Hi guys! I saved some certs and I bought a hacksaw set + ext mags a while back. Im really enjoying it in biolabs at least. Thats the only place it's really useful or if I wait in a corridor or in cap points. I also want to bring my Max outside and Im thinking what are my options? I heard that the slug is useless because of the ridiculous cof. The mattock will just increase my range by 10-15m while sacrificng damage and fire rate and it feels redundant as I just bought my hacksaw. Im also looking into the Raven? Will it be worth it in terms of making my NC max more effective in open field? For both AI and AV? (did they nerf it or is there an impending nerf?) I just want to hear your suggestions because Im new to this max thing and Im trying it out because Im getting bored playing infantry and vehicle. =) Any inputs will do thank you!!!
When it comes to the spread on the shotguns for the NC MAX. The spread from smallest to largests would be... Mattock>Scattercannon>Grinder>Hacksaw This info should help. While I have a scatMAX myself I dont use it enough in open fields and when I do I can feel most players shaking their head at me. (Even though I almost make it to the next base.) There should be other guys who know more than.
From what I've heard, using slugs on the Mattock are somewhat usable if you crouch and spam at the enemy. As for the Ravens, personal experience... they're definitely viable for anti-vehicle use, but anti-infantry tends to be limited to closer ranges. Most tend to jump or dodge when they see Ravens flying toward them at a distance. Still a two-hit kill if you hit directly.
You can increase accuracy of slugs by standing still and on top of that crouching reduces the cone of fire even further, but even with slugs I'd say about 30ish meters will probably be your limit with Hacksaws to be somewhat efficient. Never go full auto with slugs either unless it's in your usual shotgun range. I usually play VS but when I go outdoors I grab AV or AA weapons unless I know I'll be running into a lot of AI targets and a building soon, like capturing a satellite base. Ravens can kill infantry in one hit from both arms, in longer ranged and drawn out battles they may be your best choice because you can target both vehicles and infantry. Be aware though that they probably won't be as good if infantry comes into a certain range of you. Maybe some NC player can comment on their AI prowess in close quarters.
It's so sad how we need to crouch and hold still just to get a decent effective range on our slugs. Hmmm if I go mattock I need 2k certs + 1k for mags and 300 for slugs and it's not as effective as the worst max weapon of other factions at range. On VR the raven seems nice but I think when the targets are moving it's a different story like what you guys said. How about the falcon? it's only 250 certs? Is it any good?
The Falcon should hold you over but in the long run Ravens are probably better all around because all old MAX AV weapons have a kind of arming range if you want to use them against infantry. With arming range I mean they do less damage at close range and as they go out to about 25 meters or so they get stronger, in case of the Falcon that would mean one hit kill if both hit. The Falcon has a longer range than Ravens overall as the projectile doesn't disappear at 300 meters, but don't expect to hit anything at that range that's moving. It will also be a lot harder to use against distant targets in general because of firing arc (not hard to learn), projectiles crossing over (annoying as you have to shoot one arm at a time and compensate each shot) and slow projectiles. Falcons are a decent short to mid range AV weapon and you already got one, so it's only 250 certs to get up and running at close to mid range AV. I usually use the old AV weapons to hunt Sunderers around bases and they do their job just fine.
Well, you can try your luck with slug loaded Mattocks, or you can just give up hope and play the Anti-Air with Bursters and/or Anti-Vehicle with Ravens.
Probably not. NC MAXes are pretty much the undisputed kings of CQB and little else. If the devs gave us a longer-ranged option... well, you wouldn't hear the end of it.
Falcons and Ravens help me go outdoors as an NC MAX and in a pinch bursters help too. .those are the guns. After that I use Kinetic armor for that additional survival ability.
Pretty simple really. The AI weapons are... AI weapons, you'll be using them in situations where you need to kill infantry... or max, since you're NC. Anywhere you find infantry you will find cover. Between this an your shield, you're in very good shape. Naturally places where it's hard for infantry to close the range, such as open fights with heavy vehicle presence, you'll have a difficult or unrealistic chance of contributing unless you go with AV weapons. Both falcons and ravens are fine options, personally I would go with ravens, because there's not much cooler than wire guided missiles that scream like eagles, but that's just me, the falcons are great too. Just keep in mind that the falcons are shorter ranged.
If you need to use a max outside roll with bursters and you're good to go, we VS used them for AI work for a while and they perform pretty well at longer ranges.
Base on the replies it's really a mattock slug combo. But It's too expensive for my taste with only minor improvement. I wish we can dual wield Gauss SAW or something. Hmmm I guess Ill buy the raven.
Bursters and Falcons would work. When outside I run a hybrid AA AV max and it works well as an anti-vehicle max is the outdoor max where most of your enemies are in vehicles. Also that anti vehicle weapons work great against infantry the rate of fire might be low but if you land a shot it will hurt them badly.
Simple answer, you can't. Your only semi-solution is to load slugs and pray you get a hit, or do what the TR LOVE to do now and load the AV weapons. However unlike the currently OP as **** fracture, you will not be doing **** against infantry. Best bet is stay indoors, and keep anything and everything in that 10m range, you know the ten meters that every other empire calls up OP for being able to insta kill in, despite being close to useless past that (and even other empires maxes have nearly as short as TKK in that same 10 meters).
I'm probably doing it wrong - but I find the Ravens to be pretty terrible. 95% of the time, the last thing I want to be doing is standing motionless - especially outdoors - guiding my missiles into the target... or, if I move have them go flying off and miss. I'd much rather have them be dumb-fire.
