Let's Talk Underbarrel attachments!

[Syrinx The Dragoness ΘΔ]

So I want to continue my impromptu review series by focusing not on a weapon, but attachments this time. For testing purposes, all of these attachments were placed on the faction specific basic assault rifles, which are decent weapons in they're own right.

Grav Stabilizer: This is an interesting choice, as the weapons you can put this on really don't need it. It reduces hip fire recoil and spread, which sounds awesome on paper, but when the basic assault rifles are outclassed in close combat by the light SMG's, the shotguns, and the occasional Jack The Ripper wannabe... This is of questionable utility. Maybe it'll work better with the support rifle or the machine gun, but as far as the basic assault rifle, don't bother.

Shield Projector: I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love this thing. I seriously do. You switch to it, pull the trigger, and the rifle projects a fairly sizable shield in front of you, which can deflect a pretty hefty asking of damage before falling. With four charges, you can drastically improve your living time, and really help with a team push. However, the shield does absolutely nothing against explosions, so it's really countered by the MGL and vehicles. Another fun note is that if a teammate is behind your active shield and it gets shot, you will gain support experience. This stacks with more people behind you.

Flamethrower: You'd think I'd be all over this attachment given my name, but it's seriously underpowered at the moment. You have roughly 45 seconds of fuel, but the damage is stupid low and so is the range. I've been ambushed with a flamethrower using a sniper rifle and a light suit and I survived by outrunning my attacker. The only feasible use the current flamethrower has is a 'smoke screen' because if you're being shot by it, you can't see a damned thing.

Rocket launcher: This is another fun one, for the offensive minded especially. It comes with four rockets, standard, no frills stuff. They do good damage against vehicles, and the splash damage is decent at flushing out people from weird spots. There's not a whole lot to it, but it's still fun, and a good way to pack a punch.

[Whiskey144]

Given that the devs have acknowledged a current bug where hipfire and ADS recoil were somehow swapped, I think that the Grav Clamp will end up being fairly valuable.

At present I find it useful for the SAR and the MGA/TT4; however for the rifles I think that the extra utility of the other underbarrel options would be better; the SAR/MGA/TT4 all have either about double (SAR) or 6-10x the capacity (TT4/MGA) of the rifles.

I tried using the Rocket Launcher, but didn't have much luck... OTOH, it was probably because I tried using it on Irega, which doesn't seem to suit the attachment very well.

[Scabadus]

With the shield projector, can you/your allies shoot out through it or does it block projectiles from both directions?

[Syrinx The Dragoness ΘΔ]

The shield only incoming fire. Outgoing rounds are not stopped.

[Shotgun]

The problem with attachments is that you can't recharge them with ammo boxes. It's also a problem with some of the primary guns, grenades, etc etc. To get more "fun" things, you need to respawn.

[Whiskey144]

Just as an overall note, based on your analysis, I would guess that in terms of 'underpowered/overpowered/useful-just-right/situational', they'd fall into the following categories:

Grav Stabilizer: Situational; some guns will benefit a lot from it, others will be better off with a different choice. I predict that when the ADS/hipfire recoil gets fixed (a bug is currently causing the two values to be swapped), this will have more utility.

Shield Projector: Situational, but Useful; I think that this one will be map/mode dependent. On maps or at points where you're funneled in tight quarters (like, say, boarding assaults), or in particular completing the A1/A2 door hacks on Fortress, it's amazing. On more open maps, it's probably of less utility, due to enemies potentially outmaneuvering the shield itself. Probably the best "all-rounder" choice, TBH.

Flamethrower: Underpowered; at a guess, this is intended to fulfill the 'underbarrel shotgun' niche that other shooters have. The problem is that it sucks at doing that job. Maybe a damage and/or range buff?

Rocket Launcher: Situational, but Useful; more-or-less, it's the same story as the Shield Projector. It's basically down to the fact that the Rocket Launcher's greatest utility seems to be light-AV duty. On some maps- Errah Territories, both flavors of Irega, and the space maps- this is of little-to-zero use. On the other ground maps- Errah, Fortress, and Yin Tao Shan- the open terrain and preponderance of vehicles make it very useful, and an economical AV choice.

One thing I personally am interested in seeing is how the UB Rocket Launcher compares to the MNL, the Avex EVR's heavy auto mode, and the MGs with the AV rounds (when the MGA's ammo is bugfixed to work properly).

Also, I find it a tad annoying that the EVR can't take underbarrel attachments like the DK31 can.

[Whiskey144]

So, a bit of a faux-paus double post, but after using the shield projector/RL a bit, I had some thoughts. I'll start with the latter:

UB RL: Where has this thing been all my life? If I didn't prefer women, I would go for unbarrel rocket launchers. But hey, a woman has an easier time holding conversation (and is easier on the eyes!). In any case, the only thing I dislike is just how limited the ammo supply is. That said, I can definitely see myself running this on my AV loadout with either the Kaller MLI or the Falken RID, faction depending.

Something else I'm considering is combining it with the AIA Avex EVR rifle; combined with the EVR's heavy auto mode, you have a pretty chill anti-light vehicle loadout.

Shield Projector: so far I haven't found a good place to use it; also, @OP, as I was playing against you and you were using it, you seemed to be able to fire while it was active. Intended feature, bug, random weirdness?

If it is indeed possible for it to be active and the player can use their weapon... then that's incredibly powerful, and I think it might actually be a little too good and need to be changed so that it isn't possible; otherwise I fear it may become used by everybody, a requirement to remain competitive.

This being said, I really want to figure out the Shield Projector, because it seems like it would be a great complement to my aggressive super-tank-dude playstyle.

Also, RE: the Grav Clamp and the Flamer... I'm still of the opinion that the Grav Clamp has its uses for certain weapons, while the Flamer needs to be brought up to par; I can currently make convincing arguments as to the value of every underbarrel attachment except the Flamer.

[Syrinx The Dragoness ΘΔ]

The shield projector does seem backwards as hell. You can fire with it active, at the cost of the annoying shield effect being in the way of EVERYTHING you could ever want to do. But when you switch to the shield projector, it deactivates. And while it may be good, it doesn't matter what suit you're running, it's definite hard counter is the MGL. Even a heavy can't take a single shot from it without dying.

Sadly, however, the AIA's EVR plasma rifle cannot accept underbarrel attachments, which is a big let-down to an otherwise fantastic weapon.

[Whiskey144]

I think though, that the counter to the shield projector is a lot more skill-intensive; you pretty much have to land a direct hit, otherwise the grenade rounds bury into the ground and explode about 1-2 seconds later.

That said, I do recall that energy weapons tend to tear up shields very quickly. The DK31 (which, irksomely, can accept underbarrel attachments) and the EVR are both energy weapons, so they might very well be soft counters to the shield projector.

With that considered, I do wonder how the UB RL and the dedicated AV weapons would fare against the shield projector.

Late Edit: the plasma cannon on the back of a Silverback buggy managed to drop the shield in 2-3 hits; I'd say that the EVR and the DK31 might actually be good counters (though require quite a few more shots than a vehicle-mounted weapon).

[Syrinx The Dragoness ΘΔ]

I didn't know energy weapons did more damage to the shield, I never noticed it if I ever got shot by any. All I know is that it doesn't stop explosions for crap, and makes them explode RIGHT in your face.

As for the MGL, any grenade that hits that large shield does full damage to the operator. So it gives plenty of leeway for an aspiring grenadier to paint with body parts.