NC MAXes may just have a med range weapon.

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Chewy102, Dec 20, 2013.

  1. Chewy102

    The Mattocks.

    In the last patch the only buff they got was shifting their damage drop start point from 10m to 12m. That doesn't sound like much, and it isn't, but doing that made them a real med range weapon against infantry. It didn't do much of anything to help against MAXes but shave off 3 shells to kill at 20m or so taking the shell count from 33 to about 30.

    That change made me be able to use the Mattocks as a ranged weapon and I NEVER bought slugs for anything but the Mauler, I hate slugs more than I hate shotguns. Can't use them at the same ranges as say a Blueshift or Mercy MAX but for a shotgun, Mattocks just do work now. I damn near FILLED my kill feed with Mattock kills tonight. There was some number of deaths but I have 87 kills with Mattocks in the 1 hour 50 minutes that my kill list shows with about 2-3 hours cut off from the list only being so long. That is VERY abnormal for me as I tend to be a crap player from choosing to be support.

    Down side. They still have a forced need for extended mags. With just 6 shells an arm you will feel like you're stuck in a box and can't get out. 6 shells is far to small of a mag size in my opinion, 8 or 7 should be the standard with extended mags taking it to 11-12. 6 shells against infantry is kinda iffy and can get a job done but wont have room for much error. Against MAXes 6 shells wont do **** as it forces you to land headshots or you WILL fail to kill at any range. Rather unfair when the other factions can be perfectly fine without anything but a 2nd arm and can spend certs in other places without it hurting them. They also start with enough ammo to one mag a KA 5 by default when NC MAXes are even more forced to land pure headshots.


    I don't know if this is mainly from the Mattock change, or that nano weave was nerfed. Likely both. Either way, Mattocks finally give NC MAXes a real ranged option without the need of slugs. Extended mags still feel like a forced need though instead of an upgrade like how it is on any other MAX.

    Also Ravens have been changed as well that are not listed. Their max range has been removed and work like the AV Mana turret. If you can see armor you can hit it. Before the rounds would explode at about 300-350m, now they either have no max range or vehicles don't render past their max range. I was able to land hits with Ravens tonight no matter the range. Leading shots was still tricky on small targets like MAXes and there's a new bug that makes the recoil put the crosshairs in misalignment so that where rockets are guided is lower than the dot, but I didn't ONCE have a range problem. If I could see it I could hurt it, if I had the time to guide the rockets.
  2. LordMondando

    They are better than nothing, and their adding slither of versatility is why I run them exclusively on my max (which makes scatmax op /tell's amusing).

    But after about 15-20m's is chancey as **** you'll be able to kill anything, certaintly not consistently. And beyond that range the buckshot basically turns to confetti.

    Play VS or TR max, its not great at thouse ranges, maxes are inhetently close in weapons. The big difference I object to however, is that VS/TR max AI weapons, can act in a support role at these distances and put down supressing or withering fire to supplement a organised advance, espeically where they are mutliple maxes. We simply do not have that functionality, unless we want to start spamming ravens and down damn it wireguided mutions are a pain in the *** and require you to maintain line of sight.
    • Up x 5
  3. Pikachu

    I used mattocks without slugs yesterday and I was surprised how well they do. Lots of fun. I'm gonna use them more later today, trying to get purple medal. I got 400 kills left. :) Then I'll get my second scatter cannon.
  4. Furrydaus

    Better than nothing dude! At least we have a mid ranged weapon instead of cqc weapons 24/7
  5. CHDT65

    I would really like some kind of field improvisation with a twin Gauss system on each arm, so four Gausses ;-)
  6. Chewy102

    Id still swap my Mattocks for a HMG any day, but till then they will have to do. And taking Ravens anywhere but outdoors isn't a good idea as they are not good against fast small targets.

    Just saying that Mattocks are able to reach out and touch people now. Take a tower for example, normally holding the vehicle bay stairs needed you to let the enemy get close to the door in order to do real damage. No more. Im now able to use that entire set of stairs and cover half of the vehicle bay or lay fire from the top door and do real damage to anyone on those stairs. Extended mags was the reason I was able to do this from putting up a wall of pellets but every time I opened fire from that door, I was able to get a few kills.

    Here is a few tests I did for the new Mattock changes.



    Without going into details and making this post to damn long. The changes equal out to. At 15m for a MAX target went from an average of 22.33 shells to kill to 22 shells. At 20m the shell to kill count went from 34 to 30. 15m tests didn't improve much, but the 20m test had a MASSIVE improvement. 4 less shells to kill a MAX, that's huge even if it still takes 30 total for a kill. Past the 3:15 mark in the Infantry tests and you can see that they aren't THAT bad. At 20m it takes 4-7 shells to kill, not great but very doable in a heated fight seeing how you start with 12 without extended mags to make up for sloppy aim.

    The damage numbers come to.

    Range - New - Old

    0m - 112*6 (672) - 112*6 (672)
    10m - Same - Same
    15m 108.33*6 (650) - 106.5 (639)
    20m - 102.24*6 (613.44) - 101*6 (606)
    25m - 96.14*6 (576.84) - 95.5*6 (573)
    30m - 90*6 (540) - 90*6 (540)

    Not much of a damage buff to be honest with it being at most 11 damage and at least 3.84. But every point counts and could change an outcome with legshot and headshot modifiers working for each pellet. Also with the Mattocks tight pellet spread you are less likely to miss up to 10-15m.

    Do I still want a HMG type weapon? Hell yes. Will we get one? likely not for a LONG time. Till we do get a proper ranged weapon, if it ever happens, the Mattocks make a not horrid med range option. You can at least use them to fire across rooms and score real damage or just kills.
  7. Devrailis

    Slugs, use slugs. Mattock, Hacksaw, Grinder, doesn't matter. Want range? Use slugs.
    • Up x 1
  8. Purg

    TBH, I doubt the 'buff' would make all that much difference. Mattock was reasonable at infantry up to 20m, I used to exclusively run slugs but got tired of having to stop, crouch and slowly fire - and the breaking of my RAT-9 mouse because of it that I ended up just dropping slugs a while back. I wouldn't advocate against slugs, I just got tired of using them.

    Removing slugs made my MAX a lot less versatile as the engagement range dropped, however, engaging infantry with an EM6 instead of hoping for a slugged kill made me feel a lot more effective so I ended up pulling HA a lot more often and leaving my MAX for CQC mass infantry fights only.

    If NC got an HMG style weapon, they'd be on my MAX before the Mattocks could hit the ground.
  9. Chewy102

    Odd, I see slugs as being less versatile. They give range against infantry but make you take more time and are crap against MAXes. The way I see it, without a way to ADS slugs are not worth it. Buckshot is better in my opinion so that you are able to fight any target that gets within 20m range. If I need to take my MAX outside of that range, I swap out for AV/AA weapons if there isn't a way to use a lot of cover. In the field it's pure Ravens unless I need AA.
  10. Necron

    NONONO ONLY FALCONS!!! New Falcons are the shiznit...
  11. Pikachu

    I don't care about falcon until initial speed is turned back to 90 and rocket is turned back into flameless shells. Like in my signature gifs. It's faqcing bullzhyt that they can't have that now with damage modifiers and lower splash! :mad:
  12. Necron

    Well they are faster than they were pre-patch, have a longer range, a faster reload and I find the flaming ones easier to aim with.
  13. Purg


    Versatile in the sense that you can traverse areas outdoors and be able to defend yourself against infantry at ~50m instead of being completely helpless against them and stuck for the most part guarding choke points. Sure, they're less effective against MAX up close and you'll never be able to solo one in one ammo load but you can also engage them at farther distances and achieve some sort of suppression.
  14. Purg


    Gotta agree with the above. Falcons were much easier to aim when they weren't flaming balls. Pulled off many kills like the gifs above with them that I'd have issues with now the projectile is 50x larger. I've seen the flaming balls pass through infantry because it didn't hit them square and the balls obscure your vision after firing which makes it difficult to make small adjustments without guessing.
  15. Necron

    Well, I really liked the flame last night plinking Maggies and Lightnings from Crown in the dark at 200+ metres, lol.