So I've created an alt on TR with plans of maybe eventually someday joining an outfit there once I get BRed up. My first weapon trial and then purchase was the T5 AMC(I hate the TRAC-5), as it was what I always used to use and for old time's sake I grabbed it. T5 AMC IIRC is kind of a love/ hate style gun for TR. Many players seem to think the Cougar has obsoleted it. I'm not sure myself. What's funny is the reason I joined VS in the first place was to use the Pulsar C instead of the T5 AMC. Now I'm back to this old thing. First off, without attachments I strongly feel that it is a piece of garbage that's been urinated on by a homeless man with a bladder infection. I hated it so much until I unlocked the advanced grip. I can't imagine anyone using this with a laser sight. I probably should have used the TRAC-5 or played medic for the Cycler until I had enough certs to get the advanced grip. My certs are hurting though, that's 650+200+30 of my new player certs. And I have to do the same thing for the TMG-50 now(I refuse to use the CARV). I am not sure whether or not to put HVA on it. The penalty to vertical recoil just contradicts the benefits at range. It does gain a lot of velocity from it, but its base velocity is very high(which is the only reason to use this gun over an NS-11C and I'm not sure I made a wise decision there). I could also add the compensator. I haven't been using it on Pulsar C or NS-11C as I like having decent hip-fire, plus showing up at longer distance on map sounds bad? IDK. NS-11C has super low vertical recoil and bad base velocity so that was a no brainer HVA. I kind of feel at the moment that NS-11C is an outright better gun because of that low vertical recoil, .75 ADS, and almost as much velocity as a T5 AMC w/out HVA. I haven't got the Cougar yet, obviously. I've tried it in VR and it feels so bad compared to the Pulsar C. The T5 at least has some substantial unique benefits: crazy high velocity, and an easy recoil pattern if you add advanced grip to it. It still feels...weak to me. But I'm out of practice with it and have only used it for a short period. My accuracy with it surprisingly high though, a whopping 10% higher than my Pulsar C accuracy(maybe this will fade in time though). Yet it feels like it takes me a year to kill anybody with the thing.
If you're looking for maximum effective range, Cougar is unquestionably the best. The higher damage tier just means that much. T5 AMC used to be my favorite TR gun, hence why my avatar is holding it. But Cougar changed that, and I am of the opinion that Cougar is one of the best TR carbines, just through the sheer versatility and ability to contest with ARs and LMGs at range. Funny how the best TR carbine is the knock-off of one of the weaker NC carbines.. But I wouldn't say that T5 AMC is entirely useless. It has excellent Suppressor synergy: Highest in class projectile velocity of 570 m/s, 650 m/s with HVA. Means the velocity after procentage-based penalty of Suppressor will still be high. For carbines, HVA increases minimum damage range by 18m. This almost entirely negates Suppressor's penalty to minimum damage range (21-22m for T5 AMC). Higher RoF weapons naturally have a better synergy with Suppressor. T5 AMC has high damage per magazine, so even suppressed it will almost always hold enough ammo to kill at least one target at most ranges. Good accuracy, which is more important for a suppressed weapon than raw DPS at close range. You want a scalpel, not a bomb. T5 AMC being a carbine, has good hip fire by default. Better than Cougar. So even with forward grip, it has serviceable hip fire range. Higher RoF (despite same DPS) also helps in CQC a bit. With AFG, HVA and Suppressor, T5 AMC becomes a very versatile suppressed weapon. For all intents and purposes, NS-11C is worse T5 AMC, except for that 75% ADS, but bleh. Just bleh. NS-11C needs a base velocity of 550 m/s (600-620 with HVA) before I can consider it a real, viable weapon. Otherwise it's a hipster tool with barely a niche.
I wonder how much a ~23 RoF increase would do for the T5 AMC and/or NS-11C. The Mercenary and AC-X11 have better TTK and about the same accuracy(probably better actually), albeit worse velocity. Tweaking the RoF of T5 up a little bit in RoF would put it more toward the mid-range monster role while leaving Cougar to be long range plinker. Personally I still think the .75 ADS on NS-11C is a big deal though, not just a niche tool. Your average player doesn't have great accuracy so you add faster strafing to the mix and you can really survive surprising 1vs1s. Cougar IDK what to say about. Just didn't like it. It was my last purchase on my old character before I switched from TR to VS deciding that TR would just never get a good ranged/mid-range power-house carbine. I'm not looking for maximum effective range as much as I'm looking for versatility and a gun that feels good. I also like aiming for heads and getting kills on enemies behind cover, accuracy is more important than raw TTK for me as I do my best to avoid CQC as I'm not great at it. The T5 AMC is actually growing on me though and I've done fairly well after getting some attachments on it. Hard to tell though since I was just farming NC at a biolab with it, not necessarily the most trying of fights.
I saw your post on reddit, what's your TR name on Connery? (I'm a leader of 56) Also, I would probably go with the AMC. If you're used to the Pulsar C, then the Cougar is going to feel very sub par. I've auraxed both guns and the Pulsar C was a beast. Going back to the Cougar just left me frustrated that it wasn't the Pulsar C lol.
Humhermit - https://www.planetside2.com/players/#!/5428345446430487313 So named because I am a recluse and I involuntarily hum "Welcome to My Nightmare" or "Little Drummer Boy" when I'm concentrating, particularly playing video games or making artwork. And yeah, I'll miss Pulsar C. OTOH, T5 AMC's crazy velocity at least is nicer for shooting down running targets. It's a more interesting gun than the Cougar IMO.
Very little. DPS is wildly overrated stat, especially without taking into account damage falloff ranges and realistically attainable accuracy. For some reason, 143 damage weapons have high horizontal recoil and short minimum damage range. These are main reasons why they are less effective at range than 167 damage weapons. High RoF 143 damage weapons have their DPS to carry them into CQC, but 143 @ 652 - 698 weapons are underwhelming as a whole. The thing is, TRAC 5 is already a close-mid range monster. Making T5 AMC a gun with barely better accuracy and barely worse DPS would be just boring. If you need 75% ADS, you might as well pick a gun that doesn't suck on its own, like the amazing Jaguar. It even has the same base velocity as NS-11C =\ Ahh, bio lab farms. This is where I got most of my suppressed T5 AMC kills. Shadowflight loadout I called it <3 "Feels good" is completely subjective term. In this case, all you can do is to try out all weapons and see what sticks. For example, when TRAC 5 used to have that brutal "KALALALAVA" sound, it "felt better" than Jaguar to me. More powerful in CQC, even though statistically it's inferior. T5 AMC is not a bad. In the end, it may be worse by 5-10% at range than Cougar, and even better up close. So you shouldn't feel bad for liking it. Well, if we define "versatility" as "being good at all ranges", then it's really easy. All carbines are at least "good" at close range, except for AC-X11 with compensator and grip, but that thing is special. So for maximum versatility you just pick carbine that's gonna have a long effective range. Cougar is better, but T5 AMC is good enough.
Yeah I forgot about the Jaguar. I'll definitely pick that up at some point. I have so much stuff to cert though ugh. I want Blackhand, TMG-50, definitely gonna want AP and HE for Prowler as well as a good secondary. And a second Pounder. WTB cert transfer.
You should definitely use HVA on the AMC because as you say it's advantage is it's high velocity. Personally I never use compensator as I feel they are not worth the hit to weapon accuracy for what you get from them. Just pull down on your mouse harder. I think that the AMC actually has a lower TTK than the Cougar at maximum ranges but the advantage of accurate 167 damage weapons is the three headshot kill at max damage range. Cougar does not have SPA which is a mark against it but you can use laser on it and it will even out it's performance overall. So yeah I think that the AMC is definitely the best TR carbine for long range and you should always use grip/hva. Cougar and NS11C are better used with laser sight and hva but it does also make a lot of sense to put grip on NS11C. I say those fill a similar role and it would depend on if you want the .75 and more recoil but better cone of fire or the cougar with 167 damage. Cougar is definitely a very easy gun to use.
