Combined Arms: Wrel versus Vanguard

Free kill?
This implies the Magrider & Prowler, whom are face-tanking solo against a Vanguard, have lost all mental function they had when they engaged the Vanguard up-close, when the shield is engaged.
As, no reverse, no cover, no thought of "Face-tanking vs the Face-tanking Tank. How could I lose?"

The extra health, takes longer to repair, which makes any Vanguard take more time repairing, more time exposed.
As well, The Prowler's firepower has showed the extra health is meaningless to the Prowler; Again, relying on the Shield for actual durability.

Recall, the Health changes mirror the former resistances' TTK.
The Vanguard TTK remained the same, while the Shield became dependent on health.
Which now takes longer to repair.

Repair time shouldn't be playing a factor, and even if it does it's only longer to get topped off, a vanguard would still be in as good a shape as any other tank after the same time spent repairing. The extra seconds just go above and beyond.

Really though, in any contest something will be the worst. This does not mean it's a bad option. But it is impossible and unreasonable to expect identical usage stats. Is the Vanguard the worst performing tank? Maybe, we don't seem to have access to those stats. Is it performing so much worse that it's a detriment to the NC? Of course it isn't. It's still the scariest tank to just come across on accident, and it still hits really hard.

Given that no battle is isolated, and that the longer repair times mean the Tank also can't be repaired as fast in-combat, nor return to it as quick..
The Vanguard's shield relies on health, it also has a longer time to exit the on-fire state.

Considering the vanguard's single place it excelled at was solely from the shield..
Which was nerfed, due to actually working.

We do actually.
The MBT of the TR, imagine if it didn't work out, and the other two did: Then TR lacks an MBT equal to the others.
This snowballs.

Scariest tank while solo, if you have no brain to retreat, use cover or similar.
It has the longest reload, misses are brutal, it out is outdone in damage & dps.
It has less speed than either tank, and has a massive side-profile.
The Shield is defensive, needing timing, and is limited.

Scary? Only if you can't retreat, and are solo.
In which case, you've found the rare situation where it wins if the opponent does nothing, and the Vanguard does everything.

I'm in favor of lower HP and more armor. It make the Vanguard more repairable, while having the same effective HP. This improves synergy with sunderers and nanite Repair grenades.

It is a detriment when your faction has ALL the worst performing ES vehicles though. (See Reaver...)

Pfft.

At least NC has the best MAX.... er...ok... only at C4 range.

ES heavy weapon! We have the best one of... ok, real similar to NS shotguns but... it's better than the Lasher..er.. Ok not that.

Best HA starter gun! Oh, wait. Noobs get massacred when they try to use that. Oh well, they can spend certs on a better weapon just like .... nevermind. Guess TR and VS don't have to spend those certs.

At least we have the railjack, bishes!!!!!

That's it. Live Free in the NC with a Railjack, jack!

The power of the shield doesn't grow with the size of the force.

Lockdown may be risky when solo, but gets stronger in groups, you can create a deadman's land.

The game is not designed around 1v1 it's all about large battles.

You do have the pheonix which is an effective HIVE module killer.

Stationary target, requiring no skyshields, no repair module, no enemy engineer, nor enemy following the highly visible rocket.
Or unload a chaingun into the module.
Or any weapon in that situation.

Since it's literally a guided missile with a short range against what might as well be an abandoned PMB.

At least you have a decent max ability... unlike ZOE.

OMG, that video had me laughing out loud!

And it's a totally accurate depiction of how CAI has changed the Vanguard.

It is not short range lol. A good pheonix player can hit a stationary module at 700m no problem.

Short-range given it's a guided-missile, the longer the distance, the longer the user is also incapable of acting.
This means, for your 700 meter trip, against the stationary module of all things, you can't even see the guy standing in-front of you, with a rifle.

So, the 700 meter trip, just gives a grand deal of time to be killed.
As well, again, a Good phoenix user hits a stationary module.
This says a grand deal about the weapon, when the good ones hit a stationary target with no weapons.

Airhammer is the only one-shot ESF weapon I can think of. And let's not pretend the Breakers aren't just better Hellfires.

When it comes to AI MAXes....

Live Fee in the NC



(not a typo)

You don't get the point. A 1/2 squad of pheonix users can get a stealth sunderer and rip apart almost any HIVE in a matter of 1-2 minutes. If there isn't an organized group defending the HIVE it's dead. I've seen it done, but then not often on Connery because it seems there aren't very many well organized NC outfits there.

An entire squad coordinated, with phoenixes, and a stealth sunderer, taking 1-2 minutes.
So to use the weapon against an idle base, it takes 6 people, a cloaked sunderer, and several minutes.
In which, one guy with a chain-gun can kill all 6 at once, during this.
And apparently it needs coordination before 6 guys firing & guiding missiles can destroy a base.

That's several modules, stationary targets.
While the shooters lead the base defenders to the sundy itself, can be intercepted, repaired past, and expose themselves entirely for the entire duration.

Here's an incredibly unlikely & uncommon situation, where against a Hive, without proper defense, can the NC launcher be used without a spawnroom.
What does it compare to? The AA Launcher, and ER-AV Launcher.
Where it needs an incredible situation with tons of easy-to-exploit weaknesses, while they do not.

The point? Sure, it can be used against a ghost-PMB.
Great. Let me chalk that up, compared to the ease of doing this with any weapon needing less time.
As well, less vulnerability during the process, when not using these Phoenixes.

That not true, you can't guide the missile past like 250-300m

Planetmans, planetmans, lets just enjoy the top notch quality memes.

On a somewhat related note, I wish these empire specific taunts were in the game. "Say hi to your alien god thing for me", "mankind's only freedom lies in Vanu". If I remember right I heard "I'm gonna knock the purple outta ya" as a TR taunt in one of the unused voice file videos. So much more faction flavor.

I rank them the same. The Magrider is so versatile, can easily go places no other ground vehicle can for evasion, attack or firing angles, and thanks to all of that can almost always choose its engagements.

Poor Vanguard. Adding salt to the wound is giving it the worst top guns in the game. NC is just weak in every faction specific way.

I'd be down with a forward facing shield and balance it so in a face off with a Prowler, the Prowler would have to instantly lockdown to beat it. It also plays well with the Mag, in that it could be flanked or jumped to to be beaten. It should still take up a utility slot however, just to be fair.