"NC is the hard but rewarding faction" .. or is it ?

Interesting facts about Planetside 2 Firearms

This is some interesting facts I have accumulated pertaining to Planetside 2 firearms. It is intended to show factual information to compare weapons from the three factions and to see the impact of various weapons mechanics.

Bullets to Kill

This information is assuming body shots only and no modifiers on the weapon or target. Assumes 1000 health target; 500 shield, 500 health. (last I checked this is accurate info) Bullets to kill range is the number of bullets from max damage to min damage. Organized by weapon type and number of weapons per category of bullets to kill. Does not show distance for damage fall-off as, other then VSs extended damage fall-off, distances are equal in each category of bullets to kill.

Carbines
VS---------------------------TR-------------------------------NC
5 = (7-10 bullets)____6 = (7-9 bullets)_______1 = (7-9 bullets)
1 = (6-9 bullets)_________________________4 = (6-8 bullets)
______________________________________1 = (5-7 bullets)

ARs
VS---------------------------TR-------------------------------NC
5 = (7-9 bullets)_____5 = (7-8 bullets)_______2 = (7-8 bullets)
1 = (6-8 bullets)_____1 = (6-7 bullets)_______3 = (6-7 bullets)
______________________________________1 = (5-6 bullets)

LMGs
VS---------------------------TR-------------------------------NC
4 = (7-9 bullets)_____5 = (7-8 bullets)_______1 = (7-8 bullets)
2 = (6-8 bullets)_____1 = (6-7 bullets)_______4 = (6-7 bullets)
______________________________________1 = (5-6 bullets)

Battle Rifles
VS---------------------------TR-------------------------------NC
1 = (4-6 bullets)_____1 = (4-5 bullets)_______1 = (4-5 bullets)

SMGs
VS---------------------------TR-------------------------------NC
1 = (7-? bullets)_____1 = (8-? bullets)_______1 = (6-? bullets)
Note: minimum damage is not known yet


Conclusions: VS damage fall-off means one extra bullet at extreme ranges to drop a target. NC extra damage means, on average, one less bullet to drop a target. Carbines require an extra bullet at max range to drop a target compared to ARs and LMGs with similar damage attributes.


Damage Drop-off

This information is assuming a linear degradation in damage from max-damage range to min damage range. VS damage at standard max-damage range for NC & TR is calculated with this assumption. Organized by weapon types, by damage per shot categories, and faction.

Carbines
-----------------( 10m )--------------( 65m )--------------( 115m )
VS________143___________120.57________100
TR/NC_____143___________112___________112


-----------------( 10m )--------------( 75m )--------------( 115m )
VS_______167___________132.95________112
TR/NC____167___________125___________125


-----------------( 10m )--------------( 85m )--------------( 115m )
NC_______200___________143___________143



ARs & LMGs
-----------------( 10m )--------------( 65m )--------------( 115m )
VS________143___________126.76________112
TR/NC_____143___________125___________125


-----------------( 10m )--------------( 75m )--------------( 125m )
VS_______167___________143.26________125
TR/NC____167___________143___________143


-----------------( 10m )--------------( 85m )--------------( 115m )
NC_______200___________167___________167



Battle Rifles
-----------------( 10m )--------------( 85m )--------------( 125m )
VS________250___________195.86________167
TR/NC_____250___________200___________200



SMGs
-----------------( 10m )--------------( 65m )--------------( 115m )
VS________143___________???___________???
TR________125___________???___________???
NC________167___________???___________???



Conclusions: At ranges before TR/NC reach min-damage, VS weapons (other than the BR) deal comparable, if not more, damage per bullet. The VS damage degradation only effects bullet damage beyond the ranges at which NC/VS guns reach their min-damage. This effectively makes VS equal to TR in the average weapons "bullets to kill" category until past the TR min-damage range, the exception being the battle rifle.


Ideal TTK

This information is assuming a linear degradation in damage from max-damage range to min damage range. It assumes all shots fired are body shots and that no modifiers are on the weapon or target. Assumes 1000 health target; 500 shield, 500 health. Assumes perfect rate of fire and no misses.

Information is organized by weapon type, max-damage, and then the highest and lowest ROF for each max-damage category. TTKs are shown only for the highest and lowest ROF weapons for each max-damage category to provide a TTK range. TTKs are given for min/max ranges and VS max range where applicable. TTK is calculated based on how long it takes to fire the number of shots needed for a kill starting with one bullet shot (thanks toMrKfor pointing this out). Bullet velocity and other variables are not taken into account

Carbines
Max Damage= 143
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 65m )--------------( VS TTK @ 115m )--------------Weapon Examples
845____________0.426s ______________0.568s ______________0.639s__________________Serpent, GD-7F
652____________0.552s ______________0.736s ______________0.828s__________________T5 AMC, Solstice SF

Max Damage = 167
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 75m )--------------( VS TTK @ 115m )--------------Weapon Examples
600____________0.500s _____________0.700s_______________________________________AF-19 Mercenary
550____________0.545s _____________0.763s_______________________________________Razor GD-23

Max Damage = 200
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 85m )--------------------------------------------------------Weapon Examples
500____________0.480s _____________0.720s_______________________________________AC-X11


Assault Rifles
Max Damage= 143
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 65m )--------------( VS TTK @ 115m )--------------Weapon Examples
845____________0.426s ______________0.497s ______________________________________Cycler TRV
652____________0.552s ______________0.644s ______________0.736s__________________CME,Equinox, NS-11A

Max Damage= 167
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 75m )--------------( VS TTK @ 125m )--------------Weapon Examples
600____________0.500s _____________0.600s_______________________________________Gauss Rifle (Burst), SABR-13
526____________0.570s _____________0.684s_______________0.798s__________________Corvus

Max Damage= 200
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 85m )--------------------------------------------------------Weapon Examples
500____________0.480s _____________0.600s_______________________________________Reaper DMR


Light Machine Guns
Max Damage= 143
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 65m )--------------( VS TTK @ 115m )--------------Weapon Examples
750___________0.480s ______________0.560s______________0.640s__________________T9 CARV, Orion, MSW-R
652___________0.552s ______________0.644s______________0.736s___________________EM1,VX29 Polaris, T32 Bull

Max Damage= 167
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 75m )--------------( VS TTK @ 125m )--------------Weapon Examples
600___________0.500s _____________0.600s________________________________________EM6, Anchor
550___________0.545s _____________0.655s_______________0.764s___________________Ursa

Max Damage= 200
ROF-----------------( TTK @ 10m )--------------( TTK @ 85m )--------------------------------------------------------Weapon Examples
500____________0.480s _____________0.600s_______________________________________NC6 Gauss Saw


Conclusions: All ideal TTKs are less then 1 second. VS damage drop-off tends to only add about 0.1 second to TTKs. ARs and LMGs will have better TTKs at range then similar damaging carbines. Weapons with lower damaging bullets will always have greater ROFs then those with greater damaging bullets. Greatest disparity in TTK and ROF is in the carbines and ARs with max-damage of 143.

Personal note.
With the number of contributing attributes to a weapons behavior, and the small differences in TTK, TTK appears to be a poor metric to measure a weapons performance, except perhaps the carbines and ARs with a max damage of 143.

All calculations used information available on provided link.
Weapon Stats