Grenade Launcher
Butmunkie
Join Date: 2012-12-16 Member: 175264Members
Join Date: 2012-12-16 Member: 175264Members
<div class="IPBDescription">What is it for?</div>Hey all.
Got this game on the sale with some friends and am well and truly hooked. One thing that baffles me though is the grenade launcher.
It's way too slow firing, and the projectiles themselves are way too slow to be effective at killing bugs. The reload is too long to be effective at suppression fire down a hallway. So with the powerful AoE damage all that leaves is taking down structures. The problem is every time aliens have been moving in and setting up mini bases around corners so bugs have somewhere nearby to retreat to, they are also chock a block full of whips which throw back every grenade I toss at em.
So what is the grenade launcher for exactly? Is there a way to atleast get one of my four grenades to hit a whip? I imagine it would be effective at taking down a hive and its upgrades but it really doesn't help you get to the hive itself; and there are many other better options to take down a hive if you can get into the room.
Got this game on the sale with some friends and am well and truly hooked. One thing that baffles me though is the grenade launcher.
It's way too slow firing, and the projectiles themselves are way too slow to be effective at killing bugs. The reload is too long to be effective at suppression fire down a hallway. So with the powerful AoE damage all that leaves is taking down structures. The problem is every time aliens have been moving in and setting up mini bases around corners so bugs have somewhere nearby to retreat to, they are also chock a block full of whips which throw back every grenade I toss at em.
So what is the grenade launcher for exactly? Is there a way to atleast get one of my four grenades to hit a whip? I imagine it would be effective at taking down a hive and its upgrades but it really doesn't help you get to the hive itself; and there are many other better options to take down a hive if you can get into the room.
Comments
GL is a support weapon, though marines have lots of support options so... it is a bit of an odd one certainly.
Just left a game that I was doing JP+GL for a long time. Didn't get many kills, but helped my team to keep advancing at the hive while keepingthe bugs out of our two bases.
We won the game, by the way.
For attacking, GL is only useful if you take the whips down first.
But, aliens don't build whips near your base, so it's very effective to take down those bugs.
A JP is very important, so you can fire near you and fly away.
Also GL is awesome for covering for your teammates. A bunch of skulks attack your mates? Stand back and fire grenades into their midst. All skulks die instantly. Does good damage against other lifeforms too, killing lerks by accident. Massive range.
Edit: Make no mistake - it's a support weapon. If you're lugging a gl about all alone you're going to waste a chunk of res. That being said, trying to get a direct hit at a Lerk and succeeding at it with a GL is bloody hilarious.
so most of the time you hit with 2 grenades. Let it be 2 whips and it is a bit more difficult.
let grenades bounce off the ground (maybe the wall) to hit the whips. they do not whip them back at you than.
lolno.
just fire it on your exos
just fire it on your exos<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well yeah you are still shooting a moving target with it, but compared to its use against other aliens it's functional at least. Counter to an onos is still 'lots of everything' but the GL isn't wasted on one.
so most of the time you hit with 2 grenades. Let it be 2 whips and it is a bit more difficult.
let grenades bounce off the ground (maybe the wall) to hit the whips. they do not whip them back at you than.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Those 2 grenades will also kill you if you're not very careful. And I'm pretty sure they do deflect grenades that bounce first.
Balance aside, I really don't like whip reflecting. It's just super annoying to have bought a GL specifically to counter structure spam, and then come up against a massive spamfest of structures and find out you're completely helpless against it. I wouldn't mind GLs being nerfed if it meant whips no longer countered them.
Use them in tight corridors, corners and preferably on larger organisms, or groups of enemies. This will allow maximum saturation.
as people have said above, they're great for covering your marines and arcs, are great suppression tools as the lower life forms are a lot weaker and afraid of GLs.
I like to use GL when i know there is a gorge or two / crags around a hive we are hitting (and there are no whips)
with two people you can keep cycling to safely cover a long hallway or choke (fire x2 m1 ; fire x2 m2 ; repeat m1, reload; repeat m2, reload)
but as for umphrey's suggestion that whips need to be changed from 100% effective - I agree that they're too good at hitting them a full 180degrees to the original LOF.
I'd like to see them bounce in different directions, though it makes sense the whip wouldn't hit the grenade away from itsself, only to fling it towards a clutch of eggs or a cute little piggy.
The NS2 gren launcher feels like it's working off RUBBER BANDS, honestly, it goes 'poing' and this un-aerodynamical-looks-the-same-from-both-ends pill bottles rolls out one end of the barrell.
It's all very exciting down range, but having just spent 25(?) Clams on a badly made potato gun as a marine I feel dissapointed.
As far as I know (experience, but as always that is skewed by whether or not I was hungry at the time) a 40mm GL kicks about as much as a shotgun, plus the projectile is slightly to fast to really track with the eye in most light conditions. Even the old m79 (the 40mm launcher popularised by Platoon, Tour of Duty etc) is more 'brute than cute' - I understand they *look* like they go *ponk* and all is happy, but it shakes the bones firing one honestly.
The NS2 gren launcher feels like it's working off RUBBER BANDS, honestly, it goes 'poing' and this un-aerodynamical-looks-the-same-from-both-ends pill bottles rolls out one end of the barrell.
It's all very exciting down range, but having just spent 25(?) Clams on a badly made potato gun as a marine I feel dissapointed.
As far as I know (experience, but as always that is skewed by whether or not I was hungry at the time) a 40mm GL kicks about as much as a shotgun, plus the projectile is slightly to fast to really track with the eye in most light conditions. Even the old m79 (the 40mm launcher popularised by Platoon, Tour of Duty etc) is more 'brute than cute' - I understand they *look* like they go *ponk* and all is happy, but it shakes the bones firing one honestly.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That is sort of a point, what are you actually paying the money for?
Really, the thing launches grenades about as far as you can throw them, and is awkward to reload.
Surely it would be far cheaper to simply buy a <i>sack</i> of grenades, and throw them at things. Faster reload time, and only costs the sack, because you get grenades for free out of the armory.
GL might be great crowd control against skulks but as someone who can aim I'm going to kill the skulks with an LMG/Shotty anyway, and it's just not worth being completely useless in any area with a whip. Granted, I only do public games so there are quite a few matches where GL is reasonably good because the enemy comm didn't build a whip, but it's not so amazingly powerful in that situation that I feel it's worth rolling the dice over.
Perhaps things are different in competitive play, but if anything it seems like GLs would do even worse there on account of the enemy commander <i>always</i> being competent (and therefore having a whip anywhere important.)
Flamers on the otherhand are a counter to Lerk spores, and when you get a handful of them burning up structures they tend to go down very fast. The problem is that they're boring, they take some teamwork to use effectively(unlike LMG,Nade,Shotty), and they don't do much if you only have one guy with them(unless you're solely using them to counter spores).
You're almost far better off skipping nades and flames until very late, and going for mines + shotties. Once shotties are up you should probably try to take a hive or something of importance before aliens get too strong. The problem for the other weapons is that they can't be used in time to really make a huge difference, unlike getting an early shotgun, or everyone on the team placing a round or 2 of mines.
First LOL yes that works great and I do it a lot. Second, You're not actually trying to hit them with grenades. Get grenades close to exo and the splash will kill anything around them, unless it is an onos.
I didn't read all of the replies here, so maybe this was covered already. Whips won't throw back grenades if they are lit on fire by a flamethrower. If you get a teammate to use a flamethrower, he can light them on fire while you take them out with grenades. You can then both continue to take out the rest of the room. This combo is one of the best/fastest ways to clear rooms of alien structures. You will probably need another guy or two there for support against the alien players though.
Yes potato gun grenade launchers are unrealistic...... but lets not go there.
Shottys and grenades are not mutually exclusive on a team. I wouldn't want everyone holding a GL thats for sure. It is largely a matter of playstyle. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. Personally I prefer rifle over shotgun myself.
nope, just seems that way to nubs that like to try to solo groups of marines with jetpacks and exos.
as a skulk
but idc, devs been nerfing all through beta and full release because of the "OP" so what diff would it make now. we have such lovely balance now. lets make the player base hit 1000
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->and they [flamers] don't do much if you only have one guy with them(unless you're solely using them to counter spores).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You obviously didn't saw how many hive's I dide solo just with JP and flamer. And you never seen whole cyst infrastructure going down in 1 minute.
No one should be dueling in NS2 rofl
Still, this happens. Your buddy is eaten and you gotta take out that skulk. GL doing this with GL.