Are machine guns supposed to be this OP?

[TomOfFinland]

I'm playing on the second difficulty. One of my mercs has the minimi mg that is fully modified.
Dude can lay down using a super wide overwatch cone and laser spray every single enemy that enters the cone. 150 bullet mag.
This dude just eliminated 12 enemies in one overwatch turn and I started to wonder seriously, that is this intended?

The ammo is also easy to produce.

[Vote Quimby]

Legion guys barely wear any armor, so it's not too OP. Very ammo consuming though.

[Bloodwest]

i think their power compensates the fact it takes quite a while before you're able to amass considerable ammo supply

[FatalException]

MGs are very good, very expensive killing machines. If you overuse them, you'll likely outpace your capacity to feed them ammo quite quickly.

[stretch]

See... you get this sort of post and then you get the 'Machine guns are useless compared to sniper rifles' threads. Machine guns are awesome in the right situation and useless in others.

I wish the devs lots of luck figuring out how to please everyone.

[FatalException]

Originally posted by stretch:

See... you get this sort of post and then you get the 'Machine guns are useless compared to sniper rifles' threads. Machine guns are awesome in the right situation and useless in others.

I wish the devs lots of luck figuring out how to please everyone.

I've seen noone suggest Machine Guns are a problem. Most critique centers around ARs and SMGs, even if they are sometimes grouped as "automatic weapons".

[Wild_Marker_]

I'm begining to think ARs might have a place but the game doesn't make it clear, especially due to it's hidden chance mechanics. Thanks to the mods I found burst fire is waay more inacurate than most people may think, but if you use it to target arms/legs then you only need to hit a single time to get the debuff. So single shot for damage, burst and auto for debuffs, armor piercing, and their crazy customizability (they have the highest ammount of mods of any weapon) might be their intended strength.

And if so then SMGs are just ARs with mobility. A mid-point between an AR and a pistol.

[x_equals_speed]

Machine guns are a machine for turning logistics into victory. If you've got the ammo they're great, but the more you rely on them the less you'll have the ammo. I played through the whole game with my machine gunner on one ammo type and the whole rest of the squad on another, I didn't put down its cone every level and I still found myself running short on ammo for it all the time.

...but it does so much good when it works.