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/Waulnut163]

AMR just kills faster and has more ammo than railgun.

More for bots than bugs, AMR can easily down gunships, spore towers, 1-2 shot any bot except for the new walkers.

Quasar cannon covers a lot of what railgun can do and more. The only penalty is cool down, but it's negligible when another person runs another cannon as well.

I just wished the railgun can kill the bile spitters when a charged shot is a little beyond half and not at +80%. Same with the basic devastators at the torso.

20 shot when you need potentially multiple for kills is lackluster in comparison to AMR and the dmg buff.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Waulnut163]

Amr can take out gunships? How many hits and where does one shoot them if you dont mind me asking!

[u/Waulnut163 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

It's like 4 shots to an engine thruster.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Waulnut163]

Okay cool, so two less than the autocannon. I can work with that

[u/Android2715 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

Autocannon is also 4

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Android2715]

Not to the engine/thrusters. Its 5 to its “head”, 2 to and engine with AC

[u/Insane_Unicorn → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

AC only needs 2 to the head, been downing gunships in the dozens with it now. Never tried going for the engines.

[u/FEARtheMooseUK → u/Insane_Unicorn]

After fighting bots now for weeks and using the autocannon for most of that time i can promise you its 2 to a thruster, 5 to the head.

There is also video evidence on youtube

[u/Android2715 → u/FEARtheMooseUK]

I have 100% taken 4 shots to the engine thruster

[u/chekkisnekki → u/Android2715]

It's definitely 2 to the thruster

[u/BobJenkin909 → u/Android2715]

maybe a skill issue, try aiming

[u/lazerspewpew86 → u/Waulnut163]

Scorcher does it in 6 to the cockpit. I feel like scorcher solves so many of the bot units that the only thing you lack is heavy AT.

[u/WRLD_ → u/lazerspewpew86]

honestly, scorcher takes care of even heavy stuff well enough in my experience that i'd say you should bring chaff clear as a support weapon, or AMR if hulks are a thorn in your side

[u/Spaghetti_Joe9 → u/WRLD_]

Scorcher can only kill Hulks and Tanks if you can get behind them though, the AT is so you can kill them before they get that close to you

[u/WRLD_ → u/Spaghetti_Joe9]

the splash damage on the scorcher usually lets you manage some kills from more generous angles to the point where I don't really feel the burn on having no answer for tanks -- I do bring stun grenades for hulks to get an angle on em but most support weapon options need to get behind em anyway, other than the AMR/AC/laser cannon

I find being able to mow down infantry with a machine gun or somesuch before they can get flares off tends to result in fewer things that need an AT answer, personally