pretty much the title ... pls ... also buff MAX general surviveabiliy, heck i wouldn´t mind AI capability to be realed in a bit
I agree, the NSO MAX runs at about 80% max speed as other faction MAXes, has horrible weapons that are very niche, is a massive headhit box, and no special ability. The Hummingbird is advertised to intercept, yet travels slower than a galaxy, with a range 100-200m less than normal G2A weapons. The "schtick" is unlimited ammo... but that doesn't matter when NOTHING HITS, or it does 1/3rd the damage. 77 rounds to kill a Galaxy?!!! 31 rounds to kill a Vanguard?!!!! Don't get me started on the Detonator, and it's low damage for a 5 second+ travel time, 20 meter min range, ... takes 3-5 hits IF YOU"RE LUCKY to hit infantry because they're moving... meanwhile, other faction MAXes are walking around indoors melting faces with anti-air canons. This argument was part of my "Heavy Infantry is better than NSO MAX" thread.
Pass! I consider myself to be an NC main (although over the past few years I've been playing NSO more.) And I don't think nc max having range is healthy. NC max should absolutely delete enemies in cqc, but to balance that we need to keep their ranged potential very limited. I would be happy with a little bit more cqc power for nc max, so that there can be no doubt who the cqc king is. But giving NC max better ranged options just makes them too universally strong. I remember the days of slug mattocks, when I could 2 tap people at 40m, and occasionally countersnipe infils sitting on a distant hill (didn't happen often due to RNG, but it happened, and it shouldnt.) Totally agree about the survival buff though, a 450 unit should not get oneshot by c4. And now that archer has became a cqc-bolter there are way more engies who can 2-tap maxes also.
THAT is exactly why i suggested this and i run the archer myself .. to me this is the classic brawler (or grappler in fightinggames) vs zoner situation .. how is the brawler supposed to brawl when he´s zoned out ... and you won´t always have the appropriate cover available ... seriously no matter the faction the game at the moment gives me very little reason to spawn a MAX
true, the amount of stuff that one/two/three shots maxes has gotten absolutely ridiculous. but i feel like that is an issue with the max survival, and not the firepower/range. max firepower is perfectly adequate, but it's lifespan has slowly over time gotten shorter and shorter due to power creep. now every class can kill maxes in a small number of shots. for engi/LA/heavy it is an absolute breeze to kill a max, and that is just wrong! imho max health should be increased by atleast 50%, i'd also take the c4 resistance away from Ordinance armour and make it baseline i would also add defensive implants that offer alternate ways to reduce damage or gain health regen. and in exchange for this survival buff maxes should lose the ability to be revived.
I mainly agree with all you have said in the thread but I still feel I have to point out that the NC MAX having a range deficit is mostly not true at all, in general it takes just about as much time for a VS/TR MAX to kill infantry out to 30-40m range as the NC MAX but the NC MAX obviously have a advantage up close. No faction MAX(aside from NSO I suppose) can reliably kill infantry at the 40-50m range. Anyone want to argue can feel free to test it out in the VR, I think people easily get range blind in PS2(me included) because everyone acts like the TR/VS MAXes shreds infantry at +50m at a consistent rate but 50m is the furthest range on the VR shooting ranges, even some LMGs struggle to consistently hit those targets so there is no way any AI MAX does it without huge loads of RNG blessings. All MAXes with AI weapons are very effective up to 30m though, which is typically enough for most indoor bases and they all start to show much more dependency on RNG on the 40m targets. Back a while when there were changes to NC MAX shotties I did a fair bit of testing and it was more or less a coin flip if the NC MAX didnt actually outpeform VS/TR on the 40m targets too since all it took was 1 good hit to bring the TTK way down. I even have the old image from the VR range so ima use it again, just gotta wrangle the PS2 forums a bit.. Hopefully that worked, that infantry there at the back is 50m away, No AI MAX shoots at those targets expecting to do much at all, shotguns or not. Now to add to the survivability discussion, I would actually like it if MAXes got a shield, perhaps the devs could give the shield a different set of resistances so its able to tank C4/Archer and even rockets better but only if the shield is up. It would reduce the chance of surprise C4 fairy delivery, Deci to the face or Archer spam being 100% -> 0% in a blink or two... have to shoot it up a bit with small arms first. It could also make the MAX not super terrible against vehicles since it might have a good tank shell resistance etc too. Definitely agree that buffing the survivability should also severely limit the revive or straight up not allow it. I like the shield idea because it makes the MAX strong up front for a while but then when the shield is down they have to either back away for a while or be 'squishy' while buffing the base health resistances could make it nearly impossible to deal with when accompanied by a gaggle of Engineers swarming them while the shield would not have that problem.
Great idea with the shield, making the shield resistant to max counters is a good way to remove the 'why did I spend 450 nanites on this' feeling of getting oneshot from nowhere. For the longer range max play I do still think Blueshift is king, however give me a locked down pounder max (and an ammo pack!)and i'll stomp infantry out to 70m!
