SJ has stated that the Agile armor is a pre-req for the other armors... nothing about needing reinforced to get MAX.
Prediction #1: EVERYONE will end up with an agile armor cert. Not getting it is just dumb. Extra 25 armor, extra pistol slot, access to other armors.
I think that once people figure out how effective MAXes are, they'll flock to them, if only as a secondary role. Defenders all respawning in MAXes will be quite effective in staving off attackers ('cept they need a hacker if the attackers have reached the command console). And some support personnel to repair and heal them would be handy too.
I'm thinking an anti-infantry MAX will be worth at least 3 regular infantry. Three infantry (in reinforced armor) can take a total of 600 damage ((100+100) x 3 = 600). A VANU max (the most lightly armored) can take a total of 750 damage (650 armor + 100 health). And I wouldn't be suprised to find that a MAX can dish it out as fast or faster too. PLUS, if the infantry, as a group, have soaked up several hundred damage, one of them is probably dead. That means less firepower.
Now if all three of those infantry have force field impants, the damage total swings more in their favor (300 total damage each, where the MAX only gets an extra 100 total)... even so, it doesn't look good for them.
Sucks to be infantry. According to that (potentially inaccurate) assesment, a squad of MAXes can handle a whole platoon of regular infantry.
Possible causes of inaccuracy:
healing/armor repair: An all-max group can't help itself like that, infantry can. Easily remedied, but ANY soldier might be able to help out the person next to them.
Damage over time: Several infantry weapons (anti-vehicular weapons) will probably dish out considerably more damage than a single hit from a MAX. 3 devestator hits may be enough to drop a MAX (but don't count on it). And they all have to actually hit.
MAX role: Joe Random Max may not be suited up for infantry, making them far less effective than they might be otherwise.
MAXes still rule. Therefore, they will be popular.
I wouldn't be at all suprised to find that MAXes can keep up with some of the slower vehicles, particularly the AMS. I can easily envision a platoon of mostly MAXes, accompanying a deliverer and an AMS. That group would be TOUGH to beat... even if you caught them out in the open.
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