Hey ya dummies, start using slugs on your NC MAX

slugs should probably be one cert

Sequel to A Bug's Life.

But really, slugs are almost essential to the MAX shotguns that it's kind of interesting that it ends up being an auxiliary cost to bring it up to its effectiveness (plus the relatively expensive 2x Extended Magazine upgrades that tend to be more important on low-capacity weapons than high. But enough of that...yes, do use slugs!

Yeah the mix of cert costs for shotguns (and NC MAX weaps in particular) is really brutal right now. I go on some pretty brutal streaks as a Mattock user with extended mags, but haven't even tried slugs yet due to their cost. If they're the mid-range solution for NC, then they need to cost 1 cert.

And really it's bad for all empires that new players don't start with Dual AI, since split weapons is awful in a MAX.

(scroll down a bit)http://voodooshipping.net/forum/page/1/m/14480460/viewthread/8393581-voodoo-elite-infantry-squad

Oh silly buckshot using me, I was doing it wrong all along!



(Excuse my killboard, I was serving as a grunt in a platoon in a 48 v 48 Biolab fight. The above is around the amount of kills I get when I solo it out.)

Bah. I prefer buck shot.
I just like to be able to kill enemy maxs. Slugs are just so unforgiving.
Yes, I have an have all the NC max weapons.

Grinders are your anti-MAX arms. 2 stock Grinders will kill a MAX with no kinetic, and with exmags they will kill a MAX with kinetic 5. They are the only arms that can say this, slugs or no, which goes to show how hamstrung our MAX is without exmags. In a situation where you are NOT the only one firing on the enemy MAX, Hacksaws are probably better due to their alpha, but exmags are essential and they are expensive.

Buckshot is fine in a biolab meatgrinder, but the rampage I posted was everywhere from a tech plant defense to an indar ex tower battle to an open field sprint to the north, engaging in fights at 0-50m without any knowledge of the distance the next fight would be at. If I had buckshot, I would've been dead just on the march to quartz ridge

Plus, I think the twitch shooting skills and patience that slugs have taught me has translated into my HA combat as well - after this assault tonight I was running 3-4 KDR with my Rambo (exmag EM6, resist/adrenaline, AV grenades, commish) HA setup

Nice post, agree for the most part. I still like buckshot Skillsaws for taking out MAXs, KA5 or no, alone or no. #Headshotsftw (No link, sorry.)

1300 buying a grinder and without aegis

Glad someone finally sees the value of slugs. Been telling NC to use them for months with only a chidish "nuh-uh!" response everytime.



About half of my hacksaw, mattock and scattercannon kills were made with slugs. Use them!

Definitely Man. #SLUGGERMAX

I had a much shorter session today with my MAX since I've been picking up LA but I had a 16.5 KDR run with my Hacksaws (and a bit of Godsaw spam). I'm a fairly dedicated lone-wolfer so no, I wasn't running around with a pocket-engie. I'd run back to spawn or scrounge around for ammo packs to reload (and yes, I have quite often died because my magazines are running 0/0), and I run nano-regen to bleed off the damage I take after an exchange. About 10 of my kills were on ZOE MAXes and I came out on top against a TR MAX at the very end as well.


I first started talking about the benefits of NC MAXes running slugs pre-nerf. This was back in January in fact. I've run Hacksaws with Slugs ever since. Pre-nerf it was beneficial to run 1 pellet, 1 slug arm since the pellets were so overwhelmingly strong even 1 pellet arm was able to bend a TR/VS MAX over for a wild night of spanking and freedom. Nowadays I go full slugs to maintain mid-range consistency.

I first started running slugs because I noticed how efficient they were at picking off LAs trying to brick me from above. Most LAs didn't assume you were running slugs and were rather lazy about their C4 approach, which allowed me to take my time and slug them out of the air.

To address some of the criticisms that I've been seeing in this thread.

IGROWWEARY isn't trying to say that running slugs is going to make the NC MAX uber-OP anti-everything. They won't. They shouldn't. The NC MAX WAS uber-OP rofflestomp lol#getGooDScRuBs at one point, and I believe it was a pretty ****** time to be a TR/VS MAX, so we're all better off putting that period behind us.

Running slugs also isn't going to magically make MAX on MAX fights easier if you're accustomed to charging up point-blank and unloading. With slugs, this can and will get you killed for your opponent knows what they're doing. Slugs definitely will drop your max damage potential, but they reward you by allowing you far more options when dealing with both MAXes and other infantry.

In my view, the main advantage that IGROWWEARY and I have brought up repeatedly is the fact that most people simply don't expect it. So many of my kills on infantry and even other MAXes happen because my target is standing at 20-25 meters and... he just stands there. He's shooting at me, he thinks he's safe, after all I'm an NC MAX, I can't kill past 5 meters right?

Wrong, I just killed you dead. At 30. Boom.

Slugs are wonderful infil/LA bait. They require some aim, some patience, they require that you pick your targets a little more carefully. I can't just spray and pray that everything I point at in general will die. When I run into a room with a heavy and a medic, I'll slug out the heavy, before he can rocket me, and then slug out the medic while he's whipped out his Medi-tool.

Against a ZOE without an engie, I'll judge the distance. At close-range, you can kiss your pink-plated *** good-bye, free certs for me. At mid-range, I'll dance, slugs to the head, shields up when I see heavy munitions and when I need to reload, I will win the attrition fight. At long-range? Run, high-tail it out of there, find a better position to engage from, slugs aren't going to win you the exchange against a ZOE or Frac-MAX with the scatter they experience.

Against a ZOE with an engie, judge the terrain. If there's plenty of cover I'll use AEGIS and cover to close the distance. I WON'T fire at the ZOE, instead I'll save my ammo, since as we all know, unlike with the TR and VS, for the NC MAX every shot counts, you simply can't waste fire or spray and pray like they can, and once I'm close, I'll unload on the engie before turning around and giving that ZOE hell. I popped 3 ZOEs solo yesterday, one after another, who thought they were safe with an engie behind cover. They were wrong.

ZOE MAX users seem to panic easily. MAXes with engies in general tend to panic easily. A solo MAX is more willing to fight given the same odds than a MAX who has just had his engie popped. It's an interesting quirk in player behaviour that you shouldn't hesitate to exploit ruthlessly.

I also don't know how often people here use the MAX punch. USE IT. God Damn. USE IT. It's true, slugs will **** your close-range DPS compared to pellets. Know what doesn't get gimped at point-blank? Falcon Pawnching someone in the face. See my kill against zu2? He's pretty good. He's pretty damn good. The guy's punked me multiple times. Had a fully kitted out TR MAX going 1v1 against me. I blew through my entire magazine and failed to kill him. Still won the fight though, slugged him at mid-range, closed in, MAX punch - throw up shield while the punch recovers - MAX punch again. Done.

We have something in common we are both lone wolves so next time let squad duo I can be engineer or medic either one you will still have ur max. Best combo is me medic and u with nano repair can't get any better then that .

If it's about certs, then my MAX should automatically win every single fight. At 87% completion, the only thing that I have put no certs on is the ammo storage containers. Everything else is purchased with certs and maxed (yes, included charge).

How come I die regularly then, if it's all about certs?

(Edit: Minor correction, I don't have the second quasar. I'll get it when I achieve auraxium with the Blueshifts)

A tr/vs don't need to put anything in cert they can own anything without extended mags or ES ability.

I know how to use the buckshot... trust me. I am a professional.

You rule, even if we don't agree on the usefulness of the Aegis (I find it gets me killed via not having Charge far more than it helps me). One of these days we need to slothpack a satellite base and really tear some **** up.

It's not all about certs, which has been established. It's about caution and playing intelligently to your specific suit's strengths. When people mention the cert floor for the NC MAX, they are pointing out that the MAX doesn't have any strengths until you're at AT LEAST 1300 certs invested, oftentimes more. The default NC MAX has a 6 shot Nova (with a 4 second reload) on one arm and an inaccurate rocket that moves at a snail's pace on the other - a Comet with half the mag and half the velocity. It's really bad, and even back in the days where it was stupidly powerful it was STILL pretty much mandatory to get the exmags.

I didn't really get into fatsuiting until I went out on a limb and dumped a bunch of certs into it, now I wish I had done it sooner. So I started this thread, to convince people like me who wrote the NC MAX off for being a one trick pony to invest in theirs and have some fun.

(edit - also, my squad cert line is only missing one thing, does that mean I should win all alerts?)


Also, Devrailis is absolute correct in that a huge amount of any slugmax's kills come from infantry who are literally just standing there while you kill them. Those shotgun arms have some kind of hypnotic effect on people I swear.

Sometimes I think about my TR MAX, with its Mutilators and flak armor, and how much *** it kicks with such a trifling investment of certs. Same with my VS MAX - dual Cosmos are incredible, and rank 1 of ZOE gives you all the movespeed (aka the important) benefits so you don't even have to go any farther than that.

Both those guns have exmags available, but they are entirely optional which is crazy to me.

no shh don't tell them! We want the NC to remain oblivious

Gotta say, I'm not that avid max user, but sometimes I get sad, that I took slugs for my grinders. Taking them on hacksaws was almost pure deathwish, only luck helped me.

I think that a mere reading through of this thread will reveal to you the inherent potential in those slugs you have purchased. Become one with the shotgun, grasshopper. Slugsaws operate the same way Hacksaws do - namely, just all the other arms except ALL AT ONCE. Dumping 20 rounds into a couple targets in like 2 seconds? Magnificent. Just make you your charge is up or you kill them all.

Trust me, in a way I'm as nervous as you are. They're tricky and finicky enough as it is, I'm seriously worried about SOE taking another look into slugs and giving them yet another inexplicable nerf. As though they're some kind of juggernaut. As though there's ever been a single complaint about slug MAXes wrecking shop

Slugs are great for catching infantry out at 40m ... I think we all knew this didn't we? It's not always very efficient due to the random cof, but fun when you get it right.

Just a shame it then means you do less damage up close, which doesn't really make sense to me. Definitely a compromise, and it'd be nice to have an equivalent to the TR/VS AI weapons that do the same damage at all ranges. Having slugs slotted is a very quick way to die to an enemy max 1v1.