The Scatterblaster

[Quizzer]

Nearly every veteran NMS player I know agrees the Scatterblaster (SB) is *the* best weapon for the multi-tool. It's a shotgun that makes bad things disappear.

The drawback is that it only does it's magic at short range, but most NMS encounters take place at short range anyway. The SB fires two shots by default before an annoying pause, and then once it has fired it's clip size you have to reload, just like the other multi-tool weapons. All of the weapons have a similar rhythm to them, the SB takes a bit to get used to.

It's advantage is the alpha-strike the weapon delivers.

S-Class mods improve the Firing Rate (15% max), Clip size (number of shots before you must reload), Damage (2-3%), Reload Speed (25% max?), the 'burst' cooldown (20% max?), the Clip size (+8 always) and the Shots/Burst (+1 always). S-class modules have 4 of these stats, so if the S-Class you install doesn't have 'Clip Size +8' then it doesn't have any effect on that attribute at all.

NMS suffers from what I call "good enough" syndrome in that if you stick 3 S-Class mods on anything it'll be "good enough" to handle whatever the game throws at you. I wanted my multi-tool to handle the extremes.

Firing Rate is the key stat. The Scatterblaster is great at alpha damage so the faster you can deliver that damage the better off you are. I have an S-Class Alien Pistol and when I focused on this stat (+45% Firing Rate total) it takes vault doors off in 5 shots, 3-shots armored sentinels, nearly kills normal sentinels in 1-shot, and ends pretty much anything else I've aimed it at in 1 shot - abyssal horrors, the bug things at abandoned buildings and in derelict freighters, etc. It takes off Walker armor in one shot, except for the head, which takes two. The 'damage' rating for the weapon is 9400 if you want to compare.

However, due to an intriguing YouTube video I watched today, I decided to test out the second most important stat, and my conclusions basically come down to "what do you primarily do?" and "How do you like the feel of the weapon?"

I consider "Waking up all 11 bug sacks in a derelict freighter" and "It isn't fun unless there are 3 Walkers" to be "extreme" cases. If that is what you are into, then please, enlighten me! Otherwise, blowing off a vault door to get inside NOW, blasting the first-wave sentinel reinforcement NOW, and maybe executing a Quad NOW are more typical situations. Predators and sentinels that you can ambush don't even count.

After fairly exhaustive testing it was Firing Rate (most important) and then Shots/Burst that gave me the best results. I don't mind the 'pause' between bursts when everything is gone, and I don't mind reloading often. It becomes second nature to hit 'R' after each encounter. Longer battles such as Corrupted Sentinels are a little more challenging but you naturally can move laterally while reloading and dodge their fire. As I said above, it's all about the 'feel' of the weapon to you.

So, what say you, NMS Vets? Have you found a different secret formula that delivers better results? If so, I think the community could benefit. I certainly could. Otherwise, for anyone who *hasn't* taken out a Walker with ease (that'd be me after about 1200 hours game-time), the Scatterblaster is your best friend. But wear some S-Class Defense mods too.

PS I normally only play on permadeath, so I'm pretty cautious with how I go about attacking stuff.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Any of the MT variations work fine once you are fully upgraded. It comes down to what turns your crank on which you pick. You may be right if the game actually had a challenge...but unfortunately it does not so any tool type is equally OP for anything you have to shoot.

[m1a93]

To me what is important is how many slots for mod are on the multi-tool. Class doesn't matter, unless it does some unnatural dmg, without mods attached.
Then it's clip size and fire rate for the scatterblaster.

I have one muil-tool and two weapons, scatterblaster and a long range weapon. But I would like to try out whatever that explosive weapon mod is, maybe replace the long range weapon.

[knighttemplar1960]

Other than the cannon, which has deadly ricochet, the scatter blaster is the best weapon for the multitool especially in permadeath BUT you are over looking a few things. The scatter blaster actually has a small AOE (I don't know if its a bug or not). With practice, If you line the sentinels up, and make sure that they are close to you and to each other, you can consistently damage 2 of them and sometimes damage 3 of them.

All that said I have the bolt caster, the pulse spitter AND the Scatter blaster installed in my multitool for permadeath. The Bolt caster has long range. If you have a personal shield installed in your multi tool and strategically use hills, you can take out a walker with just that and some time without taking any damage.

For the rest I use all 3 weapons. When sentinels are approaching I use the long range of the bolt caster. If I back up while firing I can take out 1 or 2 sentinels before thy get close enough to return fire. When they get closer I switch to the pulse spitter since its good at medium range, and then as they make the final close the scatter blaster finishes off the wave.

Then I hit "R" on all 3 and am ready for the next wave. I never run completely out of ammo during an encounter because I use all three weapons.

On the off mischance that I run out of ammo while taking on quads. You can reload while the personal shield is active. Reloading doesn't drop the shield.

[raybow33]

With the proper S-class or X-class modules, being 6 the SB will fire up to 5 times in a row before there is a pause. With the proper S or X-class shield modules the drones can shoot you all day long and you will have no damage. The damage indicator will never appear. The damage indicator does show for the ship with 6 modules, so I usually take the drones out last and take care of what I was doing before that with no worries. So it depends on how you have yourself setup.

[Sekzon]

well I don't play on permadeath mode but I am pretty much immortal now. don't really pay a lot attention to what S class mod I installed.. just 3 of them. I can stand and get lasered upon and health only slowly dwindles. there is no way I could die. killing a sentinel takes less then a second and you have your shield back.... so yeah just scatterblaster and 3 s class mods plus defensive s class mods. even have free slots in multitool because I don't see the point in the cannon and the other firing modes.

[Tom]

All this is great fun, but the starter multitool with a boltcaster and maybe one small upgrade is all you need for anything except the big walker. Even a dog can be taken down with the boltcaster if you've got your act together (I've posted earlier on how to do it). Same thing with the armored doors on the buildings. And if you know how to point the thing at what you're shooting there's no need for a shotgun.

Here's a discussion about using a starter tool with an un-upgraded boltcaster to blow the armored doors, and another post a little way down talks about smoking a dog with the same weapon. My posts are toward the bottom of the thread:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/1743358239830417957/?ctp=2