VS carbine advice requested

OK, I'm maining engineer (which is new to me). I find the Solstice VE3 accuracy and RoF good for my skill level. I've also tried the Solstice Burst to good effect at longer ranges but having to spam the fire button in close quarters is a bit of a downer, especially when I forget it's a burst weapon and just press once and hold down (yeah, really.........and I still drop ammo packs by reflex when I try to fire up the overshield I no longer have).

On my TR and NC engineers (yes........I got the engi bug quite badly) I have moved on from their stock carbines to the Jaguar - same RoF but with SPA - and (I forget the name) but a faster RoF than the Mercenary plus SPA.

My question is what, if anything you would recommend for a VS engineer? As you can see I like higher RoF and the Solstice seems to be the best carbine for RoF (except the Serpent but I have seen negative posts about that one). I know people rave about the Pulsar C but given my relatively indifferent accuracy would the high damage/low RoF trade off be a good or bad thing for closer range work?

Might an SMG is a better choice than another carbine? I tried out the NS7 PDW in VR training (bought one with DBG cash a loooong time ago when I thought I could make it as an infil). Seemed OK against stationary targets when hipfiring with advanced laser but VR ain't live fire.................

Thanks in advance

pulsar c. nuff said.

Pulsar C is for longer range engagements, so probably not what youre looking for.

VX6-7 and Serpent are the go-to for CQC carbines, though both of them having such a high rate of fire and a realatively long reload time youll find yourself being punished by them if you dont know trigger discipline or are a compulsive reloader.

As far as SMGs are concerned, the NS SMGs are accuracy focused weapons, and thier lower relative damage output means you go for headshots or go home.

And choosing between Eridani and Sirius should come down to whether you want to ADS or hipfire with an SMG.

Go with the Serpent if you like high ROF weapons and aim down sights in CQC or the VX6 if you usually hip-fire.

An automatic shotgun is also good to have for when you are playing defensively and know you will be holding a position in a small room.

I would keep the solstice, it's what i use on my engi and it's a really good carbine, good rof, great accuracy and fast reload time, the only other i use is the NS.
Since you play engi the solstice with underbarell shootgun can be nice if you go in cqc.
After that it's serpent or vx but you lose too much at distance, good compromise would be the zenith if you want a mix between solstice and vx6-7

Literally, you can use anything. I prefer the S variant carbines with my Engineer, because I can use the Underbarrel Attachments, which means Infinite Smoke, Grenade Launcher or UBS as an Engineer. But, just about anything will do because it's VS, your bullets never fall due to gravity, so snipe away with your Serpent or VX6!

Check the carbines guide on planethead.info, maybe you'll find what you're looking for.

Thanks all............really interesting and helpful responses

NS-11C is a decent Carbine.

Since you're maining engineer, I'm going to assume that you're either in a vehicle, or supporting MAXes (although this may be wrong).

Vehicles:
Definitely want to go with serpent, or even the default for that reason. Your vehicle (provided it's not a skyguard lightning) can deal handily with long-ranged threats, and your carbine comes into play when keeping infantry away from a repairing vehicle, and spraying the C4 fairies out of the air.

Supporting MAXes:
Really depends on your MAX buddy. If he's going for a cqc oriented loadout (e.g. blueshifts), he can deal handily with infantry and C4 fairies in your proximity. Therefore I would recommend the Pulsar C for neutralising threats that are outside the effective range of your MAX pal.
If your MAX buddy has gone for a long-range oriented loadout (i.e. comets), you would be best off going for the serpent (even the VX6-7 fares pretty well), with the same principle as vehicles - neutralising short-ranged threats. Same goes for SMG use in these kind of situations (would recommend the Eridani over the Sirius though)

However, if you're not part of any of the two above groups:
- Pulsar C if you can aim. It is a headshot machine
- Default Solstice or VX6-7 (if you can afford it) for general use
- Stay away from burst fire variants - they are not worth your time (yet)

I engie main in all three factions. My VS engie carries a pulsarC for medium range (see wrel's recent vid on the weapon) and serpent for CQC.
PulsarC is a stable ADS weapon with a low rate of fire and high damage rate, but mediocre hip fire, thus not good at CQC.
Serpent is a bullet hose with a great hip fire but mediocre ADS accuracy because of recoil issues

If you like support and tools and stuff, try Solstice SF. It has access to every attachment, and is statwise the same as the VE3, little slower ROF. It also can toogle burst fire mode.
Best thing is that is has access to underbarrel launcher stuff, like shotgun, smoke or grenade. This is basically the Jack of all trades, yet master of none.

Unless you need the UB smoke, the Solstice SF is nearly a direct downgrade from the NS-11C. The NS-11C gets 0.75x ADS, a bigger magazine, and faster reload speed. The Solstice SF might be slightly better at long range, but that 0.75x ADS speed alone makes it worth it.

I'm wondering why are Serpent and VX6-7 so overshadowed. Those are the best VS carbines for CQC and to some extent mid-range. Great picks for any VS player that mains light assault or engineer.

Else I'd say that Pulsar C and Zenith are nice mid-range options too.

Pulsar C and VX6-7 are the only "good" carbines outside of the solstice on VS.

I've found the Serpent to be really uncontrollable unless you're at point blank range (so it's decent enough on LA) and the Zenith is a horrible, horrible carbine. The Solstice Burst however is really great.

In my experience the Serpent sacrifices too much in the accuracy/reload speed department for that rate of fire. The VX6-7 seems like a more balanced CQ carbine, and works quite nicely either ADS or hipfire (note that it also has a tighter hipfire CoF than the Serpent.)

You might also try the Zenith. Slightly faster RoF than the default Solstice, .75 ADS speed, and a more diverse array of attachments. Basically a VS attempt at a Jaguar.

Yeah, I feel much the same about the lot of them except Pulsar C and VX6-7. Some praise the Zenith but I really didn't like it. It felt like an inferior Jaguar.

Having aruaxed both, the Jaguar is absolutely the better of the two.

The Zenith's problems is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. It has 0.75 ADS but horrible accuracy combined with the worst damage per magazine possible along with bad attachments.

The Zenith is a waste of certs. The .75x ADS multiplier and tiny ROF increase over the Solstice is not worth the loss in accuracy and control. Even w/ the Adv foregrip attached it's not very impressive. A Serpent or VX6-7 w/ foregrip is almost as accurate and both kill much faster.


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To answer the OP, you basically just need 2 carbines: The Serpent/VX6-7 for close range work (<25m), and the Pulsar C for everything else.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the Solstice as well. It's accurate, easy to control, and has a decent (not great) damage output. It's a great general-purpose starter weapon.

The thing is, anything the Solstice can do, the Pulsar C can do, only better.


When choosing between the Serpent or VX6-7, I strongly suggest you try them both out in VR and find out which one works best for you. The recoil of both weapons pull in opposite direction: Serpent pulls to the left, VX6-7 to the right. And that can make a big difference in determining which one you prefer. I personally find them both to be equally accurate/controllable in my hands.

Solstice SF grenade launcher can be fun in big indoor battles. stand on an ammo pack and just spam grenades into a door or window. I've killed a few maxes with UB grenades. I've never used the smoke and the shotgun is pretty worthless. as a carbine, it sucks compared to the serpent and pulsarC, however

Serpent has 50 RPM higher ROF than the VX6-7, with the same damage numbers

Personally I can't tell a difference with the hip fire COF, but it may be different. I get plenty of kills hip firing with the serpent in CQC