Is NC underpowered or harder to learn?

So, I'm kind of a newb, and been mostly playing NC, kinda knew how they are the "hardest hitting but slower firing and unnacurate" faction in the game, but when playing HA I kind of found their disadvantages a bit too.... Disproportionate?

• When using HA LMG at close range their spread was so bad I think..... 1 or 2 shots hit the target, needed to aim down the sights, but isn't that bad for close range?... Like around 3 to 5 meters away?
• What is the Reavers strength? as far I know, they're supposed to have better armor, but I've heard they all have the same, yet the Mosquito is faster and the Scythe more agile, which would be the Reaver's advantage, also that it's shape doesn't really seem to compensate, it's a big box, Mosquito's like a pencil and Scythe's as flat as a pancake; only thing I've achieved with Reaver I think was 1 frag on A2A
• The Vanguard, it's cannon IS strong, and maybe it does have descent armor like it should, but shares another problem with the Reaver, why is it's score so low in this chart?

Later played with a TR alt.... their guns didn't seem to have a recoil as bad, plus the seemed to shoot up a LOT of bullets, didn't fight VS, but I think I found their weakness: Close range with NCs spread, like if their accuracy was their bane.
For now I just found out Gauss Burst with Medics is extremely awesome, but for the rest of stuff, is that a general problem they have? or is NC just hard to learn to play with and newbs usually have that problem?

NC are perceived as op. TR are kind of getting the OP label now that we have North warpgate though. There's nothing hard about being NC.

EDIT: Oh and TR's recoil is way worse overall. in terms of recoil VS>NC>TR

Just harder to learn. The NC has gotten the nerf bat a few times on key weapons. Just in all though learning how to use what you got and make it work is what is needed. Most of the NC weapons though do need a grip and such while during proper mouse movements to compensate for recoil.

The Reavers are the same as the other two ESF's just the weapon had I think 10% more DMG per shot? The god awful offset sights is what kills it for most pilots though.

You just got to find your niche in what you like doing on your faction. Me I am a damn pilot lol.

Only hard to learn aspect I can think of for the NC is the Reaver. Other then that your infantry based weapons are my favorite from all three factions.

They do tend to be difficult to learn sometimes, since each NC weapon does kick in a very specific way. A saw will spray wildly if you aren't single shotting while the GD-22 kicks up and to the right, and a GD-7F will kick quickly straight up. Most of the TR weapons I've used kick more/second, but in a much smoother way which gives it an "easier" feel.

I wouldn't call the NC OP nor UP. I'll leave it at that. Most of this game is focused in short range combat and that's where TR excel and NC are marginal. No one ever captured a point from "long range." And the one single thing the NC have that is good at close combat their MAX, TR players constantly flood this forum crying about.

Each faction has their own strengths and weaknesses but if close your eyes, hold down mouse 1 is more your style then TR might be a better fit. At any rate, you have three character slots by default so you can try out all three factions. Better yet, create another account that you don't intend to keep and use that to test out gameplay with each faction, then decide what faction you want to "main" with on your actual account.

Obligatory fun poking at TR's expense:

Wait what? I though I found them extra accurate, like low damage but easier to take down enemies, even when aiming down their sights I think I found their recoil minimal.

Edit:

Don't know about the Reaver, what's it's strength? I've used it but everyone else seems faster
Also that I found NC weapons cool but unnacurate, so I got a Gauss Burst, it pwns a lot

@RobotNinja I like NC as main, just that I don't know if they're too weak, I mean, the Gauss LMG has a LOT of recoil, and the Reaver seems slightly slow. My style's shifts between close range "run in and shoot" and medium range, but I don't want to use TR as main, their weapons don't hit hard and I generaly like NC's aethetics more

Their recoil is actually much lower, several TR players decided to math up some things and decided that because more shots are fired per second their recoil builds up to more than the NC guns. Which mathematically is true, but in practice does not equate. TR guns recoil more per second, but in much smaller increments which is far easier to compensate for than a powerful kick slightly less often as it creates a smooth motion to counter rather than a choppy one.

Reaver's strength's is fastest in AB, 10% more dmg on it's main weapon, and best vertical acceleration.

When aiming in the reaver try to aim about the same spot the lower half circle is. In between that and where the rounds are supposed to go is the sweet spot.

I'll go about this step by step basis:

I'm guessing you're using NC6 Gauss Saw and using that in CQB is either suicide or insanity. Also that gun needs ADS all the time to be useful or shoot point blank (and I mean point blank, put the gun inside the enemy and shoot).

Reaver is, how do you say big brick. It's easy to spot, but it hurts like hell, hard to hit at first though with it.

Easy answer to that: vanguard is bad at farming infantry. Actually it shines best at AT with AP cannon, which means, you need to learn to snipe infantry, it's not too hard, shell velocity is just amazing and also it allows for OHK ESFs (not One Shot Kill, you still need to hit with it) and wrecks Libs as well.

Yeah, recoil control is the name of the game for NC.

Yeah, the TR claim that their recoil is the worst is humorous at best. You can hold a direct bead on an enemy's head for a full 3 seconds with a Carv LMG before it starts to slowly drift upwards. As soon as you start shooting the Guass your recoil is going to be headed for the ceiling/clouds unless you exercise a helluva lot of manual control.

Yeah. Nothing to harp about. Pretty marginal actually. When compared to VS and TR ESFs the Reaver has far more disadvantages than advantages but there are plenty of NC who make it work.

Having the highest boost speed will rarely get you away from danger because as soon as your boosts are used up anyone following you, VS or TR will be 10 meters behind you in two seconds.

The main difference with NC and VS/TR stater LMGs is that the game gives you one of the best mid to long range lmg, while the two other factions start with close to mid range lmgs instead. The same discrepancy is also present with the infiltrator, where NC are the only faction that get a bolt action as a starter sniper rifle.
The bottom line is that the saw is meant to be used in ADS and that, like most of the weapons, shines when properly certed.

I think the only problem with the reaver right now is the offset main gun (scythes have a smaller but similar issue with projectiles being too slow so having to lead almost off their screen. The reaver has the strongest vertical thrusters and is capable of performing the reverse maneuver better and faster than the other two. It also has the hardest hitting weapons.

Generally speaking and not only due to the Vanguard, the NC are suffering from the overpopulation issues. What that means is that there are more wolves to hunt than sheep, which means the exp is distributed among more players driving the average gain down. On the other hand you get the VS, the minority on almost all servers, they have more targets to shoot at and because they are underpopulated, they do it with a hefty exp bonus in place, which artificially inflates their score.

The problem that VS weapons share in general is the unpredictable nature of their recoil, combined with high ADS CoF, making them inaccurate and unsuitable for long range combat. Good thing most combat happens in close to mid range, but that may be exactly because VS and to a lesser extend, TR, are trying to close the distance gap. On the other hand, NC weapons have more recoil, but it is uniform and more predictable than the paint mixer recoil you get with VS and TR weapons.

According to data the Reaver is the lowest rated ESF by a landslide, the Vanguard has fantastic AV stats but worthless AI stats.

Yeah that boost speed only works well with Speed 3 and using those tanks. Even then they are still on your tail if they want to chase.
I made the gun work, and just got the purple medal for the Vortek. I am really looking forward to the convergence fix though, it will be like the chains are off

I have posted data sheets all over the forums, the Guass SAW has literally the LOWEST score and kill per hour stats of all LMG weapons. It uses data for players that have used the weapon for 1 hour or more and BR40+
https://docs.google.com/a/g.rit.edu...phHXmIxdFhHUzJfN1VYalRnWS0xMnBUdTJpM1E&gid=66Edit: i do have more in depth stats, and the Guass SAW puls somewhat level to the other LMG's around BR 70

Really? Try closing your eyes and holding down m1. Please.

I did. Bullets are coming out of my gun. Ooh...just killed a guy. Am I doing it right?

Um.... Yeah, is it the default NC LMG? then yeah it's that one. Been trying to CQB with it, and at least to me it seemed like.... 2 or 3 bullets hit a really close range, had to be fired at some distance, but hey, on some cases it was a MAX slayer. Still needed ADS tho.

so it's strength is gun damage?

Yeah, used it several times for that, some random lib taking off and instapopped with the Van's cannon, so it gets less points for being more anti-tank than anti-infantry, and having less targets for score? seems like it makes sense, thanks

@RobotNinja Recoild sometimes seemed like going right OUTSIDE the sighs on full-auto with a NC default LMG with ADS, without it?.... Don't remember, but having so few bullets hit at CQB would be bad, even for having the faction who hits hard but with low accuracy in the game. But I think I've been able to fix the recoil with the Gauss Burst for the medic, it seems to pwn a lot with a 3x scope

@Xasapis Wait, mid-to-long?.... A machine gun? Maybe that's the problem since I use it for close range?
Also that the chart seems to say they're the 2nd placed on population....
So it hits hard and has vertical thrusters and afterburner? so more like a helicopter/harrier than an air superiority fighter ?

Not exactly. There are definitely some differences, like Reavers being slower when performing maneuvers and having the slowest base speed overall of the ESFs. Thankfully, its powerful vertical thrust kind of help makes up for it. It has the fastest afterburner speeds, too, although if you aren't carrying the extra fuel tanks you probably won't have enough afterburner fuel for it to really matter if you plan on making an escape.

Reavers are good for running people over on the helepads: