Well I guess no one here has posted a review of the Tempest so I guess I throw in my experience with it. The Tempest is based directly off the Cyclone platform with built in extended mags, HVA, and a 1x reflex. One of the biggest things that stands out for this gun is it's bullet drop which is equivalent to the drop of a carbine allowing it to be treated almost completely like a carbine (think like its a better Bandit). The downsides to this gun is that it is NOT suppressed, many times I've been found by just being a blip on the minimap so staying very mobile will keep you alive longer with it. TL;DR: Tempest is a carbine, complete and direct upgrade to the cyclone with the only downside of not having a suppressor. Also first to Aurax this beauty too. How are the TR/VS variants? I'd assume the VS variant isn't getting that much of a buff considering no bullet drop.
I can't consider the lack of a suppressor a downside on a weapon with 378 m/s base velocity. I mean cmon, that's already nearly too low to be effective at mid range, and this gun touts to be similar as a carbine? It's not even close to a carbine. It even has the four tiers of damage falloff typical to SMG's instead of the two that you see on carbines. If you want an SMG that functions more like a carbine at mid range, use NS-7 PDW. Two tiers of damage falloff, near-carbine velocity. Min dmg. 100 at 65m at 750 RPM, versus the Tempest's 100 at 54m at 652 RPM.
What makes the Tempest compare with carbines isn't its damage fall off, it's the bullet drop which can't be distinguish from a carbine's. The reason why not having a suppressor is a downside is because as an infiltrator, having anything that can hide your weak frail body is worth investing into, having no access to it makes the average infil more frail, especially on a close quarters infil (where velocity doesn't really matter). In fact, the major downside I should expand upon and that is you cant change any of the attachments, but that goes for every directives weapon.
All the Auraxium SMGs have basically the same changes over the originals: +8m to max damage range, +18 m/s bullet speed and less bullet drop (except the Skorpios because VS but it's still faster), and +50% vertical recoil. Yes, +50%. Plus the ADS superiority. Arguably the greater recoil hurts the Shuriken the most, Skorpios has pretty manageable recoil and Tempest has a lower ROF to balance it out. It's a pretty substantial recoil difference though... or would be if SMG recoil was that bad to start with. They basically end up with carbine range and recoil, so saying "they're carbines" is pretty accurate.
I'm looong way from getting the Shuriken, if ever, but have to say that Armistice's vertical recoil is barely noticeable. Even +50% won't change much, especially at ranges where using an SMG makes sense at all. EDIT: Checked the stats, and Shuriken doesn't seem to be worth using. 0.1 tighter CoF? WTF? No one ever will notice that.
Its been said since the Cyclone was first released that its an Infiltrator usable Carbine. It was NEVER a CQC weapon. Once people started grasping that, most Auraxiumed them in less a couple months. The Tempest is a higher velocity version of that.... Use it like a Carbine, and it will reward you with many kills. Use its like the CQC SMG, and it will forsake you.
Actually the Cyclone is best used in CQC due to its very low velocity and heavy bullet drop. Using it like a ranged weapon will get you killed a lot.
You still fire tracers with a suppressor, and your cloak still makes a lot of sound. I'd say the higher velocity and damage from not using a suppressor is a greater boon to an infiltrator's survivability than the ability to kill quietly up close. Putting yourself in CQC situation just to be effective seems like a pointless risk, instead you could keep your distance and avoid committing into fights that aren't in your favor. The damage falloff still makes it anything but a carbine. The NS-7 PDW also has perfectly manageable bullet drop at mid range, but much better velocity and much lesser damage falloff than the Tempest.
Umm, that's a pretty big deal. 0.1 tighter COF - from 0.3 to 0.2 - is no joke. In relative terms it's greater than the difference in stand/move ADS accuracy between the average LMG and the average carbine. Carbines definitely feel more accurate when strafing, and similarly the Shuriken will more accurate to other SMG's, even to any carbine.
Jelly. Thanks for posting your thoughts on it. I'm still working on the NS SMGs for the Skorpios, which should be very similar.
