A question of slugs - Page 2

War Barney · 2014-03-05, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by mrmrmrj

I am someone who used to love slugs in my Hacksaws and have recently changed my mind. Yes, slugs do give some extra versatility and the 5m killing power versus infantry is not really affected since it only takes 3 slugs to kill and you can shoot 3 very quickly. However, slugs are awful in MAX v MAX situations when the pellets do so much more damage and it is easier to put them all on a MAX. Plus, I really like killing 3 infantry almost instantly with hacksaws in close quarters.

So, I spent 1000 certs on dual slugging my Hacksaws and have now unequipped slugs for good. I have also ditched Aegis Shield for Charge so that I can charge into rooms and then just start laying about with 20 shots (extra ammo cert is almost God mode). Most of the enemy is usually dead before any of them can even pull out a rocket launcher.

This is what I keep hearing from everybody who uses a MAX, it seems the shield is more either for certain situations or just for people who think its cool but don't realise how bad it is, I must admit I certed it to rank 3 but I realised I never find a use for it, its ok for standing in front of a enemy spawn and laughing but as for actual useful situations.. well I've not found a place where it would be helpful over charge.

And slugs, its a death sentence against a MAX as the dam age is lowered so much and if you do use charge you can just use that to get close and not need slugs and run away if you get in trouble

mrmrmrj · 2014-03-05, 03:28 PM

The Shield is good if you realize you can use it AND reload at the same time, but my experience has been that a shield is not going to save you most of the time. Charge plus a pocket engineer is a lot better than Aegis Shield.

War Barney · 2014-03-05, 03:43 PM

Even reloading with the shield isn't great, most intelligent enemies will just use that time to reload as well (and faster than you so they'll be shooting again before you are) OR they'll just shoot you with explosive which seem to ignore the shield (or the splash just goes right through it).

Charge however they can't counter so easily and is great for attacking as well

Chewy · 2014-03-05, 04:58 PM

I was wondering when this was going to turn into a NC MAX thread. Almost did it myself.

My views on a slug MAX. I don't use a slug MAX, ever. If I can't get slugs to work on infantry weapons, I wont get them to work on MAX weapons as they don't have perks like ADS or laser sights that can make slugs worth a damn.

The shield though I LOVED when it first came out. Maxed it out ASAP and it now sits unused but for with my Bursters. That shield has lost me countless amounts of ammo from my pool by abusing it to cover reloads in both AI and AV work. Loosing a shell or 2 isn't bad, loosing 2 entire mags out of each arm is lethal. Once the bug happens it is impossible to get that ammo back without a respawn or finding a terminal. Respawn is out of the question and finding a terminal is nuts hard if you're not already at one thanks to all fights base being away from an AMS and oh so many terminals being destroyed by both your team without hacking them and the enemy team to keep you from getting them. Plus SOE seen fit to remove just about every terminal from every base that isn't in a spawn room.

I SO wanted to keep using the shield. But that ammo bug when using it to much for reloading and it bleeding damage from everything ends up killing me. Charge is just great for a fast GTFO and it has saved my ass far more than the shield. Even after all of that, I still use the shield for AA work. Charge isn't going to save you from a Lib or ESF attack but the shield can. Tank a set of rocket pods and the ESF will bug out or be in real risk of death and being able to block at least some Lib damage is better than nothing. Also works wonders being able to use it to stop C4 if you can notice it fast enough. Though I haven't used the shield to block C4 in a LONG time now, can't say if it still blocks that. I ate an AP mine with the shield up and took 100% of that damage so maybe C4 is going to pass by as well.

War Barney · 2014-03-05, 05:15 PM

It was always going to happen I guess as our MAX is affected most by how useful slugs are. My experience of the shield is that explosives seem to always bypass it thus why I've stopped using it.

The worst thing is that the devs seem to be saying that they think that MAX skills like zoe and lockdown need buffing, and the shield only to a lesser degree... so zoe is not only WAY better than our shield but its going to get a much bigger buff than our shield is soon... so... they are actuallly making our MAX worse instead in comparison to other MAXs...

Chewy · 2014-03-05, 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by War Barney

It was always going to happen I guess as our MAX is affected most by how useful slugs are. My experience of the shield is that explosives seem to always bypass it thus why I've stopped using it.

The worst thing is that the devs seem to be saying that they think that MAX skills like zoe and lockdown need buffing, and the shield only to a lesser degree... so zoe is not only WAY better than our shield but its going to get a much bigger buff than our shield is soon... so... they are actuallly making our MAX worse instead in comparison to other MAXs...

Not much can be done to buff the shield. The main things Id think of is being able to fire with the left hand, make reloading doable without having to risk a bug, and maybe give it a melee attack if using the left weapon is to much.

Lockdown is just to picky in where it can be used and is prone to eating grenades bounced around a turn. ZOE though I don't want to see back, I can't think of how to buff that without crossing a line MAXes shouldn't cross.

Past not being able to think of a ZOE thing. I have something the devs can rip off to make lockdown better. Or an overdrive type thing.

Say hi to the Fencer class in Earth Defense Force 2025. His chain guns are what I think lockdown should have been. Give the weapons a spin up time where, unlike the MCG, you don't fire till full spin but fire at MUCH higher ROF. With the cost of a spin up you also can't move all that well while firing. You slow to a crawl and your aiming speed drops to sim the effects of shooting a chain gun and it almost controlling you. Maybe have higher bloom if you walk as well.

Fire one weapon and it isn't bad. Fire both and you get the full effects. Still able to move, but can't move with any speed or control for using dual high RPM weapons. Turn it off and you have a cool down moment if you fired in the last 10-20 seconds. Costs nothing to turn it on though, but can't be shooting when you do.

Illtempered · 2014-03-06, 03:20 PM

Ok well if it must become an NC MAX thread here goes. I do very well with this setup, and start drooling when I see the chance to pull my Scat. It's one of the things on my NC character that pads my stats quite a lot. Yes I wait mostly for biolab fights, but anything in the medium to short range where I can use cover and mostly stay away from vehicles, will work. For starters, if you're not doing that, you're doing it wrong. I'm talking about an AI setup, so it should not also be able to kill vehicles well.

I use the default Scat with a Mattock on the other arm. Both with slugs, and both with extended mags. If I need to take a really long shot, I just tap with the Mattock and it is incredibly accurate up to at least 50m. I constantly head-shot softies that think they are out of my range and stand still. Anything closer than that and both of my slugs are going right at their heads. I also have max autorep and max charge.

I'm sorry, but if you're not owning infantry with this setup in the right situations, you are doing it wrong.

Baneblade · 2014-03-06, 09:06 PM

I'd like Slugs on my Jackhammer and Canister.

War Barney · 2014-03-07, 08:55 AM

slugs in a jackhammer might work well as its already a very small CoF I still think it would suffer though, especially the burst fire mode

almalino · 2014-03-07, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Illtempered

If I need to take a really long shot, I just tap with the Mattock and it is incredibly accurate up to at least 50m. I constantly head-shot softies that think they are out of my range and stand still.

I just tested mattock with slugs on VR at 50 meters and the hit rate is 20%.
2 bullets out of 10 gets into the target if I aim in the middle of the body. Also, OHK headshots are not possible from that distance because slugs are losing killing power at that distance.

Something is wrong with your statement above unles you consider 20% hit rate as "incredible accurate"

War Barney · 2014-03-07, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by almalino

I just tested mattock with slugs on VR at 50 meters and the hit rate is 20%.
2 bullets out of 10 gets into the target if I aim in the middle of the body. Also, OHK headshots are not possible from that distance because slugs are losing killing power at that distance.

Something is wrong with your statement above unles you consider 20% hit rate as "incredible accurate"

Well chances are he's a VS who wants to keep our MAX bad but is going to claim hes a BR 100 NC with all his kills OHKs from 100m using scat cannons

Illtempered · 2014-03-07, 12:09 PM

Well I guess I should slightly amend my comment to be more specific. If it's a long shot, I just use the single Mattock, but anything in the close to medium ranges I use both. I never said the Mattock was a OHK with a head-shot and didn't mean to imply that. Up to 50m many times I can head-shot people with the slugs, especially those that stand still, thinking they are out of pellet range.

I don't test things in the VR or look at too many numbers. I just play...and when I play NC I always salivate at a chance to pull my scatmax and get some CQC. If you don't, you're doing it wrong.

War Barney · 2014-03-07, 12:56 PM

Its obvious that you hardly ever play a NC, you claim to like using scats for CQC yet also say that the shield is awesome and everybody should use it, if you use the shield you'll never be in range for scats and you'd know that if you played NC full time.

Hell from your posts I'm wondering if you even play PS2 in general that often. I'll explain for you so you don't make yourself look a fool as often. The way a shotgun works is that huge CoF will have a spread of pellets all over it at random, anywhere in that area your shots might hit. A slug makes your pellets become ONE big bullet, HOWEVER it will also fire randomly into that huge CoF, as such slugs are far less accurate. they can have a greater range as they don't spread out into nothing at range but as it fire randomly into the huge CoF its unlikely to hit anything. Hell its actually possible to be point blank range with a slugs shotgun and miss if any part of the enemy isn't in that circle.

Sure it can be fun using charge and spamming shotguns as our MAX but its really never going to get you anywhere as the second you go outside you die and our MAX is so slow it often dies before it gets into range. Thats why charge is essential, its no ZOE but it helps.

Illtempered · 2014-03-07, 01:06 PM

Ok nub you had to make me pull out the big guns. You can call me a loser, no-lifer, what have you, but how DARE you accuse me of not playing PS2 that often!!!1 It's like, one of my jobs man.

Here are my NC character stats:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/c...8527932961.php

Ghoest9 · 2014-03-07, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by Emperor Newt

At least the VS slugs were worthwhile. But then people needed to complain that VS slugs have no drop and so instead of making all slugs useful they simply made the last remaining one shitty too. Balancing SOE style.

You are welcome.

Although I do agree that I wish we had the old slugs back for all factions. They were situationally useful but not over powered.