Okay, so as the title says, I want to be a versatile medic that can fight at both long and short range. I don't mean 300 meter long range, but just simply decent long range (hard to define). I love the NC1 Gauss and I use it always when I play medic. I have a laser sight and I did have a 4x scope on it. I would switch it to semi-auto and try to hit targets as far out as I could. While I hit quite a few targets, very few kills were made using the range the 4x scope gave me. What I want to know is, as a medic, is there any other AR or Anything for that matter that would let me hit targets at a reasonable range 4x. Would the reaper be able to outdistance the NC1? What about the burst gauss? Shotgun with slugs?
I don't play much NC, but I do have a lot of experience in what you are talking about. For the longest time I played medic to get certs (Because I suck at first person shooters) and I preferred the longer range battles too. This might sound weird, but check out the IR/NV Scope sometime. For medium engagements it lets you find more targets, and the maximum range on it fits the playstyle you suggested. If you want to be able kill targets that can't shoot back, then the positions I would suggest are... Shooting out the small windows in buildings. Get on the cliff overlooking a bridge battle and shoot at them from the sides. (You will be surprised on how many kills you will get.) On top of the big purple crystals on Eamir. And lastly, I think the Reaper DMR or the NS-11A would be a good choice. I would suggest doing two to three round bursts with a forward grip attached. I hope this helped.
That is decently helpful, as I'll always take any positioning tips, and I had not previously thought of the NS-11A as a contender. How does it do close range though too? When I take my NC1 up close it rips people in half if I play my cards right.
Carnage AR is quite strong and very versatile. I strongly recommend it. Perhaps not 'brilliant' at long range but it does great for close and medium range gameplay and thats what really counts as a medic. Reaper is good but the clip size is a bit frustrating and you are sacrificing alot of close range proficiency for long range. Not versatile. Carnage AR would be the best go-to and Im sure alot of people would agree.
Interesting answer, and I'll definitely check out the carnage for play with my outfit. However, my solo play style is either up close mostly rezzing, not too much fighting, or at distance picking off targets to move in closer and rez some teammates. Does anyone have a lot of knowledge about shotguns with slugs in PS2? Could they potentially shoot farther than the NC1? I know the NC1 is probably better at close range than slugs, but I could always switch ammo types back at respawn or switch guns back. Another thing I'd like to point out, I'm not a great sniper, and I don't want to be at sniper range, just farther than medium (decent sized targets in 2x scope), up to somewhat long (decent sized targets in 4x scope). Hopefully that's a little more clear to exactly what I'm asking.
Shotgun slugs are an option, however, when you do eventually have to get in closer you will wish you had a better weapon. A shotgun with slugs is very synchronic with the 3.4x scope, however the small magazine size and short ROF will make you want something a bit more versatile. At close range a shotgun slug will do jack squat against a carbine or LMG. Also as DevDevBooday stated, the Carnage AR is a considerable option too. But don't forget, the NC1 is a good all round weapon. You might decide to keep it for it's versatility.
The key to using the NC1 Gauss (+grip) at range is to not put any optics on it and let off controlled ~5 round bursts instead of single shots. I have over 5000 kills with it and it's long range performance is second to none. It's really my go-to rifle when outdoors or defending but for more mobile and pushy playstyles I'd either go with the GR-22 (+adv laser, SPA) or Carnage AR (+adv grip).
I never thought of taking the optic off for range, although I'll have to try it. Is there any reason it makes it harder? Also I use controlled bursts as well with the nc1 at medium range, but that gun knows how to kick. Does the grip make that much of a difference? I've never used it.
The reason higher-magnification optics can be bad for distance shooting is that the optics don't have recoil compensation so the recoil that you "see" will be x% larger on your screen due to the scope. That is, a 3.4x scope will rattle your crosshair 3.4x more than the 1x Reflex Sight will. Many skilled players actually dislike 3.4x or 4x scopes on automatics because for them it's easier to adjust to controlling their recoil with a 1x/2x/Ironsight at all ranges and just doing careful adjustments to hit people very far away. Really, as long as you can see your target at range and your mouse sensitivity and DPI are such that you can target them precisely, there's no actual advantage to a higher-magnification scope... unless you're trying to fish for headshots, which is more a task for Battle/Scout/Sniper Rifles than automatic weapons.
In its current state the Carnage is the best multi purpose AR, but you must understand that its ammo efficiency drops dramatically at longer ranges. Its all about the recoil characteristics. The Carnage has excellent grouping for bursts of up to 10 rounds, which helps you hit things at long range with a small blob of bullets.... maybe half will hit (if your lucky), but thats still decent damage. Oddly enough, it doesn't need a compensator to perform reasonably at those ranges, and its stock hip fire is tight enough for close up fights. I run Carnage with Adv Grip and NV, as it doesn't really need anything else.
So I'm definitely going to give the Carnage a fair shot. Although slugs don't seem to be the best bet, they still interest me a lot. It takes what, 3 slugs to kill at range? My main question would then be, can slugs be accurate at that range? I saw a video where at about 10m the slugs were firing from random positions as if they shot coming out of a shell, and while they were still within the cone, they seemed to be unpredictably choosing a path. Does this happen much at range? To be clear, 10m is not what I'll be fighting at, think at least 50.
Slug behavior depends on the Shotgun itself. With pellets you don't see the CoF behavior in action.... but with slugs it becomes painfully obvious. For instance, the Auto shottys actually had 3 degress of base accuracy when moving. This made them difficult to use against distant targets unless "you" were standing still.
I would suggest for long range, using the Reaper DMR with the 3.4x or 4x cross haired scopes with adv. forward grip and compensator. You'll have to be burst firing but it is great for long range. As for the NS-11A, it can be geared towards close quarters and long range so it's good if you don't want to need to get two weapons. For long range run with a 3.4x or 4x scope with compensator, and forward grip (HVA optional, but it increases recoil) and for close range it would be suppressor/flash suppressor and laser sight, 1x, 2x, or IR/NV scope (depends) and SPA to top it off. The NC1 Gauss Rifle is good for versatility but you'll want other weapons to fit the longer ranged role and more cqc oriented weapons for the close range. -Inf1nit
It would have to be the Reaper I would recommend. Its near unparallelled at mid range, Great as non sniping weapons go in long range while still being competitive in short. I normally use a IRNV or x2 red dot. But this is the only weapon I have used to date I would consider worth the x4/3.4.(Other then BRs) I normally refer to these scopes as crutches and highly limiting to good gameplay but they just have fantastic synergy with this weapon. Its mid range power is phenomenal. that being said Mauler with Slugs is bad *** tier. 10/10 if you chose that.
