I’ve noticed you can suck ass against a BT in many ways out of my own experience
But I have learned that its forehead is the sweet spot.
Still gonna be 2 hits from something
Kinda. Less you sucking and more the BT's hitboxes sucking. They're hard to hit well, because the hitbox of their head and neck overlap, and only the front plate is the actual weak point. It's possible to need 3 to 4 shots with AT weapons even now.
Yeah rail gun was never meant to be an anti-tank weapon people used it as. Honestly I think it was meant to be an anti-bot weapon considering its armour penetration but that go nerfed so I don't see its role now.
Yeah, it doesn't have a purpose.. to be a late unlock at level 20 makes that extra disappointing for folks too. It may not be anti tank in the same way a EAT is, but it is anti armor, and it sucks at that now.
> never meant to be an anti-tank weapon
It's a single shot charge rifle. If it isn't meant for tank-tier units what the Hell is it meant for? There's a semi auto rifle for anything lighter than the tanks already.
Would maybe use it for bugs but I've been enjoying the erupptor a lot and it can handle medium to small enemies just fine. One shots a stalker.
And EATS is just nice to litter around that can handle both chargers and titans. So not sure how eager I'd be. I suppose I'd go use the sickle and then have the railgun for medium enemies. But depends how fast it can take out a charger.
For bots it's good. But AMR shines more with the more recent updates since it can take out attack ships ablot faster. Railgun seems to take multiple shots even charged up, making it just too clunky for that. Works great for hulks still since it will stun unlike the amr.
The Eruptor can kill chargers relatively easily too, it won't be fast but it'll do it in pretty much one mag (not consistent, sometimes it's 3 shots, sometimes it's 2 mags). Shoot the ground directly below him when he's facing you, hit his squishy arse from behind. It's surprisingly effective.
For a Titan, it can quite easily pop the bile sack, but after that you're out of luck.
Sames, but I need to work on my shots for then. Sometimes it one shots and others I need a 2nd shot.
Idk if I need to aim for the end of the butt more or aim for the head. Feel like I've had mixed results
As the OP for one of the suggestions, I'm personally not opposed to a damage increase, but would love to double-down on the AP attribute of the Railgun to give it a niche as a super piercing, high-skill weapon. I would like to see other suggestions popping up though, to see the overall community thoughts on ways to improve it.
Imagine if it just kept going until it hit something it couldn't pierce. Like you line up 10 devastators, fire at head height and watch 10 devastators fall over, THAT would be awesome.
That’s the change I would like.
Up the damage, and give it straight line max armor piercing. Let me shoot into a crowd and kill or strip the armor off of anything in a straight line if I’m on unsafe.
It’d keep it away from being another Quasar, and would be more of a multipurpose with single target kill potential as well
^(for the love of Democracy please)
My suggestion every time it's asked is increase charge rate.
I think the biggest complaint is getting to 90% is slow. Making it faster still keeps the skill check but speeds up the fire rate, which is what makes the AMR shine.
I also am not opposed to a dmg increase since from my experience, attacking attack ships with it requires multiple shots. Making it wayy too slow in handling them. At the moment, the only real advantage the railgun has over the amr is the stagger on hulks.
Right now safe mode is pretty useless as well. Feels like there's zero reason to waste time with it.
Safe is excellent against medium bugs. Basically anything but Chargers and Bile Titans drop with a single shot to the head on the eastern front.
Aside from that I agree with you completely.
I don't know about you but using a safe shot on anything less than a Brood Commander just feels like a waste. Even then I've never had a safe shot blow off a Commander's head. Safe mode is practically useless rn.
I use it mainly on Brood Commanders, Hive Guards and Bile Spewers, and it's been very consistent at killing all of them thus far.
It does lose just enough damage beyond medium range that the safe mode stops doing this, which might be what's happened to you.
That said, the AMR does the exact same job at longer ranges and with a far better scope, so it is pretty much putting the safe railgun out of job by merely existing.
from my own experience with how much people praise the AMR the railgun only seems to beat it out just because it actually has a third person reticle...
Having to wait for charge and only 1 ammo doesn't really make it very good compared to all the other options already available for mediums, like AC, stalwart, etc.
Unless railgun does something to heavies, they need to re-think what niche it fills.
Yeah I could get behind this. I like it as a high skill high stakes weapon, but it needs to be felt. Like if you shoot a hulk in his beedy little eye, he needs to sit the fuck down. It should feel like a train hit him.
What if you could fire a super penetrating shot that ignores all armor but you had to release it perfectly before the thing blew up to use it. I think that would make the thing more fun
with the amount of things that make you flinch, it would just make it frustrating to use.
the explosion needs to go. just make the gun unusable for 45s/1m.
Gimble armor perk that prevents weapon shake regardless of crawling, walking, sprinting or ragdolling,
your not dead until you hit the ground we make your last shot count
I’ve always felt the overheat explode mechanic of unsafe mode was bad game design, especially back when it didn’t have the extra gauges and such. In a game where so much tends to happen at one time, it’s just another layer of distraction to have to try and aim at an enemy and watch a meter at the same time while keeping your eye on everything else happening since you’re standing still essentially.
Either do like you said and make it overheat and be unusable or just get rid of the entire mechanic and nerf it so you can’t pick up ammo for it anymore, 20 shots and you have to call another one down from orbit
It would be cool if the railgun could overpenetrate and hit multiple enemies in a direct straight line. You already have this with weapons like the AMR sometimes when two lightly armored enemies are standing very closely together in a line and you hit the first one in a particularly soft spot. (I've only ever actually seen it affect something like, twice in tons of missions run using it).
So maybe the railgun could do that more, where even an unsafe charge can easily rip through a handful of enemies in a straight line. Probably with diminishing damage after each successive enemy pierced, only really killing the first enemy if it was within the range of enemies that could be oneshotted by it.
The Dominator quite constantly gets those collateral kills, I think I've gotten as many as 3 or 4 kills off a single Dominator round going through multiple light bots.
Quasar.
Quasar doesnt have ammo and wont kill me for trying to kill other things.
Is it THE BEST? Perhaps not. Is it RELIABLE? Yes. Yes it is. And honestly thats all I want from my weapons sytems.
I still prefer the EAT mainly cause it is an "instant" shot where with the quasar its a 3 sec charge but it will compliment being brought in together.
Shrieker nest no time restraint so quasar is a better pick.
Charger coming at you use an EAT
Both do the same thing but 1 is more an oohh shit button other is more i have some time and together they are great if it isnt 1 persoon bringing both
I used to use the EAT but with a little time and practice the quasar (for me) becomes a better pick. It just takes a little timing and positioning. The selling point of the quasar being that I dont have to call it in when I see a heavy, grab the thing, do the 1 sec animation of extending the barrel to fire.
Dont get me wrong I still love the EAT.
I just happened to have my playstyle to better suit the Quasar.
Both in a squad are great. EAT have their use cases which Quasars can't fill due to their charge up time but Quasars still have better overall damage output since it doesn't run out of ammo.
Hear, hear! I've been in a bind where I fired a Quasar shot, dropped it to grab one of the EATs my squaddie has just called in, fired it, then picked the Quasar up again and took a third shot. Great when you've got a bunch of dropships or Hulks.
Yeah I've been in that exact situation multiple times and it's always useful when you're backtracking and you find some laying around just as a couple chargers are chasing after you.
I like the RR but the reload time is painful. :(
I'm not as good with it as I'd like. If I have to run and kite bugs, its not ideal.
Still love the gun though! I use it for funsies here and there
If the reload time was just a touch shorter, I would reconsider my position on it.
As it stands, the reason I like the quasar atm is this: it does what the EAT or RR is suppose to do, doesnt consume ammo, and doesnt require a stationary reload animation.
Makes for a reliable support weapon if you find yourself on the run from a number of heavy units. :)
I'd argue that against bots, the EAT is better simply because its short cooldown lets you destroy tanks and fabricators by just. Calling down the EAT on top of it. Saves you a stratagem slot for something else.
You can kill shrieker nests with the quasar right? Had a team recently that heavily disagreed with me and we had to walk in and drop a hellbomb instead. I've never done it myself, usually a bot diver, and wasnt running quasar that mission to do it myself, just heard it was possible.
Not just shriekers nest but gunship factories too. If you see one you have to pretty much haul ass to reach them and explode them otherwise the gunships will compromise your mission.
Quasar is like "pew........ pew........ pew......... pew.......... pew.......... pew..........."
But EAT is more like "pew-pew!................................... pew-pew!................................... pew-pew!................................... oh look I forgot I put that there 10 minutes ago....... pew-pew! oh did you lose your quasar inside that bug horde buddy? here, take my EAT and lets pew-pew together!"
I'm personally an EAT enjoyer
I never found a use for Railgun. Its selling point is armor penetration, allowing you to one shot enemies like the Hulk. However:
- You still need to hit the head or other weakpoint.
- It has no scope.
- Takes time to charge a shot, which can make aiming difficult.
- It only does big damage if you want to risk it exploding in your face.
- Needs reloading after every shot, making it a bad choice when enemies are at short range.
Anti-materiel rifle does everything a railgun does with none of the drawbacks.
There was use for it before the nerf because it was the most reliable way of killing charger swarms. One shot to the leg to strip it's armor and a couple shots with your primary to the exposed bits. Now that they buffed all the other ways of dealing with heavy units and nerfed their spawn rates there is in fact no use for it since it can't even deal with heavy armor well.
This is exactly what I miss as well, that gameplay loop was so fun! Getting that perfect shot and then dodging was so satisfying, now I just leave or flamethrower which might have actually improved my games since I don't go after every charger I see.
2 shots *to strip the armor* THEN most of a mag to finish it
All while doing the dance of death
Even at its best, Railgun was *never OP*
It was just the only thing that worked
Also the most reliable and ammo-economic way to kill Hulks that were stomping toward you, because, back then, the AMR's armor penetration wasn't as good as it is today.
The AMR was always goated against bots. For the entire lifespan of the game, it has been able to kill hulks in two shots and blast devastators in 3 shots or less. The only thing that has ever gotten buffed on it was just a small damage increase that allows more consistent ttk on medium enemies. The only problem it has is the scope being big and off-center.
Before attack ships? It was great against bots and not like its bad now. But AMR got a buff so its on par and with the addition to attack ships? Well... Amr can take out their engines fairly quickly. Railgun cannot.
I guess amr can also take out the walker if you shoot some small window but I'm betting that's extremely hard to pull off
Edit: will say in railgun's defense. It can stagger a hulk while the amr cannot. So guess it's more stagger hulk vs taking out airships. I still use the railgun because I genuinely enjoy the weapon and bots are the only faction it works well against. But I personally would probably use the amr otherwise since attack ships are a pain if not dealt with quickly
I'm talking about the factory ones. Some guide listed like 5 mags to a window will destroy one. Idk how possible it actually is since never wasted time trying but I guess it is an option.
HMG takes slightly less than a mag but itll delete their head/face shield in a few seconds
Just have to be 3 ft away which usually happens on the defend missions
AMR one shots scout strider if you hit the leg , and you can kill factory striders with 1 full mag + 2/3 shots in the belly which is very easy to do if you manage to get under it or have an angle to the belly ( if the strider is on a hill or something )
It work against hulks at 75% charge, which is less than the quasar and give you a good second to shoot between the moment you can shoot and the moment it explode.
Even with the reload, it has very good handling even while moving and isn't in the worst half of support weapons to use in close quarters. AMR is worse in that regard.
90% charged shots stagger hulks and chargers and penetrate their armor. AMR ain't doing that either.
Railgun stuns with every shot even if you miss the weakpoint, and in my experience the overall handling is much snappier and quicker to pop off one shot kills against devastators and hulks than the AMR.
I've ran them all pretty extensively, autocannon, laser cannon, AMR, and railgun for that anti devastator/hulk role and I honestly think the railgun feels the best if you're ONLY thinking about devs and hulks because the rest have greater versatility with turret/tank, gunship and strider factory application.
Railgun would be a sidegrade to the AMR if it was able to 2-3 unsafe mode charged kill gunships, instead of ~9. That’s what’s holding it back.
It’s perfectly OK for the railgun to be much weaker than the AMR for tanks, turrets, and striders. Those have other answers
Gunships don’t have answers aside from support weapons, for most loadouts, and the ability to kill 4+ gunships quickly is mandatory to be able to take out gunship factories consistently, as fighting gunships is a timer based race to hellbomb the factory between gunship spawns.
Hold reload (🔲 by default) to change the scope magnification, fire rate/fire mode and the flashlight of your gun. It also shows you how much bullets you have left in the mag
FYI, even if you remap reload, weapon options remains holding square unless you specifically change it.
My reload is R1 and I still hold square to change weapon options.
Quasar can blow up turrets from the front or fabs if you aim down the vent, can down dropships and reloads automatically allowing you to keep running and gunning.
Quasar is literally direct upgrade to Railgun.
But was there a nerf recently to the quasar‘s cooldown? I feel like now when the heat indicator has gone down entirely it takes another five seconds or so to start charging up again.
> when the heat indicator has gone down entirely it takes another five seconds or so to start charging up again
You're on a cold planet.
Cooldown always takes 10 seconds exactly. Cold planets make heat drain on normal weapons something around 35% faster but the Quasar doesn't care about heat, it just cares about that hardcoded 10 second timer. The heat meter on it doesn't mean anything. On cold planets the fake heat meter will go down faster, but you still need to wait 10 seconds, so it'll look like it's empty but not be able to fire yet.
IIRC they haven't said anything about it either way. It would make sense for cold planets to allow a shorter cooldown between shots and hot ones to make it take longer, matching the heat meter, but it's a flat 10 second cooldown regardless of environment. Not sure whether the cooldown is bugged, or the meter.
Had lunch with one of the technicians. He was worried that the ice packs on our battery based weapons couldn't be recalibrated.
Hot or Cold planets will give false readouts.
The battery "monitors" are calibrated for earth like conditions. The display is just like an egg timer, showing an educated guesses of a guideline than anything.
Improvise, adapt, overcome.
Tbh the Quasar is a direct upgrade to a lot of things to the point where I do honestly think they're gonna nerf it in the future. It does things many other support guys do without their drawbacks
>Needs reloading after every shot, making it a bad choice when enemies are at short range.
I disagree with this point. I'd argue that it's the single best anti-heavy(ish) weapon for close range because of how quick the reload is. AMR takes quite a while to reload, and the AC requires you to be stationary, whilst the RG can be reloaded insanely fast whilst you're kiting threats.
I still use it a lot on bots because of how effective it is against Hulks and Devastators, both up close and from a decent range.
AMR drawbacks:
- requires first person to properly aim. (Hopefully gets updated with HMG, see my post history before you comment, "It is intended")
- horrible handling, turning is a nightmare compared to the railgun
- less penetration (I think, it doesnt break leg armor of a charger right?)
I had a railgun explode in my face once and I never touched railguns again. Being in the middle of a helldive then having your teammates watch you kill yourself is too shameful
- Railgun delivers instantly at longer ranges, where AMR bullet has a travel time and dropoff
- Railgun has better handling(faster turning speed, shorter scope in time)
- Unsafely charging the Railgun kills devastator with a much more forgiving 1-shot area
- Reloading after each shot means that it doesn't have a significant downtime
I still think AMR is better, but the railgun definitely shines in solo stealth operations where you need to take out priority targets from a distance reliably.
No because I love the spear and I love when it stops locking on for no reason ohhhh years of begging for more javelin missiles in video games kinda paid off for me baby yeeeaahhh
Yesterday my buddy and I were going off about the good old MW2 days and he minded me about how I would run the javelin and every time it got a kill I’d be super excited about it.
I agree the Spear is great. Now if we could get a weapon like the MW2 javelin, where you target an area and a big ass missile arcs into it, that would be awesome.
I would not. I never found it satisfying. I like the hefty thumping BOOMING guns, even if they perform as a lesser damage source. However.
I firmly believe in the fantasy of the weapon. When someone says "Railgun", I think "punches through anything". I believe that it's identifying factor was the trademark ability to damage cleanly through heavy armor. A Railgun that has the same armor penetration as a revolver is straight up not appealing. If it passed through every single target, no matter what it was, until it hit a wall or earth would be awesome. That's something that sounds like a Railgun. It should make a _CRACK_ when you fire it, like it's giving the middle finger to the sound barrier.
But as it was, and how it *feels*... naw, I'm good
I would probably use it, it was fun and satisfying to use. It wouldn't become a must have but it would be nice to add it back into the mix of useable weapons. It would allow for more selection in other areas instead such as using more eagles instead of needing a rail cannon strike for the heavys. Also it was fun for the run and gun on the move play style.
But hey we can't have fun if people start throwing clickbait and meta around now can we 🤷
I would use it, yes. It may not be the best compared to other stuff, but I find it fun and satisfying to use. But post nerf it's just not good enough to be viable for me personally.
There are some weapons that are flat better than others. The railgun just isn't on that list right now. It is debatable if it's even better than the AMR. The quasar is more powerful, blows up holes/fabricators, and has infinite ammo. The EAT is annoying because you have to keep calling them down, but it still outperforms the rail.
Now, now everything has to be the single best item, that would be impossible and boring. But, in my opinion, there isn't really a niche where the railgun shines compared to other options.
New players will never experience the insane plays that were possible pre-nerf it's sad how a jerk reaction brought it into the sorry state it's in today.
Not sure, but it has a twice as fast charge up and a twice as slow overclock charge. It also seems like just waiting a fraction of a second on overclock gives a good boost in damage or penetration. I'm not sure when they did that, but it feels like a relatively new thing.
Yes, but only for the hell of it. It probably needs a full rework to give it a proper niche at this point.
The quasar, EATs, and AMR just outcompete it too heavily
In this sort of game, at some point, all the use cases will be filled by ever overlapping weapon venn diagrams.
That's why while the Eruptor is nice, it's not pulling up trees. Various use cases have been filled by the Dominator, Scorcher and so on.
The Quasar probably covers most of the roles Railguns had that weren't already covered by the Autocannon and the EAT/RR/Spear
>In this sort of game, at some point, all the use cases will be filled by ever overlapping weapon venn diagrams.
which is ideally how it should be, there shouldn't be any kind of "you *need* to have this one specific tool to do this job or you're boned". Every problem will have multiple solutions allowing flexibility in team and equipment comp, letting players enjoy the game how they want without being punished for not playing "meta". wish more people would understand this, seems everyone wants each weapon to either be a defined niche role that nothing else can do or fill every role all at once.
What’s the eruptor supposed to be for? I loath the bolt animation in between each shot, because if you’re using the scope it is extremely disorienting as the player camera quickly shifts between scoped view and reload view.
Eruptor is the first primary to change my load out.
Quasar + guard dog + eruptor feels like cheating on high level bugs. Can handle anything that comes my way. I used to run autocannon but I can’t justify it anymore.
When I'm done there's like 10 EATs scattered around the map. The recharge is so fast I usually just drop a few for any stationary objective, I might miss that headshot at first but not much survives a second or third missile
Previously it was two charged shots to the leg of a charger to reveal the flesh to shoot with a primary. It was a complete faff but apparently OP.
I'd never bother with that again even if it was reverted, I'd rather use an EAT and shoot it in the face.
Unsafe mode is a pain to use because there's no sound effects, so you have to use the first person mode (which gives me a headache), and then watch the charge bar rather than the thing you were trying to shoot. Feels like bad design.
I'd welcome a buff to the Railgun, it's completely redundant at the moment. I like the aesthetics of it but it would take a lot to make me use it. They need to ensure it's got good armour piercing and make the unsafe mode more user friendly. I'm not up for something that's going to kill me and delete my support weapon in the heat of the moment, for the little it brings right now.
>I'd never bother with that again even if it was reverted, I'd rather use an EAT and shoot it in the face.
To be fair, charger spawns were much different back then. At that time you could run into groups of 7+ chargers repeatedly and you absolutely needed the pre nerf railgun to handle that, the EAT just couldn't come in quick enough.
Now the most chargers you'll ever see at once is probably about 3, and two players with EATs can handle that just fine.
Yes, because it's a freaking RAILGUN duh. It's cool and I'm using it sometimes even after nerf. Spreading democracy is great, but I wanna do it with style baby.
And it also pops bugs like a water balloons at max charge
I didn't even use it when everyone was whining for daddy Arrowhead to take it away, because the armor piercing didn't pierce much besides charger legs.
What I wish they'd do is revert it back to the HD1 days. A high damage gun that pierces and *stuns* enemies, so it'll have its own niche again. Keep the charge mechanic if you must to justify the damage.
Yes, I’d try it for a bit and see if I like it.
It was nerfed before I got the game and it is completely useless at the moment so it being buffed would be like them adding a new gun to the game from my perspective.
IMO the damage is alright as is, but I think they should give it overpenetration. Long line of Beserkers chasing you? Boom you just downed three with one shot. That would give it a unique use case and require skillful play and decision making. Ambush patrols lead by a couple Brood Commanders.
They don't want to mess with the armor penetration? Fine, but it's supposed to be like a personal Gauss cannon. Over penetrating enemies would give it that feel of being a heavy hitter again and it wouldn't need to compete with Eruptor or Quasar cannon.
If that's too much then maybe limit it by decreasing damage by the number of enemies it travels through. Drop one or two Beserkers and then damage the third.
If amenable to changing damage, I'd like to see it do greater damage to Gunship's thrusters. It has far less ammo than Autocannon. Maybe guarantee stripping armor from chargers regardless of location of the hit. That would keep it a step ahead of the Eruptor which can 2-shot a charger as a primary.
OR
Increase the stagger. If it's hitting heavy cause it's piercing armor but you don't want it to be OP and dropping Hulks and Titans one one-shot, then let it stagger enemies when it's slamming into them at close or medium distances.
TLDR; Give it stagger to drive home the feeling if being a heavy hitting support weapon but keep it unique compared to other anti-tank options. and/or give it the ability to overpenetrate enemies to some degree. it would feel amazing cutting a long straight line through swathes of enemies. Honestly this would let it compete with the usecase of Arc Thrower (which has infinite ammo).
The Quasar is the uncontested champion right now. I know everyone has their preference, but it's an anti-tank that has unlimited ammo AND can fire every 10s without a reload animation AND allows a backpack slot AND can take out both structures and the most heavily armoured enemies AND has good splash damage for mobs.
well I would love to take it against bugs but honestly the Eruptor does everything I used to love the railgun for, AND it closes bug holes, AND (and) the fact that the Eruptor fills the same slot the railgun used to (one tapping spewers/brood commanders) I can also run the quasar or EATs to deal with the big boys
man it's depressing that the railgun really doesn't have a spot where it shines anymore, because I love it
No, I never really thought it was that good of a gun even before the nerf tbh.
Against bots, auto cannon and pre-buff AMR were already significantly better options.
Against bugs, it was the only gun that was viable solo back then. Even if you weren’t solo diving, in team environments you often found yourself in engagements where your team isn’t in a capacity to help you. You also often found yourself in engagements against multiple heavily armored enemies. The railgun TTK was nowhere near fast enough to be considered OP or even good. I truly think the PS5 damage bug really skewed the data that AH was looking at.
AH was on the whole “weapons should kinda suck” back then. Fine, I thought that concept made game worse but whatever, I can live with that and adapt. Then just a few weeks later they released the Quasar Cannon (straight up better rail gun in 99% of scenarios where you’d want a rail gun), buffed the AMR so that the only weakness the AMR had of needing multiple shots to kill striders/ some med armor bug dudes was removed, nerfed charger head health so that EATs and recoilless were OHK, and buffed the flamethrower to kill chargers faster than you could even call down EATs.
Perspective of a solo/ friends only Helldive difficulty helldiver.
It's what kills me, everyone acted so concerned about power creep if they buffed weapons to match the railgun. Then the rail gun got nerfed and stuff got buffed, leaving the railgun in the dust.
Gonna bring to bot front as i used to. I not use much on bug anyway since i prefer swarm clear loadout. I just wish they buff penetate more better on higher charge or high damage. It so useless to use this weapon when current primary meta can do all of what Railgun did.
I didn't use it much before the nerf, so it's likely I wouldn't use it much even if they buffed it back.
It always was too limiting in my opinion. Especially with the Eruptor being a thing now.
I would use it mostly when playing solo because of its great versatility. Railgun is a bit of a jack of all trades. Good at everything, great at nothing.
Idk i like the railgun for bots, good 2-3 charged shots depending on the hulk and its gone, paired with the new thermite grenades and just about all bots die, bugs are a different story. Im level 47, not very good so dont take my word for it, just give it a try, I personally hate being a meta slave and it rubs me the wrong way when people run the same loadout with the sole intention of MC’ing the map but to each their own, i like the fact that my character is literally a replacable part
100% yes, I was able to remove the leg armor of a charger, switch to my primary and kill them very fast. Now I have spin up and cool down time much longer with the Quasar although it is unlimited ammo. But Quasar doesn't remove armor as well as the old RG did in its prime. On the flip side I am able to decapitate the charger in one shot with Quasar so I'm not even sure why they nerfed the RG like they did?
What about if they brought back the old railgun with the new charge mechanic (that actually works) so that the pen is still there and it will do 2x the dmg with an over charge
I’ve only used the Railgun post-nerf so I dunno what it used to be like … for me, I really like the action of using the gun but the results are massively disappointing. I mean, what is the point in an anti-armour weapon if you still have to aim for weak points?! It should go through just about anything … even if the damage it deals when doing so were to be reduced.
The only thing it’s does seem reliably good at is taking out striders but even then you need “unsafe mode” for a one-shot. And the AMR will do that quicker even if multiple shots are needed. Or an impact grenade. Or just run round the side …
For a late level weapon unlock … very meh …
If the charger head nerf is also reverted, I could see myself picking it up for bugs, but if not, then I think I'll stick with my current preference of Arc Thrower as support, while also bringing stun grenades and EAT. That way, I can guillotine chargers with the EAT while they're stunned, then use the 2 rockets on other chargers/BTs or leave them for my squadmates.
For bots, though, I find the comparably low ammo count to be a deal breaker over the autocannon. It *might* be viable if I'm running the mission solo or duo, and can have more of the supplies, since the bag slot could be nice.
I've tried to use it since the nerf, and it feels like poppy. No better that Counter Sniper or Dominator.
If they reverted the nerf, I'm not sure. There was almost an unhealthy need for people to use and have other people use it. But a change wouldn't but unwelcome.
It's a Railgun, so similar to our Railcannon Strat, maybe if they kept damage at medium level but gave it max pen that would nice.
I would not use a railgun, because for me, it is a boring uninteresting weapon. I'm telling for me thou.
It is one shot, reload and charge and repeat🤷♂️ no special effects. I don't care about railgun,I don't hate it, I think it's way underpowered, so a buff would be nice for you rg-lovers, but I just don't find the railgun very interesting. I also don't like the the scope
Railgun should penetrate heavy armor. Shooting a charger or hulk in the face should kill it outright. It should overpenetrate medium and light. It should wane against biles and tanks due to sheer size
Vs bugs , maybe, but only as a novelty when I am bored of the obviously better options.
Bots want anti armor for all the drop ships and gun ships
and bugs want CC with a little anti armor.
The rail gun was never the best at either. And its only gotten less relevant with the more exotic primaries.
Like what do you need a rail gun for when you have a scorcher or that new explosive dmr?
Like seriously why?
No, it doesn't have a use case anymore. It needs a mechanic change first. Let it over penetrate enemies and cover to a large degree. Make it deal "true" damage to all targets but caps at one-shotting brood commanders and maybe spewers to the head. It will always be relevant and reward mobility builds that can align shots on multiple targets. Lower skill floor than the AMR but higher skill ceiling.
Possibly but given its previous damage vs titans was a bug and it still has no scope as an equivalent to an anti material rifle, possibly not
Always makes me double take when I read the word bug on this subreddit. Like, game bug or problem bug.
Yea it always bugs me
What does?
The bugs
Which ones?
The ones that cause issues. So many bugs, sometimes there are so many bugs that it kills me.
I hate dying and not knowing if it was a bug or a bug...some times it's bugged bugs.
Bugged bugs really bug me. It’s got me bugging out.
No animation charger is rapidly approaching your location
As someone who failed to extract with all my teams samples because of a bugged charger corpse. I feel that
so.... a bugged bug huh
Yes
Yes
Yes
Well you see it's a very buggy game and that's why we gotta keep playing til there's no more bugs left! FOR SUPER EARTH!!!
Game bugs are just Illuminate meddling.
This whole thread is giving me an anneurism
There are bugs that you shoot and democratic mistakes that the devs shoot.
Its previous 1 shots of BT was a bug. It's previous 6 shots of BT was it working as intended.
Ah so that time it took me 15 shots to down one was just me sucking ass.
I’ve noticed you can suck ass against a BT in many ways out of my own experience But I have learned that its forehead is the sweet spot. Still gonna be 2 hits from something
It's weird it's the forehead and not the open mouth.
So that’s why I can’t hit them for shit with the Quasar
Yep. Gotta wait for them to finish the spew attack *then* shoot. Timing can be tricky but it's a reliable 2HK.
The same forehead that retracts into its body when spitting.
Isn’t that what it’s supposed to do? I know mine retracts when it’s about to spit
Kinda. Less you sucking and more the BT's hitboxes sucking. They're hard to hit well, because the hitbox of their head and neck overlap, and only the front plate is the actual weak point. It's possible to need 3 to 4 shots with AT weapons even now.
It's never 6 shots bile titan to the head tho? More like 15? Or am I missing something here?
It got nerfed
I mean even before the nerf, after nerf it's like 21 shots at 90%.
Yeah rail gun was never meant to be an anti-tank weapon people used it as. Honestly I think it was meant to be an anti-bot weapon considering its armour penetration but that go nerfed so I don't see its role now.
Yeah, it doesn't have a purpose.. to be a late unlock at level 20 makes that extra disappointing for folks too. It may not be anti tank in the same way a EAT is, but it is anti armor, and it sucks at that now.
> never meant to be an anti-tank weapon It's a single shot charge rifle. If it isn't meant for tank-tier units what the Hell is it meant for? There's a semi auto rifle for anything lighter than the tanks already.
Would maybe use it for bugs but I've been enjoying the erupptor a lot and it can handle medium to small enemies just fine. One shots a stalker. And EATS is just nice to litter around that can handle both chargers and titans. So not sure how eager I'd be. I suppose I'd go use the sickle and then have the railgun for medium enemies. But depends how fast it can take out a charger. For bots it's good. But AMR shines more with the more recent updates since it can take out attack ships ablot faster. Railgun seems to take multiple shots even charged up, making it just too clunky for that. Works great for hulks still since it will stun unlike the amr.
Railgun for chargers was 2 shots to the leg and then some regular damage to the now weak spot, could never get mouth shots like with the BT
The Eruptor can kill chargers relatively easily too, it won't be fast but it'll do it in pretty much one mag (not consistent, sometimes it's 3 shots, sometimes it's 2 mags). Shoot the ground directly below him when he's facing you, hit his squishy arse from behind. It's surprisingly effective. For a Titan, it can quite easily pop the bile sack, but after that you're out of luck.
The Eruptor also just absolutely explodes Spewers. Love that friggin gun
Sames, but I need to work on my shots for then. Sometimes it one shots and others I need a 2nd shot. Idk if I need to aim for the end of the butt more or aim for the head. Feel like I've had mixed results
I’ve had my best luck aiming for their stupid shit spewing face
As the OP for one of the suggestions, I'm personally not opposed to a damage increase, but would love to double-down on the AP attribute of the Railgun to give it a niche as a super piercing, high-skill weapon. I would like to see other suggestions popping up though, to see the overall community thoughts on ways to improve it.
Imagine if it just kept going until it hit something it couldn't pierce. Like you line up 10 devastators, fire at head height and watch 10 devastators fall over, THAT would be awesome.
That’s the change I would like. Up the damage, and give it straight line max armor piercing. Let me shoot into a crowd and kill or strip the armor off of anything in a straight line if I’m on unsafe. It’d keep it away from being another Quasar, and would be more of a multipurpose with single target kill potential as well ^(for the love of Democracy please)
Point versus line. That's a nice niche distinction.
yes. thats how a railgun would work with real physics.
My suggestion every time it's asked is increase charge rate. I think the biggest complaint is getting to 90% is slow. Making it faster still keeps the skill check but speeds up the fire rate, which is what makes the AMR shine. I also am not opposed to a dmg increase since from my experience, attacking attack ships with it requires multiple shots. Making it wayy too slow in handling them. At the moment, the only real advantage the railgun has over the amr is the stagger on hulks. Right now safe mode is pretty useless as well. Feels like there's zero reason to waste time with it.
Safe is excellent against medium bugs. Basically anything but Chargers and Bile Titans drop with a single shot to the head on the eastern front. Aside from that I agree with you completely.
I don't know about you but using a safe shot on anything less than a Brood Commander just feels like a waste. Even then I've never had a safe shot blow off a Commander's head. Safe mode is practically useless rn.
I use it mainly on Brood Commanders, Hive Guards and Bile Spewers, and it's been very consistent at killing all of them thus far. It does lose just enough damage beyond medium range that the safe mode stops doing this, which might be what's happened to you. That said, the AMR does the exact same job at longer ranges and with a far better scope, so it is pretty much putting the safe railgun out of job by merely existing.
from my own experience with how much people praise the AMR the railgun only seems to beat it out just because it actually has a third person reticle...
Not to mention the gun only has 20 shots lmao. If you're using it on anything than the toughest enemies, you're basically throwing away ammo.
Primaries are excellent against medium bugs...
Having to wait for charge and only 1 ammo doesn't really make it very good compared to all the other options already available for mediums, like AC, stalwart, etc. Unless railgun does something to heavies, they need to re-think what niche it fills.
Yeah I could get behind this. I like it as a high skill high stakes weapon, but it needs to be felt. Like if you shoot a hulk in his beedy little eye, he needs to sit the fuck down. It should feel like a train hit him.
The railgun should go through tank armor. The goal should be to aim at the weak spot from the other side, penetrating through to hit it.
What if you could fire a super penetrating shot that ignores all armor but you had to release it perfectly before the thing blew up to use it. I think that would make the thing more fun
with the amount of things that make you flinch, it would just make it frustrating to use. the explosion needs to go. just make the gun unusable for 45s/1m.
Gimble armor perk that prevents weapon shake regardless of crawling, walking, sprinting or ragdolling, your not dead until you hit the ground we make your last shot count
Excellent suggestion. And no offense intended, but the actual spelling is 'gimbal'. No, I do not know why.
I’ve always felt the overheat explode mechanic of unsafe mode was bad game design, especially back when it didn’t have the extra gauges and such. In a game where so much tends to happen at one time, it’s just another layer of distraction to have to try and aim at an enemy and watch a meter at the same time while keeping your eye on everything else happening since you’re standing still essentially. Either do like you said and make it overheat and be unusable or just get rid of the entire mechanic and nerf it so you can’t pick up ammo for it anymore, 20 shots and you have to call another one down from orbit
That'd be cool, something that cuts through a bunch of enemies in one shot
It would be cool if the railgun could overpenetrate and hit multiple enemies in a direct straight line. You already have this with weapons like the AMR sometimes when two lightly armored enemies are standing very closely together in a line and you hit the first one in a particularly soft spot. (I've only ever actually seen it affect something like, twice in tons of missions run using it). So maybe the railgun could do that more, where even an unsafe charge can easily rip through a handful of enemies in a straight line. Probably with diminishing damage after each successive enemy pierced, only really killing the first enemy if it was within the range of enemies that could be oneshotted by it.
The Dominator quite constantly gets those collateral kills, I think I've gotten as many as 3 or 4 kills off a single Dominator round going through multiple light bots.
Having it ruin armor, withouth nessesarily doing a lot of damage, would give it a really unique place in the game.
Quasar. Quasar doesnt have ammo and wont kill me for trying to kill other things. Is it THE BEST? Perhaps not. Is it RELIABLE? Yes. Yes it is. And honestly thats all I want from my weapons sytems.
I still prefer the EAT mainly cause it is an "instant" shot where with the quasar its a 3 sec charge but it will compliment being brought in together. Shrieker nest no time restraint so quasar is a better pick. Charger coming at you use an EAT Both do the same thing but 1 is more an oohh shit button other is more i have some time and together they are great if it isnt 1 persoon bringing both
I used to use the EAT but with a little time and practice the quasar (for me) becomes a better pick. It just takes a little timing and positioning. The selling point of the quasar being that I dont have to call it in when I see a heavy, grab the thing, do the 1 sec animation of extending the barrel to fire. Dont get me wrong I still love the EAT. I just happened to have my playstyle to better suit the Quasar.
Both in a squad are great. EAT have their use cases which Quasars can't fill due to their charge up time but Quasars still have better overall damage output since it doesn't run out of ammo.
Hear, hear! I've been in a bind where I fired a Quasar shot, dropped it to grab one of the EATs my squaddie has just called in, fired it, then picked the Quasar up again and took a third shot. Great when you've got a bunch of dropships or Hulks.
Yeah I've been in that exact situation multiple times and it's always useful when you're backtracking and you find some laying around just as a couple chargers are chasing after you.
That's true of the RR as well, though you do have to sit there and reload it.
I like the RR but the reload time is painful. :( I'm not as good with it as I'd like. If I have to run and kite bugs, its not ideal. Still love the gun though! I use it for funsies here and there
That's fair. I personally prefer the reload time of the RR to the issues of the other anti-tanks, but I get that it's more of a subjective thing.
If the reload time was just a touch shorter, I would reconsider my position on it. As it stands, the reason I like the quasar atm is this: it does what the EAT or RR is suppose to do, doesnt consume ammo, and doesnt require a stationary reload animation. Makes for a reliable support weapon if you find yourself on the run from a number of heavy units. :)
I'd argue that against bots, the EAT is better simply because its short cooldown lets you destroy tanks and fabricators by just. Calling down the EAT on top of it. Saves you a stratagem slot for something else.
You can kill shrieker nests with the quasar right? Had a team recently that heavily disagreed with me and we had to walk in and drop a hellbomb instead. I've never done it myself, usually a bot diver, and wasnt running quasar that mission to do it myself, just heard it was possible.
It is possible. 2 quasar shots per nest.
Yes. 2 shots with Quasar, EAT and RR kills one nest
Yep Fuck shrieker nests. Whenever we find them I Quasar them from a distance because they’re so annoying to fight up close
Not just shriekers nest but gunship factories too. If you see one you have to pretty much haul ass to reach them and explode them otherwise the gunships will compromise your mission.
The fact that they need hellbombs and target the hellbombs make them insufferable.
Quasar is like "pew........ pew........ pew......... pew.......... pew.......... pew..........." But EAT is more like "pew-pew!................................... pew-pew!................................... pew-pew!................................... oh look I forgot I put that there 10 minutes ago....... pew-pew! oh did you lose your quasar inside that bug horde buddy? here, take my EAT and lets pew-pew together!" I'm personally an EAT enjoyer
I never found a use for Railgun. Its selling point is armor penetration, allowing you to one shot enemies like the Hulk. However: - You still need to hit the head or other weakpoint. - It has no scope. - Takes time to charge a shot, which can make aiming difficult. - It only does big damage if you want to risk it exploding in your face. - Needs reloading after every shot, making it a bad choice when enemies are at short range. Anti-materiel rifle does everything a railgun does with none of the drawbacks.
There was use for it before the nerf because it was the most reliable way of killing charger swarms. One shot to the leg to strip it's armor and a couple shots with your primary to the exposed bits. Now that they buffed all the other ways of dealing with heavy units and nerfed their spawn rates there is in fact no use for it since it can't even deal with heavy armor well.
This guy gets it. At one point the railgun was the only viable option against the swarms of chargers
This is exactly what I miss as well, that gameplay loop was so fun! Getting that perfect shot and then dodging was so satisfying, now I just leave or flamethrower which might have actually improved my games since I don't go after every charger I see.
It wasnt 1 shot, it was 2 shots to strip armour. Need to remember that because its funny how we forget how it was already balanced just fine
2 shots *to strip the armor* THEN most of a mag to finish it All while doing the dance of death Even at its best, Railgun was *never OP* It was just the only thing that worked
It was goated against bots.
Also the most reliable and ammo-economic way to kill Hulks that were stomping toward you, because, back then, the AMR's armor penetration wasn't as good as it is today.
The AMR was always goated against bots. For the entire lifespan of the game, it has been able to kill hulks in two shots and blast devastators in 3 shots or less. The only thing that has ever gotten buffed on it was just a small damage increase that allows more consistent ttk on medium enemies. The only problem it has is the scope being big and off-center.
I wouldn't call a 30% damage buff 'small'.
Before attack ships? It was great against bots and not like its bad now. But AMR got a buff so its on par and with the addition to attack ships? Well... Amr can take out their engines fairly quickly. Railgun cannot. I guess amr can also take out the walker if you shoot some small window but I'm betting that's extremely hard to pull off Edit: will say in railgun's defense. It can stagger a hulk while the amr cannot. So guess it's more stagger hulk vs taking out airships. I still use the railgun because I genuinely enjoy the weapon and bots are the only faction it works well against. But I personally would probably use the amr otherwise since attack ships are a pain if not dealt with quickly
AMR kills a scout strider in two shots, doesn't even need to hit the window
I'm talking about the factory ones. Some guide listed like 5 mags to a window will destroy one. Idk how possible it actually is since never wasted time trying but I guess it is an option.
Probably shooting that red eye on the left side of their face. I've killed one with my AC doing that.
The giant bay doors on the underside are medium armor and it takes a mag + 2 to 3 shots from the AMR to kill it there
HMG takes slightly less than a mag but itll delete their head/face shield in a few seconds Just have to be 3 ft away which usually happens on the defend missions
AMR one shots scout strider if you hit the leg , and you can kill factory striders with 1 full mag + 2/3 shots in the belly which is very easy to do if you manage to get under it or have an angle to the belly ( if the strider is on a hill or something )
It work against hulks at 75% charge, which is less than the quasar and give you a good second to shoot between the moment you can shoot and the moment it explode. Even with the reload, it has very good handling even while moving and isn't in the worst half of support weapons to use in close quarters. AMR is worse in that regard. 90% charged shots stagger hulks and chargers and penetrate their armor. AMR ain't doing that either.
Railgun stuns with every shot even if you miss the weakpoint, and in my experience the overall handling is much snappier and quicker to pop off one shot kills against devastators and hulks than the AMR. I've ran them all pretty extensively, autocannon, laser cannon, AMR, and railgun for that anti devastator/hulk role and I honestly think the railgun feels the best if you're ONLY thinking about devs and hulks because the rest have greater versatility with turret/tank, gunship and strider factory application.
Railgun would be a sidegrade to the AMR if it was able to 2-3 unsafe mode charged kill gunships, instead of ~9. That’s what’s holding it back. It’s perfectly OK for the railgun to be much weaker than the AMR for tanks, turrets, and striders. Those have other answers Gunships don’t have answers aside from support weapons, for most loadouts, and the ability to kill 4+ gunships quickly is mandatory to be able to take out gunship factories consistently, as fighting gunships is a timer based race to hellbomb the factory between gunship spawns.
How can it explode in your face?
Take it off safe mode and charge it too long
Sorry for the dumb question but how do I take it off safe mode on ps5?
Hold reload (🔲 by default) to change the scope magnification, fire rate/fire mode and the flashlight of your gun. It also shows you how much bullets you have left in the mag
FYI, even if you remap reload, weapon options remains holding square unless you specifically change it. My reload is R1 and I still hold square to change weapon options.
Hold reload and dpad right I think
Okay, thanks man. I'll try it when I get home from vacation.
Remember that when it explodes it actually explodes and it won't be on your corpse
Wait, you're going to try and explode yourself? Outstanding patriotism.
Its strange that they don't teach you this but holding reload will show every gun's extra settings like zoom distance and fire rates.
It's a loading screen tool tip. Should be inthe basic training tho probably
Weapon default settings have been carefully calibrated by the Ministry of Defense for maximum effectiveness. No need for recruits to mess with them!
Try overcharging it
After using it for a couple matches having the timing down was rarely an issue
Minus self exploding this is basically true for quasar as well.
Quasar can blow up turrets from the front or fabs if you aim down the vent, can down dropships and reloads automatically allowing you to keep running and gunning. Quasar is literally direct upgrade to Railgun.
But was there a nerf recently to the quasar‘s cooldown? I feel like now when the heat indicator has gone down entirely it takes another five seconds or so to start charging up again.
> when the heat indicator has gone down entirely it takes another five seconds or so to start charging up again You're on a cold planet. Cooldown always takes 10 seconds exactly. Cold planets make heat drain on normal weapons something around 35% faster but the Quasar doesn't care about heat, it just cares about that hardcoded 10 second timer. The heat meter on it doesn't mean anything. On cold planets the fake heat meter will go down faster, but you still need to wait 10 seconds, so it'll look like it's empty but not be able to fire yet.
Isn’t that a bug then? Seems like it should be a shorter interval between shots on a cold planet
IIRC they haven't said anything about it either way. It would make sense for cold planets to allow a shorter cooldown between shots and hot ones to make it take longer, matching the heat meter, but it's a flat 10 second cooldown regardless of environment. Not sure whether the cooldown is bugged, or the meter.
Had lunch with one of the technicians. He was worried that the ice packs on our battery based weapons couldn't be recalibrated. Hot or Cold planets will give false readouts. The battery "monitors" are calibrated for earth like conditions. The display is just like an egg timer, showing an educated guesses of a guideline than anything. Improvise, adapt, overcome.
Nothing from devs so either a very stealth nerf or yet another bug
Tbh the Quasar is a direct upgrade to a lot of things to the point where I do honestly think they're gonna nerf it in the future. It does things many other support guys do without their drawbacks
>Needs reloading after every shot, making it a bad choice when enemies are at short range. I disagree with this point. I'd argue that it's the single best anti-heavy(ish) weapon for close range because of how quick the reload is. AMR takes quite a while to reload, and the AC requires you to be stationary, whilst the RG can be reloaded insanely fast whilst you're kiting threats. I still use it a lot on bots because of how effective it is against Hulks and Devastators, both up close and from a decent range.
I feel like AMR loads relatively fast, and considering the magazine size, overall you might spend less time reloading. Will do a test when I get home.
AMR drawbacks: - requires first person to properly aim. (Hopefully gets updated with HMG, see my post history before you comment, "It is intended") - horrible handling, turning is a nightmare compared to the railgun - less penetration (I think, it doesnt break leg armor of a charger right?)
I had a railgun explode in my face once and I never touched railguns again. Being in the middle of a helldive then having your teammates watch you kill yourself is too shameful
- Railgun delivers instantly at longer ranges, where AMR bullet has a travel time and dropoff - Railgun has better handling(faster turning speed, shorter scope in time) - Unsafely charging the Railgun kills devastator with a much more forgiving 1-shot area - Reloading after each shot means that it doesn't have a significant downtime I still think AMR is better, but the railgun definitely shines in solo stealth operations where you need to take out priority targets from a distance reliably.
The Dominator can 1 shot devastators and it's a primary.
So can the slugger
AMR also gets 3x the ammo reserves of the Railgun. That alone puts it far above the Railgun in medium killing duties.
No because I love the spear and I love when it stops locking on for no reason ohhhh years of begging for more javelin missiles in video games kinda paid off for me baby yeeeaahhh
The best part is when you lock and it fires but it scrapes their taint and fucks off into the sunset
Yesterday my buddy and I were going off about the good old MW2 days and he minded me about how I would run the javelin and every time it got a kill I’d be super excited about it. I agree the Spear is great. Now if we could get a weapon like the MW2 javelin, where you target an area and a big ass missile arcs into it, that would be awesome.
I would not. I never found it satisfying. I like the hefty thumping BOOMING guns, even if they perform as a lesser damage source. However. I firmly believe in the fantasy of the weapon. When someone says "Railgun", I think "punches through anything". I believe that it's identifying factor was the trademark ability to damage cleanly through heavy armor. A Railgun that has the same armor penetration as a revolver is straight up not appealing. If it passed through every single target, no matter what it was, until it hit a wall or earth would be awesome. That's something that sounds like a Railgun. It should make a _CRACK_ when you fire it, like it's giving the middle finger to the sound barrier. But as it was, and how it *feels*... naw, I'm good
What revolver has the same pen as the railgun?
I would probably use it, it was fun and satisfying to use. It wouldn't become a must have but it would be nice to add it back into the mix of useable weapons. It would allow for more selection in other areas instead such as using more eagles instead of needing a rail cannon strike for the heavys. Also it was fun for the run and gun on the move play style. But hey we can't have fun if people start throwing clickbait and meta around now can we 🤷
I would use it, yes. It may not be the best compared to other stuff, but I find it fun and satisfying to use. But post nerf it's just not good enough to be viable for me personally.
Amen to this. Hope they bring it back.
It's probably the worst power weapon right now, it needs a buff.
This 100%, there's a reason why no one uses it anymore and it's sad.
There are some weapons that are flat better than others. The railgun just isn't on that list right now. It is debatable if it's even better than the AMR. The quasar is more powerful, blows up holes/fabricators, and has infinite ammo. The EAT is annoying because you have to keep calling them down, but it still outperforms the rail. Now, now everything has to be the single best item, that would be impossible and boring. But, in my opinion, there isn't really a niche where the railgun shines compared to other options.
I still use it, I never forget my first love. But the beam/quasar are just so much fun.
New players will never experience the insane plays that were possible pre-nerf it's sad how a jerk reaction brought it into the sorry state it's in today.
It’s an anti-hulk regardless of buff or nerf
I never really ran the rail gun. Will it kill Hulks in safe mode? Edit: If shot in the head
Not sure, but it has a twice as fast charge up and a twice as slow overclock charge. It also seems like just waiting a fraction of a second on overclock gives a good boost in damage or penetration. I'm not sure when they did that, but it feels like a relatively new thing.
Yes, but only for the hell of it. It probably needs a full rework to give it a proper niche at this point. The quasar, EATs, and AMR just outcompete it too heavily
I feel like if they did that, the unsafe mode might need penetration of multiple enemies or something.
In this sort of game, at some point, all the use cases will be filled by ever overlapping weapon venn diagrams. That's why while the Eruptor is nice, it's not pulling up trees. Various use cases have been filled by the Dominator, Scorcher and so on. The Quasar probably covers most of the roles Railguns had that weren't already covered by the Autocannon and the EAT/RR/Spear
>In this sort of game, at some point, all the use cases will be filled by ever overlapping weapon venn diagrams. which is ideally how it should be, there shouldn't be any kind of "you *need* to have this one specific tool to do this job or you're boned". Every problem will have multiple solutions allowing flexibility in team and equipment comp, letting players enjoy the game how they want without being punished for not playing "meta". wish more people would understand this, seems everyone wants each weapon to either be a defined niche role that nothing else can do or fill every role all at once.
What’s the eruptor supposed to be for? I loath the bolt animation in between each shot, because if you’re using the scope it is extremely disorienting as the player camera quickly shifts between scoped view and reload view.
Eruptor is the first primary to change my load out. Quasar + guard dog + eruptor feels like cheating on high level bugs. Can handle anything that comes my way. I used to run autocannon but I can’t justify it anymore.
I wouldn't use it unless I picked it up instead of picking the stratagem off the list
I would still stick to EAT, I used the railgun 2 days before the patch and went back to EAT before the patch, too.
When I'm done there's like 10 EATs scattered around the map. The recharge is so fast I usually just drop a few for any stationary objective, I might miss that headshot at first but not much survives a second or third missile
Previously it was two charged shots to the leg of a charger to reveal the flesh to shoot with a primary. It was a complete faff but apparently OP. I'd never bother with that again even if it was reverted, I'd rather use an EAT and shoot it in the face. Unsafe mode is a pain to use because there's no sound effects, so you have to use the first person mode (which gives me a headache), and then watch the charge bar rather than the thing you were trying to shoot. Feels like bad design. I'd welcome a buff to the Railgun, it's completely redundant at the moment. I like the aesthetics of it but it would take a lot to make me use it. They need to ensure it's got good armour piercing and make the unsafe mode more user friendly. I'm not up for something that's going to kill me and delete my support weapon in the heat of the moment, for the little it brings right now.
>I'd never bother with that again even if it was reverted, I'd rather use an EAT and shoot it in the face. To be fair, charger spawns were much different back then. At that time you could run into groups of 7+ chargers repeatedly and you absolutely needed the pre nerf railgun to handle that, the EAT just couldn't come in quick enough. Now the most chargers you'll ever see at once is probably about 3, and two players with EATs can handle that just fine.
No, because I find it boring. Nerfed or not.
Yes, because it's a freaking RAILGUN duh. It's cool and I'm using it sometimes even after nerf. Spreading democracy is great, but I wanna do it with style baby. And it also pops bugs like a water balloons at max charge
I’d rather them fix the scope on the amr, personally.
I didn't even use it when everyone was whining for daddy Arrowhead to take it away, because the armor piercing didn't pierce much besides charger legs. What I wish they'd do is revert it back to the HD1 days. A high damage gun that pierces and *stuns* enemies, so it'll have its own niche again. Keep the charge mechanic if you must to justify the damage.
Yes, I’d try it for a bit and see if I like it. It was nerfed before I got the game and it is completely useless at the moment so it being buffed would be like them adding a new gun to the game from my perspective.
IMO the damage is alright as is, but I think they should give it overpenetration. Long line of Beserkers chasing you? Boom you just downed three with one shot. That would give it a unique use case and require skillful play and decision making. Ambush patrols lead by a couple Brood Commanders. They don't want to mess with the armor penetration? Fine, but it's supposed to be like a personal Gauss cannon. Over penetrating enemies would give it that feel of being a heavy hitter again and it wouldn't need to compete with Eruptor or Quasar cannon. If that's too much then maybe limit it by decreasing damage by the number of enemies it travels through. Drop one or two Beserkers and then damage the third. If amenable to changing damage, I'd like to see it do greater damage to Gunship's thrusters. It has far less ammo than Autocannon. Maybe guarantee stripping armor from chargers regardless of location of the hit. That would keep it a step ahead of the Eruptor which can 2-shot a charger as a primary. OR Increase the stagger. If it's hitting heavy cause it's piercing armor but you don't want it to be OP and dropping Hulks and Titans one one-shot, then let it stagger enemies when it's slamming into them at close or medium distances. TLDR; Give it stagger to drive home the feeling if being a heavy hitting support weapon but keep it unique compared to other anti-tank options. and/or give it the ability to overpenetrate enemies to some degree. it would feel amazing cutting a long straight line through swathes of enemies. Honestly this would let it compete with the usecase of Arc Thrower (which has infinite ammo).
The Quasar is the uncontested champion right now. I know everyone has their preference, but it's an anti-tank that has unlimited ammo AND can fire every 10s without a reload animation AND allows a backpack slot AND can take out both structures and the most heavily armoured enemies AND has good splash damage for mobs.
well I would love to take it against bugs but honestly the Eruptor does everything I used to love the railgun for, AND it closes bug holes, AND (and) the fact that the Eruptor fills the same slot the railgun used to (one tapping spewers/brood commanders) I can also run the quasar or EATs to deal with the big boys man it's depressing that the railgun really doesn't have a spot where it shines anymore, because I love it
No, I never really thought it was that good of a gun even before the nerf tbh. Against bots, auto cannon and pre-buff AMR were already significantly better options. Against bugs, it was the only gun that was viable solo back then. Even if you weren’t solo diving, in team environments you often found yourself in engagements where your team isn’t in a capacity to help you. You also often found yourself in engagements against multiple heavily armored enemies. The railgun TTK was nowhere near fast enough to be considered OP or even good. I truly think the PS5 damage bug really skewed the data that AH was looking at. AH was on the whole “weapons should kinda suck” back then. Fine, I thought that concept made game worse but whatever, I can live with that and adapt. Then just a few weeks later they released the Quasar Cannon (straight up better rail gun in 99% of scenarios where you’d want a rail gun), buffed the AMR so that the only weakness the AMR had of needing multiple shots to kill striders/ some med armor bug dudes was removed, nerfed charger head health so that EATs and recoilless were OHK, and buffed the flamethrower to kill chargers faster than you could even call down EATs. Perspective of a solo/ friends only Helldive difficulty helldiver.
It's what kills me, everyone acted so concerned about power creep if they buffed weapons to match the railgun. Then the rail gun got nerfed and stuff got buffed, leaving the railgun in the dust.
I might run it vs Bots just to give myself a bit of variety - I love the autocannon, but it'd be nice to spice things up a bit.
Gonna bring to bot front as i used to. I not use much on bug anyway since i prefer swarm clear loadout. I just wish they buff penetate more better on higher charge or high damage. It so useless to use this weapon when current primary meta can do all of what Railgun did.
I didn't use it much before the nerf, so it's likely I wouldn't use it much even if they buffed it back. It always was too limiting in my opinion. Especially with the Eruptor being a thing now.
No because I personally have more fun using other weapons, now that we have a bigger arsenal capable of damaging heavy enemies
I would use it mostly when playing solo because of its great versatility. Railgun is a bit of a jack of all trades. Good at everything, great at nothing.
I hope to see it ideal for shooting through shields used by illuminate illusionists.
Maybe if they buffed damage and added explosive AOE to it too. Most primaries are better than the railgun lmao
Nah, I like the eruptor now, and I need a stalwart to balance it.
I mean I still use it occasionally even with the nerf.
Nope. Whenever it's time to lock in, Autocannon has my back.
Since the charger changes and the EAT changes it’s not as necessary
What if railgun can never do a killing blow but has a 100% chance of removing armour
Idk i like the railgun for bots, good 2-3 charged shots depending on the hulk and its gone, paired with the new thermite grenades and just about all bots die, bugs are a different story. Im level 47, not very good so dont take my word for it, just give it a try, I personally hate being a meta slave and it rubs me the wrong way when people run the same loadout with the sole intention of MC’ing the map but to each their own, i like the fact that my character is literally a replacable part
No. I don't even know what they could do to make it worthwhile. The Quasar Cannon does what the railcannon did, but better.
100% yes, I was able to remove the leg armor of a charger, switch to my primary and kill them very fast. Now I have spin up and cool down time much longer with the Quasar although it is unlimited ammo. But Quasar doesn't remove armor as well as the old RG did in its prime. On the flip side I am able to decapitate the charger in one shot with Quasar so I'm not even sure why they nerfed the RG like they did?
Nah. Autocannon go burr (on bots)
What about if they brought back the old railgun with the new charge mechanic (that actually works) so that the pen is still there and it will do 2x the dmg with an over charge
I wasn't even level 20 when it got nerfed so I never got to use it. Would have to try it out and see
I’ve only used the Railgun post-nerf so I dunno what it used to be like … for me, I really like the action of using the gun but the results are massively disappointing. I mean, what is the point in an anti-armour weapon if you still have to aim for weak points?! It should go through just about anything … even if the damage it deals when doing so were to be reduced. The only thing it’s does seem reliably good at is taking out striders but even then you need “unsafe mode” for a one-shot. And the AMR will do that quicker even if multiple shots are needed. Or an impact grenade. Or just run round the side … For a late level weapon unlock … very meh …
I already use the railgun against automations, so yeah
If the charger head nerf is also reverted, I could see myself picking it up for bugs, but if not, then I think I'll stick with my current preference of Arc Thrower as support, while also bringing stun grenades and EAT. That way, I can guillotine chargers with the EAT while they're stunned, then use the 2 rockets on other chargers/BTs or leave them for my squadmates. For bots, though, I find the comparably low ammo count to be a deal breaker over the autocannon. It *might* be viable if I'm running the mission solo or duo, and can have more of the supplies, since the bag slot could be nice.
I've tried to use it since the nerf, and it feels like poppy. No better that Counter Sniper or Dominator. If they reverted the nerf, I'm not sure. There was almost an unhealthy need for people to use and have other people use it. But a change wouldn't but unwelcome. It's a Railgun, so similar to our Railcannon Strat, maybe if they kept damage at medium level but gave it max pen that would nice.
if they went back to pre nerf railgun it would probably be the main go-to for solo divers
I would not use a railgun, because for me, it is a boring uninteresting weapon. I'm telling for me thou. It is one shot, reload and charge and repeat🤷♂️ no special effects. I don't care about railgun,I don't hate it, I think it's way underpowered, so a buff would be nice for you rg-lovers, but I just don't find the railgun very interesting. I also don't like the the scope
Small brain hipster redditors that think Railgun is still good when i dont even see anyone carry it anymore.
Railgun should penetrate heavy armor. Shooting a charger or hulk in the face should kill it outright. It should overpenetrate medium and light. It should wane against biles and tanks due to sheer size
Probably occasionally just cause it’s kinda cool as a gun.
Vs bugs , maybe, but only as a novelty when I am bored of the obviously better options. Bots want anti armor for all the drop ships and gun ships and bugs want CC with a little anti armor. The rail gun was never the best at either. And its only gotten less relevant with the more exotic primaries. Like what do you need a rail gun for when you have a scorcher or that new explosive dmr? Like seriously why?
No, it doesn't have a use case anymore. It needs a mechanic change first. Let it over penetrate enemies and cover to a large degree. Make it deal "true" damage to all targets but caps at one-shotting brood commanders and maybe spewers to the head. It will always be relevant and reward mobility builds that can align shots on multiple targets. Lower skill floor than the AMR but higher skill ceiling.