It's taken two or three years, but I'm finally able to get past what to me is a generally grating aesthetic and give their gear a real try. And so far I'm really liking it! I'm playing mostly medic and light assault, and am really enjoying both the AF-19 Mercenary and and the NC-1 Gauss Rifle. The AF-19 in particular feels really nice, easy to control, and hard-hitting. I've also made a few basic upgrades to my Reaver and find it really manoeuvrable, especially for hover/reverse oves(this makes me sound better than I am; I really suck at flying). As a guilty pleasure I've also messed around with the Air Hammer a bit. The novelty of a VTOL-mounted shotgun is just too good to pass up. Still working on maxing out my med gear, jump jets, C4 etc., but I'm pretty eager to try out some of the more niche weapons the faction has to offer. Bearing in mind I play mostly medic and light assault, and will do some more infiltrating once I cert it out, what could you seasoned NC troopers recommend to get more of a flavour for the faction? I'm particularly interested in the Reaper DMR for medic, Bandit for light assault, and especially the Cyclone. That thing looks crazy good.
Not a seasoned NC player, but still counts, I think. Reaper DMR is amazing. Its sound is unique and epic, range on is ridiculous, and recoil isn't so bad. Just don't get a high magnification scope, and compensator is mandatory, pretty much like on all 200 damage weapons. HVA is also not something you really need on an AR. Cyclone is good, and godlike if you can hipfire for headshots, but keep in mind the short range of 20-30m tops. Bandit is good, but nothing special. About on the level of Mercenary in relative power. If you are gonna branch out to Infiltrator, I sincerely recommend Rebel. Listening to Hammerfall while using it is mandatory. It's not super good, but OHK headshot after an EMP nade feels epic, and overall looks and sounds good. Mind the suppressor penalty is strong on pistols, so think carefully if you wanna suppress it.
GD-7F is also the best CQC carbine in the game, so if you play agressive LA it is a must. Literally top-tier damage, hipfire second only to an SMG and surprisingly controllable for such a crazy bullethose (and that's where it trumphs the less ADS controllable serpent) making it very workable at medium ranges too. Cyclone is hands-down the best SMG around, but if you don't play infil its still worse than carbine and AR alternatives. For the medic side of things I was always a big fan of the carnage. Lots of DPS but also very controlable with a little practice. I never got around to play too much with all the alternatives on NC ARs, but the reaper and albatross both seem very good. -Stigma
Well you will need a lot of Certs now to get the best out of the NC equipment, thanks to the price changes. It was ok, till the last patch but everybody starting to play NC now better has a fat wallet...
As I always say give your medic the underbarrel smoke grenade. Don't let your fresh revive killed again. Try your vanguard, when I pilot it it teach me to do properly tanking that I carry over to my prowler.
Yeah if NC's sounds and aesthetic were better I might swap over. They have the most diverse gear overall and some very standout weapons: Ravens, Cyclone, Jackhammer, Shotgun MAX are all pretty much unrivaled for their purposes. Can't beat Ravens for AV, can't beat NC's CQC Heavies, can't beat the Cyclone for an SMG, and obviously Shotgun MAX are the best for MAX crashing most of the points in the game which tend to be small enough rooms. I also love their carbines. AC-X11, for someone who shamelessly hides in and camps from odd nooks and trees as LA there is no better carbine. The Gauss Compact S is, IMO, the best underbarrel carbine. Smoke + HS/NV is something I would like to use but the Solstice SF is so bleh. GD-7F is awesome for its 500 velocity on an 845 RoF gun, I'd definitely trade the Serpent for it. And while I know Orion is the MLG LMG, Em6 is actually my favorite LMG in the game. Anchor is a beast too but the 100 rounds of 167 damage bullets with great ADS accuracy and good TTK due to 600 RoF just makes the Em6 such a good gun. More my style than the Orion. ____ OTOH, if I played NC I wouldn't get to farm their nooby players as much, so IDK.
Thanks for the tips everyone. Iridar, that sounds promising with the Reaper! Rebel sounds cool too, from what I've heard people like to use it as a not-so-hard-hitting silenced Commissioner alternative. Will give it a go. Stigma, GD-7F sounds cool. Guessing it handles quite similarly to the Serpent? Ah the Carnage, I shall look into that. Is the laser sight/forward grip decision a matter of preference, or does one suit it better than the other? I trialled the Blitz, expecting it to be a carbon-copy of the Sirius, i.e. with that unbearable sideways jitter, but by 'eck it isn't half as bad as that! Can't really lose with NC SMGs, huh.
The 167 damage tier weapons seem to be the best in the game and NC has a lot of them. I know people are saying how they like the AC-X11 (I feel kinda meh about it) but I personally prefer the Razor, not the fastest TTK but super accurate ADS, easy to control recoil, decent hipfire, amazing velocity (even when suppressed), and a lightning fast reload.
The irony is the GD-7F and Carnage AR are as far from NC uniques as you can get. Not that they're bad weapons, far from it, and in some cases they clearly outclass TR and VS equivalents, but there's nothing even remotely NC about them. They're still among the best weapons in the game though
