Best Vanu LMG?

Polaris.

Flare is pretty beasty, short burst's in closed quarters and you practically can take down two to three infantry before reload (which is the a bit of a downside but shouldn't be in one spot all the time anyways). Extended Mag is also nice for those pesky MAX Units. Is pretty decent at mid/long range too (TR/NC sniper crouched up on a hill, not anymore, lol) but again. Short bursts are a must for it.

SVA 88 is on sale now - is it worth it? i know most VS guns are decent...

or is buffing the orion a better bet?

Pulsar LSW, its like an Orion with a slightly lower ROF, a bigger magazine, faster reload and only 100 certs, it also pretty good at med range, something the Orion isn't

Orion and Pulsar LSW are great in CQC and the Flare is fantastic for medium range combat. So pick your poison

My vote goes to the SVA-88. Comp, forward grip, and scope of your choice.

Flare is the weapon I use the most when I go HA 3.4x + foregrip from mid-long, does a great job of it. I use a Pulsar LSW for close-mid fights... But the other weapon I have is the one I use when I want to have fun, and it has fun in spades: The Lasher. Sure, its got a low ROF and causes you to get weapons locked on occasion from friendly fire. Sure, it's projectiles are so slow even a wheelchair-bound arthritic granny could move out of the way. But I love the thing for how much fun it is. No other weapon has a fun factor comparable to the Lasher <3

Sounds like the NC6 Gauss SAW to me.

SVA-88 with comp, grip, and scope of choice. Increased scope movement and managable recoil. As a result, great at close to mid(or longer depending on scope) range.
Polaris with adv laser sight and 4x scope. CQC and jack of all trades at other ranges. This is very similiar to the CARV how it handles in ADS. The best part though, it has directional recoil thus making it much easier to compensate for the recoil. This is why compensator is pointless.

I`m using the Ursa. I haven`t seen anyone`s opinion on it though. I like it, but I haven`t really done an in depth comparison with it.

You can't really go too wrong with the VS LMGs. Ever been killed by a TMG-50? Yeah, that's the Flare for the most part. How about a T32 Bull? Similar to the VX29 Polaris. The Ursa is basically inferior to the other weapons just due to it's fire rate. If it had more DPS than the Flare it would probably be worthwhile, but the Flare's recoil is easy to compensate for.

Polaris = short range CQC, big clip, if you love to get in close, spray and pray or hip fire a lot.
Pulsar LSW = good all rounder.
Ursa = Long range option, for those that like to hang back and pick people off.

I played the Orion, LSW and 88.
If with all appropriate attachments 88 works best for me in outdoor engagements.
For CQC I dont know. Probably 88 anyway

Does a Certed Flare have more DPS than the Orion? If that's the case how would you cert it and how many certs would you need for that? And if it isn't the case that the DPS is better, what advantages does it offer?

I've been using the Orion since forever (more than 4k kills, I practically don't know another weapon except for the Engi's default rifle and the MAX's) and never tried another LMG but the low cert cost of the Flare interests me (in fact, lots of guys in my outfit keep telling me, get the flare get the flare and I never listen to them )

DPS isn't everything. Flare is good, basically a TMG-50.

I know DPS isn't everything, but what does it have to compensate for a lower DPS?

High accuracy, high damage (167)

The SVA-88 is probably the best all-round gun used by serious Vanu. High-velocity ammo helps quite a bit at range, especially since so many people have nanoweave.

SVA-88 is great all-around.

I was wondering about the ursa too; it's a lot more expensive than the flare in terms of certs but seems like a straight upgrade. Per the spreadsheet the ursa fires marginally slower, but fires faster rounds, has lower recoil and a smaller first shot multiplier. Also slightly quicker reloads.