TR Maxes

[Geist]

I actually miss the old Pounder. Despite it's extremely obvious OPness, the outside thinking of a dual-wielding grenade launcher AI MAX and a Armor piercing minigun AV MAX was awesome. It's one of the many thing that got me to go TR in the first place.

[BorisBlade]

The tr max isnt bad and no you dont need to lockdown to be balanced, they fixed that long ago. The damage is balanced without lockdown, the boost you get when locked down is all bonus. The closer quarters of most indoor fights tho, the scat max is da shiz, exp with the shield. However the fire rate boost of lockdown and overdrive can really pump out the hurt. The AV and AA versions get the most benefit imo.

[Redshift]

Originally Posted by BorisBlade

The tr max isnt bad and no you dont need to lockdown to be balanced, they fixed that long ago. The damage is balanced without lockdown, the boost you get when locked down is all bonus. The closer quarters of most indoor fights tho, the scat max is da shiz, exp with the shield. However the fire rate boost of lockdown and overdrive can really pump out the hurt. The AV and AA versions get the most benefit imo.

That's just not true, the unlocked dmg is far lower than other MAX's.
Overdrive was a band aid, not a cure for lockdown being rubbish.

[Metalsheep]

The Pounder, with Overdrive, can BARELY beat a Falcon or a Comet 1v1. I spent much of my Planetside career as a dedicated TR MAX. It takes the additional boost of Pshield to trump the other two AV MAXs typically in a straight up slug-fest. Now, locked down, the Pounder absolutely destroys the other two.

The Dual Tickler is a joke without lockdown, but Overdrive mode gives it a few seconds to actually be able to kill something on its own. Locking down is suicidal.

The Burster is also worthless without lockdown, even overdrive dosent give it enough fire rate to be very effective. And locking down immediately makes you vulnerable to Reavers and AV.

The Lockdown mode to me made more sense when the Pounder was the AI MAX and the DC was the AV MAX. Indoors, the pounders lockdown could let it strike around corners to keep people from just jumping out and popping decis in his face, and outdoors the DC had the long open areas to hit vehicles with its wall of lead.

If lockdown returns, it should provide some kind of Armor/Shield increase, or damage mitigation while locked down. A locked MAX should be a tactical and priority target that you cant just take head on. I had the idea that since TR MAXs have BOTH a lockdown and a capacitor, that when the TR MAX locks down, it uses its Capacitor as a front-facing shield.

[Trolltaxi]

Locked down AA was a beast - you only had to keep in mind that you mustn't lock down anywhere. Place your back against a wall, a tree, maybe a hillside will do (don't expose your shilouette). Learn where the air comes from. Face the direction. Duckhunt begins.

Locked down AV needed a lot of support. Again, you had to go stealth with it. Indoors you had to face the entry point with one edge of your turning arc, so you weren't as easy to ran past and you could fire at the enemy longer. I may link a video of pounders used in a tower (supported by the rest of the squad, we killed 13 maxes there - currently waiting to be uploaded). It was great when holding gens too.

Outside you had to cover yourself and use the arc of the shells to effectively hit armour. Or even hoovering aircraft.

The AI was a bad joke.

Actually, all TR MAXs were rather defensive.

[Kur]

I tried them out again today, had more success with the AV one but over all the fact you can't pivot entirely when in lockdown made me a sitting duck for the aircraft I was meant to be hunting. Eventually I just returned to my supportive role of engineering and medical.

[Talek Krell]

Lock down is a difficult tool to use effectively. I think it was probably never balanced right. The good news is that PS2 MAXes are getting a major overhaul. Lockdown becomes a modular ability and should be interchangeable with other options.

[Trolltaxi]

Here is the vid.


It's a towerdrop mady by a full gal, 2 pounders and some randoms (well, more of them around ground level). I was the other max when this was shot. (I do the usual "rush to CC" tactic first, but I was told on TS to get back into the line. They had a training I missed, I have just joined 2 minutes before this drop. I was briefed on spot and there you are. There are at least 13 NC maxes on the floor, not even mentioning the squishees...

The guy making the movie forgot to change to 3 seconds fuse (for bouncing shells around the corner), but you'll get the idea. When the first wave of the defenders disappear, SL goes down a half level to peak around the corner, then orders to move and set up the formation. Rince - repeat.

That's how all staircases should have been cleared in the TR way. It may look a bit slow, but it cracks towers pretty well. Works harder against vanu maxes (unless we have allies around the tower who deal with the flying maxes).