(And of course make the Orion cost 250 certs) There are a few good reasons to have the Flare the default LMG. 1 - It has a slower RoF than the CARV, but faster than the NC6. It also does more damage than the CARV, and less than the NC6. What does this mean? It's a perfect intermediate LMG and emphasizes the faction traits on all sides. 2 - The variety of attachments emphasizes the VS trait of versatility. 3 - Will alleviate the number of threads about the Orion being overpowered due to people dying to it less. (Note: Keep your "ORION IS OP" comments out. This is not a balance discussion thread.)
Considering a number of NC have been asking for the Saw to be changed to not be the default HA weapon for awhile now I doubt this will happen, but who knows.
Makes a lot more sense to change the Gauss SAW to the EM6 than changing the Orion. Starter weapon roles: (best) All-around weapon. (close second) CQC weapon. (worst) Long-ranged weapon. (Because it's highly specialized, and because infiltrators start with a long-ranged weapon to fill the limited need for that specialization.) So the Gauss SAW is the most limiting to new players, and should be traded for the EM6 which is more of an all-rounder (which also matching their empire's best CQC LMG damage output.) It seems likely there's an even better mix of starting weapons (which exchanges CARV/Orion for balanced all-around weapons) but that probably isn't worth the effort as the benefits over CQC options would be minor.
EM6 could only be a good starter weapon if SoE gave it like the NC Shotgun iron sights....or, you know what? Just any iron sights but the ones it has....THOSE suck..
Yeah that sounds fair. It's been forever since I equipped it on a char that wasn't already using sights on it I guess, but yeah all weapons should generally have functional iron sights to start out (or start with a decent sight if they don't.)
Giving the EM6 to starters would be far too generous. It's a good/great gun, but the whole idea of starting weapons is that they are generally "all rounders" while not having a lot of versatility when it comes to add-ons. The GD-22S, by comparison, has better control and less attachments than the EM6 while being good for medium range, so that makes it a prime candidate for a replacement starter weapon. Technically, SOE acknowledges this in the weapon's description. I think the trend SOE shoots for is: Starting weapon = good all around gun, not specialized and limited with addons ; Sidegrade weapons = good guns for a certain purpose or also all around useful but with more specialization options.
No. Leave it as is. Orion is only brought up in posts saying that VS are hard done by and have nothing. Which is not true. Infantry weapons are pretty balanced at the moment the only weapon I think needs a little work is the Lasher to make it double as a anti max weapon. It already hits pretty hard on Maxes but maybe give it a tiny buff so people notice it can be used as a anti Max weapon.
If VS weapon should have been the VS heavies Default it would have been the Pulsar LSW. As for the Flare was for the longest time my favorite MMG (Medium Machine Gun) the change they did to it awhile back really broke it. It has the most first first shot recoil still out of all the 167 @ 10m Machine gun weapons at 1.85x, has .2/.2 Side to side recoil were as the TMG-50, Gauss Saw S, and EM 6 all have .175/.175 Side recoil. The Ursa which fires even slower at 550 its Side to side is .185/.185. If anyone ever wonders why the VS really ever used the Orion, its due to the lack of balance on the other weapons we have. Lately I have been solely using the Pulsar LSW, with Orion for only CQC as its extremely random side to side recoil leave it to unpredictable.
This isn't happening, but your point on highlighting faction traits is perfectly valid. Well done there.
Attachment heavy/dependent weapons do not make good starter weapons. Most starters - excepting the SAW which NC has complained about being a terrible starter weapon for awhile now for good reasons - are ready to go with solid stock stats(albeit some are better than others) and a single 100 cert rail attachment is all you need. As for highlighting VS faction trait of versatility(I'm not sure that's an official trait), I say "meh". I don't think the current faction traits are well balanced. Regardless, Orion also has a great mobility advantage which definitely is supposed to be VS trait. The Flare is not very good anyway, and I'd say good stock stats is a form of versatility as well and actually probably a better kind of it. A great example is the Mercenary - 167dmg / 600rof gets you decent TTK, and it has low horizontal recoil so you can slap a basic laser on it and have a gun that handles all ranges reasonably well. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but many attachments come with significant downsides that pigeon hole your weapon.
No one really knows what the VS traits are actually supposed to be. If it's accuracy, the NS weapons have us beat on that. If it's mobility with a .75x movement speed multiplier, you can get that with NS weapons. Also everyone complains about VS being the only ones with access to two .75x LMGs . Yet no one says a word about the NC having exclusive access to 200 damage tier weapons or 167 damage tier weapons that fire at 600 to 652 RPM. Low recoil? The SABR-13 has the lowest FSM at 0.75x So yeah. The VS aren't exactly very well defined. But a lot of our stuff is really cool and visually appealing! Note: I'm not saying anything about VS being underpowered. As far as balance goes, this game is pretty decent. Not perfect, but decent.
OP, I just wanted to post to say I love your name! That was one of my favorite MST3K episodes ever! XD
Who cares about faction traits, just ensure each faction has a really good all rounder weapon as a starter option, and that puts to bed any pay to win accusations. The Orion is amongst the best guns in the game, so giving it out for free really helps on that score.
There are plenty of names for this cinematic "icon". http://mst3k.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Nicknames_for_Dave_Ryder
