mass driver & reload time

[PanKot]

for most of my time in Tremulous I was playing as alien, but lately I've found some pleasure in playing human, since I'm not the type of
I-don't-have-to-aim-I'll-just-keep-pressing-left-mouse-button I'm using mass driver a lot, what makes me angry is the reload time...
the time between one shot and another is long enough I think, without battery pack, ms (further: mass driver) has 5 shots, that's exactly enough to kill a goon IF you hit him with all the 5 shots, goon has 200hp, exactly the same as human (100 normal, +100 medkit), stage 1 goon needs from 1 to 3 hits(??chomps??) to kill stage 1 human the other way round is 5 shots with ms that costs 350 credits vs alien that costs 3 evolve points
my opinion is that reload time or time between shots should be shorter.
what's your opinion?
I'll stick to my ms anyway

Mass Driver for the 1337'5!!!

[Survivor]

You say 3 chomps to kill a 100 hp human who doesn't use the medpack. That equals 5 chomps to kill someone who used the medpack succesfully. And then it still doesn't compare.
Besides the fact that chomps are melee and mass driver is long range, humans are meant to work in teams. This isn't a 1 vs 1 game.
I'd say they're both good. Mass driver is for finishing off aliens who are leaving the front or incoming aliens in long hallways. It isn't ment to be a weapon in solo close combat.

[ekamdu]

but you can shoot at the goon way before he can even hit you...
and even when he runs away you can shoot him in his back again, finishing him off...

[Henners]

well get a battery pack for another couple of shots, and mass driver really isnt designed for soloing goons. Thats just madness.

The mass drivers strength lies in killing at range, and finishing off aliens that are running.

All weapons have a flaw, and the massdrivers is the reload time

[PanKot]

I agree that ms is good in games with few people, when I play on overcrowded servers it's pretty much useless, as it needs time to reload (by that time you get ganbanged by 8964329876532 other aliens), guess you are right that it's not the best soloing weapon

[Thorn]

As the Leader of the "Mass Driver Club" I actually find if used properly the Mass driver is the most Lethal weapon in the game, i mean cmon your not meant to be trying to take down a fully healthed Tyrant on your own anyway.No matter how Leet you are or how good your weapon is , you should never go out on your own, This way when u have to reload , Someone else can shoot while your reloading.

[sleekslacker]

I agree with you that mass driver recharge time is too long. And then, the ammo/charge you can have is very limited compared to Las gun (both per ammo clip and total qty).

Anyway here is what I think of the weapons and aliens. Mass Driv is the most useful weapon in s1 against Dretches (if you have the money). Las gun is good against bigger enemies in s2 & s3, i.e. Dragoon, Basilisk and even Tyrants. But it seems to me that Marauders have no weakness at all. I don't have any idea what to fight it with.

Painsaw hitbox should be made bigger so as to make it ideal against Maras (saw them when they jump over your head). 3 Maras in one place just rule the game outside human base, collecting points before becoming tyrants in s3. Right now painsaw is just a useless weapon because of the small hitbox.

My last rant is on the tyrants. They are too powerful. Human can hardly destroy alien buildings even in s3 without a Luci or a pulse rifle. And look at those tyrants. One of them get into your base and boom, at least 2 turrets down. And they ask us why camp too much in the base :|.

[Quaoar]

I've never seen a goon work in only chomps. 3 chomps for a human if he doesn't bother pouncing, and the time  his chompings is less than the mass driver's.

And I agree about the lasgun. It's maybe my favorite defensive weapon against tyrants and even adv goons. Actually, I kind of think it makes the mass driver obsolete against anything but 1-hit kill dretches. Down a long hallway, you'd end up doing more damage from a rain of lasgun shots than you would using the slow mass driver, and missing with the lasgun is no big issue, just swivel. You miss with the mass driver, you lose the kill pretty much.

[rasz_pl]

who chomps without a pounc? dead aliens do
MD against a goon? I say bring it on any time.

no weaknes against mara? try my shootie.

Game is BALANCED ppl, its ok how it is now.

[Thorn]

Game is BALANCED ppl, its ok how it is now.

Finally someone who agrees with me

[kozak6]

The mass driver is fine the way it is.  Hell, in the right hands, it's even close to being too powerful.  I'm looking at you, Warzor.

The painsaw is fine.  It's meant for anti-construction use, or maybe against big bugs if you have the moves (and cajones) for it.  It isn't meant to be useful against Marauders.  It's not like it would help you much anyways even if the range was increased.  The Marauder Zap still has the range to take out a Painsawer even if the Marauder just stays on the ground.  That's one of my favorite things to do, by the way.

Marauders can be taken out if the map allows for it.  Basically, you need to stick to hitscan weapons, and possibly the Lucifer.  If charged sufficiently, a direct hit with the Lucifer will one-hit an Adv Marauder with full health.  Believe me, I know all too well  :evil: .  Or, you could also try firing it where the Marauder will land.

With hitscan weapons, latency becomes important since the Marauder bounces around like a crackhead on a pogo stick, and really moves along by doing so.  

If you are close enough, this makes the shotgun useful.  It seems to help me hit those bouncing bastards if I wait to fire at or after the apex of the jump.  This allows you to better predict its motion so you can get more pellets on target.  And because it's a shotgun, latency and aim don't quite matter as much as range.

If you are using the other hitscan weapons, it might help to lead the Mara a little bit according to your latency.  But not too much.  It always amuses me when the Sky Campers at ATCS fire a few a few meters ahead of me so every single shot misses.

If you can chase the Mara to a longer corridor, you can inflict some serious damage, so don't forget to chase.

Really, humans could greatly increase their amount of kills if they chased more effectively.

[Henners]

I agree with you that mass driver recharge time is too long. And then, the ammo/charge you can have is very limited compared to Las gun (both per ammo clip and total qty).

Anyway here is what I think of the weapons and aliens. Mass Driv is the most useful weapon in s1 against Dretches (if you have the money). Las gun is good against bigger enemies in s2 & s3, i.e. Dragoon, Basilisk and even Tyrants. But it seems to me that Marauders have no weakness at all. I don't have any idea what to fight it with.

Painsaw hitbox should be made bigger so as to make it ideal against Maras (saw them when they jump over your head). 3 Maras in one place just rule the game outside human base, collecting points before becoming tyrants in s3. Right now painsaw is just a useless weapon because of the small hitbox.

My last rant is on the tyrants. They are too powerful. Human can hardly destroy alien buildings even in s3 without a Luci or a pulse rifle. And look at those tyrants. One of them get into your base and boom, at least 2 turrets down. And they ask us why camp too much in the base :|.

You are wrong on all accounts. Go and play the game some more before making such silly comments (or at least read the rest of the forum, where pros and cons of just about everything have been discussed)

[hodge]

Go read what Henners wrote.

The gun is fine why would the developers want to nerf it in the first place the gun only cost 350 and is available at s1 so it shouldnt be too powerful? The gun is already the best gun to use over long distance and is the only gun that can zoom, the gun doesn't need a faster fire rate.

[Jamppa]

If you can chase the Mara to a longer corridor, you can inflict some serious damage, so don't forget to chase.

Really, humans could greatly increase their amount of kills if they chased more effectively.

I think ur right 'bout this stuff, the best way to kill aliens is to chase, 'cos they think they will get away. That way i get more kills in a noob server :wink:. Just chase a 'goon with a pulse rifle and a battery pack. i think battlesuits suck in this game, the only use they have are to destroy the alien bases.....

[Cowsaysmoo]

meh, imho, they should buff the md's dmg a bit. It's just too low for it's price and high reload time...

Moo out,
Cow

[Lava Croft]

Hi, ever used the MD? Buying an MD means a cashflow from here to s3. Any Dretch in view dies instantly, Basilisk too, most Maras die and most Goons run. Imagine a low-dmg railgun and you come close to the MD. It's pure heaven. Buffing MD dmg would mean I'd totally drop the Lcannon.

[PanKot]

Hi, ever used the MD? Buying an MD means a cashflow from here to s3. Any Dretch in view dies instantly, Basilisk too, most Maras die and most Goons run. Imagine a low-dmg railgun and you come close to the MD. It's pure heaven. Buffing MD dmg would mean I'd totally drop the Lcannon.

dretch - 1 hit
basilisk - 2 hits
marauder - 3 sometimes 4
goon - 5 hits

damage is exactly perfect

[Survivor]

dretch - 1 hit
basilisk - 2 hits
marauder - 3 sometimes 4
goon - 5 hits

damage is exactly perfect

MD = 38 damage
Dretch = 1 shot 38>25
Basilisk = 2 shot 76>75
Adv Basilisk = 3 shot 114>100
Marauder = 4 shot 152>150
Adv Marauder = 5 shot 190>175
Goon = 6 shots 228>200
Adv goon = 7 shot 266 > 250
Tyrant = 11 shot 418 > 400
These are one on one damage meaning all hits, no regeneration. But the md doesn't work like that, it's mostly a support and defense weapon so that's why it usually takes less hits to kill and the 5 standard, 7 expanded capacity is right.
And i'm glad to see you saw the light though pankot  

[Norfenstein]

One quick correction, the basilisk has 75 health, which is why the mass driver does 38 damage, so it can kill basilisks (and advanced grangers) in exactly two shots if the user is fast enough to avoid regeneration kicking in.

[PanKot]

And i'm glad to see you saw the light though pankot  

hehehe, well on non laggy servers it's my number one weapon on stages 1 & 2...
I managed to solo a goon even

nothing better then mass driver spam XD

as I said in first post, I'll stick to mass driver anyway:)

[Quaoar]

ATCS sky campers become halfway useful with drivers. Sky campers with pulse rifles are highly effective in dominating the roof of the middle building at S2 onward, mostly to get rid of any forward alien outposts or boosters, but after that hanging out at the top and using the pulse rifle becomes pretty useless.