So in the 'gameplay' section of the forum most VS/TR users keep going on and on about how powerful the SAW is, it is impossible to have any intelligent discussion in there. When I started playing the game at launch, the SAW was horrible and getting the EM6 was a huge upgrade that brought my average KD from 0.3 to 3.2ish. After giving in and trying the SAW again for an hour, it still seems bad to me, it is a less accurate higher recoil slow firing version of the EM6. Has anyone gone back to the SAW and found it useful or has there been some buff to it that made it more useful and I just need to learn how to handle it? I would like to use it if it is usable, but I think as the NC population rises, more BR1 characters are made that are forced to use the SAW which results in more SAW related deaths and more forum whining about it being 'OP'. EDIT: No I don't want anecdotes from VS and TR players who died to either weapon, the only posts I will bother considering are from people who have actually used the EM6 and SAW for long periods.
If you liked the saw, then you like the saw. If you hate the saw, then you hate the saw. Saw and EM6 are for totally different play styles. Saw is stand still at range, aim, burst first. EM6 is shoot that way and watch as people die. I also don't know why people like the saw.. I prefer to run and gun, saw is garbage for that.
Go to the Test Server/VR and use the Adv. Forward Grip and Compensator with a reflex sight of your choice. See if it feels better than what you remember. I used a fully certed Gauss SAW during the Test Event. I hunkered down and went on a killing spree getting quite a few people at range (25-150m?). I assure you that quite a few players find the SAW a very powerful ranged weapon, but the nature of the recoil makes it so that you have to trust your compensation more than your crosshairs. If you still find the SAW annoying to use, by all means use the EM6.
As long as you don'y use any sights over 2x zoom you should do fine with adv foregrip and compensator. 3.4 Scopes and higher make the recoil hard/annoying to manage. But i'd stick with the weapon you are used to and doing well with.
They fixed the flinch mechanic a while back, which was a defacto buff for the SAW. You still need the Advanced Foregrip and Compensator. As others have said, use whichever LMG works best for your playstyle.
Once you learn to manage the SAWs recoil then it becomes somewhat Godlike. It hits incredibly hard, and in large group firefights you tend to get the kill if you land a headshot due to it's whopping critical. Sure you can plink away at max range with the SAW, but most people use it to put a ton of hurt on people, and if you put HV ammo on it, then it becomes an AntiAircraft gun. 2x Reflex Compensator Adv ForeGrip HV Ammo Flinch Damage =Win
The EM6 is just a gun that's there to define the midpoint between TR and NC guns. The SAW is what you get when you distill hair metal bands, guitar solos, anarcho-capitalism, and FREEDOM and it as NC as it comes. Given an honest chance it's easily as accurate as the EM6 from all ranges, with the only difference being the SAW ABSOLUTELY DEMOLISHING PEOPLE with hyper accurate (zero first shot deviation) 200 damage bullets. The difference before was that getting hit by anything would cause you to miss most of your shots, and it's not a very forgiving gun to miss shots with. Now that that problem's been removed, it's an absolute monster.
well you should have educated yourself, young space american. the things that could make the gauss a bone of contention among factions are: - it's the strongest lmg ingame in terms of bullet damage - it comes as an conglomerate starter weapon, so no additional station cash or cert investments are needed to unlock it - and the most crucial one: terrans and vanu have no equivalent to this gun so my tip from me to you is: use the crap out of this gun before it gets nerfed someday
The advanced foregrip and compensator are practically mandatory. For general combat, stick with the reflex or NV sights, though the irons are good too. In fact, it and the S version are the only NC LMGs with decent iron sights. Stick to mid-range if you can, and limit your engagements to 1 person at a time. See you on the battlefield, space cowboy.
Yeah I gotta say, I love both the Em6 and the Gauss SAW almost equally. I have Auraxium Medals on both and I am not really sure which one I like more, it would probably be the Em6 because of ONE thing, and one thing only. It reloads much faster than the Gauss Saw when compared, this alone makes it more attractive to me at this point. If the Gauss SAW had a similar reload speed I would probably use it over the EM6 but I feel like if there is a cert reset ever, I will just stick to the Gauss SAW with Adv. Foregrip, Compensator, HV Ammo, and 1x Reflex because I spent 500 certs + attachments on the Em6 which I could use elsewhere because the Gauss SAW is almost a carbon copy in DPS, being more accurate, more fun, and more NC than anything else. Gauss SAW + NS-44 Commissioner + Phoenix is pure NC, even though revolvers are NS based.
On my TR guy I rip **** up with my CARV. I don't use it at more than, say, 40m or so but that doesn't come up too much. 100 rounds @ 750rpm? Owns, just ratatatatat and people drop. I don't know if the TR consider the reload long or not, because after 4200 kills with the SAW everything in the game feels like it reloads lightning fast to me. CARV isn't a long range gun. If you want to kill people far away use your battle rifle or the TMG-50. The beefy horizontal recoil sucks, but without it the gun doesn't have a single downside. Just like the NC don't have a proper close range LMG like the CARV/Orion, the TR don't have a high damage long range LMG and the VS don't have much ammo capacity on any of their stuff. The CARV-S does seem pretty worthless though. Maybe if it got and advanced foregrip it'd be a more viable option. Also, isn't it 1000 certs? I always thought that was strange when the SAW S is 250 and the VS have amazing LMG choices at 100 and 250 certs.
You do know it hits significantly harder than the EM6, right? If you're able to manage the recoil, it's a beast. Pretty bad >10 meters, though. I personally use the SAW in outdoor skirmishes, and the EM1 in CQC battles. Also, the SAW is meant to be fired in bursts. Going full automatic without letting go of the trigger is simply ********, and you won't hit ****.
I think I'm in a pretty good position to answer you, OP. I auraxium'ed the EM6 and went back to the SAW to see what it was about. Put on the advanced foregrip (mandatory), compensator and your sight of choice. (I run tactieye on range). It's pretty great. Better than EM6 at range, but with a few considerable downsides. First, your accuracy while moving is pretty bad, so you'll want to stand still while precision shooting. This makes you a good target for snipers, so I recommend running upgraded nanoweave. Second, bloom is bad, so make sure to fire in bursts, no matter the distance. Third, when in CQC, odds are stacked against you and you will lose unless you score headshots. This is of course somewhat problematic due to your sucky while-moving accuracy. While the TR love to whine about the CARV, this thing will absolutely bend you over in closer ranges. Fourth, don't reload. Short reload is 6+ seconds and it feels like ages. Don't reload unless you have <30 bullets (which is still enough to take down several targets) or you're completely sure noone is around. Personally, I love it. I now use the SAW at range and the EM6 with extended mags when closer.
I have no idea why terrans and vanu keep saying the saw is so good. I always felt that the terran lmg is better. Kills faster and hits better at range.
The SAW is an exceptional weapon, and frankly in a class all to its own. 200 damage, 500 ROF, 1.65 First Shot Recoil Multiplier. The recoil has 0.55 vertical component, and 0.175 horizontal. The CoF is zero while still, 0.5 on the move, and a bloom of 0.07. In addition the gun can equip a compensator and advanced fore grip, and is the only gun that has top teir damage and can use the advanced fore grip. So what does this mean? The horizontal recoil component is very low and with the advanced foregrip it gets better, better then the Flare or TMG-50. Combine that with the low RoF and you have a weapon that is very easy to predict. The recoil, while a bit heavier (while dealing 33 more base damage) goes straight up. There is very little horizontal deviation on a 6 round burst. If you can compensate for recoil (aka pull the mouse straight down while firing) this one of the easiest guns to place multiple rounds on a target. Bluntly speaking, SOE really shot themselves in the foot when they made this the starter gun for the NC. The thing would easily be a 700SC/1000 cert purchase, and worth every penny as there is no other weapon like it.
If you consider that most -S weapons are slight variants of the defaults, you can see that stat-wise the EM6 and the SAW-S are very very similar and are comparable to the CARV and CARV-S (conceptually, because nobody would take the CARV-S over the CARV, regardless of the attachments). Probably the EM6 was designed as the NC default lmg and the SAW-S as its -S variant, but something went wrong and soe decided to give them the current Gauss SAW, which has nothing to do with the SAW-S. Yep. They shot themselves in the foot with that...
I use the NC6 quite effectively against groups of enemies tightly bunched up. That is, I'm not targeting a particular enemy, but am firing into large groups of enemies. I find that when used in this manner, the NC6 is extremely useful, even at very long ranges. That being said, if you learn how to use it properly, it can still dominate at mid to very long ranges, and if you get the drop on someone in CQC, they're generally toast before they can react (but if they shoot first, you're probably going to lose). My advice with the NC6: - Crouch - ADS - Do not move! - Aim for the middle of the torso - Fire in 3 to 5 round bursts depending on range - Allow the gun to settle briefly between bursts at long ranges, periodically take your finger off LMB for shorter ranges. The recoil on this gun will pull the gun upwards with the first few shots - where the greatest recoil applies. Keep in mid that your shots will fly well over your sights - so aiming for mid-torse or upper chest will result in more headshots.
Feel free to point out specifically where I am wrong. But then again if you could you would have done so already.
