Specific Q's for those who have played

[Lexington_Steele]

The phoenix is not largely imbalanced in terms of overall faction ballance.

The phoenix recently went through a nerf, that the previous poster missed.

The phoenix is the best AV weapon. However the Minichaingun is hands down the best anti infantry weapon.

The jackhammer is garbage and only useful at point blank range.

The minichaingun is useful at medium range, it is a great anti-vehicle weapon, and is better than the jackhammer at close range.

There is a bigger difference between the jackhammer and the minichaingun than there is between the phoenix and the striker.

The terrans own at close combat. (lets all remeber that capping bases takes place indoors not outdoors)

If you take away the NC advantage over the terrans at long range, then the Terrans will simply own them.

As it stands right now, there is a great overall balance between hte TR and the NC.

If there is a significant nerf to the Phoenix, there must be a significant nerf to the minichaingun.

[LLMerc]

Actualy, while I doo agree the chaingun is overpowered, I do not think it should be nerfed but the other 2 should be increased in power. As is, 4 cert points are a heafty cost for heavy assault. It should be worth while. The chaingun is, other ones are not.

Chaingun will be useless against vehicle after the next patch (as per dev chat) So will any bullet based weapon (AP or no)

The problem with the situation is that while the chaingun is overpowered, it is not the only way to kill infantry. Gauss does very well also. Not nearly as good, but prety damn good. However, there is only one true choice for AV (don't mention the decimator, since any shmuck in a reaver or max can avoid it. ) So empire specific weapons for AV need to be balanced against eachother.

Also, saying that TR owns NC if you take away long range, I could say NC owns TR if you take away close range. In order to get to close range, you need to go through long range, and if only 33% of your guys make it, then the odds are against them even at close range, simply due to the numbers. Everyone on NC has sniping capability, be it boltdriver, phoenix or gauss. Only bolt driver is good for sniping as a TR. Even Vanu can use the lancer.

I'm not whining though. Battles are prety damn close now days, but there is still some balancing to be done, namely on the phoenix (nerf) gauss (tiny nerf) chaingun (nerf) striker(fix lock) etc etc

As is, TR are also the only empire who can not use their AV weapons against infantry at anything but the shortest range. I've however been sniped by both lancers and phoenixes.

[Lexington_Steele]

Once again capping bases occurs indoors. Indoors there is only close combat. Dominating close combat is a huge advantage.

I do not want to see cookie cutter factions. I think certain factions should be stronger than others in different catagories.

You seem to want a perfect balance within each catagory. If this is what you want, please include mention of a boost to the Jackhammer when you talk about nerfing the phoenix.

The way your first post read you only were seeking a nerf of the phoenix. Nerfing the phoenix without a change to the heavy assault weapons is not balance.

Please remeber that overall balance is more important that microbalance.

[MrVulcan]

Well,I am just suprised that the jackhammer is so bad, I had thought that with the chain gun, the TR would own med range fights, but wit hthe jackhammer, NC would own short, and with the great accuracy/mobility of the Vanu, they would own long range

Man i need to play this game

[Hudson]

Originally posted by Hunter-R
The gauss is awesome outside... In a big forest battle outside of Gunuku last night the TR were taking probably 3-1 losses trying to get those NC pricks outa our woods!

That being said, I took my little chaingun, and regen implant, and destroyed a squad of NC by myself in a CQB situation. So it all ballances out. (to be honest it was only 6 of them, and their MAX friend enjoyed ripping me up with his shotgun, but... still NC indoor=weak)

The pulsar Blows goats ATM but Smokejumper said that they found a coding flaw with it, and will be increasing it's damage. As far as it placing more ammo on target, I found the Gauss to be more accurate, so Vanu don't have that little tech edge yet IMHO.

As far as mobility. The Vanu have a Tank that can Strafe and when used correctly is a FREAKING beast to kill (the only medium tank in the game where the Drive controls the weapon, someone good with it is devestatin despite all the whining) I shudder when a MAgrider aproaches, and wait for the rapid fire heavy laser barrage to rip me up! Thankfully not many people are hip to how harsh it is yet. Their Max ability to jump makes me twitch as well. When fighting anyone else you know where the MAxxes can get into your base... Vanu, all bets are off.

And while the Reaver looks scarry when firing rockets (about 24 in 10 seconds or less) Those rockets are inaccurate against anything but tanks and slow moving vehicles, they do next to nothing against inf (though I hope they increase the splash dammage) and you can at the max only cary 3 full reloads for a total of 96 rockets (and that's not as many as it sounds)

So fear not VANU players, they really are good. Just under used at the momment, and a bit harder to play to their strengths. Just another example of where a squad will rock when the solo player sinks

PAX

I was at Gunuku, on NC though, that was one HELL of a fight. Had alot of fun

[FliggenMan]

if the cone of fire is expanding and shots are being fired to more random positions within that expanding cone, then that is recoil. will some1 please clarify for me now---does this happen with certain weapons?

[FliggenMan]

also, i think nerfing the pheonix's mobility is a good idea, but not its firepower. nerfing th firepower takes from the NC's strength and giving it too much mobility takes from the VS's strength.

[Zhor_Prime]

while yes, the actual capping of bases does occur inside, the battle is won and lost outside (no ANT, no base if under heavy siege), and NC does this oh so very well at Kaang if they take the tower up the hill from it to the East.

[Prowler]

Originally posted by Zhor_Prime
while yes, the actual capping of bases does occur inside, the battle is won and lost outside (no ANT, no base if under heavy siege), and NC does this oh so very well at Kaang if they take the tower up the hill from it to the East.

yep.

[Duilin]

Is the gauss overpowered? Perhaps, but if it is, then I believe so is the chaingun... its a bit worse indoors then the chaingun, but better outdoors.

The Phoenix is a bit cheap, yeah... but I dont think its nearly as overpowered as it was before the turning speed and life span nerf.

[LLMerc]

Duilin, please stop compairing the chaingun to the cycler ..... the chaingun is a heavy assault weapon, 4 certs more expensive then the gauss.

The chaingun is much more powerfull than the jackhammer, so yes, the jackhammer needs a boost. A large one. But the ability to take out enemy AMS from within the safety of a base while TR and Vanu HAVE to be within line of sight of the AMS to kill it is getting ridiculous. It's actualy quite stupid, you can not tell me that is balanced. The phoenix is a great idea, sure, but the line of sight thing needs to be changed.
My sugestion is make the phoenix common pool, replace the devastator, make it a one time fire, and give NC a new, uber rocket AV weapon which follows the rulles of line of sight.
And while base capping does happen in doors, like I said, you must get there first, and with no AMS due to phoenixes and gauss chewing people up at long range, it gets quite hard.

ANyways, I sugest we wait untill the devs create a solution for the jackhammer. They will simply because it is grosely underpowered. After that we can talk balance again.

[Matuse]

will some1 please clarify for me now---does this happen with certain weapons?

Cone of fire affects every bullet/beam weapon in the game. It does not just simulate recoil, it simulates the huge decrease in accuracy you get from a weapon while you are moving or shooting it while improperly braced, as well as the innate accuracy of the weapon itself. Firing a long burst while running with an inaccurate weapon will put the cone of fire up to the size of your whole screen. Firing a bolt driver while kneeling and taking several seconds without moving the reticle before hitting the trigger will let you write your name at 500 yards.

Knives, phoenix, and weapons with the ability to lock (mostly these are missiles, but also include things like the Vanu AA MAX) are not affected by the cone.