hello all. I freely admit I'm a total newb and as stated, I was attempting to play an NC Heavy Assault but honestly I was having great difficulty pulling it off. I was expecting to be able to take a hit etc, dish out some damage vs lights and continue on. However, I find that on just about any 1 on 1 situation I die. Now...I'm not good. I know this. I'm a 40 year old non-twitch kinda guy. That's why I went with HA, I figured it would help compensate. However, I seem to die very, very easily to light assaults. Is this because I don't have any cert points spent etc? Or have I just over-estimated what it means to be a heavy assault. Perhaps people could give me some recommendations on general tactics as well as cert builds to help? And please...no need to flame. Again, I know I'm not very good so no need to try to bruise my non-existant ego.
I'm a 50-year-old non-twitch guy, so I empathize. My first suggestion is that you take advantage of the weapon testing feature in the Certification menu. This feature gives you 30 minutes to test various weapons for the various classes. For HA, choose HA from the certification icon after hitting ESC. scroll down to a weapon you'd like to try, and clock UNLOCK. It will give you three options: Purchase with SC; Purchase with Certification points; or Trial (in blue at the bottom). The trials cost nothing. The only down side is that there is 7.5 hour cool-down period before you can test another weapon. I don't know what faction you play, so I can't suggest specific weapons at this point. However, some basic certification considerations would be items that stabilize your HA LMG, such as the Compensator and Forward Grip.
i tried heavy and like you 1on1 im dead before i can hit reload or my overshield.... even with oversheidl it seems im dead before there even 50% life... then again im using stock everything
I can't make the default NC HA Gaus gun work either, its recoil and accuracy make it useless to me. If you want to make the most of it you really need to feather the trigger (controlled bursts) in order to get anything approaching accuracy out of the gun. Frankly this still makes it a poor gun, making you treat it like an inaccurate assault rifle with more rounds per mag. I haven't bothered to try the other guns, but I really recommend doing as Swordlord suggested and testing one of the unlockable guns. I'm sure one of them has to be superior to the basic Gaus.
I run New Conglomerate. At least at the moment. I didn't know about the gun testing, I'll try that, thank you.
For close combat I recommend NC6. Get forward grip and reflex sight x2, then compensator. It's much much better. NC are quite bad right now, but I really hope they will balance this soon. Don't worry about kill / death ratio, you'll need about 1 month to get significantly better. The key to success is to not rush into fight and when you'll know terrain you'll use it to your advantage. Cheers.
Something that might improve your game would be to activate your shield prior to engagement. By this I mean, if you think your about to get in a firefight in the next few seconds, turn it on. That way you aren't struggling to shoot the baddy and activate your shield at the same time. Granted, this won't help much against ambushing Light Assaults, but it may improve your life expectancy in other fights. In case you didn't know, there is another shield option other than the default Nano-mesh shield called the Resist Shield. It only stops part of the incoming damage, but the charge depletes at a steady rate regardless of damage, meaning that you can have it on longer, and not have to worry so much about being out of shield power while looking for a fight. (Don't forget to equip all this stuff if you unlock it!) Other things that can help are certing into Nano-weave armor, and finding a gun that works for your playstyle. The Gauss SAW is powerful, but it's difficult to control, and not the optimum weapon for close quarters combat.
Concur, pre-empt the shield if you know there will be danger. I pretty much hover over the button and deploy it the moment I get an unexpected first hit if I'm not in the front line. I use the NC6 with 2x, compensator and foregrip. With the switchable burst fire modes, I can pick off snipers at 300m in single shot mode. It's good for 7-10 burst at short/medium range before bullets start flailing wildly but 7-10 bullets on target will take down anything but a MAX. I find that on head to head with other factions' HA, I'll lose a lot more often than I'll win. The Carv is a beast so I'll only engage one if I'm at an advantage or cross my fingers if one finds me. LA's can also be difficult CQC if they go vertical and they often have a high ROF gun or a shotty but I'm probably about 60/40 against them.
Well you have definately have picked yourself a challenging role lol. The NC HA is probably the hardest class to play. You have a wild, hard to control, low damage LMG. And as I'm sure that you have figured out, you'll get the drop on some guy, shoot him 6 times and then he'll spin around and kill you in 3 shots. So, on the upside you are not as bad as you think you are lol. It really is your character. That being said, my NC HA is my primary character and I like playing him. Some tips: - take you LMG and empty a magazine into a wall. Don't try to control it. Just watch how it climbs. Fire off a couple of more magazines and try to control it and keep it on target -get a forward grip and compensator (in that order) as soon as possible. They will really help with controlling your gun. By the time you have both you'll swear you are shooting a different gun. -fire in short bursts. Holding down the trigger is pretty pointless. - if you ever get SC buy a Hawk launcher. -cert up on your armor and NMG recharge rate -learn to use your NMG. I have mine connected to my thumb mouse button. Don't forget you can turn it off when you don't need it. -hang back. You are support fire, not a lead assault character. Your guys are attacking a building in a base. Hang back. Put cover fire into the doorway that they are trying to get in. See a bad guy behind a rock shooting at your team? Pin him down!!! The HA in PS2 is unlike any other game's HA and has to be played a little different. But I still love being one.
Im in your ballpark at 38. Most seem to prefer the EM6, however being a nontwitchy I got the EM1 for the higher rate of fire and reduced bucking at the cost of reduced damage. Lower dmg doesnt matter so much if you cant hit the target with a harder hitting weapon though. Added a forward grip to further reduce horizontal bucking. I like the vertical bucking as it helps me move to headshots from a default torso aiming start. I also got nanoweave level 2 for the extra bit of health, which seems to allow one to absorb one extra bullet which is often the difference between getting a kill or making it back to cover. Med kit is also a good investment. Dont forget to add your unlocks to your loadout, as they are not automatically applied. Thats just me. It suits my skill level.
I made a guide. It might help you: http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...new-conglomerate-lmg-guide-for-newbies.54057/ As for your difficulties, the baseline Gauss SAW (the LMG that HA starts with) is a very difficult beast to tame. It hits like a truck per shot, but has the lowest RPM of any of the LMG's (500, a full 300 RPM under the TR CARV). You need to invest ~230 certs into the SAW before you start to see some good returns on it, and even then it's only a mid-to-long range LMG. Two relatively cheap LMG's you can pick up are the GD-22S and the Gauss SAW S. The GD has a much higher rate of fire (about 600 RPM) and his almost as hard as the SAW, but requires more discipline (aka burst fire control) to use effectively and has half the magazine size (50 vs 100). But it's better by far at CQ combat, which is often where HA finds itself, particularly while storming buildings. It's not as good at long range as a certed SAW is, but with careful control and practice you can make it work. The SAW S is a mid-level variant of the SAW, trading 25 rounds and some damage for a higher rate of fire, a bit less recoil, and more adaptability. You can customize the SAW S for long or short range combat based on your attachment choices, and many NC HA's consider it (along with the EM6) to be the best all-around NC LMG. I would highly recommend trialing the GD first, since it is the cheapest (iirc) to by via certs. If that doesn't work out, give the SAW S a try. And if that doesn't work out, try the EM6 and then the EM1. Refer to my guide for some more in-depth discussion on all of these.
It's hard to win a straight up fight where you both clock each other at close/medium ranges (with stock HA - there's a good gun for increased accuracy and the attachments help the SAW a fair bit). Though the large clip means that if you have a good position/elevation or are flanking such that you get the drop on people you can really tear through a lot of their line. You can take out people at medium to medium long range by squeezing single/double shots - but generally they have to be unable to spot you or quite poor for you to win. Up close you have a fair chance, and can fire continuously for several seconds. But the perks on the class are an extended clip and the shield which really just let you take on more people in quick succession without helping you win those fights in the first place In big conflicts the shield helps you with stray shots from people firing into groups, or crossing fire zones, and the rockets gives the push flexibility. In many ways unless your positional and flanking play is excellent and you are just looking to raise the kill streak as high as possible rolling an HA is for the good of the empire in teaming up on vehicles. NC HA's role at range is marginalized by the hard to control Guass SAW, often you are better off INF sniping instead at those distances. The advice above about learning the kickback profile is solid. Shoot some walls up!
If you can't aim go support (med/eng.) You'll not only be more useful to your team but you'll also make a lot more experience. If you insist, switch to TR or Vanu. Currently, NC HA is out classed by the other factions superior weaponry. I actually died 4 times to night long range from a full auto warrior because my 1 - 2 bullet bursting just wasn't hitting trash. Kind of pathetic really.
The GD-22S is my favourite. Pop a 3.4x non holographic scope and a foregrip and its pretty accurate. If you want a CQC weapon, get the SAW S with soft point ammunition.
NC HA basic weapon is complete rubbish, i think im pretty good at fps games but that weapon just DOESNT HIT WHERE I AIM. I noticed this after hours of playing HA, when shooting static guy while crouching at 20 meters, you only get the hit icon about 50% of the time which is crazy. Also NC weapons shoot really slow so there is no point in having 100 ammo magazine. Get the GD-22S (only 100 certs) its a little bit better (but not much). NC weapons in general will get a buff next balance patch so just hold on until then!
Yeah a large part of it is NC weapons are just a bit underpowered right now , and the Gauss Saw is really bad as a starter weapon. The GD-22S is a cheap and good weapon though, and people do tend to overstate how bad NC weapons are. They do less damage (not per bullet but that doesn't really matter, DPS is what matters if you aren't 1-shotting people) and have significantly more recoil, and if you're in a situation where you both start firing at eachother at the same time you are at a disadvantage, but they aren't entirely ineffective, you just have to work a bit harder for your kills for now until they get buffed. If you're really struggling with the twitch elements though it wouldn't be a bad idea to use a more supportive class like the medic or engy 'til you get more of a feel for the game though, and break out the HA when you need anti-armor. That's what I did since I haven't touched an FPS outside TF2 in quite awhile, you still do plenty of shooting but you get alot of points off of support actions, and now that I have got a better feel for the game I tend to play HA 90% of the time I am not in a vehicle of some sort.
I am enjoying playing a NC HA as a counter-sniper. I use a Warden with 6x scope, comp and foregrip. It is fun to hang back, use cover and kill unsuspecting players. I also unlocked Hawk and Crow, so I usually try to fight near an ammo supply and kill tanks and aircraft as much as I can. CQC sucks, as it takes 5 hits to kill with the warden whether 5m or 400m. (Barring headshots, which are about 1 in 10 kills, it seems.) And it takes almost 2.4 seconds to get 5 aimed shots off (with a programmed mouse). I am working on getting better at it though. The Shrike is good for an OSK in CQ, but takes forever to reload. Logitech mouse software helps a lot in turning the Warden into a full auto, but I haven't got that perfected yet. Long story short, I really enjoy this build even with its shortcomings, and it has a high skill cap, so will remain challenging for a good while.
I'm in much the same position as OP: NC, mainly play HA, die horrible, bullet-ridden deaths to anything wielding Orions, CARVs or carbines. I've spent the most time on my NC character, so I don't really fancy the idea of switching factions right now, and I've got a Gauss SAW upgraded with a 4x, compensator, foregrip, and HV ammo as well as an EM1 with reflex and laser sight. I've learned how to use the Gauss SAW at range, and I do so decently well, but nearly every single time I get in close with an enemy - or are forced there - I get killed without any effort, or I walk out with my NMG depleted and my health nearly gone. It seems like I end up needing to do more work to kill at CQC than the people who would return the favor, no matter if I'm using my SAW or EM1. Anyway, enough of that, and onto the point: Is there a gun I can work on as HA to improve my chances up close, or am I better off running a different class for that?
The EM1 is your best bet for that, followed by the GD-22S. Really though, RoF is king in CQC, and the NC just lack any weapons with more than 600 RPM right now. So unless you're packing a shotgun (I've heard good things about the Piston, but stay away from the Jackhammer for now) you won't find anything better for CQC than an EM1 or a GD. One of the things I find that's helpful is to try and put as much distance between you and the enemy as possible. If you can stay out of the knife-fight ranges (anything closer than 10m) then you can utilize the superior stopping power of NC weaponry over the higher accuracy/RoF of VS and TR guns. It's tough, simply because you can't always do that due to, say, size of the building you're storming, but in a lot of cases you can stretch a seemingly small area into something much wider with careful movement and positioning. Also, no matter the gun, unless you're hip firing an EM1, make sure you're using ADS and burst firing. Even if you just let off the trigger for half a second, that's long enough for CoF bloom to shrink down a good bit and helps to ensure your shots stay on target. You can't spray and pray like you can with a CARV or an Orion in CQC; you need to make every shot count, every time. That's what sets NC apart; we have so little room for error that we simply HAVE to become better players than our opponents.
