Infantry weapon balance, my take

[Banditman]

You guys really need to read Chavr's test data on the different weapons. He did an excellent job and the information he collected is nothing but facts collected thru hard work.

[Knuckles]

Got a link for us, Banditman?

[Banditman]

I wish I did, the beta forums were wiped when PS was released. If you post on the main forums and ask for Chavr, he would probably get to you pretty quick.

Edit: The "General" forums at planetside.com that is.

[LesserShade]

Originally posted by King0liver
Pistols as sidearms are almost worthless as well in that reloading times and weapon switching times are almost the same.

Not true. If two MA grunts are duking it out at pretty close ranges and they both need to reload at the same time, it is much faster to pull out a second weapon like a pistol and finish your opponent off than it is to reload. Now mind you, a pistol sidearm is a pretty low priority when there are more useful things to stuff in your pistol slots like banks, med applicators, reks and so forth.

Also, for AV whores like myself, I usually throw a pistol in my indoor AV loadout which usually consists of a striker and shotgun. The pistol makes a great sidearm when using the shottie because you have to reload that thing so frequently.

[Plato]

I'd just like to add that the sweeper shotgun is a load of crap. I rarely see it being used, ROF is dreadful. Load it up with AP rounds and it takes about 3 clips to kill a max...

The mini-gun is terrible in that it just cannot shoot straight. It's useless against NC because you have to get up close and their Jackhammer will be instant death for you. I frequently see 3 Jackhammer kills appearing on my screen within the space of 5 secs from the same guy. The only mini-gun I've seen so far in release is one on a corpse. I guess people didn't like the accuracy in training..

I don't have a lot of Max experience but it seems mobility is a better choice than digging in the TR max units. Dig in your max at the cc, you're going to get hit twice w/ a Decimator before you know it...all for about 50% ROF increase. I'd have to agree the VS jumping ability is by far the best. The only counter to it is locking on with a striker..

[Banditman]

Actually, the sweeper is a nice weapon . . . but ONLY inside. I've found it especially functional in the basement areas of the bases where line of sight is very limited.

[Plato]

Yeah but there's no getting away from the poor ROF.. It appears to me that there are better alternatives in every situation... especially if you're TR

[LesserShade]

Wow. The sweeper is fantastic indoors. I have an alternate indoor loadout for all my standard loadouts that replaces the cycler with a shotgun.

Yeah it used to be pretty mediocre, but in the patch that beefed up the jackhammer, they beefed up the sweeper too, that thing absolutely owns in close quarters.

[Shin1gami]

I find it very annoying that you can't really see if you're hitting things at longer ranges unless you have advanced targeting. They could add some blood or smoke or something... just for the satisfaction of it... as long as they don't overdo it, like in CS, where a single shot will spray a gallon af blood on the wall behind your enemy.

In my experience the Gauss is superiour to the cycler at long range because of the accuracy and greater damage, but up close the cycler just rips you apart. I picked up a pulsar once, but I threw that away fast.

[Winged_Nazgul]

Originally posted by Shin1gami
I picked up a pulsar once, but I threw that away fast.

Try being VS and having to put up with that POS.

[Plato]

I have not used it in a while, I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for the info

[EnderCN]

If you really think the VS max are the best... you've obviously never used them. The TR AV max is better vs infantry than the VS AI max. The VS AV max is more or less worthless compared to other max, its able to kill max and thats it, terrible against infantry(unlike at least the tr) and can't hit vehicles unless they just sit there(all max have this issue though).

The lasher is the worst HA weapon as far as simply killing people close up. Its a little better at range than the others and the lashing can be nice though hardly great. Its definetly not better than the other HA. The lancer is a pretty nice weapon, that and the magrider are really the only thing VS has... that and the jump ability that is offset by the other civs bonuses.

[Jarlo]

Magrider and Lancer are what make VS really good.

VS max are pretty weak, I play the NC Scattercannon max alot and that damn thing never has to reload. VS max (AI) goes thru a clip in a few seconds and even at medium range the accuracy is TERRIBLE.

[LesserShade]

good god the magrider.. I swear, I'm more afraid of that floating death raft than I am of the vanguard at this point. The guns are alright, but it's just levels infantry. Between it's ability to strafe and Emerald's comical lag it is 100% to stop one of these things from making you road kill, even with AV.