Is NC max the worst?? As a TR a defiantly like going up against NC maxes over VS maxxes. They main reason is their short range lets our troops get into spots where we can kill the normally infantry without much threat from the maxes. While VS maxxes and I assume TR maxxes have the ability to protect our troops over much greater distances. Which makes killing of our support more difficult if a little bit of distance in the battle.
It's the general consensus that the NC MAX is the worst in everything except point-blank, and then only by an incremental amount.
The problem is that they've decided our 'thing' is going to be that we are able to one shot infantry. So what has happened is that they've been steadily sacrificing everything in order to maintain that. We're coming closer and closer to having that at its barest minimum. If they actually took away that one shot kill then to compensate they could expand our usefulness massively and I expect everybody would see that as a positive. Infantry running round corners no longer get instagibbed, we're no longer useless outside 5-10m. Personally I would: double magazine size to 20 or possibly 25 with extended mags, double or triple ammo capacity, increase RoF by 20-30%, cut total damage by about 50% (semi random numbers to make a point damage should probably be where it takes about 3 body shots with 100% pellet hits to kill ); but also halve the spread and increase the number of pellets to about 10 to make spread more consistent. This change would possibly require all the shotguns to be made automatic. Basically make them into assault shotguns and extend effective kill range up to about 20-30m. So they'd still be shorter range than other MAX weapons but not by such a large margin. Hopefully people can see what i'm trying to get at and won't just rip me apart for various numbers or little things.
NC MAX suits are really lacking in so many things right now, but everyone always says otherwise for the sole reason we've got the scattercannons. I won't deny those do a ridiculous amount of damage, but it's the same people shouting "overpowered" that refuse to fight us outside of the range of 10 meters. We can't do anything to infantry if they're even half a spawn room's length away from us, and we've got zero weapons for sustained long range fire, both which come stock on the other faction maxes. We've only got the bursters for anti air, while VS's Vortex and TR's Fracture weapons both fire fast enough to make up for the burster's (and raven's) inability to fire across a hex with accuracy, both against air and ground vehicles. (And don't tell me they can't, I've played all factions enough to know what does and doesn't work.) Our new shield ability promotes keeping distance to avoid taking damage, as anything closer beats right through the whole "only protected on the front" thing, and keeping distance is counter intuitive to how the scattercannons force us to play. In my opinion, NC's kinda doing poorly in the MAX department, and all the nerfs it's been getting to the primary weapons it uses aren't helping in the slightest.
It's sad that the best AI weapon for the NC MAX for longer ranges is having 2 Falcons. You can pretty much insta kill any infantry with those
Haaaah. So insta-gibbing infantry and a shield the makes you completely invincible from frontal damage make you the weakest MAX? No, not really. MAXes, by nature, are not used at long ranges by any faction unless you're using the straight shot AV weapons. The AI weapons are meant for medium-close range. NC MAXes just happen to excel at close while lacking at medium. There's a rather specific reason why most people loathe battling NC in Biolabs, after all.
I started playing/certing up my max the week before the first big nerf to Hacksaws. Now I have full flak and kinetic armor, 80% Aegis shield and all the AI guns with ext mags. My max is pretty much maxed. And, it's a killing machine indoors. I eat other maxes for breakfast. Why people think the NC max is useless is a mystery to me. Just because it doesn't crush opponents like it used to doesn't meant it isn't still powerful. Even with my crap PC, I can farm kills in a biolab like a boss. Love my max. Also, Aegis shield is very useful. Anyone who thinks it sucks has to be using it wrong. The NC max is just less versatile, folks. Once the devs give us something that fills the gap between Mattocks and Ravens, many of the blue tears will dry up. I'm sure of it. Purple and red tears over our shotguns... mmm... that will never end. Not until the shotguns are nerfed so hard that it takes 3 reloads to kill at 5m
Okay...you stand 20 feet away from a NC MAX then...both of you light into each other. See who wins. Hell, there are plenty of videos on youtube demonstrating that fact for anyone too thickheaded not to agree with the sentiment that NC MAXes are only good at hugging range.
Since beta I have been pretty much against any one-hit-kill infantry weapons, they are just too hard to balance. Like you said, it seems like much has to be sacrificed in order for a OSK weapon to feel balanced, and still be able to OSK. We are at a point now with shotguns that is interesting. They nerfed pump actions and effectively raised the skill floor for OSK's, but what that creates is a step function in how the weapon operates based on user skill. To players with a below average aim, the gun is essentially useless and will get them killed more often than not. For average players it's an o.k. gun that on occasion "has it's moments." The problem comes with very high skill players that can nail headshots in QCQ on a regular basis. They are godlike with the weapons. So what you end up with is a weapon that the majority of the playerbase pretty much suck with it, and a small portion who are way over effective (The ESF a2a game is like this currently, but for a different reason). I have never felt a weapon that operates with a step function based on skill to be good game design. TTK should be more linear with skill.
Yea, I have been playing with the Striker lately and it's an amazing weapon. The lone Striker soldier isn't that bad, but a half dozen hanging out at a high vantage point absolutely breaks the air / armor game.
It's hard to quantify it as the 'worst' MAX. I can still cut through swathes of enemy using mine, including other MAX. Least versatile would probably be a better description. In order for our AI or AV weapons to be effective, we need to engage the enemy at a much closer range than a VS/TR MAX. Because of this, I'm a lot less likely to use an NC MAX in situations I would readliy use my VS/TR MAX.
Why does nearly every single NC stuff have to be certed like hell to be competitive? For the NC Max to be "crap" , not "useless" , at medium range I need to invest in 2 Mattocks + 2 Extended Mag + Slugs... While a VS MAX needs maximum 250 Certs, to be competitive.
