Strengths and weaknesses of the other two factions

[blashyrk]

Like the title says, write about what you feel are pros and cons of the 2 opposing factions (or all 3 if you have alts). Since I only play as Vanu and don't have alt characters, I can only write about how I feel regarding NC and TR.

Terran Republic
Strengths: I think the area where the TR are unmatched is the air game. Mosquitos are quick, agile, and very hard to hit compared to Scythes and Reavers. TR ground troops have Strikers which are the most potent G2A launchers in the game. Even TR Harassers have the option of equipping Vulcan which can deal with rocketpodding ESFs in a matter of seconds.

Other than that, Fracture MAXes are a formidable force against both infantry and vehicles.

Weaknesses: I seriously can't think of any. Well, except one but that is a non-factor: their cloaked infiltrators are a bit easier to spot when cloaking/decloaking.
This is probably why it's the most populated faction on most servers.

New Conglomerate
Strengths: The Vanguard is probably the best MBT in the game, and with very small tank shell gravity it can even snipe ESFs out of the sky.
The close range game is their for the taking, they usually dominate biolab fights with their ScatMAXes.

Weaknesses: The Reaver has a huge hitbox and kinda looks like a Moskvitch with wings.
Their infantry is severely hindered at a bit higher range.

[Gatekeeper]

As another VS-only player, I'd broadly agree with the OP's summary.

I definitely find the TR tougher to fight against than the NC; on Cobalt it's normally the NC that have the highest population - but they seem to struggle somewhat despite that. Not sure if they're actually weaker, or if the VS and TR are just more organised - but they definitely feel like the most zergy faction.

[War Barney]

Er... our MAX is good very close up but even a biolab has ranges that far outceed its usefulness. And our guns are so bad, I just made another thread comparing the dps of starter heavy gun for NC VS and TR and my god do NC get shafted. The main weakness of the NC is our inferior equipment compared to the other factions.

[Gatekeeper]

Er... our MAX is good very close up but even a biolab has ranges that far outceed its usefulness. And our guns are so bad, I just made another thread comparing the dps of starter heavy gun for NC VS and TR and my god do NC get shafted. The main weakness of the NC is our inferior equipment compared to the other factions.

I'm never that convinced by arguments that hinge on the idea that NC MAX weapons are somehow crippled by their poor range. All AI MAXs are short-range specialists - the TR and VS MAXs having some ability at mid-long range is largely irrelevant - because at that range carbines, ARs and LMGs are all better - so you'd be better off being a squishy.

I guess another way to look at this is to compare shotguns with SMGs. Yes, an SMG has some utility at mid-long range - but that doesn't make it somehow better than a shotgun. It *can* make it more useful, depending on the circumstance, but at the end of the day shotguns are generally still king of close-range combat.

As for the other NC guns, I have to plead ignorance since I don't play NC. But it was my understanding that these days they're pretty decent, and that the Gauss SAW in particular is a strong default.

[AThreatToYou]

An NC Players Approach:

Terran Republic
Strengths: The Prowler MBT excels at anti-infantry duty, making it very difficult for anti-vehicular MAX units to deal with them as they will often return fire. With two shots, they will hit. These vehicles also complicate small base defense and assault scenarios much more than Lightnings or Magriders.

The FracMAX and chaingun MAX excel at mid- to long-range duty, with an emphasis on the long range over NC. TR MAXs in general make it excessively difficult to harass Terran lines with, well, Harassers and Flash units. In addition, Lightnings do not fare well against the FracMAX, whereas RavMAXs will have a hard time hitting their narrow profile, especially if they move.

The mosquito is obviously superior than the Reaver, and the higher rate-of-fire on its G2A missiles makes for a strange side-effect when hitting AA MAXs, tanks, and infantry: smoke screen. You don't get that with the Scythe.

If having the Reaver was not bad enough, the TR get to pound it with the Striker. Beyond that, using liberators against the TR is pretty much out of the question when Strikers are present.

The Marauder-H and Vulcan-H seem much more powerful than either Enforcer variant.

Weaknesses:
Terran Light Assaults and Engineers are significantly less deadly if they are using a carbine, at any range. In this regard, the Terrans might be at a tactical disadvantage in engagements where shotguns can't be used.

Their weapons have a smaller alpha damage, meaning taking a headshot from a Terran player is less significant.

Terran MAXs outside of cover [in the field] are an extreme rarity due to the Phoenix.

Vanu Sovereignty
Strengths: While you could say that the Mosquito is superior to the Reaver, the Scythe will shit on the Reaver every single time. There is no chance in the air against vanu.

Vanu infiltrators are significantly more deadly than Terran infiltrators, period. [NOT TALKING ABOUT SNIPERS]

Unlike the Terrans, the Vanu have competitive Carbines. Vanu LAs and Engineers pose a serious threat. Not only that, but due to the lack of bullet drop on their SMGs and slug shotguns, Vanu infantry units are far more diverse and interesting to fight than Terrans.

They are hard to see at night. No, seriously. This is an especially big deal when you are NC and can't trace your foes shield pops with bullets.

Weaknesses: The Magrider is not a good MBT. It does poorly against Harassers, due to needing to turn to face them, possibly exposing its rear or simply needing to retreat. If it turns, it tends to recieve an arse-full of Phoenix missiles. It also doesn't fare well against the Vanguard.

Despite being a superior ESF, the Scythe's afterburner can be heard from many hexes away. They are not very stealthy.

Vanu MAXs tend to drop easily to Phoenixes. I fear them less than TR MAXs in CQB mostly because the weaknesses of ZOE play very poorly against the high alpha damage of the NC, and the Phoenix.

[Gatekeeper]

Vanu infiltrators are significantly more deadly than Terran infiltrators, period.

What makes Vanu infiltrators stronger than TR ones? I thought the sniper rifles were largely the same across all three factions? And isn't the Repeater generally reckoned to be the strongest pistol?

[blashyrk]

I'm never that convinced by arguments that hinge on the idea that NC MAX weapons are somehow crippled by their poor range. All AI MAXs are short-range specialists - the TR and VS MAXs having some ability at mid-long range is largely irrelevant - because at that range carbines, ARs and LMGs are all better - so you'd be better off being a squishy.


I believe that this doesn't apply to TR Fracture MAXes as they are quite effective at mid range, if not for anything else than because of the really high projectile speed. I haven't actually used one myself so it could have been just very skilled players, though.

[GeoGnome]

On waterson:

VS: The VS on my server are amazingly well organized. There is a core group of very skilled players who are dedicated to holding their own against the superior numbers of both the NC and TR.

NC: The NC on waterson are quite numerous. They provide a good fight, and have some truly gifted outfits.

Overall
VS: The VS have the advantage in attack, but their defensive capabilities depend on aggressively skirmishing. The lack of drop on their rounds means that they are granted a higher level of precision at range, which benefits their snipers and their heavies.

NC: The NC are unstoppable at short range, meaning that as long as they can close the gap, they will usually run over a force. Once they get there, their forces have the health to soak up damage more readily than the VS. Their biggest issue is range though, with very few of their weapons being of any good beyond 40m

[capiqu]

I usually rush in into everything so my feed back would be useless. All i can say is the VS are difficult to see at night, T-ray knew what he was doing :) , and the Tr with their big Red designs are the easiest to spot. But good thread.

[Dragonskin]

All sniper rifles are uniform across the field. Meaning they all suffer from bullet drop at the same rate as their same tier counterpart. The only time this was not true was in beta when VS snipers didn't have bullet drop, but had damage decay over range greater than other factions.

Outside of NC and VS having proxy mines I don't see how a VS infiltrator is more deadly than a NC or TR.

I might have to make a comparision of strengths and weakness when I have time. It would be a long write up though because all 3 empires have different areas that are either a strength or weakness.

[AThreatToYou]

What makes Vanu infiltrators stronger than TR ones? I thought the sniper rifles were largely the same across all three factions? And isn't the Repeater generally reckoned to be the strongest pistol?

I'm not talking about snipers. I am talking about infiltrators. Vanu infils tend to kick a lot more ass than TR infiltrators. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because their SMGs are better.

[Bocheezu]

I've played all three factions fairly significantly (TR - BR62, NC - BR28, VS - BR26) but don't play MAX or vehicles very much, so I don't have too much of an opinion on those. Mostly just HA and LA. Some general observations:

-- Shotgun is a major improvement for all factions. I'd have a difficult time playing without Nighthawk/Piston/Pandora. If that makes me a shitty player, then fine, but I find it useless to compare the CQC capability of different faction's LMGs and carbines when I wouldn't be using either in a CQC situation. Obviously, all the shotguns are the same, so none of the factions have a benefit over any of the others in CQC for me. As far as things that I'm most afraid of in CQC, I'd probably go ScatMAX, then ZOE, then TR MAX. TR MAX I feel I can at least survive and battle against, ZOE I can get a deci off and do some damage before dying, and ScatMAX is still an instant death even with shields up and I might not even get the deci off.

-- I think NC has the best default LMG and carbine, for what I personally use them for. I use them for some very specific situations. In a tower, I use LMG as a defender when I'm farming the stairs. Guass SAW absolutely mows people down in this situation, much more than any other LMG. The damage potential per clip is massive and the only time I duck behind corners is when I need to recharge shields and has nothing to do with needing a reload. I can go 2-3 shield rechargings before I need to reload. It's also pretty good outdoors. I've also tried GD-22S in VR and I seem to like the feel of that weapon better, but I haven't tried it in actual combat. I also like the Mercenary the most out of the default carbines and if I played NC full time, I'm not sure I'd buy another carbine.

I probably have the least experience with VS weaponry. I bought Flare right away over Orion, and a lot of people like the Orion, but I am such a poor shot that a 50-round clip is generally a big weakness for me. I need 75+-round clips for an LMG, especially if it's only a 143-damage LMG. So Orion is no good for me and I use the Flare for my tower stairway camping and outdoor shooting. It's not bad, but not as good as Gauss SAW; it's almost identical to a TMG-50. Solstice is not bad, but I think I would buy other carbines if I put a lot of time into VS.

TR are very similar to VS. I use TMG-50 for tower stair camping and outdoors fighting, and like I said before, it's very similar to the Flare. TRAC-5 and Solstice are similar (TRAC-5 has a higher RoF and wonkier recoil), but the TR options for other carbines are much worse than they are for VS. No high damage/low RoF options, which are the type of weapons I prefer. Overall, I think the TR weapons are my least favorite; they have some high RoF weapons, but most of those are for CQC, and a shotgun's better.

[WSNeo]

Terran Republic
Strengths: High rate of fire, meaning if you are caught off guard for even a moment you're generally going to lose the engagement. This applies to Mosquitoes, infantry with the recently buffed MCG, and locked down Prowlers and MAXes.

Strong mid-range game.

The Mosquito is a monster. They are fast, agile, the ROF on their nosegun is a nightmare, and their profile makes it a pain to hit if you're lined up behind them. Also it seems as if their rocket pods fire faster (and possibly more accurate) than the Scythe's proton pods.

Strikers and lockdown bursters make driving a Mag a huge risk unless you are flanking. Oh yeah and flying near a TR base? Forget about it! The moment you get in range, you hear that "lock on" beeping, and the sky instantly starts glowing red, before you find yourself back in the spawn room.

Weaknesses: Inaccuracy that comes TR having the highest rate of fire.
Prowlers have a very large profile which makes fighting them head-on with a Magrider with AP rounds a breeze.
Striker unable to dumbfire, meaning that I don't feel as threatened when I'm in a MAX.

New Conglomerate
Strengths:

NC dominate most mid range engagements and almost every close range engagement, though it's disappointing that they didn't get their PS1 Jackhammer back.

ScatMAX. Do I really need to explain why? lol

Vanguards are just as deadly against Magriders as they were in Planetside 1. YOU DON'T FIGHT THEM ONE ON ONE UNLESS YOU GET THE FIRST SHOT OFF. Even if you do, if you don't beat them in a DPS race as they will almost always win due to lighter armor and lower damage.

That stupid Vanguard shield.
That stupid MAX shield.

Reaver Air Hammer is one of the more annoying things to deal with.

Phoenix is a great weapon, but I hardly see them as much over the last month or so.

EDIT: Oh yeah and NC snipers, I fucking hate NC snipers. kjdrrdfhjdkjhg

Weaknesses: VS who excel at longer range (lol Lasher/Lancer spam incoming) have a range advantage in the field, but fall off pretty quickly once NC make it into a base, around a craggy area or enclosed space.

Vanguard is slow

Reavers are easy to take advantage of if caught by surprise (And I'm a mediocre pilot).

[Palerion]

Weaknesses:
Terran Light Assaults and Engineers are significantly less deadly if they are using a carbine, at any range. In this regard, the Terrans might be at a tactical disadvantage in engagements where shotguns can't be used.

This does irritate me greatly.

[Ghoest9]

TR have the Repeater which a great alt weapoan as a sniper.



Otherwise its all the same.




EDIT: I guess Vanu black is a situational advantage.

[Varsam]

Way too many specific points to go over for each faction, so I'll keep it broad:

TR

Pros
-great sustainability (high mag counts, rpm, sustained dmg)
-good speed
-versatile max
-the striker. =\

Cons
-accuracy
-projectile velocity
-homogeneous weapons (particularly LMGs)
-lockdown =[

VS

Pros
-great versatility
-good mobility
-low recoil
-ZOE =\

Cons
-magrider design
-spandex
-again, homogeneous weapon design
-charge-up mechanic =[

NC

Pros
-great burst dmg
-Great dmg in general
-accuracy
-Scatmax =\

Cons
-recoil
-lack of speed, mobility
-lego's
-Scatmax =[