Hey guys and gals,

I am going to Commando at 15, and am specializing in machine guns until then.  Bullets are costing me a shitload of credits, and completing instances is becoming very difficult when I have to literally dig for change to buy bullets.

Can anyone offer some advice here?  Do we get considerably more credits post-15?  Is there a better way to increase how many credits I get?  I dig the machine guns with their AOE, but man, but the costs are pretty high given that I spit out 100 rounds in about 10 seconds.  Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Ditch the machine guns. They are cool looking and cool sounding but the cost is just way to much. I did the same thing in beta I used it all the time and never had any cash. Since live I've almost never used it and at level 18 have almost 250k credits.

Originally posted by nevikt

Ditch the machine guns. They are cool looking and cool sounding but the cost is just way to much. I did the same thing in beta I used it all the time and never had any cash. Since live I've almost never used it and at level 18 have almost 250k credits.

Wise words here.  The machine guns were very cool, but as said they are expensive to maintain.  I would say to maybe look into more strategy than just one particular weapon.  For example, as a specialist I start attacks with my rifle, then when in a certain range I pull out my leach or shotgun to bring em down, and occasionally to save bullet, use the finishing move.

Machine guns are still a good weapon to have on hand when a situation gets tight, but I would try to refrain from using it as a primary weapon.

I'm addicted to machine guns too (at level 13) and it's sucking my cash reserves dry. I usually open with EMP to drain enemy armor (shields?) then finish em off with a LASER (or physical rounds depending on whether they are resistant to LASER's or not; like Lightbenders). With both guns using the more expensive energy packs (relative to bullets) that combination chalks up kills very quickly but burns credits just as fast.

Oh, well, back to single-shot weapons for a while until I can build my cash reserves up again so I can afford to feed my addiction.

Credits become a non-issue extremely quickly in this game. I went from 1-30 just using the Rifle and Shotgun (I was a soldie -> Ranger -> now a spy) and by the time I hit level 30 I had over 1.5 million credits. And I always 'overstocked' my ammo.

Don't do the machine gun period. It's a trick into getting people to drain their cash into nothing when they could just be doing the same great DPS with a rifle or a shotgun. If you want to return to the machine gun after 30, that's great! By then you'll have so many credits, you won't know what to do with yourself!

Firearms 3+ at least and just switch between rifles/shotguns/pistols depending on the situation.

Chainguns are decent for boss fights and certain other situations, but using full time seems a bit rough.

Originally posted by Dis_Ordur

Hey guys and gals,

I am going to Commando at 15, and am specializing in machine guns until then.  Bullets are costing me a shitload of credits, and completing instances is becoming very difficult when I have to literally dig for change to buy bullets.

Can anyone offer some advice here?  Do we get considerably more credits post-15?  Is there a better way to increase how many credits I get?  I dig the machine guns with their AOE, but man, but the costs are pretty high given that I spit out 100 rounds in about 10 seconds.  Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

 

Use MG's as a last resort. I'm at level 20 and have 200k credits because of this. The shotguns have the addtional knockback bonus so they also reduce the incoming DPS from the mobs.

To conserve even more ammo, pump rage to 5 as fast as possible (even before you pump the weapon skills) since the 20% per pump bonus is much larger than the 10% you pump by pumping a given weapon, and rage applies to everything, not just one weapon. When you do a lot more damage per shot, your ammo costs drop rapidly. At pump 5 with rage you are doing double damage (100% bonus).

That last pump makes a pretty big difference.

-Viz

Good advice, thanks. I plan on following the Spy class at level 30 so am hesitant about using skill points to raise firearms skills. I'm saving those skill points for Blade which, I assume, will become my primary weapon and, hopefully, blades do not consume ammo. . .

Originally posted by DeathMutant3

Good advice, thanks. I plan on following the Spy class at level 30 so am hesitant about using skill points to raise firearms skills. I'm saving those skill points for Blade which, I assume, will become my primary weapon and, hopefully, blades do not consume ammo. . .

I saved all of my skill points (except rage 3) all the way to level 30. Blades do not consume ammo, which is why I give away more of my credits then I spend! Spy is a great class and may seem 'overpowered' but we have a ton of weaknesses-- we die a lot! But it's a great class. I'm a level 30+ spy and have 5 in blade, 5 in stealth armor and 3 in rage. I have a ton more points, but plan on saving those until I know exactly what to do.

Hope this helps!

Machine guns are good for certain types of things. Say, taking down targets with fast shield regen...like stalkers. A rifle or shotgun isn't going to do enough damage fast enough to overcome the shield. An emp machine gun with rage going will do the trick. Even at pump 1, you don't reload nearly as often and this will make all the difference. Just don't use it to mow down every random thrax you come across. They have better/faster sustained damage, but in a lot of cases it's just overkill. Rifle or pistol (shotgun for AE) do the job fine as long as you're not having to reload too much on the same mob.

As you get higher level, the ratio of ammo cost to income is more favorable, and you can probably burn all the bullets you want without a lot of problems.

Thank you for all of the replies...  I will definitely mix it up a bit more, but I really do like using a MG all of the time...  I often times let bullets rip and scream at my monitor, ala Rambo...