Why is NC so Popular?

[Trafalgar]

But of course. If you look at the new lore, it's obvious that the NC only know how to say "WTB liberty plox" to the TR. Sadly, the TR will not sell liberty for any price. They've recycled it into guns and bombs already.

[MrKWalmsley]

Ok, here is why I chose NC. Primarily I will be playing as a sniper, and a pilot. And when I say sniper, I mean sniping, not the CoD version of it which could be more accurately described as combat marksmen or CQ marksmen.

1. (TR) Quick fire, low damage shots are not tactically viable for a sniper. As the more shots you have to fire, the longer it takes to take an enemy down giving them time to take cover or at the very least react. More bullets also mean a severe increase in change of being spotted, as one bullet can catch you off guard, but as you pump out loads the enemy has the time to see where the bullets are coming from.

2. (VS) Medium damage portrays the same thing, especially when the shots get weaker over larger distances and the shot itself is far brighter. The only thing that is advantageous about VS weaponry is its slight increase in damage about the TR, and the fact that there is no bullet drop. But at the end of the day I would rather miss my target due to bullet drop and not be detected so I can move to another position and try again, than being able to hit the enemy but giving away my position, eliminating my advantage as a sniper.

So the obvious choice is to go for the NC as they have a far more powerful rifle which conveys more bonuses than just it's damage. Besides, I have a thing for bolt action rifles, I love to pace myself.

Now when it comes to piloting, VS or TR would actually be preferable for the interceptor role, but more often than not I take the air-to-ground role when in an aircraft which is capable of hovering and has missile pods, so power then becomes an advantage over speed when your job is to overwhelm an area.

Having said all of this it is an extremely hard choice to make for me. It is a shame VS look very anime, I happen to like purple, and the scythe.

[Trafalgar]

I too like the 'more powerful, less shots' paradigm, but how viable it will be for non-sniping for me will depend on how much latency/lag I experience, I expect.

I have a feeling I would have more fun with the vehicles and scythe than with infantry stuff, except I haven't got a joystick and so may not be able to compete with anyone that does in air battles. I suppose we'll see (or I may buy a wired xbox controller, because I think two sticks is pretty much perfect for controlling planes/fighters/etc, as long as the controls are configurable).

So I'm torn between NC "More powerful if you can aim! More armor too! Win-win!" and the VS niftyness (despite ranged damage falloff and very visible weapon effects).

[Crator]

Is the sniper weapons empire specific? I don't think it will matter which empire you play based on the sniper weaponry though I suppose I could be wrong. <shrug>

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Crator

Is the sniper weapons empire specific? I don't think it will matter which empire you play based on the sniper weaponry though I suppose I could be wrong. <shrug>

They are this time around, yes. You can see some footage of each of them in the E3 livestream. Day 2 had a lot of infiltrators, IIRC.

[MrKWalmsley]

Originally Posted by Crator

Is the sniper weapons empire specific? I don't think it will matter which empire you play based on the sniper weaponry though I suppose I could be wrong. <shrug>

Yeah they are empire specific, and although you will be able to customize the weapons for your own gamplay, as said in the E3 vids you will not be able to say increase the power of a TR sniper to that of NC, but you will have some variety within it.

So basically you can to the best of my knowledge increase TR weapon damage and lower rate of fire but not nearly to the extent of NC weapons. Or you could increase range so bullet drop becomes less of a problem with TR and NC but you will not be able to get rid of bullet drop entirely for those factions. So it is flexibility within the factions own limits to bring them close to each other but not overlapping.

[MacXXcaM]

Originally Posted by Dart

To me NC always seemed to be the youngest population in PS1, TR seemed to attract more of the 'military-style' players than either of the other Empires and VS was (and should always be) the lowest populated Empire.

Hm, I was indeed attracted by the real-life military style... but to the NC.

TR with its underslung gattlinguns rushing into cqc had nothing realistic to me... They are more the pseudo oppressive bad 80s movies evil faction ^^

NC are the only ones that have some reminiscences to real world armies.

[MrKWalmsley]

Originally Posted by MacXXcaM

TR with its underslung gattlinguns rushing into cqc had nothing realistic to me...

If there is anything I am not looking forward to in PS, it's people running around with heavy weapons Rambo style. I know it was in the original PS, but to me it just really pulls me out of militaristic style gameplay and just reminds me too much of Quake and Halo. Not to start another flame war over comparing it to these kinds of games, but to me that's just the case.

But back on topic I really do hope that the factions balance out in the actual game, and I hope that NC does not end up being filled with Halo converts seeking this to be their new arcade-y FPS.

[Dairian]

NC isn't popular right now TR are way ahead. Hell even VS is above NC in FB app. Oh and the FB app doesn't apply is crap. Like all the TR use FB and NC don't. pshh

[Dairian]

Originally Posted by MacXXcaM

Hm, I was indeed attracted by the real-life military style... but to the NC.

TR with its underslung gattlinguns rushing into cqc had nothing realistic to me... They are more the pseudo oppressive bad 80s movies evil faction ^^

NC are the only ones that have some reminiscences to real world armies.

They said that all three of the faction HA will be hip slung weapons not just the Chaingun. And in real like the mini gun is hip slung. And with a powered suits with shields and such. I am not to sure how real life the game ever was.

[MrKWalmsley]

Originally Posted by Dairian

NC isn't popular right now TR are way ahead. Hell even VS is above NC in FB app. Oh and the FB app doesn't apply is crap. Like all the TR use FB and NC don't. pshh

Having more people isn't a bragging right you know. I'd rather be on the team with the less people if we are going to talk about numbers.

[Meriv]

Originally Posted by MrKWalmsley

Having more people isn't a bragging right you know. I'd rather be on the team with the less people if we are going to talk about numbers.

Yes playing outnumbered is nice but in exchange we TR will get a lot more meat shields

[Dairian]

Originally Posted by MrKWalmsley

Having more people isn't a bragging right you know. I'd rather be on the team with the less people if we are going to talk about numbers.

I agree with you I would rather be on the side with less numbers so I have a better chance to kill someone. But i don't think I will have that problem in PS2. I am sure it will always be pop locked with all three factions even if NC don't have the numbers. Unless you play on a newer server. But the first servers will be packed to the hilt. I am not worried.

[MrKWalmsley]

Originally Posted by Meriv

Yes playing outnumbered is nice but in exchange we TR will get a lot more meat shields

How very militaristic of you... infact while we are on the subject I find it weird that the TR being the most militaristic of groups would be the one who favours spray and pray, low damage and fast fire crappy old fashioned weapons and preferring to skit around with hardly any armour when that seems to be insurgency tactics! And yet the insurgency faction uses accurate high powered and advanced weapons and uses heavy armour. Very strange if you ask me. If only TR actually were what they are supposed to be maybe my militaristic side wouldn't be calling me to NC.

[Trafalgar]

I would not be surprised to find a sizable number of NC players and potential NC players who were unwilling to use Facebook. Obviously, there is no proof, but neither is the facebook app in any way a realistic representative sample of prospective Planetside 2 players.