Liked the SMG when I trialed it on my engy. I agree that kitted out with 2X reflex sights, full ammo cap upgrades and possibly some soft point (if that’s an option) it would be very deadly in close combat. I suspect it will be the new weapon of choice for infliltrators who enjoy sneaking into enemy bases to cause havoc.
The new base layouts are cool, and I had fun at the bio lab (for a change), but it seemed like pain fields were everywhere, including on the roof of a couple of buildings where they did not exist previously. I got caught a couple of times in the “pit trap” as well, where you could easily drop down into a square room where some kind of security door was closed and not able to be opened, and this was in a friendly base. Not sure if that is some intentional change, but it was annoying as hell.
Houngan
1782
I had a great run today. We were taking/defending the camp directly north of The Crown and NC was swarming in from every direction. I finally got sick of the rocket spam so I went up to The Crown and pulled a Sunderer, parked it on the North side, and was just using it as my ammo dump while I rocketed anything I could. After a while we pushed them back a bit so I started down the hill to get closer.
I was setting up when Wham! something whacked me for 20% damage. I hit the gas and started careening towards the camp, hoping I could get there and the defenders would do something about whatever it was that was trying to kill me. I fly around the north side of camp and suddenly I’m driving through a zerg of NC! I figure “what the hell?” and go on the offensive, trying to run them over before the rockets found me. I curled through them, up a slight hill (only twenty meters beyond the zerg) hooked around a cactus and the back down, where I saw my guys defending a tiny rock that separated them from the NC. I made it down there, deployed, and then had a ten minute knife-fight battle where my Sundy completely turned the tide. Maxes started pouring out, three engineers were keeping it alive, and I was grenade spamming over the rock as fast as I could resupply. Big fun.
I haven’t been able to play yet, and might not until tomorrow at the earliest, but I’m interested to know how the new SMGs stack up to the carbines. Replace them? Fill a different niche? How do they fit into the balance of infantry weapons?
I bought the SMG (Vanu) and got the extended mag (35 vice 20 shots), 2x reflex, and soft point ammo. It is nasty up close, and not that horrible at short-medium, but beyond that of course it’s useless. But as a CQB weapon, if you can aim at all, it’s very nice. It sort of replaces my Pulsar SC though, because while I can still use the, um, Solstice or whatever it is with the grenade launcher for some things, the SMG is a much better close in weapon than the Pulsar, and I use the Nova for medium range stuff. The Pulsar is still good for suppressed fire and medium range stuff, but it’s not that distinctive.
Chaplin
1785
I was giving serious thought to trying out Planetside 2, but from what I have read, playing it on your own is not the ideal way to either enjoy it or get over the learning curve. To that end I was wondering what direction I should be looking. It looks like Azure Twilight on the East Coast server Mattherson as Vanu has been mentioned a few times. I looked over their page and that looks like a good direction to start, but I had a few questions.
Are folks from here still heading in that direction? If I want a team experience that is neither ‘Billy Bob’s Hickory Ranch of racial slurs and Dudebro’ nor the intense ‘WoW 93.02% chance of success and our attendance sheet shows you are slacking’ is Azure Twilight the place for me? Finally, I see AT is rather Eastern Timezone focused and worry that being on the West coast with a job and family might lessen the experience. Is this so?
In any case, downloading and patching the client now. Thanks for any pointers.
Houngan
1786
I think AT would be fine. During a formal operation there’s an expectation of radio silence other than relative information, but for the most part it’s pretty laid back. “Take B.” “We’re gonig back to the warpgate.” “Get on the Galaxy.” That level of Op only really happens during the evening, and I’m sure it extends well into the PST. Other times you’ll just get a group of players going around and informally doing stuff, and while they can get a little boring yapping about the latest patch and whatnot, they’ve never been abusive or stupid yet.
Really, though, I find playing solo to be fine, for my play style. Find where the action is, go there, figure out where you can be useful. Usually, a medic or engie is always useful, and LA or HA usually has plenty of utility. There’s always way too many useless infiltrators, but other than that it’s pretty easy to contribute.
I agree with TheWombat. I don’t have the time to play well as part of an Outfit, so basically everything I do is as a “solo” player. You’ll always find somewhere to fight and a group to roll with. Often enough they’ll even send you a squad invite, so its easy to just find a pick up group and roll with them.
I will say that playing with a group is probably the best way to go (I have the most fun that way) but I still have plenty of fun just finding random places to play.
Houngan
1789
I still play 4/1 solo/AT, simply because it’s usually only on a Sunday that I want to commit the time to making a group worthwhile. I do find that I’m much better at finding trouble as solo now that I know what’s going on.
The game is generally pretty low-maintenance and easily accessible. You don’t have to spend much money at all, and I find myself accumulating certs pretty easily and only spending them when I define a need. Now that I figured out how to mute the idiots blaring “Eye of the Tiger” over proximity voice chat, too, it’s gotten much better…
KevinC
1791
Sooo… engineers got an anti-vehicle turret this morning (purchased via the Depot). If anyone gets a chance to check it out I’d be interested in hearing impressions!
KevinC
1793
Eh screw it, I took 5 minutes out of my day to play around with it. It’s pretty great! The turret lacks the small arms shield of the anti-personnel turret (not a big deal) and the missile is guided. By that I mean you fire it and you have pretty decent control over the trajectory.
Houngan
1796
I played with it. Damage is better than an annihilator, maybe as high as a dumbfire rocket. 4 hits for a phalanx turret, two hits for an ESF. It’s not a Half-Life guided rocket, you can direct it on the way out but by no means will it turn around for you. It’ll be absolute hell on offenders, effectively doubling the rate of fire coming off of aircraft platforms.
instant0
1797
Ah, I miss using that little thing ;)
Not deploying it tho’.
KevinC
1798
You mean you couldn’t just carry it in your backpack and deploy by pressing ‘5’? :)
instant0
1799
hahaha ;)
I wish. Remember we talked about hoping to get the updated control hardware and it being much lighter and smaller, but from that picture it looks like it still has all the “big” f’in crates you’d have to carry around.
Oh well, blowing up stuff with rockets was fun tho ;)
Sweet. Swapping to Heavy to bust armor was the last reason I had not to play Engy 24/7. This solves that problem nicely. Is it ammo limited or does it just heat up like the AP MANA turret?
