[Guide] Thoughts/initial review of the NC AF-4 Cyclone SMG

The stats of the weapon put its dps almost exactly 200 points less than the gd-7f. So, dont think your suddenly getting a new replacement gun for cqc if you already got a gd-7f, gr-22, or carnage br.

The closest similarity this gun has is the TR jaguar, so I'm going to compare its stats to the jag.
The cyclone has a dps of 1814 to the jaguars 1788. The cylcone trades off the faster rof for higher damage per bullet to get the dps advantage. 8 bullets to kill normal player with cyclone 9 for the jaguar.
The jaguar has about a 65 more bullet velocity and a larger clip size but much worse reload speed.
The cyclone as better recoil for sustained fire but slightly higher first shot recoil.
same ads speed and they both have minimal side to side recoil meaning you most have to compensate for vertical recoil.
The jaguar has better ads cof on every stat while the cyclone has better hip cof on every stat.
When it comes to attachments though IMO the cyclone has a slight advantage.
They only differences for attachments are, a 2x scope for the cyclone, a compensator for the cyclone, an extended mag for the cyclone, and the jaguar has the forward grip.

The jaguar really doesn't need an extended mag or its forward grip. However from what I've read the compensator is suppose to decrease the hip fire accuracy, but equipping a laser sight completely overwrites this disadvantage so you still receive the original benefit of the laser sights hip fire accuracy. I haven't been able to test this out in game, but if so this could be a distinct advantage for the cyclone. Another main advantage for the cyclone is the 2x scope. This scope is pretty much perfect for the cyclone. You should really use the smg for hip firing/ strafing at close range and the 2x scope will let you put some hits on an enemy at pretty much your max range with the gun.

Overall the jaguar is more advantageous adsing, while the cyclone is slightly better at hipfire. With the extended mag you can pray and spray with the cyclone, but the jaguar is going to be far better at that due to the 5 extra bullets and the option of the advanced laser sight. So if you plan to pray and spray with cyclone due a little bit of extra praying.


Terrible lag on connery is limiting my ability to play and cert out this gun further, but so far I really like this gun. In my opinion the best NC weapons specialize in one amazing aspect and thus have limited appeal. The cyclone begins to fill in the hole between high damage and really slow rate of fire and extremely high rof and medium damage for the NC. Prior to this gun there were only two weapons with the same rof. Both had lower damage per bullet and only 3 weapons that had a higher rof than 652. The medic assault rifle carnage br(750rof/143max bullet damage) the assault rifle gr-22(800/143) and the gd-7f carbine(845/143) [there have been rumors that the gd-7f was nerfed in damage].

Class By Class basis
Medic

If you already have one of the two weapons above and only play medic then I can't recommend you go out and purchase this weapon due to the fact the carnage is near identical in attachments and dps(slight advantage to the cyclone) and better at range. The gr-22 has a higher dps by about 100, better range and the same ads. The only reason a medic should get this gun is if you can't stand the way the gr-22 pulls to the right, don't care about shooting people farther than 80meters away, and don't always play medic.

Light assault
If your light assault this becomes a different arguement. Disregarding recent rumors, and current bugs with jet packs while the gun is equipped, the gun's .75 ads can make a huge difference when sniping at short range from a roof in the biolab or similar situations. If you find your self in these situations quite often then you should absolutely pick this up and cert according to play style.

Heavy assault.
For NC heavies the cyclone is the best overall cqc weapon. Doesn't clear a room like a shotgun, but the dps is the highest out side of the shot guns effective range. If you hate shotguns want to use your shield to dominate at close range, then there is no other option for the heavy. It still comes up short of the VS orion in range and clip size, but the dps is higher and the advanced laser sight means you should win head to head in close quarters. EVERY NC heavy should probably have this gun in one of their 3 slots IMO, at least for now.

Engineer.
Well for a class that doesn't really need to get up close I don't recommend this weapon if engi is your main class. Its a decent option, but the engi lacks the defensive options of the all other classes which makes them the weakest at cqc. That means, where other classes can sometimes out live the highest dps guns while using the cyclone the engi can't really do that. IMO a cqc engi should be using a shotgun or gd-7f, I honestly can't even recommend it over the the gauss compact s . If you dabble in engi then its not a bad choice, but if you play for repair certs your going to fill like a fool most of the time using this weapon.

Infiltrator.
YES. JUST GET THE GUN.
Your basically being given a gun that is on par with the carnage br AR and TR jaguar carbine. Why don't you have it. More certs can be had in a biolab with this gun. JUST GET IT. Only die hard snipers should avoid the weapon.

The classes that can make the most use out of this gun IMO are
1. Infiltrator
2. Heavy Assault
3. Light Assault
4. Medic
5. Engineer

My recommended setups with cyclone by priority is
2x scope
advanced laser sight
soft point ammo
compensator,(if you don't actually lose any hip fire accuracy with advanced laser sight on) or supressor. However, with suppressor and soft point your going to lose a lot of bullet velocity. I'm not sure on the actual numbers, so no clue if its a livable amount.

Second setup
1x reflex scope
Extended mag
soft point
suppressor

and lastly
2x scope
extended mag
compensator

You can easily adjust for the lower bullet velocity for 20 to 80 meter engagements with this set up.
With the compensator and extended mag your basically using the jag that has a suppressor and soft point ammo
Your first shot recoil should be identical to the jaguar with better recoil for sustained fire.
You can also reap the benefit of the .75 ads speed of the cyclone.

For light assault I recommend the first and third setups and for infiltrator I recommend the second setup.

Final Thoughts
This is the best hip fire gun for nc and doesn't necessarily have to be anything else cause that alone makes it work well with every class to an extent. For those that like to specialize in one thing such as highest dps, or long range accuracy this is not going to impress. I would wait for the next batch of smgs. However, if you want to play infiltrator up close or NC heavy up close and hate shotguns this is the gun for you(at least until we see the next smgs). This gun has alot of upside and few real downsides.

high dps
best hip fire
decent attachments

out of the box lacking in ads accuracy
terrible bullet velocity
low clip size and ammo pool

Overall I give the new NC smg an 8.5(for now) will update if the lag on connery goes away.
a second opinion

heres a link to compare the stats of new cyclone smg to the tr smg and the tr jaguar
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet....25&sortcolid=-1&sortasc=true&rowsperpage=250

SMG's apparently have a huge damage drop off. They aren't going to replace carbines, or any other rifle.

they are close quarters weapons, but the higher damage for nc means less min damage.

Not as good as current carbines or the VS SMG. Useless if not using it on Infiltrator

I own all three, and so far from what I've tested the vs smg is the weakest in terms of dps and hipfire, NC smg also has the highest bullet velocity

and we all know that a high velocity is king in CQC ... wait what?

lol its a bonus at least, especially when the vs smg is the best at ads

that's like saying "slowest RoF and highest recoil, but it does the most damage !"

Doesn't cut the mustard unfortunately.

you won't notice the recoil difference on these weapons trust me, but the stupid flinch mechanic will play into the nc smg more heavily than the other two unfortunately

This part of your post made me chuckle as you name every clas that can carry it, the inflitrator is the only one thats worth using it as its good close up in bases .

The classes that can make the most use out of this gun IMO are
1. Infiltrator
2. Heavy Assault
3. Light Assault
4. Medic
5. Engineer

sorry typo meant it to be ranked by which classes will benefit most from the gun

I trialed it and it only looked usefull in shotgun range, it only tickles at 12+ meters from what I saw.
It drops people fast hipfiring 0- 8 meters or so though, but so does a shotgun too.
As for HA, the new Jackhammer is a better option imo, allthough I still can't test it properly game is a slideshow.
SMG is really close range there is no way it will replace a carbine or even a shotgun with the range buff they just got.
If I buy it, I'll buy it for my Infiltrator and that's it.

not going to replace carbines, would love to be able to test the smg more but the game is near unplayable at close range right now

Being the only gun I am aware of that can equip a comp and adv laser that is pretty impressive. I trialed it and had no problem killing at med range tho it did typically take a whole clip.

carnage br shares this trait as well as an option for advanced forward grip

So that makes the 2 best NC guns medic guns GR and Carnage?

IMO, yes, for some reason our ar's, are supposed to be best while adsing, but the vs and the tr have a clone of the gr-22 and the tr have an ar version of the gd-7f that is pretty much better in all regards. The sexy .75 ads + high rof LMGS are for the vanu, while the tr get high rof cqc lmgs and .75 ads carbines. At least the NC shotguns are all .75 ads.....HEY WAIT A MINUTE D:

Don't worry we get a standing ads bonus lol.

welp managed to pick up surpressor and the first kill I got was a head shot

Just curious as you seem to know a lot about the NC medic guns, what should I choose next? I have the Reaper DMR but it's not very good at head-on close quarters clashes! Shotguns, SMG, ARs?