I'm new and don't have a lot of certs so getting one good weapon is what I'm aiming for right now. I find the Infiltrator to be greatly lacking in mobility, and hacking in this planetside is incredibly limited so I've decided to go the LA route and I'm loving the jet packs and general mobility offered. I am having a hard time 1v1ing people head on, though as I seem to mainly face Heavy Assault, I suppose that's to be expected. Where I shine is killing people that have no clue I'm there and juking people, which is fairly easy with LA and I believe quite possibly the point of the class. Anyway, what I'm looking for is a weapon that if I find myself in a nice vantage point due to my mobility and jetpacks, I want to be able to take advantage of that and be free to snipe. I'm also usually somewhat of a hard charger in assaults and love how my mobility can get me anywhere so much faster. So, I want a weapon also that's good in close quarters. The Solstice SF right now is my top pick from just looking over the weapons with my limited experience, and I figured I'd submit to the vast knowledge of the Planetside forums as to whether or not this is the gun for me and what kind of loadout should I go with it? The current loadout I'm contemplating for the Solstice SF is this: High-Velocity Ammunition Trigon-6 6x scope Flash Suppressor Grenade Launcher/ Shotgun (Not sure which is better for close quarters) or Laser sight ( since you only get apparently one shot with the GL or Shotty) What do you think about this set up? I'm a true VS Soldier as I'm aiming for versatility. I don't want this weapon to be the best as obviously that's asking too much, but I do want it to be good at these roles. Also something I haven't looked into, which may be a valid option, is the possibility of having a pistol compensate in some area the Solstice SF is lacking, but I'd have to looking further into them. Usually I don't bother with pistols though as I see them pretty much as just an "Oh ****, I'm out of ammo" weapon. Also, on a completely unrelated note... I miss the original VS MAX units...
The Solistice SF is definitly a good choice if you want just one LA gun you can customize to suit your needs. For a hybrid gun for both short and long range, I think I would put a compensator, rather than a flash supressor for the barrel, since that will help with recoil when your aiming for distant targets. A less powerful scope so you can aim down the sights as shorter ranges might be a good idea as well, as IMO you're not going to need the 6x unless you have the compensator, high velocity ammo and the forward grip for a dedicated long range SF. As for underbarrel weapon or laser... that's a tough one. The ammo count of the shotty and GL are a big detterent (especially since LAs can't drop ammo packs for themselves like Engis can) but the slow rate of fire the SF has (which is slower than the default Solistice) means that hip firing is probably it's weakest point, even with the laser sight to help with aiming. Also, if you are willing to try a different weapon... It may be twice as many certs to get, but one of the Semi-auto shotguns with slug ammo is suprisingly effective at hiting mid-range targets, as well as being just as devestating up close (though without the spread, so no hip firing) as with regular ammo.
At close quarters, no question (though the Serpent does as much damage per bullet and fires even faster) but a bullet hose like the 6-7 doesn't work that well as a long range weapon.
Hmm... The hip firing and rail option was what I was hoping to use to make it good in CQC, and the compensator reduces it's effectiveness at that, though to what degree, I don't know, and you do bring up a good point about its RoF being even less than the default. Perhaps I will go for the 4x instead of the 6x if I do truly need to go completely dedicated long range to make effective use of the 6x. Also, doing a 6x zoom up close might be a bit too much zoom. How big of a difference does High-Velocity Ammo make? If not much of a difference, perhaps the default solstice would be best with a laser sight and the rest as the lacking differences between it and the SF are the under-barrel weapon, burst fire, and ammunition types, plus the solstice has the better RoF. Also, if you wouldn't mind informing me, how does the try it now option work? I'd like to test out some weapons, but not being sure how long I'd have to try it, and whether I can try it multiple times, has been a big deterrent in me using it. Another quick question, just so I'll know, do the cert points I put into whatever carbine transfer to engineers since they can use them to? Seem kind of ******** I'd have to rebuy everything for each class, but I don't know enough about it to rule out the possibility.
Pulsar or Solstice, depends if you want an under barrel launcher. The VX is also very good, but it eats up bullets like a mother******, and can't really compete at range that well (depends on the user ofc). Personally I wouldn't give up my Pulsar-C for nearly anything. You'd have to pry it away from my cold dead hands, which will not be easy I assure you. I roll with HV rounds, Compensator, Laser dot and Reflex sight 2x. Reliable at all ranges, and very good ammo/kill efficiency. As for your last questions. Yes the the certs you put in carbines transfer over to Engy/LA. And you can trial every weapon for 30 minutes. After you trial a weapon, you need to wait 8 hours to try another one. Once you are finished trying out, you cannot trial the same weapon in 30 days. So the trial system is nothing special, but it lets you get a feel for the gun.
If I'm in a tight spot I hip fire up to 20m. After that I try to remember to bring up the fast reflex sights. The hip fire cone with the Laser dot is pretty standard, nothing special, but it'll get the job done and keeps you competitive.
vx67 close quarters no doubt its accuracy after the first shot is better then the serpent also the serpent pulls left where all the other games pull right, muscle memory wise its easier to use , for me anyway. the serpent has 1 bar more faster fire rate then the vx67 but the same attachments iirc - id have to check to be sure on this. the pulsar while an awesome dmg per bullet just fires to slow for me. it may do better at range but i mean really how many times are you in long range fire fights as a la / engi ? best loadout i can give you for the vx67 compensator forward grip soft point my personal scope of chose 1x relex id add i chose FG over laser sights bc i tend to almost never hip fire , hence why i like iron sights or reflex 1
