Preface Often, having a "stock" weapon is seen as bad and that you must "kit it out" to make it work. But in this post I'd like to remind people that there actually are some benefits to not having attachments on your weapon (in most cases). Of course, like attachments themselves, this can be situational. But I'd like newbies to keep this in mind and also maybe even get some Veterans to go back to their favorite weapon and play with it stock as a refresher. Ok, so most of us know the good stuff each attachment does. So here I'll try to explain some advantages of not having one in that slot. Attachments Iron Sights Benefit: Iron Sights actually have 1.35x zoom & are very stable which actually helps out your accuracy even at ranges. Explanation: Although 1x and 2x is preferred for most people. Don't pass off the power of an iron sight. Some weapons have exceptional iron sights and others have really terrible ones. If you're weapon has a good iron sight, you might even perform better with it in some situations. I find myself hitting targets even better further out than 70m with Iron Sights instead of my 3.4x HDS and further & maybe you will too. Barrel Benefit: Makes your gun work exactly like the stats show, which in a sense is the best "all round" setup for your weapon. Explanation: Other attachments have really good plus sides, as you all know. I use my suppressor almost all the time when lone-wolfing. In huge battles, not showing on the mini-map is not an issue, so I rather have the extra accuracy of a compensator. On some weapons, like the Carv & MSW-R, having a Flash Suppressor is great because it'll actually help your aim out more since the muzzle flash can be really distracting. But not many people keep in mind that a Compensator will make you show on the mini-map SIGNIFICANTLY further out than a Standard barrel. It will also reduce your hipfire ability. A Flash Suppressor reduces full-auto accuray (induces a penalty) and a Suppressor will reduce bullet velocity and effectiveness at range. So in some situations, depending on your weapon, sometimes just having a Standard barrel is a great choice. You might ask, well, Standard will still show you on the map, so why not just use a Compensator? That's true but again, depending on the battle size, intensity & location (and access to it), it might be more helpful to your survival to use Standard, so the whole Region doesn't see you on the minimap & retain some better hipfire ability when needed. Rail Attachment Benefit: None that is worth not having something there. So in my opinion, your default "no attachment" should be Darklight (if willing to spend certs) especially because you can easily turn it off when not needed. Explanation: Obviously there's a lot of advantages to equipping a Grip or a Laser, without a doubt. But something to keep in mind is that a Grip will increase EQUIP time; an Advanced Grip even more. What is equip time? It is the time it takes to pull out your weapon after switching. The Laser has a different issue I'll address at the end that I'm still researching. Ammo Benefit: Standard ammo is, like a Standard Barrel, the best "all-rounder" for your weapon. It makes the weapon work in its optimum "setting". You don't have to worry about a recoil or velocity penalty. Explanation: This again depends on which weapon you use and what situation. Like for instance, in a Bio Lab, you would gain an advantage from using Soft Point & at long range open field battles, High Velocity may help you better. But keep these two things in mind with High Velocity & Soft Point. HV ammo will INCREASE your vertical recoil. So, in some cases, depending on your weapon and other attachments, you might actually get better shots out with just Standard. SP ammo lowers the bullet velocity, so if you find yourself in a battle where the majority of the time you're firing beyond 15 meters, then Standard is the way to go. If you're using a Suppressor but still want some velocity & range, Standard ammo might do your setup more justice. Stacking Attachments Negatives: In some cases, a combination of attachments may create a double penalty or cancellation. (still researching) Cases: Suppressor + Soft Point will equal a further penalty on bullet velocity Compensator + Laser, this one is tricky because if you read the tooltips, it says Compensator decreases hipfire ability and a Laser increases. So what I believe is happening is you take two steps forward (Laser) and one step back (Comp). I think they cancel each other out in a way. I'd love to do more research on this. I know I didn't really do a great job with this but I'll try to improve it after some feedback. But I just wanted people to remember that there actually is some merit to not having something equipped. Thanks for reading.
Laser has no downside. You should always default to laser because it will just buff your gun. Darklight has some use but it doesn't increase your gun's statistics. No the laser being visible doesn't count. It's very hard to see and you can turn it off (default X) and maintain the increased accuracy. Rail has no downsides aside from costing ceerts. You should never optimally not have one. Barrels/Ammo are the best balanced in this area. Infact, you reminded me that you didn't cover Buck (default) versus Slugs (better in CQC) As for Laser + Comp i'm actually not 100% positive on that. I know HVA/Supp doesn't cancel out. It used to anyways. No one knows how HVA/Suppresors work 100% now since it's all balanced per weapon now and I don't think the data is out there for every weapon's variables.
good guide, because I never knew a grip increased equip time. Maybe they should put t hat in the description..
I think what I meant with Laser vs Darklight is that you have to watch out if you're stacking Compensator + Laser (still need to research though). But it does make more sense to just put on a Laser then. I tend to put my Darklight on my Pistol instead. Too bad I can't edit the OP now. Oh excellent! I completely forgot Slugs vs Buckshot (Standard)! One thing I am unsure of is if Slug is equal to Buckshot in damage (concentrated) or is it a reduced/fractional model? I also completely forgot to mention in Stacked Attachment section about Suppressor + HV. I'd think it still works together no? I'd imagine if HV increases velocity & Suppressor reduces it, there has to be something going on there. Maybe not cancel each other but something at least, most likely leaning towards HV's velocity increase. Although, of course none of us know the exact numbers. Also here's some info on the Wiki about Lasers. I'm unsure of how correct or outdated it is: LASER FOREGRIP COMPENSATOR So if I read this correctly. If you attach a Laser, your hipfire cone size is reduced by 37.5%. If you add a Compensator, it will increase hipfire cone by 25%. So does that mean, in total, your cone size will actually just be reduced by 12.5%? (I suck at math)
Also some weapons have longer equip times than others not just between categories (LMGs obviously come up slower than carbines) but also within categories (the difference between the AMC and the Jaguar is noticeable) all without any grips involved. So for a weapon with a long base equip time, you might not mind making it longer in exchange for a grip or you might want to shorten it as much as possible, and for a gun with fast equip time you could sacrifice a bit of that speed for stability or you could maximize that inherent advantage by choosing another attachment.
Forgot another Stacked Attachments combo: If you're trying to maximize stability for accuracy and you have the option, you will most likely pick Compensator + Foregrip. But if you attach High Velocity ammo, you'll be increasing vertical recoil, thus giving a penalty. So in this case, for maximum stability, it's best to leave Standard ammo.
This ties back to HVA/Suppressors now having hidden values for different weapons. Supp used to be -5m to Max damage range -25m Min damage range. HVA gave you +15m Min damage range. It also helped mitigate (not counter) the Muzzle Velocity reduction. Now? No idea.
Yep, sometimes less is more. EM6 + laser sight is my fav "setup". I dont know why everybody goes on blabbering about compensators and foregrips being mandatory for NC LMGs. Compensator? f*cks up already nerfed hipfire on LMGs and vertical recoil can be manually compensated unlike horizontal, also you're NC not some commie or alien wimp, you can handle that railgun! Foregrip? NC statistically has the smallest horizontal recoil on theri guns, yum. Increases equip time which can be the difference between finishing a max after you dumbfired him or getting killed. I'll take a laser sight for the extra versatility or extended mags for fun.
for acuracy training, suppresor+SP ammo+s class carbines = you get the worst weapon to shoot at range, once you auraxiumed it and switch to other weapon your acuracy will improve ALOT, also works with using nc weapon first then switching to vs..
