Guard Dog useless?

[=][=Maxim #37=][=]

So, we got Guard Dog and then there is Guard Dog Rover. However after players unlock Rover variant regular Guard Dog is kinda forgoten. Why? Because Rover goes into "cooldown" period after shooting while standard guard dog becomes useless after it uses all ammo. Worst, the only way to get it work again is to call in supply pod since ammo crates found on the map DONT resupply ammo for it. WHY? These random ammo boxes resupply freaking RECOILESS ROCKETS.

EDIT1 - Ok, I wasnt clear in this post. LET US RESUPPLY GUARD DOG USING RANDOM AMMO BOXES ON MAP. That would make standard Guard Dog usable. No need to buff it or replace its weapon. It currently has only 6 mags and then its dead weight.

[lilgirlcharlotte]

there are many trash tier stratagems and weapons etc in this game. mayb one day that will change but for now not. the gaurdog with laser is pretty usefull against large swarms of bugs but it will hit your team mates. its kinda the trade off. Also you could have brought a recoilless with backpack wich is more usefull.

[VIRUSOID]

It can become useful if they replace standart liberator with penetrator on it

[cherub5667]

I find the guarddog useful against bugs, it keeps the small ones off you while you focus on the bigger threats. But I'm talking about the laser one, the ballistic one is trash don't use it.

Yes the laser can and will hit you and your team mates, but the pro's outweigh the cons. Not to mention the laser is also "pointing" to the enemy always showing you where they at.

[Moodyman90]

What's really bad is that as far as where it's listed is concern, you're more likely to get the Rover before the regular one. The Rover version is simply better other than the friendly fire issue because I swear the regular version's rifle is using half size magazines. Feel like I've seen it fire off five shots at the first enemy it sees, goes to reload, and then refuses to target anything else.
What would make it and the Rover version better is being able to see targeting parameters. Mainly to "focus on targets coming from behind" if for no other reason than to give a player some warning before a bug comes up and bites your back.

[Donald j. Trump]

why does every strategem have to be as useful as the next? it's not like if it was as good that you could have both up at the same time.

[Prisoner 76561197992841073]

I accidentally ran with it yesterday instead of the rover. I enjoyed its damage, but this was offset massively by the limited ammo. Overall, I considered it less useful in all situations.

[Mepho]

Originally posted by Donald J. Trump:

why does every strategem have to be as useful as the next? it's not like if it was as good that you could have both up at the same time.

Because then the "less useful" has no purpose in existing.
They should both be useful with different nuances. That's the idea of balance.

It shouldn't even be that they are so good that you can take either for whatever purpose. The ideal would be having meaning in choosing one over the other while keeping their specific effectiveness.

[Tenebris]

Currently, the only way to get more ammo for it is from supply drops, and it takes THREE OF THEM to fully reload it.

So they just need to adjust it's ammo, and it'll be good:

More ammo per clip, restore ammo from regular ammo pickups (1/3 of it's total), and make supply drops restore 1/2.

It'll still have more downtime than the Rover, but it won't be completely useless like it is now.

The biggest reason Rover is better and picked 100% of the time over the ballistic dog is because it basically has 100% uptime and unlimited ammo.

[Hawk]

Originally posted by Donald J. Trump:

why does every strategem have to be as useful as the next? it's not like if it was as good that you could have both up at the same time.

It's about sidegrades, something the devs do not understand, still, after over 7 years.

[Tenebris]

Originally posted by Donald J. Trump:

why does every strategem have to be as useful as the next? it's not like if it was as good that you could have both up at the same time.

Username checks out for such a stupid take.

What's the point in a stratagem existing if there is another that preforms the same job, but better in every way?

Same with Machine gun Sentry when Gatling Sentry exists. Imo, it should work like EAT, have less ammo, but a much shorter cooldown so you can call them faster.

[=][=Maxim #37=][=]

Guard Dog standard variant
- low ammo in magazine
- 6 magazines
- low damage, takes like 3-5 shots to kill small bugs
- cant resupply from ammo crates
- burn through ammo like crazy, out of ammo = dead weight
- Call time cooldown 480 sec

Guard Dog Rover variant
- unlimited ammo
- upon building heat goes to cooldown, only couple seconds
- ridiculously long fire time letting it kill ALOT of bugs
- constant up time
- Call time cooldown 480 sec

As Tenebris pointed out, cooldown is also issue.

[Donald j. Trump]

Originally posted by Mepho:

Originally posted by Donald J. Trump:

why does every strategem have to be as useful as the next? it's not like if it was as good that you could have both up at the same time.

Because then the "less useful" has no purpose in existing.
They should both be useful with different nuances. That's the idea of balance.

It shouldn't even be that they are so good that you can take either for whatever purpose. The ideal would be having meaning in choosing one over the other while keeping their specific effectiveness.

They would have a purpose. you use them at lower levels before you unlock the stronger ones. It is odd that there is an s tier for airstrikes and no one complains about the ones not used but this stratagem has people almost up in arms on its uselessness.

Make Smoke Strike Great Again if we wann go that route.

[acosnil]

Originally posted by Donald J. Trump:

why does every strategem have to be as useful as the next? it's not like if it was as good that you could have both up at the same time.

Because it's a team game, you can only have 4 stratagems per person and every single one you take that isn't useful makes you a burden on your team. And when you pick the Team Killer Special I have to wonder if I'm about to have the next 40 minutes of my life invalidated because you rack up unnecessary team kills on a D9 mission.

[John Digger]

when dev talk ♥♥♥♥♥ about balancing i'm gonna throw this in their face the only reason i didn't do it before is because i forgot we have this

[Mepho]

Originally posted by Donald J. Trump:

They would have a purpose. you use them at lower levels before you unlock the stronger ones. It is odd that there is an s tier for airstrikes and no one complains about the ones not used but this stratagem has people almost up in arms on its uselessness.

Make Smoke Strike Great Again if we wann go that route.

It makes no sense. Straight upgrades that make older "stuff" (be it skills, gear, whatever) obsolete are always complained about for good reason.

If I have skill A that does X thing and at one point I get skill B that does the very same X thing but plain better then A instantly ceases to have reason to exist.

Since in this game we're not going from "orbital strike 1" to "orbital strike 2" but unlocking different stratagems with no linear upgrades, the only way for them to make sense is covering different bases at a somewhat equal level of effectiveness.

It's a hard goal that scales exponentially with the number of options you offer, but that's the theory.