Medium Assault Strategy Guide!

[Biohazzard56]

Medium Assault Strategy Guide
By Biohazzard56 ([email protected])

Hello everyone at PSU! This will be my first strategy guide and I feel that this is a popular subject and certainly a popular certification. This guide will cover tips and tricks for all the Medium Assault Weapons. The weapons covered in this guide are: Punisher, Sweeper, Guass, Cycler, Pulsar, and the Spiker pistol. If the PSU Community likes these guides ill do some more. Enjoy!

Medium Assault is a very flexible cert, if your starting out I reccomend this and the ATV cert. Medium Assault (MA) only costs two cert points. If you are a New Conglomerate solider you will get the Guass, If you�re a Terran Republic solider you will get the Cycler, and if you�re a member of the Vanu Sovereignty you will get the Pulsar. Each weapon has its own strengths and weakness that represent the themes of each empire.


Punisher:
Source: Common Pool
Handling: Rifle
Damage: Medium
Maximum Range: Long
Recoil Penalty: Low
Refire Rate: Fast
Certifications Needed: Medium Assault

The Punisher is a Common Pool assault rifle it�s a very flexible weapon with a 1 round grenade launcher on it capable of firing Rocklets, Fragmentation, Jammer Grenades, and Plasma Grenades. Although less accurate a handful of people still use it due to the grenade feature. Since the only feature that stands out from the Empire specific assault rifles are the grenades only use this weapon when you need to spam a base�s backdoor with grenades for example.

Tips for using the Punisher:
Crouch when firing at longer ranges (while roomed)
Use plasma grenades on crowded areas
Suppress enemies with grenades then send in your troops (preferably plasma)
Fire in bursts at longer ranges
Go Full-Auto at VERY close range




Sweeper:
Source: Common Pool
Handling: Shotgun
Damage: High
Maximum Range: Medium
Refire Rate: Medium
Certifications Needed: Medium Assault

The Sweeper is a shotgun, which means its useful at close range, it�s a good alternative to the Jackhammer for non-NC. Its essentially the same as the Jackhammer with lower RoF (Rate of fire) , and doesn�t have the secondary fire all barrels feature.

Tips for using the Sweeper Shotgun:
Use at close range
Aim for the torso
Use indoors

Spiker:
Source: Ancient-tech
Handling: Pistol
Damage: Medium
Maximum Range: Long
Refire Rate: Medium
Certifications Needed: Medium Assault

The Spiker Pistol is an AT weapon only available underground or at a base with the �Equipment Module installed. It�s a good choice for cloakers only taking 3 shots if timed correctly. Anyone else in a combat role shouldn�t bother with it. I have heard stories of cloakers shooting at long ranges with a charged spiker so if your into that kinda of stuff go for it.

Tips for using Spiker:
Learn to time your shots
Fire from longer ranges if you�re a cloaker

Guass (New Conglomerate)
Source: New Conglomerate
Handling: Assault Rifle
Damage: High
Maximum Range: Long
Refire Rate: Fast
Certifications Needed: Medium Assault

The Guass rifle is the weapon of choice for the New Conglomerate, it�s a very accurate gun with good damage. It has a 30 round clip sometimes not enough during close range battles. Here are my tips for my favorite weapon the Guass Rifle :)

Tips for using Guass:
This gun can snipe in 4x zoom, crouch , zoom in and fire off 1, 2 ,maybe 3 shots at a time and you get more kills than you think like this (especially with advanced targeting).
Fire in short bursts at medium-long range
During a close range firefight when you run out of ammo switch to a fallback weapon (another rifle if reinforced). Or a pistol with a high RoF (AMP Pistol is ideal)
Practice and get a feel for this weapon and you will own with it

Cycler (Terran Republic)
Source: Terran Republic
Handling: Assault Rifle
Damage: Medium
Maximum Range: Long
Refire Rate: Very Fast
Certifications Needed: Medium Assault
The Cycler is another weapon of choice , it�s the best Empire specific weapon in close ranges due to its high RoF and 50 round clip. Easy to find you should often loot these weapons, the cycler fits the terran theme of fast firing weapons. Surprisingly you can snipe with this weapon with a 4x Zoom, crouch down, fire let off 1 or 2 rounds and you could get a few kills this way. Arguably the best Medium Assault weapon.

Tips for Using the Cycler:
Practice
Learn to circle strafe effectively making this weapon, a lot more devastating
Crouch as always when firing at longer ranges

Pulsar (Vanu Sovereignty)
Source: Vanu Sovereignty
Handling: Energy Discharge
Damage: Medium
Maximum Range: Long
Refire Rate: Fast
Certifications Needed: Medium Assault

In my opinion the Guass�s cousin , maybe not as much damage but still a very accurate weapon with a high RoF everything ideal about an assault rifle is represented in the Pulsar. Making this weapon another popular loot item. Using the Vanu standard energy ammo it has an exclusive secondary fire feature for AP (Armor Piercing) without changing out types of ammo. Making a squad or more of these in unison a deadly combination for aircraft and other light vehicles. This is a great feature a lot of times when the other empires have to switch to ammo types and the vehicle is gone and it also can conserve ammo where as bullet weapons have to carry special AP rounds the vanu have it all in one.

Tips for using the Pulsar:
Its essentially the same as all the other assault rifles so im going to use my Guass notes:
This gun can snipe in 4x zoom, crouch , zoom in and fire off 1, 2 ,maybe 3 shots at a time and you get more kills than you think like this (especially with advanced targeting).
Fire in short bursts at medium-long range
During a close range firefight when you run out of ammo switch to a fallback weapon (another rifle if reinforced). Or a pistol with a high RoF (AMP Pistol is ideal)
Practice and get a feel for this weapon and you will own with it

I hope everyone enjoyed my Tips for these great weapons in Planetside, if you have anymore tips ideas or any comments PM me on the PSU forums at Biohazzard56, AIM me at Biohazzard56, or e-mail me at [email protected] The best tips will be selected and posted at the bottom of the article.

Submitted Tips:

[VashTheStamped]

nice :brow:

[Jagd]

Yeah, good tips. I think you should add that the sweeper is the best freaking gun in the game, and that everyone should carry one at all times.

[VashTheStamped]

i like the JH better thanks. :p

[Biohazzard56]

*waits for the JH flame posts* nice choice of words vash :P

[Jagd]

You would. Filthy NC rabble-rousers. :P~

[Rayder]

You forgot to mention the pulsar has 40 rounds, is the most accurate of the medium assault rifles during full-auto.

The guass has the most accurate immidiate 4 shots I think, e.g. First 4 shots are the most accurate out of all the med rifles.

Other than that, good job :D

[flypengy]

TTK:

Cycler > Pulsar > Gauss

But I will never give up my gauss.

[I Hate Pants]

People use the HA weapons too much. I prefer my cycler over the MCG any day. Infact I found someone who uses the surpressor as thier main weapon, and he was NC! Wow! I give credit to anyone who can score just as many kills with a suppresor as they could with a jh. He said he found it to be the most accurate rifle in the game. I think i'll give it a try some time.

I dunno about you guys. But I prefer to work for my kills thank you very much.

[1024]

suppressor is the most accurate. i jsut happen to use it as my main. although i dont have the certs for anyhting else. :durr: im a cloaker.

[Cider_Ownz]

I'm TR but I just can't get the cycler to work for me......

I do love the gauss thu. Manye times I have considered switching to NC because I like that weapon, but then again- how can I live without my dual 100mm prowler cannons? :D .

[Biohazzard56]

But I will never give up my gauss.

Guass does own if used correctly; btw why does everyone give NC a guilt trip over not working for their kills

[SilverLord]

Well, I used to use the Cycler and Punisher back in the day when I was a big time reinforced grunt that couldn't kill anything. I got rid of the Punisher and got a sweeper for indoor fights so I could combat the ever strong JH. I got my MCG now and, well...it owns all you lasher users and JH pricks. :p

[Liquidtide]

I'm NC and I still loot as many MCGs and Cyclers as possible. I like the cycler bc of the small COF compared to the ROF. Much better for just "pull the trigger and spray" where as the gauss is shooting the walls and ceiling your buddy behind you but not you :D.

~Tide

[321]

i like the JH better thanks. :p

[infinite loop]

TTK:

Cycler > Pulsar > Gauss

But I will never give up my gauss.

If you consider the equal rof by using single-fire tapping of the MA rifles, the Gauss has the fastest TTK by a good margin. It is difficult to master, but if you get good at it, you can down someone at 50m in a couple of seconds. Even just using short bursts, 3 at a time to be exact, I'll take my gauss over any other MA for it's accuracy and damage per shot.

i like the JH better thanks. :p

Yeah me too. I hate the sweeper.

[Queensidecastle]

I just wanted to chime in and dispell the notion that the Sweeper is almost the same as the Jackhammer. This isnt even close to acurate. The Jackhammer does far more health and armor damage per shot. Combined with a faster rate of fire and double the clip size, there is no comparison between the two weapons.

Also the Cycler always ownz the Gauss because it is so much more acurate. The Gauss does have more power per shot at long range but if your stupid enough to get in a MA duel with a Gauss user at long range you deserve to get pwned. If you close the distance to effective Cycler distance, the Gauss doesnt even stand a chance. Lots of TR just dont do this and will continue to get pwned at long range. Its a shame too when the concept is so simple

[BDMJ]

You're right! The sweeper is much better than the JH :p

It has much better range, a faster reload time, and the same shots per kill. With the added range, it is able to outdo the JH at every range but point blank.

[Queensidecastle]

At the range where you want to use a shotgun, the Jackhammer just simply out performs the Sweeper in every way. That performance may not be enough for some people to justify a whole 4 points dedicated to it, but your going to be a hell of a lot more effective at killing if that is your desire

[infinite loop]

You're right! The sweeper is much better than the JH :p

It has much better range, a faster reload time, and the same shots per kill. With the added range, it is able to outdo the JH at every range but point blank.

I guess it depends on how you use it. I don't use my JH at anything but point-blank range. It is ok at short-medium range, but not very effective. Outdoors I use the gauss exclusively, and indoors the JH. At point-blank range (under 15m or so), I'll take my JH anyday over the sweeper. The sweeper is a nice gun for some, but only if you are not NC with HA.

[Jagd]

I'll take a jackhammer on with my sweeper any day. It's all about landing that first chest shot, and since I'm a crafty bugger I beat Jackhammers down all the time. Although I do admit that I used to trade for them constantly when I was TR cause I liked them so much more than the MCG. Now that I play mostly VS I don't even bother with Heavy Assault.

[infinite loop]

I can honestly only remember losing a 1-vs-1 dual to a sweeper user once in all of my playtime with my JH. I'm not saying you can't be effective with a sweeper, but rather a good JH user should usually beat a good sweeper user. But at the range some people use the sweeper at, the JH is not effective, and MA is king. The sweeper seems to be a good close to mid-range weapon, but not great at either on it's own.

[Jagd]

Well use the sweeper with your TR character for a while, and you'll see how powerful it is. The pellet spread is tighter than the JH so you need to be more accurate with your aim, but it only takes one or two more shots to kill someone.

[infinite loop]

I might try it, but I so love my new MCG :D

[Queensidecastle]

Yeah, the MCG totally owns the Sweeper. If you have HA there isnt ever a reason to use a Sweeper