I still love the TR (loyalty until death remember?), but I got a little bored so I made my first VS character to do more than just examine weapons in VR. I'm going engineer because it's potentially the most versatile class and is a great class to grind certs with as a starting point. I'm ~BR 23 I think and so far I've fully upgraded the repair gun and ammo box. I upgraded flak armor a few. I gave the 2 default guns some sights/attachments and I got full tank mines/proxy mines unlocked Now I'm ready for the first big 1k cert investment I think. I think at this point I should be going for the AV turret as my next goal. Would you agree? I've got 2 loadouts going so far 1st is named "Urban/Anti-Infantry" 2nd is "Open Field/ Vehicular" The first loadout which is for the most part completed uses Shotgun, claymores, machine gun turret, frag grenade and flak armor. I have been considering swapping flak out for grenade bandolier on this first load-out. Would that be a smart move? Cause there've surely been a few times flak armor really saves me, especially when following a MAX into the fight. The second loadout has the carbine, sticky grenade and anti tank mines. Ofcourse it won't be complete without the AV turret which is why I want it to be my next unlock. Does it look like I'm heading in the right direction for my beginner purchases? It's been a while since I started from scratch with serious intent to grow a character. I guess I'm waiting until after I unlock all my engi stuff I'll start working on vehicle upgrades. Where should I begin there?
Solstice Burst or Zenith. The Sticky grenade and grenade bandolier combo is also shockingly unfair in any indoor fight and allow you anti max/vehicle options without tank mines. You can run proxy in that case. If you run mana turret obviously tank mines.
for anti tank options i would rather buy the saron for the magrider than an av turret. I dunno much about carbines but for mid and long range ppl seems to like the pulsar c with has no horizontal recoil just vertical.
For open field / vehicular - AV turret is always a good option. If it were me, i'd probably put some certs into something unique - AV turret is great but it's just the same as the TR AV turret and when I started playing all three factions, I was more interested in the truly unique stuff. Maxed engineer tools will get you plenty of certs no matter what. If you like vehicles then the Magrider is truly unique but I admit that it needs a lot of certs to be really good - Saron will attract a secondary gunner so a worthwhile investment (and the Magrider desperately needs a gunner to be good). If you ever try NC then give the Phoenix a whirl - it's a whole lot of fun...
Your approach is similar to mine except that I equipped sticky 'nades before certing into the AV Mana Turret. Maxed out, I have now got a goodly number of kills with the turret quite quickly. Apart from killing vvehicles and crew long range infantry killing is not very sporting but is fun. I do my penance by trying to hit low flying aircraft as well, which can be hard but blowing an esf is very satisfying. Other than that, I run nanoweave for anti infantry / base figthing as you tend to get shot a lot but there are arguments in favour of running flak to deal with the 'nade spam as well. Personally, I'd rather have a bit of protection than the ability to chuck a couple of extra 'nades so I've never bothered with the bandolier. Besides, I'm not a fan of explosive spammers. That goes for C4 faeries and long range HE too. I have NS Baron (ES shotguns are pretty rubbish but I ran the default semi auto until I could afford to trade up) or the VX6-7 carbine for CQC. It has good RoF - not the fastest but a good balance with usability for me. You didn't mention secondaries but just for completeness, I run Emissary when using a shotty, to give me a bit of ranged ability. VS pistols are pretty pants compared to the other factions unless you are playing infil stalker and can get the drop on someone (or if you are a good shot with slower firing, big hitting semi auto pistols). I run AP mines for setting ambushes in bases and have regen implant to compensate for not being able to caryy medkits or resto kits. AV can be good for screwing Maxes but I get a low hit rate on them and with tank mines in open field warfare........proabably haven't got the hang of where to place them. For longer range engagements and open field figthing I run flak with the Solstice Burst (slap on a 3.4x sight and you have a long range killing machine). I also have acceess to the Eidolon BR but it is pretty situational tbh. Sounds to me like we have both hit a similar formula. And it works for me so I'd say you're on the right track.
I have found, over the years, that I much prefer extra ammo or extra 'nades/rockets to outfitting nanoweave or flak for health. I now do this with all of my loadouts across my toons. Once you get some decent upgrades to tool slots and your suit, I completely agree with: I bought the Serpent on a whim to see how it would be as an SMG variant and I can't believe how good it is. Like stunningly good. Run silenced with extra ammo and you can flank and cause some real damage.
I never said they did. In response to the OP who said he wants an AV turret....most engies will not run extra grenades and instead will run extra tank mines. However, if you have the AV turret (like the OP said he wants) then you can use that for anti MAX (with some careful planning and finagling) and AV -- hence you don't need anti take mines and can do what I just said above and maintain proxy mines and tons of stickies. Stickies are freaking great. I apologize if my not quoting the OP made my response to the OP confusing.
