#Earth Defense Force

1 messages · Page 4 of 1

potent anchor
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Aim, fire, and forget. The lasers will surely hit something. Surely if I stopped trying to use it on Cosmonauts.

torn saffron
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not great for cosmos, no. the lasers do great things against dense bug groups but cosmonauts will easily shrug it off and walk out of the radius

potent anchor
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Sounds like I should just use something else then since I feel I use my one run enough for bug groups.

torn saffron
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spritefall is actually pretty nice for anti air if you can catch a dense enough group

potent anchor
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Granted I guess having more group clearing options wouldn't hurt.

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Wait, it is?

torn saffron
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it's basically a giant vertical wall of piercing damage that will kill most flying units that enter it

potent anchor
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Honestly, I've also tried using my strafing runs for anti-air. Not that I expected it to do much, bit I figure 'well, there's no other enemy types this mission, so... yeet'.

torn saffron
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AR's anti-air options in 5 are very dependent on enemy density to properly reload them

potent anchor
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Yeeeaaah

torn saffron
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it's that or relying on gunships to do most of the work, which is where neutralize shines

potent anchor
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And hey, sometimes ya manage to get a bunch of them in a row

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And when ya do, it's a good feeling

torn saffron
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in the bigger missions with big flyer waves you can just call spritefall in the path they're flying in and it should do heavy damage to the group

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but that chance is often when they're collecting around you or an NPC

potent anchor
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I do feel like the less accurate weapons are actually decent against the Mark 2 drones, but I may be saying that just due to size.

potent anchor
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I may have also felt tense when I saw one of said missiles repeatedly somehow circle around a wasp and nearly hit me when it was on a power pole

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Also I dunno how well Spritefall will do for me in that case since I tend to like to try and tag enemies with my beacons/call-ins

torn saffron
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spritefall can be called in on a dense enough cloud just by pointing at it with the laser, but typically it's something you do preemptively—you don't want to call it in on top of yourself

stuck sierra
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Just woke up and didn't see it mentioned, there's a minigun strapped to most depth crawlers, bound to the shift key

potent anchor
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I've found that for a while

blissful fern
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I find depth crawlers to be less than useful myself

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They are a gimmick and nothing more to me

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Underground missions are also just horrid mazes

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So I am biased

potent anchor
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So I know one guy told me to ping them whenever I'm interested, but anyone else down for some EDF 5 once I eat breakfast?

potent anchor
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Man, the Stork is a pretty good rifle so far!

stuck sierra
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Storks are pretty good, yeah. if you wish to obliterate your knuckles you can try the G&M guns, cause that dps is absurd

potent anchor
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Like maybe I'm being fooled by Normal scaling, but it's also pretty good against frogs.

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Like it just seems really good against a lot of stuff. And it has enough ammo and a quick enough reload to not really need to worry about being vulnerable.

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Sorta been jumping between what I have on my secondary, mainly depending what I think I'm gonna need. Jumping being Volatile Napalm, trying Firecracker and remembering I hate it, and various rocket/missile-launchers

stuck sierra
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oh, the raven is pretty good for just stunlocking some enemies, and chips away at cosmonaut armor pretty good. shame what they did to it's range in 6

potent anchor
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I haven't tried that out yet.

stuck sierra
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it's basically a bullet hose.

potent anchor
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I did try the prototype (insert name) sniper a bit though.

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And also a couple of vehicles (The Blacker E1 I think and the railcannon thing).. not sure how I feel about them.

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I don't trust myself with the motorcycle, I've seen someone crash out all the time on it

stuck sierra
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the railcannon is really good on very specific levels. it's main gun eventually does tons of damage in later versions

potent anchor
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Takes a lot to get it though.

stuck sierra
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it's damage doesn't drop off between pierced targets, so it can just punch through a crowd.

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but yeah, very expensive.

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and there is only one Bikeman.

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you basically have to drop the rest of the game entirely and only play bikes, or you'll never be good at bike driving, and even then, they'll fling you just as easily as turn a corner

potent anchor
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Eugh.

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Also am I weird or does the Blacker E1 have a different gun to the other two Blackers the Air Raider has? Or do I just not use the Blackers that much that I can't tell the difference?

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Like from what I recall, the Air Raider's version is much more fast firing.

stuck sierra
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edf 6 adds the keppler tank, basically a pair of miniguns on treads. it's... decent.

potent anchor
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May be a different tank though.

potent anchor
stuck sierra
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but yeah, most of the time, rangers' vehicles are a side-project, not so much a build defining superweapon

potent anchor
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Explains why I've felt comfier just having the passives. Like not getting as slow when hit cause good lord I forgot how it felt to be sandwiched between a few queens and frogs and just stuck

stuck sierra
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I found the piercing blacker tanks to be slightly more reliable when I needed a small supply of hard hitting projectiles, but they're not all that more powerful than just taking a sniper rilfe or bazooka

potent anchor
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I also never noticed you just have the small squad with ya on the rainy field mission

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Probably felt louder cause of my buds.

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Really makes things feel more dangerous when you don't have two buddies going around, blowing the dropships up while your 'sniping' things.

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And then all alone against a swarm of ants, frogs, queens, and dropships the next mission.

stuck sierra
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there's some hilariously broken passives for ranger, though. I remember a 200% sprinting speed one that was a great time

potent anchor
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I got one that buffs walking to 110%, running to 120%, and gives me the -50% reduction when hit.

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Which not bad

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I've also been trying some of the ones specifically for lock-on buffs. Not bad though not sure I'm too fond of the multi-lock-on one.. makes it harder to target crowds of aerial enemies.

stuck sierra
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on that rainy mission, I always headshot each pair of artillery frogs, then picked off their adds, rinse, repeat

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the "faster lockon and longer range" buffs are really good if you're using stuff like the Prominence or Emerald

torn saffron
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things like the MRLA do a surprising amount of damage when all focused on one thing, but it's pretty niche otherwise

potent anchor
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I feel like I'd just use the Fork honestly?

stuck sierra
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it only really gets outclassed by the later forks. only because firing the later mlras takes longer than reloading the fork

potent anchor
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Less locking on needed, more missiles in one package, faster reloading..

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Therefore faster firing

stuck sierra
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the fork20 is actually worse dps than the mlra30, for example

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by only 10%, though

potent anchor
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Like I feel like the fork also does well against frogs. And if your wondering why I bother, I try to use rifle up-close due to damage drop-off, and therefore I carry some missiles or rockets.

stuck sierra
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oh no, fork works well on frogs.

potent anchor
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I used the air tortoise for a while as well.

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..Did you guys know that Wing Divers LOVE to jump in front of missiles?

stuck sierra
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air tortoise is technically a joke wepaon, but when it works, it obliterates the competition

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never take wing diver npcs, they fight for the enemy

potent anchor
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Insanely slow, but very big blast radius and it.. does seem to one-shot frogs.

stuck sierra
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it one-shots a lot of things in later versions

potent anchor
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Granted I mostly used it on the 'stealth' mission and just had fun seeing if I could 'assassinate' frogs with it

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Which uh.. it sure did.

stuck sierra
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ha, stealth.

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turns out if they blow up, they don't get alerted

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another fun "stealthy" weapon for that level is the Dragoon Lance for wing divers

potent anchor
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Oh yeah, I tried the Wing Diver for a bit

stuck sierra
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otherwise known as the boopinator 5000

potent anchor
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Liked their snazzy lil homing arrow weapon. Confused by some of the other weapons like the Geist.

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And mega confused by super weapons.

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I like the light show, but.. can you actually throw it and not just set it in front of your face?

stuck sierra
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a lot of the homing weapons are just... not as good dps as "basic laser"

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just, y'know, reload it at half tank

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the light show "super weapons" are meant to be dropped in the midst of an enemy group, so they just party all over them. especially the gleipnir

potent anchor
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Ah.

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I used the one that just spawns a ton of lasers around

stuck sierra
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it's basically a few dozen mirages duct taped together

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ehhh, the laser one's much less fun. also be very careful using the lightning one in caves. it does great work but is not afraid of killing you too.

potent anchor
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I don't think I'll touch Wing Diver much.

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Way too much for me to manage.

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Speaking of management.. the Ranger claymores.

stuck sierra
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only thing I'd insist on trying, is once you have a battery at least 15 levels higher than it, try out the ghost chaser, but park yourself on a lamp post, or something else tall and thin. it's horrifying what that thing does to stuff if it fires for more than 2 seconds

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heh, claymores bad.

potent anchor
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I'll consider it.

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They.. sure exist?

torn saffron
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WD's homing weapons are some of the best for simply shutting down a bug group

potent anchor
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They even have a anti-air verison.. for some reason.

torn saffron
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but for general weapons they're not that great, so something you bring as a secondary

stuck sierra
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yeah... the claymores are kinda dumb.

potent anchor
stuck sierra
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5-way mirage

potent anchor
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Ye

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I just couldn't decide what to use alongside it that wasn't me wanting to see what big sparkly nukes I could pull out.

stuck sierra
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the thunder crossbows aren't bad, but can risk a RSI if you overuse em.

potent anchor
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I've tried the crossbows.

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Though I think I tried the one that... looks at description focuses on aoe more than single-target damage.. even though it looked like a big straight line of damage.

torn saffron
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the crossbows are good midrange single target weapons

stuck sierra
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ahh, the lightning bows. those're less good.

torn saffron
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the bows are a sidegrade to the mag blasters that specialize in crowd control

potent anchor
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Didn't try those.

torn saffron
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you can press R to cancel their firing early and skip out the latter half of the charge

stuck sierra
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few things more satisfying than firing the lightning sniper into a cavern system and watching it just bounce everywhere and nearly kill you

potent anchor
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I wish the bouncing bullet weapon the Ranger had actually looked.. useful? Least compared to what I have already

stuck sierra
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oh yeah, you can reload partway through those charged up attacks. makes the plasma guns pretty decent.

potent anchor
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Speaking of bouncing, when do I find a bouncing grenade spray gun so I can fire in a direction and then watch them all return to me?

stuck sierra
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nah, most of the ranger's "special" stuff was just devs trying weird stuff.

potent anchor
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Cause I only have the impact version right now.

stuck sierra
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ohhh, you mean the stampede?

potent anchor
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Ye

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I've been trying to use it and I think my best use of it has just been mauling queens with it.

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Though maybe I just suck at 'aiming' it.

stuck sierra
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there's a sticky grenade version that happens later. gets more projectiles, too

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one does not simply "aim" a stampede

potent anchor
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Though I've also been questioning if it's comparable to the Volatile Napalm Grenade Launcher in terms of use besides.. being nothing alike.

potent anchor
stuck sierra
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napalm grenades are alright, but I just loved using the normal UM line launchers

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do you have a UMRA yet?

potent anchor
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I doubt it. I've only had timed and impact grenade launchers.

stuck sierra
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it's basically a rapidfire version of the impact one

potent anchor
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I do have a big funny grenade that goes big boom, but last time I used it, a Ranger walked in front of me and ended up making me kill the entire squad and myself.

stuck sierra
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ahh, the baseball of doom

potent anchor
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And I also don't like it's windup, it messes me up.

stuck sierra
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it's a joy when it hits, but if anything exists in the way, you're dust

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sure is funny watching it pop into existence as this massive beachball, though

potent anchor
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It is quite an experience, that's for sure.

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When does the Minion Buster Burst not spray everywhere by the way? Cause that's a rifle I was using before I tried out the Stork and it seemed fairly effective as well, just.. very little accuracy.

potent anchor
stuck sierra
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minion buster is probably useable at around a b+, maybe a-

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it's usually the accuracy that assault rifles stop getting better at. only S ranks are G&M and the ravens once enough stars are in em

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...maybe the storks, too

potent anchor
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I do like splodey weapons.. cause if I remember, it DOES have a blast radius stat.

nova plover
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but i am biased, since its a german design

potent anchor
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Is that a sattelite/radar on top?

torn saffron
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radar i believe, yes

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i wanted to like the kepler, but outside of it being a ranger vehicle it's just

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not that worth it

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honestly it being a ranger vehicle is like 40% of the problem, with the other 60% being that it's just not a very good vehicle series

nova plover
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(not implemented in game)

torn saffron
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i once joked about putting a nix's revolver cannon on a tank to make a good vehicle, but the kepler's guns seem to be worse than on-level assault rifles with poor vehicle handling to boot

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paradoxically bad shotspeed, lousy damage and accuracy, and mediocre mobility until EDF6's DLC versions

potent anchor
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Random question, but do Erginus and Argini-- I mean spiky rolly dino that is definitely not based on another kaiju start popping up as regular enemies?

nova plover
torn saffron
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not in edf6, no

potent anchor
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So they do in edf5

torn saffron
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oh, sorry, not in edf5 either

potent anchor
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edf 4-and-a-half?

torn saffron
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there'll be big missions that feature them prominently, but they're boss monsters and treated appropriately

potent anchor
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Sounds like I'll get some warning in the future then so I'll know if I should bring strafing runs or not.. given kinda hard to get kills during kaiju fights

torn saffron
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kaiju fights are primarily done with gunships or timed reload weapons, yes

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strafing runs can do big damage but if you fail to get the kill it's a lot tougher

potent anchor
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Oh yeah, is shooting at big-spiky -Argilus worth during the dropship 'stealth' mission or is that just a timer thing?

torn saffron
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and the mission with the most kaiju doesn't really ask you to fight them; rather, supporting the NPCs by killing all the small fry

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the dropship stealth mission is a timer based encounter

potent anchor
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So I shouldn't have tried shooting at it. Woops.

torn saffron
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you can still shoot archelus to fend him off, but he'll aggro enemies around in a pretty big radius if you don't drag him far enough away

potent anchor
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And here I thought the bugs were buddies with the kaijus.

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Sounds like that mission may be a bit annoying to solo then..

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Also by fend him off.. do ya mean making him stagger or..?

torn saffron
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stagger, yes

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apparently archelus staggers more easily than erginus

potent anchor
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Is there a way to tell when he'll stagger or is it just shoot at him and pray?

torn saffron
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not really no

potent anchor
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Like is there a hidden bar or meter or something?

torn saffron
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it's just when you deal a % of its hp i believe

potent anchor
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So.. let's say I'm using the Stork T1 during that then.

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How many shots will that take?

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I'm still questioning if I should eventually main rocket launchers cause I remember a certain tuber saying rocket launchers are the best weapons for Rangers.

torn saffron
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they're kind of mediocre in 5

potent anchor
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Admittedly said tuber said that during a video of 4.1

torn saffron
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buffed substantially in 6, but iirc their damage output isn't very substantial—mostly just crowd clear and reliable long range bombardment

potent anchor
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And said tuber also gave me the important information for Air Raider; 'I don't support the violence. I AM. THE VIOLENCE.' Big explosion

potent anchor
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Also is it just me or does the Air Tortoise reload pretty fast for such a slow missile?

nova plover
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when i play ranger i use multilock missiles, shotguns, snipers and sometimes ar s
any combination of those deal with most stuff

potent anchor
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I wanna use shotguns, but I haven't found any that reload real fast.

torn saffron
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slaughter has an alright reload, but your first dedicated "quick reload" shotgun will be the monsoon

potent anchor
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Using the auto-reloading Air Raider may have spoiled me a bit in terms of having reloads

torn saffron
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and that isn't until level ~20 iirc

nova plover
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i feel like the slaughter more than makes up it's reaload time with just deleting enemies, but then again different playstyles and all that

grand crystal
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reload speed is so important. uptime is key

nova plover
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well yes, however: if enemy dead, available time to reload = infinite (or at least pretty long)

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on a more serious note, i like to use my shotguns as a secondary for 3 situations: "switching to your sidearm is faster than reloading", big-thing-obliterator, enemy too close for explosives

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which is why i don't care that much about reload on them

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also it is feasable to just dodge while reloading, works for ~85% of enemies

grand crystal
blissful fern
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I use my largest explosive if I get bitten, damn you ant and all of us in this here 20 meter radius

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This is not actual advice, in fact is a bad thing to do. The people who I used to play with found this funny and so did I

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It is still just a game

grand crystal
blissful fern
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That is why I advise against it, it is just funny

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Excellent ragdolls

grand crystal
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True.

stuck sierra
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One does not play edf to optimize, merely to goof

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I did a level with a friend who was new to the game and I exclusively used the bomb roombas

potent anchor
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Maybe I should try being a lil goofy sometimes. Experiment a little.

blissful fern
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I used roombas for a level once, and hit exactly no enemies

torn saffron
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they honestly weren't that bad in 5

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in 6 their usefulness is massively curbed alongside opportunity cost, so i didn't find one good place to use them

potent anchor
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Opportunity cost?

stuck sierra
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They take a backpack slot in 6

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Aka a vehicle slot

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Would you like tank or roombas?

potent anchor
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Oh

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Oh yeah, I did notice weird stuff like grenades in lil backup slots in EDF6 from what I saw

torn saffron
stuck sierra
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There's also auto-turret buddy in 6. It's pretty neat, especially the flamethrower one

torn saffron
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vehicle and support item slots don't occupy the same space, but there's like two categories that are generally-useful in 6

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(old support items like posts and bunkers, the aforementioned auto-turrets)

torn saffron
stuck sierra
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Ew, posts and bunkers. Those don't sound like "giant explosion"

torn saffron
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they've served me well while trudging through DLC2 Inferno; [faux-pompous voice] i find the focus on raw explosions reductive.

stuck sierra
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Phobos bomber go kaboom, make everything regret existence

torn saffron
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it's not like phobos and bunker compete for the same slot in 6 anyhow

stuck sierra
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True.

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I confess I've played more fencer and wing diver in 6 than the other two

potent anchor
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Do later helicopters get more stable?

grand crystal
torn saffron
potent anchor
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Alright. Just making sure my first helicopter controlling like it was on ice wasn't just a skill issue on my end.

grand crystal
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Helicopters just controll like ass

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theyre just bad

stuck sierra
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if you can outwit the bad controls, they get dumb later, though

nova plover
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imo the main problem with helicopters is the fact you could deploy so many other weapons instead of using it, especially since air raider only seems to get one (1) as far as i have seen (not my main class so who knows if i missed a few) and ranger gets most of them

nova plover
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"ah yes i am craving a limpet gun instead of the orbital death laser"-said no one ever

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fencer (outside of number balancing) hasn't been changed almost at all, air raider and wing diver get the backpack slot and ranger i don't remember the difference to 5 outside of hum being able to turn while sprinting finally

torn saffron
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AR still gets ~2 helicopter lines iirc

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as for the backpack utility slots and AR, i still felt like i didn't have enough slots for some missions (or perhaps that's just DLC2 speaking)

nova plover
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no i get that

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whenever i play AR i wish i coul bring all my phoboses at once

torn saffron
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well, no, i meant more like "i still don't have enough to handle this mission like i would like to"

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AR still has some gaps in his loadout imo and it's only been sort of delayed by EDF6

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but i think it's mostly because they refuse to give him a direct-fire/medium range weapon that is not limited in some way

nova plover
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well that is somewhat the point of having a class-system in a game like this, AR can already destroy most of the game when somebody runs distraction

torn saffron
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that's true, i think it's just more noticeable for AR when it comes to self defense

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especially against androids, where anything smaller than an electron-copter is too niche or simply can't handle them very well

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i don't think i've ever 100% settled on one loadout for AR

nova plover
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I find the minigun good for that, since you can either shutdown a small area and pivot around it or slap something with 5-15 seconds of ouch

torn saffron
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i mean, i know that's an option—i've played through to M38 DLC2 Inferno—i just think he's more limited than it first seems

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it's hard to say exactly what, but it really becomes noticeable if you need to handle excavators or groups of androids too small for big strikes

nova plover
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yeah AR trades direct-fire capabilities for massive aoe attacks, it's why i like to orbit around my air raider when playing fencer

potent anchor
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Air Raider and Fencer do seem like buds

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Also am I weird in that I prefer trying to aim for enemies in terms of aiming beacons?

nova plover
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that is how i normally do it as well, since they then may be tracked by the firemission, but it is also good to remember that you can use the more drawn out gunship strikes and similar as area denial

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turns out 20 secs of constant depleted uranium and/or tungsten at super sonic speeds are a pretty good deterrent

nova plover
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pull one of these everytime an enemy shows up

potent anchor
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Though how many shots would ya count a strike for being drawn out?

nova plover
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well for me something which has >3 shots off a single beacon shot is usable for area denial

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though i really only use that for smaller enemies or ones which consistently outrun airstrikes

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otherwise just put the laser and/or beacon on the enemy and let it rip

torn saffron
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the 105mm and autocannon/minigun/vulcan are most usable when thrown on the ground but they don't have the largest radii

potent anchor
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Welp, guess I'm using the auto cannon wrong then

nova plover
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i disagree on that one

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you should only throw the gunship beacons on the ground if you need it as cover while dialing up something else or to disrupt enemies like the pillbugs

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otherwise always hit the enemy directly, with the very fast ones you just have to get a feel for the timing

torn saffron
potent anchor
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Or do you mean fast as in reload/fires fast?

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I assume ya meant how fast the beacon goes.

torn saffron
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fast enemies i think

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obviously beacon speed matters in general but as the difficulties go up some enemies get faster

potent anchor
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Drones my nemesis

potent anchor
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Also is it just me or have the advanced drones not shown up much? (The upgraded circular ones, not the new-shaped ones.) Like I feel like they've only popped up in one mission outside of their introduction.

torn saffron
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the reds?

potent anchor
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Yeah

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The ones that shoot beams instead of a spread of plasma.

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And drop a decent amount of boxes.

torn saffron
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yeah, they don't show up a lot 'cause they're basically elite enemy variants

blissful fern
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Not worth the effort in my opinion

potent anchor
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They are WHAT

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So that's why their so tanky and drop a bunch..

torn saffron
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there's no official classification but that's just how they're treated

potent anchor
torn saffron
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on higher difficulties they're a lot more dangerous

potent anchor
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Does explain why they drop more loot than a frog. Even if by just a couple more boxes.

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And now that I've seen the loot frogs can drop now that I've found a pretty steady way of taking them down

torn saffron
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they're not tanky/drop a lot of boxes because they're elites, i just assume the mission design treats them like 'elite' enemies because of how they are

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if mother ants/king spiders/queen wasps are 'boss' enemies for their respective enemy variant, then the red flyers are the 'boss' types for the flyers

potent anchor
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I dread the day I meet these king spiders..

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And the spiders that actually spin up webs.

torn saffron
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they're honestly not that bad if you know where they are

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wasps and spiders get ragdolled by explosives and this applies to their boss variants too

potent anchor
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I didn't know specific enemies got ragdolled.

potent anchor
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Cascade obtained.

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Feels.. kinda wonky right now, but probably cause it's level 1.

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Okay, robots are kinda overwhelming with the Stork. May be time to change strategy.

potent anchor
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Assault Beetle?

torn saffron
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mostly useless

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marginally better in 6 but most of the time just a novelty; the later variants are sort of like a gimmicky version of ranger's c4 bombs

potent anchor
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..I hate being a bowling ball

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Also I have now encountered elite infantry it appears

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Nothing spraying with bullets doesn't solve

potent anchor
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I've obtained some odd cluster missile launcher

potent anchor
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Limpet Splendor?

torn saffron
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limpet splendor bombs shoot out shrapnel instead of exploding

potent anchor
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What's the downside?

torn saffron
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typically something for caves, but outside of a couple later level variants (buster, detector) they don't do a whole lot of damage

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the shrapnel bounces and penetrates, but outside it'll miss and it has pretty lousy shotspeed to boot

potent anchor
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..Detector sounds interesting.

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Oh yeah, I met the shield dogs. I despise them. Cries in Air Raider

torn saffron
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shoots a big arc of these shrapnel bombs that act like claymores

potent anchor
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Oooooo

torn saffron
#

uncharacteristically, the shrapnel from these goes extremely fast and does a substantial amount of damage—unfortunately it's only one or two variants at level 60-70 or something

torn saffron
potent anchor
#

Yeeeaaaah I figured that

#

Sucks when the first enemy is one though and you therefore don't have a Nix charged

#

Questioning how Air Raider would deal with the pillbugs and flying frogs. Cause unless I missed something, web spiders are just.. more annoying than actual threats? And the heavy infantry aliens just seem tankier

torn saffron
#

the flying frogs (tadpoles) are tricky for AR since his singular homing missile option is incredibly fragile
typically KM6 spam directly over yourself/NPCs, 120mm neutralize for singular targets

#

recruiting NPCs and making them simply move in a direction will help them live a lot longer

potent anchor
#

Oh yeah, I got a new KM6. Just said it was an improved version.. and also took its sweet time coming at a pylon, leaving me to point it at an ant and to suddenly get blown up cause I didn't know where the missiles were.

torn saffron
#

km6 is the machinegun strafer

potent anchor
#

Been using the Rapid-Fire as a cover clearer since it seems to break buildings fast and less buildings is less cover for frogs and aliens.

#

Oh that's what ya meant

#

My brain is kinda tired, mixing stuff up, sorry.

#

Speaking of runs, I just got Phobos though.

torn saffron
#

phobos 3?

potent anchor
#

Which.. looks like it covers quite a long area.

#

Just Phobos.

torn saffron
#

yeah, that's its main deal

potent anchor
#

And also really destroys the long-legged robots apparently

#

Not that Air Raider can't do that normally, just found that on my first run cause it was in the 'this is a stealth mission' industrial area where ya get 3 to hunt down along with frogs, aliens, and shield dogs

potent anchor
#

Been using Phobos lately. Figured it's probably good against frogs/aliens compared to the KM6 and also just good for cleaning up a long line. Also found out that Ranger and Air Raider share some special weapons.. for better or worse.

#

I've also found a 150MM Cannon Lapis System thing, whatever that is

torn saffron
#

phobos does have an easier time hitting frogs/aliens, yeah

#

still wouldn't exactly recommend it but it can do that

#

150mm lapis is basically a 150mm single strike with quicker response time/tracking at the cost of per-shot damage

potent anchor
#

Hmmm

#

I mean I usually bring the 180mm.. least I used to till I remembered how great the Autocannon just is overall.

#

So not sure if I'd use that over normal 150mm

#

Also the cluster missile launcher is called the Volcano cause twas wondering. Dunno if there are others

#

Feels.. interesting.

torn saffron
#

the volcano is the only spread-fire one for ranger

#

good for clearing buildings at least

torn saffron
#

you should care about cover more than aliens because their weaponry is hard to dodge at higher difficulties

#

compared to chaff enemies, their damage scales minimally with range and moreso with raw exposure time

potent anchor
#

Noted

torn saffron
#

on higher difficulties, it's more easily noticed that they do relatively lower damage compared to an ant—not that they aren't deadly, but that their danger is in the form of range and consistency

#

it's much easier to tank them with shields or vehicles compared to fodder enemies, which often have deadly shotgun attacks at close range

#

there's exceptions obviously but a dozen spiders is more of a threat to a vehicle than one heavy cosmo

potent anchor
#

Admittedly, my main tactic has been using Minion Buster Burst or Stork (or the new piercing Shredder I got, dunno which may be more useful) for stun-locking aliens and using a missile launcher for longer ranges.

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

yea you don't really need to worry about it on normal/offline as much as online on hardest+

potent anchor
#

I've also gotten an upgraded version of the Emerald.

#

And also a few snipers I haven't really tried.. my main experience in which so far is the big single-hit one that goes mega fast and far can take a helmet off of an alien.

#

Buuut if it hits an unarmored bit.. sploosh.

#

Squish? I dunno a good sound effect for an alien getting vaporized by a big bullet.

#

Felt kinda slow, but probably good in some scenarios. I just like having faster-reloading weapons and ones that don't need too much accuracy.

torn saffron
#

if it's a weapon with several shots in the magazine, it's a lysander. if it's one, it's a fang. both allow you to do some weapon swap things for tech

#

the lysander basically always takes four seconds between shots, but you can swap to your other weapon to wait it out

potent anchor
#

I think it's the Fang, yeah.

torn saffron
#

the fang has a big recoil animation after firing you can cancel by swapping to your other gun and swapping back

#

this also lets you reload faster too

potent anchor
#

Oooo

#

Noted

torn saffron
potent anchor
#

So given the primaries I use, which of those two snipers supplements the other well?

#

I've kinda gotten better rifles than the Stork, but I also just got it's upgraded version.. and I feel like Minion Buster is really good against armor or big targets?

torn saffron
#

minion buster is more dedicated towards armor or big targets, yes. it doesn't have any dropoff and easily staggers due to its two-stage nature

#

conversely, its delayed damage means it's worse for crowds since efficiently using it would mean counting how many bullets it takes per enemy

#

both lysander and fang act like 'secondaries' that fill the range/burst damage gap for basically any primary

#

probably just an assault rifle or shotgun would pair well

potent anchor
#

Where would ya rank the Slaughter then? (and upgrades/variants of it)

torn saffron
#

slaughter is the most consistent shotgun out of them all; shotguns in general are really great

#

they do a lot of damage with decent range and have enemy penetration up to a certain range

#

slaughter is versatile, SGN (semi-auto/auto) is raw burst, monsoon is reload speed

potent anchor
#

I've mainly picked it cause I got a version that seems to have piercing/penetration

#

Which I'm guessing means it goes through targets

#

So more crowd clear.

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

the blue hitsparks is the penetration effect

#

that means a bullet has hit through an enemy and will continue onward its path (presumably into another enemy)

blissful fern
#

Shotguns are excellent at the missions that go "500 drones"

#

God I hate those

#

Before I understood the strength of Spritefall, shotgunning those was a pain

potent anchor
#

Shotguns good against drones?

#

And also Spritefall?

#

Oh yeah, I also got a helicopter with an auto-aiming autocannon and that one vehicle that shot not-godzilla

#

Still can't get used to the helicopter

blissful fern
#

Never bothered with helicopters

#

They are... available I guess

#

While I am in a vehicle I could also be useful and calling in strikes

potent anchor
#

Yeeeaaaah

#

I've also gotten a couple of new artillery strikes. One that basically seems to be railcannon shots and one that's.. said something about mixed?

#

Not that I really use them besides taking on the wasp hive.

#

I'd probably use them more if I didn't prefer strafing/bombing runs.

#

I don't trust myself with grenade arcs and a big circle is a bit more limited than the cones/lines of runs.

#

Maybe not as much focused damage, but like.. I'm pretty sure a bombing run will still wreck a swarm of bugs.

torn saffron
#

they're relatively tanky and get knocked away by bullets, so killing them in 1 go is good

stuck sierra
#

Huh, I thought the g&m still popped type 1 drones in one shot. Also spritefall is one of the AR's big weapons. It's a space laser

blissful fern
#

It is very much just "that area dipleases me, laser Lady if you would please remove said area"

#

I don't remember the character's name

#

...were we ever told that

potent anchor
#

I was more inquirinf to the usage of Spritefall aa someone mixed myself

blissful fern
#

It locks down an area ground and air

#

Quite useful, no blast radius to worry about. Some of the later ones do have a massive radius of effect though

#

I like using them myself

stuck sierra
#

I confess I was a Lionic user more than spritefall

potent anchor
#

I have yet to get this Lionic

blissful fern
#

Too slow for me

#

And of no help when I am getting swarmed

potent anchor
#

I would like to sue past me for saying the Droids are easy

#

They suddenly grew longer legs and now it's somehow impossible

#

I love being juggled like a ragdoll

#

In other news oh hey the Lionic

blissful fern
#

So your autocannon or whatever variety you have can just bully the walkers if you hit the head

potent anchor
#

Oh yeah, I know that.

#

But.. it's way too tall for me to shoot conveniently in the head.

#

Like I have to get right under it for autocannon beacons to hit.

#

And it has all those lasers that shoot me and ow

blissful fern
#

That is one of the issues with the lower level ones

#

And generally the autocannons, low range

torn saffron
#

could be an upgrade problem

#

in a pinch you can use a missile strike or bulge laser since those two typically have plenty of range to spare

potent anchor
#

I now have Neuraltize Cannon B

#

And also some missile from a place called Barren Land or something like that?

#

It sure looks like a big missile, that's all I can say.

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

it's an 'opener' missile strike on an un-aggro'd group of enemies, pylons and stuff like that

blissful fern
#

Neutralise is sky shotgun, good luck hitting what you intended

stuck sierra
#

Tempest also takes chunks off boss healthbars

torn saffron
blissful fern
#

I could just hit them with something that actually has a chance to kill them instead

torn saffron
#

i don't understand where this idea about the 120mm comes from. it does plenty of damage on typical enemies and has an easier time with flyers

blissful fern
#

Never felt quite the same to me, I just don't like it

#

I am biased

torn saffron
#

sure it doesn't instakill small enemies in one beacon shot, but the spread will hit enemies around and will catch moving enemies more easily
i wouldn't recommend it for cosmonauts but for everything else it does fine/exceptionally well

potent anchor
#

And noted. Got it along with the Lionic.. not sure which I prefer, but I'm admittedly mixed on missiles.

#

Would probably use with buddies, but runs require less attention.

#

Also I got sniper turrets apparently.

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

may just be a difficulty thing

potent anchor
#

Maybe.

#

Also got KM6 X2.. feels a bit weird compared to the normal.

potent anchor
#

Not a fan of these x-shaped runs.

blissful fern
#

I don't really use the KM6 myself, honestly half my fun is hearing my teammates running from my airstrikes

#

After I told them twice to move

lofty imp
#

No one does karma better than Air Raider

grand crystal
#

Look I am but a humble infantryman, and I will hold this god damned hill until I’m dead and gone. You dropping 37 missile strikes on me isn’t gonna change that.

torn saffron
#

i prefer my teammates alive and taking enemy aggro. if the enemy has already arrived on their position while i had an explosive strike it is my failing

grand crystal
#

No see this was a hill I ran onto while it was covered in bobble heads and you verbally warned me to not go there but I was too distracted to notice.

#

This is if anything, an act of pure idiocy and battle high.

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

it's why most people only use it as an opener attack

#

the later level variants are some of the highest burst damage options you have out there

potent anchor
#

Like am I blind or does it take a hot minute to actually start responding to laser homing?

#

Or does it just move so slow it LOOKS like it takes so long to start homing?

#

Well, either that or the new missile swarm thing I got, which someone here said was.. eh?

#

Or I just keep bombing. Been kinda experimenting, especially wiht turrets lately.

torn saffron
torn saffron
#

i'd probably say lionics are far more popular than cruise missiles due to their responsiveness and high burst damage

potent anchor
#

It's really a question of 'what am I fighting on this mission?' which.. I've sorta forgotten for most of them.

#

And of course 'Do I have to fight a teleport ship?'

potent anchor
#

I also decked the heck out of the big spiny fella

#

..And I'm scared this means he's gonna start being a common enemy.

torn saffron
#

no, they don't start dropping archeluses into random missions like that

#

he'll be a big feature of a mission, not just something random

potent anchor
#

I think this means I'm in the 90s in terms of missions now?

#

Dunno how much left.

#

Besides replaying the campaign with all classes.

torn saffron
#

you're getting decently close

potent anchor
#

And multiplayer.

#

Dunno how much fun I'll have with Wing Diver or Fencer..

torn saffron
#

wing diver should be fine—energy management is basically her central mechanic with nothing else to worry about

potent anchor
#

Oh, and then I have the extra difficulties.. and the mission packs.

torn saffron
#

fencer takes more to get used to. once you get decent with him he often has an easy time with missions, but you'll need to at least learn his stuff

potent anchor
#

I may need a lil hand-holding.

#

In terms of putting a Fencer together.

#

He looks like he has some fun toys though.

torn saffron
#

AR is probably the most taxing mentally of all the classes since he relies more on knowing enemy composition/mission structure

potent anchor
#

Fair.

#

Funny given I've claimed him as my first class and main

torn saffron
#

it was a big mission in 4.1 and follows a generally similar structure

grand crystal
potent anchor
#

A threat I have consistently staggered with AR fire

torn saffron
#

AR is basically allowed to combine 3 slots' worth of total DPS at once, so, yeah he's extremely powerful in that regard

#

at least, for one target.

grand crystal
potent anchor
#

Heck, I meant Assault Rifle

#

Not Air Raider

#

woops

grand crystal
# potent anchor Heck, I meant Assault Rifle

TLDR: you used the right tool for the right job.

Good job on using high fire rate single target damage on the big single target.

As the campaign and difficulties ramp up, this will not continue to work. Which is a shame.

I personally prefer using a rocket launcher. There’s some really good options. Big booms.

potent anchor
#

I switch depending on enemies

#

If lots of aerial, missiles. Otherwise, go nuts.

grand crystal
#

Huh.

I just

#

Pick 2 really shiny guns

#

And make them work

#

Hell or high water

potent anchor
#

The Stork is very shiny.

#

So is the Volcano, but.. it's weird.

torn saffron
#

missiles are one of ranger's biggest assets against air targets, yes

potent anchor
#

Oddly liking the Cascade more

torn saffron
#

it's actually kind of fencer's one substantial weakness (outside of having no solo mega-burst damage options)—his missiles and anti-air options are weaker than that of the other classes

grand crystal
#

The lack of burst and AA on fencer is

#

Brutal

#

In 4.1 you at least had obscene mobility

#

In 5/6 you have. Okay mobility. And like. A hope and a prayer.

potent anchor
#

Noted

#

Also I noticed you can't forward dash with some weapons

#

On Fencer

#

Or is it jump? I remember finding some odd restriction

torn saffron
#

specific weapon categories will be mostly jump or boost

#

it'll tell you at the end of the weapon description

torn saffron
grand crystal
torn saffron
#

anyway the AA thing usually means fencer needs to fight and focus on it

#

the second hardest is AR because he needs to time/place his strikes right to wipe out a swarm

#

fencer still has decent/good missile weapons but they're less fire and forget than WD or R

potent anchor
#

Naegling my beloved.

#

Got a newer version with missiles that split and feels like a sweet.. upgrade?

#

But yeah, I had a feeling..

stuck sierra
#

good rules of thumb for fencer: if you took 2 of the same weapon, fire one, then the other. unless you have two miniguns. then you empty one then the other

#

uhh, what else... the spear weapons almost always thrust-dash, the minigun/shotgun weapons almost always boost jump, boost/dash conversion "upgrades" are actually a massive downgrade...
oh, right. and look up how to dash cancel, because you, like me, might be doing it wrong. for half the campaign

potent anchor
#

So basically like piloting the Barga;left, right, left, right, etc?

nova plover
#

dash cancelling is using some function of your weapons (most often your shield) to cancel the animation at the end of your dash, which will normally make you do a full stop, animation locking you

#

if you use the reflection ability of your shield or other animations to cancel this lock, you will keep your momentum or at least a good chunk of it

#

my personal favourite in 5 was the ion shields, because they do the reflection animation nice and quick, in 6 i prefer the feel of the normal reflector shield
arm hound missiles are nice mobility with some constant trickling dmg

potent anchor
#

I forget what reflect does..

nova plover
#

any projectile goes back to sender

potent anchor
#

Beams aren't projectiles, are they?

nova plover
#

i can be heard in some missions going "idiot" * ant dies of its own projectile *

nova plover
potent anchor
#

And does that include missiles and the leggy boy's weird 'missiles'?

nova plover
#

anything which is beam shaped cannot be 'parried'

potent anchor
#

Noted

nova plover
#

missiles are a mixed bag

#

plasma glob looking ones can be parryed

#

the big leggy boy ones cannot

#

but you can shoot those

#

also i am a bit late to the air raider discussion but: personally feel neutralize feels meh for damage and so do the strafing runs, if i already have to wait for an aircraft to fly in from off-screen, it should at least bring some explosives

potent anchor
#

I just feel the runs are easier and more reliable than the artillery without much need for focus.

nova plover
#

and i cannot really talk for rangers but if you mark a fencer with an airstrike and they die, they were not playing right :]
i am enemy magnet, mark me for death and i will deliver them to the soil marked in crimson

nova plover
potent anchor
#

Been told Napalm doesn't deal much damage

#

But yeah, been using this x-shaped Phobos that brings in two bombers.

#

Felt odd at first, but I've gotten used to it.

nova plover
#

and them aoe the hell out of them

#

But i will also not claim supreme knowledge about air raider since fencer is my main

potent anchor
#

I should remember to poke this server for people now and then, but I'm pretty sure only one guy has offered to play with me in here. And then I get nervous about randomly poking people.

#

Not too sure if I'm looking forward to playing through as Fencer.

#

Wait, does the multiplayer have its own story progress? Would I need to do all that as all four classes too for real 100%?

nova plover
potent anchor
#

Not too sure where the appropriate chat would be unless ya mean here. And I guess? I feel like I'm kinda boring or annoying though..

#

Like I feel like my buddies are used to my brand of.. socializing?

nova plover
#

I came here looking for people to raid in destiny with and found people with a pretty similar spread of interests
Also there's enough people here to make it very likely to hit it off with someone sooner or later

#

Mind you it took me about 2-3 weeks after joining this server to write in the destiny chat

#

so i totally get the social fear (i forgot the appropriate word here) but so far nobody inthis server has killed me for any of my bad dad jokes :]

potent anchor
#

I also fear the anger from me accidently bombing people with my runs or bigger guns

#

Cause honestly.. I tend to pay more attention to the enemy than any allies near any of my danger zones.

nova plover
#

my edf ruleset is:
air raiders are either far enough away from the enemies or already actively perishing
rangers are to be looked out for but can mostly handle a little bit of red ground clipping them
unless you hear the wingdiver scream in pain they can just take off
if you hit a fencer with a bombing run they have either choosen to have their 'frank sinatra - my way'-moment right there and then or they were weak, for they lack movement tech
[obviously a bit more extreme than realistically applicable but it is the foundation of how i play]

potent anchor
#

Survival of the fittest

#

What about for missiles or lasers though?

nova plover
#

from a fencers perspective: spritefall marks the ground and i am not a bus-sized ant so the chance to get hit often enough to kill me is fairly low, missiles are a bit more tricky to dodge but this can mostly be mitigated by *not standing in a pile of enemies when you hear air raider voicelines/know you have a lockheed&magician in the backline casting bombers and missiles

potent anchor
#

I mostly say this cause much as I prefer runs, sometimes I feel like 'methinks missiles/lasers cut it better here/more curious about new missile or laser I got'

#

Much as I also fear them since fellow soldiers like to step in front of them at the worse times.

nova plover
#

experimentation is your best friend when progressing through missions

potent anchor
#

Especially wing divers.

nova plover
#

you and your fellow soliders will learn whith which weapons to fear the desync through some friendly fire incidents

#

and with some mission&weapon combos my first action at the start of a mission is sometimes downing all npcs

#

i will not have a wingdiver eat another heavy mortar round for the 5th time in a row, you are getting the cia prize for outstanding journalism in 30mm form

potent anchor
#

Been questioning whether big bullet or shotgun call-in is better for big guys.

#

Neutralize is definitely good for aerial foes, but..

nova plover
#

(wingdiver npcs are a nice way for fencers to deal with random air/chaff enemies on normal-hard)

nova plover
#

i use singleshots for slower big guys and the minigun/similar for everything else

#

but you gotta see what feels right for you and your playstyle, half of my playtime is just slamming my head against a mission with different loadouts to see what works that mission
you'll get a feel for the rough vibe of new missions after a while

torn saffron
potent anchor
#

internal screaming

torn saffron
#

i could be up to play some edf5 once you hit Hard difficulty

#

anyway, yeah, fencer's largely reliant on a couple things:

  • basic movement tech (dashjump)
  • awareness of weapon animations
  • what weapons pair well together
#

with a handle on weapons and movement tech (activating a boostjump halfway through a dash) a fencer is capable of pretty easily kiting most fodder enemy groups

torn saffron
#

so just take autocannon and your best bullet-based gunship for single targets for the most part

#

the level 58 neutralize version does ~2x more TDPS than the gunships before it, and the level 77 version actually has the highest TDPS out of them all given that every shot hits

#

TDPS being the damage per second with the reload included

nova plover
#

don't know about single player, but i don't like to take 2 gunship-types, feels like a wasted slot for something like spritefall

torn saffron
#

yeah you don't really need to take more than one gunship, just that if you're considering it then you really can't go wrong with autocannon

nova plover
#

and for the neutralize cannon, like i said, i just don't like the feel of it and in my experience it wasn't great

potent anchor
nova plover
#

i will belive the statistical total dps numbers tell a fidderent story

potent anchor
#

I've tended to at least take Autocannon to have something I can constantly shoot while other things are reloading or charging or building.

#

I take Neuralize for aerial or big threats just for some extra damage between.

#

Though the reload is fast enough I guess I could use it as a primary.

nova plover
#

oh don't get me wrong, always take some kind of autocannon or other reloadable, just in case point-reloads don't line up or you are caught in a bad postition

#

i just prefer to fill the rest of my slots with point reloads

potent anchor
#

Don't get me wrong, I do think it'd be funny to walk in with big weapons and just rely on everyone else killing to reload my stuff.. buut.. could also get boring and make me contribute less.

#

Dunno.

#

But fair.

torn saffron
#

in comparison the neutralize doesn't kill small targets as cleanly as some of the single-target strikes, but i value its presence around level 30-77 where you stop getting single-hit 150mm cannons and keep getting those consecutive strikes

potent anchor
#

I've kinda been experimenting with turrets, lasers, etc today.

#

Particularly using the advanced turrets against flying foes.

torn saffron
#

for self defense it's really up to preference, but it's a good supplementary DPS option if you already have an autocannon/105mm going

potent anchor
#

Not too sure how to use sniper turrets neat as they look.

torn saffron
#

the turrets are kinda wonky

#

the normal bullet ones have a bunch of weird variants very unevenly spaced around weapon levels

#

the most reliable ones will simply be the rapid-fire machinegun turrets (named ZER/ZERA/ZEXR), but there's big gaps between these variants

#

there's eventually flamethrower and rocket launcher sentries that are decent at close and long range respectively

potent anchor
#

Ye, got the ZER

#

Not the others yet though. Just Sniper.

nova plover
#

in 5 you can stick anything to a fencer and make them a walking pillbox

#

or cause their untimely demise with c4

torn saffron
#

turrets are good midrange fodder-management tools, mostly for defending yourself

potent anchor
#

I do tend to stick turrets to my vehicles

nova plover
#

i mostly value them for close ranger plinking as mentioned above, they kill an ant or 2 fine while i call the 4th phobos

potent anchor
#

Wait.. you mean I shouldn't throw my turrets into pits of enemies?

nova plover
#

you can do that, they will kill some stuff

#

don't know if that is the most effective use for them though Goof

potent anchor
#

Is this a cave mission with aliens with shotguns and a pillbug spawner?

#

..How the hell am I suppose to combat this with Air Raider?

blissful fern
#

Not well

#

Cave missions are where AR suffers a lot

#

Turrets can only compensate so much, the crawler vehicles are just awful to control

#

Your weird "guns" are barely making a difference

#

I just don't play those with AR unless I got people to back me up

potent anchor
#

I'm sorry there are 3 spawners

#

AND MORE ALIENS

#

AND I FELL OFF

#

And I accidently chucked both of my Depth Trawlers onto walls!

#

Oh wait only one spawns pillbugs?

#

Oh thank god

potent anchor
#

Oh, that was the entire mission

#

Huh.

#

And also I don't actually ming the crawler vehicles controls?

#

I do hate how wonky they get when your not on the ground, but otherwise I feel their pretty alright

stuck sierra
#

...it was the "everyone is dead" mission, wasn't it?

#

and the wonky of crawlers is exclusively how they operate on walls and ceilings

blissful fern
#

The only thing they do well is speed

#

And letting me climb

potent anchor
#

..Also, am I dumb or.. what's the big difference between plan W and X? It says X is bigger damage, but W has more shots.. are these variants just kinda 'pick what ya like' or..?

#

Cause just got W and it seems to sorta just be two strafings down two lanes.

nova plover
#

I remember one long-ass chain of cave missions being a pain, enough enemy spam that i was running a minigun and a shield in one loadout and another minigun and another shield in the other one for when the First shield broke

#

All while having a buddy basically using my shoulders as a bipod, it was glorious and horrid

blissful fern
#

I will say I find the cave missions just plain annoying and in my opinion the game would be better without them.

#

I get the idea of them but they are not good

potent anchor
#

So.. they decided to make faster variants of the ants, huh?

#

Great.. and of course the second mission they get put in is with shield bearers.. meaning I gotta use limpets and I keep blowing myself up with my own limpets.

torn saffron
#

the green ants are an annoying enemy variant if you're not prepared for them, yes

#

but completely countered by any form of fire attack—which is something a red nix has by default

potent anchor
#

Fair. I just have been defaulted to my new Naegling

grand crystal
torn saffron
#

low hp, high speed, high numbers

#

any weapon with a penetrating effect will do a lot to kill them

grand crystal
#

a good assault rifle or high explosive armament puts em down pretty well.

#

on Air Raider though..... it gets tricky

#

not a lot of good fast options, the NYX REDCOAT is probably your best bet?

torn saffron
#

even more relevant in edf6 when you get like 3 repeats of that mission type and get more access to weapons with PT

grand crystal
#

felt like a good baseline of "this is how much you've grown"

torn saffron
#

they feel varied at least, yeah

grand crystal
#

except for the god damned tadpoles.

#

shudders

torn saffron
#

i wish they had more variance on the 'end of loop' sequences

#

they sort of give up on making them feel distinct halfway through

grand crystal
#

I mean, that was kinda the point?

#

it was all about things having gone wrong in the worst way possible, AGAIN, and now you have a last ditch suicide charge to attempt to fix it, AGAIN.

torn saffron
#

it is relevant to the story, yeah, just at the cost of memorability

grand crystal
#

fair

potent anchor
#

..I hate that my turrets can stick to enemies.

#

And that apparently this mission has TWO teleporter ships that drop pillbugs

#

That or pillbugs are coming out of nowhere purely cause of my hatred

#

Slowly growing frustrated with this game now

#

Finally. That level was annoying. Had to take out a bunch of teleporter ships and two deployments of aliens

#

Limpets are.. not very good against aliens frustratingly.

#

Mortars are though.. if they actually hit. Seriously how the heck did a legless, one-armless alien NOT die from a bombardment?!

#

He was right in the center!

torn saffron
#

limpet snipers are probably the most competent out of all the limpets

potent anchor
#

I chucked it, figuring 'your good as dead', cleared some bugs, and then looked to see-- NOPE! He still kicking!

#

I mean course just needed some focus fire, but he was using the missiles, which.. annoying.

#

And been using the Limpet C.

#

Tis cool.. if not the bigger boom pushing me around a lot with all these swarms.

potent anchor
#

Been tempted to switch to the shrapnel one instead cause less knock around, but.. dunno.

#

Please tell me there's some alternative to taking on teleporter ships? Like can I try maneuvering missiles into them? Or is that actually less damage? And probably less consistent..

potent anchor
#

Dunno.

blissful fern
#

Your vehicles?

potent anchor
#

what about my vehicles?

#

Also good lord, the sniper is pretty good. I think it just one-shot a queen. Or very close at least.

blissful fern
#

I used tanks for teleporter ships

#

Is it fast? No

#

Does it work? Yes

torn saffron
blissful fern
#

Tank is straighforward, you need to know your one weapon key

torn saffron
#

nixes in general become incredibly powerful in edf5, less so in 6 due to cost nerfs

blissful fern
#

Nix, well you have like 4 to remember. It is great fun though

#

Plus the movement

torn saffron
#

nixes are simply extremely competent fighting vehicles

potent anchor
#

Ah right good point. Was just hoping for one that didn't require points or being a vehicle though..

#

But yeah, the Red Coat is doing a pretty good job

#

I wish I'd use the two newer nix I have, but.. both of them feel a bit slow to react to some of the non-permanently-open teleport ships.

torn saffron
#

reminder that middle mouse button click is the 'jump' option for nixes and fencer

#

red nixes eventually get fast/long distance jumps compared to other nixes

potent anchor
#

OK, I'm actually really digging the Limpet Sniper

#

Really good against single targets AND huuuuge range

#

Granted it ironically has more spread than the usual full-level Limpet..

potent anchor
#

I... I'm done?

nova plover
potent anchor
#

Wait, who is that and why are they floating?

#

Oh no

#

Wish me luck, I.. think I'm now at the final boss?

nova plover
#

Ah time to arrest jod

potent anchor
#

Not.. sure how to approach this..

#

Don't got any giant mechs to fist-fight him in..

grand crystal
nova plover
#

This is one of the times where i would recommend 3 non-points-reload weapons

grand crystal
nova plover
#

A gunship, a bulge and a beeg Missile maybe

potent anchor
#

And uh.. wow.

#

Jod was easier than his big fancy golden egg

#

Oh

#

Hardest and Inferno are now unlocked.

#

..D-do I.. play those next or..?

torn saffron
#

no

#

hardest and inferno are done sequentially after Hard, probably when you've done a run for each class on hard

potent anchor
#

Ah.

#

Hmm.. should I do normal with each class or just go straight to Hard?

#

Cause given I've been doing Air Raider, the others probably don't have as many upgrades or weapons.

torn saffron
#

you can basically start on hard without needing to play normal, so if you're confident you already technically have a head start for the others

potent anchor
#

My OCD is worried I may miss some weapons on normal I won't get on hard. clueless

#

Like I'm sure weapons on higher diffs are overall just better or something but

#

I like collecting

torn saffron
#

hard goes from 0-50, so you'll probably pick up everything with typical collection and progression

potent anchor
#

Oh.

#

Neat.

potent anchor
#

Oh god wait I realized.. doing all this solo inferno..

#

Oh jeez

grand crystal
grand crystal
potent anchor
#

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

torn saffron
#

inferno online is dubiously rougher imo due to certain online-only missions and online scaling

potent anchor
#

Oh yeah, I got the mission pack.. when should I do those?

torn saffron
#

enemies are adjusted for multiplayer only in terms of damage and hp, so some weapons lose a lot of use

#

the mission packs are primarily challenge packs

#

they have higher drop ranges than main campaign at the tradeoff of being difficult

potent anchor
#

Oh

#

Hmmm

torn saffron
#

most people i presume don't really bother until hardest/inferno, as the extra weapons are inferno-only

#

you don't really need to do them. i don't have much experience playing them so i can't comment much on it

#

i could be up for some EDF if you decide to play Hard
-# though i will say that a while ago i had gotten tired of weapon upgrades and cheated in max ones for myself

potent anchor
#

I'mma take a break first. Today was a little.. intense.

#

I also admit I haven't gotten far in MP

grand crystal
#

TBF: it’s literally the same missions

potent anchor
#

Yeah, I figured

torn saffron
#

for the most part, yeah

potent anchor
#

Most part?

torn saffron
#

MP skips the tutorial section from singleplayer and adds in 2 endgame MP-only missions that are tough

potent anchor
#

Ooooo

torn saffron
#

unfortunately they don't really do anything more than that, but apparently it's enough to separate the progression between SP and MP

blissful fern
#

I never really played SP since it just always felt like a slog

potent anchor
#

Yeah, it kinda does

blissful fern
#

Could be why I never quite unlocked the last missions

#

Well, too bad

#

I am not slogging through it

potent anchor
#

Would you like to slog through it together perhaps?

blissful fern
#

Can't really do that for a bit

potent anchor
#

Aww

potent anchor
#

OK dang played some EDF 6 today and wow, I really like the drones

torn saffron
#

they're good, not perfect, but certainly the best non-air-support weapon he has

stuck sierra
#

feels almost like playing 5 with mods, right?

#

although... 6's androids are... not the best

potent anchor
#

They don't feel that bad

#

Sniper Drone to head takes them out in one-shot usually

#

I also like that the classes seem to have some items in utility instead of a weapon slot too

torn saffron
#

tanky, wobbly silhouette, small surface area from above

#

you throw an entire phobos or electron copter at them to properly deal with them online

stuck sierra
#

swarm enemy that has a ranged attack that disrupts your own attacks? not fun

potent anchor
#

I have a taser drone

stuck sierra
#

taser is amusingly high total damage at slightly low dps

#

stunlocks things pretty good, too

potent anchor
#

Ye

#

Seems to pop androids decently too

stuck sierra
#

it's still a tickle beam on anything bigger than a frogman, tho

potent anchor
#

Noted

stuck sierra
#

does horrible things to the ||octopus and squid enemies'|| temporary shields

#

mid story spoilers, there

potent anchor
#

Not sure if it makes a good primary dps

#

Have considered having it as a secondary for certain missions though

stuck sierra
#

most AR primary dps are the "fire once and come back" drones

potent anchor
#

I brought it to take on the tail pylons by accident and.. well, if ya shoot right under, they'll slip under the shield, zap it for a bit, and usually it goes boom.

#

Sniper sadly does not shoot the pylon correctly

#

Dunno what other drones would be good for that

stuck sierra
#

sniper too dum to understand how walls work

#

makes frogs a joke, tho

potent anchor
stuck sierra
#

drone mortar is obscenely damage dense when fully starred

potent anchor
#

I reallyl ike the drone strafing runs though.

#

Maybe not much damage, but it's damage from cover and you can do it quite a lot if ya don't send them too far.

stuck sierra
#

the cannonball is great for "that takes a bit to actually die" targets

potent anchor
#

I've noticed the machineguns do, quite decently even. Sniper.. again, dumb. Dunno about rest.

#

I imagine cannonball is no due to its firing arc.

stuck sierra
#

ha no. it doesn't get high enough to arc up into them

potent anchor
#

Darn.

stuck sierra
#

cannonball is amusingly yes, because the thing just spitwads it out inside the damage zone

#

the big thing for umbrella tails is to be close enough the drones fly up under the shield and get stuck inside before shooting

#

on the other classes in 6, though, wing diver gets some... hilarously overpowered options for way too close to be safe range.

potent anchor
#

I think I've had the shock drones get stuck before in there.

#

Not quite sure the right position to get them in there but not get them missing or stuck.

stuck sierra
#

sword go BRRRRR

#

the return trip on your drones usually has them noclip through terrain

potent anchor
#

Hmm

#

Why did they take so long then?

stuck sierra
#

it's also at half speed

potent anchor
#

I've also been unironically using the explosive roombas now that they can just sit in my pocket and reload automatically.

stuck sierra
#

the worst ones are the whiffs that have their beacon practically hit the opposite corner of the map

#

see? roombas are actually good in 6

#

well... until you get "mr coffee toasty"

potent anchor
#

I probably should release them closer to enemies.. but I like seeing them zip about

#

Is that the fire drone?

#

Cause I already have it. Or.. a version of it.

stuck sierra
#

yup. the one that goes free range

potent anchor
#

Eh..

#

Takes too long to reload.

stuck sierra
#

it can solo a pair of cosmonauts

potent anchor
#

Noted

stuck sierra
#

besides, the third items are always meant to be tertiary(heh) weapons you use once in an emergency

potent anchor
#

I'll see. I've been messing with the different drones. Not quite sure what the three types of drone quite mean in terms of category

stuck sierra
#

"shoots at what you look at" "shoots at it's own targets but follows you around" and "goes on an adventure"

#

note those drones can't do friendly fire

#

the main wepaons can, though, obviously

potent anchor
#

Hmmm

#

Rather curious to see what kinda drones on adventures.

stuck sierra
#

just to check, you were talking equipment drones, yes?

potent anchor
#

Yea

stuck sierra
#

excellent

#

the fire "goes on an adventure" one is the one I was talking about

#

they got after the enemy you were looking at when activating them, then when that one's dead, they'll pick someone else to chase down

#

you specifically want an "assault aircraft" for that, though. basically the "this ain't a machinegun" drones

#

(it's mostly fire)

potent anchor
#

Gotcha

stuck sierra
#

as with 5, the truly wacky stuff shows up at weapon level 18-22, but there's still fun things until then

potent anchor
#

I barely touched Hard in EDF5 for a moment, did a challenge out of curiosity, barely made it, and got effectively a shotgun Limpet

stuck sierra
#

ahh, splendor. the limpet that does more damage if you set it up as a wall trap and set it off as the enemies run by

potent anchor
#

Me who just sprays and prays in the direction of the enemy

stuck sierra
#

mmh, that's not a good weapon for you, then

potent anchor
#

A

#

But.. it's so cool..

#

When do I get my cluster Limpets then?

stuck sierra
#

hmmm... I don't remember. after a point there, I just... stopped taking them

#

got real good at doing stupidly impossible turns with the cruise missiles and lionics for a while there

potent anchor
#

Only a fan of missiles depending on what I'm planning on bringing

#

And even then, it's usually 'I need one weapon to pay attention two outside of two auto-reloaders'

stuck sierra
#

might've been a mission or two I forced the grape into a mbt role

#

it's... not meant for that

#

but hey, lootbus

potent anchor
#

So do ya still play EDF btw?

stuck sierra
#

a fair bit, yeah

#

kinda bad timezones though, I'd assume. is 12:38am here

potent anchor
#

Cause been looking for people to do multiplayer with. As I'm probably gonna postpone doing hard or such on solo till I know I have better weapons for everyone here

#

1:38 AM here.

#

So your actually 1 behind me.

stuck sierra
#

ahh, nevermind, then.

#

I keep forgetting other people have as bad sleep schedules as me

#

I get up at 7:30, and still stay up past midnight most nights

potent anchor
#

I usually try to sleep in till 12 PM, but depends

torn saffron
potent anchor
#

Plus, like I said, you can do it from relative safety fairly quickly. Only weakness is not real good against air foes, but is pretty good for making distance between ground foes.

#

I dunno, I just really like them.

#

May prefer them compared to actual runs for a while, but I dunno. Will just depend how I feel certain hours of the day.

torn saffron
#

the drone strafing runs are alright against flying enemies—if you aim in the air and there's nothing in front of the marker, they'll be sent out a preset distance and fly higher

#

though if there is anything that far out they will take forever to fly to it and take an equally long time returning

potent anchor
#

Oh?

torn saffron
#

the marker is visible with the default side cam and actually has no limit on range, only effective range from how long it takes to fly over there

#

they have no falloff and can do huge amounts of total damage on big enemies—basically a mini KM6

potent anchor
#

I'll just hope the machine gun drones bully leggy boys as much as autocannon does.

torn saffron
#

they can also technically be flown underneath the bell of tail pylons, but it's really finnicky

potent anchor
#

Cause I won't lie, I haven't quite legit taken those down outside of Ranger

torn saffron
#

AR unfortunately got the reload speed on his gunships halved, so literally everything except a rare few gunships take double the time to reload

potent anchor
#

Really wanted to push the drones, I guess..

torn saffron
#

this doesn't really hurt the autocannons that badly but there's plenty that become really questionable to use

#

well, i think it was moreso that his gunships were really busted in terms of DPS but they were evidently misguided in their approach

#

they had the same idea for bombing runs, but phobos and KM6 are still decently cheap and effective enough to justify their use on proper targets

#

vesta (napalm strike) was actually buffed and is useful, but the tiny kamuy is hard to justify using on anything at all

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

it's 11:50, west coast.

potent anchor
#

Alright, so we're fairly close.

torn saffron
#

i've taken a moratorium on edf after semi-burning out on DLC2 and i've been in the helldivers mines for a good month or so now

potent anchor
#

Ah. Fair enough.

torn saffron
#

but i'm up to play on harder difficulties for edf5/6

potent anchor
#

And here I was just about to ask.

#

I think I'd like to work on EDF 5 honestly if that's okay.

torn saffron
#

yeah, that's fine

#

edf6 is even longer than 5 so

potent anchor
#

Oh boy.

#

Glad I got a headstart on it tonight then.

torn saffron
#

anyway one final thing about AR drones is that the taser one is (IMO) almost always a waste of a slot unfortunately

potent anchor
#

Awww

torn saffron
#

in extremely niche circumstances i think it's usable (high-stakes running and gunning) since it's very low maintenance and does a lot of total damage

#

but the DPS is slow and even for ideal targets (singular enemies, enemies that let it utilize its One Weird Mechanic) it's really quite cumbersome

potent anchor
#

Said weird mechanic is the stunning, I presume?

torn saffron
#

no the stunning is intentional, built into the weapon

#

rather it's how the little thread it shoots out interacts with things when its target 'expires'

#

when it hits ground, a prop, or whenever the thing it's attached to dies, it will rapidly expend the rest of the remaining damage it hasn't done through the wire

potent anchor
#

Lemme guess;its coded like Beta's thread?

#

Oh

torn saffron
#

most of the time this is unnoticeable, but the janky string physics will sometimes let it hit something else and send a couple tens of thousands of remaining damage through in a short instant

#

it can sometimes hit through thin shields/barriers (even tail anchors, apparently) but it's really inconsistent and there are other drones/gunships better at either killing enemies or killing enemies through barriers

potent anchor
#

Oh?

torn saffron
#

the prime tail-anchor distance killer is the electron drone after you get the M2 variant with enough range to hit through the shield

potent anchor
#

Is this Electron Drone just taser drone but better?

torn saffron
#

this is the super huge, super lethal AoE damage drone that has the same use case as EDF5's spritefall, but with a surprisingly quick reload and an additional ability to hit through barriers

potent anchor
#

..I do really like Spritefall.

torn saffron
#

the electron drone is actually in the satellite call category, it emits a huge ball of electrical discharge that hurts a lot

potent anchor
#

Though the artillery has kinda been growing on me lately, not gonna lie

torn saffron
#

spritefall unfortunately got the same reload price nerfs as the other strikes. it can be good sometimes but i find that in EDF6 there's a lot less scenarios where it's particularly good

#

in 5 there were a lot more pylons and dense enemy groups/waves that spritefall could easily exploit

potent anchor
#

Ah

#

It does feel like there are a lot more bigger enemies so far

#

Rather than a focus on bug swarms

torn saffron
#

i feel like it's a victim of differing mission design and nerfs simultaneously

potent anchor
#

Oof

torn saffron
#

they did rebalance the bulge lasers to do 1.5x damage in trade for 2x the reload time; i found those to be pretty useful even if it's theoretically less DPS compared to EDF5

potent anchor
#

So I know I just said I wanted to play, but I'm actually suddenly feeling rather tired sooo

#

And I don't think we need sleep exhaustion effecting my already poor judgement with Air Raider's power.

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

yeah it's still pretty late for me so i probably wouldn't be up for edf at these hours

stuck sierra
#

oh, speaking of artillery, in 6 the fencer's mortars get trajectory lines and blast radius warning circles

potent anchor
#

Oh really?

torn saffron
#

yeah he gets that

#

unfortunately AR's artillery smoke grenades are literally the one thing that didn't get trajectory QoL

#

there's unironically a usecase for Cannon type strikes online but otherwise got like zero buffs for some reason

nova plover
#

oh hey, edf 6, drop modifiers are no longer a suggestion 🔫
if i remember the numbers right doing a playthrough on each character on hard and inferno with 2x drops you will statistically only miss half a drop table

#

i personally did a playthrough on (if i remember right) hard and then hardest and did not have a great time loot wise
now playing inferno farming with, i think, 2x drops

#

the normal playthrough were in parts not fun because of lacking upgrades

torn saffron
#

i had zero troubles with upgrades during my runs through normal and hard

#

the maingame has some spots where it doesn't drop a lot, but usually it isn't too bad—i did absolutely use a drop mod for DLC1 though

#

i can't really comment otherwise on hardest/inferno since a lot of my weapons around the 50+ range are actually from playing DLC1/2 on Hard

nova plover
#

i have just stopped caring for getting through a mission with sweat and blood and then seeing i missed a weapon as it fades the screen, after which i get one of those disruptor non-reloadables, a forceaxe upgrade and 3 weapons for wingdiver (playing as a fencer)

#

imo the least fun part in edf is how the drop system works

torn saffron
#

yeah, i was hoping they'd improve the upgrade system between 5 and 6 but i don't think anything was done at all

#

...though i will say that the disruptors are good. still pretty niche but they got even more ammo in edf6 and can be relied upon to clear out any high-value spawner in short order

potent anchor
torn saffron
#

mods to increase drop rates

potent anchor
#

Ah

#

Not sure how to go about that. Mostly used to the Steam workshop handling installation for me.

nova plover
#

it's pretty easy, there's a mod on nexus which has drop rates and ratio modifiers

potent anchor
#

Oh yeah, I witnessed a video of a Fencer defying gravity with several boosts.. and it kinda scares me

nova plover
#

also auto pickup if you want that

#

and you can tweak it to your liking

potent anchor
#

Hopefully said auto pickup doesn't apply to health

nova plover
#

nope

potent anchor
#

Also I have just met biological cybernetic explosive androids and.. I'm scared

nova plover
#

it just teleports any red and green crates on your position basically

potent anchor
#

Huh

potent anchor
nova plover
#

uh ...

#

run probably lol

potent anchor
#

Yep, already doing that

nova plover
#

you can destroy the bombs

#

they are sometimes easier to aim at

potent anchor
#

I've kinda been hoping they have the same health as the non-splodey types so I know how hard popping their heads will be

potent anchor
#

I mean if I had a more consistent weapon, probably

nova plover
#

otherwise bombing runs take out a bunch of them in a row

potent anchor
#

The humble Limpet Gun I've been ignoring

nova plover
#

i cannot recommend the limpet gun

torn saffron
nova plover
#

minigun gunship

torn saffron
#

a vesta will work for big joba