It’s a somewhat widely known phenomenon that the Rate of Fire of PlanetSide 2 weapons depends on your PC’s performance. Getting killed because your PC lags too much is bad enough, but dying because your gun literally shoots slower than the other guys’ is just horrible. Unfortunately, this seems to be the limitation of PlanetSide 2’s engine, and there’s not much the current development team can do to fix it. There is a lot of drama revolving around this issue, and there seems to be a lot of myths or unclear information, so I decided to run my own set of tests to find out what exactly causes the reduction in Rate of Fire, and how strong this effect is. Usually game’s performance is bottlenecked either by CPU or GPU (Graphics Card). I wanted to figure out which of the two causes Rate of Fire issues. GPU Bound Results
For most of my tests I used EM6 with Extended Mags. It has convenient 600 RoF, which means it should fire exactly 10 rounds per second, and empty its 200-size magazine in 20 seconds flat. To establish some baselines, first I recorded the time to empty a magazine using my Usual Settings, and then with all settings set to Very Low. In both cases I wasn’t capping FPS in any way, and RoF was close to expected values.
Then I used RTSS to cap FPS at 120, and then at 150. In both cases there was a negative impact to Rate of Fire. Then I enabled Smoothing, which caps FPS at your monitor’s Refresh Rate. In my case, this is 120 Hz. That fixed the Rate of Fire issues. Then I created a GPU-bound scenario by increasing Render Quality to 1.41, making the game render at double resolution, putting a lot of raw workload on my GTX 1060 3 GB. This had a noticeable negative impact to Rate of Fire. Then I made GPU-bound situation more severe by increasing Render Quality to 2.0, making the game render at quadruple resolution. That reduced RoF even further, and introduced some horrible Input Lag.
Capping the FPS by any means should remove the Input Lag. First I used RTSS to cap FPS at 45. That removed Input Lag, but impacted Rate of Fire even further. Then I set an FPS limit through UserOptions.ini by setting MaximumFPS to 45. That removed Input Lag and solved the Rate of Fire issues.
I also ran a test with Smoothing enabled while GPU bound. In this case having an FPS cap at 120 should not have affected anything, but it’s possible that Smoothing actually does something else behind the scenes. And indeed the RoF impact was lower than while simply being GPU-bound, but it’s possible this was just a statistical margin of error. Since I’m lazy and ran each test only once, there’s no way to tell. Finally, I wanted to test whether low RoF or high RoF weapons are more affected, so I removed the FPS Cap and ran tests with 500 RPM Gauss SAW and 857 RPM Watchman. As you can see from the results, the impact to higher RoF Watchman was nearly double. CPU Bound Results
My CPU is Core i5 7600k. To create a CPU-bound scenario, I went to BIOS and manually reduced its maximum multiplier to 12 and disabled 3 of the 4 cores, as well as reduced memory frequency to 2133 MHz. For the test I set all settings to Very Low to make sure the FPS is not GPU-bound. It didn’t feel like there’s any Input Lag, but all animations would play at super low FPS, the famous “Doom Animations“. There was a significant impact to Rate of Fire. Then I increased the number of active cores to 4, and impact to RoF was not as huge, but it was still there. “Doom Animations” went away as the number of cores increased, so we can conclude that laggy animations happen when the CPU cannot handle several threads at the same time. Normally my CPU runs at 4500 MHz, and RAM at 3000 MHz, so I went back to these settings, but once again left only one active core. I would still get laggy animations, but negative impact to RoF all but evaporated.
Second PC Results
I ran one more round of tests on my brother’s PC, who’s using entry-level Ryzen R3 1200, overclocked to 3.8 or 3.9 GHz, and an obsolete HD5770, middle of the road graphics card from 2009.
Similar to before, there was considerable Input Lag while GPU-bound with uncapped FPS. Using MaximumFPS in UserOptions.ini to cap FPS at 55 removed Input Lag and mostly solved RoF issues. It’s interesting to note that even in worst case scenario RoF impact was not as severe as on my machine. Conclusions
This set of tests is not intended as the last word on this topic, I mainly just wanted to see the problem with my own eyes and confirm tests done /u/ChasseurDePorcinet and /u/Datnade, and /u/Ahorns, as well as rule out Input Lag as the primary cause. Rate of Fire vs Framerate syndicated from https://reloadedpcgamespage.wordpress.com/ via Tumblr Rate of Fire vs Framerate
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Aphelion VEX-4 is an empire-specific secondary weapon for Vanu Sovereignty’s Magrider and Harasser. Harasser variant is less accurate and its minimum damage is one tier lower, but otherwise they are identical. Aphelion has a couple of unique mechanic. For one, it starts firing at low Rate of Fire, which gradually increases over time, similar to TR’s Vulcan. It takes 1.5 seconds for Aphelion to reach full Rate of Fire, and in that time span it fires 6 shots. If you let the Aphelion reach full Rate of Fire, then when you stop firing it will fire an additional blade projectile, which has an increased hitbox, pinpoint accurate, and deals roughly 4 times the damage. Firing the blade projectile does not cost any ammo. Due to these unique mechanics, there are two main ways to engage with Aphelion:
Let’s try and figure out which way is better in what situations. StatsShared
Note that upgrading Magazine Size does not increase Ammo Pool.
List of weapons with Damage Resist Type 28
G30 Vulcan G30 Vulcan
List of units with Resistances to Damage Type 28
MAX (67) MAX (67) Harasser Variant
Magrider Variant
MechanicsIn PlanetSide 2, Rate of Fire is defined by Refire Time – the amount of time that must pass between shots. The graph above shows how Aphelion’s Refire Time changes over time. Numbers are calculated, and confirmed by in-game tests.
Basically, 400 ms Refire Time is 150 RPM, and 150 ms Refire Time is 400 RPM. Try not to get lost in these numbers Calculations for Blade ProjectileThe blade projectile is triggered specifically by the amount of time you held the “fire” key, not by the number of shots. Since it takes 1.421 seconds to fire 6 shots, it is technically possible to fire 6 shots without triggering the blade projectile. The Refire Time for sixth shot is 157 ms, so it will be 1.578 seconds before you can fire again. During that time, you will fire:
For the purposes of damage-over-time calculations, we can treat one blade projectile cycle as one super shot that consumes 6 ammo and has a 1578 ms Refire Time. Aphelion has the default Magazine Capacity of 50 rounds and a 3 second Reload. You can choose to upgrade one of them.
Magazine Size UpgradeUpgrading Magazine Size lets you fire 9 blade projectile cycles, and then have 4 shots left over. Firing those 4 leftover shots the usual way is an overall DPS loss, so the proper way to take advantage of them is to extend the final blade projectile cycle.
Calculations for firing leftovers the usual way
For the sake of brevity, I’ll show calculations only for maximum damage. If you just go for 9 blade projectile cycles, and reload while still have 4 rounds remaining, you will deal:
With a 3 second reload, that comes down to:
If you go for 9 blade projectile cycles, and then fire 4 left over shots, you will deal:
With a 3 seconds reload, that comes down to:
As you can see, using leftovers outside of a BP cycle is a DPS loss overall.
For the sake of brevity, I’ll show calculations only for maximum damage. If you just go for 9 blade projectile cycles, and reload while still have 4 rounds remaining, you will deal:
With a 3 second reload, that comes down to:
If you go for 9 blade projectile cycles, and then fire 4 left over shots, you will deal:
With a 3 seconds reload, that comes down to:
As you can see, using leftovers outside of a BP cycle is a DPS loss overall.
Reload Speed UpgradeThe default magazine lets you fire 8 blade projectile cycles, and then have 2 shots left over. Once again, you should take advantage of them by extending the last blade projectile cycle.
As expected, upgrading Reload Speed leads to slightly higher damage over time. This is usually the case, because upgrading Magazine Capacity’s advantage is in allowing to maintain the same DPS for longer – Total Damage. Calculations for Full AutoWe already know it takes 1.578 seconds to fire first 6 shots and reach full Rate of Fire. After that, Aphelion will continue firing with the Refire Time of 150 ms. One blade projectile will be fired when you have to stop for a reload. Overall, you can think of this as of firing one BP cycle, and then firing off the rest of the magazine at 400 RPM. First batch of numbers will be exact same as for Blade Projectile Calculations. The rest will depend on whether you upgrade Reload Time or Magazine Size. Magazine Size UpgradeWith upgraded magazine, Aphelion will be able to fire 52 shots at maximum RoF.
Reload Speed UpgradeThe default magazine lets you fire 44 shots at maximum RoF.
Same as before, upgrading Reload Speed instead of Magazine Size allows to to reach slightly higher total DPS. ConclusionUntil you have to reload, magdumping allows to reach higher DPS. But if we take Reload Time into account, repeatedly striking the target with blade projectiles allows to reach slightly higher damage-over-time. It also increases your accuracy and conserves ammunition. However, it is harder to perform mechanically. If you let go of the trigger too early, you will not fire the blade projectile, lowering your DPS. Also, missing even a few blade projectiles will significantly reduce the effectiveness of that method. However, given that blade projectiles are easier to hit than normal shots, this shouldn’t be an issue. If you’re good at judging the health of the target in relation to your damage output, the ideal way to engage would be to repeatedly fire the blade projectile, and then when target is close to death, switch to magdumping mode, finishing it off with one last blade projectile. Damage to KillAs a bonus, here are some values of how much damage Aphelion needs to deal in order to kill certain targets:
* – Valkyrie and Liberator take only half damage from the bottom, so you would need to deal the double amount of damage in order to destroy them. ** – tanks take double damage from the rear, so you would need to deal only half as much damage in order to destroy them. These calculations should help you decide whether you want to focus on Magazine Size or Reload Speed. Aphelion VEX-4: Highly Technical Weapon Guide syndicated from https://reloadedpcgamespage.wordpress.com/ via Tumblr Aphelion VEX-4: Highly Technical Weapon Guide MG-H1 Watchman is a Terran Republic LMG with a beautiful model artfully crafted by /u/d0ku. Embracing the Terran faction trait, Watchman has the highest Rate of Fire among LMGs, and overall it looks and feels like a big brother to the TORQ-9 Assault Rifle. Players have been asking for an LMG like this for a long time, and now that we have it, let’s take a deeper look to try and figure out how fast should you be throwing money at the monitor. The following guide will be taking a good close look on the weapon, but if you want just a short summary:
Stats
Auto
Detailed stats
Hip CoFs: 2.25 / 2.75 / 2.75 / 3.5 / 0.1 Headshot Damage Multiplier: 2x Vertical Recoil: 0.28 / 0.3 Attachments: Flash Suppressor, Darklight Flashlight, Laser Sight, Forward Grip, Impact Ammunition, Soft Point Ammunition Hip CoFs: 2.25 / 2.75 / 2.75 / 3.5 / 0.1 Headshot Damage Multiplier: 2x Vertical Recoil: 0.28 / 0.3 Attachments: Flash Suppressor, Darklight Flashlight, Laser Sight, Forward Grip, Impact Ammunition, Soft Point Ammunition Damage OutputWatchman’s damage output is above average, equal to 143 @ 750 weapons, like T9 CARV and Orion. This is pretty much as high as LMGs go, and it’s a solid amount of damage. Watchman has two tiers of damage degradation, which is typical for LMGs. However, low damage-per-shot weapons lose less absolute damage over range, though higher damage-per-shot weapons have longer Minimum Damage Range. So while they lose more damage over range, that process happens slower. For example:
If you imagine a Super Anchor with 641 RoF – that’s what it would take for a 167 damage weapon to match Watchman’s DPS – and compare how their DPS changes over range, you will notice that Watchman starts dealing more DPS at ~61m. Of course, it doesn’t mean Watchman will actually be more effective at range than Anchor. Higher damage-per-shot weapons are naturally more effective at range. Watchman has access to two Ammo attachments that affect its performance in a meaningful way, and it should be always used with one of them:
In terms of raw DPS, SPA is better within 20m, and IA is better outside that range.
As a 125 damage weapon, Watchman has very consistent and clean BTK Thresholds. As long as the standard infantry target is within Maximum Damage Range, it will be killed without any overkill whatsoever, both with headshots or bodyshots, with or without Nanoweave. Going even 1cm outside the Maximum Damage Range will increase the BTK by 1 and TTK by 0.07. The main function of SPA is to postpone this effect by extra 5m. However, Watchman has a super high Rate of Fire, and among other advantages, it means Watchman’s TTK is not as penalized when going to the next BTK Threshold. For example, the 500 RoF Gauss SAW requires extra 120ms to kill an enemy 1m outside of the Maximum Damage Range, while Watchman requires only extra 70ms. Impact Ammunition provides a noticeable damage boost at range, and makes damage degradation even less of an issue. For example, if we take our previous example with Super Anchor, but add ammo attachments this time, you’ll notice that Watchman starts dealing higher DPS at any range further than 20m. Or if you compare Watchman with Impact Ammunition to CARV. Both degrade to 112 damage, but one fires at 857 RPM, and the other one at 750. Watchman will overtake CARV’s DPS at 15m already. Bullets-to-Kill and Time-to-KillStandard Infantry
Heavy AssaultFor the sake of brevity, BTK and TTK are listed only for the first threshold.
Notes
Effective RangeHip Fire Accuracy
Watchman has better than average starting Hip Cones of Fire, same as dedicated CQC LMGs like MSW-R and LA1 Anchor. It’s still pretty far from being able to comfortably hip fire at everything that moves, but you can land some decent shots at the center mass of an enemy a few meters away, and high Rate of Fire ensures good consistency. Laser Sight provides a few extra meters of effective Hip Fire range, but it’s nothing breathtaking, and it will not confer any new combat options, like being able to reliably hip fire for headshots, or being able to take on enemy Heavy Assaults without ADSing. ADS Accuracy
ADS accuracy is both strength and weakness of this weapon. On one hand, it has fairly terrible Cones of Fire for stationary positions. Even in situations where you can afford to stand still, you cannot squeeze any more accuracy out of the weapon. It is definitely one of the meaningful downsides of the Watchman. On the other hand, the 0.3 ADS Standing Moving CoF is hands down the best among all LMGs, period. Most other LMGs have 0.35 or 0.4 CoF. This is honestly a weird and unexpected quality on a “bullet hose” type of weapon. However, this is somewhat compensated by relatively high Cone of Fire Bloom. Cone of Fire BloomDespite dealing only 125 damage per shot, Watchman has the same Bloom per Shot as 143 damage weapons.
Watchman starts with better Cone of Fire, and it will hold an accuracy advantage for the first 8 shots – up to 2000 damage. After that, CARV and other similar 143 @ 750 will have a more efficient Cone of Fire. However, this doesn’t really matter outside of prolonged magdumping scenarios. For example, by the time both weapons would fire 3000 damage, CARV’s CoF advantage would be only 0.05, and a 0.1 advantage by 4000 damage. Basically, as long as you keep your bursts within 15 rounds or so, you will not feel any downside to higher Bloom per Shot, but there will be a meaningful accuracy advantage for the first several shots. Recoil
Recoil Analysis
Watchman’s Vertical Recoil has a bit of random to it, but it’s not a big deal. The gun fires so fast that recoil will average out, and you won’t notice it. Vertical Recoil per Second is slightly lower than for MSW-R, and generally isn’t very high for an LMG with such a high DPS. First Shot Recoil and Multiplier are somewhat high, but still better than for competition. As a more interesting feature, Watchman has some negative scaling applied to its Horizontal Recoil.
After just a few shots, Watchman’s Horizontal Recoil scales down to the level of T32 Bull, which is downright incredible for a weapon with such a high DPS.
These numbers are calculated for 10 round bursts and take scaling into account. Without Forward Grip, Watchman’s Average Horizontal Deviation is only 7% higher than for MSW-R and Orion with a Forward Grip. T9 CARV has noticeably worse Horizontal Recoil Tolerance than all three, and will have ~60% higher Maximum Horizontal Deviation. Recoil Angle is average. A slight bias to the right with a bit of Variance to it. Most of the time you won’t even notice it, though statistically it will result in a minor impact to overall accuracy, giving the Watchman a slight nudge towards being a bullet hose. Recoil Recovery
Watchman has better Recoil Recovery than vast majority of other LMGs, and this is good, because it increases the effectiveness of burst fire, making it easier for Watchman to repeatedly take advantage of its better starting Moving CoF. Velocity
Watchman’s velocity is average for a CQC LMG, and it’s about average on the overall velocity spectrum as well. It’s not too low, but you will definitely have to do some conscious leading when engaging enemies beyond medium range. Conclusion on Effective RangeDue to bad minimum Cones of Fire and low damage per shot, as well as high-ish FSRM and average velocity, Watchman has a somewhat limited effective range overall. However, Watchman gives you a lot of tools to keep itself under control, such as its affinity for burst firing, stable recoil and good Standing Moving ADS CoF. So within that “limited effective range”, a properly handled Watchman will be more effective than your average CQC bullet hose like T9 CARV. Another thing is consistency. The effective range of other CQC LMGs is roughly equal to Watchman’s, but their performance becomes noticeably worse as the range grows, while Watchman – especially outfitted with Impact Ammunition – will perform nearly equally well at 20m and 40m. Just keep in mind that no matter the user skill, there eventually will be a stone wall of range where Watchman is simply not effective, and hitting shots and getting kills relies mostly on luck and enemy Exposure Time.
Utility StatsAmmo Capacity
Watchman has a respectable ammo capacity, overall close to the bountiful T9 CARV, and more or less keeps up even while using Impact Ammo. Reload Speed
Watchman takes a lot of time to reload, which makes it somewhat annoying to use, especially for those who suffer from reloaditus – an obsessive-compulsive disorder that forces the player to reload their weapon after every engagement. If we wanted to assess how efficient is the Watchman, we could calculate how much “damage” it reloads per second, and compare it other LMGs:
We can see that Watchman has good efficiency, though it’s still ~10% below average. However, the issue is not time efficiency, but the fact that reload takes so darn long. Every second added to the Reload Time has an exponentially increasing negative impact, increasing chances of being engaged on, or missing a kill opportunity. All that said, in terms of Short Reload, Watchman is very comparable to CARV, and as long as you avoid the unusually punishing Long Reload, you’ll be fine most of the time. Seriously, d0ku, what the hell were you thinking, putting the charging handle so far to the right and front? Equip Time
Watchman’s Equip Time is about as expected for a full-sized LMG, and roughly equal to CARV overall. Pros and ConsPROS
CONS
Recommended AttachmentsFlash Suppressor is the only barrel attachment available to Watchman, and despite having unique looks, it functions exactly the same as for other weapons, and generally there’s no reason not to use it. Technically, both Forward Grip and Laser Sight are viable, but I recommend the Forward Grip to further improve on Watchman’s strong point – easy handling. Forward Grip will reduce the number of shots required to fully scale down Horizontal Recoil, and reduce Recoil Angle and its Variance, somewhat increasing the overall effective range of the weapon, which is Watchman’s weak point. Laser Sight will make hip fire slightly better, but that’s about it. Soft Point Ammunition is taken for competitive close quarters fighting, especially indoors, while Impact Ammunition is taken to boost your performance at medium range. Generally, unless you KNOW you will be soon fighting a lot of enemy infantry at close range, Impact Ammo should be your go-to attachment. Optics, as always, are up to personal preference, but I would highly recommend staying away from scopes with magnification higher than 2x. Watchman just doesn’t have the effective range and accuracy to warrant it. Tips and ConclusionOn the surface, Watchman looks like a typical bullet hose, but it’s actually a bit more nuanced, and to take advantage of everything it has to offer, it needs to be properly handled. You have to fire in bursts, which is made easier by excellent Recoil Recovery statistics. At the same time, high FSRM may make Watchman feel less controllable than it is. At the end of the day, Watchman’s most defining feature is short headshot TTK within Maximum Damage Range. Otherwise, it is effectively a sidegrade to the default T9 CARV. Apart from the First Shot Recoil, Watchman requires noticeably less recoil management, but more Cone of Fire management – burst firing, in other words. You have to be mindful of Watchman’s reload. Unlike MSW-R, you can’t just reload on the go, and you have to be ready to switch to a sidearm in case you get caught while reloading. At the same time, Watchman’s reload disadvantage is somewhat overblown – as long as you avoid being hit by a Long Reload, it won’t be much different from other “big” LMGs. Overall, Watchman is a welcome addition to the Terran Republic arsenal. It provides veterans with a stylish answer to Anchor’s headshot TTK, and this time without the TR Recoil. Easy recoil makes Watchman a suitable option for less skilled players as well, and it’s not like Watchman is too difficult to handle. Just remember to cut your bursts at about 10 shots and you’re good to go. Watchman’s biggest downside is its inability to reach out to distant targets. Even when you can afford to stand still, there won’t be any accuracy boost. Couple that with low damage per shot and you can pretty much forget about even trying, unless the enemy will be exposed for a long time. That’s the price you have to pay for the combination of high DPS and easy recoil. MG-H1 Watchman: Highly Technical Weapon Guide syndicated from https://reloadedpcgamespage.wordpress.com/ via Tumblr MG-H1 Watchman: Highly Technical Weapon Guide With the release of MGR-L1 Promise that heavily relies on Recoil Scaling Mechanics, there was a new breakthrough regarding said mechanics. And by “breakthrough” I mean that Wrel explained to me how they work. I’ve laid out that explanation with a few examples in the updated Weapon Mechanics Guide. It means so much to be able to talk to an actual living developer for one of my favorite games, can’t relay how thankful I am for Wrel’s explanation. Normally it takes hours upon hours of experiments just to get a theory on how it works behind the scenes, and being able to just get it on a silver platter from a dev is a huge relief. Recoil Scaling Mechanics Explained syndicated from https://reloadedpcgamespage.wordpress.com/ via Tumblr Recoil Scaling Mechanics Explained Foreword Epic is a phenomenal two-player dueling game; I’ve spent excessive amounts of time writing about it because I love the mechanics/depth of play, it has the best limited formats I’ve experienced, and I can actually afford to obtain the cards to compete competitively for money. All that being said, it also has great art … Continue reading Pantheon’s 10 Best Card Images (Exclusive Bonus) via Tumblr Pantheon’s 10 Best Card Images (Exclusive Bonus) If you’d rather watch a video than read. Layered MemoryComputer memory is a fairly complicated topic. The general principle is that you always have to compromise – choose one: price, size, access speed. So the sensible solution is combine different types of memory in several layers. Layer 1 – RegistersThe absolute fastest type of memory are registers, located directly in CPU Cores. Any value that participates in CPU’s calculations eventually passes through registers. For example , if you were to ask your CPU to calculate 1 + 2, the CPU would put “1” in one register, “2” in second register, and then run the calculation and write the result in one of the registers. Registers are super fast, but they are also super small. Basically, each register can store only one value. Layer 2 – CPU CacheCPU Cache is the link between CPU and RAM. Even though RAM is pretty fast, it still takes time to access. So whenever a CPU does take something from RAM, it copies a few neighboring blocks of information as well, as it’s highly likely they will be needed next, and puts them into CPU cache. The next time a CPU needs to take something from RAM, first it will look in CPU Cache. If Cache contains the information CPU needed, it’s called a Cache Hit. If it’s not there, and CPU still needs to look in RAM, it’s called a Cache Miss, and effectively the CPU just wasted time. Larger cache makes cache hits more likely, but it also takes more time to sift through, so you have to strike a balance. If you make cache too large, it will take so long to search all of it, that it would be faster to just address RAM directly. You are already familiar with solution to this problem – CPU Cache is made of several layers, called levels. Each next level is larger and slower than the previous one. When CPU needs a certain value, first it checks Level 1 cache. If it’s not there – Level 1 Cache Miss – it checks Level 2 Cache, and so on. Most modern CPUs have three cache levels. Different CPUs will have different amount of cache, and CPU description at various internet shops will often list Level 3 Cache size, as if it’s a value that’s supposed to mean anything to you. It’s really not. Unless you’re a CPU architecture engineer, you cannot judge a CPU by its cache size. You simply don’t have enough information. With some research, you can find cache size for every level, but there are tons of other questions. What is the access speed for each level? What is the projected cache hit rate? How does cache work in this specific CPU architecture? What are the effects of cache performance on the overall PC performance? It’s just way more trouble than it’s worth. So when choosing a CPU, don’t look at cache size at all. Layer 3 – RAMRAM – stands for Random Access Memory – is a temporary storage for things that CPU is likely to need in the near future. RAM requires a constant supply of power to store information. Layer 4 – StorageHDDs and SSDs fit into this category. They can store a ton of information for their price, but they also take a lot of time to access, and their data transfer rate is comparatively low. They keep all the data safely stored even without any power. Simple AnalogyImagine the CPU is an engineer, working in a workshop somewhere in a city. He also rents a large storehouse (storage) on the outskirts of the city. Storehouse is cheap to rent, and has a lot of space. But transferring stuff between the workshop and the storehouse means a 30 minute ride. Obviously, the engineer wants to avoid that hassle as much as possible, so when working on a project, he tries to cram as many tools and materials in his truck as possible. Then the engineers takes those materials to his workshop and unloads them on shelves (RAM). On the other side of the workshop, there’s engineer’s working desk (CPU cache). Engineer grabs a few tools and materials that he will likely need soon, and carries them to the working desk. The desk has a lot of drawers (Level 3 CPU Cache), and there is also some space on the desk’s surface (Level 1-2 cache). Engineer sits down and starts working. His hands are memory registers. To work on something, the engineer has to take it in his hands first. Engineer keeps working and realizes that to do next part he needs another material or another tool. First he looks on the desk’s surface, as it would be closest to get from. If it’s not there, he starts going through desk’s drawers. If Engineer finds it, it’s a Cache Hit and he keeps working. If he doesn’t, it’s a Cache Miss, and he just wasted time. He will begrudgingly stand and walk to the other side of the workshop to get the needed tool or material from one of the shelves. While he’s there, he’ll grab some other tools and materials. When the engineer finishes working (power down), he cleans up the workshop, throwing away all tools and materials he used today. If something could still be useful, he takes it to the storehouse (permanent storage). About PC Memory syndicated from https://reloadedpcgamespage.wordpress.com/ via Tumblr About PC Memory Foreword Now that my Constructed Card Ratings are up (except for the card by card analysis videos), I’m more determined than ever to use/break low rated cards. Erwin here we come. Decklist Evil (30) [+3 Erwin] Slow (11) 3x Angel of Death 2x Necromancer Lord 2x Steed of Zaltessa 2x The Gudgeon 2x Winged Death … Continue reading Scarred Cultist Walker via Tumblr Scarred Cultist Walker Foreword Below are the 264 currently-legal cards for Epic constructed divided into 9 tiers (Core, Tyrants, Uprising, and 4 of 6 Pantheon packs [not yet available for retail]). In constructed, the power level of each card is heavily influenced by the other cards that are being played, the “meta.” For example, if everyone is playing … Continue reading Epic: Constructed Tiered Card Ratings via Tumblr Epic: Constructed Tiered Card Ratings Note: thumbnail image is shamelessly stolen from Wrel’s video comparison review. Flare VE6 and Ursa are two very similar VS LMGs, and they often get compared to each other. Flare is rated higher by the community than Ursa, so let’s take a closer look and try to figure out why. Stats
AttachmentsCommon: Flash Suppressor, Suppressor, Forward Grip, Laser Sight, Darklight Flashlight, High Velocity Ammunition, Extended Magazine, Compensator, Only Flare: Soft Point Ammunition. Common Stats
AnalysisUrsa has:
Nothing major so far, but better is better. The biggest differences between these weapons lie in their damage properties. Ursa has one tier higher Minimum Damage, which results in dealing up to 14.4% damage per shot, which happens at 75m. Flare has ~5% higher Rate of Fire, which results in up to 5% higher Damage per Second within maximum damage range: 1606 vs 1531. Ranged Performance
Due to higher Minimum Damage, Ursa starts dealing more damage per shot than Flare fairly soon. However, Flare has higher Rate of Fire, so it takes a bit longer for Ursa to catch up in terms of DPS.
Of course, Ursa will always be more effective at range due to better recoil. However, Ursa’s recoil advantage is fairly small. It seems that at least in terms of raw DPS, Flare can hold its own within ~40m, the range where most of the “useful” combat happens. In long ranged combat, TTK usually rises to the point where you can often hide in cover if you are caught in an unfavorable position, and in situations like that needing an extra bullet to kill is not a big deal. Flare’s performance at range is worse than Ursa’s, but that will rarely get you killed. CQC PerformanceFlare has ~5% higher Rate of Fire, so in situations when Bullets-to-Kill are equal, it will also have 5% shorter TTK. Same as with Ursa’s recoil, it’s not much of an advantage, but better is better. However, only Flare has access to SPA, which is a sizable advantage, in this case. 167 damage weapons kill standard infantry in 3 headshots within their Maximum Damage Range, and SPA extends it to 15m. In terms of ADS performance in CQC, Flare is not very different from LA1 Anchor, which is considered to be one of the best LMGs in the game. In fact, Flare has less Vertical Recoil per Shot and lower First Shot Recoil than Anchor, so it can be more convenient, as far as landing headshots goes. Of course, Anchor has other advantages, such as higher RoF and better Hip Fire, so we won’t focus on this. SPA also helps Flare to somewhat compensate for dealing less damage per shot at range than Ursa. To gain a DPS advantage over Flare sooner, Ursa has to use HVA, which reduces its Maximum Damage Range to 8m, further increasing the gap between the two weapons. Thanks to differences in Damage Ranges and Rate of Fire, Flare will hold up to ~57% advantage in headshot Time-to-Kill against standard infantry in the range bracket between 8m and 15m, which happens to be a fairly popular fighting distance. Of course, SPA won’t always make a difference. For example, it makes no difference against Heavy Assaults with overshields, both with headshots and bodyshots – provided they are at full health and energy. SPA won’t make a difference if the enemy has Nanoweave, and you’re going for bodyshots. But it still should be well enough to make Flare a better choice for an average player, unless you specifically plan to participate in ranged combat. In-game PerformanceThese are average stats of top 500 players with Ursa and Flare, taken from the Das Anfall’s leaderboards. It’s interesting to note how close these two weapons are. Ursa does have a small advantage in terms of Accuracy and Headshot Kill Rate (HSR) – courtesy of the weapon’s better recoil. Ursa also has lower LPK – shots Landed-per-Kill, obviously due to higher damage per shot. Flare has an obvious advantage in terms of KDR. Though you can see the difference between KDR provided by the website, and the number that you get if you actually divide Kills by Deaths. On this picture, it’s marked as WKDR. I’m not sure how to treat this disparity, but either way it’s pretty obvious that wielding Ursa gets players killed more than Flare. ConclusionUrsa is clearly better at range, but in current PS2 meta, it’s not much of an advantage. There’s currently not much reason to wield a dedicated “ranged” LMG for an average player. While Flare is not a particularly stellar CQC LMG, it is better in that role than Ursa, which makes it a superior choice overall. VS LMGs: Ursa vs Flare VE6 syndicated from http://ift.tt/2zXu06U via Tumblr VS LMGs: Ursa vs Flare VE6 Foreword Part 3 of my Pantheon review for Dark Draft. For my non-Pantheon reviews check out the full article. Gareth vs Lashnok ratings , Scara vs Angeline ratings , Zaltessa vs Helena ratings So excited that I finally get to write about Krieg, my favorite card of the set (followed by Silver Wing Savior, Scarred … Continue reading Maligus vs Furios Draft Ratings via Tumblr Maligus vs Furios Draft Ratings |
GameDust
I have been a game tester for about 3 years and make great money testing games. I make a full time living just from my game testing job but I would like to try my hand a product creation so that's what I am researching now. Many might think that the fever of online games has died down, but they couldn't have been more wrong. In fact, online games are most popular today in comparison to what they were a few decades ago. Personal Links |