I recently started playing PS2 and i really like the mobility of the Light Assaults (LA). The whole idea of flanking and maneuvering around your enemy is quite fun and challenging. However i could use some advice from the more experienced veterans about the following topics: 1. The Rocklet Rifle tool seems very weak... At first i thought it was a grenade launcher but it sucks against infantry since it has almost no splash and cant kill a basic infantry class in 6 rockets. Then i thought it was a tank killer... but it needs over 30 rockets to just seriously damage a tank. Six rockets that deal about 150 damage each IF they all hit (900 dmg, not enough to kill basic infantry). This is further reduced by whatever protection the target might have. The rockets have almost no splash so they must score a direct hit (sucks vs infantry). Firing one by one is very slow and risky since enemies can easily see where you are firing from. Firing all at once is very inaccurate and often half the rockets will miss even at very close range. Even with the Typhoon ammo upgrade the rockets just dont do enough to reliably kill. At best the Locklets ammo can scare away aircraft but that is a really lame and situational tool... Is there anything the Rocklet Rifle is actually great at? Compared to the Heavy Assault's bazookas the LAssault's Rocklet Rifle seems garbage in every way. 2. Carbines vs SMGs As far as i have noticed the SMGs usually have much better stats like magazine size and rate of fire. But carbines are decently accurate when hip-fired during jetpack flight, and some of them can mount underbarrel shotgun/grenade launcher. Having an underbarrel shotgun or grenade launcher sounds awesome but i dont know is it practical in combat. And as far as i can see both SMGs and Carbines are really bad at medium range - Assault Rifles and LMGs do that much better so i avoid mid range as LAssault. So do you prefer Carbines or SMGs and why (assuming you are not using shotguns). 3. I like the Skirmisher jetpack, its versatility is awesome. The other two jetpacks seem rather situational and niche in use. Which ones do you use most often? 4. I am thinking of trying out the Flash Grenades... Should i go for the standard Flash Grenades or the Quick-Det Flash Grenades? 5. How do you actually hover with Skirmisher jetpacks? So far i have done it a few times just by lightly tappign the jet pack during flight so i stand in roughly the same spot. But it seems very clunky and spends the Skirmisher jetpack very quickly. The Drifter jetpack makes hovering easy but i do not know how to do it with the Skirmisher jetpack. 6. Which side-arm do you prefer? Personally as Vanu i like the NS-61 Emissary but honestly i would much rather use the unique TR automatic pistol or the NC shotgun pistol if i could. I thought of using the long range revolvers/crossbow but they just seem too situational and slow to kill at long range, even with a head shot. Thank you for helping me out
1. The rocklet rifle is good at a couple of things : It can do critical damage against ESFs in two salvos provided all rockets hit and they're standard rockets. Killed a few ESFs by baiting them into attacking me, then dumping 2-3 salvos to kill them. It can finish off burning or heavily smoking vehicles. It's primary role. It can do some damage to MAXs. It's not very good damage but if you have nothing else to seriously damage them then might as well dump a salvo or two. You can get 1 C4 on a Lightning tank and dump a magazine on it's rear to kill it, saving you 1 extra C4 for whatever you might need. And most importantly, you can kill a Sunderer very easily with 2 C4 bricks and the rocklet rifle. It's also good against Shielded Sunderers because it prevents shield regeneration on hit. You can, for example, remove the shield with all your rockets, damage it a little bit then get two C4 for the kill. It's not practical, but when nobody is around it's certainly useful and doable. It's horrible at anti-infantry and without C4, and as you have learned, it takes an absurdly long time to kill any infantry target. They don't do much, but it's better than nothing and can be combo'd quickly with C4. 2. CQC Carbines are straight-up better than SMGs in every area except reload speed, fire rate and maybe mag size depending on SMG. It's possible to fight at mid-range with CQC carbines but it's hard, but if you like mid-range fighting and since you've mentioned you're Vanu, try out the Pulsar C, the gun is insanely accurate and can be as good, if not better, than some LMGs/Assault rifles at range. I go with carbines all the time, they have the benefit of aerial hip-fire and have either much better range and accuracy than SMGs, or they do more DPS. SMGs are okay, but carbines tend to be more versatile and powerful. If I wanted to rip apart people in CQC I'd use a full auto shotgun or a pump-action. SMGs on LA aren't worth it compared to alternatives. 3. Skirmisher jetpack all the time. I've got upgrades into both but yes, they are too situational. The only other one I've used a lot is Drifter jets because they're amazing while high up in the air, not to mention you can blow up tanks completely unnoticed with C4 from great heights. Icarus is too weak in anything other than a tower fight or a place with a lot of vertical elevation IMO. 4. Go quick detonation flash grenades? I've not used them a lot but it's much harder to fight against quick-det flash than standard flash. You can bounce the standard flash around cover, but quick-det is excellent at pushing points or easy flanking. 5. Go up a bit, drop a little and repeat. Skirmisher jets use up a ton of fuel if you tap them, but like this you can go a little further and use less fuel. If you want to hover for long periods of time, Skirmishers unfortunately can't do that, and use Drifters if you want to do so. 6. Commissioner. Best sidearm ever for anything. If you want to fight at long range, try Blackhand. It requires you to be accurate, but it's really powerful. The crossbow drops too much at range, but it does huge damage, so unless you're a really good shot don't buy it. A good VS pistol is the Spiker, it's pretty good at short range. The Beamer is also good if you can spam-click.
1) The Rocklet Rifle is usually just used as a finisher, for example if you use 2x C4 on a Sunderer (without Deployment Shield), it will start burning, but not be destroyed instantly. To finish it off, one RR salvo (with right-click you can mag-dump the RR) is sufficient. The RR is by design not as strong as a Heavy´s Rocket Launcher, and that´s for good reason. Don´t treat it as a weapon, but more of a situational tool to deter air or destroy badly damaged vehicles. 2) As a LA, I would ALWAYS use Carbines. One thing is the way better COF while jumping / flying, the other is indeed range. SMGs are TERRIBLE at anything out of CQC range and will restrict you even if you only shoot down a rooftop, because of damage drop off and low muzzle velocity. Also, every faction has access to Carbines that offer the same, if not better DPS than SMGs. The mostly regarded as "best" Carbines for VS are the VX6-7 for shorter and the Pulsar C for longer ranges. 3) Skirmisher is the most used jetpack because of versatility. 4) Depends on how you want to use them. 5) You don´t "hover" with skirmishers for more than a few seconds, that´s what Drifters are made for. 6) If you want to use a VS sidearm, grab the Spiker, the others are not that good. The mostly as "best" regarded sidearm in PS2 is the NS-44 Commissioner because of it´s huge damage per shot. Best regards, and have fun!
I won't duplicate the good advice above, but just add my personal preference/observations on a couple of things: Rocket Rifle is indeed a close range finisher against damaged vehicles and aircraft, plus the occasional phalanx turret you see smoking or burning.....not an anti personnel weapon. Carbines generally have better mid range damage than SMGs. The only SMG I have seen that competes (to some degree) with a carbine in versatility is the NS7PDW with compensator and fore grip. It has a decent rate of fire, reasonable range (compared to ES SMGs) and still has good hip fire for CQC. My personal choice of sidearm for LA is the NS Blackhand - gives me some decent longer range hitting power when enemies are out of effective carbine range. But if you want a finisher then it is down to how good your aim is - the Commissioner is the big hitter if you are accurate (the Underboss does less damage but has a better rate of fire) but each faction also has a burst pistol and TR has the T4 AMP auto pistol if you feel you may need to spam shots a bit faster than with a revolver.
