In what situation would Lockdown be superior to ZOE?

This I approve of.

They could also give the lockdown MAX it's own ammo storage box and then feed that ammo directly into the guns. About 2000 rounds should do it. Oh and no reloading

More DAKADAKA!!

Insane CoF, some recoil and four mercies. Aw yeah!

• Any situation where you would use an engineer turret (guarding stairwells, generators, bridges, etc.)
• When you have a pocket engineer or few to keep you patched up (ZOE negatively synergizes with engies. Try standing on the top of a hill or edge of a wall with your engies hiding behind you. You are now a repositionable, more powerful, regenerating phalanx turret.)
• Any time you can sneak up on a vehicle or squad (Lockdown lets you pummel tanks halfway to oblivion before they realize what's happening. Work in small groups and they'll practically be instakilled. Just because you're a max doesn't mean you can't be sneaky)
• For AA (expect this to be nerfed though. It's currently way too strong)
  
  Remember that ZOE is mostly about the speed and has a significantly smaller damage bonus. It's only a single less shot to kill, at max rank. Lockdown's bonuses to RoF, projectile speed, and reload speed add up to a far higher TTK increase. Both abilities are really good. ZOE is more versatile, but in the right circumstances Lockdown is downright terrifying.

shoulder mounted weapons...................this ain't gonna end well

And a missile rack for luck.

Biolab entrances. Dual Onslaughts + Maxed out Lockdown + Engies = bullet wall.

Seriously, tonight I was at Allatum and the TR locked down the southern entrance of the Biolab from the landing pads hard. I kept the trigger held down for both arms for about 30 minutes and out of dozens of VS that tried to get through, MAXes included, only a few infiltrators and the occasional (and very lucky) light assault got in.

Eventually the VS got Allatum, but it took them a long time, and the price was heavy.

Never ZOE beats lockdown 100% of the time. After certing Prowlers Anchor from the games release and seeing how bad that was and how long it took for a change to a blatently broken and useless mechanic i do not see myself certing into "Lockdown" for some time probably a few months till thye realize it s useless, Anyone can strafe out a door way or round a corner and get a rocket shot of onto, Even better targets for light assault with c4.

Done, AV Turret = Best AT Weapon in the game

It's the thing to get if you always wanted to be a Mana turret.

Thank you Sir for the gesture ... guess there's still hope on these forums.

Last night i did ask my VS outfit ... "What's VS actual mechanical advantage over other factions ? What are we proud of"
First one replied "Our teamwork" and laughed ... Then they thought about it for a second or two and came up with "Nothing really ..."

I switched to NC and i don't take it back. This game seems biased a lot of times and it used to bug me, but its either other factions or in the end of the day, even switching games seems to cut it from time to time.

As an (ex-) VS, sir, i salute you
Haya-jii


PS : To answer to the OP, the atrocity SoE did is giving TR the best (by a clear mile) AA potential in the game. Used to be strikers, now its Burster MAXes with Lockdown. Other factions do not have that option. "1+1=3" was never the case for me ... /sigh*

So when is my Mossie getting Lockdown? I think it's the last TR empire specific thing that doesn't have it. This needs to be added soon because there is nothing I like more than sitting still.

You very lucky, or storming VS troops are pretty dumb.
As I remember, any MAX can be killed with only 2, I repeat, TWO direct decimator hits. And I not talking about permanent spam with grenades, LMG, Sniper rifles, carbines and SMG. And I didnt mean LA with C4 and infiltrators with SMG and mines, that always slip trough defenders to make something bad to you, or to engies, who repair you.
In my cases in Biolab entrance, engies just dont have enough time to repair you, if you do not move your shining metall *** away from heavy fire in time. Which is pretty short.

ZOE is a good general purpose skill, but lockdown well outperforms ZOE in the roles SOE had in mind for it. mainly:

covering doorways from inside a building lockdown is much better. with an engi or two you'll be an impenetrable fortress while defending an indoor space.

lockdown is superior at AA in nearly every situation just because the the velocity and ROF buff. the shorter lead time and tighter cone of fire at range given by the velocity buff leads to less shots missed. it's a huge DPS buff in AA on all fronts, much more so than the damage increase given by ZOE.

No luck involved. I chose my firing line carefully, and the MAX on the other side did the same. What we wound up with was an intersecting curtain of fire that would hit anyone stepping through the entrance from the landing pad side on. Textbook machine gun nest placement. And yeah, Decimators hurt, but the heavies that wandered into our field of fire didn't last long enough to get the shot off with any accuracy. Same thing for light assaults; they didn't have the chance to get close enough to use their C4.

The ZOE can do everything you just quoted just as well, if not better. In fact, regular old CHARGE Max's can do exactly what you say better because they're not rooted in place. Sneak up on a vehicle and root yourself? Yeah, try that on a Magrider and tell me how it works for you. Lockdown... fire a few volleys, it turns around, before you can unhook you're dead and it's at 40% HP. And don't give me that 'Well in a squad it works great!' nonsense. EVERYTHING works better in a squad.

With fractures, stoping vehicle pushes. I have found that If I see a zerg finishing caping a major base, I can go to the next base in line and find a good place to lockdown with fractures. With the increase, I can take out quite a few vehicles until the zerg gets far to big to handle alone.

I'm sorry, but covering doorways with 2 engies could be done with Charge MAX's just as effectively. In fact, even moreso because the runbys by light assaults to C4 you aren't nearly as effective and you'll dodge the occasional bullet. Rooted in place? Are you kidding me? Two rockets and you're dead, regardless of your engy support.

Lockdown is USELESS compared to ZOE.

Quit bringing up the benefits it has on ESF's because we all know that'll get nerfed. Let's focus on what isn't about to be nerfed and should instead be buffed.

Both the NC and the TR new MAX abilities have huge disadvantages compared to ZOE. ZOE makes take slightly more bullet damage, but lets you strafe fast and utterly demolish rooms full of enemies with the ability to escape easy.

The NC Shield is even worse. It has no offensive abilities at all. You walk into a room and die just slightly slower, yet cannot fire at all. Completely pointless.

Let's not nerf ZOE though, instead let's remove some of the disadvantages of the other two factions abilities.

any time an engineer would set down an AI turret.

Yeah played intelligently Lockdown is very powerful like that. I can be beaten, but basically only by significantly more number/organisation etc.

Against a disorganised zerg it is just a farming machine.

Completely agree! The NC shield is even worse yes, but NC still has the broomstick for close encounters.

I so regret certifying into lock down 5, can only blame myself for this mistake. As stated above, the only "op" thing about it is anti air, and truthfully yes, it benefits tremendously from it. But I enjoy the anti infantry aspect of the MAX and this thing makes it terrible easy to get yourself killed.

Situational ability for covering corridors you say? Good luck trying to dodge rockets when some guy corner pops one.

Maybe lock down might work in larger numbers(outfit play), but then you screw solo game-play.

Mobility is everything, and now you lose both movement and more importantly the lifesaving "sprint" special ability.

ZOE benefits anti air as well, and honestly who cares about the extra damage, the real imbalance lies in its mobility.
Good for you Vanu! Abuse it like no tomorrow, I know that I would, just in case it actually gets nerfed ;-)

This guy has a pretty good Idea how to abuse it and why it is so overpowered.


Love you!