[NC] The Gauss Rifle - Who swears by it?

I'vs been playing medic quite a bit lately and have found myself spending a lot of time with the various weapons.

At first, the GR-22 and Carnage BR seemed like obvious choices, and despite the "EM1ish'ness" of the NS-11A, I was willing to give it a chance due to all the praise it gets.

To be honest, I've been a little underwhelmed by all of them. The Carnage has intense horizontal recoil (biggest in the game?)The GR-22's directional recoil is very heavy to the right (again, must be one of the highest in the game), and the NS-11A, while extremely easy to use, is a bit lacking in "oomph".

SoI find myself once again considering the Gauss Rifle. To be honest, I skipped over it at first, thinking the other three guns were clearly much better. But now I'm not so sure.

Thoughts?

I´m exactly at that stage (after 150hours of playing medic), very curious for some action reports with the gun as

the following weapons a medic can choose from all have their tradeoffs...

-GR-22 , great rate of fire, but often lacks the punch+ lacks on possible weapon upgrades
-NS-11 a smooth weapon that has 35 bullets, but lacks the massive damage per shot
-Reaper DMR is very hard to control+only 20 bullets per mag
-Shotguns are niche weapons...no ARs
-SMGs are niche weapons...no ARs

Forgot to list the Gauss S, but there are already topics about it and none about the default Gauss AR

Used the default gun again yesterday, was impressed by the low/almost non existent vertical recoil, but it has strong horizontal recoil without attachments (to both sides??)

Anyone using this gun and any recommendations for it?

I've very recently switched back to it for bread&butter work
I've 2 setup :
* General purpose with laser sight, x2 red-dot. Very decent gun everywhere, I'm actually surprised it works that well.
* Long range with forward grip , x4 TrueShot. Again decent, but I miss the 2-shot burst mode of the Gauss S.

I still keep a CQB favorite with GR-22 + adv laser and x2, though, and a "special-effect" one with Gauss S and smoke when this kind of things are needed, meaning I have to switch between Gauss combos manually.

The Gauss Rifle is really a solid gun. If I were going F2P, my all-around weapon for the medic would be the Gauss Rifle with a laser sight and 2x Reflex.

The Gauss Rifle has better horizontal recoil than most of the other assault rifles (0.175 to either side and 0.4 tolerance, whereas for example the NS-11a has 0.2 to either side and 0.6 tolerance, meaning the rifle jumps more to the right or left per shot and will deviate a little further from center.)

Compared to the TR and VS defaults, the Gauss Rifle kind of acts like it has a 'built-in' foregrip -- it is startlingly accurate if you can control for the 23 to 25 degree rightward pull, meaning you benefit more from the laser sight's ability to help you in self-defense situations where the slower RoF would otherwise feel a little lacking. With a laser, the Gauss Rifle's hipfire CoF is a little bit smaller than the GR-22's hipfire CoF when stock -- i.e. not fantastic, but adequate for something that's not a dedicated CQC weapon.

The Gauss Rifle with laser sight and the NS-11a with foregrip are extremely similar. With the difference in fire rates, their magazines last for roughly the same time -- and they reload at almost the same speed. Their hipfire CoFs are very similar (the NS-11a's is the same as the GR-22's, so it will be a tad larger). Stock, the projectile speed is nearly identical (650 on the Gauss, 640 on the NS-11a). Recoil is slightly easier to manage on the NS-11a, but the Gauss Rifle is already very manageable next to other weapons like the NC LMGs.

The only real differences are that the NS-11a is significantly more accurate while moving, and the Gauss Rifle is significantly more accurate while stationary. The NS-11a can fit high velocity or (if you really want...) soft point ammunition. The NS-11a also lets you move 50% faster while aimed down sight (75% vs 50% movement speed). On the other hand, the Gauss Rifle has about a 0.04s faster TTK in all situations.

It basically comes down to personal preference here, but I ended up going with the NS-11a with foregrip, HVA and 2x reflex for all-around use and the Gauss Rifle with foregrip and 4x trueshot (best scope ever!) for long range. I found that the faster ADS movement and better movement accuracy helped keep me mobile and keep me alive when I got stuck in closer, more frantic firefights, and so I was willing to accept the reduction in stationary accuracy. But it was a very close choice, and I spent hours switching back and forth between NS-11 + Foregrip and Gauss + Laser before I decided.

If the NS-11 doesn't have enough 'oomph' for you, definitely go with the Gauss!

Oh heeyyyyy! Loadout buddies 4eva!

Huhu, I'll try & follow your NS11A advice, though I always HATED that gun

Loaded out like that, the two are really so close that it has to be a matter of personal preference.

Even with the minute difference in TTK, the NS-11 does give me more of those "Arrrrgh, why didn't you diiiie?!" moments -- but as NC I think I'm just used to seeing six or seven hit markers and then hearing the 'ka-ching' of the kill spam.

Nice information. The damage per shot is the same for NS 11 and Gauss Rifle?

The Gauss Rifle is my favourite of the starter weapons across all classes. The AR range in general has much nicer to handle recoil than both LMGs and Carbines. I find it feels like a 'better' Anchor, albeit with smaller magazine size (the smaller recoil overall and first shot also makes it better at ranges).

@kennonfodder

The Gauss Rifle is a tier above, with 167 @ 10m -> 143 @ 75m at 600 RPM, the NS-11A is 143 @ 10m -> 125 @ 65m at652 RPM.

I own the default Gauss Rifle, Gauss Rifle S, GR-22, and Reaper DMR and have trialed the NS11a and Carnage BR.

Mid - The default Gauss Rifle is great for mid range because it has a lower first shot recoil multiplier (2x) than the NS11a, GR22, and Carnage BR (3x), making it easier to control while hitting harder considering you're burst firing.

CQC - Anything closer and the latter three will outshine the default Gauss Rifle with their higher RoF and only a 25% movement speed penalty when aiming down sight.

Long Range - For anything long range, the Gauss Rifle S and Reaper DMR can perform better. The Gauss Rifle S has a 1st shot recoil multiplier of 1.65x while the Reaper DMR has it at 1.5x. They can also equip High Velocity Ammo and a Compensator. With just the Compensator equipped, you can find that the rifle is even easier to control. Throwing on the HVA with the Compensator, you'll get close to the default Gauss Rifle S' recoil but benefit from farther damage drop off. For the Reaper DMR, the Advanced Forward Grip is necessary if you find yourself bursting more than three rounds since the recoil is unpredictable because it sways both left and right.

Numbers

On my NC I religiously use the Reaper DMR.

The default Gauss Rifle has the highest bullet velocity of all AR, 650 (maybe all small arms overall actually). Does it really need HVA (especially as I've found HVA hasn't really helped with the LMG class of weapon when I used it)?

But yes, the Reaper DMR's better damage makes it suited to single hits at extreme range, and the Gauss S smaller firstshot recoil for long will outshine it at ranges with making more shots land more easily.

I'm starting to doubt the usefulness of HVA in general these days. Has anyone shown it's actual effects, other than increasing the recoil?

HVA explaination video

For the default Gauss Rifle, if it could use HVA, it wouldn't need it since it'll be used at ranges where the HVA wouldn't matter. For the Reaper DMR and Gauss Rifle S, using a 4x scope you'd have to adjust one mil dot up with HVA at 100m and about two mil dots up without HVA. Think of it as SOEs way of lessening the P2W aspect, getting you to buy a gun that's an upgrade but don't want it to perform at its peak without dropping certs.

Great post. Though I wonder about the Gauss Rifle S. It has a first shot multiplier of x1.65.. but 1.65 x 0.35 is 0.5775. Hardly much difference over the Gauss Rifles 2 x 0.3. That's a difference of 0.0225 - and then each shot afterwards gains 0.35 instead of 0.3.

I realise that the compensator should help, though in all the guns I've put a compensator on, I've noticed very little difference. Significantly less than on a forward grip.

There is also the fact that the S variant has 50 less bullet velocity stock. Which can be fixed with HVA, but at the cost of once again increasing the recoil.

I honestly feel that the Gauss Rifle S is brought to life by its underbarrel attachments. The stock gun is so controllable, that you can really enjoy the benefits of attaching a shotgun, grenade or smoke launcher to it as needed.

Have any of you tried forward grip with the GR-22? I hated the TRVs recoil untill I put a FW grip on instead of av laser.

Thanks for the posts Duck. Always an interesting/informative read.

I'm intrigued that you use HVA on your NS-11a. Does it really seem worthwhile? Your bullets must feel like laser beams (sit down Vanu). I just tend to dislike the added vertical recoil that comes with HVA. Though I suppose it matters a little less on a weapon as manageable as the NS-11a.

Does the Gauss and Gauss S feel much different. My thought at this stage is that the standard Gauss is a straight upgrade, but the S gives you some nice options with the grenades and shotgun.

At long range around 75m - 100m, you'll most likely be firing in semi-auto or two-round bursts so you should feel the difference in 1st shot recoil compared to the default Gauss Rifle while making the base recoil irrelevant

As for the underbarrel attachment, the horizontal recoil doesn't feel too bad in 10 round bursts at mid-range and doesn't matter when in semi-auto at long range so you won't need to get a Forward Grip. Personally, I use smoke since I like to cover my movements whenever I get spotted by those damn sniping Prowlers and Magriders.

I don't have video footage or pictures from my testing but I would rate the vertical recoil of the Gauss Rifle S with attachments in this order:
HVA > Stock > HVA & Compensator > Compensator

It's up to you to find out what you like, might have to sacrifice some certs in the process but I'm sure you'll be able to make a better conclusion by trying things on your own. 25% on my Medic, just because I wanted to fiddle around with attachments.

ugghhh, double post...

Haha, yes -- and it's pretty crazy. I had to get used to not missing bullets in front of people from trying to lead them at range.

As for some of the other discussion in this thread, the reason first-shot recoil MULTIPLIER matters as much as the first shot recoil itself is because it makes it harder to put your entire burst in the same place. Most people -- definitely including myself -- don't have the aiming skill to pull the mouse down at 2 or 3 times the normal recoil compensation speed for 80ms and then slow to normal, so high recoil multiplier weapons are better fired full-auto or in long bursts. Low recoil multiplier weapons are superior for short, rapid bursts (but of course they'll be just as solid at full auto unless they're bad at it for other reasons like quick CoF bloom).