You are making a nice strawman style argument against short range MAX units there. Making an argument about a game played in 30 metre long tunnels doesn't contribute to the discussion though.
Hehe, yeah its a pretty bad argument. Then again it was parts sarcasm and parts trying to get the NC folks to see the other side of the medal. I know that the NC MAX sucks at long range (not so much against Inf... but Inf is fodder anyways) but that shouldnt mean an auto I-WIN Button in CQC. The problem is also that MAX gets instagibed at close range and a 4/5 Kinetic Armor MAX dies the same as a completely uncerted MAX. The problem here is IMHO very simple. ALL important objectives in large bases are in small rooms. Small rooms FORCE you into CQC. The only thing you can try to do is spam the room with grenades and hope you wipe everyone out before they can start to rezz or something. Then again they will just respawn and rush you again. Just look at the Bio Lab design. One Teleporter leads directly to the Spawn Room on one side and into a small bulding/tunnel thingy on the other side. Number two leads over a LOF into a building or into the same bulding/"tunnel thingy" on the other side. The thrid one leads into a building or into an long corridor that leads into a building at the end. If you come from the landing pads you get funneled into the buildings or small "tunnel thingies" again. I have to agree that VS/TR MAXs arent bad at all. Yes even the VS MAX is good. But you NEED the Cosmos. Without the Cosmos the VS AI MAX sucks. I think the "VS MAX is bad" mentality comes from 2 things, people bought the wrong weapons because they believed the ingame descriptions AND the fact that you get insta gibbed bei NC MAXs in CQC. Getting istagibed allways adds to frustration... and creates the feeling of being "UP" if you cant do the same. Well there is a second option. Nerf the NC MAX in CQC and nerf all the MAXs in medium range too. Thats the "Prowler Splash Fix"-style (nerfing what was deemed OP and everything else in the same class too... because why not).
Give the NC MAX a competetive medium ranged AI weapon. Give the TR MAX a competetive short range AI weapon. Give the VS MAX a competetive short range AI weapon and a competetive medium range AI weapon. LOOK! I JUST SOLVED THE MAX IMBALANCE!
NC have the worst ESF, tank and overall score per hour: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AmUavphHXmIxdFhHUzJfN1VYalRnWS0xMnBUdTJpM1E&gid=19 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AmUavphHXmIxdFhHUzJfN1VYalRnWS0xMnBUdTJpM1E&gid=20 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AmUavphHXmIxdFhHUzJfN1VYalRnWS0xMnBUdTJpM1E&gid=12 Don't wine about MAX now. This must be fixed first, before fixing NC MAX. And NC have the worst carbines too.
Actually, the NC have the second best tank, followed by the TR who currently have the best tank. They never had the worst tank, they were always in the middle of the VS and TR. Any tank who runs headlong into a Vanguard is scrap metal, it is the best 1vs1 tank in the game, and the second best MBT. I do agree with the Reaver being worst though.
One problem it won't happen shotguns are NC specific weapon maxes/vehicle/air has specific faction abilities and guns. Nc air/tank/max all has shotguns if they do give you shotguns then the entire specific faction might as well go down the drain nc also will be getting pistol shotguns you guys wont .
Buff =/= damage. Right now a NC MAX can instant kill TR/VS MAXes and infantry. Thats fine. But how about we bring the TR AI guns up to at least 600 RPM since they are supposed to have a high fire rate. Also make the VS have a tighter CoF than the other two. Basically, the MAXes are put on the same playing field but they have their flavors.
1 concussion grenade into the room is all it takes. You can't turn after you've been hit with one for ~5 seconds as a MAX. The HA then changes to rocket, finishes off with rifle if required and you're done in time to sip your beer. Flash works as well, just not as well. Multiple entrances where you can bounce a nade off so you don't have to expose yourself as well as rooms that have windows. Small rooms are just as much deathtraps for NC MAX inside than they are for anyone entering with MAX in them - if you're playing against intelligent players who don't mindlessly run into the ideal range of an NC MAX one by one like lemmings. Had two LA's inside the small room sitting on the fixture against the wall between the landing pads and C in a Bio Lab taking turns C4'ing any MAX that entered. Engineers lay tank mines just on the lip of the corner of the teleporter at A so any MAX that rounds there looking for people coming out of the teleporter room gets killed by a tank mine. NC LA's need to continually clear rooftops to stop swooping LA's with C4 getting easy MAX kills. Have been part of a push into one as a MAX where we were being held off by multiple VS MAX who were covering all the long entrances into the shield generator rooms. Their ranged weapons were stopping NC MAX from getting close enough to engage them. If we did take one down, just like NC MAX in the shield generator room, medics and engies on hand to revive and repair. As my uncerted TR alt, went to a Bio Lab, killed 4 NC MAX with a ranged rocket shot and TR50 without too many problems. If I tried straight out of the teleporter room into the shield gen, died. Came up from the landing pad and fired rockets into the center door where NC MAX camp the teleporter door. Profit. Overwhelming an NC MAX is more sustainable than a TR or VS MAX due simply to the low magazine count and long reload. The two most common deaths of my NC MAX is C4 or by long reload.
Vanguard average score per hour is 20% less than for other tanks and average player time with Vanguard is 30% less than for other tanks. So i can say it's less effective (less SPM) and it's so poor that noone wants to drive it (30% less player time). Overall NC score with Vanguard is twice less than for other MBT.
Score isn't related to its strength as a MBT though. It just means that Prowlers are better at farming infantry than the Vanguard.
And Magriders is still better in farming everything. Vanguards SPM shows that it is worst in farming. So its worst tank at all.
Purple power. And again I know that you CAN kill the NC MAX. The question is if it takes the same effort as a VS/TR MAX. Also can a VS/TR MAX instagib your MAX? Thats pretty much the only thing that I dislike about the NC MAX... the ability to instagib enemie MAXes because of the insane burst up close.
I don't consider score per hour a good indication of the strengths or weaknesses of a vehicle. I don't feel like I'm at a particular disadvantage when I'm in my Vanguard and facing another MBT. If it's a Magrider, I try to get closer because I'm not going to outsnipe it. If it's a Prowler, deploying my shield at the right time (and hoping they don't know about the 1 hit bug) will often give me an advantage to help defeat it. It's not great at farming infantry - but if I want to do that I opt for the Lightning instead.
I'll bite. So you want to buff the other 2 MAX's to have CQC options like the NC MAX yes? Sounds good. Give them shotguns, or w/e I don't really care anymore quite frankly. Since you will be taking away THE ONLY THING THE NC EXCEL AT I expect to see the Reaver buffed hardcore to be on par with a mossie, all NC small arms to be buffed to be on par with TR small arms, Vangaurd Buffed to be on par with Prowler. Give Vangaurd double barrel etc. You want to go there, lets go there. Do it.
Looking at my stats, 4% of my kills are enemy MAX and I know that quite a number of those kills were by me as a HA and rockets or in my Vanguard (killed 3 that Gal dropped right in front of me a few days ago). I'm rarely at a range where I'm able to instagib MAX. I typically swap between AA, AV and AI MAX which is about 70% of my game time. Whether it takes the same effort depends on what you use to kill it - just because you find it more difficult doesn't mean it is. Given that I only have about 300 MAX kills, I'm probably not the right person to answer that. You'd have to ask an experienced LA. At 15m with Dual Hacksaw and extended mag, I can't kill you - then I have to reload. If I'm without cover, you're able to kill me at that range before I can finish reloading. That's the problem with the NC MAX, we have high damage output over a short period of time with a small mag size and minimal ammo pool followed by a long reload. Presumably that's the balance. 5 infantry infront of me. I can't kill all 5 in one extended mag. I'm dead. I think I'd have at least a fighting chance as a Dual Mercy, though.
What makes you think the Magrider is better at farming infantry than the Prowler? In fact, the Prowler as of late is better at farming both tanks and infantry than the Magrider.
