1721

Just FYI, the Annihilator is the only one without dumbfire, the other lock-on launchers do. The damage is also very similar, 1500 direct / 1000 splash for the Hades/Nemesis, 1700 direct / 1000 splash for the dumbfire. I kill MAXes with my Hades all the time.

1722

Smedley just tweeted that they’ll be laying out the 6 month plan for the game tomorrow. Be interesting to see what they have in store.

1723

Yea I’m pretty excited to see what they’re planning to add. So far their support of the game has been pretty great. I like that they’re not waiting until the end of the month to work on balance or even add new weapons. For example, the hotfix from last night:

A New Weapon is now Available! The G40-F Ranger will make that Reaver pilot think twice about strafing your tank.

A30 Walker:

The Walker has been adjusted in the following ways:

Projectile Speed has been increased.
Fire Rate has been increased.
General firing and accuracy has been adjusted.
Damage has been increased against aircraft.
Damage has been reduced against Infantry and Armor.
Ammo capacity has been increased 50%
Certification for Ammunition Capacity have been adjusted to only add +5 to magazine instead of +10.

The Ranger works almost exactly like a single Burster on a MAX. It has 24 rounds in the magazine vs 28, but I saw on Reddit that it has a higher ceiling in terms of cert upgrades for it. I briefly hopped on to try out the new Walker and I’m really liking what I’m seeing. The ROF has been doubled and the projectile velocity went from 500->750, so it travels the same speed an ESF cannon round does. It’s cone of fire got wider, but these things actually look like solid aircraft deterrents now (both the MBT and aircraft versions of the Walker got buffed).

So with cool stuff like that dropping in unexpectedly in hotfixes and a slew of great things planned for the Jan 30 patch, I’m looking forward to what they have planned for the next 6 months.

1724

Oh, cool, that I didn’t know. I bought a Hades once but on a character I no longer have (rolled on a wrong server) and was hoping they’d eventually allow unlocks across servers for same faction characters, so I could get it back. But I’ve not used it in ages. Maybe I’ll buy a Nemesis, hmm.

1725

Really you get your launcher to lock on a MAX? Wow I’ve never managed to get that to happen.

1726

No, they don’t lock on. At the ranges MAXes typically engage infantry in (such as a Biolab) you wouldn’t need the lock on behavior anyway. I was referring to killing MAXes via the dumbfire on the Hades.

1727

ah I see now. I occasionally see MAX’s wandering around the base of the legs of biolabs and would like to be able to pick them off with a launcher at distance and was hoping I was missing something.

1728

Are there hard-counters for MAXes? I’m still confused a bit by their “sort of infantry, sort of vehicle” status.

1729

Not really, since a Max can be pure or 1/2 AA, AV, or AI(nfantry) at any moment. The best counter is medium range small arms fire or an HA rocket, mobility is the primary weakness of the MAX. You can circle strafe them like in the good ol’ Quake days with some success.

1730

I find the most effective counter for a MAX as a Light Assault is C4.

1731

MAXes, even those kitted out for AV, are awful against ground vehicles, so lightnings or MBTs are a hard counter I guess you could say. Two HA rockets will kill them as well (a direct hit with a dumbfire rocket will take off 75% of their health, 50% if they have Flak armor upgrades). C4 and grenades also make quick work of them.

Other than that, just shoot them at try to keep as great a distance as possible, especially against NC MAXes. None of the MAXes are very effective past 30m or so.

1732

MAX units also make fantastic targets for engineer turrets. I’ve taken down plenty with them. The turret has a greater range, and the MAX is usually moving slow and attracting fire from other sources as well, meaning you can just pour fire into it at range.

1733

With NC, my favorite way to kill MAX is the battle riffle, the warden. It has punch at long distance, so I can peek at a Max until it die or flee.

If I attack with any other weapon at long distance, I don’t do any damage.
If I try to attack at close combat, the max kill me.

It would be easier if grenades where more reliable.

1734

A MAX is a huge target and takes tons of fire. It doesn’t have any secondary utility. It generally can’t take on more than one unit type at a time (ok, the only “infantry” that can do this is the heavy and missiles are so-so, but i dont really consider MAX “infantry” personally).

As noted by others, none of the MAX’s weapons are really effective at long range, so you can whittle one down if you like. Although I think most MAX users realize this and stay indoors.

I wouldn’t personally try engineer vs MAX, but i’ve never tried it in the open. I do know if you try to turret down a MAX in close quarters, a decent one who is at full health will get beyond your turret’s effective radius with enough health to kill you even if you get off the turret, generally.

MAX’s do get smacked down by vehicles and aircraft as well. The loadout helps to do damage against them, but they still can’t withstand attention.

A heavy assault doing a rocket to the face can also ruin a MAX’s day, but often it is a suicide move for the heavy.

1735

The Warden must be far better than the VS battle rifle, the Eidolon, because even with a 6x scope at range I can’t seem to do more than minimal damage with mine. I’ve scored 3 and 4 hits at range with the Eidolon and seen people just keep on running. I maybe knock their shields down and shave off a couple bars of health at best. It’s useless at close range too, so in essence it seems like a waste of 700 SC.

As for MAX units and turrets, I would never advise going one on one. Turrets pour a lot of rounds into a tight space, and this is good for taking down MAX units that are otherwise occupied or at range. Once they get close if they’re not dead you should be running.

1736

I find the Eidolon to be useful when I’m driving a tank—sometimes there will be infantry hiding behind rocks in such a way that I can’t get the gun onto them, and with the Eidolon I can hop out and scare them away.

I do wish it were more generally useful; I’m carrying the wee fast-firing carbine more and more often now.

1737

I dunno… I had most of my kills in PS1 as an NC AA Max shooting those missiles. I would usually deliberately not lock on until I had 3+ missiles in the air (after which they all converged on the target), so the enemy fighter wouldn’t flee until they were doomed. It was great fun.

1738

I have one kit-out which as an HA with an Annihilator and an Eidolon. I do really well with that one on the rocks outside of TI Alloys towards the Crown. You have great enfilading fire on the bridge.

1739

Well SOE put up the 6 month plan for PS2 and crashed the forums at the same time. Hopefully not a bad omen!

1740

Their DB is melting under the load. Looking forward to seeing what’s on there.