Introduction

After a short poll about the opinions of NC AI max weapons, I have found that I am not the only one who thinks NC AI max weapons are… lacking to say the least with some of the comments saying, ”NC maxes are PATHETIC unless you run in headfirst into one” , ”NC maxs are in a horrible spot right now” and, ”Post-nerf I really feel like the only time I pull a MAX is for Bursters (and even that is frustrating most of the time)”  These experiences are currently tied to the NC max’s shotguns as they are polarized in effectiveness until they were nerfed early and mid last year: 2019. I am not here to complain however, I am here to bring a replacement weapon proposal that will put minimal amounts of stress and workload on the Rogue Planet Games developers so that this improvement has a better chance of being put on the test servers for serious consideration.

These are the results of the poll where the options were: Buff the shotgun cannons, nerf the shotgun cannons, keep the shotgun cannons, or get rid of them all together for a different kind of weapon.

Data gathered from June 12th to July 26th 2020

The general consensus about the shotguns on the NC max was that it would be too hard to balance, as it often has been in the past. They would be, as they are now, overpowered or completely useless compared to gorgons that the NC maxes favor for AI duty right now. These two outcomes, instant kill or more than three double shots, meeting in the middle for only a 2-4 meter window at around 5-9 or 4-8 meters depending on which shotgun was being used.

Only around 1 in 5 users thought that the shotgun max weapons were in a reliable state. While 4 in 5 users found that they were in an unreliable state with just under half the total votes finding that the shotguns would be better off being made to a different weapon entirely.

From those who found them to be adequate or overperforming, there was admission in the comments that there are great limitations when compared to the VS and TR AI max weapons with little to no advantage as of now over the weapons with only a small few moments of great strength. Much of their power being in very situational against non-max infantry where even the other maxes would be close in performance.

Goals

So I propose that the weapon models be kept, but the firing animation being changed as this, along with coding in the weapons values and possibly making new firing sounds, will likely be the biggest hurdle for the developers to handle. I hope from this work it will be one of very few tasks they have to spend time on; more on this later. Hopefully they can be changed from shotguns to fully automatic weapons, such as machineguns, like their VS and TR max counterparts. This way the developers don’t have to make 4 new weapon models because the old ones will be reused; or in NC terms, they will be tinkered with to fit a new purpose.

Current method of fire through alternating barrels (Skyguard) live build as of 06-20-2020

Thank you to SpaceNachos of VCO

It is my hope that these suggestions get considered seriously for the game in a later update. As it stands now the faction overlap is lacking in this department. Last time we were addressing faction overlap was the introduction of the new weapon line. Looking at the machineguns, it used to be the case that the NC did not have a watered down RPM version of the main TR gun where often the TR would drop to 698 in exchange for more controllable recoil or adaptability. During this the TR had the 2nd slowest firing RPM that was available to the NC: 577RPM. The MGR-L1 Promise fixed this problem. The VS, known to not be polarized but have something just touching the edge before the extreme had a 577 but not a 600RPM. The VE-H Maw filled this gap. And the TR did not have anything to best the fire rate of the VS besides a chaingun. The MG-H1 Watchman gave them a fire rate that the other factions, even the VS, could not match.

My point of this example is to show that there are traits for each faction that are followed, but there is also much overlap. There have been times in the past where this gap of overlap is addressed but the trait of the faction remains intact. Such is the same with the AI max weapons. Though the TR may have a multi barrel chaingun/gatling gun, it only fires 400RPM despite sounding like it fires a laser of lead. The VS match this with the Nebula, they actually exceed this fire rate, but the Nebula retains this original Vanu Sovereignty laser like feel that is completely different from the TR maxes.

Benefit for Rogue Planet Games and the playerbase

It is at this point  that I believe there can also be NC AI max autocannons/machine guns. They too can inherit the NC traits of hard hitting and slow firing while also have some overlap with the other two factions. It would keep the NC within the mining equipment roots off their max. It would eliminate the frustration of having to use a weapon, a shotgun, that either kills in one shot or doesn’t even after half the magazine is gone. It would also eliminate the stress of having to try and balance said instant gib or never kill weapons for the development team.

Further information

It is my understanding that this change would be a hard one to do. There has not been a removal of the NC Max weapons since around 2013. The sudden removal of the NC max shotguns would certainly anger those who spent the time to auraxium them. And the development would be jarring for Rogue Planet Games’ team to do as is any project. I would like to address each of these problems.

It’s been long since a weapon was removed

This is a very valid point. I would argue that it is long overdue however. The Max shotguns have been a nightmare to balance right to present day. They are either useless or much too powerful with hardly any middle ground. At the very least, I hope one of these weapons is added as it would be much easier to balance and it would perform much more reliably than the current shotgun max weapons. As it stands now, the NC have lost their NC trait in their maxes because they are primarily used with Nanite Systems weapons instead of their faction specific options. Even the Nanite Systems Operatives Max unit with grenade printers outdo them in AI roles.

It would upset those who had auraxium the max and the weapons

It is for this reason I believe in using the old weapon models but changing how they work. If they are changed and the auraxium has to be done again, it is much easier than it has been currently and arguably ever before. If the auraxium is kept, there is no complaint from the player that gets to keep their auraxium max armor and directive score.

It would be a difficult project for the developer team

I would like to help and I’m sure many other players would like to help as well to make this change happen. While many of us cannot code, animate, or add directly, we would still like to help as much to take a stressful load off of the busy developer so that they may work on this without cutting into projects they had planned for the next update. As you will see, the concept for the damage model and rate of fire can be diversified and applied to have a faction trait without compromising balance. I will also give the update in lore text that could be put on the update page, as well as propose texts for each of the “new” weapons given to the NC max. No charge or compensation, it will be free to Rogue Planet Games to take and use for their game, even copy and pasted if they wish.

In-lore update text proposal

As per the requests of the large number of New Conglomerate infantry units, with approval of the suits and director of weapons development: the New Conglomerate anti-infantry Max suit weaponry will be refitted to fire full gauss rounds and support for the 10 gauge shotgun and 8 gauge max rounds will be discontinued. Refitting kits for each weapon model will be given to infantry. Take note: multibarrel designs will no longer fire all barrels at once, but instead will fire one barrel at a time and rotate firing duty. Auraxis Firearms has taken great steps analysing the M96 Mjolnir’s rotating firing chambers to the small scale of the Max unit. This will also keep the weapon warmer in the colder conditions. It was deemed more beneficial to modify existing weapons rather than making a new weapon(s) that troops would have to relearn to maintain in the field.

Thesis for weapon fire rates, damage models, and accuracy values.

From the basis of the weapons of other factions, we can make estimations for the new NC automatic cannons. We will be doubling the fire rate as each max has two weapons of which we assume to be the same. The TR’s weapons hold the 143-125 damage model at 400rpm for a total of 800rpm. Going down to 125-125 at the 426 rpm for a total of 852rpm. And we end with the 125-100 at 492rpm for a total of 984rpm.

Now for VS's weapons. They have one with a 167-143 at 337rpm for 674rpm. A weapon at the same rpm but with a 143-125 damage model. Another 143-125 damage model with 366rpm for 732 rpm total. And one at 143-112 with 426rpm for 852 total.

Putting these two weapon classes we can see the damage per second without headshots that each weapon does when dual wielded.

From these values we can get a target range for the damage per second of the NC weapons for the heavy damage model. We must first set the range we must stay within, the middle ground for damage per second, and the maximum and minimum damage per second values for both the minimum and maximum damage states. Giving us these values

From this we see that the new NC autocannons should not exceed 2050 DPS or go below 1606 DPS at the maximum damage per second values. And they should not exceed 1775 DPS or drop below 1404 DPS on the minimum damage per second values.

Weapon rework concepts

NCM1 Scattercannon

Going over the weapons we start with the NCM1 Scattercannon. This is the first gun any new player meets on the NC max. As such it would make sense to have this as a 200 before 10 meters to 167 after 85 meters damage model with the lowest rate of fire as is the NC staple. This weapon should give the player flexibility but not perfection. For AI options, it needs to be the jack of all trades, but master of none. Do it well but not better than something built specifically for the roll.

AF-23 Grinder

The Grinder is an alternative to the NCM1. It is not as accurate as the NCM1 but still more accurate than the AF-41 Hacksaw. Although it’s flexibility, damage wise, is harmed, it is recovered by the largest magazine of the NC AI max weapon class. It is coupled with the longest reload of its class as well. Once again, this is another weapon that can do it all, not as well as the NCM1, but will not outdo a weapon built specifically for the situation. 167 before 10 meters to 143 after 75 meters

AF-34 Mattock

The Mattock reaches out further than the rest of your arsenal of NC AI max weapons. It is for that reason we have a double edge sword: A 167 before 10 meters to 167 after 25 meters damage model with a rate of fire that falls short in close range combat but outdoes any other NC AI max weapon at further ranges.

AF-41 Hacksaw

The Hacksaw is the NCs best take on volume of fire and uptime. Being the only NC AI max weapon to drop to the 143 before 10 meters to 112 after 50 meters damage model, it just barely touches what the TR have at worst. The Hacksaw would specialize in close range combat with a quicker reload and best volume of fire but a lack of damage at further ranges.

NCM1 Scattercannon renaming and new description

As is in the name, if these changes do go through the Scattercannon will no longer be a scattercannon. The NCM3 Rasp. “Once known as the Scattercannon, the NCM1 was upgraded to fire full powerful gauss rounds. The larger barrel of the Scattercannon caused an adverse effect on fire rate of a single barrel. Thus the three barrel configuration was kept to increase the fire rate. The rough groves under and over the barrels of the weapon earned the nickname “Rasp”.

The other NC AI max weapons do not need to change name or description necessarily since they do not directly state that they are shotguns in the description, and each of these proposed weapon changes would retain the main characteristics of the weapon.

Additional Recommendation: Accuracy

For the NCM3 and the Mattock. It is recommended to have better than usual accuracy compared to any max AI because of the lower volume of fire than other factions one miss will cause much more of a drop in damage per second. Suggested values for the Mattock 0.75/1/1/1.5/0.06. Suggested values for the Rasp 1/1.25/1.25/1.75/0.07. The Grinder and Hacksaw can use similar existing accuracy values since they function as the overlap weapons discussed earlier.

DPS from shots missed TR

DPS from shots missed VS

DPS from shots missed NC (theoretical)

Reload times and magazine sizes

The magazine sizes are varying around the 100 to 50 mark. The NC staple is a small mag to go with the larger damage output. Here is the TR and VS

This is the proposed NC reload times and magazine sizes. Ammunition pool always multiplied by 8 of the magazine size.

NCM3 Rasp

Your standard magazine and reload. It is on par with other brawler max weapons such as the cycler and quasar. The magazine being large but not as large as the grinder. With a fairly quick short reload and a fairly long long reload you must keep tabs on how much ammo is left.

AF-34 Mattock

A fair magazine size with the second longest short reload but a long reload not far behind. It is encouraged to use the entire magazine in its intended role of choke point hold while allowing some pushing options but not outdoing the other weapons of the class.

AF-23 Grinder

The very large magazine holds very large damage potential. To compensate for this strength it is accompanied by the longest short and long reload times. It allows the weapon to push and hold, but requires the user to think ahead for a safe and uninterrupted reload.

AF-41 Hacksaw

The Hacksaw is delegated to the pushing close range role. Other weapons all have much larger magazines and damage profiles, but the Hacksaw has very high uptime because of the fast reload speeds. However, a reload is a reload and such leaves the max vulnerable, making friendly support heavily rewarded. It also requires the user to keep an eye on their ammo count if not supported by friendlies. This allows the weapon to function for the friendly units but not for the max to go on a rampage on its own without running into some serious trouble.

Additional information

This is all free for Rogue Planet Games to use or even copy. Mathematical analysis of the weapons were done with equations through google sheets as to allow anyone to plug in values and edit. That being said, if the Developers wish to get a copy of this to save time and effort it will be provided upon request.