Eh? EH? MAXes need some love, and having thought about it, I don't think there's any way to make the dual wielded firearms any better without them being borderline OP. And thus, this monstrosity of an idea was born. Allow MAX units to sacrifice all ranged capabilities, in exchange for an Empire Specific Wieldable Melee attachment. I'm thinking bigger and more fleshed out versions of the ES Power knives, so Chainsaw arms for TR (or drills ), Vibroblades for NC, and Hardlight blades for VS. In addition, to complement the new playstyle that these weapons would support, I propose a new suit slot for MAX - the stealth frame - which allows the unit to move at a speed closer to regular infantry, and significantly reduces (or even completely removes - maybe at max level) the mechanical noise produced when MAXes move, as well as dampening the sound of their footsteps. As a trade off, you would be unable to equip Kinetic or Flak armour, or NAR, because they are also suit slots, and you would additionally sacrifice half your HP in order to use the stealth frame. The new emergency repair module would then repair 40% of your HP per use, instead of the usual 20%. The only problem with this is that it means that TR kinda get shafted in regards to their ES max ability, as NC's shield would nicely complement a Melee only playstyle, and the ZOE movespeed buffs would stack with those of the Stealth Frame suit slot. Perhaps if the TR MAX did get drills as its melee weapon, activating lockdown would allow you to fire them into targets which are out of your melee range. If you hit them, then the drill would deal damage over time, eventually killing the victim unless removed by a Medic or Engineer. Additionally, the Drills in ranged mode could also be used against other MAXes and vehicles. The problem with this is it would likely just see use as an AV/anti MAX tool, and rarely be used in melee combat... I don't know how to make this fair for TR really... Maybe add a second ES MAX ability for all factions, with the TR getting one which better complements a melee playstyle, while the other two factions getting one which doesn't? Anyway, that's my mental diarrhoea concluded. Discuss!
We got shafted by being given lockdown in the first place. Lockdown is only truly powerful when you're not being shot at, or using bursters, Anti-infantry weapons need an accuracy buff in lockdown for it to be truly effective. As for TR MAX Melee, Warhammer 40k anyone?
The netcode is too wonky atm to support proper meelee. As long as stuff like knifing people across a room isn't fixed, there should not be new meelee weapons.
