Cycler > ???

[QKittie]

I'll throw in my two cents about my experiences with cycler, unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with the other faction weapons to name them.

That said, I've been in a large number of infantry fights and have experimented enthusiastically with all of the heavy weapons available to the Terrans. I'll say the same as the previous poster, that I think the Terran cycler is extremely user friendly, but that the difference for the more experienced players doesn't outweigh skill. What he said about gunning down the strafers at medium to long range strikes a chord with my experience.

At long range against kneeling targets I win 1/2 against solo NC and 1/3 against the nasty vanu high damage energy rifle which hurts and seems to be extremely accurate too.

If the enemy starts leaping around and strafing side to side, my percentage jumps way up, to 75%+ against NC and probably even against Vanu (dang energy weapon hurts, whatever it is). The lesson is, if you are leaping around like a monkey at full assault rifle range, don't even bother complaining about rifle balance, you are dead meat whatever you carry.

The third category is players I engage at range who manage to close the distance using trees/hill/ridges cover and skillful dodging to close the range. I see this most often from skilled NC players, who will promptly blow me away with their shotgun. Players good enough to do this will usually beat me, partly because the cycler clip will only last a scant few seconds and so if you miss your first burst, you are caught reloading at the worst time.

I'll repeat that last part for those of you tallying up weapon strengths and weaknesses, in outdoor settings where there is a ton of room to dodge and strafe around, the short range fights are often 75% missed shots in my experience. The cycler clip only lasts a couple seconds as a burst, and controlling bullets from a cycler while dodging for your life and aiming is not an easy task. I'd much rather have my finger permanently down for those fights, as I suspect our NC friends do with that seriously nasty shotgun, freeing them up to concentrate on aim and dodging.

QKittie

[adaeus]

i'm a croucher too, but i was noticing that at decent distances a TR guy would be running at me, standing, just going full auto on me, and beating the hell out of me, usually i win because not many people understand the use of medkits, but sometimes i just get whomped by the sheer mass of bullets it outputs.

who cares if your cof is huge when you've got so many chances to hit! lol

ill have to look out for any recent changes in the gun.

btw, jackhammer is not worth 4 points !

ill take a sweeper for 2 thanx!

[Airlift]

If we are talking about outdoor combat, I would take a Gauss every time. If we are talking about indoor combat, I would either go with the Cycler or the Sweeper. The Pulsar is ok, but I almost never choose to use it over the other options available. On the other hand, on the server where I play Vanu, I am certed for Special Weapons so I usually tote those around. As NC, I spend most of my time using stolen Terran Pistols, because my NC character is an infiltrator. On the TR server, I spend all my time in either a Prowler or a Deliverer, and when I get out it is the Cycler.

All balance issues aside, the Cycler is the best Medium Assault Rifle because it sounds like the Marine pulse rifle from Aliens.

[Chryse]

I see a lot of my TR comrades using the Cycler all wrong; going all-out, rock 'n' roll, full auto... while running around all over the place. They need to use entire clips to kill enemies because they have bought into a "spray and pray" mentality.

Little do they realize that their kill tallies would improve if they utilized a simple trick. The trick to using the Cycler is control . Instead of keeping the trigger squeezed till ammo is burned, the Cycler should be fired in short 3-5 round bursts. Once the COF begins to expand, cut the burst then wait a beat and fire another burst. Not only do you increase the chances of hitting, you conserve ammo.

The only time I go full auto is when I am in cramped quarters, at point blank range.

[QKittie]

Heheh Chryse, that took me a whole week to figure out and is something I've been showing frieinds ever since in the VR room.

However, if you play NC or Vanu on Marakov, I think the best strategy for long range fights is to remain standing, or alternate standing and crouching, and throw in a few small jinks side to side to make it interesting. If you could wear pink bunny ears while doing so, I'd be even more amused.

Seriously, I have no idea how terran cyclers can hit people while running with cycler on full automatic. Surely you must be thinking of indoor fights, or medium to short range firefights. I know when trying to hit far off targets, I have to be on a knee and spitting as few bullets as possible to reliably hit anything. The vanu energy weapon seems to be able to hit me while its user is running, maybe it has splash damage or something.

I hate the darn NC steerable missle. Nothing worse than hitting someone with 5-6 volleys to have them step behind a rock and start launching up those wobbly missles. Unless I think I can survive a charge all the way over to them, I'll often just run run run for my life when I see that, and hope that they find somebody else to shoot at. In open areas, or with just a few trees/rocks that thing is NASTY to try to get away from. Maybe I'll go try out surge implant tonight.

QKittie

[adaeus]

I may be weird but with my guass I rarely even burst, its more like fast clicking of the mouse, so i'm shooting almost as fast as normal, but not quite, and it keeps the COF under perfect control.

Might not work for cycler as you'd have to click much faster perhaps to get the effectiveness.

Works on the gauss though, enemies really far, just keep tappin the mouse button and poppin shots into them hehe.

[tmartinez72]

I have most of my kills with a cycler.

It has great accuracy over range when you crouch. Three shots at a time, and before they know where you firing from, they're almost dead.

Indoors, it's also great. The ROF is fantastic. The COF doesn't matter at close range. You'll hit. It rips through health fast.

My next fav weapon is the Thumper on secondary firing mode. It's EXTREMELY effective indoors. With the delayed times, you can bounce the grenade around corners. My record is five kills with one shot. I wasn't even tounched.

[Freedon]

I am far more effective outdoors with the gauss then I am with the cycler. In doors the cycler is mean but out side the gauss wins hands down. But that could just be me.