Get a new SMG or shotty, or just C4?

Discussion in 'Light Assault' started by neoboni, Mar 25, 2013.

  1. Ganjis

    The next time you find yourself in a biolab fight (especially on defence) go ahead and trial a shotgun. Try a few out over a few days if you can. You won't get to try extended mags (which make a huge difference on the full-auto), but you will get a fair feel for how they play. As far as the many carbines/SMGs go, try them out in VR. You can fit them out with anything to see how they perform when "finished".

    Generally, the carbines play more or less the same way so VR gives a good idea on how they compare to default. Shotguns need actual battlefields to see their potential.

    If you do get a shotgun, you will be using it as an alternative to the default carbine in certain circumstances. If you get a new carbine you will be using it to replace the default.


    Also worth considering: carbines unlock for both LA and engy when you unlock them. Shotguns unlock for everything but infil and MAX. SMGs unlock for everything but MAX.
  2. Aeroloulou

    From one mediocre player to another:
    1) Get JJ6 first if you haven't got it. It makes all the difference. You can fly.
    2) Stay with your default weapon until Auraxium medal. A new weapon is fun, but won't change much. If you really want something different, try a shotgun. Its a completely different playstyle, but very funny when you get the hang of it.
    3) C4 is the most fun tool you can get for LA, and it will open otally new goals for you in the game. You need two though, thats 700 certs. You won't earn back those certs very fast with C4, but you will understand why you wanted the C4 anyway when have blown up your first sunderer.
    • Up x 1
  3. Rhokes

    I also vote for C4. As you adjust to the aiming in this game, you will become a competent killer with the default weapons. C4 adds a lot of versatility to your class. It is your only hope for taking out armor and in bio labs you can get multi-kills with ease.
  4. Kahlev

    Just as an example scenario of things you can do with C4 that aren't options at all for you until you get them:

    In one life I jumped off the Crown towards TI Alloys, C4'd a mosquito that was stupidly hovering below the mountain ridge shooting towards our forces at Ceres Hydro, then hoofed it up the hill to TI, cleared out the snipers on the hill there with mostly my silenced Manticore and melee. Got on a rooftop and sniped the TR from behind with my slug nova as they fended off our assaulted coming from Ceres Hydro, jumped onto the nearby tree, then C4'd the AA MAX and a few heavies below that were fighting off our air power. Jumped back onto the rooftop and continued to snipe until out of ammo, then fled down over the ledge towards Crown to a friendly sundy that had been parked there as I was fighting before to support our main assault. Resupplied and switched to silenced Carbine with grenade launcher, then climbed up the back side of the hill and snuck in, stuck 2 c4, threw a flashbang as I flew away then unloaded with my GL a couple times to kill the sundy feeding their forces near the cap point. After that I just ninja'd around for another 5 or so kills mostly mopping up those recently spawned by that sundy before finally being put down, by which point we had pushed into the cap room and were about to start capping it.

    Moments like that make me think: "Damn sometimes I wish I recorded my gameplay more often."

    The also make me that that although I could have contributed with most any weapon for the majority of the battle, if all you're doing is killing infantry that might get medic res'd or res in a nearby spawn point 10 seconds later, you can only contribute so much. Having C4 on hand and being able to take out aircraft, AA, and Sundies all in one life (granted with a resupply thrown in) has such a larger impact on the battlefield as a whole it cannot be underestimated. It changes you from random guy giving infantry a 30 second delay from the time they res then get back to battle, to someone that can kill resource heavy military assets that they might not be able to redeploy for 10 minutes, during which the tide of battle can change immensely.

    There is the occasional moment where you drop 2 c4, then die before you can explode it, with the new despawn on death change making that very frustrating. But the other moments where you end up killing 3 or more sundies in 15-20 minutes more than make up for it.
  5. neoboni

    Thanks everyone, I did fail to mention I have forward grip, suppressor, and several scopes. I only have one restoration kit, JJ1 and flak armor 1. Now I'm leaning towards the Lynx/Jaguar (what's the difference?) or going with the C4 and upgrading my soldier. Oh, and I also don't have the best fps, I get around 30 at warp gate, but in a large fight it usually goes down to 15, sometimes 10

    So, any more advice? I'm around 800 certs now.
  6. Rogueghost

    Lynx has slightly higher rate of fire, but with some crazy horizontal recoil. While the jaguar just has vertical recoil making it very easy to fire at range, as well a slightly better hipfire CoF.
  7. Kahlev

    With what you currently have, I would get up to JJ5, then if you have any leftover get flashbangs or just continue to save for c4 or nanoweave. Honestly the problem isn't the TRAC-5, it's a pretty damn good weapon, and I've fought TR using it very effectively. A new weapon won't change your performance even remotely close to as much as JJ 5-6, Nanoweave 4-5, flashbangs and 2xC4 will.

    My earlier comment about hipfiring though, do you notice yourself ADS'ing even within 20-30 meters instead of hipfiring? Because that might be more your problem at CQC than your weapon.
  8. IntergalacticYoghurt

    I guarantee, JJ5 and, in particular, JJ6 -transform- the class.
    At JJ6, tower fights are incredible fun. You pretty much go ninja-mode, even if all you have is a pistol.

    The "S" variant carbines shine in ONE scenario: blowing up a sunderer that's already taken 2 C4 blasts.
    It's just as fun to drop two bricks, then shoot all the spawners from cover for the next 30 seconds (upon which time the sunderer succumbs to fire damage).

    C4 is also an excellent tool. One brick means you can take on a max. Two means tank-hunting.

    Finally, I would recommend a shotgun and/or SMG at some stage. They're not critical, but they play a little different - and the variety is definitely fun.

    With all this in mind, I'd very much recommend you take JJ5, then you're first C4 brick. After that, top up to JJ6 or C4 at you're discretion.

    And BUY the shotgun or SMG. Trust me, they aren't worth 1000 certs of your time. You'll use it for a day, then realise that your other weapon was just as good in a lot of way. Meanwhile, JJ6 and C4 will change your combat effectiveness tenfold.
  9. Eric Smith

    As the last two posters said, get yourself JJ5. It makes a HUGE difference both in hang time and recharge time for the next jump. You can put on JJ6 in VR and play around with it; the extra mobility is worth every cert.
  10. neoboni

    Ok so I got 2xC4 and JJ4 and holy crap do I love it. I killed a vanguard inside a amp station under point A and just smiled. and I did manage to successfully hunt a few other tanks. I didn't realize how big of a difference the JJ made, so I'm going to get lvl 5 after i get another 40 certs. Thanks everyone.Thanks alot!
    • Up x 3
  11. Badname0192

    If you get any of the TR specific shotguns such as the Haymaker or the pump action shotgun you have a versatile weapon that will help you in a lot of situations. You find yourself in a busy area as LA, get up high, use slugs and a 2X or better scope and snipe from cover. You find yourself indoors, take the slugs out, you 1-2 shot within 10 feet as long as you land your pellets on target ( if not you wind up with a sloppy pair of follow ups hoping that there's a medic around in the end and that no other enemy is rounding the corner to say hi to you with their ballistic response system)that's shotguns.

    Other than that the two SMG's are awesome. I own the hailstorm and use it reliably and find that with the correct optics I can stretch it's range, though damage drop off is apparent, out beyond what is ideal and simply work down the shields and nip at the health of distant enemies while attempting to move in or complete an objective. Up close the hailstorm dumps bullets out quick, pull the trigger until the target drops and usually you can take down one or two more, just make sure you're landing headshots within your groupings or you'll run empty before killing or even getting to the third, thankfully it reloads quickly. The Armistice is the hailstorm, but with garbage for ammo but it dumps out rounds so fast you will wonder why you're reloading so quick.The bonus of the SMG class of weapons is of course you can spread them across all classes.

    I love all TR Carbines, so I have no real preference. Currently I enjoy the Trac-5 S for the under barrel grenade launcher.

    Hope you have fun with whatever you purchase killing my beloved NC and the fun to play VS.

    -edit- oh lol, you already made your purchases, well food for thought up there^

    Good luck!
  12. X3Killjaeden

    The slug may be cool for standig targets but for actual combat it sucks imo. The bullet speed and drop are pretty bad, so that it's hard to hit a moving target 100m away.
  13. Kahlev

    The bullet drop isn't that hard to compensate for, though I will admit it is much easier as a Vanu. As for moving vs. non-moving. It's all about picking your battles and locations where to use it. You're LA, you can pick your battles better than anyone except infiltrators. It's best it two situations, either big battles where you can flank the enemy forces as they shoot rockets or AV turrets or heal etc. each other and snipe them as they line up targets.

    Or my personal favorite, for clearing snipers out from hillsides and rooftops. It's a perfect weapon for this, as you combine the flanking and movement speed of a light assault with a weapon perfectly suited to take motionless focused on killing snipers by surprise and killing them before they can really react.
  14. llPendragon

    Good jump jets and a couple bricks of C4 can kill just about anything. :)
    Now all you have to do is keep an eye out for possible shotgun nerfs and/or sales.
  15. Eric Smith

    This is the kind of thing that can happen with good Jump Jets, a couple bricks of C4, a tower fight, and enemies that are too dumb to look up. Each of the C4 kills were Maxes; the Pistol Kill was because I ran out of ammo in my Lynx. As in I had 0 bullets left to reload with, so I had to switch to my sidearm before I jumpped off the tower. I only wish all my engagements went this well.
    [IMG]
  16. X3Killjaeden

    So what? you can kill motionless, oblivios targets the same with any other weapon before they can react without having drawbacks at close range. TTK is low in this game - and you go for headshots on motionless targets anyway so even a pistol does the trick. Plus shotguns dont have silencers, so as soon as you fire your position is revealed.
  17. Manetheren

    Get both C4 first, then pick up a fully auto shotty (Nighthawk :D), it annihilates MAX suits ;) Or you can do what I did and buy the Trac 5-S with underbarrel shotgun. That way you have a OHK shotgun and a carbine in one.
    P.S. underbarrel shotty 1-shots heavies with mesh shield ;)
  18. Kahlev

    Heh, have you actually USED a Nova with slugs as light assault?

    It's far more powerful than you are giving it credit for. Far more powerful. You can theorycraft all you want and talk, but until you try it, and actually give it a shot for more than 5 minutes, you really can't poo-poo the weapon combination and how it functions in actual battle.

    And if you have tried it, maybe it just doesn't work for you? Different people have different playstyles, and what works great for one might not work for another, accept it and don't feel so much of a need to trash weapons that you don't like out of hand, when they simply may not fit your playstyle.

    That said it's my last word on the matter, as it's derailing the topic of the thread and there are many great threads about slug shotty sniping already where many people talk about how much fun and power they get out of the build.
  19. X3Killjaeden

    No because i dont have access to VS slugs. But i have used a NC light assault with slugs. And other classes as well. I tried 4x scope, 3.4x scope and 2x scope. Its awefull against moving targets because you have to lead because of crappy velocity and also consider the horrible drop. OP doesnt has VS either.
    If my slugs wouldnt have drop i would certainly give them another chance, but like now its a waste of certs.
  20. TheFlyingDutchman

    i say go first for c4 also i recommend the lynx sinc with that you also have a chance on mid range