When was the last time anyone was killed by this weapon? I've even heard that it is a worse variant of the NS-11A... However, I'm not really in a position to say how it should be balanced. I've never used it and it seems to be in a tough spot as far as VS Assault rifles go. Can't bump up it's damage, Corvus is there. Giving it a better recoil pattern might make it to effective for headshot chaining. Anyone have any thoughts? As it stands, the weapon just seems to be an unused slot for VS.
It is indeed unused by VS. I only tested t on VR : it's just a downgrade of the NS-11A, except for the muzzle velocity and the bulletdrop. Just give it something cool for long-range engagement : for example a heat-bar instead of the standard ammo ? Or lower bloom per shot ?
Heatbar as an ammo pool would be nice for VS instead of it being used solely for ARX weapons. I think it would be beneficial if both of your suggestions were placed into the weapon. Then it might be used overall instead of NS. Maybe give it the Canis' special ammo type as an attachment too.
Heat-mechanics mean it doesn't rely on nor need engineers for ammo, and can easily exploit the trick used by VS Aux weapons never needing to be vulnerable reloading, and are always pre-loaded when required by 'reloading' or cooling down when unused. Which would put VS on a very tactical advantage over NC & TR, without needing Aux weapons. IE, have to be careful with VS's infinite ammo & heat mechanics.
The heat mechanic needs to change altogether with cooling only being viable when the primary is out. Think Halo overheating plasma weapons where they keep the coils open until they are fully usable again. I can see a little bit of cooling done when the weapon is switched out, but it should absolutely penalize the player for relying on it. Maybe have a short time when switching back where they can't shoot. Edit: Maybe introduce an ammo pool to the heat mechanic weapons, so they can only use so much. No more infinite ammo, which would bring it more into line.
Giving it a heat bar may cause some consternation among the people who have grinded out the directive reward weapons. However I agree, it is most underwhelming, only reason I ever saw fit to use it is because I really don't like the aesthetic of NS weapons (yes, to the point I'll use an arguably "less good" weapon ). Now you mention it, can't remember the last time I was killed by a Corvus... part of the reason I defected to TR was assault rifles.
Darkstar is a Infinite Ammo Pulsar. There is nothing bad about that. No Lasersight is sad but it's ranged power is really nice with no recoil.
I use the CME a lot, I find it's most suitable for mid range encounters but you can put it on single fire and use it from a far to annoy it just won't kill. Does have a nice spread when just holding it at medium, just my two cents.
In that role you may as well just us the NS-11A, unless, like me, you don't use the majority of NS weapons out of principle Back when I played mainly VS, it seemed kind of lore-breaking for Vanu's troops to still have access to conventional ballistic weaponry... just my two cents.
