Your point? The Jackhammer (empire-specific) isn't better than the other shotguns (essentially NS because they're all reskins) except between 10 to 15-20(?) meters, yet the Striker (empire-specific) is hands-down better than the Annihilator (NS), which most people don't even use anymore. In fact, the whole concept of empire-specific and NS/common-pool weapons being too similar to each other is an issue in and of itself, but that's a subject for another thread.
not sure about tanks and libs, but vulcans still shred up my galaxy anywhere within 300m, the bullet spread makes little difference to large vehicles, aslong as they're looking in your direction most of the bullets will hit.
The JH is only really better in the context of it was nerfed slightly less than the other Shotguns and Triple Shot got somewhat fixed (from being broken and only firing as fast as single shot), it's not actually better than the other Shotguns at anything, except having slightly more effective range. The Striker, on the other hand, is a total upgrade to the Annihilator in almost every way.
As a frequent Gal pilot and infrequent MBT driver, nothing scares me more than a vulcan harasser. AP rounds? Dalton over my head? Easy enough to evade all the way back to warpgate. A decent Harasser crew on the other hand can just turbo in front of me while I'm flying low, hit the breaks, and shred me to bits as I try to turn away, which incidentally shows him my giant belly. Don't even get me started on the number of times I've been halfway up a mountaintop for a 20 second repair and a Harasser has turbo'd up the cliff and shredded me before I can take off, and this is with a maxed frame and maxed composite armor on the Gal. Tanks are a similar story. Pop shield and back up at half health, only to have a vulcan harasser turbo over a GIANT cliff behind me, land and take no damage, and shred the rest of my armor out the rear before I can even turn my AP turret at him, then turbo away. I'm not even sure how many armor piercing rounds it takes to pop a harasser, but I feel like it should knock off AT LEAST 2/3 of the harasser's health when I pop it in the rear with an ANTI-TANK round. As it stands, I think it takes three or four consecutive rounds in the side armor when the guy in the back is repairing, which is just insane. I doubt it's as much of a problem for VS as their magriders are very mobile which lets them protect their rear armor better and just easier to track/evade/follow targets with.
Not necessarily. For Vanguards, it's easy for a Vulcan Harasser to speed in, chew us to half health at the very least, speed out, and do it again. If you're good (I use an AP turret) you can MAYBE get a few shots into the harasser to make it go away for a little (But not if there's a engineer repairing from the back) but you can rarely chase it down and destroy it. Moral is, don't travel alone in vanguards, Harasser drivers tend to steer clear of more than 3 vehicles if their intent is on destroying and wreaking havoc, besides, well, harassing. Not sure how Magriders handle against the Vulcan harassers though.
From what I recall it takes 2 AP shots from the main gun, combined with a few Enforcer rounds to destroy a Composite Harasser. If a Harasser (with a Vulcan-H) comes close to the tank, you should at least be able to hit it with 1 AP round and 1 Enforcer round, forcing the Harasser to run away rather quickly. Once it runs away, both you and your gunner could get out of your Vanguard (You are talking about 2/2 tanks as I was right?) and start repairing. If you forced it to run and you time it right, your tank should be ready to go another round once it comes back. And you can even see them coming, as the Harasser has to close in within 100m for the Vulcan to really be effective, and then you can see it on the minimap. If you are talking about them coming up behind you to your rear, then you haven't had enough situational awareness, again, as they show up on the minimap rather fast (it does happen to everyone once in a while though). In such a situation you should die (but Vanguards actually can survive it by popping shield). Any other tank which had let a Harasser that close to their rear would be in serious trouble. And you don't necessarily have to stay clear of 3 or more vehicles if you use the terrain to your advantage and if you bring the appropriate weapon (e.g. NOT the Vulcan). Also, if there is an engineer repairing the rumble-seat then there shouldn't be any gunner active as he is repairing (free repair or shot-taking time for you), and is also very vulnerable.
More often than not, can't you just fly higher or towards friendly ground troops? It's not like Harassers are invisible. Also, taking down a Galaxy with a Vulcan-H takes quite some time if you aren't already badly hurt. It takes 210 shots from the Vulcan-H to "rip through" a stock Galaxy with full hp. That results in a kill time of over 20seconds, assuming 100% accuracy. And you can't make me believe a Vulcan-H will have 100% accuracy, even though you are a big target (unless it is RIGHT in your face). If your Vanguard is at half health and a Harasser with either Saron/Halberd jumps over a cliff behind your tank and starts unloading, you will be in a similarly sore spot since your shield is on cooldown and you are already weakened. I don't really see that specific situation as an example of the Vulcan being overpowered. And if it comes from a giant cliff behind you there are 2 possible scenarios: Either they spotted you before moving in and thus made a sucessful flank which should be rewarded, or they saw you on the minimap which means you can also see them on the minimap and prepare appropriately. If there wasn't a giant cliff behind you however, the other options for the Harasser are much more efficient than the Vulcan since they can snipe your rear from much further out, resulting in a smaller risk of retaliation by your allies. The Harasser in general is very annoying if it's only 1, but if there is more than 1 it just becomes a pain to be in a ground vehicle if you aren't near the main zerg (which is mind numbingly boring). That's with or without the Vulcan. The other weapons at least have the option of taking pot shots at range to whittle your health down and then move in for the kill. If you go in for the kill with a Vulcan you are practically getting right up in your opponents face without being able to weaken it much before moving in whilst simultaneously being forced to stay in your targets field of view for the entirity of the time it takes to unload the clip whereas the other 2 I listed can quickly magdump and boost to cover whilst reloading. Those are often forgotten downsides when the subject comes to the Vulcan-H. The Harasser requires 2 AP rounds coupled with a few Enforcer rounds to take down IIRC, resulting in a TTK of approximately 4 seconds if you actually hit. The risk of that happening is much higher when using the Vulcan as well. It's not that the Vulcan doesn't have it's uses, it's just that the Halberd could perform most of the same duties equally as well or better than the Vulcan, whilst also taking less risks. The Vulcan really does shine if used in a pack of Harassers though, but I reckon a few Halberds wouldn't be too shabby either.
its also assuming that the vulcan is the only thing hitting the galaxy, gals are big, you are usually the first thing the enemy sees, more often than not you'll be constantly taking flak and Striker damage, add the harasser and you start to leak health fast.
By extending this logic, the Lancer and phoenix are by far the most overpowered things in the game due to there not even being an NS version in the first place. Point remains, 90% of the NC and VS who call for nerfs to the Striker are just overflowing with double standards and hypocrisy, automaticaly invalidating their arguments. And Jackhammer not being the best shotgun?
Of course, those tests were made at point blank range without any miss and damage degradation. Every vehicles have differnt kind of resistance depending of the threat. http://www.ps2calc.com was giving it previously but havn't been updated since the secondary rework . I don't know the exact actual value but can still give you an idea of how strong could be those resistances. Without those reistances: -A 2000+DPS vulcan would shred every vehicles in something like 2-3 sec. -A simple G2A lock on would put in fire an ESF in a single shot -The lancer and the phoenix would also be total garbage without AV/AA damages multipliers ect... -Basilik would be OP at AA/AV -ect
Well they aren't exactly shredding you alone then are they? If you are exposed for 10 seconds to it, it will still only take 50% of your HP assuming the 100% accuracy. If it's at 300m, I'll be generous and give you 50% accuracy. Then said Vulcan has only done 25% of the total damage. If you want to include other sources of damage you should have included it in the above post (unless you were intentionally trying to make the Vulcan seem more powerful than it was).
Maybe a slight MBT resistance. Actually it destroys an MBT in ~=13.6sec with maxxed mag size while others secondaries does it in ~=19.5 sec stock(without upgraded reload speed) Even with higher risks, 40-45% better TTK looks too powerful against vehicles.
well my gal is my favourite vehicle, i spend a lot of time in it, and i can always tell if a vulcan is hitting me by my health PLUMMETING. a couple of strikers will be *bump bump bump* no big deal for a gal, but the moment a vulcan spews bullets at you the health leaks away incredibly fast. of all the AA stuff SoE gave exclusively to TR the vulcan is the worst for a galaxy. granted its nowhere near as bad as it used to be! (when it melted libs in 6 seconds)
As a primarily NC player in PS2, I feel I should just throw in my two cents. Especially because when I don't have anything to do at work, I reeeaalllly don't have anything to do. It is worth mentioning that I do also throw time in with the VS and TR - I only primary NC because that is where my friends ended up going. I started my Planetside career as a VS in PS1 and they will always have a special place in my heart. That said, the Jackhammer is an amazing shotgun. I love using it, both in single fire and burst fire mode, and it's advantages play far better to my playstyle than it's disadvantages hinder. The problem with the Jackhammer is that it is just another shotgun - an amazingly effective shotgun - but just another shotgun. The Chaingun gives you this amazing visceral feeling, even when you aren't achieving anything, when you fire it; it's spin-up and other characteristics also makes it play differently from most other weapons. The Lasher is unique in it's playstyle all around - no weapon compares to it's novelty; even if they keep making the sounds for it more and more awkard. I believe this is the same line of logic the TR use to complain about the Striker; while the Lancer and Pheonix added novelty, if not direct effectiveness, the TR got the same-old-thing (a lock-on) but got the effectiveness (in a way). To move on to the Empire Specific Launchers; I don't die that often to Strikers when I roll vehicles. But my LORD do they ANNOY me. You can't get within a half mile of the TR front-line without "beep beep beep beep beep". Nevermind each individual missile does piddly-dink to your vehicle, and the fact each missile does piddly-dink for damage, and the fact that if you start evasion/countermeasures as soon as the beeping starts you likely won't even be hit, it's the noise. Oh lord the noise. On the other side of this coin, I can't remember the last time one of my TR or VS vehicles was even hit by a Pheonix; it's a fun little mini-game just shooting them all down (even when they aren't coming for you). The Lancer is a grey area (as it should be) - a single Lancer user is nothing but an annoyance, which an AP round will usually take care of (because they all sit still to charge for some unknown reason), but a group of Lancer users is an anti-vehicle firing squad. Which brings us to the Harasser and the Empire Specific Secondaries. The Enforcer lost alot of luster when it lost the ability to one-shot infantry; namely because it's difficult to hit infantry at all. The missile is the size of a pineapple, but it's hit area is the size of a peanut - to get a hit you literally have to GET A HIT. There is no "fudging it" with the Enforcer and your rockets WILL go between legs, arms, past the shoulder, so on and so on; still, it is an amazing anti-vehicle sniper gun with a decent sustained DPS. The Saron is just like the Lancer again, I don't find them individually intimidating, but when paired with a good driver or another buddy with a Saron, they become very formidable; I honestly see very few VS actually use them at range though... which is odd considering the rapid-fire ability close-in is so inaccurate it can miss a Vanguard at point blank. The C85 is... the C85; I think we can all agree on that. The PPA has the same novelty as the Lasher, and is equally effective if applied correctly and equally as awful if not. So all we have left now to talk about is the Vulcan and the Marauder; both weapons I would consider play-session wreckers. There is nothing fun about being alive in a full health tank, and then being dead before you know why. Yes, good on that vehicle crew for flanking you and getting into their weapons prime distance, but fudgemuffins is it annoying. It is also the combined fact that because the Vulcan and Marauder are known to be effective there is no shortage of them anywhere - which gets us to the same problem as the Striker. If you are anywhere near the front line of the TR you will, without fault, hear a Marauder or a Vulcan firing. This is compounded by the fact that the Vulcan and Marauder are brawling weapons; they really do lack range, even though it doesn't feel it when you are dying to them. This disadvantage is really only noticeable from the other side of the fence... but it doesn't really matter because the Prowler and Harasser can chase down ANYTHING they want. I have had Harassers with Speed Chassis 3 chased down by Prowlers with Speed Chassis 3; the 5-10 KPH difference in speed is just not enough to escape. And here-in lies the problem; the platform for the weapon completely makes up for the disadvantage for the weapon. The weapons have high damage output, plentiful magazines, but lack range; their platform is fast enough to close that gap with meaningful urgency. How could this be fixed? I really don't know. Speed and Volume-of-fire are the TR "thing"; they are the "modern military" of PS2. Hit fast and furious. Shock and Awe. You can't really fix the problem without changing the resistance or damage values on the Vulcan and Marauder to the point that they would be less effective than their NS counterparts. Perhaps some sort of balance could be struck by making the other empires alternatives slightly more effective against the delivery platforms of the Vulcan and Marauder. I would certainly love to see a C85 that is as effective against a Harasser is CQC as the Vulcan is, and I really do wish the Enforcer was looked at again - it's multiple piddly-dink shots don't feel NC, but it wasn't in a great place before - it was just the Halberd Mk 2.0. Maybe give it a single shot mag, like a Halberd, a bit less damage than a Halberd, a bit more velocity than a Halberd, but make it laser guided like the Raven's and Engineers turret. That would go in line with the NC flavor of long and hard (I make myself laugh). The VS weapons would be more difficult; perhaps a faster projectile speed and firerate for the PPA, and a bit tighter CoF for the Saron. I personally miss the old Saron, it was a pain to fight against and fun to use - but it was also FUN to fight against. Juking at the last second as the gunner was firing, making his laser accurate bolt miss, was plenty fun - but if it has to stay as a Semi-Auto, atleast make it so if it pulls up directly next to a vehicle, points the gun into the vehicle to the point the barrel is clipping, and lets loose - half the shots don't miss. That is just confusing. /End Words
I didn't say anything even remotely like this at all. I'll probably make a thread about this, but what I was getting at is that one weapon that is more or less identical in usage to another weapon but is restricted to a certain faction is bad design and very hard to balance. And most of the TR who defend it are unbiased and truthful? Talk about double standards.
I made 2 videos for this, for some reason the quality is always below crap... I use the in game video capture but its set to highest settings but they still are grainy like nothing else. Anyway here is the Magrider FPC(AP) aka the sniper tank shooting at a Liberator in VR, distance is 385m. As you cant see, I am aiming on the tip of the rear rudder thingy, the highest point of the Liberator but the shots still miss. I have to aim slightly above that point to even be able to reach the target. This is what the VS use on their "sniper" tank that everyone tells us to just sit on a hill and snipe the other tanks because everyone agrees that going close combat with a Prowler or Vanguard is not the best way to do it(unless you flank like a boss). Here is the Vulcan-H aka the worst long range weapon in the game. It has the same target and distance as the FPC, both weapons use 2x zoom. This clearly shows that its so bad at range its impossible to hit targets, it has such a slow bullet velocity and the bullet drop on this thing is so horrible that you cant use it past 200m. Since the videos are so bad for some reason I will write out what happens, FPC aimed at the highest point of the liberator cant even throw the shot far enough to hit the liberator, its very close but it doesnt hit. The Vulcan-H aimed at the same point is close to overshooting the liberator, the bullets hit it on the high middle part. Its much easier to hit a target with the Vulcan-H compared to the FPC and there is no end to the people that think the Magrider is some sort of long range sniper tank... but the Vulcan is just such a crappy long range weapon and all that, am I right guys? Edit; Post contains large ammounts of sarcasm, if you are unable to detect it, it is most likely the part where you are going "but that makes no sense, this guy is stupid."
Vulcan-H has 300m/s velo , mag fpc 225m/s? the drop is obvious without testing. Last I checked the saron-h has also 300m/s velo and no bullet drop at all.By your logic the saron-h should obliterate air. I fail to see your point here.
