Relation MGs and primaries

[Snobby Hobo]

I'm still struggling to find a good balance. The MGs are both good weapons - being able to pump out a lot of damage. Especially the Stelwart I think is bizarrely underappreciated at the moment.

Going for an MG basically forces you into going for the ammunition backpack as well (or at least, with randoms) - which is fine. The issue is that the MG seems to invalidate the need for a primary weapon, which is kind of just... there. The primary weapons offer incredibly little utility in their current state.

The Redeemer is an obvious pick with MGs simply because it still provides utility: it deals intense damage as a simple magdump backup. But I have not found a single primary that fits a similar role. What primary weapons make most sense when running a MG and why?

[Nick Walker II]

Maybe the diligence for long range?

[Snobby Hobo]

Originally posted by Nick Walker II:

Maybe the diligence for long range?

I tried that. Tried the counter sniper rifle too, but at any range you would be shooting the MGs are still better once you know how to spread control them.

[Seth Abercromby]

The MG reinforces your primary by covering situations it can't handle well itself. If you use the liberator, the MG is much more effective at dealing with the larger and armored bugs that the rifle struggles with, but then you can switch back to your rifle to clean up the smaller targets and conserve MG ammo. If you use a shotgun it's the same deal but the MG also lets you engage targets at longer ranges.

The stalwart is easier to reload, but the MG tears larger targets to absolute shreds.

[Snobby Hobo]

Originally posted by Seth Abercromby:

The MG reinforces your primary by covering situations it can't handle well itself. If you use the liberator, the MG is much more effective at dealing with the larger and armored bugs that the rifle struggles with, but then you can switch back to your rifle to clean up the smaller targets and conserve MG ammo. If you use a shotgun it's the same deal but the MG also lets you engage targets at longer ranges.

The stalwart is easier to reload, but the MG tears larger targets to absolute shreds.

I have quite literally never run out of ammo opting for the resource backpack with the Stelwart. It regains two full magazines upon a restock. The only reason I ever use anything but the MG is when I need to reload and haven't got the time to - and that's what the Redeemer is for.

[Slothy-Toppy]

I've been soloing on extreme and I bring an MG and use that almost exclusively. You get more than enough ammo, and it can deal with any threat aside from Armored targets. I only switch to primary or secondary to clear stragglers before reloading.

[🚛 Akehiko ⬛️💀🟧]

The assault rifle with medium armor piercing rounds or the DMR

But I usually always run the shotgun as a fallback weapon when you need to reload since I like the 7.62 MG better than the 5.56 MG even though it has a ridiculious 3rd fire rate option

[VoiD]

MGs are great, specially the first one, it handles like ♥♥♥♥, but it can pierce anything under heavy armor, so you can really use it to wipe out anything else in your path, the other MG's bullets bounce off the carapace of many medium bugs so I don't find it to be any more useful than regular primary weapons.

The only issue with MGs is the lack of a proper anti armor option, it takes the 3rd weapon slot, and there are no real alternatives for anti heavy armor on the first 2 slots, so you'll need to pray your teamates are better equiped to handle them for you, or simply run while using stratagems once in a while, hoping they deal enough damage to handle the 3 tanks, 4 hulks or 6 chargers chasing your ass.

It's good in a team with good synergy and some organization, but I find it too risky to not have a build capable of doing it all with random teams. Which is why the Railgun is so "OP".

[ImHelping]

Sadly it is a grind issue more than a skill issue if you want to love MG life.

The destroyer upgrade so your support weapon spawns with FULL AMMO instead of partial is more important than the support pack.

If you want to conserve ammo on trash, the fact you can change the rate off fire on weapons SHOULD BE TOLD TO YOU IN GAME. Instead of not knowing until a internet stranger tells you (also support weapons reset their RoF every time instead of keeping your preference).

Stalwart even on max RoF can feel iffy on anything important it can technically hurt through light armor, but sometimes the ability to reload while moving is just that important. Jumbo machinegun is still a workhorse at minimum RoF you can crank up when the big boys come calling.... but again, that feels awkward compared to "Or... use a gun allowed to hurt good by default"

MGs are also a weapon that SHOULD be overall useful, but even the large MG is overly weak against enemies it can armor penetrate, and squishy "Weak points" are not actually weak unless you use explosives, etc. Driving you to pray for level 10 to take an autocannon instead on top.

Recoilless and autocannons have not too bad aim even without the recoil buff when crouched armor. MG can feel iffy if you are aiming for precision points at a target slowly walking towards you without that perk, which feels even more wild after spending a while no-scoping dropships out of the air with rockets.

Currently it feels one of the main appeals of the MG is "You can't accidentally annihilate yourself with a point blank panic shot against a stalker that jumped you/you somehow live but your teammate dies when you get ragdolled in front of their shot"

MG are the safest support weapons to use, and it seems like a lot of devs the power scale of weapons is based on "QoL=nerf that ♥♥♥♥. Only grant power based on annoyance of index finger strain"

[Lunaire]

Originally posted by VoiD:

it handles like ♥♥♥♥

Go belly flop. It becomes super stable once you're on your belly.

[Wulfen]

Originally posted by Snobby Hobo:

I'm still struggling to find a good balance. The MGs are both good weapons - being able to pump out a lot of damage. Especially the Stelwart I think is bizarrely underappreciated at the moment.

Going for an MG basically forces you into going for the ammunition backpack as well (or at least, with randoms) - which is fine. The issue is that the MG seems to invalidate the need for a primary weapon, which is kind of just... there. The primary weapons offer incredibly little utility in their current state.

The Redeemer is an obvious pick with MGs simply because it still provides utility: it deals intense damage as a simple magdump backup. But I have not found a single primary that fits a similar role. What primary weapons make most sense when running a MG and why?

I play with a full friend group and I bring the Stalwart for bugs for crowd control. It's very difficult to properly deal with heavy units when being swarmed by smaller bugs.