[Suggestion] NC MAX Mid range anti infantry

I would like to strap Lashers to both arms of my MAX but we can't have sparkly disco balls for every situation apparently.

I just don't think VS is fabulous enough.

Quick question: I heard there's a "bug" of sorts where slugs on NC MAX weapons have no damage drop off. Any truth in that?

What?
If you are a physics professor at MIT and you see 2 guys arguing on the street. One of them is saying something that is not true about physics, you step in.
I am simply pointing out that if you are comparing NC max to other max's based on cert cost, then your analysis is not necessarily right.

You keep putting words in my mouth. I never said the NC MAX was worse because it's more expensive. I said it's unfair that it's more expensive. Then you keep telling me I'm wrong for saying the NC MAX is weaker, which I didn't say.

Okay.

Let's give TR/VS MAX AI weapons the same damage within 10m that NC MAX gets outside of 10m. Oh how the tears would flow.

You don't? What about TR Merci's or VS Blueshifts? These 'long range' Max weapons drop targets in approx 0.5-0.6 of a second at <10m (body shots) when dual wielded, where's the sacrifice for being long range weapons? The sacrifice of the scattercanon for being a close range weapon is absurd compared to TR and VS weapons. If that's the case then I will gladly give up instagib at spitting range for 0.5 of a second TTK as a NC max.

Great, so now that is out of the way, give NC maxes the guass weapons please.

Let's kill faction flavour!

Bludgeon it! Bludgeon it now!

You could just add slugs as a "defualt" to the weapon. That'd be OP, because short-range-instagib & long-range-effectiveness make it so (maybe) but we'll see where that goes.

We need MAX NS shotgun and MAX NS LMGs so everyone can build CQC MAX and everyone can build medium MAX. It's been a glaring issue since beta, and besides that it's money SOE has been flushing down the toilet for 2 years because these really obvious basic items are not being sold.

Make the NS MAX shotgun a reskinned Mattock and the NS MAX LMG a reskinned Mutilator, slap together some modified versions of the Baron and NS-15 models, do the arm rigging, put in shop for 700 SC. Bam, done, 1 day's work and you're raking in the cash and MAX are finally semi balanced.

I wouldn't have a problem with this if the other factions got an AI weapon that could Gib infantry at close range.

Adding an NC themed Gauss Rifle to the MAXes would not hurt faction flavor, only diversify it. If the NC got that I would be happy for the VS and TR to get some sort of faction flavored short range option. TR could get some sort of burst fired gun similar to the repeater, and the VS could get... whatever it is that lobster alien dudes would use in close quarters. Tentacle ****, hell if I know.

Fixing NC MAXes range issues is actually a simple fix. One, bump up magazine size. As it stands, NC MAXes have about 1/3 the kills per mag than TR and VS do. Larger magazines would give more chances of hitting targets at range without being impacted by the massive reload. And secondly, split "slugs" with three slugs that each do 1/3 the damage of current slugs and keep the same COF/spread that slugs have now. This would make slugs more forgiving by increasing the chance of partial damage where you would normally just completely miss. Stylistically its better because each arm has three shotgun barrels on it anyhow.

I still don't see why it's so difficult for the Vanu labs to staple a shotgun onto my MAXs arm. Say NC, fancy a trade?

Giving MAXes of all empires acces to shotguns would raise a QQ-storm. Better not give 'm to anyone and give NC longer range weapons.

Not to be rude, but there's no way to put it.
You shouldn't have mentioned cert cost in the first place, as it has no place when discussing balance.

While I don't have enough hacksaw+slug kills to say that's outright wrong, it seems wrong based on my limited data so far.

My Combined Kills/Min*:

1. 2.63 Grinder+Slugs
2. 2.55 Hacksaw+Slugs
3. 2.30 Onslaught
4. 2.05 Nebula
5. 1.90 Mercy
6. 1.86 Blueshift
7. 1.70 Mattock (no slug)

Only about 80 kills with Hacksaws on my recent account, so a bit light on data, but even considering that...they're pretty damn good!

Falcons aren't terrible at anti-infantry work, but I would never consider taking them specifically to engage infantry. I wouldn't really consider that with an AV MAX weapon, not even Pounders (which are even better than Falcons at it.) It's a nice plus to be able to eliminate those secondary targets while you flank around to kill a sunderer, but it should never be the reason you pull AV weaponry -- it's just a worse weapon for that role.)

I also want to get more time in on the Cosmos at some point. Someone called them useless in this thread and I'm not sure that's necessarily true. Mag size is rather amazing in the fight sort of fights, even though they lack the DPS of nebulas or the accuracy of blueshifts.

(* this data is my most recent chars only, which is why there are gaps in not having all weapons, and why I can be certain the Grinder and Hacksaw data is 100% with slugs.)

I only ever pull a MAX for defensive situations involving base invasions or if a Sunderer is in a tight position and you have a narrow corridor to lay down a decent base of fire.

I am guessing those hacksaw+slug kills are pretty close range? where its actually still fine and actually better <20m. But at ranges where you would need say an lmg, grinder/mattocks will out do the hacksaw even if you don't autofire the hacksaw but tap it. (cof increase per weapon).
It really is a personal preference for the most part, but i haven't used hacksaws at all since shotgun nerfs.

That's not true. Let's double the cost of all VS weapons for a week and see if the community still thinks the factions are balanced. The fact is, players have a finite number of certs (and dollars), and if your faction's stuff costs more, you get less of it. In some cases, that's not gamebreaking--for instance, you can do just fine with LA if you never purchase a new carbine--but in the case of MAXes, you severely limit your potential if you never purchase upgraded weapons.

It still won't effect performance of weapons.

We agree on that point.