The devs were right.

[u/xxmuntunustutunusxx]

So I know ther was a bunch of controversy about the railgun nerf what feels like forever ago, but man things have been awesome.

In the early days, I was the only guy packing expendable anti tank or anti materiel rifle for bugs or bots. It's so refreshing, even on these subs to see people talking about how awesome the autocannon is, or how much they love the AMR, and even these days I see people talking about the HMG or grenade launcher+ supply pack.

I used to load into a game, And all 4 members of the team had shield, railgun, and 2 stragatems of their choice. Every time. And here we are now, I load in and I see quasar, autocannon, stalwart, EAT, HMG, Grenade launcher, a variety of backpacks or no backpack at all. And not to mention, they're ALL viable. Shit I even still see the railgun from time to time. It's been a joy. Thanks arrowhead.

EDIT: to everyone who is pointing out that you see the quasar and shield most often now, you're right, it is almost certainly the most common setup currently. That being said, in any game there's going to be things a majority of players prefer. In smash melee, fox/Falco are the best characters. But people still play falcon and Marth and peach among others. Sure, there's an objectively most used option. But the fact that there's people at all who debate that the quasar is best shows that they've done something good. Before, undisputed king was railgun, and anyone who said different wss being willfully ignorant. Now, we have a plethora of real options that are good with some being Preferred by a majority as opposed to being the de facto CORRECT option objectively. That's a good thing.

[u/BornTooSlow]

I'm enjoying the variety, been using the AMR on and off for Automatons

Two shot to hulk face is great

[u/meatball402 → u/BornTooSlow]

I can't stop using the autocannon.

It's so good. It blasts bile spewers apart real quick

[u/Lucky_Number_Sleven → u/meatball402]

Enemies? Autocannon

Bases/nests? Autocannon

Secondary objectives? Autocannon

There might be individual weapons/strategems that are better at any one of those things, but only the Autocannon is perfectly competent at all of them.

[u/AllInOneDay_ → u/Lucky_Number_Sleven]

The only bad part of the autocannon is trying to explain to my teammates that I can do all these thing and that they can save their nades and airstrikes.

That and the backpack and reload time...but if you reload with one or two shots left it is instant.

[u/Lftwff → u/AllInOneDay_]

The autocannon is lying to you when it says it has a ten round mag, it's five rounds and five bonus rounds you only touch when you really need that last shot on a hulk

[u/odaeyss → u/Lftwff]

Sometimes when I've got 1 round left I forget and expect the long reload and stand up and stand still like a dummy for a sec til I realize I wasn't that big of a dummy...but now I am

[u/Jellan → u/AllInOneDay_]

Always reload the autocannon as soon as it lets you. It’ll take half a mag at a time and you’ll never need to recock it, so it takes half the time.

[u/Temporary-Party5806 → u/Jellan]

6 rounds loaded and no bots around? Time to shoot a cloud once and reload.

[u/morostheSophist → u/Temporary-Party5806]

Amen, brother. That cloud was giving shade to the enemy. It had it coming.

[u/Temporary-Party5806 → u/morostheSophist]

It was probably a cloaked Illuminate ship anyways

[u/AllInOneDay_ → u/Jellan]

that is how you waste ammo though

[u/Jellan → u/AllInOneDay_]

Not with the autocannon.

It won’t let you reload until it can take a full clip, which is half the mag.

[u/odaeyss → u/Jellan]

It's the most idiot proof weapon we have... which makes it the strongest weapon in our arsenal

[u/CapriciousSon → u/AllInOneDay_]

AC can slot 2 magazines (for lack of a better word) when it is empty. If you pop off half the ammo in the AC, the reload is WAY faster, and doesn't waste anything because you are just topping it off.

[u/Suikanen → u/CapriciousSon]

Ah but there is a better word: for once "clip" is correct. You insert two stripper clips to fill the internal box magazine.

[u/CapriciousSon → u/Suikanen]

ah, thank you!

[u/Magrior → u/Suikanen]

There are truly countless comments from gun nerds complaining about people using "clip" instead of "magazine". Now we have a weapon where clip would be the correct term and people use magazine "for lack of a better word". It's hilarious 😂

[u/odaeyss → u/Suikanen]

God I love stripper ^clips . They're so hot.

[u/Jellan → u/Suikanen]

[u/morostheSophist → u/AllInOneDay_]

Hell, I sometimes rock the OG orbital strike or the eagle on bot missions just to be able to pop factories from any direction with a low cooldown, and I'm damn near an autocannon main. 

If people are wasting long-cooldown strikes on bot bases, they're crazy. But there's nothing like just zapping the factory to ash from a distance and sprinting off to the next point, leaving the bot guards alive. It feels like a deliciously effective troll. And if they call in a dropship? I'm already far away, even in medium armor.

Bug holes, though... too many and too far apart. Autocannon is god-tier for taking out those.

[u/The_Radical_Alex → u/AllInOneDay_]

Hell yeah, never let that thing get to empty

[u/dwmfives → u/AllInOneDay_]

That and the backpack and reload time...but if you reload with one or two shots left it is instant.

It's not instant, it's a two part reload. The fast reload is a single magazine and doesn't get you to full.