Why should someone play as Vanu?

Advance warning: I am trying REALLY hard not to make this a troll thread. If your response is going to look something like, "4TH FACTION N00B LOL WELCOME TO TR NOW THAT YOU AREN'T OP ," please screw off. Thank you.

I am a Vanu player and have no intentions to swap factions. However, I find it difficult to justify playing VS to any new players that I refer to this game. In most situations, I end up recommending TR for an excellent out-of-the-box experience with vehicles and weapons. Vanu players, why have you not swapped to other factions? Other factions, what does Vanu do to you that you most envy? I'm trying to think of a compelling list of characteristics that really define the faction instead of skintight purple latex and formerly-overpowered tanks.

I've not swapped because I enjoy playing with my outfit and have '000s of certs gained as Vanu. Pretty simple... mainly the people I play with.

Because I need people to kill.

Simply put, alien tech.

I can't wait to see what the devs will give us in the future. NC may have the best looking feel once they get proper sci-fi armor instead of carboard, TR may have the best music but we have the most interesting weapons, ideology, methodology and vehicles.

Zero bullet drop, hard hitting weapons, sniper shotguns, heavy tanks that climb cliff walls, the best ESF, the best LMG.....I can go on...

VS have many reason to go, I don't like being purple and I have more loyalty to NC then TR/VS. Also, I love my VG.

I think I stuck with VS only because I feel pro with the starting heavy rifle, and Outfit reasons. I'm not really here for competition, most of the stuff people complain about I care less.

I have fun being a gun shooter. I have fun avoiding prowlers that I know will F me up. I have fun switching to an AA max and scaring mosquitoes away.

So... game flavor? As in, if every gun used the skin and firesound of an NS-11 but kept its characteristics, VS would be garbage?

In that case I would go TR. So, I guess... Yes?

Haven't swapped because of investment. At first the Vanu had the most flavor for me, and they seemed relativly strong. At the moment, if I just joined knowing what I know now or had to start over I'd roll TR. The extra 10 bullets per mag means you can out-shoot most opponents and each mess matters less, which fits my playstyle. They also have superior tanks at the moment, and the mossie is a fine air vehicle.

TR don't seem to have a downside really. Could just be my perceptions but that's how things look from where I sit at the moment.

I still like the Vanu flavor, but between the low damage my weapons seem to output, and especially the low pop numbers it makes things difficult.

I'd really love to see a cosmetic hover bike in place of the flash, and other changes like that, even if they are just cosmetic. Vanu should really be the Sci-fi / Eldar faction.

Low pop = high bonus XP

Well, this game is simply like playing a war, and I don't go in for the weapons.

But out of the 3 factions, i'm being asked of which of the 3 factions should I be....the deluded ones (TR), the apes (NC), or the intellectuals (VS).

This faction is the most advanced and progressed, and I agree with it the most. So here I am. ^_^
NC may have, uhh...? TR may be red and black (My favorite color combos), but I love the music and the ideology the most from the VS.

And horrible damage falloff to compensate.

I'm not trying to be rude, but... what VS weapons hit harder than their TR or NC counterparts?

I will confess that I can snipe an AFK player with slugs in 3 rounds.

Not since they got nerfed. Now they climb worse than other MBTs in certain situations.

*spits out coffee*

Spits out coffee all over my replica of a T9-CARV

A large portion of players are brand new to PS2. Like me. I had no idea PS1 even existed. Knew nothing about PS2 until I read a small article that IGN magzine did back in their Dec issue did about it being one of the best free to play games available. So I downloaded it, and charged right in. Out of the box, VS has one big advantage for new players. They are different. They look alien. NC and TR sadly are very much the same. Not to insult NC or TR players. VS however shoot lasers, (remember I knew nothing about the game at the time, so I didn't know it was plasma) their tanks fly, the Scythe looks evil. They had something to make them stand apart.

Now things change as you learn about the game and get into the stats. But for catching the eye of brand new players, the VS wins hands down.

Awesome mid-range weapons
Lowest overall recoil
Mid level horizontal recoil (ADS accuracy)
Generally high RoF
Options for high dmg with lower RoF
No bullet drop
High bullet velocities
Super fast reloads
Near invisible prox mines
The only tank weapon that's relatively stable when moving
An outstanding tank secondary weapon
Awesome ESF

No bullet drop and lower but more unpredictable recoil. We also have fast reloads. Vehicles aren't anything to gloat about, we can get to odd angles with our tank but it has to be completely exposed to fire, it excels at long-range against NC and the Sauron will out-snipe a Prowler if you're strafing while your gunner snipes. Dual Comet MAX is also pretty good due to no bullet drop. Scythe is nice and can fly under trees very easily, but that's about all it does better than the other two ESFs.

You must be one of those FOTM players that appear in every game

I hear the Vanu have an undying loyalty to Tobuscus, their fearless leader.

A choice between the democrats' contradictory concept of freedom, and full-blown totatilitarians, is easy to reject out of hand.

Why jump ship? Vanu have inferior numbers, purple spandex and poor sounding weapons but there is a lot of upside too.

If you play all three empires its a nice change to fly a scythe with how easy it is to maneouver and hover. I did just fine with magrider since the nerf so its still my favorite tank as well, unless you want to farm infantry, then prowler is 2x as good as anything else. They have always had my favorite reflex sites (look a lot like eotechs exps3 Holo-Site I have on the scar 16s assault rifle I own, so I am a little biased) and up until the Smg's their serpent was the best La/Eng weapon out there imo. People who use default settings have a hard time seeing vanu at night, I have had enemies walk right past me when I am not even hidden, just in a dark corner.

I reverse ship jumped and started playing my vs again lately more than my other two toons. Definitely notice other people have left though, but being outnumbered didnt stop me from playing my vs back in ps1, it was always like that for my whole 5 years I played.

Every side has its ups and downs. I would suggest you encourage people to play ALL 3 empires. The grass is only greener on the other side to people who are an "empire X" loyalist and play that empire only. Those people almost always feel their empire is the weakest in comparison to the other two. They are also really missing out on some of their potential by not playing all three to discover each empires strengths and weaknesses.

So does NC, it's 1/2 of their faction trait.