State of Comets

Right now they are a very annoying weapon to use for AI/Anti-MAX relative to Pounders and Falcons.

The reasons for this are:

Very low velocity
High recoil
Weird convergence

You can't one-shot like a Falcon, yet you still can't kill multiple targets per mag like with a Pounder. Worse, the slow velocity gives targets more time to react, and the recoil makes it harder to immediately fire at the target with a second volley at medium+ ranges. Add all this up and they're just in a very awkward place, and feel clunky to use.

The lack of drop is nice for AV, but that's all they've really got going for them.

I feel like some of these downsides should be reduced or removed, especially because they make the weapon feel bad to use.

I never use my MAX, but seeing my MAXes standing a chance versus other MAXes is a good thing. I'm in for it, man

The only complaint I have for the Comet is the low ammo capacity.

I usually use them when I'm trying to destroy enemy vehicles.

Quite an effective AV weapon, IMO. I don't if it's just me but I feel that the TTK is quite fast than the other faction max's stock AV weaponry.

Not to mention comets have 0.2 in COF/Bloom where as falcon and pounders have 0.1, so they are less accurate aswell.

Dmg::

Comet: 315, splash 85
Falcon: 585, splash: 90
Pounder: 285, splash: 125

HI MUM.

Regarding the recoil, try this trick. Instead of pressing both mouse buttons for volley one then again for volley two, try going left/right/left/right in very fast succession. The recoil settles a lot faster if you do it like this.

Isn't the Comet damage is 450? I could've swear it's 450 and has a 80 damage splash.

Anyway, besides the damage what does the Comet have that the other two don't?

You remember the pre-nerf numbers.

Been a long time since they did that amount of damage. Thats like 2013 numbers iirc.

Also comets doesnt really have anything going for them atm - they are pretty much inferior to TR and NC counterparts.

Comet is basically the worst of the 3 when it comes to killing infantry. With regard to vehicles one could argue which one's best/worst, will depend on distance to the target as well.

I checked the stats just now and to my surprise it's 315, all this time I thought it was 450 :O

What does it need so that it's in the same level of the other two? Mag size and velocity?

I think changes in these two would be great especially the mag-size.

Mag size is a pretty significant buff for this kind of weapon, since most of the downtime is in the reloading, not rechambering. You'd nearly double the DPS of Falcons by increasing the mag size by 1, for example. I'd say they should start by increasing the splash damage and radius a tiny bit. That would give them slightly better AI capabilities without changing their AV effectiveness.

Good point. Comets have 2 ammo in each mag while the Falcon have only 1.

Agreed. An increase damage on the splash and radius sounds good.

Increasing the splash damage would be a little problematic with ZOE as it could make it a OHKO again. I wouldn't have too much of a problem with this as ZOE is in a bad spot right now but others might.

I think a better solution would just be increasing the velocity so it could actually be used to kill infantry from a range. Comets aren't in a terrible spot though

I'm actually of the opposite mind. These are AV weapons, there is zero reason for them to have splash. I say remove the splash completely and add some of the indirect damage to the direct portion. That way skillful shots are rewarded and the discrepancy of having MAXes with suppression abilities and MAXes without, is mitigated.

Don't buff Comets, redesign everything else so the AV weapons are actually AV and anti-MAX weapons and only that.

...
- the velocity of the first gen AV are rougly the same. the comets are a BIT slower, which is more than compensated by the lack of an arc.

- same goes to the accuracy/recoil, the others have to compensate in the vertical axis. according to that statcrawler the comets actually have a higher hitrate than the others.

- splashdamage is negligible for all 3, these 85-90-125 dmg are not going to kill anything. if you want to kill infantry you need direct hits with all 3

- pounders can NOT kill multiple targets per mag, as they need 3 direct hits for it. sure, it's possible to kill 2 ppl with duals, dual comets only get one. however, comets fire and reload faster, the actual difference in dpm(with reloads) is about 15% in favor of the pounders. (falcon being around 25% higher)

- dual falcons could perhaps oneshot ppl. and be frakked if they dont cuz flakarmor or overshield. i dont think an nc max would ever go infantry hunting with this setup.


Did i miss any of the bs in this whine?

they might be in for a very small buff to the reload times, but thats just about it
the grass is always greener....

EDIT: i forgot, those dpm values include splash. against armor pounders and comets are equal with falcons being ~25% higher

Interesting way to defend the Pounders, unfortunately you are not accounting for the everyday gameplay reality. And the everyday reality is that Comets are pulled for AV or Anti-MAX duty exclusively while Pounders are pulled for AI and suppression all the time.

This is really a failure of the developers. Instead of making all MAX AV weapons as good (as bad really) as Vortexes against infantry, they merely swapped Fractures with Pounders. And guess what:

15013 - M3 Pounder HEG-Left | KPU | Daily Average: 4.87
17013 - Comet VM2-Left | KPU | Daily Average: 3.22
16013 - NCM2 Falcon-Left | KPU | Daily Average: 3.22

15013 - M3 Pounder HEG-Left | KPH | Daily Average: 15.63
17013 - Comet VM2-Left | KPH | Daily Average: 9.28
16013 - NCM2 Falcon-Left | KPH | Daily Average: 8.99


Pounders outperform the other weapons by a whooping 50%, no matter what stat you look at. And the reason this happens is not because they are awesome in AV, but because they are extremely efficient at murdering infantry.

of course they are good for suppression / peasantfarming, not going to deny that
but at the same time they also perform worst against vehicles, something that is carried over to the fractures.

In the end, every faction has AI weapons that do the job better, it's just that the pounder maintains AV capabilities while going against Infantry.
they are good, no question. but OP makes it look like the comets are somehow really bad, with a ton ******** arguments. and thats simply wrong.

every faction has a AV set -> fracture, comet, falcon
AND they have a special weapon set-> pounder, raven, vortex

there are equally many complaints about the stuff in the second group, albeit for different reasons.

You're still trying to downplay this, but the reality of things is that Pounders overperform by a huge margin. They don't merely do the job better, they are leaps and bounds superior to the competition. So I wouldn't be surprised to see them toned down.

It's also a reality of things that the VS has no MAX AV weapon that can remotely act as a suppression tool. Which is the way all MAX AV weapons should work, at least according to what the developers were planning for them.

Or in other words, give me just the Pounders and I'll give you both Comets and Vortexes. I'll still be on top after that exchange, that's how lopsided things are right now.