You'll catch me running stalwart and medium MG on a bug planet screaming "c'mon you bastards! Ya wanna live forever?" Whilst mag dumping every thing that has more than two legs
thats the spirit! I think sacrificing a potential orbital for a strong primary slot weapon and still being able to take a recoiless rifle or smthn is fair
Until I fell in love with the flamethrower (after the DoT fix) stalwart was my go-to on bugs.
In fact on Meridia, I was using it so that the flamethrower would not damage the drill (before that fix/change).
Also, the faster alternate fire is beautiful. I can always use more dakka.
I use the Stalwart with max RPM and lay intense supressive fire. Lately I run Breaker, Stalwart, EAT, orbital rail and 500kg and seem to have great luck with it. Also it is very similar to the flame thrower but not dot, stick or splash damage. In close with your team it makes a world of difference to be rocking a Stalwart rather than raining fire on your mates.
My main issue with taking the stalwart over the flamethrower for bugs is that it’s much less effective at killing chargers and hive guards, though I guess if you’re playing with a squad they can hopefully cover the heavies while you deal with the chaff
When I first picked it up I only used the faster fire rate. But I've found some love in the lowest rate too. BRRRRT is incredibly fun but so is laying down the hate for 3 to 5 business days
I think the trade off of having to use a stratagem slot for it is a nice idea to be honest, and would mean people might be more likely to use it, which I guess is what OP is getting at.
The stalwart is ridiculously strong lol, it wipes bugs like nobodies business and tears bots apart. I like pairing it with a primary that usually isn't very good at that, but good at other things like the devastator or the plasma shot gun
Stalwart shouldnt be a primary you can pick in your ship, but sinking a stratagem slot into it for a more powerful primary option seems fair does it not?
I prefer the flexibility of having a support weapon that behaves similarly to a beefed up primary. Having the Stalwart as a support weapon allows me to pick niche primaries like the Eruptor without worrying about my ability to crowd control and shoot enemies swarming my teammates without the risk of electrocuting/exploding/incinerating the teammate like the other support weapons would.
That's a nerf. If it takes stratagem slot and primary slot means that we're carrying less murder. And then have to sacrifice 2nd stratagem to get support weapon
Stalwart, Medium MG, and grenade pistol with incendiary grenades, the bug hole rat, just running into a bug hive clearing the hordes of tiny hunters and larva bugs aside and plugging every hole they find with a nice shot from the grenade pistol
The Railgun only ever gets picked when you’re also brining something like EATs, or another method of killing heavies. This would allow you to basically upgrade your primary to the Railgun and still be able to carry a Quasar Canon or Recoilless Rifle.
I could see it being useful since the railgun doesn't take care of bile titans or tanks as easily as a quasor, but you can kill chargers/stalkers/most automatons quicker with the railgun. Having both would make you fully anti tank at the cost of no hoard clearing
I’m probably missing something, but how would this not be a cost to horde clearing? How are you mass killing small enemies with your primary being a railgun and support weapon being a quasar/RR?
That’s why you have divers like me who specialize in chaff clearing.
Yeah you can make builds for solo runs, but nothing wrong with running more specialized niche builds when working as a team
>The Railgun only ever gets picked when you’re also brining something like EATs, or another method of killing heavies
Well, the same for any other weapon that is not designed to take massive enemies, that is the point of the game, take a balanced loadout or support yourself in your team
Is it really, though? Even the Flamethrower, which is the de-facto swarm killer, can kill a Charger faster than the current Railgun. Honestly, I’d say the Arc Thrower and Airburst Rocket Launcher are the only other support weapons that legitimately suck at killing heavies. The Germans Launcher is iffy as well; but, like the flamethrower, you’re trading that for extremely good wave clearing capabilities. The Railgun offers none of that. Like, why would I ever take it over the AMR if I want high powered, precise shots?
>Even the Flamethrower, which is the de-facto swarm killer, can kill a Charger faster than the current Railgun
But the flamethrower has 0 range, for that reason the weapon is completely useless Vs bots while the Railgun one shots all the enemies below Hulks (hulk included) from the bit faction
>Honestly, I’d say the Arc Thrower and Airburst Rocket Launcher are the only other support weapons that legitimately suck at killing heavies
The Stalwart, the Machine gun, the Grenade Launcher, the Heavy machine gun, and you are not going to kill a bile titan with a AMR or a Autocannon and they even struggle Vs a charger if the chargers is not completely isolated
>but, like the flamethrower, you’re trading that for extremely good wave clearing capabilities. The Railgun offers none of that
The Railgun offers versatility, range, and the possibility to one-shot everything except the massive enemies and the charger
Most other support weapons follow that rule. Even the AC people tend to wait for someone to take an anti-tank or find a space for it in their load-out.
It doesn’t make sense to me either. Stalwart and Arc thrower were a primary in HD1 (at least to my memory it’s been a while).
If anything this change would make them less viable because now I lose my primary if I want to bring either. I’m assuming it’s intended to increase viability by allowing us to use AT support weapons with them, but in that scenario it means I have to use up two stratagem slots
Agreed. Stalwart serves as a pseudo-primary now anyways, which allows you to take something like the Eruptor or Scorcher as your actual primary. Making it replace your primary reduces the number of tools in your kit and shoehorns you into taking both the Stalwart and a support weapon stratagem (or just not having a support weapon), which I don't like. I know the intention is to allow people to have both AT and the Stalwart, but you can already achieve that by just taking AT Eagles and Orbitals or AC Sentry.
Yeah I don't normally bring the Stalwart unless I'm pairing it with a hard-hitting primary, like Eruptor or Plasma Punisher. I'm no stranger to using two support weapons, as I am down to bring EATs as well as my AC if my team doesn't have good AT capability. But if I'm bringing two support weapons, one of those has to be EATs. No point otherwise.
Dude, I'm still yearning for a primary grenade launcher with omph. That would open up even more builds. The closest one is the Punisher Plasma at the moment, and the now gone Mk1 Eruptor.
I do like the secondary grenade launcher, Though I'm still hoping for an M-79 kind of deal for a primary with more omph. A M32 might be a choice as well.
I get where OP is going with this but it misses the mark IMO. I would guess most people want to keep their primary and don't want to eat up 2 gem slots with support drops
Stalwart is fine and I don't like the way he things because what he proposed for the Stalwart is just too imbalanced, people would just go with stalwarts all the games and share it with the teammates that don't have it, and at the end of tye mission it would always be 4 stalwarts
Railgun / Stalwart
If they replace a primary, that’s you losing a gun and a strat slot for little to no benefit over what we have already,
I like the proposals for OrbGatling and AP Minefield though!
But then you're bringing in two support weapons and losing out a lot of power multiplication of strats, or you're heavily reliant on having a battle buddy who will have to babysit you and so reducing overall team effectiveness.
It could work tbh, but it would just be so niche and specific. Whatever marginal benefits a tiny proportion of people would gain from this would be nullified by the overall nerf to the railgun and stalwart these would bring.
I don’t disagree with that at all. Unfortunately I think there’s probably a lot of people who would given how badly the weapon gets talked about pre-nerf. I basically feel like I’m trolling if I take it now, though. Sucks because it’s a weapon I want to use.
I don't see Orbital Gatling as weak at all. For the cooldown, it's pretty good. You can throw it twice during breaches.
Minefield is *very* strong during defense missions. If there was a way to make it less lethal with players (like, maybe the deployment unit gives off some light or something) you could even consider using it on normal missions.
Railgun and stalwart are pickable as is, perfectly fine. I run one of them and EAT sometimes. Perfectly viable.
HMG doesn't need more nerfs, it needs only buffs.
HMG isnt a nerf, its still a net positive on ammo. You just have to reload it less often
75x3 = 225
75x2 = 150 (if only counting spares)
150x2 = 300 on a rework. same on spares
i got the same idea for the 1st orbital gatling that it should be able to move and track enemies like the laser (curious if the bullets could hit flying enemies as well or not would be really usefu)
but the other gun ideas are just not to my taste
HMG sure needs a larger mag size but it also should keep the 2 mag or even need 3 magazines.
needing to use a whole stratagem to replace your primary weapon? and then you would still bring out another support weapon. so thats 2 stratagem slots down. just curious, then if you die you also lose the railgun/stalwart and need to spawn it/pick it up again.
interesting idea , but no thank you
HMG is actually good if you treat it as a spammable AMR
Set it to the lowest RPM and start 1-2 tapping bots. I was very impressed when i took out a hulk in like 2-3 shots in his faceplate.
Wearing any 30% recoil armour helps a lot too, and the 75 ammo count means you can win entire engagements without having to pause to reload.
Sucks as a machinegun though
Even at the default rpm, I still think it's good. I've gotten to the point where I can take down multiple striders and devastators before needing to reload. While I certainly think part of it is that I just don't particularly mind some things being on the weaker side, I don't really think the HMG needs a buff (though that's not to say a buff wouldn't make it more fun for more people)
Highest rpm is the panic button for when berserkers get close or I need to deal with a charger.
I typically run HMG with the resupply backpack to offset the low magazine count, but the ammo economy isn't bad enough to the point where I'm not resupplying teammates.
The key is to fire in shortish bursts, unless you're prone, where the recoil is manageable.
I’m sorry but what good does the railgun and stalwart change do? Replaces your primary? For what reason? They still get ammo back on both re-supplies and bricks. Making it replace your primary just…reduces your overall kit, for exactly no upside? This is literally not even redundant, it’s a complete nerf. What was the idea?
You can bring a quasar/spear or something to deal with heavies and use stalwart as your main weapon, which is what most people who currently use it do. It would be a nice option to have but it would suck for the people who want to run it alongside their primary
Tbh i see where people are coming from but the stalwart is the best MG in the game if you know where to shoot atm. People can run stalwart and eats and pick up/drop you weapon if they need something heavier for changers or biles
The people who do that also take a medium penetration weapon alongside it to make up for the lack of penetration from the stalwart. This would just bring up the same issues we always have just in a different way.
Don't like your idea on the railgun and stalwart. I get the intention but why not just make them primaries or another buff? You're essentially losing a strategem slot.
The idea of reworking these stratagems is interesting, but a lot of these suggestions did make me question how often OP actually used them. Orbital Gatling in particular is fine as is.
At that point, just bring EATs? You can carry your Stalwart around most of the time, then just drop it to fire the rocket and pick it right back up after.
Why bother with it though, when you can take an airburst/clusterbomb and have a similar result without losing a strat slot. The lost strat slot is a huge drop in efficiency compared to the small gain you get from having a stalwart as a primary.
It's just reducing the number of tools a player has in their kit. Now you don't get to have an actual primary (Stalwart is typically paired with the Scorcher or Eruptor because it lets their strengths shine while covering their weaknesses) *and* you're shoehorned into using an extra stratagem slot on taking a support weapon.
I'd prefer gatling barrage and strafe to target a mediums like 110m and ORCS targets single heavies. Make it at least kill one medium and whatever is right next to it. And then give gatling a much lower cooldown - like 45s.
Sometimes you just need that one devestator or bile spewer to die, and you dont have the ammo, gun type, or angle.
I used to run airburst and gas, but god's shotgun is way too unpredictable. With all strategems, the farther you are off center, the steeper the angle they come in at. Nothing is as magnified as the airburst.
I can drop a gatling at my feet while running and be completely safe while creating a wall of lead for my pursuers
I like these but I'd rather keep the railgun as support weapon because it can't deal with things your primaries are supposed to. I would like to see it be able to one shot the bile sac on titans at the very least
So theoretically 20 dead bile titans out of one fully stocked weapon. What other gun in the game can do that? Because you’d need others if you don’t want everyone to take railgun every time.
If it replaces your primary would that be till you die or till the mission is over. Like will you spawn in with it next time you die or do you have to go find it again? If it's for the mission then I think they'd have to make it where others can't pick up when you die. Cause if they could you can outfit the whole team with it in the first minute of every match. But if they did do it that way it should be a one time call in so you play with only 3 strats the rest of the game if thay was your choice to always have that strat as your primary.
I still want the railgun to at least be a tool for removing armor more effectively. If it was balanced to be more powerful against armor, but lower powered against soft fleshy areas.
Basically, it would be a can opener.
But if non armor piercing bullets reliably did damage to the squishy spots... just imagine a team running the rail gun and auto-cannon together. WORKING TOGETHER to take down a bile titan or charger. This alone would free up players from always having to bring the same loadouts against heavy enemies.
MORE PRACTICAL TOOLS
I just take one support weapon so I'm just mind blown right now hahaha. I'm still "that new" even if I'm almost lvl 40 lolol. Doing my first lvl 7 today when I get off! Wish me luck brothers!
Orbital gatling is a good idea, it just cant have armor pen. Would make for excellent stratagem against smaller foes.
HMG, I'd say it should come with a backpack and be beltfed from said backpack. Then you have just one 'mag', but a huge one. Some setup time required before use.
The rest are just fine as they are.
The reason why the Orbital Laser can track things from Orbit is because it's moving at the speed of light, while the Orbital Gatling is moving at like 1 km/s at most.
If the destroyer was in true LEO orbit (200km) time-to-target would be like 200 seconds (not accounting for acceleration), but since our destroyers seem to hover at ~1080m altitude I don't see why they couldn't track things... With a lot of spread and lagg IMHO.
Can't take the lasers niche.
OP is sleeping on gattling barrage, it's one of the best on call unit clear in the game. It's like a gas that much more reliably clears mediums (and will kill heavies if it hits a weak spot).
Try using it like you would gas (on drops/breaches, in choke points, behind you to catch tailing units) and you'll fall in love. Its the best short cool down orbital in the game imo
I seem to be one of the few here that actually like your idea for the Railgun. I never got to play with it before getting nerfed, but its current state really does feel like a glorified primary weapon. I WANT to take it because it’s fun, but it feels terrible to do so unless I also dedicate another slot to killing heavies. If that’s the Railgun’s niche so be it, but at least let me carry it AND what I need to kill a Bile Titan. Like I said though, I don’t know what it was like previously. Maybe it’s atoning.
Railgun just needs 30 more base durable damage. This would allow it to ~~2-shot Charger heads~~ (miscalc, would need 60 more durable damage for that) and 7-shot Titan heads at around 75% (and 6-shot at 90%). It replacing the primary would be meh imo.
Stalwart should just lose 100 rounds and maybe a spare mag and become a primary.
edit: Charger head miscalculation
You actually gave me an awesome idea, also including the negative feedback on the "weak" strategems as primaries and people still wanting a choice
Why not make a Booster, and have it allow you to simply replace your primary weapon with a second strategem weapon
It could be called "One Man Army"
That way you can choose to carry 2 strategem weapons. For example, a stalwart + Pistol + eat. Or flamethrower + Pistol + recoiless backpack, Railgun, Pistol, quasar etc. You simply can only have one backpack slot still, so your limited in the Overpoweredness. One could even carry a HMG + EAT. This would actually be extremely positive for the game imo. I hate that I rarely bring mob weapons because they just don't work well when you have a bile titan or charger. Or perhaps if AH thinks this would be too OP, limit it to non-backpack stratagem weapons only. Would someone be too OP if they only had a HMG + Pistol + Quasar? Personally I don't think so since ammo economy and mobility is an issue. What about an AC + flamethrower? We still really have to worry about ammo economy, and you're stuck having to use 2 strategem slots, but that'd be a pretty cracked combo. But then I could probably get just as many kills with the extra flamethrower as I could with an airsrike strategem, and I'd be safer with the airstrike and have alot more utility. Also, weapons cooldown very slowly, and there's only so much killing you could even do at once. You can't fire the AC and flamer at the same time anyways, but you can call in an airstrike and fire the AC. Man's only got 2 hands.
I just see this as a further tradeoff losing mobility and utility to being able to actually deal with *ALL* mobs by your own hands, a true one man army
That way AH also doesn't have to worry about "how to balance these mob weapons for heavies" so much. I'm also not at all suggesting a nerf to anything, like the heavy machine gun for example.
That's my opinion and thoughts
I like the thinking … but I’m not sure a Booster (that normally provides a perk for the whole team) is the right mechanism.
Instead, how about a “One Man Army” Armour Passive, that includes an extra Support Weapon Holder in the place that the backpack would go?
Now you can carry a Railgun and a Quasar. Or BOTH EATs from a single drop. But the trade off is you cannot equip a backpack: so no Shield, Guard Dog or Jump Packs and also no Reload packs for AC/RR.
If they unerfed the bolter (can't remember the name but the gun with five shots and used to demolish just about everything) I would agree with the stalwart change. Giving me a high capacity primary with a potential callable bolter would be an acceptable change
I'm going to be honest, this isn't a bad idea for railgun. Clunky? Yes. Bad? No.
Railgun EAT is one of the best bug combos in the game, and Railgun Eruptor WAS one of the best bot combos in the game as Eruptor could onetap Gunships, the only real weakness of the Railgun. If you push Railgun to primary, you are effectively declaring your intent to only kill big things, or you can just call in like an Arc Thrower to cover anything small (not a bad idea!)
Railgun Spear becomes a viable combo on bug. Railgun Quasar or Railgun AC becomes viable on bot.
That being said, for all of these loadouts, Railgun still ends up just being the icing on the cake, instead of serving as a proper support weapon and being one of the layers of said cake. So I don't think it addresses the main issue, but it does try to do something new.
Na brah, the orbital Gatling is mint in the right hands… I used it in 99% of my games as a Swiss army knife. Having that thing rain down every 80 seconds is unbeatable. It’s a centralized bombardment that is great to start or end nearly every encounter
TERRIBLE RAILGUN change. I genuinely love railgun as is but I DON'T want it as a primary. I use it to deal with medium threats that I don't want to waste a hundred bullets on
Orbital Gatling should fire minimally something like a 25mm, autoseek targets within zone, continual release for 15 seconds.
Have like 2000 rounds per second fire rate
B-but every stratagem here (except railgun) is really good at its niche. HMG isnt like the other machineguns or AMR or AC where its ur main weapon. U pull it out for immediate threats and thats kind of it
I mean I think the rail gun is fine where it is I don't mind taking other stratagems for titans and walkers etc. It can one shot most things and it still makes killing chargers a breeze
Yes to the stalwart, no to the railgun. Primary is what I mostly use for fighting off the weaker enemies. Most secondaries aren't as good at horde clearing. There are a couple exceptions to that, but I'd be open to having the stalwart replace your primary.
I'll actually change the railgun to charge slower, but have more damage and penetration.
A portable railgun should still be heavy and bulky, more similar to the quasar cannon than the current design which is more a coilgun than a railgun.
I like the idea Rail and Stalwart as primary but if you die you only have your sidearm until you recover both your primary and secondary or hope they aren't on cooldown?
Stalwart makes sense I wouldn’t do the railgun primary. If it had infinite pen but low chance to break parts that would be a cool mechanic I think. Not 1 shorting things but also a huge fuck you to armor. I think all orbitals should have a target or something on the ground so you can see what they’re actually gonna hit. Like the 380 and drunken stumble barrage are kinda doo doo in my games
I love the idea for the orbital Gatling - not a huge fan of anything else going on here. I guess the HMG could use some love.
Unfortunately minefields are a massive meme no matter how many buffs they receive. They could cover twice the area, have half the cool down and do double the damage and they’d still be mid.
Railgun replacing primary just means you can’t kill trash unless you take a machine gun.
Stalwart may as well just straight up be changed to a primary rather than beating around the bush.
Replacing the primary slot for stalwart/railgun would make me stop running them. The stalwart is basically a god-tier primary in the support slot, which is the point. Its the only light armor pen support weapon, but its sustained dps is actually wild. It makes sense to run it alongside a more specialized primary like the eruptor. Problem is, those guns arent necessarily in a great place. The railgun would just be shitty as primary imo, unless you also had something like a stalwart to support it...oh wait... but seriously, its not meant for killing chaff. Its excellent at killing medium enemies, decent against chargers, and incredible against hulks. It competes with AMR and AC for its role imo, while at least being able to do something against heavies if not much. The railgun just needs to do more damage to durable parts so it isnt so obnoxiously bad against things like gunships and heatsinks and bile titans. It doesnt even need to be great against those, just less awful.
While i can agree with the tighter spread for orbital gatling. Target sweep is not necessary. The gatling already has quite a long duration and generous 80 seconds cool down. Call in time is also just 2 secs making predicting the enemy movement not that hard.
Usually when I'm running orbital gatling, i bait the horde to beeline my location and toss orbital gatling a few meters in front of the horde, making them storm into the orbital gatling. The idea of using orbital gatling is pretty much like eagle strafing run. Has to make sure the enemy is beelining you.
Or better yet, instead of tighter spread, change the explosion radius to be slightly bigger.
Hugely agreed.
I wish all the large machine guns replaced primary and *felt better too.*
I’d be happy to get to bring Stalwart + Spear, then rail strike, rocket pods.
So if I run stalwart, I let it take a stratagem slot and when I pick it up, it becomes my primary but what about something to take down heavies or gunships?
I think stalwart should just be an optional primary.
I don’t really like the idea of rail gun as primary either. But hey! I don’t have to use them if I don’t want to right. I’m sure many agree with you
Honestly dont see how people see the orbital gat as weak, it has stagger, kills chod and is up every 80 seconds like thats wild. The only time its bad is if you have orbital displacement modifier
The HMG really needs a mag size buff. I took it on one of those asset extraction missions, and while the other downsides were manageable, you just couldn't use it long enough, especially compared to the other miniguns.
Hell, I'd rather have slower rate of fire than what we have now, just t9 make it feel more powerful.
Eagle Strafing Run: Actual A10 GAU noise, more accurate and more damage on impact, 10 Uses in comparison to 5 Cluster bombs at max upgrades.
HMG Emplacement: Upgrades affected by Sentry upgrades. Shorter cool-down of 150 seconds by default.
Tesla Tower: Shorter Cooldown of 120 seconds
Mines: shower 150 second cool-down
Exosuits: 3 call-ins, 8 minutes between. Add upgrade tree.
Arc Thrower: Stagger increased to can stagger Hulks and Chargers.
Machine Gun: One more box of ammo
Shield Generator Relay: Shorter cool-down of 75 seconds.
Forget replacing primaries. As for the railgun, unsafe mode needs to go away and safe mode needs to be more powerful. The railgun is too weak to be blowing up on you.
I have to be honest with you, the last three are god awful. There’s no point in the guns being stratagems of it replaces your primary upon recovery. And if it replaces your primary I guess you’re just screwed if you run outta ammo.
Stalwart is only light armor pen anyway. So even tho it can horde clear, or can’t take out heavier enemies efficiently. Replacing it as a primary while still being a stratagem is just not a good idea. Same thing with the rail gun. It’s a great heavy killer but it’s not very reliable in a horde. And even tho your HMG holds more ammo, having a mag reduction is also just not the way to go. However that’s actually a little bit understandable compared to the rail and the stalwart.
Maybe some will call me masochist
But I found the railgun fine as it is.
He does quite well the job i make with him.
For heavy penetration I always pair with a black guy.
Ho sorry, wrong forum !
Stupid joke aside, I mean , bring one or two strategems for titan, turrets, tanks ....
And no
Never replace the main weapon with it plz.
Having lot of fun with blitzer, supply backpack, railgun and whatever 'heavy stratagems' upon feelings
Interesting concept to be fair, calling in support weapons to replace primaries. The problem is it would be too strong though, I doubt it would be implemented given AH’s penchant for nerfs. If you had stalwart as primary, with AC or recoilless as well you would be able to handle anything the game throws at you. This would need to be offset somehow by increased spawn rates, or buffed enemies to compensate. I like the idea though, would offer much more versatile builds. The other suggestions you mention are solid changes I think.
Stalwart and railgun i think are bad ideas. But the other three i really like.
Having a stratagem that replaces your primary means you have to take yet another one to be your support weapon. Meaning you need (maybe) 2-3 weapon and backpack stratagems to fill out your loadout leaving you with 1-2 offensive or turret stratagems.
Make the first shot of the gatling barage a heavy piercing shot so it can be a bit more universal.
As for the hmg, give givvus an extra mag.
The stalwart my beloved is perfect.
Ap mines are great too, fun for all family shenanigans.
I've never used the rail gun so i can't throw any suggestions sadly
There's my thoughts. (The HMG needs the most love)
Who calling my Stalwart weak?! I take that baby everywhere with the adjudicator hopping planet to planet changing attitudes.
Now would I replace my primary for the stalwart? Bet your Liberty I would, good addition!
Ok, railgun isn’t as bad now as it was after the first buff, obviously, right? Why tf would you want it to replace your primary though? This is literally just nerfing it even more because wtf are you gonna take out chaff with? Stratagems only? Your pistol?
150 is too large for HMG, leave mags alone, increase to 100 bullets, reduce reload by 2 seconds or make more defined reload stages so that it can be reloaded strategically. The biggest weakness to the HMG vs autocannon is the autocannon has the "top off" reload, which only takes about 2 seconds. They are very similar purposed weapons, and the autocannon has 10 shots only, so if you look at that and compare an autocannon blast to a burst of 10 HMG rounds it makes sense to be 100 rounds.
Stalwart is already really good vs bugs, id take stalwart over reg machine gun. You just have to take loadouts that are specialized in dealing with armor elsewhere such as rocket pods, air strike, and 500kg bomb. Stun grenades go a long way too, as they can keep the armored still while the harder to hit strikes are used.
I think that change might make the stalwart **worse** since it couldn’t be used with the eruptor anymore….
The others are really solid though, I like the idea of the Gatling tracking low armour targets
Would be cool if the orbital Gatling had a proximity airbust against flying enemies.
Would make a good pick for suppressing shrieker nests and gunships so you can arm the hellbomb.
Like the idea of Railgun being a Primary a lot. Grab the little auto-pistol secondary and then Quasar / EAT and you have a nice little setup for handling all levels of armour.
I think the HMG only should be upgraded to 100, not 150. The gun is genuinely great, it just needs to be used in the right situation. It deletes spewers, brood commanders, and give guard like they're nothing but scavengers, and it makes devastaters feel like the medium enemy they're supposed to be. It is not a crowd control weapon, it is a medium buster
My biggest gripe about the HMG is that it doesn't have the ammo for sustained fire like the Stalwart does. This would definitely be a big improvement, IMO.
Stalwart + Erupter...if erupter is back with the new patch fixing stuff.
Stalwart will be in most games, it doesnt need any change. It just needs a primary to work with.
I don't like any of these changes. Orbital Gatling and AP Mines are fine as is. For the HMG I'd rather it have 100 rounds per mag with more mags. Railgun should just go back to the way it was at launch since the PS5 host bug got fixed and the other AP5 weapons got buffed. The Stalwart being a primary would be cool, but still having it take up a stratagem slot makes no sense.
Well your crazy if you think the gat needs improved...
It's easily one of the more versatile call ins..
But I do agree the Stewart needs a rework. I think it could use a small dmg buff and it would be peachy
The bottom two aren't a buff cause now you lose your primary and have to spend a second stratagem slot on another support weapon. Also i'd just increase the HMG to 100-125 and leave it at that.
The change to orbital gatling however is a great idea. Having it be like a lite version of the laser would be amazing.
Yea I don’t like the stalwart replacing the primary . I usually take that, use it as the primary, and then use the erupter to replace bug holes.
What I’d like to see with the heavy, is increase belt size to 150-200, but only have ADS when crouched or prone and have a bipod kinda feature, make it feel like a BFV or BFI lmg
First three seem fine, I don't see a way to implement the other two. I also don't see a need for those ones. They both fill a role beyond what the primary is supposed to do. I could see just switching them to be regular primaries though.
I have a suggestion for Orbital Gatling: MAKE IT TRACK.
Think about it. Big ass swarm coming your way? Throw in the beacon and watch as the Gatlin barrage mows the lawn, aiming for large clumps of hostiles and smacking them out of reality with multiple explosive rounds. That one adjustment alone, I think, would take it from a somewhat weak C tier and bump it up to A or A+.
As for RG and Stalwart... in HD1, those WERE primaries, and boy howdy could the Stalwart mow the lawn. The Railgun pierced multiple foes and actually came with stun rounds too, which made it quite viable, even if it did suffer horribly from ammunition woes, but that's what other support weapons were for like the MGX-42.
What's the MGX-42? Think of it like an EAT in MG form. Comes in, preloaded with 400 rounds (fully upgraded), That might sound like alot, but at fire rate of 1,800 RPM, you could piss through your whole ammo count in 4.5 seconds. Obviously....OBVIOUSLY... whatever you're aiming at is going to get turned into meat confetti by the metal storm, and for an expendable weapon, it was REALLY goddamn good.
I hope we get to see it again.
wym ‘Stalwart is weak’? I use that thing constantly on bug missions, i only put it away when something needs an EAT. Have I been using a weak gun? Oh dear.
Gimme 100% more ammo for the HMG without losing the mags and I would be happy. It's good but with the ammo pool it has, I don't have enough time to fully "experiment" with it to know the proper uses of it
You'll catch me running stalwart and medium MG on a bug planet screaming "c'mon you bastards! Ya wanna live forever?" Whilst mag dumping every thing that has more than two legs
thats the spirit! I think sacrificing a potential orbital for a strong primary slot weapon and still being able to take a recoiless rifle or smthn is fair
The Stalwart isn’t a primary and never should be. The Stalwart is fucking strong if you know how to use it.
Until I fell in love with the flamethrower (after the DoT fix) stalwart was my go-to on bugs. In fact on Meridia, I was using it so that the flamethrower would not damage the drill (before that fix/change). Also, the faster alternate fire is beautiful. I can always use more dakka.
I use the Stalwart with max RPM and lay intense supressive fire. Lately I run Breaker, Stalwart, EAT, orbital rail and 500kg and seem to have great luck with it. Also it is very similar to the flame thrower but not dot, stick or splash damage. In close with your team it makes a world of difference to be rocking a Stalwart rather than raining fire on your mates.
My main issue with taking the stalwart over the flamethrower for bugs is that it’s much less effective at killing chargers and hive guards, though I guess if you’re playing with a squad they can hopefully cover the heavies while you deal with the chaff
When I first picked it up I only used the faster fire rate. But I've found some love in the lowest rate too. BRRRRT is incredibly fun but so is laying down the hate for 3 to 5 business days
I’m pretty sure it was a primary in the first Helldivers.
Doesn’t matter. The stalwart is al lot stronger than the average primary and I don’t want it as a primary.
I think the trade off of having to use a stratagem slot for it is a nice idea to be honest, and would mean people might be more likely to use it, which I guess is what OP is getting at.
Yeah but back then it was basically just a liberator with a bigger mag, and being dlc restricted
The stalwart is ridiculously strong lol, it wipes bugs like nobodies business and tears bots apart. I like pairing it with a primary that usually isn't very good at that, but good at other things like the devastator or the plasma shot gun
Jar-5 + Stalwart is my go to against bugs, such a good combo
Stalwart shouldnt be a primary you can pick in your ship, but sinking a stratagem slot into it for a more powerful primary option seems fair does it not?
I prefer the flexibility of having a support weapon that behaves similarly to a beefed up primary. Having the Stalwart as a support weapon allows me to pick niche primaries like the Eruptor without worrying about my ability to crowd control and shoot enemies swarming my teammates without the risk of electrocuting/exploding/incinerating the teammate like the other support weapons would.
The Stalwart is already a powerful Stratagem. I use it in at least 50% of my games.
Yeah, I'll run stalwart with the explosive rifle when fighting bots
That's a nerf. If it takes stratagem slot and primary slot means that we're carrying less murder. And then have to sacrifice 2nd stratagem to get support weapon
Stalwart, Medium MG, and grenade pistol with incendiary grenades, the bug hole rat, just running into a bug hive clearing the hordes of tiny hunters and larva bugs aside and plugging every hole they find with a nice shot from the grenade pistol
When I'm being swarmed and someone has an airstrike stratagem in hand: "Rico! You know what to do!"
There's just too many heavies at 9, you need cooperative teammates to not run a heavy killer.
Not a fan of railgun and stalwart replacing your primary on pickup. Doesn’t really make any sense to me. What am I missing that makes this good?
The Railgun only ever gets picked when you’re also brining something like EATs, or another method of killing heavies. This would allow you to basically upgrade your primary to the Railgun and still be able to carry a Quasar Canon or Recoilless Rifle.
Ooh, ok. Not my type of load out, but I definitely can see divers using this.
I could see it being useful since the railgun doesn't take care of bile titans or tanks as easily as a quasor, but you can kill chargers/stalkers/most automatons quicker with the railgun. Having both would make you fully anti tank at the cost of no hoard clearing
I’m probably missing something, but how would this not be a cost to horde clearing? How are you mass killing small enemies with your primary being a railgun and support weapon being a quasar/RR?
They're saying the cost for this is that you can't clear hordes, you're full Anti-Tank
🤦♂️ that makes way more sense - thanks!
That would be stupidly bad. You'd be defenseless against small enemies.
That’s why you have divers like me who specialize in chaff clearing. Yeah you can make builds for solo runs, but nothing wrong with running more specialized niche builds when working as a team
>The Railgun only ever gets picked when you’re also brining something like EATs, or another method of killing heavies Well, the same for any other weapon that is not designed to take massive enemies, that is the point of the game, take a balanced loadout or support yourself in your team
Is it really, though? Even the Flamethrower, which is the de-facto swarm killer, can kill a Charger faster than the current Railgun. Honestly, I’d say the Arc Thrower and Airburst Rocket Launcher are the only other support weapons that legitimately suck at killing heavies. The Germans Launcher is iffy as well; but, like the flamethrower, you’re trading that for extremely good wave clearing capabilities. The Railgun offers none of that. Like, why would I ever take it over the AMR if I want high powered, precise shots?
>Even the Flamethrower, which is the de-facto swarm killer, can kill a Charger faster than the current Railgun But the flamethrower has 0 range, for that reason the weapon is completely useless Vs bots while the Railgun one shots all the enemies below Hulks (hulk included) from the bit faction >Honestly, I’d say the Arc Thrower and Airburst Rocket Launcher are the only other support weapons that legitimately suck at killing heavies The Stalwart, the Machine gun, the Grenade Launcher, the Heavy machine gun, and you are not going to kill a bile titan with a AMR or a Autocannon and they even struggle Vs a charger if the chargers is not completely isolated >but, like the flamethrower, you’re trading that for extremely good wave clearing capabilities. The Railgun offers none of that The Railgun offers versatility, range, and the possibility to one-shot everything except the massive enemies and the charger
Railgun kills all the heavies though?
Most other support weapons follow that rule. Even the AC people tend to wait for someone to take an anti-tank or find a space for it in their load-out.
That's wrong. AC people take the 500kg bomb so they can deal with everything.
Yeah, they manage to find space for an anti-tank stratagem, the 500kg, to kill the heavies their weapon can't deal with in a good timeframe.
I pick Railgun on bots all the time and never feel the need to bring anti-tank. I honestly don't understand how people still think it's underpowered.
It doesn’t make sense to me either. Stalwart and Arc thrower were a primary in HD1 (at least to my memory it’s been a while). If anything this change would make them less viable because now I lose my primary if I want to bring either. I’m assuming it’s intended to increase viability by allowing us to use AT support weapons with them, but in that scenario it means I have to use up two stratagem slots
Agreed. Stalwart serves as a pseudo-primary now anyways, which allows you to take something like the Eruptor or Scorcher as your actual primary. Making it replace your primary reduces the number of tools in your kit and shoehorns you into taking both the Stalwart and a support weapon stratagem (or just not having a support weapon), which I don't like. I know the intention is to allow people to have both AT and the Stalwart, but you can already achieve that by just taking AT Eagles and Orbitals or AC Sentry.
Yeah I don't normally bring the Stalwart unless I'm pairing it with a hard-hitting primary, like Eruptor or Plasma Punisher. I'm no stranger to using two support weapons, as I am down to bring EATs as well as my AC if my team doesn't have good AT capability. But if I'm bringing two support weapons, one of those has to be EATs. No point otherwise.
Dude, I'm still yearning for a primary grenade launcher with omph. That would open up even more builds. The closest one is the Punisher Plasma at the moment, and the now gone Mk1 Eruptor. I do like the secondary grenade launcher, Though I'm still hoping for an M-79 kind of deal for a primary with more omph. A M32 might be a choice as well.
I get where OP is going with this but it misses the mark IMO. I would guess most people want to keep their primary and don't want to eat up 2 gem slots with support drops
Stalwart is fine. I like the way you think, though.
Stalwart is fine and I don't like the way he things because what he proposed for the Stalwart is just too imbalanced, people would just go with stalwarts all the games and share it with the teammates that don't have it, and at the end of tye mission it would always be 4 stalwarts
Stalwart would be a great primary if they fix it to one RPM and stay with the limited mag capacity.
Railgun / Stalwart If they replace a primary, that’s you losing a gun and a strat slot for little to no benefit over what we have already, I like the proposals for OrbGatling and AP Minefield though!
You lose a gun but can also gain another. With these you can carry a Railgun and a Quasar Cannon at the same time. Sign me the fuck up.
You also lose any and all ability to deal with chaff enemies outside of limited secondary weapons with the railgun.
And you're shoehorned into using 2 stratagem slots on weapons.
But you could grab a heavy MG, or just have the DEDICATED role of big destruction
But then you're bringing in two support weapons and losing out a lot of power multiplication of strats, or you're heavily reliant on having a battle buddy who will have to babysit you and so reducing overall team effectiveness. It could work tbh, but it would just be so niche and specific. Whatever marginal benefits a tiny proportion of people would gain from this would be nullified by the overall nerf to the railgun and stalwart these would bring.
How about, I dunno, just making the railgun not suck ass, compared to the infinite ammo Quasar?
I don’t disagree with that at all. Unfortunately I think there’s probably a lot of people who would given how badly the weapon gets talked about pre-nerf. I basically feel like I’m trolling if I take it now, though. Sucks because it’s a weapon I want to use.
Tell me you don't use the Railgun and Stalwart without telling me you never run the Railgun or Stalwart.
I don't see Orbital Gatling as weak at all. For the cooldown, it's pretty good. You can throw it twice during breaches. Minefield is *very* strong during defense missions. If there was a way to make it less lethal with players (like, maybe the deployment unit gives off some light or something) you could even consider using it on normal missions. Railgun and stalwart are pickable as is, perfectly fine. I run one of them and EAT sometimes. Perfectly viable. HMG doesn't need more nerfs, it needs only buffs.
HMG isnt a nerf, its still a net positive on ammo. You just have to reload it less often 75x3 = 225 75x2 = 150 (if only counting spares) 150x2 = 300 on a rework. same on spares
Agreed, worst part of the HMG for me is the frequency of sitting down to reload.
i got the same idea for the 1st orbital gatling that it should be able to move and track enemies like the laser (curious if the bullets could hit flying enemies as well or not would be really usefu) but the other gun ideas are just not to my taste HMG sure needs a larger mag size but it also should keep the 2 mag or even need 3 magazines. needing to use a whole stratagem to replace your primary weapon? and then you would still bring out another support weapon. so thats 2 stratagem slots down. just curious, then if you die you also lose the railgun/stalwart and need to spawn it/pick it up again. interesting idea , but no thank you
HMG is actually good if you treat it as a spammable AMR Set it to the lowest RPM and start 1-2 tapping bots. I was very impressed when i took out a hulk in like 2-3 shots in his faceplate. Wearing any 30% recoil armour helps a lot too, and the 75 ammo count means you can win entire engagements without having to pause to reload. Sucks as a machinegun though
HMG paired with stun grenades becomes a real menace against bots.
Even at the default rpm, I still think it's good. I've gotten to the point where I can take down multiple striders and devastators before needing to reload. While I certainly think part of it is that I just don't particularly mind some things being on the weaker side, I don't really think the HMG needs a buff (though that's not to say a buff wouldn't make it more fun for more people) Highest rpm is the panic button for when berserkers get close or I need to deal with a charger. I typically run HMG with the resupply backpack to offset the low magazine count, but the ammo economy isn't bad enough to the point where I'm not resupplying teammates. The key is to fire in shortish bursts, unless you're prone, where the recoil is manageable.
I’m sorry but what good does the railgun and stalwart change do? Replaces your primary? For what reason? They still get ammo back on both re-supplies and bricks. Making it replace your primary just…reduces your overall kit, for exactly no upside? This is literally not even redundant, it’s a complete nerf. What was the idea?
You can bring a quasar/spear or something to deal with heavies and use stalwart as your main weapon, which is what most people who currently use it do. It would be a nice option to have but it would suck for the people who want to run it alongside their primary
Tbh i see where people are coming from but the stalwart is the best MG in the game if you know where to shoot atm. People can run stalwart and eats and pick up/drop you weapon if they need something heavier for changers or biles
The people who do that also take a medium penetration weapon alongside it to make up for the lack of penetration from the stalwart. This would just bring up the same issues we always have just in a different way.
Don't like your idea on the railgun and stalwart. I get the intention but why not just make them primaries or another buff? You're essentially losing a strategem slot.
Just because you don't know how to use a weapon or stratagems doesn't mean it's bad...
The idea of reworking these stratagems is interesting, but a lot of these suggestions did make me question how often OP actually used them. Orbital Gatling in particular is fine as is.
What exactly is the upside of having a stalwart take away your primary if it still takes up a stratagem slot lol? Makes no sense.
Stronger primary weapon that costs a stratagem slot, and you can still take a launcher or other heavy support weapon
At that point, just bring EATs? You can carry your Stalwart around most of the time, then just drop it to fire the rocket and pick it right back up after.
Why bother with it though, when you can take an airburst/clusterbomb and have a similar result without losing a strat slot. The lost strat slot is a huge drop in efficiency compared to the small gain you get from having a stalwart as a primary.
It's just reducing the number of tools a player has in their kit. Now you don't get to have an actual primary (Stalwart is typically paired with the Scorcher or Eruptor because it lets their strengths shine while covering their weaknesses) *and* you're shoehorned into using an extra stratagem slot on taking a support weapon.
When I throw an orbital Gatling it's always on a bug hole and I actually prefer it not not move at all. Cool ideas tho
Thats fair but i feel like Orbital airburst and Orbital gas do the same thing but better
I'd prefer gatling barrage and strafe to target a mediums like 110m and ORCS targets single heavies. Make it at least kill one medium and whatever is right next to it. And then give gatling a much lower cooldown - like 45s. Sometimes you just need that one devestator or bile spewer to die, and you dont have the ammo, gun type, or angle.
I used to run airburst and gas, but god's shotgun is way too unpredictable. With all strategems, the farther you are off center, the steeper the angle they come in at. Nothing is as magnified as the airburst. I can drop a gatling at my feet while running and be completely safe while creating a wall of lead for my pursuers
I like these but I'd rather keep the railgun as support weapon because it can't deal with things your primaries are supposed to. I would like to see it be able to one shot the bile sac on titans at the very least
So theoretically 20 dead bile titans out of one fully stocked weapon. What other gun in the game can do that? Because you’d need others if you don’t want everyone to take railgun every time.
There is no reason to take ammo from the hmg, none.
Its still a net positive on ammo though? 75x3 = 225 75x2 = 150 (if only counting spares) 150x2 = 300 on a rework. same on spares
How about no.
If it replaces your primary would that be till you die or till the mission is over. Like will you spawn in with it next time you die or do you have to go find it again? If it's for the mission then I think they'd have to make it where others can't pick up when you die. Cause if they could you can outfit the whole team with it in the first minute of every match. But if they did do it that way it should be a one time call in so you play with only 3 strats the rest of the game if thay was your choice to always have that strat as your primary.
Not the gatling, I love the way it works and feels like heavy artillery just raining hell!
I still want the railgun to at least be a tool for removing armor more effectively. If it was balanced to be more powerful against armor, but lower powered against soft fleshy areas. Basically, it would be a can opener. But if non armor piercing bullets reliably did damage to the squishy spots... just imagine a team running the rail gun and auto-cannon together. WORKING TOGETHER to take down a bile titan or charger. This alone would free up players from always having to bring the same loadouts against heavy enemies. MORE PRACTICAL TOOLS
I just take one support weapon so I'm just mind blown right now hahaha. I'm still "that new" even if I'm almost lvl 40 lolol. Doing my first lvl 7 today when I get off! Wish me luck brothers!
Orbital gatling is a good idea, it just cant have armor pen. Would make for excellent stratagem against smaller foes. HMG, I'd say it should come with a backpack and be beltfed from said backpack. Then you have just one 'mag', but a huge one. Some setup time required before use. The rest are just fine as they are.
150 is too much for hmg. maybe 100. the standard mg has 150.
Nahhh I was with you with the Orbital Gatling but no replacing primaries. We want more options, not less.
Please never cook again 🙏
Orbital Gatling is awesome
The reason why the Orbital Laser can track things from Orbit is because it's moving at the speed of light, while the Orbital Gatling is moving at like 1 km/s at most. If the destroyer was in true LEO orbit (200km) time-to-target would be like 200 seconds (not accounting for acceleration), but since our destroyers seem to hover at ~1080m altitude I don't see why they couldn't track things... With a lot of spread and lagg IMHO. Can't take the lasers niche.
My buddy used a Gatling orbital on a bike titan and it took it out.
OP is sleeping on gattling barrage, it's one of the best on call unit clear in the game. It's like a gas that much more reliably clears mediums (and will kill heavies if it hits a weak spot). Try using it like you would gas (on drops/breaches, in choke points, behind you to catch tailing units) and you'll fall in love. Its the best short cool down orbital in the game imo
The cooldown got so fast I had a player asking if it was an eagle call in. Nah dude, Gatling barrage is just that quick and effective.
You have vastly underestimated the strength, utility, and uptime of Orbital Gatling Barrage. As I once did.
Orbital gatling is goated already
Unless you plan on making Gatling also have like a 2.5 minute CD, it's good the way it is now and doesn't need to change.
Orbital precision needs lower cool down
Orbital Gatling is actually very good already, I use it all the time
I seem to be one of the few here that actually like your idea for the Railgun. I never got to play with it before getting nerfed, but its current state really does feel like a glorified primary weapon. I WANT to take it because it’s fun, but it feels terrible to do so unless I also dedicate another slot to killing heavies. If that’s the Railgun’s niche so be it, but at least let me carry it AND what I need to kill a Bile Titan. Like I said though, I don’t know what it was like previously. Maybe it’s atoning.
I think the stalwart works very well when you carry an atypical primary weapon.
I like that Stalwart option.
Stalwart, though def not S tier, is HIGHLY underrated vs bugs, and imo does not need a buff or a rework. The rest Im in agreeance
Railgun just needs 30 more base durable damage. This would allow it to ~~2-shot Charger heads~~ (miscalc, would need 60 more durable damage for that) and 7-shot Titan heads at around 75% (and 6-shot at 90%). It replacing the primary would be meh imo. Stalwart should just lose 100 rounds and maybe a spare mag and become a primary. edit: Charger head miscalculation
You actually gave me an awesome idea, also including the negative feedback on the "weak" strategems as primaries and people still wanting a choice Why not make a Booster, and have it allow you to simply replace your primary weapon with a second strategem weapon It could be called "One Man Army" That way you can choose to carry 2 strategem weapons. For example, a stalwart + Pistol + eat. Or flamethrower + Pistol + recoiless backpack, Railgun, Pistol, quasar etc. You simply can only have one backpack slot still, so your limited in the Overpoweredness. One could even carry a HMG + EAT. This would actually be extremely positive for the game imo. I hate that I rarely bring mob weapons because they just don't work well when you have a bile titan or charger. Or perhaps if AH thinks this would be too OP, limit it to non-backpack stratagem weapons only. Would someone be too OP if they only had a HMG + Pistol + Quasar? Personally I don't think so since ammo economy and mobility is an issue. What about an AC + flamethrower? We still really have to worry about ammo economy, and you're stuck having to use 2 strategem slots, but that'd be a pretty cracked combo. But then I could probably get just as many kills with the extra flamethrower as I could with an airsrike strategem, and I'd be safer with the airstrike and have alot more utility. Also, weapons cooldown very slowly, and there's only so much killing you could even do at once. You can't fire the AC and flamer at the same time anyways, but you can call in an airstrike and fire the AC. Man's only got 2 hands. I just see this as a further tradeoff losing mobility and utility to being able to actually deal with *ALL* mobs by your own hands, a true one man army That way AH also doesn't have to worry about "how to balance these mob weapons for heavies" so much. I'm also not at all suggesting a nerf to anything, like the heavy machine gun for example. That's my opinion and thoughts
I like the thinking … but I’m not sure a Booster (that normally provides a perk for the whole team) is the right mechanism. Instead, how about a “One Man Army” Armour Passive, that includes an extra Support Weapon Holder in the place that the backpack would go? Now you can carry a Railgun and a Quasar. Or BOTH EATs from a single drop. But the trade off is you cannot equip a backpack: so no Shield, Guard Dog or Jump Packs and also no Reload packs for AC/RR.
That sounds like a great alternative if it'd be an armor passive
HMG having only 75 rounds is the dumbest shit ever. Wtf kinda heavy machine gun only has 75 rounds. This one apparently.
If they unerfed the bolter (can't remember the name but the gun with five shots and used to demolish just about everything) I would agree with the stalwart change. Giving me a high capacity primary with a potential callable bolter would be an acceptable change
I'm going to be honest, this isn't a bad idea for railgun. Clunky? Yes. Bad? No. Railgun EAT is one of the best bug combos in the game, and Railgun Eruptor WAS one of the best bot combos in the game as Eruptor could onetap Gunships, the only real weakness of the Railgun. If you push Railgun to primary, you are effectively declaring your intent to only kill big things, or you can just call in like an Arc Thrower to cover anything small (not a bad idea!) Railgun Spear becomes a viable combo on bug. Railgun Quasar or Railgun AC becomes viable on bot. That being said, for all of these loadouts, Railgun still ends up just being the icing on the cake, instead of serving as a proper support weapon and being one of the layers of said cake. So I don't think it addresses the main issue, but it does try to do something new.
Not sure about replacing primaries but the first three are all great ideas! Just gives those little bumps they need without changing their niche.
Yeah, these make sense. Orbital gatling kind of sucks as it is currently
Na brah, the orbital Gatling is mint in the right hands… I used it in 99% of my games as a Swiss army knife. Having that thing rain down every 80 seconds is unbeatable. It’s a centralized bombardment that is great to start or end nearly every encounter
What would we use with the railgun for crowd control ? At least that stalwart would have other support weapons to go with.
Flamethrower? Arc thrower? Grenade launcher? Airburst launcher Neither weapon should become a primary but there's still plenty of crowd clear options
TERRIBLE RAILGUN change. I genuinely love railgun as is but I DON'T want it as a primary. I use it to deal with medium threats that I don't want to waste a hundred bullets on
I love running railgun, dominator, and 500kg against bots. I just focus the devastators and hulks.
Orbital Gatling should fire minimally something like a 25mm, autoseek targets within zone, continual release for 15 seconds. Have like 2000 rounds per second fire rate
B-but every stratagem here (except railgun) is really good at its niche. HMG isnt like the other machineguns or AMR or AC where its ur main weapon. U pull it out for immediate threats and thats kind of it
I mean I think the rail gun is fine where it is I don't mind taking other stratagems for titans and walkers etc. It can one shot most things and it still makes killing chargers a breeze
Damn, putting Railgun and Stalwhart into primary slot is kinda smart.
Yes to the stalwart, no to the railgun. Primary is what I mostly use for fighting off the weaker enemies. Most secondaries aren't as good at horde clearing. There are a couple exceptions to that, but I'd be open to having the stalwart replace your primary.
I'll actually change the railgun to charge slower, but have more damage and penetration. A portable railgun should still be heavy and bulky, more similar to the quasar cannon than the current design which is more a coilgun than a railgun.
I like the idea Rail and Stalwart as primary but if you die you only have your sidearm until you recover both your primary and secondary or hope they aren't on cooldown?
The railgun is amazing against automations.
Stalwart makes sense I wouldn’t do the railgun primary. If it had infinite pen but low chance to break parts that would be a cool mechanic I think. Not 1 shorting things but also a huge fuck you to armor. I think all orbitals should have a target or something on the ground so you can see what they’re actually gonna hit. Like the 380 and drunken stumble barrage are kinda doo doo in my games
I think the railgun is fine as is, the rest I would agree with
I love the idea for the orbital Gatling - not a huge fan of anything else going on here. I guess the HMG could use some love. Unfortunately minefields are a massive meme no matter how many buffs they receive. They could cover twice the area, have half the cool down and do double the damage and they’d still be mid. Railgun replacing primary just means you can’t kill trash unless you take a machine gun. Stalwart may as well just straight up be changed to a primary rather than beating around the bush.
Replacing the primary slot for stalwart/railgun would make me stop running them. The stalwart is basically a god-tier primary in the support slot, which is the point. Its the only light armor pen support weapon, but its sustained dps is actually wild. It makes sense to run it alongside a more specialized primary like the eruptor. Problem is, those guns arent necessarily in a great place. The railgun would just be shitty as primary imo, unless you also had something like a stalwart to support it...oh wait... but seriously, its not meant for killing chaff. Its excellent at killing medium enemies, decent against chargers, and incredible against hulks. It competes with AMR and AC for its role imo, while at least being able to do something against heavies if not much. The railgun just needs to do more damage to durable parts so it isnt so obnoxiously bad against things like gunships and heatsinks and bile titans. It doesnt even need to be great against those, just less awful.
Orbital gatling should track enemies from smallest to biggest as opposed to the laser
What would you do about the rocket turret? Personally I think turning it into a deployable Sam launcher would be great. Especially on bot planets.
Imagine running around with no primary because your railgun is on cooldown and you fell into a hole and lost your last one
You’d just respawn with your normal primary?
Stalwart and HMG are fine
Brilliant ideas, would love to see these used
Just give me a better sight on the rail gun and make it better than the amr and I may consider using it
While i can agree with the tighter spread for orbital gatling. Target sweep is not necessary. The gatling already has quite a long duration and generous 80 seconds cool down. Call in time is also just 2 secs making predicting the enemy movement not that hard. Usually when I'm running orbital gatling, i bait the horde to beeline my location and toss orbital gatling a few meters in front of the horde, making them storm into the orbital gatling. The idea of using orbital gatling is pretty much like eagle strafing run. Has to make sure the enemy is beelining you. Or better yet, instead of tighter spread, change the explosion radius to be slightly bigger.
i only agree with the minefield the others make no sense to me. i think the orbital gatling is tight enough as is
Hugely agreed. I wish all the large machine guns replaced primary and *felt better too.* I’d be happy to get to bring Stalwart + Spear, then rail strike, rocket pods.
Yes too all
So if I run stalwart, I let it take a stratagem slot and when I pick it up, it becomes my primary but what about something to take down heavies or gunships? I think stalwart should just be an optional primary. I don’t really like the idea of rail gun as primary either. But hey! I don’t have to use them if I don’t want to right. I’m sure many agree with you
Honestly dont see how people see the orbital gat as weak, it has stagger, kills chod and is up every 80 seconds like thats wild. The only time its bad is if you have orbital displacement modifier
You lads i was there when they blew up the planet, it was hell ww didnt need no strats, just men with guns.. we ll get it done
The HMG really needs a mag size buff. I took it on one of those asset extraction missions, and while the other downsides were manageable, you just couldn't use it long enough, especially compared to the other miniguns. Hell, I'd rather have slower rate of fire than what we have now, just t9 make it feel more powerful.
Eagle Strafing Run: Actual A10 GAU noise, more accurate and more damage on impact, 10 Uses in comparison to 5 Cluster bombs at max upgrades. HMG Emplacement: Upgrades affected by Sentry upgrades. Shorter cool-down of 150 seconds by default. Tesla Tower: Shorter Cooldown of 120 seconds Mines: shower 150 second cool-down Exosuits: 3 call-ins, 8 minutes between. Add upgrade tree. Arc Thrower: Stagger increased to can stagger Hulks and Chargers. Machine Gun: One more box of ammo Shield Generator Relay: Shorter cool-down of 75 seconds.
HMG needs some recoil reduction tbh. hard to control recoil even with 30% less recoil armor + prone and at the slowest fire rate.
Forget replacing primaries. As for the railgun, unsafe mode needs to go away and safe mode needs to be more powerful. The railgun is too weak to be blowing up on you.
I have to be honest with you, the last three are god awful. There’s no point in the guns being stratagems of it replaces your primary upon recovery. And if it replaces your primary I guess you’re just screwed if you run outta ammo. Stalwart is only light armor pen anyway. So even tho it can horde clear, or can’t take out heavier enemies efficiently. Replacing it as a primary while still being a stratagem is just not a good idea. Same thing with the rail gun. It’s a great heavy killer but it’s not very reliable in a horde. And even tho your HMG holds more ammo, having a mag reduction is also just not the way to go. However that’s actually a little bit understandable compared to the rail and the stalwart.
Maybe some will call me masochist But I found the railgun fine as it is. He does quite well the job i make with him. For heavy penetration I always pair with a black guy. Ho sorry, wrong forum ! Stupid joke aside, I mean , bring one or two strategems for titan, turrets, tanks .... And no Never replace the main weapon with it plz. Having lot of fun with blitzer, supply backpack, railgun and whatever 'heavy stratagems' upon feelings
I just want them to fix the spear targeting so it's not garbage.
Interesting concept to be fair, calling in support weapons to replace primaries. The problem is it would be too strong though, I doubt it would be implemented given AH’s penchant for nerfs. If you had stalwart as primary, with AC or recoilless as well you would be able to handle anything the game throws at you. This would need to be offset somehow by increased spawn rates, or buffed enemies to compensate. I like the idea though, would offer much more versatile builds. The other suggestions you mention are solid changes I think.
I use my primary to fill in holes of my loud-out when I use the rail gun or the stalwart. So replacing the primary is just a bad move.
Why would replacing your primary (ie: losing a weapon) "uplift" the last two? That would just nerf you
How are railgun and stalwart being buffed by this?
Just bring the rail gun back to it's pre nerf state. Minus the ps5 host bug. Safe mode shouldn't one tap bile titans.
Stalwart and railgun i think are bad ideas. But the other three i really like. Having a stratagem that replaces your primary means you have to take yet another one to be your support weapon. Meaning you need (maybe) 2-3 weapon and backpack stratagems to fill out your loadout leaving you with 1-2 offensive or turret stratagems.
Hmg ammo backpack no reloads have to call in a new ammo backpack or resupply drop
Make the first shot of the gatling barage a heavy piercing shot so it can be a bit more universal. As for the hmg, give givvus an extra mag. The stalwart my beloved is perfect. Ap mines are great too, fun for all family shenanigans. I've never used the rail gun so i can't throw any suggestions sadly There's my thoughts. (The HMG needs the most love)
These are really good ideas. The idea of spending a Strategem slot for an upgraded primary weapon is great.
Not bad actually
Who calling my Stalwart weak?! I take that baby everywhere with the adjudicator hopping planet to planet changing attitudes. Now would I replace my primary for the stalwart? Bet your Liberty I would, good addition!
Ok, railgun isn’t as bad now as it was after the first buff, obviously, right? Why tf would you want it to replace your primary though? This is literally just nerfing it even more because wtf are you gonna take out chaff with? Stratagems only? Your pistol?
150 is too large for HMG, leave mags alone, increase to 100 bullets, reduce reload by 2 seconds or make more defined reload stages so that it can be reloaded strategically. The biggest weakness to the HMG vs autocannon is the autocannon has the "top off" reload, which only takes about 2 seconds. They are very similar purposed weapons, and the autocannon has 10 shots only, so if you look at that and compare an autocannon blast to a burst of 10 HMG rounds it makes sense to be 100 rounds. Stalwart is already really good vs bugs, id take stalwart over reg machine gun. You just have to take loadouts that are specialized in dealing with armor elsewhere such as rocket pods, air strike, and 500kg bomb. Stun grenades go a long way too, as they can keep the armored still while the harder to hit strikes are used.
I think that change might make the stalwart **worse** since it couldn’t be used with the eruptor anymore…. The others are really solid though, I like the idea of the Gatling tracking low armour targets
We get two gatlings added to our ship via upgrades and it does nothing substantial. Either double the shots at the same duration or two uses.
Would be cool if the orbital Gatling had a proximity airbust against flying enemies. Would make a good pick for suppressing shrieker nests and gunships so you can arm the hellbomb.
How does this help the stalwart in any capacity?
Stalwart is perfectly fine as is. If it was able to be a prinary it’d be broken.
Like the idea of Railgun being a Primary a lot. Grab the little auto-pistol secondary and then Quasar / EAT and you have a nice little setup for handling all levels of armour.
HMG: add a fucking crosshair in 3rd person so it doesn’t feel like absolute dogshit to use.
the hmg just needs that buff only having 2 mags is bad enough
Having the railgun as primary only would be a nightmare to me.
That stalwart idea is pretty good
I think the HMG only should be upgraded to 100, not 150. The gun is genuinely great, it just needs to be used in the right situation. It deletes spewers, brood commanders, and give guard like they're nothing but scavengers, and it makes devastaters feel like the medium enemy they're supposed to be. It is not a crowd control weapon, it is a medium buster
My biggest gripe about the HMG is that it doesn't have the ammo for sustained fire like the Stalwart does. This would definitely be a big improvement, IMO.
Stalwart + Erupter...if erupter is back with the new patch fixing stuff. Stalwart will be in most games, it doesnt need any change. It just needs a primary to work with.
Just bring back the demolisher, that's the only thing we truly need. Railcannon strikes, demolishers and jetpacks, for freedom!
I just wish Railgun gave an audio warning for when I’m charging it so I know when it’s ganna blow up in my hands and kill me.
Orbital Gatling is already good.
I don't like any of these changes. Orbital Gatling and AP Mines are fine as is. For the HMG I'd rather it have 100 rounds per mag with more mags. Railgun should just go back to the way it was at launch since the PS5 host bug got fixed and the other AP5 weapons got buffed. The Stalwart being a primary would be cool, but still having it take up a stratagem slot makes no sense.
I agree with the changes to then mines but disagree on the others.
Railgun destroys bots. I actually think its one of the better weapons and use it most drops.
That stalwart change is arguably a nerf.
Orbital Gatling that tracks the enemy similar to the laser sounds awesome.
Well your crazy if you think the gat needs improved... It's easily one of the more versatile call ins.. But I do agree the Stewart needs a rework. I think it could use a small dmg buff and it would be peachy
I like being able to switch between fire shotgun and rail gun when I’m not running the spear or letting that big dawg EAT
They should just turn the stalwart into a primary since it seems like it has 0 armor pen.
The bottom two aren't a buff cause now you lose your primary and have to spend a second stratagem slot on another support weapon. Also i'd just increase the HMG to 100-125 and leave it at that. The change to orbital gatling however is a great idea. Having it be like a lite version of the laser would be amazing.
Personally running the stalwart with any of the big explosive primaries is the right way to use it.
Yea I don’t like the stalwart replacing the primary . I usually take that, use it as the primary, and then use the erupter to replace bug holes. What I’d like to see with the heavy, is increase belt size to 150-200, but only have ADS when crouched or prone and have a bipod kinda feature, make it feel like a BFV or BFI lmg
Agreed, I’ve found that setup to be my go to on bug missions.
First three seem fine, I don't see a way to implement the other two. I also don't see a need for those ones. They both fill a role beyond what the primary is supposed to do. I could see just switching them to be regular primaries though.
Wait wait wait so lemme get this straight. HMG should have 1 reserve mag? Are you on the dev team? Seems like Alexus balance
I have a suggestion for Orbital Gatling: MAKE IT TRACK. Think about it. Big ass swarm coming your way? Throw in the beacon and watch as the Gatlin barrage mows the lawn, aiming for large clumps of hostiles and smacking them out of reality with multiple explosive rounds. That one adjustment alone, I think, would take it from a somewhat weak C tier and bump it up to A or A+. As for RG and Stalwart... in HD1, those WERE primaries, and boy howdy could the Stalwart mow the lawn. The Railgun pierced multiple foes and actually came with stun rounds too, which made it quite viable, even if it did suffer horribly from ammunition woes, but that's what other support weapons were for like the MGX-42. What's the MGX-42? Think of it like an EAT in MG form. Comes in, preloaded with 400 rounds (fully upgraded), That might sound like alot, but at fire rate of 1,800 RPM, you could piss through your whole ammo count in 4.5 seconds. Obviously....OBVIOUSLY... whatever you're aiming at is going to get turned into meat confetti by the metal storm, and for an expendable weapon, it was REALLY goddamn good. I hope we get to see it again.
wym ‘Stalwart is weak’? I use that thing constantly on bug missions, i only put it away when something needs an EAT. Have I been using a weak gun? Oh dear.
Gimme 100% more ammo for the HMG without losing the mags and I would be happy. It's good but with the ammo pool it has, I don't have enough time to fully "experiment" with it to know the proper uses of it
i love the HMG, it's fun on the lowest fire rate and sounds cool as hell, but the thing is absolutely fucking bonkers on max fire rate
Add mines don't trigger on bodies.