"Sentries still aren't horrible!"

[caleeb101]

https://gyazo.com/26b0f68fa0b95bbb815c684b4825161e

I ran straight at two sentries as an elite runner and this was the result. This only accounts for 10 of the bullets, 5 of which hit me. With good ol' comrade sentry I would have been gibs for sure.

Point is, new sentries are bad. Very bad. Their only use is to hold stuff off but they must have a marine next to them to watch the flanks. But what good is that if their purpose is to be -independent-. Bad sentry is very bad.

#bringbackcomradesentry

[thatguyfromlife]

I just hate how we can't turn them anymore, we have to drag them around until they face the right way.

[HKO20006]

Just gonna copy the wiki.
Wrench.png Wrench for unanchoring the sentry, making it moveable. BUG: As soon unanchoring is finished, it will start securing it to the ground, so you need to move away from the Sentry once you finished unanchoring to stop the securing. You will also hit Sentry when doing this, so you need to repair the Sentry afterwards.
Screwdriver.png Screwdriver for taking out powercell and rotating (after turning off). You need to take out and put back powercell before and after rotating.

[Rio]

I've been saying this for a week or so now. The biggest casualty of all the marine nerfs is the sentry turret, to the point where you now need to double or triple them up just for them to be anything resembling effective at keeping xenos at bay.

Anyone who says "but dey suppress duh benos" needs to unlodge their head from their rectum and realize the only thing that keeps xenos back is effective fire. Xenos players aren't scared by getting winged by two rounds when 8 just flew overhead. They're scared when they get shot by a sniper's incendiary round, stunfucked by a grenadier, hit with a SADAR, see a laser, or hear an OB beeping. And they have a right to be scared, because every one of those is a very effective way of killing xenos.

Not sentries, at least not anymore.

[immaspaceninja]

And now just sit down and think about the reason for it's nerf:

On april 1th of 2017 we've been given a waterworld map, representing old box station aka nostromo from pre-alpha. Along with the map, marines got to play with smartgun emplacements from whiskey outpost, which kicked ass because of how strong they were. People liked them and asked to add them in the game for regular use, and so we got a much weaker version of them, that was for some reason put in the combat engie's vendor, forcing players to choose between a good and reliable sentry gun and something that was supposed to a more frontline-oriented alternative, which didn't worked because of it's clunky setup process that makes adapting to the flow of battle very slow, the size and ammount of mg's parts which players had to carry around and nerfed stats.
And instead of listening to all the ideas suggested by players on how to make the mg a great option for those engies who seek action, they just decided to destroy the sentry gun, so the mg would look okayish compared to it. And it still doesn't, even when both weapons aren't reliable.

Now think about it again. The sentry that wasn't changed for more than two years, because everything was okay with it, got nerfed because of A WEAPON THAT WAS ADDED ON APRIL FOOLS DAY.

It's mag went from 100 bursts per drum to 50, along with reduced accuracy and damage, while the firerate was increased.
It won't shoot stunned xenos anymore
It doesn't lead it's target, it only fires at the tile where the target was spotted
You cant freely rotate it as before, you have to take out the battery first, which doesn't makes sense.
360 option is gone, babysitting the turret on lowpop is now a huge problem.
Along with 360 mode, the flexibility of the sentry was also lost. You cant adjust it's range, its super easy to make the sentry waste it's ammo as a runner.
The wrenching bug is still there, despite being reported many weeks ago.
And despite all that, sentry still costs 120 req points with its ammo being 60 points.

The only good thing is that the devs might actually fix sentry gun's targeting with certain types of objects in it's way: https://gitlab.com/cmdevs/ColonialMarines/issues/2390

[caleeb101]

The only thing is that if they lower sentry costs, we'll instantly see complaints about how marines can just spam sentrys and put them everywhere. With how bad they are though, I'd say that doesn't matter as much. Only time I've seen them do work is on the SD defence. Putting them on DS1 for protection is a waste because they're so easy to take out.

May as well just send some MP's down as dropship guards or something.

[Surrealistik]

https://gyazo.com/26b0f68fa0b95bbb815c684b4825161e

I ran straight at two sentries as an elite runner and this was the result. This only accounts for 10 of the bullets, 5 of which hit me. With good ol' comrade sentry I would have been gibs for sure.

Point is, new sentries are bad. Very bad. Their only use is to hold stuff off but they must have a marine next to them to watch the flanks. But what good is that if their purpose is to be -independent-. Bad sentry is very bad.

#bringbackcomradesentry

I totally agree, new sentries are trash due both to the loss of 360 and their inaccurate 10 shot burst that doesn't have nearly enough stopping power to prevent a runner/hunter from simply running/pouncing past it, and that crushers/queens can basically ignore with their crest (nevermind how easy it is to bait out the ammo; you either have it on single shot where it can't serve its purpose or 10 shot where it gets baited dry in no time).

To add insult to injury, their Req point cost hasn't been decreased at all.

Personally I think the following should be done:

1. Reinstate 360 mode - has many niche but important uses in protecting the engi as he builds, securing an area/flank without babysitting (which is kind of the point of a sentry gun), allowing for the establishment of small push bases/outposts, etc.
2. Make the burst mode programmable in determining its targeting range and number of shots per burst.
3. Improve targeting so it doesn't fire at targets it has no line of fire to (this is in progress).
4. Improve damage but keep penetration shit so it actually has the stopping power to defeat charging T1s and T2s but can be easily counterplayed by Crushers/Queens.
5. Reduce cost of the sentry to 80, _maybe_ 100 after all of these changes; 120 is insane for what you get.

[Slywater]

To be honest, the accuracy is appaling compared to your average marine, but a sentry doesn't unload a clip into the back of your head.

[Thatnewguy1]

To be honest, the accuracy is appaling compared to your average marine, but a sentry doesn't unload a clip into the back of your head.

INB4 Engis start using the sentry as bootleg shotguns with that 10 round burst

[misto]

their iff and the fact they dont get bored of guard duty till their battery runs out (remember to get the good batteries from the engi vendor instead of relying on the shit basic batteries they come with) are the only remaining key factors keeping them on their feet. well, and synergy with claymores

[immaspaceninja]

and synergy with claymores

They dont fire at stunned xenos anymore.

[misto]

it's still much better than sentry alone. a xeno stands to take a couple hits coming in, then if they hit the claymore they take the explosive damage, and if that's still not enough to crit them, they may take enough shots to be sent into crit when they stand back up and try to run away.

[caleeb101]

it's still much better than sentry alone. a xeno stands to take a couple hits coming in, then if they hit the claymore they take the explosive damage, and if that's still not enough to crit them, they may take enough shots to be sent into crit when they stand back up and try to run away.

claymores are kinda garbo too so *shrug*

[immaspaceninja]

it's still much better than sentry alone. a xeno stands to take a couple hits coming in, then if they hit the claymore they take the explosive damage, and if that's still not enough to crit them, they may take enough shots to be sent into crit when they stand back up and try to run away.

currently, even if you step on the claymore and you're not <4 tiles away from a sentry, all you gotta do to survive is simply run either left or right from it and it will miss it's burst.

[BadApple]

Yes, bugs withstanding I don't feel them lacking.

Claymores are good if marines are around, but usually not much help otherwise. Dunno if they are really worth it over grenades. Flamemores would be cool.

I play PFC and xeno usually. I am bad at both.

[AverageSpitter]

Oh, wait, Aren't shitty sentries a feature?

[Monoo]

Oh, wait, Aren't shitty sentries a feature?

No, they are. Any remotely good marine equipment is nerfed so that it has no stopping power, allowing xenos to stay back and heal if they get so much as a booboo.

[Rikman]

I dont think that you can even kill xenos with the new turrets.
That would be cool if you could install attachments onto turrets

[Symbiosis]

No, they are. Any remotely good marine equipment is nerfed so that it has no stopping power, allowing xenos to stay back and heal if they get so much as a booboo.

Did you notice they added mortars? They're explicitly giving you tools that aren't based around autism FOBs or memey defenses.

Marines so intent on victory made sentry nerfs a thing.

They'd be hoarded to the point where four or more would be stuck in the SD to hold off overwhelming numbers of Xenos to eek out a victory.

[Surrealistik]

Did you notice they added mortars? They're explicitly giving you tools that aren't based around autism FOBs or memey defenses.

Marines so intent on victory made sentry nerfs a thing.

They'd be hoarded to the point where four or more would be stuck in the SD to hold off overwhelming numbers of Xenos to eek out a victory.

Mortars are actually pretty based on autism FOBs and meme defenses, and encourages them since it has unlimited range and can bombard anywhere.

[Symbiosis]

Mortars are actually pretty based on autism FOBs and meme defenses, and encourages them since it has unlimited range and can bombard anywhere.

I'd argue that it gives them a tool to break sieges - and encourages Xenos NOT to siege until the Marines are tapped out. That's from a Beno perspective, however.

[Surrealistik]

I'd argue that it gives them a tool to break sieges - and encourages Xenos NOT to siege until the Marines are tapped out. That's from a Beno perspective, however.

It can, and shelling static beano fortifications is probably its best use besides flare spam (using it as part of a dynamic offensive can only end poorly), but the mortar absolutely encourages turtling to an extent and snags more people at the FOB.

[caleeb101]

I dunno about the mortar. It has two useful types of ammo, explosive and incendiary.

The rest are cool gimmicks or have limited use/are redundant. The flare shell for example, is really redundant considering marines carry flares with them everywhere they go.

Saw it do some cool shit and get marines a few kills last round. But I've heard its killed more marines than aliens. Seems like another weapon that can be good in the right hands and devastating in the wrong ones. But uh, now marines have the OB, CAS and Mortars. If they ever lock all three on a hive at once, the game will explode.

[Surrealistik]

I dunno about the mortar. It has two useful types of ammo, explosive and incendiary.

The rest are cool gimmicks or have limited use/are redundant. The flare shell for example, is really redundant considering marines carry flares with them everywhere they go.

Saw it do some cool shit and get marines a few kills last round. But I've heard its killed more marines than aliens. Seems like another weapon that can be good in the right hands and devastating in the wrong ones. But uh, now marines have the OB, CAS and Mortars. If they ever lock all three on a hive at once, the game will explode.

I think that flare is one of the more useful rounds at the moment, if only because it is consistent and always delivers utility, but I would not be against buffing its illumination AoE; it should really light up an entire screen, or close to it.

Also to clarify, one of the main reasons the mortar benefits turtling is that it is really powerful defensively due to the relative ease of spotting/adjusting the offset, and the fact that attacks on the FOB are often staged in outdoor areas vulnerable to mortar fire where entrenched boilers try to snipe the FOB defenses.

[Surrealistik]

Also update: apparently the mortar can offset and scatter into cave/indoor areas so it's significantly more powerful than I thought, though apparently being able to shoot into caves is an oversight and will be fixed.