I appreciate everyone and their comments but can i stress that this IS NOT ABOUT WHICH GUN IS BEST/BETTER. It was originally about what LMG to get save up for and i have chosen the Flare as it's low fire rate, high damage and bigger magazine allows me to hold down the trigger and follow people (flying light assaults) without wasting the entire clip. Essentially the differences are minimal but i chose the Flare as the variety of attachments means i can view the progress of the Flare. I put a foregrip on the Orion and i felt that was all i needed and so was still unsatisfied.
There are three other "characteristics" about the Flare I have not seen mentioned, that appear to be in effect. this is by pure experience though. 1. It seems that the Flare is a better "anti-Vanu" weapon... in that it "demands the kill" when competing with other folks shooting at the same targets, since it eats up bigger chunks of life. Could be wrong, but it sure appears to work that way. 2. Also, sometimes that frontloaded first shot, or two, on a wounded soldier is an instant kill. 3. The higher damage per shot gives your "accidental headshot" a bigger return. Just as extra credit, the Flare can be kitted-out to a higher degree than the other guns. The Orion does seem to be a good weapon, but 50 shots per magazine was really getting annoying. Given some of the arguments here, I may want to let my daughter try the 88 since she likes to hip-fire a lot (and any weapon with "88" is just scary... WW2...
Excellent overview of the relevant stats of the LMGs in question. I've always loved the Orion. TBH if it had 25 more rounds in its battery and had a 6x scope available to it I'd probably have never given the other LMGs serious consideration other then maybe the LSW due to SKYeXile's recommendation. The Orion just seemed to run out of ammo at the worst times a little too often during Beta for my liking. I died one too many times while using it in room-clearing operations or during static defense where I'd killed 3-4 opponents in quick succession only to have the next one in line take me out because I was either caught in mid-reload or not quite quick enough on the draw on my Beamer. I do notice the ADS accuracy difference between it and the SVA-88. I've lived with it since the 88 is still accurate enough for 90% of the firefights I get into (<100m distance) and I can always fall back to the Eidolon for purely long-range encounters if need be, even though it is a subpar weapon overall. Now that I've had some time w/ the 88, I think I'm gonna revisit the Orion again this weekend. Since you scoff at hipfire tactics I can see why you'd prefer the LSW and think it to be a flat-out better weapon than the 88. But I'm curious, why did you choose the LSW over the Orion? Is it because of the Orion's recoil? Or do you still use the Orion on occasion? And do you happen to have any footage posted anywhere of yourself in close range firefights? I'd like to take a look and see the tactics you use in CQC since your approach is obviously a bit different than mine.
I've used the Orion. It's a great LMG, don't get me wrong. The problem with the Orion is that it burns through ammo so quickly, and has such a long reload time, that it really doesn't hold up against the other LMGs. I've been playing with it on and off, and consistently find myself in large firefights with multiple targets, and having to reload much, much faster than I would with the LSW or SVA. Realistically the most kills you will ever get out of an Orion clip is 5. Maybe 6, if you're lucky. LSW and SVA will give you at LEAST 7. More if you have good shot placement and don't waste ammo. When you finally get in behind that zerg camping the tele room or a jump pad, you want as many bullets in that clip as possible, because they are going to notice quickly, and you want to be able to take as many of them out before they start coming after you. I'd use the Orion in a heartbeat if it had a 75 or 100 round clip. 750 RPM and 50 rounds does not go well together. Unless you're only ever in small firefights of 2-3 guys. Then it is an amazing weapon. It just doesn't hold up to being a realistic LMG with only a 50 round clip.
im using the SVA-88 and love it the gun has some recoil but the grip has helped me alot and i went with the red drop sight but overall i dont have a complaint wat so ever bout it
Only used the Orion so far and I like it. I'm not far off getting a medal with it which gives me 100 certs, so figured once I hit that, it would be a good time to try something else. I notice from the chart posted that all of the other LMGs get an extra 100 rounds in the ammo pool, so that's got to be a good enough reason! I find with the x1 red dot sight targets at range can be tricky to take down, maybe a greater magnification scope will help with that but having the option for the high velocity rounds to improve this would be worth a try. Also although I'm pretty good a timing my reloads, on occasion I've been caught out. I like to flank and having to reload when you have multiple targets can result in that loss of your surprise advantage, so having a 75 or 150 rounds in a mag looks very tempting. It's looking like I'll go with the Flare. Might also give a suppressor a try too.
I love the Orion and will probably stay with it for the foreseeable future. The low mag size is annoying at times but the versatility and quick reload seems to always be useful.
I have only used th Orion and I am having no problems with it when I do play HA (not much admittedly). CQC and at med-long range with a scope I a not having any issues. TBH I am really surprised how well you can click snipe with it even though it doesnt have switchable firing modes. My problem is remembering to use my ***** shield.
The orion is 16% faster than the *slowest* weapon, which is the vx29 which is the most percise LMG, period. 16% isn't huge, especially when you consider the vx29 can use advanced foregrip, compensator, and literally has twice as many bullets per clip. Given that, it's 1000 certs, so way too pricey for most people. Pulsar LSW is only 100 certs (cheap), is the 2nd fastest, and has 75 clip.
Another vote for Pulsar. I have the Flare with Compensator and Pulsar LSW with Forward Grip. Much prefer the Pulsar at this stage. All the Pulsar LSW needs is forward grip, a 1x or 2x holo and NV.
Re SVA-88 vs Pulsar: I think this one is entirely subject to your personal preference. Statistically there are minor differences between the 2 guns, but not enough to determine a "winner" if you ask me. I've had the SVA-88 from Alpha Squad for a while and recently got the Pulsar LSW just because of this thread. I have to say _personally_ i prefer the Pulsar because the way its recoil works is much more manageable for me. Your preferences might vary. And i like the faster reload speed because the SVA-88 reloads slooow. Besides that it's pretty much a toss up.
I've used the Pulsar all through beta and imo it has the best balance of recoil, stopping power & clip size and is a steal at it's price. Stick a forward grip and holo sight on it and enjoy the kill spam....
I'm really liking the Orion's movement speed bonus after using the Pulsar so much. The extra doom per second is just amazing for close range as it competes with the CQC carbines and rifles much better than the standard 1670 dps weapons. I think I might chuck 130 certs onto it and keep it in a loadout.
I got Flare since my main is a Infi I see almost no difference compared to Orion. Yes ... yes ... slow RoF, higher recoil and more Ammunition + 2 Reflex. But the rest is almost similar. TTK is lower, in this case Orion was better. From subjective feeling at injured targets Flare is better I think due to more dmg/bullet.
Is there even a point to the forward grip on Vanu weapons? What is it going to do to help me with the flare or Orion? Unless I was mistaken I remember the Orion having a vertical compensator in the beta that made a world of difference :/ While the Flare may sound dreadful in CQC it is actually not that bad because you don't waste ammunition. It is NOT good if you are trying to kill multiple people at once. But it is fantastic if you are killing a stream of people one at a time. After killing two people I am usually down only 20 bullets in the clip. On the otherhand the Orion spews forth the ammo so I'm usually needing to reload after every second kill.
All automatic weapons on all 3 empires suffer some form of left/right play between shots - even ones that don't have a net pull in one direction or the other. It's kinda like looking at foot prints in the sand going back and forth. And all automatic weapons will have this left/right play reduced if you use a foregrip. Slap a 4x scope onto your weapon and fire at a distance dark-colored target and you'll see the difference a foregrip makes for those VS weapons that don't pull in one direction. The end result for the Orion and Flare is a tighter shot group in the horizontal direction - i.e., instead of it looking like a circle it'll be more like a tall, vertical oval. Which incidentally matches quite well with a standing human target. It's not a night and day difference but it is noticeable, especially during aimed fire at medium-long range, say past 50m or so. And it gets more obvious with distance.
No one like the VX29 Polaris ? I use this with SP ammo , compensator & grip with a reflex sight the 100 round clips are great I can mo down 2-3 guys with one clip easy its also great for suppressive fire. I found it to be a beast it feels like an Orion but with double the clip size.
After further testing I stand by my statement. The Flare is the reason I have now started building up my HA. I guess it's all about finding the weapon that suits your personal play style the best, and I've found mine.
Another vote for the Pulsar LSW. I really disliked the orion and really wanted a new LMG to use, so I certed into the LSW as it was cheap. My ONLY mod is a 2x Reflex scope and I honestly consider it way better than the orion. I can barely notice the TTK difference and I feel the LSW is more accurate with my playstyle which is to engage from mid to long ranges. My short range tactic is to ADS and aim for the head.
