitions Pouch (for rocket primaries), Grenade Bandolier (for, well, grenades) 500 cert build: Nanite Mesh Generator 3 (31 certs), Anti-Vehicle Grenades (100 certs), Concussion Grenades (200 certs), Grenade Bandolier 1 (100 certs), Flak Armor 2 (11 certs), Nanoweave 2 (11 certs) 2000 cert build: Nanite Mesh Generator 5 (331 certs), Anti-Vehicle Grenades (100 certs), Concussion Grenades (200 certs), Nanoweave 4 (211 certs), Flak Armor 4 (211 certs), Grenade Bandolier 3 (750 certs)  6) MAX Primary role: Anti-Everything Secondary role: Bullet Sponge Weapons: MAX AI, MAX AV, MAX AA A MAX suit is the only infantry class that costs just to get in - 450 nanites to suit up. It's slow, a relatively large target and has no utility functions. In exchange you have powerful weapons that can be adapted to fill any role and are incredibly durable. The MAX's primary function is to pick a type of opponent (infantry, vehicles or aircraft) and ruin their day. The secondary role relates to the MAX's inherent high HP, easy ability to be repaired by an engineer and their inherent 80% resistance to small arms fire. You can survive under heavy fire for multiple times longer than anyone else and make a perfect point man/door kicker/distraction. Be warned - the MAX is not noob-friendly as it has a high investment and attracts a lot of fire. Better to spend your resources on more grenades until you've got a good feel for combat. Important notes: You cannot pull a MAX from the deployment screen, and there is both a resource cost and a timer. If you die as a MAX, wait to see if someone's going to be able to revive you - it'll save you time and resources. Suggested cert usage: There isn't a whole lot to cert as a MAX. You have two things to pick: your suit (which you should cert first) and your ability. For abilities, Charge is actually really useful as it can get you in close and get you to cover if you're in trouble. Factional abilities are more dodgy: The Aegis Shield is useful in the right situations - it can absorb direct hits from tank cannons - but slows you down severely and doesn't stop damage from directions other than 'straight forward'; ZOE is currently mostly useless; and Lockdown makes you a very easy target but is amazing when you can guarantee the direction opponents will come from. For the suit slot, you're picking between Flak and Kinetic. Flak is generally considered superior as MAXes tend to attract rockets, tank shells and C4 and the suit has less inherent resistance to those. However Flak for MAXes provides no protection from direct impacts. Kinetic is more useful in tight, enclosed spaces such as biolabs where your bigger threat is small arms fire - topped out Kinetic means about a 30% increase in survivability against guns. You probably want both suit types (and maybe one level in auto-repair), but know when to use each. Flak is likely the better default. 500 cert build: Flak Armor 3 (300 certs), Charge 2 (50 certs), Nanite Auto Repair 1 (150 certs) 2000 cert build: Flak Armor 4 (500 certs), Kinetic Armor 3 (750 certs), Nanite Auto Repair 1 (150 certs), Charge 3 (250 certs), Faction Ability 2 (350 certs) Tempest_56 fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Mar 11, 2015 |
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THINGS THAT GO BOOM IN THE NIGHT A Starting Note The most common question asked always is "What gun is the best?" and the answer is mostly simple - it's the gun you like the feel of. The difference in most weapons is rather small: the difference between a 'very fast' and a 'very slow' TTK is around human reaction time. Accuracy is far more important than anything else, so finding a gun that you feel comfortable with is more crucial than what it's TTK or DPS or what have you is. Try weapons out in VR and trial them in the field before buying to make sure you're comfortable with the recoil patterns.  -) Attachments Note: Purchasing an attachment with Station Cash will only buy it for that specific weapon. That will go across characters, but only if the gun itself is also usable. Scopes: Unless otherwise mentioned, you're not usually going to use a scope over 2x. Higher magnification scopes are only useful on a handful of weapons, most of which will be explicitly mentioned below. Also you will probably want IRNV for all your guns, at least as an option. You never know when someone is going to decide to throw smoke everywhere, and IRNV has a lot of advantages in terms of enhanced visibility. Barrel: Better than half the time the best barrel attachment is 'none'. Don't stick one on there for no reason as they all have downsides. Suppressors are useful for close-range weapons only - shooting doesn't show you up on the minimap, but you sacrifice a lot of velocity and your shot damage drops off sooner (a LOT sooner as you lose 30-40% of your velocity). Usually best used on light assaults and (debatably) infiltrators, though there are some hilarious tales of suppressed LMGs. Flash Suppressors don't mask you on the minimap but they do reduce your muzzle flash to nearly zero. This is useful at night or in smoke - however it also significantly increases how quickly your crosshairs bloom (by a huge 20%) when firing. Best used on smoke launching weapons and semi-automatics, it's a terrible choice for automatics. The Compensator reduces vertical recoil (by 15-20%) in exchange for the shooter appearing on the minimap about twice as far away and a 20% increased cone of fire when firing from the hip. Best used on weapons with extremely high recoil (such as the SAW). Rail: As a general rule, if a gun takes the Advanced Laser Sight (ALS) or Advanced Forward Grip (AFG), you want to use that. (This is not universally true, but is more often than not.) Lasers (normal and advanced) shrink your starting hipfire cone of fire by 33% and 40% respectively. Obviously this should be used on hipfire guns, particularly those with a high RPM. These are a great 'when in doubt' attachment, as they have no downsides and are useful on nearly every gun (except shotguns). Grips (normal and advanced) reduce horizontal recoil (by 25% and 33%) in exchange for a slightly slower equip time (50-150ms) when you pull it out. Always try the gun out in VR first with and without a grip to see if it makes a worthwhile difference to you. Flashlights light up where you are but can be shined around to reveal cloaked infiltrators. Not worth having on a primary weapon but suggested for pistols (however, I keep a shotgun certed with a light just in case I really have to face-gently caress an infiltrator). Extended Magazines are always good, expanding your magazine size by 50% without any disadvantage. Very useful on LMGs and shotguns; your only option on MAX weapons; and personal taste on SMGs. For sniper rifles only, there's the straight-pull bolt - it turns a bolt-action rifle into a semi-auto, and they are currently broken levels of good and you should use it. Lastly, underbarrel weapons. Mostly only worth it in edge cases following the last round of UBGL nerfs. The smoke launcher can be useful for pubbie herding/neutering MAXes/annoying people. The grenade launcher is mostly worthless at this time to the average player. And the shotgun is sometimes worthwhile, depending on personal playstyle but isn't generally recommended. It can add a good extra surprise to a light assault who wants close-up punch without giving up a carbine's range. Ammo: Two kinds show up for most weapons - Soft Point Ammo (SPA) and High Velocity Ammo (HVA). SPA slows your bullets down and gives them greater drop by a marginal amount (5%), but increases how far out you inflict maximum damage (ie where damage drop-off starts) by 5m. HVA increases vertical recoil (7.5-10%) in exchange for higher velocity (50-100m/s), less drop and increases how far out it is before you inflict minimum damage (ie it gives a more gradual drop before you hit minimum). As a general rule, any gun that takes SPA should take it. HVA is more dicey and the recoil is a little inconsistent from weapon to weapon. Try it out in VR, use HVA if the extra recoil is manageable/negligible. It's most useful on weapons with multiple damage drop-off tiers (such as carbines). There's also Slugs for shotguns. Basic rule: personal taste on infantry shotguns; never use on pump-actions; always take them on MAX shotguns.  A) Assault Rifles Used by: Combat Medic Role: Generalist weapon. Good at most ranges; generally have higher velocity and work best at medium ranges. Probably the best all-around weapon class. Except for the VS, who get basically nothing interesting. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - H-V45, Terminus VX-9, NS-11A; NC - Reaper DMR, NC-9 A-Tross, Carnage AR; TR - TORQ-9, SABR-13, Cycler TRV The Generalist T1 Cycler, Pulsar VS1, NC1 Gauss Rifle The default weapon against which all others are measured. Quite solid general-purpose weapons that don't really excel anywhere. The T1 has a deeper magazine, faster RPM, slightly worse on the move ADS accuracy and slower (but proportional) reload; the Pulsar exists; and the NC1 trades a slower fire rate, higher recoil and smaller ammo reserve for greater damage and better stationary accuracy. You can do just fine with any of these guns and they're considered some of the best in the game for their faction. The Burster T1B Cycler, Equinox VE2 Burst, Gauss Rifle Burst Identical to above, but drop their automatic capabilities for burst fire (3 for TR and VS, 2 for NC). They can also take HVA and sport better ADS accuracy. However, their recoil multipliers make them largely not useful, with too high of a bullet spread in the burst. The T1B also has a slightly increased magazine size so it has a number of bullets divisible by the burst size. The Special Variant T1S Cycler, Equinox VE2, Gauss Rifle S Take the base gun, drop a little RPM and slightly increase the reload times. In exchange, it can use more attachments - primarily SPA/HVA ammo and the underbarrel weapons. Currently these are mostly gimmick status as it makes dubious gains for the trade-off. Some do like the extra flexibility for a rather tiny RPM loss, however. The Bullet Hose TAR, H-V45, GR-22 Designed for close quarters combat, these guns have high RPM, better hipfire accuracy and can mount SPA and the Advanced Laser. The downside is that they suffer from greater damage drop-off, have low bullet velocity and reload more slowly. The H-V45 is highly recommended for the VS, while the GR-22 is considered largely junk by the NC. The Big Punch Corvus VA55, Reaper DMR Sporting the highest damage of their class, these are also some of the best available weapons. They fire more slowly, do more damage, have smaller magazines but faster reloads, are more ADS accurate and have greater velocity than the norm. TR lacks a gun in this area. The Reaper is a 200 damage weapon that does more damage at 85m than most other rifles do at 10m, while sporting nearly dead perfect first shot accuracy. It is a very NC gun. The Corvus... is pretty crappy thanks to the exceptionally bad RPM, but still the VS' only non 143-damage assault rifle choice. The Good Burst Guns SABR-13, NC-9 A-Tross Inflicting above-average damage, the key to these two guns (VS lacks one) is that they have a burst fire mode and an extremely good recoil modifier that lets them land all their shots far more consistently than the default burst variants. The SABR is TR's only 167 damage option with a small (for TR) magazine and only has 2x burst/semi-auto modes. However it reloads amazingly fast, is insanely accurate when ADS and actually has pretty good hipfire to boot. The Tross, meanwhile, is even a bit better. It has the lowest RPM of any assault rifle, but is basically the Reaper (complete with perfect first shot accuracy and a full auto mode) that has a bigger magazine and can fire a 2x burst. It reloads a little slow but is even more accurate than the SABR and does even more damage. Both these guns are amazing and a marksman's dream. The In-Fighter TORQ-9, Carnage AR, Terminus VX-9 While similar to the bullet hose category, these guns aren't as unified but serve similar-ish roles. All have high RPM, low per-bullet damage, and pack the ALS. Unlike the bullet hose category they don't have more severe damage drop-off, letting them operate better at range. The TORQ is obscene. While only doing 125 damage, it has a ridiculous 857 RPM, can use both SPA and HVA, has excellent velocity and is extremely controllable. Oh, and it has the fastest reload of any TR assault rifle and a 2x burst mode just because. The Carnage is an excellent do-all gun that can use both AFG and ALS, has excellent hipfire accuracy and is one of the NC's most loved weapons. The Terminus, meanwhile, is similar in that it's a solid generalist that gives up the AFG for SPA and lacks the increased hipfire accuracy. Still, it's a very good gun and probably one of the best VS choices in this class (because most VS assault rifles are bad). The Oddballs Cycler TRV, CME The odd ones out, they cut a strange set of roles. The TRV is the TAR, but with a 2x Reflex sight, a longer reload and has an even higher RPM - that extra RPM makes a big difference and is generally seen as worth the trade-off. Goons have nicknamed it the Therapeutic Rifle Variant because it's just such an easy, pleasant weapon to use. The CME meanwhile is the Equinox, except that it gives up most of the attachments (SPA, Flash Suppressor, the Underbarrels) so it can get the Advanced Grip and a higher velocity - it's generally seen as expensive crap. The Auraxium T1A Unity, Darkstar, NC1A Gauss Prime Available as part of the Directives, these are the Cycler, Pulsar and Gauss Rifle with baked-in attachments. They have a special paint job, and built in Grip/SPA (for the Unity), Grip/Comp/HVA (for the Gauss Prime) or Grip/Comp (for the Darkstar, which forgoes regular ammo for a heat mechanic and infinite bullets). In essence, they're the same as the base weapon with slightly better recoil characteristics and a special ammo tye. As this requires five Auraxium medals on assault rifles, by the time you can use this you won't really need this guide anymore. The Generic NS-11A Able to be used by any faction, the NS-11A is a flexible weapon that sits in the middle ground of just about everything. It gives up raw damage (having the poor damage profile of the Equinox VE2) in exchange for being good at basically everything else. It is also THE most controllable AR in the game with absurdly low recoil and easy handling. Can be good in the hands of a skilled shooter, but practically requires strings of headshots to stand on it's own merits.  B) Battle Rifles Used by: Combat Medic, Engineer, Heavy Assault Role: Longer ranged, high damage semi-auto weapon. Battle rifles are one of the few guns that a higher scope is advisable on - 3.4x or 4x are common, since the weapon has a longer engagement envelope than most small arms. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: n/a The Only Normal Choice AMR-66, Eidolon VE33, Warden There's only one battle rifle per faction, and they're all identical (with the exception of the Eidolon, which trades 30m/s velocity for a lack of drop). They hit drat hard (5 body shot kill even at 75m), have good accuracy and act as a great compliment for the Engineer during open field combat. Semi-useful for Heavy Assaults and Medics if you're TR or VS (who lack a truly good long-range weapon), but mostly worthless for NC as they have the SAW/Reaper/Tross. The Auraxium DMR-99, Revenant, GD Guardian Awarded for getting an Auraxium medal with... Scout Rifles for some reason, these guns are the main factional battle rifle with baked-in Compensator/Forward Grip/HVA. Debatably not worthwhile as 1) you first need to get several thousand kills with infiltrator weapons to get a better engineer/medic/HA gun, and 2) it adds nothing that can't already be put on the base gun while giving up other alternatives.  C) Carbines Used by: Engineer, Light Assault Role: Short-ranged weapons meant to have lots of uptime and be fired from the hip. All carbines have a severe damage drop-off, losing two tiers of damage rather than one and thus should mostly be used in close quarters. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - Pulsar C, Zenith VX-5; NC - AC-X11, Razor GD-23; TR - LC2 Lynx, LC3 Jaguar The Generalist TRAC-5, Solstice VE3, AF-19 Mercenary The baseline starter carbine for each faction. Like other default guns, they're generalists that do everything fairly well but don't stand out. Standard factional flavor applies (TR has more bullets and fires faster, NC hits harder and has better stationary accuracy but more recoil and fires slower, VS reloads faster and is average in most everything else). Notably the Mercenary is widely seen as a top-tier weapon by NC goons despite being a default. The Burster TRAC-5 Burst, Solstice Burst, Gauss Compact Burst As before, these are the generalist carbines with burst fire and HVA. Again, they're not terribly useful due to the recoil modifiers making it rough to land the shots on target. The Special Variant TRAC-5 S, Solstice SF, Gauss Compact S Once more, the same game. In this case the trade-off is a little better - still not ideal, but Engineers and Light Assaults can get better use out of the underbarrel attachments. LAs can make quite a lot of use out of extra smoke or a surprise shotgun, and Engineers having infinite grenades (regular or smoke) is quite handy. The Gauss Compact S is also notable as it is the only weapon in the game that has a 3x burst mode with 167 damage ammo - quite strong, if you can hit with all three. The Bullet Hose LC2 Lynx, Serpent VE92, GD-7F Designated factional CQC weapons, all share roughly the same characteristics: SPA, Advanced Laser, 800+ RPM. Both the Serpent and GD-7F are nasty in their own rights, but the Lynx deserves special note - it has lower damage than the others, but the highest RPM in the game and a significantly faster short reload. It's probably the best and deadliest of the lot. The others are weaker but still good, particularly the GD-7F which has both the second slowest carbine reload (the LC3 Jaguar is .055 seconds slower on the short) and the second fastest RPM (behind the Lynx) which results in a LOT of downtime. This plus the fact that the Cyclone exists (see section I) mean the GD-7F is kind of trash. The Improved Bullet Hose LC3 Jaguar, Zenith VX-5, AF-4A Bandit A compromise to the last group, this group generally sports similar attachment options and an elevated (but slightly lower than the previous group's) RPM. They instead have increased hipfire accuracy and better damage drop-off - as well as higher base damage in the case of the Jaguar and the Bandit and more velocity for the Zenith. All three also have a 0.75x ADS movement speed and are considered very solid weapons. The Big Punch HC1 Cougar, Pulsar C, AC-X11 Each faction's heavy hitter for carbines. As to be expected - more damage, lower RPM, smaller magazine. Accuracy is across the board - the Cougar has great hipfire accuracy, the Pulsar is average and the AC-X11 has the worst by a large margin. All three are great in the hands of an accurate shooter - the AC-X11 can three-shot with headshots out to 50 meters. This high damage makes them the mid-range specialists of carbines and the go-to choice for perching Light Assaults. The Cougar is notable here as it lacks the Advanced Grip option - instead it has a 0.75x ADS movement speed, giving it greater mobility in exchange for tougher-to-manage recoil. All three are top tier carbines and highly suggested. The Oddballs T5 AMC, VX6-7, Razor GD-23 The odd carbines out, these lack a unifying theme. The AMC is a fast reloading, high velocity, high uptime carbine that gives up RPM for better long range characteristics. The Razor is similar, with high uptime and a slower fire rate that's more controllable and more predictable recoil. And the VX6-7 is basically the Serpent but with slightly slower RPM and a little better hipfire accuracy. The Auraxium TRAC-Shot, Eclipse VE3A, 19A Fortuna Directive-awarded weapons for getting multiple Auraxium carbine medals, these are the TRAC/Solstice/Mercenary with baked-in Laser/UBSG/SPA. This makes them a better alternative at close range but weaker at long ranges. The combo of being a good close-in carbine with the shotgun (and without the weaknesses of the S variant guns) makes them a very solid choice for closer ranges. Note that the Eclipse gives up SPA for the heat mechanic - unlimited ammo reserve, but overheats instead of running out of shots. The Generic NS-11C Like all NS weapons, the -11C can be used by all factions, and in terms of stats it's a conglomeration of all of them. It has decent attachment options and highly controllable recoil while having a fairly bad TTK. It's probably the least liked of the NS weapons - it's a straight downgrade for the NC and doesn't really fit a niche for the TR or VS.  D) Light Machine Guns Used by: Heavy Assault Role: LMGs are notable most for their huge magazine sizes - 50 rounds is considered 'small'. They do have comparatively long reloads, however, and poor hipfire accuracy. When using one it's important to keep in mind that despite your huge magazine, bloom and recoil are murderous on most LMGs and you really need to pace your bursts. LMGs are a bit odd to categorize, as they don't fit as cleanly into sets as other weapons do. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - Flare VE6, SVA-88; NC - EM6, GD-22S; TR - MSW-R, T16 Rhino The Generalist T9 CARV-S, Pulsar LSW, NC6S Gauss SAW S Unlike other weapon types, these are not all the default faction gun - but they do share characteristics. For their factions, these guns are straight up average in basic terms - damage, RPM, velocity, capacity, accuracy. Attachments vary significantly - the Pulsar's are poor (and it kinda sucks), while the SAW S and CARV-S have plenty. LMGs do not get underbarrel attachments, however. Still, these guns are your generalists, standing in the middle of the pack and being a baseline for the others. The Oversized Assault Rifle MSW-R, Orion, LA1 Anchor The least LMG-y of the LMGs, these guns are lower capacity weapons with slightly increased RPM, improved hipfire and mostly faster reloads. They're designed for close quarters fighting and smaller engagements, surrendering uptime and sustained fire. The MSW-R is a solid choice, as is the Anchor. The Orion is the odd one out here - while it fits the general profile, it lacks the SPA and Advanced Laser the other two have, and actually has a very slow reload for it's magazine size. It does have 0.75x ADS move speed, however, and is one of the best options for the VS. The Heavy Hitter TMG-50, Ursa, NC6 Gauss SAW Trading away RPM and reload speed for raw power, these guns are pretty much what it says on the tin. The TMG is fairly average, while the Ursa is interesting in being able to use extended magazines and having a very fast reload for it's damage and mag size. The SAW, however, is the king. NC's default gun, it's notoriously hard to control with massive recoil and a reload speed measurable in eons. It also has enough firepower to kill 20 people in a single magazine, the ADS accuracy to be used as a ghetto battle rifle, and is one of the deadliest weapons in the game when used by a skilled operator. The SAW is additionally one of the few guns that can get good mileage out of a higher end scope - the ADS accuracy and damage make it good for tap-firing at longer ranges, and it can do well with a 3.4x or 4x scope (though not for general use). It scares off a lot of new players, but the SAW is an amazing gun. The Uptime King T32 Bull, VX29 Polaris, EM1 Mostly CQC weapons, the common trait for this group is that they have slightly reduced RPM but quite fast reload speeds for their size. That translates to being able to minimize reloading time versus the number of shots taken. The EM1 is king here, as with extended magazines it has the best uptime of any LMG by far - 4.125 seconds firing for every second of reloading. It gives up a lot to get there, though - it's the only 143 damage NC LMG, and as such gets a lot of crap for being a bad gun. The Polaris meanwhile has the largest magazine of any VS LMG (and is deadly with SPA/ALS and an incredibly tight hipfire cone), and the Bull has the tightest hipfire cone of the group but a small magazine and poor attachments. The Rambo T16 Rhino, Flare VE6, EM6 What ties these three together is the Extended Magazine. While lacking the fast reloads of the previous group, they each pack a ton of bullets and HVA. (The Flare also has SPA, which is a significant advantage.) All three are otherwise fairly average, but play well in the role of being a machine gun. They're your weapons for holding down W+M1, gunning down a whole room, and maybe getting around to reloading once you're out of targets. The EM6 and Flare also have a burst mode for more controlled fire, but that plays less to their strengths. Many NC see the EM6 as the faction's true 'average' gun, and it's suggested as a solid alternative to the SAW if you have trouble with the recoil. The Oddballs T9 CARV, SVA-88, GD-22S Not really meshing with each other, these guns stand on their own. The CARV is TR's default gun and an excellent (if slow reloading) no-nonsense LMG with a drat fast RPM and no notable attachments (buff the CARV). Despite being the default it's probably one of the best LMGs in the game. The SVA-88 is another of VS's generalist guns - it's in the sweet spot, but for equivalency really boils down to being the LSW with better hipfire, 0.75x ADS movement and HVA in exchange for a slower reload, but that's a great trade-off that makes it likely the best VS LMG. And the GD-22S is another heavy assault rifle type, and is basically the Anchor without SPA/ALS but 100 certs instead of 1000 - the Anchor is better, but if you're on a budget the GD-22S is a good substitute. The Auraxium T9A Butcher, Betelgeuse54-A, NC6A GODSAW Special Auraxium-level versions of the base guns. All are identical to the base save for specific baked-in attachments: in this case, ExMags/SPA for the Butcher and ExMags for the Betelgeuse (which also gets the heat mechanic). The Butcher is so-so, while the Betelgeuse is currently the best LMG in the game in the hands of a top tier player. The GODSAW is weird as it's actually more of a up-damaged GD-22S than a tweaked SAW - it's a 65 round mag, 200 damage nearly hitscan buzzsaw that fires well on the move. The Generic NS-15M In a common refrain, the -15M gives up raw damage and RPM (having THE worst damage profile of any LMG) in exchange for being incredibly easy to control, lightning fast to reload and exceptionally accurate. It compares favorably to the heavy assault rifle type of LMGs.  E) Pistols Used by: Infiltrator, Light Assault, Combat Medic, Engineer, Heavy Assault Role: The backup sidearm, everybody gets a pistol. They're short ranged, have small magazines, terrible ADS accuracy, have slow fire rates - but do high damage, reload quick and are great at hipfiring. Be aware that pistols lose damage fast and severely at range, and should not generally be relied on after 10-15m. They also have horrifically high bloom levels, so pace your shots. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - n/a; NC - LA3 Desperado, LA8 Rebel; TR - TS2 Inquisitor; All - NS-44 Commissioner, Hunter QCX The Generalist TX2 Emperor, Manticore SX40, NC4 Mag-Shot These pistols operate in a sweet spot niche - they're not really the best at anything, but they've got an excellent mix of damage, fire rate, reload and magazine size. NC players in general love the Mag-Shot, and the Emperor is similar for the TR. The Heavy Cerberus, LA8 Rebel Doing the highest damage for their faction, these pistols have small magazines but make up for it with that punch. The TR don't have one of these, sadly for them. The Cerberus is odd in that the Rebel has a minimum damage range of 15m (and other VS pistols have 10m), while it has 8m, and it has terrible velocity even for a pistol. The Rebel, meanwhile, is pretty sweet as it hits like a truck out to good range without losing too much RPM. The High-Cap TS2 Inquisitor, Beamer VS3 This time, it's NC that are missing. These pistols are low damage but with a high rate of fire and a very large magazine. They're actually quite good in terms of damage output, but require a lot of fast clicking to get the most out of them - otherwise they fall behind on the damage race real quick. The Burst Fire TX1 Repeater, Spiker, LA3 Desperado These little guys are considered the weapon of choice in a lot of cases for the NC and TR - they have low per-bullet damage but great accuracy for a pistol and obscene fire rates combined with firing bursts. They're basically a small magazine SMG in your secondary slot. They're really only useful at point blank, however, as their damage dropoff and the fast fire combined with high bloom is quite bad past 10m. The more unique one here is the Spiker. It's basically the Desperado but gives up a measly 20RPM in exchange for an alternate fire mode that allows you to charge up four rounds of ammo into a single high damage projectile that even has a small amount of splash damage. The Oddballs T4 AMP, NC08 Mag-Scatter And the weird pistols at the end. The T4 AMP is a devastating ganking weapon - 937rpm in a fully automatic pistol! It's hard to use at range as the bloom is crazy but it's easy to shred a target at point blank out of nowhere with it. The Mag-Scatter, meanwhile, is a pistol-shotgun. While weaker than a proper shotgun, it still two-shots to the body at under 10m and can be equipped with a smart-choke that gives it a tighter ADS cone. The Revolvers NS-44 Commissioner, NS-357 Underboss The two common pool revolvers share a similar role - both fire very slowly, have only a few shots and reload incredibly slow, but hit like trucks. The Underboss is what you want if the likes of the Rebel or Cerberus doesn't hit hard enough for you - it's still pretty much what you want in a sidearm, but has the advantage of being a three-shot kill within 10m and only loses a little RPM (and has jumpier recoil). The Commissioner is more favored by Infiltrators and shotgun Light Assaults - it does 900 damage on a headshot, kills in three body shots out to 25m and has carbine-like velocity. It's a great ambush weapon, and compliments extreme short-range weapons like shotguns by adding some distance. It has a very, very slow reload, however, and so can leave you in a bad spot if you're not careful. Unlike the factional pistols, the NS revolvers can't use a suppressor but they can mount scopes instead. The Robin Hood Hunter QCX And then there's this thing. Completely unlike the other pistols, the Hunter is all kinds of weird. It's inherently silenced. It can mount scopes. It's pinpoint accurate when ADS, instant-kills infiltrators on a headshot and two-shots infantry with bodyshots at any range. It's basically a bolt-action sniper rifle in your pistol slot. It also fires very, very slow, has a tiny magazine and reserve, lousy hipfire and possibly the worst velocity in the game. It's hard to use at range despite the good damage drop-off because the bullet drop and velocity are fairly tough to deal with. Infiltrators and tree-sitting Light Assaults like it, since it's so deadly against unaware targets and is inherently silent. The Hunter can also mount explosive bolts (thus doing damage to vehicles and increased against a MAX - but the damage is fairly bad and usually not worth it) and detect bolts (which do no damage but make the weapon a weaker version of the Infiltrator's sensor darts, which is absolutely worth it). The Auraxium The President, The Immortal, The Executive Your big reward for multiple Auraxium medals with pistols, these are the Repeater/Beamer/Magshot but with a built-in suppressor. Interesting because they're shiny, but mechanically absolutely nothing special (and the same as the base gun with a suppressor attached). The Joke NS Patriot Flare Gun, NS Deep Freeze, NS CandyCannon 3000 These are joke weapons from holiday celebrations. They're slow, weak, and about the worst thing you can use. If you die to one of these, it was meant as an insult.  F) Rocket Launchers Used by: Heavy Assault Role: Primarily meant for destroying vehicles (but also very good at killing mans), the launchers are single-shot, high damage explosive weapons. But you probably could figure that out on your own. Note that outside the factional special launchers, all of them are mechanically identical. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - Nemesis VSH9, Lancer VS22; NC - Hawk GD-68, NC15 Phoenix; TR - ASP-30 Grounder; All - NS Decimator The Dumbfire ML-7, S1, Shrike The default that every Heavy starts with. It's an unguided rocket with a slow reload that will one-shot most infantry and does high damage to vehicles. Not a lot to say here, though they are good for general use due to their fairly good (for a rocket) velocity. Anti-Ground M9 SKEP Launcher, AF-22 Crow, Hades VSH4 Take the dumbfire launcher. Trade out a little damage (1000, down from 1135) in exchange for being able to lock on to ground targets. These are somewhat lackluster, as it's very easy for ground vehicles to duck behind a hill/rock/tree/wall and get out of the way either during the lock time or before they're hit. Still useful when fighting back against armor at medium to long ranges that make aiming dumbfires impractical. Anti-Air ASP-30 Grounder, Nemesis VSH9, Hawk GD-68 Just like the above, but they lock onto aircraft instead of tanks. Considered a must for all Heavies, as it's the most common and reliable (and one of the most effective!) means for dealing with hostile air power. And planes can't duck behind a wall quite so easily. Many goons advocate simply making this your default launcher, as it makes minimal difference versus non-air targets and is so valuable against aircraft. Again, this is considered a must have for any serious Heavy. The Powerhouse NS Decimator A dumbfire on steroids. The Decimator has one less shot in reserve and moves at a game-low 60m/s - but it also does nearly 20% more damage than a dumbfire. The slow speed makes it poor at longer distances, but it does do excellent damage when it hits. More importantly, a direct hit will do around 80% of a MAX's health regardless of flak armor. It is an essential part of any MAX-destroying loadout and great in close quarters against tanks. The downside is that it isn't quite as good overall as the base dumbfire, thanks to one fewer rocket in reserve and the slower velocity (and thus more difficulty to hit a moving target). The Utility NS Annihilator Able to lock on to both air and ground targets, the Annihilator is a jack of all trades for when you need to engage vehicles at distance. The downside is that it takes longer to lock on to a target, and you can't dumbfire it so it is literally useless against anything that doesn't have an engine - meaning infantry, MAX suits, engineer turrets, etc. Still okay when you're facing a mixed group of opponents at range, but not recommended. The Auraxium NS The Kraken The Directives reward for rocket launchers. It's a Decimator with a shiny skin and a cooler explosion. End of story. The Spammer T2 Striker The Striker is TR's specific launcher. With a 6 round magazine, it is neither dumbfire nor lockon - it uses the same seeking mechanism of the Coyote ESF missiles. It will fire straight forward like a dumbfire unless it detects a nearby aircraft - in which case it will veer off to intercept. The Striker does basically no real damage to infantry (it takes an entire magazine of direct hits to get a kill) but it's reasonably more effective against vehicles when the tracking feels like working. The Death Laser Lancer VS22 Unique even among launchers, the VS-specific Lancer is a chargeable anti-material rifle. It can charge up to three 'rounds' into a single shot - two charges inflicts the damage of three single shots; three charges inflicts the damage of six single shots. Individually, the Lancer is kind of weak - it charges up to do a bit more than Decimator damage, but fires far slower and leaves the shooter more vulnerable. However, the key is that the projectile is fast enough to be effectively hitscan, and it has both pinpoint ADS accuracy and no drop. This means that the Lancer can effectively engage targets out to render distance, damaging tanks and aircraft hundreds of meters before the Heavy Assault with the weapon can be seen. In a coordinated group and with a good firing position, the Lancer can create an effective no man's land for vehicles a kilometer and a half wide. The Hunter-Killer NC15 Phoenix Also quite unique, the Phoenix is neither dumbfire nor lock-on. Instead, it's camera-guided. When fired, the user 'drives' the missile up to 300 meters distance and can steer around obstacles and make course corrections. Consult goons on setting up proper piloting keybinds to 'fly' it. While the range is very limited (at 300m or when the shooter hits the 'eject' button, the rocket spikes directly into the ground) and the shooter is completely immobile and exposed while firing, you cannot hide from the Phoenix and it can be easily fired from outside line-of-sight. Also do not trust the damage listed - that's the damage to infantry only. It does Decimator-level damage to vehicles because . Other important notes? The Phoenix is capable of one-shotting Engineer turrets (and ignores the MANA Turret's bullet-absorbing shield), and it makes the most delightfully horrific screaming noise in flight. More than a few attacks have broken up thanks to a constant stream of SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE. G) Shotguns Used by: Light Assault, Combat Medic, Engineer, Heavy Assault Role: Shotguns are meant for point-blank combat, and are basically useless beyond 10m. Inside that range, they are absolutely deadly however. Across all factions, shotguns are mechanically identical (aside from the lower VS velocity), with no particular flavor. On the subject of slugs - they basically exchange short-range killing power for extending the gun's effective range out to carbine-levels. This is personal taste as the actual short range damage loss is usually moot (needing the same number of shots to kill), but in most cases you would just be equipping a different type of gun for longer ranges anyhow. Do NOT take it on a pump-action as the loss of close range power is significant there. Also, do not use a laser sight, it does absolutely nothing unless you're firing slugs. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: n/a - it is generally not worth buying a new shotgun unless you REALLY hate the basic free one. The Fast Reloader FA1 Barrage, Thanatos VE70, Mauler S6 With the quickest reloading speed, these shotguns are... shotguns. They're the most common as currently every character gets one for free. They have the smallest pellet spread (and thus are the most accurate) and.. that's really about the only differences. But they're free, so that's good. Works the best of the infantry shotguns with slugs because of the greater accuracy. The High Capacity TS4 Haymaker, Nova, NC12 Sweeper With the middle-sized spread and 2 extra rounds in the magazine, these shotguns are... well, that's basically it. They're shotguns with extra ammo before you reload. Slower reload speed, though. And they're not free. Does great with extended magazines, though - 12 shotgun rounds is a lot when you get into a good flanking position. The Automatic AS16 Nighthawk, Pandora VX25, AF-57 Piston With the largest spread, the difference here is that the shotgun is an automatic rather than a semi-auto. It gets the shots off faster and is very devastating, but it also is the least accurate and tends to waste overkill shots. The Pump TRS-12 Uppercut, Phobos VX86, GD-66 Claw Pump actions are different from other shotguns. The base pump has 50% less ammo (base 4 versus base 6) and an obscenely slow firing rate (a third of the semi-autos). Plus it reloads shell by shell, going very slowly. It does have a pellet spread equal to the accurate quick loading semi-auto as a bonus, but the difference is in the pellet count. While a semi-auto fires 6 pellets of 130 damage each, the pump fires 10 - enough to one-shot an infantryman even with Nanoweave. It's a lot to give up, but within 8m the base pump will one-shot nearly any infantry you run into. The Heavy Pump TAS-16 Blackjack, Deimos VA29, LA39 Bruiser And this one will get the rest. Less accurate and even more slowly firing, the heavy pump-action shotgun has an additional pellet when it fires - a direct hit will inflict 1430 damage, which is enough to even kill a Heavy Assault with max Nanoweave and their shield up. Expensive and brutish, but stunningly effective in close quarters. The Auraxium Havoc, Chaos, The Brawler These three are the Auraxium Directive award for shotgun use. They're the faction's fast reloading shotgun with a built-in extended magazine and a tighter spread. So they're basically straight-up superior. Except the NC's Brawler, which does not get the baked-in extended magazine. Instead, it gets to be peak NC as it is a shotgun with an underbarrel shotgun. (As the underbarrel is effectively a one-shot pump action, this is not as bad an idea as it sounds like.) The Sniper NS Baron G5 The NS take on a shotgun, the Baron is rather a good weapon. For starters, it's the most accurate of the shotguns with a 2.5 spread (as opposed to the 3.0+ of others). It also sports a unique damage profile - other (non-pump) shotguns fire 6 pellets of 130 damage that start drop-off at 8m and hit a minimum damage of 45 at 18m. The Baron fires 7 pellets of 100 damage that start drop-off at 10m and hit a minimum damage of 60 at 30m. It also has a third more velocity (400m/s as opposed to 300m/s) as well. In practical terms you lose no effective damage up close (it needs 10 pellets to kill as opposed to the 8 of other guns - but when you're firing 6 or 7 pellets per trigger pull the effective difference is minimal) while gaining considerable ability at range. The Baron's tight spread also makes it excellent for use with slugs - it has the same effective kill potential but is far more accurate and longer ranged than other shotguns. The downside is that it reloads like a pump-action - one shell at a time. So reloading those 6 rounds is going to take notably longer than a magazine-fed shotgun. Still, the Baron is an excellent weapon that loses little up-close power but gains a lot of distance. Tempest_56 fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Mar 11, 2015 |
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 H) Sniper Rifles/Scout Rifles Used by: Infiltrator Role: These two weapon groups are lumped together as they are all only used by the Infiltrator and exist as a continuum. These rifles are the Infiltrator's long to medium range options and are generally slow firing, high damage weapons that strongly favor accuracy and patience over raw damage potential. Oh, and VS sniper (not scout) rifles have bullet drop, because .Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - Parallax VX3, Ghost; NC - EM4 Longshot, SAS-R; TR - RAMS .50M, TSAR-42 The Junk 99SV, VA39 Spectre, Gauss SPR The default sniper rifles of the TR and VS, these are semi-automatics that are almost completely pointless. Seriously, there's no reason to ever use them - they have nothing going for them aside from being free, and the NC doesn't even have that. The Cheap Bolt M77-B, XM98, NC14 Bolt Driver The cheap (or in the NC's case, free) bolt action sniper rifle. The minimum of what any sniping Infiltrator should use. As a bolt action, it requires you to unscope after each shot (unless you have the straight pull bolt, which you should). In exchange, you one-hit kill any non-MAX infantry on a headshot out to 250m. A cheap and straight upgrade over the semi-auto snipers, and all you'll need unless you're planning on being a dedicated bush wookie. The Expensive Bolt SR-7, V10, LA80 These are 1000 cert versions of the previous rifle, reloading a quarter of a second slower on the short reload. The grand benefit of that extra cost? 50m/s velocity. That's it. Don't buy these. The Good Bolt RAMS .50M, Parallax VX3, EM4 Longshot Also costing 1000 certs, these are much more worth it. They reload a full half-second slower on the short and a second slower on the long, but they also have 100m/s more velocity and can get a one-hit kill out to 300m (roughly infantry rendering range). If you're a serious long distance sniper, this is the gun to get. The Auraxium Bighorn .50M, Parsec VX3-A, The Moonshot Your Auraxium award for sniper rifles, these are actually the 'good bolt' category. Their bonus is that they actually have slightly higher max damage, faster reload speed and better velocity. The downside is slightly worse hipfire (which nobody cares about) and an earlier damage dropoff. As damage doesn't matter with headshots and nobody hipfires a sniper rifle if they can help it, it's just trading off the straight-pull bolt attachment for a quicker reload. The Close Range Bolt TSAR-42, Ghost, SAS-R These are also bolt-action rifles, but with a unique twist. Rather than mounting 7x to 12x scopes, it mounts scopes 4x and below. Oriented towards shorter range, it has a faster reload and can only one-hit out to 200m on a headshot. That said, the change in scope size significantly changes the playstyle and turns them into close-range support weapons for Infiltrators who are in the thick of things. Keep in mind that those lower magnification scopes don't have sway. With the straight-pull bolt and a no-sway scope, these guns are obscene in the hands of a capable shooter. The Close Range Junk KSR-35, Phantom VA23, Impetus And these are the semi-auto versions of the close range group above. They're marginally more useful than the long-range versions, but only barely so and still not worth paying for. The Scout Rifle HSR-1, Nyx VX31, AF-6 Shadow Pretty much exactly a battle rifle for an Infiltrator. It's a high damage semi-automatic with a far faster reload and excellent hipfire that make it more useful than a semi-auto sniper rifle. Three shots to kill within 15m, four after that. They're a good step down when you need a longer ranged weapon but don't want to give up the ability to fire from the hip. Currently of someone dubious use, given the close range bolt action rifles and the straight pull bolt attachment. The Faux Assault Rifle SOAS-20, Artemis VX26, AF-18 Stalker In essence, this is a slightly bad assault rifle for the Infiltrator. On a Medic, it would be a bad gun. On the Infiltrator, it's a surprisingly good mid-range automatic. It shares most of it's mechanics with assault rifles and should generally be treated like one. Usually used as a poor man's SMG, but does work better at the 15-30m ranges. The Burst Scout Rifle TRAP-M1 While technically a sniper rifle, the TR's empire specific gun is much more like a scout rifle. Low damage, it's a semi-auto scout rifle with good hipfire and a quick reload. But where it makes the difference is that the TRAP has 2x and 3x burst modes and the recoil mods to use it. While lacking a true sniper's punch, the TRAP is able to put a lot of bullets into someone at medium ranges with frightening accuracy. Also notable that it has the same number of shots to kill (6) at all ranges and thus it doesn't care about damage drop-off from range or a suppressor. The Charge Shooter Phaseshift VX-S VS's empire specific gun is an intriguing change. For starters, it has no ammo. Unlimited shots, no reserve and no reload. It can either be rapid-fired like a semi-auto sniper rifle is, or charged (a la the Lancer) to be used like a bolt-action. In practice, it's about as effective a bolt-action as the XM98 (though there's the delay in charging before the shot to get used to). It's theoretically useful and can be used to great effect by a skilled sniper (see: A Tartan Tory), but is somewhat weak in the hands of the average shooter. The Velocity King AF-8 Railjack The empire specific rifle for the NC, the Railjack is generally seen as a marginal gun. While having a stunning 850m/s velocity, it shares the same bullet drop characteristics and maximum kill range as the EM4 Longshot. Additionally, the Railjack has a half-second delay to fire after you pull the trigger. In theory, this allows you an extra bit of time to compensate for target movement and land more shots. In practice, it means that despite having superior velocity the Railjack isn't really any more accurate than the Longshot and is more annoying to use. It isn't generally recommended. The General Rifle NS-30 Vandal The only generic in the set, the Vandal is an aberration among NS weapons. It actually is equal in terms of damage versus the factional semi-auto scout rifles (same damage and RPM) rather than being weaker. It does have the longest reload time (2.6/3.5 versus 1.95/2.4) and the worst velocity, but it has a 25% larger magazine, 0.75 ADS movement and is slightly more accurate. It's generally a little better than the other semi-auto scouts and is just basically a wonderful mid-range weapon for Infiltrators.  I) Submachine Guns Used by: Infiltrator, Light Assault, Combat Medic, Engineer, Heavy Assault Role: For when you want something to obliterate people at point-blank range but don't want to shackle yourself to a shotgun, you pull out an SMG. While best at under 5m ranges, they're capable (if weak) at longer distances where a shotgun would literally be useless. They're most popular on Infiltrators, who don't get shotguns and can use their cloak to get close much more easily. All SMGs can use SPA, and it's pretty much mandatory. Other common traits to SMGs is extremely severe damage drop-off (three tiers worth) and that their ADS is actually very bad compared to the extremely good hipfire. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - Sirius SX12; NC - AF-4 Cyclone; TR - SMG-46 Armistice The Starter SMG-46 Armistice, Eridani SX5, AF-4 Cyclone Often called the first generation SMGs, they were the original set out and are fairly diverse. Able to take either the ALS or extended magazine, they can get good mileage out of either. The Armistice is probably the deadliest of all SMGs, packing an insanely high rate of fire but has issues with the small magazine. The Cyclone is probably the overall best, however, thanks to the highest damage in class by a far margin, and many NC suggest it may be their best CQC weapon in any class. The Eridani is, well, generic and not terribly good in any area. It has a mix of high-ish damage and fast-ish fire, but is mostly bland. The High Capacity PDW-16 Hailstorm, Sirius SX12, Blitz GD-10 Standing apart from the others, these SMGs have inherent extended magazines and naturally pack twice as many shots per mag. They instead can mount a forward grip, which is of somewhat questionable utility. The Hailstorm and Blitz are a straight trade-off of doing less damage in exchange for more bullets before reloading - viable choices, though most users prefer (by a large margin) the higher damage guns. The Sirius has a nearly identical damage rate to the Eridani, but has twice as many bullets and doesn't have to give up anything to use the ALS. It's absolutely the better of the two. The Auraxium Shuriken, Skorpios, Tempest The last of the Directive Auraxium rewards, these are your first gen SMGs with built-in Extended Magazines and HVA. While interesting in theory, they're kind of junk in practice as they give up significant close range effectiveness to be only slightly better at medium range. And even that is handicapped as they have 50% more recoil from the HVA. The Long Ranger NS-7 PDW Another typical NS weapon - the NS-7 has the lowest overall damage output of an SMG but is better in other ways. Rather than being more accurate, it makes up the difference by being better at longer ranges. It has a much higher envelope for maximum damage (drop-off starts at 15m versus the 6m of other SMGs) and the damage loss is less severe. This puts it in the interesting position of being closer to a carbine than an SMG and while it's not particularly good at either job? It can fill an interesting niche, particularly for Infiltrators. It also has a really awesome reload animation. Despite it's problems this is a great choice for brand new players as it's available from the SOE website as the Fresh Meat pack - $2 for the NS-7, some camo and a boost. The Silent Killer MKV Suppressed So there's not much messing around with this - it's the NS-7 PDW with an inherent suppressor. That's seriously all it is. Now, it supposedly has slightly better characteristics than a suppressed NS-7 but nobody's really sure how much better or if there's any truth to it. Basically, if you are going to ALWAYS run the NS-7 with a suppressor, get this instead. If you're going to ever use the NS-7 without a suppressor, then don't.  J) Heavy Weapons Used by: Heavy Assault Role: Usable only by the Heavy and only by specific factions, these weapons are diverse, interesting and rather fun. But don't generalize well. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: All of the below The Room Sweeper T7 Mini-Chaingun TR's heavy gun, the MCG is a party in a can. Designed for sustained fire, it starts out with a low-ish RPM before ramping up to a pretty nice 800rpm at around 3 seconds. Damage is carbine-like, in both amount and drop-off and so should be used at carbine ranges. It doesn't have a crosshair like other guns do, but instead a shotgun-like 'bullets will go somewhere in here' circle. The big quirk is that the MCG has basically no bloom. You can fire it all the drat day and have minimal loss of accuracy, making it excellent for going full Rambo and either suppressing or murdering. Extended magazines are strongly recommended, though you can get some use out of the Ballistic Rapid Refire Toggle (BRRT) which reduces spin-up time by half and giving it a higher max RPM (800rpm to 845rpm). But that means not having a 200 round machine gun, so it's personal choice. If you're using this gun, the Ammunition Belt suit slot may be worth your time for the extra reserve. As a side note, the MCG also has an awesome and distinctive sound that helps make it a drat fun gun. The Disco Lasher X2 The VS go weird again with the Lasher. It has a uniquely bad damage profile with a very slow rate of fire and a very, very slow velocity. The Lasher, quite simply, is bad at killing dudes. It is, however, great at filling the air with glowing disco sperm. This seems dumb, but it's actually pretty drat good at suppression. Where it shines best is that each of those disco sperm has a small splash radius when it hits, and the weapon's design for sustained fire means that it tends to spray an area rather than fire with precision. A smart player would just get out from cover and blast you with their more deadly gun - but most pubbies are stupid and rather cowardly, and will happily hide behind rocks and doors rather than brave the disco bukkake. It also works great when hosing down a large group of infantry - you may not get a lot of kills, but you'll rake in a ton of assists. Lastly, be warned that the Lasher is a friendly fire machine and probably the easiest way to get yourself weapon locked in the game. The Best Shotgun NC05 Jackhammer Yes, it's yet another NC shotgun. But the Jackhammer is pretty unique. To start from, it has the smallest spread of any shotgun (2.5, like the Baron), and it's own damage profile. Like the Baron, it's oriented towards longer distances with drop-off starting at 112@10m and extending out to 70@30m (unlike most shotguns, which go from 130@8m and go to 45@18m). It gives up minimal damage at close range in exchange for being an amazing mid-range weapon as well. This alone isn't that great - but the Jackhammer has an ace up it's sleeve. It can be switched to a 3 shot burst mode that within 10m translates to 2016 damage per trigger pull (ie instant death for any infantry regardless of nanoweave and shields). Now, the burst mode is useless outside point blank ranges due to the hefty kick, but the Jackhammer fills the unique role of being basically a pump-action shotgun that can also function at carbine ranges. To top it off, it has a high capacity shotgun's magazine size, a moderately fast reload and the highest velocity of any shotgun by a large margin. The only downside is that it's not the SAW.  K) MANA Turrets Used by: Engineer Role: A deployable gun, the MANA Turret's three variants have radically different damage types but serve the same role - a stationary defensive point that can dish out damage while serving as mobile cover. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: n/a The Bullet Hose Anti-Infantry MANA Turret The exact stats of the AI MANA are a bit of a mystery. Testing suggests that it's a 143 damage weapon, but the exact rate of fire, velocity and damage drop-off are unknown. That aside, it's a solid weapon for engineers when used right. The biggest plus is that even with zero certs in it, the gun can fire continuously for 8 seconds as it's heat-based rather than having a magazine. At best estimates of it's rate of fire, that's 70-80 rounds of 143 ammo going downrange per 'reload'. To combine with that, the turret has incredibly generous accuracy, with a very small maximum COF bloom. It stays very accurate even out to long ranges, making it excellent with sustained fire and engaging targets beyond the range of an engineer's carbine. The turret is also extremely useful as portable cover, as it blocks a lot of area and can take quite a bit of damage from things that aren't the Phoenix. It's worth laying down to duck behind, even if you aren't going to fire with it. There's not much need to cert this up as an Engineer - if you fire in reasonable bursts you'll almost never overheat it. Do note that the MANA turret's shield is highly visible and has a nice 'aim sniper rifle here' slot to show Infiltrators where your head is. The Tank Botherer Anti-Vehicle MANA Turret Previously the most polarizing weapon in Planetside. The AV turret fires a wire-guided missile that follows to where your crosshair is pointed. This means it's pinpoint accurate at all distances and can be curved around obstructions. The rate of fire is slow enough that a single AV turret is not a credible threat to tanks - several (or working in concert with other AV options) is, however. The real thing that caused issues is that AV turrets render like infantry, while they can shoot vehicles at longer distances than that. This used to cause a lot of problems but a recent nerf gave the AV turret a maximum range of 450m, which curtailed the issue. Massed AV turrets are still quite capable of destroying tanks at extremely long ranges and are a solid tool in the Engineer's arsenal. Putting certs into this as an Engineer is useful, as it allows you to fire significantly faster and thus up your damage by quite a lot. Be aware that the AV turret lacks the AI turret's shield and you are much more exposed when firing. The Sentry Spitfire Auto-Turret Unlike the other two turrets, the Spitfire doesn't require the Engineer to be in it to shoot. It's an automated weapon that, when it detects hostile infantry within 50m it will lock onto them and fire a quick burst of shots. Alone, it's not a terribly good weapon - the 1s target acquisition time means it's easy to corner-peek and the long delay between bursts make it difficult to get kills on its own. Without help, it's most useful as a rear guard where you'll hear the targeting beep if someone's sneaking up on you. In groups or assisting a defense, however, it can provide a lot of extra firepower for not a lot of effort. It's particularly adept at picking off flanking Light Assaults when deployed in groups of 2-3. Three warnings, however: it doesn't see cloaked infils; you only get to deploy it once and it can only be resupplied at an AMS or terminal; and it is very, very bad at understanding that there are four friendlies between it and the target and will happily shoot your own team in the rear end.  L) Melee Weapons Used by: Infiltrator, Light Assault, Combat Medic, Engineer, Heavy Assault (MAX special, see below) Role: Emergency backup in 95% of cases. Usually used as a quick-knife, they can also be equipped as a primary weapon for much higher damage. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: None - stick with the default. Basically All The Knives Chainblade, Auraxium Chainblade, Hexedge, Mag-Cutter, Auraxium Mag-Cutter, Hardlight Dagger, Force-Blade, Auraxium Force-Blade, Damascus Edge, NS AutoBlade, The Slasher, Icikill Nearly all of the knives are effectively the same - same rate of fire, same damage (500), and so on. They look different and sometimes have different cosmetic effects (The Slasher plays the Psycho soundbite on someone's death screen if you kill them with it), but they're all basically the same thing. Expensive Super Knives Ripper, Carver, Lumine Edge Exactly the same as other knives, except that when you're properly wielding this you can activate it with the 'change mode' button. This causes it to make a bunch of noise but makes it able to one-hit kill people. This is usually reserved for use by idiot infiltrators and the occasional high skill player in tight quarters. Not advised for a beginner or even intermediate player as you're spending 1000 certs to bring a knife to a gun fight. If you're just going to quick knife, this provides zero advantage over the free starter knife. The Bludgeon MAX Punch The quick knife equivalent on a MAX, this is notable as it does 750 rather than 500 damage and has a damage type that CAN damage vehicles. It will take forever to punch a tank to death, but you can do it. Have fun.  M) AI MAX Weapons Used by: MAX Role: Generally equipped in pairs, MAX arms are pretty self-explanatory. TR gets several varieties of chaingun, VS gets several varieties of rapid fire lasers, NC gets yet more shotguns. Note on the NC - they do obscene damage in close but are utter garbage at range. Slugs are mandatory. Extended magazines are mandatory. Not 'this would be nice' like the TR and VS, but outright mandatory. It makes an obscene difference and you need them to operate effectively. (Please note that when piloting an NC MAX it is customary to occasionally shout about how awesome slugs are as most pubbies are totally unfamiliar with them. #Sluglyfe) Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: VS - Cosmos VM3 for the starter, Blueshift VM5 for the advanced; NC - AF-23 Grinder; TR - M2 Mutilator The Fast Reloader M1 Heavy Cycler, Quasar VM1, NCM1 Scattercannon Every player gets one of these for free. There's nothing wrong with it, really. It's the quickest reloading of the MAX arms, but otherwise average. It is not generally suggested you buy the matching arm, as it's expensive and the perk isn't that great. The Deep Magazine M2 Mutilator, Cosmos VM3, AF-23 Grinder These are the ones suggested to get for the second arm, as they're only 250 certs. Their perk is that they've got a larger base magazine and scale up well with extended magazines on top of that. The TR's Mutilator is particularly notable here as it's got base 100 rounds and another 700 in reserve behind that. It's capable of obscene levels of sustained fire and has a lot of fans. The Grinder has a lot of favor with the NC as well, as the large magazine is a huge benefit for them. The Long Range Shooter MRC3 Mercy, Blueshift VM5, AF-34 Mattock Oriented towards longer ranges, the TR and VS versions of this gun have no damage drop-off at all (but a lower base damage) and increased accuracy, rate of fire and velocity. The NC one simply uses a Jackhammer profile (without the burst fire) instead of a normal shotgun's - but the secret is that all MAX slugs do the same damage. So you get the advantages of the Jackhammer's range without losing the damage of a normal shotgun. The Bullet Hose M6 Onslaught, Nebula VM20, AF-41 Hacksaw Giving up a bit of damage, these guns get a faster rate of fire to make up for it. They're not currently favored, as you can get the same damage and a only marginally smaller rate of fire in the long-range oriented guns, while additionally having better accuracy and drop-off. Well, aside from the NC for whom the Hacksaw is the only automatic they've got and the damage loss is not even worth mentioning.  N) AV MAX Weapons Used by: MAX Role: Killin' vehicles. Most are focused on destroying tanks, and the differences are significant enough that it's easier to just go into it rather than generalizing. Quick Pick Buy Suggestions: All factions - the close range option and the NS-10 Burster The Close Range M3 Pounder HEG, Comet VM2, NCM2 Falcon Oriented towards closer range AV work, these three are direct fire explosive weapons with low velocity but high damage. They aren't suited well to being used against targets outside medium range (~50m), but also work well against infantry and are particularly good against other MAX suits. The Pounder is a 4 shot grenade launcher that's got a lot of drop but is excellent for chewing up infantry groups. The Comet is the best at range thanks to the lack of drop, but is the least accurate and does the least damage. And then there's the Falcons, which are very slow firing but can one-salvo any non-MAX infantry they find, are quite accurate and actually are probably NC's best MAX weapon overall. You get one of these for free and the other one is fairly cheap - picking it up is strongly advised. The Long Range MR1 Fracture, Vortex VM21, NCM3 Raven These give up a bit of damage versus the other set, but have far greater long range accuracy and their own quirks. Fractures are interesting because they're a 10-shot weapon that gets the hits by being able to better spam shots that move at double a rocket's velocity. The Vortex, meanwhile, charges like the Lancer does. The downside is that the Vortex lacks the Lancer's pinpoint accuracy and has almost half the velocity. And Ravens function like the AV MANA Turret - they're wire-guided missiles that go to where your crosshair is pointed. All three are currently out of favor, with most users preferring the shorter range weapons for the higher damage and the less quirky functionality. The Flak NS-10 Burster A MAX's only choice for AA work, the Burster is a flak cannon. Really, that's about it. It's a low-ish damage, slow firing, inaccurate weapon that does reasonable damage to aircraft and 'hits' even if you technically miss the plane due to the proximity-triggered explosion. Bursters are utterly worthless against anything that isn't flying and are only good against air because there's so few options. Worth pulling if your squad needs AA, but pretty niche. Good but not spectacular for it's overspecialization.  O) Implants Used by: All Role: Provides extra perks in specific areas. Implants come in several tiers, each using up more power as they become stronger (.5, .75, 1 or 1.25 units per second). You have an unlimited reserve of how much power you can stock up on, which you get from chargers. Implants and chargers can be purchased with cash or certs, and they have a small chance of dropping with any action that gains you XP. (This means that small, frequent XP gains like ammo resupply or Sunderer spawn bonuses translate to more drops.) You can crunch together unwanted implants into new ones or into chargers - 3 of the same tier for a new implant of that tier; 5 of the same tier for one of the next higher tier; and 2 of different tiers to make a charger. It's strongly suggested that you save up your spares until you can merge a tier 2 and a tier 3 together - it's about five times the investment of merging a tier 1 and a tier 2, but provides ten times the benefit. One of those big chargers will give you enough power for 5.3 hours of continuous use of the most energy-hungry implant. Enhanced Targeting: The default implant everyone gets one of. Increases the range of your IFF reticule (at what range your crosshairs turn red when over a hostile target) and let you see the health of spotted enemies out to 250m rather than 10m. Not spectacular, but a worthwhile default choice. EOD HUD 1/2/3/4: Auto-spots mines/C4 at 10m/15m/20m. Niche use at best, mostly for tank pilots. Hold Breath 1/2/3/4: Allows you to hold your breath when using a sniper rifle for 25%/50%/75%/90% longer. Only useful for snipers and then only semi-useful. Regeneration 1/2/3/4: Lets you regenerate 4%/5%/6.67% of your health per second, after not taking damage for several seconds. Does not work on a MAX. Generally you only need tier 1, but this is one of the most useful implants. Safe Landing 1/2/3/4: Allows you to fall further both before taking damage and before being killed. Higher tiers mean more distance. Handy for pilots and during tower fights. Battle Hardened 1/2/3/4: Exceptionally useful. Reduces (read: practically removes at the highest tier) screen shake from explosions and flinching from being shot. All around useful, but particularly in situations where there's a lot of vehicle/Liberator shelling going on. Marker: Auto-spots any target that you do damage to. A minor perk, but useful in small-scale battles for helping your team find targets. Gets great mileage out of explosive weapons - throw a grenade in a room and it'll spot anyone in there who survives the blast. Tier 2. Awareness: Auto-spots any enemy that damages or kills you with a non-silenced weapon. Again, a minor perk but not too bad, though it's a tier 3 and thus uses a lot of power for what it provides. Handy on ESFs so you can more easily see who on the ground is firing at you. Counter-Intelligence: Lights up red to warn you if you've been spotted by an enemy. Tier 3, and largely useful for flanking/sneaky types. Clear Vision 1/2/3/4: Severely reduces the effects of concussion and flashbang grenades. Cannot be used on a MAX. Allows you to throw the grenade at your feet and not be affected. EMP Shield 1/2/3/4: Severely reduces the effects of EMP grenades. Also cannot be used by a MAX. Useful for playing Infiltrator and spiking EMP grenades at your own feet - you're fine, they're not. Rangefinder: Displays on your HUD the distance between you and any target under your crosshairs, up to 500m. Tier 3 and great in VR but mostly useless elsewhere. Sensor Shield 1/2: Tier 3 for 1 and Tier 4 for 2, this is worthwhile for sneaky flanker types. Makes you invisible to motion sensors and radar equipment as long as you don't jump or sprint. You will still show up if spotted or you fire an unsilenced weapon, however. Sensor Shield 2 provides the additional bonus that it will keep you hidden even when sprinting, as long as you stay at least 20m from a motion sensor.  P) Customizations Used by: All Role: To be Space Barbie. Camouflage: To the point - camo is not going to conceal you at all. It just doesn't work that way in Planetside. Some specific setups can allow you to look a little like another faction, but only enough to get a momentary hesitation most of the time. Goon standard practice is that your camo of choice should be something gaudy, flagrant and ugly. Current approved choices: Industrial Mix, Shatter (particularly for NC, where it turns you bright gold), Tech, Palm, Giraffe. Valentines Hearts is acceptable for weapons. Armor Decals: Nobody really cares. Get whatever you think looks cool. When in doubt, pick up your outfit decal. Or plaster the MLG logo or rainbows across everything. Helmets: Another area where the NC has the distinct advantage. They have a cowboy hat and a bandana with sunglasses, making them the coolest. Armor: If you can get lumifiber, get it. It will not help you at all, but you will look awesome and enemies will express how great they think you look by gifting you bullets during night fighting. Voice Packs: Get one if you want. You too can now sound like you smoke three packs a day when you ask for ammo! Tempest_56 fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Dec 19, 2014 |
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ZEN AND THE ART OF FLASH MAINTENANCE AA) Flash Role: Transport Primarily used for cheaply getting from place to place, the Flash does have some combat utility, but we'll touch on that in a bit. There is a rumble seat on the back of the Flash to carry a second person who is able to fire their own weapons, usually best used for a rocket-toting HA or a mine-delivering Engineer. The Flash is very fragile with both low hp and being vulnerable to small arms fire and both driver and passenger are vulnerable while on it - you can (and often will) be shot off your Flash. The Flash also sees part time use as a rolling bomb - stick several bricks of C4 to the front, equip the M40 Fury and the Wraith Cloaking Device. Stealth to the nearest hostile tank, bump into it, fire the Fury and let it detonate your C4 while shouting about something about jihad over /yell. Done properly, it will kill 99% of targets instantly with no chance for retaliation. (Note: This will kill you 100% of the time, and is VERY resource-intensive. Not a practical tool in most situations, but it's funny.) Weapons: The M40 Fury is probably the common choice - it has a good damage profile with splash, letting you be a bit inaccurate while shooting while still doing great damage to both infantry and vehicles. As a firing platform, the Flash is simply not stable enough for most other weapons. The S12 Renegade seems some use for Wraith Flashes as well, because if you're an invisible rear end in a top hat moving at 70kph you might as well have a shotgun too. Utility: Following the nerfs to Scout Radar (the radar dots are only visible when someone is driving the Flash), many Flash drivers use the Turbo system for maximum fun/flipping over. In practical terms, the Wraith Cloaking Device is the most useful in the hands of an infiltrator - one rank is generally enough to get the job done but more is nice, and it's a very effective tool for hit and runs. Defense: None of the options are terribly useful due to the Flash's low durability. Stealth is the only one really worth taking, and then it's not really worth the expense. Performance: Rather heavily debated. Racer fits the transport angle better - 10kph more speed, faster acceleration and better hill climbing, but it steers more loosely and it slides a bit more in turns. Scrapper is more favored for use in combat thanks to much tighter turning. Surger is only useful if you keep flipping over and dying.  BB) Harasser Role: Hit and Run The name is kind of a give away for the purpose. Fast and well-armed, the Harasser is also fragile - it's vulnerable to small arms fire and hits from larger vehicle-scale weapons do huge damage to it. It can't really win a stand up fight against tanks and will even have to stay mobile and retreat often against groups of infantry. Speed is how it survives, so staying mobile is important. Carries three people - driver, gunner and an exposed rumble seat from which the passenger can shoot or even repair the Harasser mid-combat at a reduced rate. Note that the turbo boost is now inherent and you should cert it up a bit - speed is life. Weapons: If you're looking for a general all-factions weapon, the E540 Halberd-H is the way to go. It's got the firepower to one-hit infantry and do a lot of damage to tanks, the velocity to be reasonably accurate at mid-range and a semi-reasonable cost. The Fury-H is a good second option that's better against infantry. TR will want to try out the G20 Vulcan-H for super deadly knife-fighting, while the NC can use the Enforcer ML65-H in a manner similar to the Halberd and the C85 Cannister has recently been buffed to somewhat effective levels. VS have better choices but probably will get the most mileage out of the Proton II PPA-H, which is laughably good against clustered groups of infantry when in close. Utility: Fire Suppression is probably your best call as it'll help get you out of those narrow escapes. Gate Diffuser is potentially very powerful but you need to be careful with it - currently it's buggy and can leave you extremely vulnerable if it fucks up. Defense: Composite Armor is the best choice, as it buys the Harasser more loiter time in combat before it needs to pull away. Prox Radar does get a lot of mileage too, though, as it lets your gunner find targets faster - which means getting in and out quicker. Performance: Almost universally Racer. Again, speed is crucial for the Harasser.  CC) Lightning Role: Anti-Infantry/Flanker/AA The Lightning is probably the most flexible ground vehicle in terms of use - depending on loadout, it can serve a lot of different roles. While not having strong armor, it's fast, has a low profile and has directional resistance like a MBT does. The front, obviously, is strongest. It's the only single occupant ground vehicle, to note. Weapons: Probably the Lightning's strongest area. There are several viable choices, depending on what role you want to play. The base C75 Viper does excellently for infantry hunting - with thermal optics, the six shot barrage is more likely to get kills than the single-shot HE cannon. When using the L100 Python AP, the Lighting can serve as a flanking tank killer, as it can get into an MBT's weak rear fairly easily. And with the Skyguard, the Lightning is the most durable AA platform available. The HE and HEAT guns don't see a lot of use. Utility: IR Smoke is the best general choice - the Lighting's lesser durability makes lock-ons more dangerous to it than MBTs, and the ability to obscure it's location briefly to allow for a quick retreat is very handy. Defense: Depends on the role you're playing. Anti-Infantry Lightnings will want to use Proximity Radar to help locate targets more easily. Anti-Tank Lightnings get more use from Reinforced Side Armor as they tend to expose their flanks while maneuvering behind MBTs, or Stealth for getting in close unseen. Skyguards are suggested to have Proximity Radar as you will be spending a lot of time in first person and zoomed in, making you very vulnerable to sneaking infantry and C4-toting light assaults (who can and will instantly kill you if they get close). Performance: For the most part, Rival is the chassis of choice. In all three roles, the ability to rotate and change directions faster is invaluable to using the Lightning's agility in combat.  DD) Prowler Role: Brawler/Sniper TR's biggest tank, the Prowler is both amazingly strong and kind of weak. It's the fastest of the MBTs (by 5kph) and has a unique main gun - it does less damage per individual shot, but gets two rounds per reload as opposed to one. This (plus the Vulcan secondary) mean that it does much of it's best work at short to medium ranges. At long ranges, it can use Anchored Mode to turn into a nearly hitscan AP sniper platform. In terms of flexibility and raw power, it's probably the best MBT. However it's kind of weak because the majority of TR players run it without a gunner (and often with an un-upgraded Basilisk) and anchor down on hillsides 350 meters away from the battle to spam HE shells at doorways. In this manner they're easily the least useful and least effective tanks in the game, but that's pubbies for you. Weapons: For the main gun, don't mess around. Use AP if you're going to fight vehicles, HE if you're farming infantry. If you don't know which, use AP since it will still one-hit infantry on a direct hit and won't leave you helpless against tanks. As the secondary, you probably just want to take the G30 Vulcan. It's reasonably effective even against infantry and does obscene things to vehicles. It's not as good past mid-range though so if you're going to be fighting at very long distances you should try the E540 Halberd. Utility: Anchored Mode is drat powerful, but only if you're not going in close. If you're getting into the close fight, Fire Suppression is the way to go as your biggest worries are going to be things like C4 and Decimators that smoke won't help you deal with. Defense: It's hard to go wrong with Reinforced Armor - when at range you can easily keep your front pointed at them, and in close it will allow you to go toe to toe with Vanguards more easily. Performance: Many pilots favor Racer here to heighten the Prowler's speed advantage.  EE) Magrider Role: Spidertank Compared to other MBTs, the Magrider has some serious problems. The biggest is the main gun - it's fixed to the front of the tank and is low to the ground, giving the Magrider a very limited field of fire. That main gun also has the worst drop out of any of the MBT cannons, making it a rough weapon to fight with. It has the speed of a Vanguard and the armor of a Prowler, combined with the weakest main gun of the three MBTs. Where it shines is that the Magrider is a hovertank, and has the ability to strafe and a greater tolerance for sloped surfaces and obstacles. A proficient driver can put a Magrider in places no other vehicle could get to, letting it exploit some rather unique firing angles. This combined with good weapon selection probably makes the Magrider the best MBT against infantry and in rough terrain. When fighting other tanks, it operates best at longer ranges where it can use the ability to strafe to better evade incoming shots. Weapons: AP (Supernova FPC) or HE (Supernova VPC), depending on your preferred target. For the secondary, get the Saron HRB if you're shooting tanks and the Proton II PPA if you're hunting infantry. Note that the Magrider probably has the best secondary options of the MBTs - both strong AV and AI options - combined with a weaker main cannon and so getting a gunner is a big boost to your killing power. Utility: The Magburner is probably the most common choice - it's hellishly fun and can help get you into quirky places. Also due to engaging at longer ranges and being able to easily side-step, IR Smoke matches well with the Magrider's strengths but is less common as the tank's maneuverability lets it dodge rockets more easily anyway. Defense: Reinforced Front Armor plays very well with the Magrider, as thanks to the main gun's positioning you're going to be facing your primary target all the time. Prox Radar can be good when infantry hunting to help find juicy targets, and Stealth can be amusing for the moments of 'SURPRISE! MAGRIDER!' when you're in places where no tank has any right to be. Performance: Rival is the way to go here. The Magrider's strength is the ability to strafe and it needs to be able to leverage that as much as possible.  FF) Vanguard Role: Anti-Armor NC's pride and joy, the Vanguard is the best tank at being a tank. While not as fast as the Prowler or as maneuverable as the Magrider, it is the most durable and most damaging by a good margin. It's the backbone of any NC offensive and can usually win any straight up fight with another tank. Whenever possible, face towards the enemy - the Vanguard has greater damage reduction from forward hits than other tanks. It's slow and has a lot of trouble with hills, however, often leaving it sitting dead in the water on rough terrain. Still, there is nothing better at rolling forward into a group of hostile vehicles, blowing up 2-3 of them and then rolling back into cover to repair. Weapons: For the main gun, the Titan-150 AP is really the only choice. It's the most damaging single hit MBT weapon in the game and will severely gently caress up any vehicle you shoot at. It will also one-shot ANY infantry you score a direct hit on, though it has minimal indirect damage. The Titan AP can also nearly one-shot fightercraft. The secondary weapon choice is the same as the Harasser's - E540 Halberd or Enforcer ML85. Personal preference there, both are good at about everything. Utility: Get the Vanguard Shield. It's the vehicle's defining ability and incredibly powerful. It's 6 seconds of near immunity to damage and is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. Get it, cert it up. Defense: Official Vanguard loadouts encourage Reinforced Armor for maximum tank-ness. Front and Side are both viable depending on playstyle. Some do like Auto Repair (for high uptime), and there are a few proponents of Stealth when in heavy terrain. Performance: Racer all the way. It puts the Vanguard's speed on par with the Prowler's and helps deal with the Vanguard's one true weakness - hill climbing.  GG) Sunderer Role: Mobile Spawn Point/Transport The #1 purpose of the Sunderer is the AMS that lets it act as a mobile spawn point. This is automatically part of every Sunderer for free, so use it. Sunderers are one of the most important parts of the game. When in doubt, pull one and drive it near a base that's being attacked. You can deploy the Sunderer (defaulting to the B key) when fully stopped, provided you are not inside a no-deploy zone (a big red or white circle on the minimap). Stop outside of one, park, deploy, get certs for people using your Sunderer to respawn. Beyond that role, the Sunderer acts as ground transport (most usefully for MAXes who are pretty slow on their own) and as a heavy combat vehicle (usually termed as a battle or bang bus) that combines two vehicle-mounted weapons and 6-10 angry infantry passengers. This lacks the power of an MBT but has a good middle-ground of survivability, firepower, maneuverability and can carry a pile of MAX suits. (One Burster MAX is not a serious threat to a Liberator - ten popping out of a Sunderer and opening fire at once is near instant death and really funny.) Weapons: Those default M20 Basilisks are the best general purpose weapons for most occasions, with a solid mix of damage, range and accuracy. About the only thing they're not effective at is anti-air - in which case use dual Walkers as they're currently ridiculous and basically hitscan. If you're running a battle bus, use the M-60G Bulldog. It's got great per-shot damage, solid splash and is much less costly than the M40 Fury. Basilisks, again, are a good alternative for the super cheap. Either way, Thermal optics are strongly suggested as it's really hit or miss how skilled your gunners are going to be and they need all the help spotting targets that they can get. Utility: Most common these days is the Gate Shield Diffuser, which allows you to bypass vehicle shields to get inside bases. If you aren't planning to do that, get Fire Suppression. Smoke is mostly useless because the Sunderer is a giant brick on wheels and will probably be hit by the rocket anyway. Defense: Tough choices here. Deployment Shield only protects you when you're deployed, but acts as an amazing regenerating barrier to short-term damage spikes. Blockade Armor is best at stopping long-term damage (like consistent tank cannon fire) while being under repair but is vulnerable to being suicide mined. Blockade is best if you're running a battle bus, but the Shield is likely more useful for a AMS if you don't intend to hang around and babysit it. Mine Guard is still used sometimes, but has largely been replaced by the shield (with the exception of being the point battle bus when using the Gate Diffuser to bust open a base). Other choices are more situational - the Vehicle Ammo Dispenser is very useful during armored pushes and occasionally Vehicle Stealth can come in handy if you're trying to stash a backup AMS somewhere sneaky. Note that a deployed Sunderer has an auto-spot range of 15m rather than the standard 100m of vehicles, and one rank in stealth will make it disappear from maps. ONLY while deployed, however, you are still visible as normal when mobile. Performance: People are fairly divided on this. Racer is excellent for minimizing the amount of time the Sunderer is exposed for, letting it set up/drop people off in position quicker. Rival is more useful in rougher terrain, as you can maneuver better in tight quarters and hill climb better. Personal choice/depends on the terrain of where you're going.  HH) Mosquito/Scythe/Reaver Role: Air Superiority/Close Support The devil is in the details, but these three fill the same rough role so we'll handle them together. As a group these are known as an ESF (Empire Specific Fighter, also called a MPAC or Mythril Plated Autism Chariot). Firstly, it's the game's primary Air to Air platform, serving to take down other aircraft to minimize infantry getting bombed to hell. The second is that it acts as close support for ground forces, able to make quick strikes to do quite a lot of damage before zipping away again. This is a risky role, however - they are vulnerable to small arms fire and is relatively fragile when faced with pure AA weapons. Among them, they roughly fall into that the Mosquito is fast, the Scythe hovers and throttles best and the Reaver's mass lets it pull off better turning maneuvers. Before we go further, I will note this: PS2's flight model is super weird. Aircraft do not behave like you would expect, and being able to fly without going face-first into the ground takes not inconsiderable practice. If you have any serious intent to become a good pilot, be prepared to spend a lot of time learning the ropes and absolutely find lots of material (both videos and watching experienced pilots) on how to use the flight model to it's fullest extent. It doesn't help that several important commands aren't even bound to keys by default. Weapons: Depending on your objective, there's a few loadouts you can use. For Air to Air combat, you want to use your faction's rotary cannon (M18 Rotary/Hailstorm Turbo Laser/Vortek Rotary) - easily the best choice for plane shooin' - and Coyote Missiles or Air to Air Tomcats (Coyotes work better in close, A2As generate far more rage tells). Air to Ground loadouts depend on Breaker Rocketpods (Thermal Optics strongly suggested), which does both excellent damage to all targets and has forgiving targeting. Against ground infantry, taking the appropriate nose gun (M14 Banshee/Light PPA) is good as well. Utility: This changes a lot depending on your skill level. New pilots are best off using Decoy Flares to lengthen their survivability. However, Flares aren't needed once you learn how to properly dodge lock-ons and many veterans regard Flares as a crutch. Fire Suppression is the go-to at higher skill tiers as it's brokenly good right now, giving you back 25% of your heath every 45 seconds. Defense: Easier choice, here. Nanite Auto-Repair is the way to go, since an ESF can disengage quite easily and Fire Suppression will kick-start the auto-repair for more quick recovery. Performance: Hover is the way to go for beginner pilots as it helps with your maneuverability. Racer is good for more advanced flying, particularly NC's 'boom and zoom' Air Hammer/Afterburner Tanks loadouts.  II) Valkyrie Role: Light Transport/Close Support In theory, the Valkyrie is a small and cheap two-man craft with four exposed rumble seats that can bring half a squad to a fight, provide light fire support and act as a rapidly mobile firing platform with a main gun and four passengers that can fire out of the back bays. In practice, it is currently short of that as it's slow, fragile, lightly armed and leaves the passengers very exposed to incoming fire. Their only saving grace is their cheapness as an air taxi. This may change with future tweaks but they are not currently recommended for actual combat use. Weapons: The Hellion G20 is probably the best choice right now - it's very similar to the TR's Vulcan and does great damage to vehicles. But none of them really do truly great damage and as stated the Valk is a poor combat platform. Utility: Squad Logistics System lets squadmates directly spawn into your Valk, which is rather useful. As it is not currently suggested to use the Valkyrie as a combat vehicle, Scout Radar is the other best choice for playing a support role. Defense: Because of the fragility at current, Stealth is the go-to. It's better to avoid being shot in the first place, and Stealth supports the tactical transport role. Performance: Hover is the better pick here to get better maneuverability for tight spaces. Due to the low base speed and lack of afterburners or airbrakes, the Valk will never compete in proper air combat and cannot outrun basically anything even with the Evasiveness frame.  JJ) Liberator Role: Anti-Everything The Liberator is, in theory, a slow and cumbersome bomber craft designed to strike ground targets (such as tanks or large infantry formations) but was vulnerable because of it's low speed and maneuverability. In practice, the Liberator is basically a flying MBT with an extra gun, obscene speed and more than enough durability to face-tank it's supposed counters. It's a beast of a vehicle that's downright obscene in skilled hands. That said, it does still die in short order if you're an idiot about it. Weapons: The nose gun of choice is the CAS30 Tank Buster - it's a 600rpm gun that can one-clip tanks, three-shot infantry and gives no fucks. For a secondary weapon (the belly gun), right now the L105 Zepher is the weapon of choice - it's a solid middle-ground weapon that does everything decently well. Some pilots prefer the C150 Dalton, which is basically a Vanguard AP cannon on a plane. On the tail (tertiary), right now the go-to is the M60-A Bulldog which can either be used for additional ground bombardment or can two-shot an ESF. Utility: Fire Suppression is the way to go. Like ESFs, newer pilots can use Flares while they're learning but it's a crutch until you learn how to dodge lock-on missiles. Fire Suppression is the more powerful choice by far. Defense: Like with the ESF, Auto Repair is the peak choice for efficiency in combat. Composite Armor has fans as well, however, as it makes flak laughable which means your only legitimate threats are dodgeable rockets. Performance: Most pilots prefer Precision Bomber for the maneuverability, though a few advocate for High-G. Personal taste.  KK) Galaxy Role: Transport/Heavy Ground Support The largest vehicle in the game, the Galaxy is roughly analogous to a flying Sunderer. It's slow, unmaneuverable, tough as hell and carries a dozen guys in it. Unlike a Sunderer, it doesn't have the AMS module (though members of your squad can spawn into it) and you can instantly kill everyone by flying into a tree. The Galaxy, however, can withstand unprecedented amounts of punishment and can drop troops anywhere it damned well feels like. In addition to being a troop transport, the Galaxy can act as a reasonably effective (and nigh impossible to kill) close support unit. With a Bulldog on either wing and the ability to land on and squish people, a battle Gal isn't the most efficient weapon but it's capable of getting in and out of most any situation and can do considerable damage. 'Land a Galaxy on them' is in fact a very viable tactic that can scrape entire mountain tops clean in short order. Weapons: Each of the Galaxy's four guns only has two options - the basic crappy M20 Drake (a Basilisk with a different name) and either the A30 Walker (top and rear) or the M60-A Bulldog (sides). The Drake is kind of junk so upgrade when you can. The Walkers are okay and are mostly used to annoy attacking ESFs. They're not great at it, but they're better than nothing. The Bulldogs are your real meat guns - capable of one-shotting infantry, do huge damage to ESFs and have pretty fair splash damage. You want them upgraded first and foremost. Utility: Like other aircraft, your choice here is Fire Suppression. The Galaxy can't really dodge missiles like other craft can, but it's big and beefy enough to not really care. Also, with 7000 health, getting 12% of that back every 45 seconds is pretty huge. Defense: Composite Armor is probably your go-to here. The Galaxy's size and bulk make it unlikely for Auto Repair to stay on (you can kick-start it with Fire Suppression, but the Gal is such a huge target you're not likely to avoid further damage for more than a second or two), so reducing the damage of incoming flak is the most helpful. Auto Repair is amazingly strong (thanks to the Galaxy's super high base health) if you can get it to work, though. Performance: Like the Liberator, Precision is the airframe of choice aside from a handful who like High-G.  LL) Customizations Role: Looking awesome. Camouflage: You are not going to hide your tank, no matter what camo you're using. Thus you are encouraged to go for something as gaudy/amusing as possible. Popular choices: Tech, Palm, Industrial Mix, Shatter, Zebra, Hearts Decal/Ornament/Exterior/Tire/Trim/Lighting: Just get what you think looks cool. Horn: The most crucial customization slot. As a goon, you are required to toot your own horn as much as possible. Approved horn choices: Liberty, Ghastly Shriek, Kazoo. FINAL NOTES: OTHER BITS AND PIECES  - The top three best ways to improve your gameplay? 1) Get a better FPS. It has a huge impact on how well you do. You really need over 30 fps to be effective and more is better. 2) Never get into a fair fight. Flank, ambush, gang up on, anything you can but never take someone on face to face on equal ground if you can help it. 3) Aim for the head. It dramatically improves your kill speed, even if you miss more. - Frag, Decoy, Smoke, Flash, Concussion, and Revive grenades bounce and have a set (3 second) fuse time. Sticky grenades and Anti-Vehicle stick to their target (AVs only stick to vehicles and MAX suits) and detonate after that same fuse time. Healing grenades bounce as normal but only have a 2 second fuse time. EMP grenades detonate on impact and do not bounce. If you need practice, throwing Revive grenades is suggested as you won't accidentally kill yourself/your own team. - Some guns have a 0.75x movement multiplier when ADS, as opposed to the standard 0.5x. This is a huge advantage, and isn't really mentioned anywhere. This is a feature on all pistols, shotguns and SMGs, as well as all Nanite Systems weapons. It is also available on the LC3 Jaguar, AF-4A Bandit and Zenith VX-5 carbines; the TAR, H-V45, GR-22 and Carnage AR assault rifles; and the Orion and SVA-88 LMGs. - Spotting targets is invaluable but isn't something you should always do. Spotting a target makes them appear on the minimap as a dot and have their name pop up on the screens of teammates near you, allowing them to better see and target. However, it also makes an audio call-out that can be heard by friend and enemy alike. If you're sneaking up on an unaware enemy, that call-out can and will alert them to your presence. - On a similar note, automatic call-outs (such as stating that you're reloading or throwing a grenade) can only be heard by your own faction. Call-outs that you cause (spotting and those from the voice macro menu) can be heard by anybody including those not on your side. - Flashlights make Infiltrators appear - both hostile and friendly. Be careful where you shine it. Turn it off (using the L key to default) when you're not trying to find something. - Bind your quick knife button to something you can reach easily and train yourself to use it often. It's an incredibly powerful tool and you absolutely should be using it any time someone gets into range. - Even if you never plan on leading a squad, you should cert into the Squad Beacon. That way you can place one down if needed before handing lead back to someone else. The higher your own beacon is certed, the faster you can drop on someone else's beacon, as well. - Medical and Restoration Kits are universal certifications - you only need to unlock them once to be available on all non-MAX classes. They both restore identical amounts of health; Medical Kits do it instantly while Restoration Kits do it over a short span of time. Cert into which ever one you prefer, but picking up one or the other is strongly encouraged. - You can try out guns before buying them. Go to the store screen, click a weapon to purchase it. At the bottom of the screen where you pick buying it with certs or cash there's a third button to give it a trial. You'll have access to it (with no attachments) for 30 minutes. You can only trial one weapon per 8 hours, and you can't trial a specific weapon again for a month. But it will let you give it a go in actual play before purchasing. - Alerts can be fun, but you'll get more certs in half an hour's worth of hard fighting than you will in two hours worth of ghost capping for an alert. (This applies doubly so when it isn't an alert.) The most fun and the best rewards are always in a good, busy fight. - Don't lone wolf. This is a game based around large scale combat and large groups. Join an outfit, join a squad. - Above all else, follow your squad leader's orders and stay with the group. Everything in Planetside scales up dramatically well. One person is unlikely to make much of an impact, but a dozen can swing the entire battle. Tempest_56 fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Mar 11, 2015 |
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Jun 29, 2014 04:03
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Probably ought to just wipe the entire wiki and replace it with those posts.
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Jun 29, 2014 04:59
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All of that is fantastic information but no one is going to read it. Sorry.
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Jun 29, 2014 05:01
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I said come in! posted:All of that is fantastic information but no one is going to read it. Sorry. I've read it multiple times and everybody who has responded up until now hasn't had a problem reading it. Fact is there's no short form way to break someone brand new into this game aside from, "GRAB WHATEVER THE DEFAULT IS, GET THE ADVANTAGE, SHOOT THEM IN HEADS, ROLL WITH GOONS" so long form it is!
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Jun 29, 2014 05:17
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This deserves reposting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wZc2LATxcI
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Jun 29, 2014 05:50
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AggressivelyStupid posted:ALS has no downside and for second Gen smgs is your best bet. I've heard some people enjoying foregrips on 2nd gens, and exmags is way, way better than ALS on the 1st gens.
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Jun 29, 2014 06:28
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Gobblecoque posted:I've heard some people enjoying foregrips on 2nd gens, and exmags is way, way better than ALS on the 1st gens. Yeah, the cyclone especially benefits more from ex-mags over lasersights. It's basically cheating.
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Jun 29, 2014 06:40
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Gobblecoque posted:I've heard some people enjoying foregrips on 2nd gens, and exmags is way, way better than ALS on the 1st gens. Foregrip Sirius is serious business. Its kinda like a TORQ at close range.
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Jun 29, 2014 07:04
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Having taken a 1 year hiatus - what are the major changes I would come back to?
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Jun 29, 2014 07:29
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1024x768 posted:Having taken a 1 year hiatus - what are the major changes I would come back to? -VS ZOE ability is nerfed very hard (use charge). -Bunch of new guns for most of the infantry classes and air vehicles, plus new abilities. -All the good TR poo poo like Strikers and Fracture MAXes were also nerfed. -Huge performance overhaul that actually makes use of multicore processors. -Hossin (new continent). -Two US servers which are highly populated as opposed to 4. -Player studio, aka player submitted cosmetics, which are amazing (dunno when they turned that on). -You can lock continents now to turn them off for awhile.
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Jun 29, 2014 08:49
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Hossin is great for farming KDR/mans/certs/rage with the crossbow. Just grab LA, fly up into the millions of trees, and CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE NOW INVISIBLE. 99% of the bad idiot scrubs that play this game NEVER LOOK UP. Just sit up in your invisibility perch, and click heads. The crossbow is so loving quiet most of them will never realize where you are, so you're free to just repeatedly poo poo on people. The only downside is that occasionally you'll have to leave your tree in search of an ever-elusive ammo box. Zotz North has the perfect tree camp. It's right above the point, ensuring a steady supply of people to shoot, and it's big and tall and semi-difficult to get into, ensuring few (if any) stupid idiot retard fun-hating LAs will figure out how to get up there. Bonus points if it's a hotly contested point, because you can basically see right over most of the cover idiots will be hiding behind, meaning that you will be free to click on stationary targets. CROSSBOW 4 LYFE
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Jun 29, 2014 10:30
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Wow check this reddit thread out, REDEPLOY SIDE IS RUINING THE GAME aka we can only zerg and we want everyone to be forced to zerg with us! I still haven't brought myself to get a reddit account someone go shout this idiot down since killing redeploy literally encourages everyone to hellzerg ghost cap. http://www.reddit.com/r/EmeraldPS2/comments/29czs8/how_do_we_kill_redployside/ Also report this guy https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428139972579401521/ a loving BR61 in TG who was warp hacking tonight because he was getting his rear end kicked haha. He would be normal but as soon as he started losing he would warp around, not packet style but legit warping.
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Jun 29, 2014 11:39
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What is an Arghy?
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Jun 29, 2014 12:15
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psyman posted:What is an Arghy? The greatest poster
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Jun 29, 2014 13:37
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Arghy, You Sucker! Arghiria 5 Dolls for an Arghy Moon Arghy Comes At Night Argho
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Jun 29, 2014 13:43
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Arghistad Godzilla, Arghy, King Ghiggilydorah: Giant Whiners All Out Attack. Argh Souls: Prepare to Cry Edition
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Jun 29, 2014 13:51
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psyman posted:What is an Arghy? A miserable little pile of nanites!
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Jun 29, 2014 14:04
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I remember starting this near the beginning as NC and then giving up because I was fed up with the ZOE MAXes and the hard-to-use NC guns. Meanwhile, TR guns seemed like easy mode because of the flinch mechanics and such. I just got frustrated and stopped playing, despite the $$$ I dumped in this game. Did they fix all of that? Are goons still active as NC?
Archer2338 fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 14:07
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Archer2338 posted:I remember starting this near the beginning as NC and then giving up because I was fed up with the ZOE MAXes and the hard-to-use NC guns. Meanwhile, TR guns seemed like easy mode because of the flinch mechanics and such. Did they fix all of that? Are goons still active as NC? ZOE is super-nerfed and goons are still playing NC.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:26
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Archer2338 posted:I remember starting this near the beginning as NC and then giving up because I was fed up with the ZOE MAXes and the hard-to-use NC guns. Meanwhile, TR guns seemed like easy mode because of the flinch mechanics and such. Did they fix all of that? Are goons still active as NC? ZOE is dead, NC guns are awesome and you should join GOON so you can gun my Vanguard/Battle bus/Battle gal. Here are some videos showing how good the Vanguard is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2rauuPDsRs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEzVKtMD74g Cahal makes the best videos.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:31
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Archer2338 posted:I remember starting this near the beginning as NC and then giving up because I was fed up with the ZOE MAXes and the hard-to-use NC guns. Meanwhile, TR guns seemed like easy mode because of the flinch mechanics and such. I just got frustrated and stopped playing, despite the $$$ I dumped in this game. Did they fix all of that? Are goons still active as NC? Flinch was fixed and (arguably) works slightly in our favor now. ZOE is dead and may the damage 6 months of that horseshit did some day be forgotten. May it be forever useless along with the Striker GOON is active as hell, primarily during primetime, hop in! edit - well this is officially un-loadable on my iphone app
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Jun 29, 2014 14:42
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Periphery posted:NC guns are awesome and you should join GOON so you can gun my Vanguard/Battle bus/Battle gal. Yeah but that means you have to deal with non-GOON nc players Every choice has a consequence
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Jun 29, 2014 14:43
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Mortimer posted:Yeah but that means you have to deal with non-GOON nc players It's honestly not bad aside from Wisdomcube/Stew360. GOON gets along and works fine with BL, TAS, VCO. Though the Watterson boys don't talk much on command chat.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:52
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Mortimer posted:Yeah but that means you have to deal with non-GOON nc players NC come together to win alerts and farm and coordinate casually otherwise. There's worse things, and it's certainly not the cesspool you're describing. I haven't seen a non-3am VS cont cap since the servers first came up tbqh, you guys need to be looking inward. It probably seemed really bad yesterday because pop was so high we didn't get an alert yesterday. Like, at all. Which sucked because it meant the TR had half price infantry items the wholhahahahah who am I kidding at least a real faction didn't have that bonus instead Personally I've been impressed at the level of maniacal hatred that all of Waterson seems to have toward the TR. Was BRIT really that server-breaking? Gaghskull posted:It's honestly not bad aside from Wisdomcube/Stew360. GOON gets along and works fine with BL, TAS, VCO. Though the Watterson boys don't talk much on command chat. Actually they talk waaaaayyyyyy too much, I don't think they run ops on weekends though so it's pretty much just alerts that the NC coordinates hardcore sat-sun. We'll see tonight! Epic High Five fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 14:53
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Archer2338 posted:I remember starting this near the beginning as NC and then giving up because I was fed up with the ZOE MAXes and the hard-to-use NC guns. Meanwhile, TR guns seemed like easy mode because of the flinch mechanics and such. I just got frustrated and stopped playing, despite the $$$ I dumped in this game. Did they fix all of that? Are goons still active as NC? This has already been answered, but ZOE got nerfed straight into the ground, NC guns are easier to use than they were when you left, TR guns don't have a monopoly on flinchlocking, and between the Emerald merge and Hossin the party hasn't been this hype bumpin' since launch. Join the party, the fast and easy way/to hear what's scammin' from New York to LA, call now/One Nine Hundred Four Nine Oh Freak
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Jun 29, 2014 14:54
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Gaghskull posted:It's honestly not bad aside from Wisdomcube/Stew360. GOON gets along and works fine with BL, TAS, VCO. Though the Watterson boys don't talk much on command chat. It's night and day compared to playing VS. Yesterday we had NC night in GOKU and holy poo poo, most of NC is completely useless.
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Jun 29, 2014 14:56
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West007 posted:All of NC is completely useless. How many tech plant/bio lab pushes did we have and announce while all the NC either A. Sat in armor or B. jerked each other off in the previous spawn room? Probably like 10 Without alerts to channel their hatred NC are really really really uncoordinated
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Jun 29, 2014 14:58
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Your problems are that you care too much not that the NC is bad.
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Jun 29, 2014 15:04
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Periphery posted:Your problems are that you care too much not that the NC is bad. That's a good  answer but doesn't really challenge the fact that when comparing the unwashed masses of each faction, NC are probably dead last.Your guns are neat and good though so that's a big plus
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Jun 29, 2014 15:07
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Segmentation Fault posted:This has already been answered, but ZOE got nerfed straight into the ground, NC guns are easier to use than they were when you left, TR guns don't have a monopoly on flinchlocking, and between the Emerald merge and Hossin the party hasn't been this hype bumpin' since launch. Is NC still so terrible they'll get the poo poo kicked out of them every night without any sort of fighting back? Seriously, I don't care if we lose fights because of fuckwits, but when I left, all the NC would just sit in the spawn jacking off about TR weapons while everything got taken/backcapped by Vanu. Then end the night with a zone spawn cap because haha NC can't do anything. Are the devs still putting out waves of arguably better weapons every other week, rather then fixing the core weapon problems? Is the certgrind still absurd, to the point you aren't really able to play your class until you've put in a few weeks of just shooting mans with them ( medics need higher level heal gun, la need better jumpjets, etc. ). I want to come back, but I left for a reason. Want to see if they fixed that reason.
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Jun 29, 2014 15:09
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Mortimer posted:That's a good I'm in NC command every night and play all 3 factions and there is zero chance the TR aren't the worst. The NC were just as bogged down at Chac but where we gained ground in the south, the TR got warpgated
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Jun 29, 2014 15:13
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Rookersh posted:Is NC still so terrible they'll get the poo poo kicked out of them every night without any sort of fighting back? Seriously, I don't care if we lose fights because of fuckwits, but when I left, all the NC would just sit in the spawn jacking off about TR weapons while everything got taken/backcapped by Vanu. Then end the night with a zone spawn cap because haha NC can't do anything. Some nights the pubbies are on top of their game and some nights they've got one hand occupied with a jar of paste. On good nights you try to win the alerts, and on bad nights you set the platoon Outfit-only and try to have fun. The Certgrind doesn't seem as bad as it used to be, but that could be because I've crested the first hurdle. Of course, with the advent of the BattleGal, cert farming has certainly become easier as well. You don't even have to be gunning, just sit in a party seat and have your repair tool at the ready. And I don't remember the last time they released a new weapon that was genuinely MUST have. A lot of them (Railjack) have been pretty dogshit. Keeshhound fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 15:19
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Yeah, TR definitely got the worst deal with the merge, by far.
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Jun 29, 2014 15:28
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TR got the worst of the merge, easily. NC got some dumbshits (PHX, primarily), but also some good shits. VS got a handful of decent outfits, but they're all small (Waterson VS was apparently in the minority). I'm just glad to see the red team DIE THE FINAL loving DEATH. gently caress TR, gently caress their stupid bullshit faction flavor being "I have literally all the best stuff and yet still find room to whine so that I can get more overpowered bullshit", gently caress the idiots that play TR, gently caress TR. TR is smelly and has cooties. And stuff.
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Jun 29, 2014 16:30
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Don't hate on the TR, appreciate how much they stand out against our new swampy stomping grounds.  edit- Tempest, thanks a bunch for those posts. 4 of my friends are getting set up in game, and this will be invaluable. PHIZ KALIFA fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 16:43
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| # ? May 6, 2024 06:45 |
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Can we post the accepted and popular HA loadouts and why they're good? NanoMeshGen + Nanoweave because you have the largest available health pool. Resist Shield + Advanced Shield Capacitor because you have very low downtime, provided you use med kits to top your health off. Use your faction specific LMGs with a foregrip and 1x sight because honestly the SAW/CARV/Orion are all the LMG you'll ever need. Type 'Summer Reward' into the coupon redeem box in your faction dashboard to get a FREE NS-11A  PLATINUM The only people who should be excited about this are the VS because their ARs suck.Gonkish posted:TR got the worst of the merge, easily. NC got some dumbshits (PHX, primarily), but also some good shits. VS got a handful of decent outfits, but they're all small (Waterson VS was apparently in the minority). #MADCUZBAD lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 17:46
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