I consider my Waterson VS to be my new "Main", But on my NC characters, I'm a complete noob with their max suits, I bought both grinders a while ago, before the nc max AI nerfs, the ones that lowered ammo and practically everything, and I'm just asking those experienced with the NC max, what I should do. I've got 1000+ certs, so If I really wanted to, I could unlock high cap ammo on any two AI weapons. Should I - Stick with my gut, and just keep using vanilla Grinders - Buy the second Scattercannon with SC, And then cert them both into more ammo capacity - upgrade the grinders to carry more ammo I'm not interested in the hacksaws. I don't like how careless I tend to be with automatic shotguns, and there's no honor in using those things anyway. I'd really rather not dump 1000 certs into something I dont use that often, but I've got little left that I want to spend certs on, and I've unlocked pretty much -every- weapon of any use to me on all factions. I'm just trying to get some opinions here if the Grinders I bought back then are good enough to just keep using. For comparison, I use the Blueshifts on VS, and Onslaughts on TR, Used to use Mercies, but they nerfed those too drastically
Grinders are (maybe) the best ones as the extra ammo is pretty essential and they have an advantage in the capacity area. Grinders at 12 is quite handy, especially if you come across an enemy MAX.
Grinders are the best choice without the extended magazine cert. They honestly are good enough unless you are trying to take down another MAX without reloading. After all the shotgun nerfs, Mattocks turn out to be the only ones worth using at 10m+ unless you cert into slugs, while only being slightly worse within those first 10m. You will find extended magazines almost necessary for them, and of course they are still priced at 1k each for no apparent reason. Source: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/max-balance-part-1-nc.138919/
I usually just get within a couple meters of a soldier and then press LMB/RMB simultaneously and it usually nets an instant kill. I'm only considering the scattercannons because it has a tighter spread, which would make it's effective OHK range a little further, and it reloads a little faster too. but the tradeoff is I'd have to dump 1000 certs into it to solve the ammo cap problem. Certs on my NC characters are not easy to come by, up until my TR outfit disbanded, they were my least used characters
Not sure why you bring "honor" here when your only choices in AI are : -normal semi shotgun -2 additional shell semi shotgun -30 ROF faster but with bigger spread auto shotgun -slightly longer range/less damage semi shotgun As far as I know, they are all the same thing for "honor." A brain dead shotgun. As for the type of shotgun to buy, I would rather go with the Mattock and its slightly longer range. Than again, I have yet to find the will to actually spend 3000k certs just to replace my old Hacksaws for a slightly longer range... shotgun... I also don't believe the additional 2 shell from the grinder beat the normal scattergun stats if both have extended mags. Maybe one day NC will get MGs to replace them shotguns...
Personally I use scattercannons. I would use them any day over grinders, however I find myself wishing I had mattocks. Shotgun range is too limited, you need that tighter spread. But if you want to get right up in a VS max or TR max's face then scats are great for that. Oh hai! Bam, bam, bam, bam! My advice is just to go with mattocks, you wont notice the damage drop against infantry, you WILL notice actually being able to hit them with enough pellets when they aren't in your face.
I would say just use the grinders, they still drop people that get in front of you and you already have them.. Just put your shield up after you press reload.
Keep your grinders, and unlock extended mags. Extended mag anything will beat vanilla scattercannons. More shots you can dish out before you have to reload, the better off you'll be. That's pretty much what grinders are for, anyway. And if you use riot shield, make sure you bring it up in between reloads. ...OR, if you haven't unlocked it yet, you can get kinetic armor. It'll help keep you alive long enough for that engie to get to you and start repairs. You can get a few tiers done with 1k certs. Having grinders, you have a decent size mag already (but get extended ASAP).
They're ALL much of a muchness, so no, I wouldn't change what you have. IMO the different guns just lend themselves to you using your max slightly differently from the next guy (e.g. take charge or shield, what ranges to engage, when to hide, when to attack and when to run). Just stick with what you've got and learn to play with those guns. For 1000 certs; buy extended clips for what you've got. With the various nerfs you need the clips to be on a par with the stock maxes for VS and TR.
I went with Dual Mattocks extended clips. They still gib infantry up close and have better range. Grinders I feel are the better choice. The #1 drawback to NC max (not range) is ammo capacity, this is where Dual Grinders excel.
On what you want to stick on an NC MAX, it doesnt matter what the question is, the answer is always Mattocks.
Mattock are better vs Infantry, Grinders are better when fighting maxes with a high level of kinetic armor. You know, maxes rarely run alone, and you will have a bad time fighting a KA 5 Max even at close range once you wasted one salvo of your mattocks on nearby infantry(also, lower damage). My 2 cents.
I run extended slug Mattocks everywhere but Biolabs where I might shed the slugs. I find this setup really excels at AI while not shining against max suits so I tend to hunt their supporting engies and medics. If I'm in the middle of an NME max crash I pull out the extended dual hacksaws.
Scatter cannons way better than Grinders just because of the reload speed. And the difference is like 2 shells.
If you're starting from scratch, Grinders. If you're in it for the long haul and enjoy the NC MAX, dual slug mattocks If you're feeling nostalgic, Hacksaws
There's very little reason to go for Scattercannons. Grinders are our best anti-MAX shotgun because of the magazine size, and even with slugs they are still adequately accurate. Yeah, Scats are slightly more accurate slug guns, but if you really want to slug snipe, go Mattocks. If you do not use slugs, there's literally no reason to use Scats over Grinders. The extra 2x2 shells are really important when facing Kinetic Armor MAX units and the spread on the Grinders is still better than Hacksaw pellet spread. Scattercannons are certainly viable, but as EHF said, Grinders and Mattocks are our best guns right now, and Mattocks are basically optional. Total damage carried is one of the NC MAX's main weaknesses and the Grinders are slightly less awful at this.
Dual mattocks with extended mags if you want to kill a HA that is on the other end of a room before he empties entire LMG mag into you. Other maxes die before I need to reload usually, gotta hug em and blast their head or charge away.
I just run slugs on my Grinders, which means 'on the other end of the room' is well within my kill range. And also, slugs on my Scattercannons on my other NC alt, which are just as accurate at Mattock slugs, but with lesser velocity, since slugs don't care about pellet spread (where the Mattocks win), do the same damage across all shotguns, and use hipfire stats to determine accuracy (where Scatters and Mattocks are tied). Mattocks are still better slug guns due to velocity on a moving target but otherwise, slug Scatters are somewhat less pointless than buckshot Scatters. If you run buckshot on Scatters you have notably worse accuracy than buckshot Mattocks and worse burst/sustainability than Hacksaws/Grinders. At least with slugs, Scatters become almost as good as Mattocks. #sluglyfe.
I have Grinders, Mattocks, Scattercannons, and Hacksaws. As an NC MAX, you'll die to two main things: 1. You didn't kill the guy before you had to reload. 2. You're attacked while reloading. The Grinders solve the 1st problem but increase the likely-hood of the 2nd. Scattercannons solve the 2nd problem but increase the likely-hood of the 1st. You can cert into the Scattercannons and make #1 less likely. You can't do the same with Grinders. My suggestion: Cert into extended mags on the right Scattercannon and left Grinder. In a prolonged engagement, your gun that runs out first will be the fastest to reload. Just remember to fire the Grinder while you close the distance, then use them both when they're within range. If you feel you must buy another weapon, I'd suggest getting a Mattock or Hacksaw instead of another Scattercannon. Grinders and Scatts are just about equal, but the other two offer much bigger changes.
Except in most cases for a NC MAX, most enemies won't get close up for you to put holes into them with your shotguns. They'll drain your health with long range fire before you get to them. But for TR and VS, since they have automatics of the sorts, they are much more capable at longer ranges and can progress much better. NC MAX is only good for interior battles really, as being outside generally kills you by rockets or tanks. The game has annoying bullet projectiles that don't hit their targets sometimes, so you have a shotgun shot at close ranges without even hitting anything past 5 meters.
