I was wondering what most people prefer, the shotgun or the heavy machine gun?

I prefer the shotgun, simply for the raw close range power that can stop an onos reasonably quickly.

Whats everyone elses opinion?

To me, it simply depends on sheer numbers. If I know I am going to face large numbers of enemies, I will prefer the HMG, but in most situations, I will prefer the shotgun, simply because of adaptability, while still retaining the ability to deal massive amounts of damage quickly.

Tricky question, I thought I'd have a solid answer to this but now that I think about it it all depends on the situation. Lots of fades? shotgun. Lots of onos? HMG. I like the fact that the hmg chews through onos so damn fast, but really if you're on your own against any half-way decent onos your dead anyways.

...

Mostly I like to kill gorges.

Shotgun in general, but if you've got to deal with long corridors then HMG.

HMG .. my lovely hmg, very good against skulks, onos, lerks and even those fades, large clip, long range .. its my gun of choice..

If I only need to worry about aliens I prefer an hmg. You can start firing sooner and keep firing longer with the hmg, I do way better against skulk rushes with an hmg.

If I have to kill alot of chambers/hive/res nodes and a buddy with a grenade launcher is not available, then give me a shotgun. I just hate shooting hmgs at structures because of the half damage.

A mix of both is best. Like the lmg and sg combo the hmg sg combo is even better. The sg is better against structures so the sgs can concentrate on them while hmg protects them and if aliens get close BAM the sgs now rape them too.

I prefer Shotgun over all guns. Purely because I can blow skulks in two, and when I'm not doing that, I can kill res towers very quickly. I usually only want an HMG or a GL for that matter, when I'm in Heavy Armor. Dropping expensive guns to light armors just seems like a waste to me, well ofcourse if they don't have any fades or onos or anything then it's sort of ok... but still, I like shotgun the best, just because it can own aliens, and alien structures equally.

HMGs are far superior to shotguns for anti-alien duty. Two light armor marines with HMGs will kill anything short of the entire alien team in seconds. Equip your whole team with HMGs, and go hunt the aliens down. The shotgun is a superknife. They're pure early game. You only hand them out if you can't afford better. I'd much rather the com spend an extra five res per person so that we can actually kill something in a jam. The shotgun takes a lot of work to kill higher lifeforms, requires multiple shotgunners, and you can only engage one target at a time with the shotgun. You can barely solo against fades with it, and that's assuming the other guy sucks. I frankly prefer the LMG to the shotgun in most cases. I'd rather camp long hallways with an LMG than camp tight spots with a shotty, if just because if I miss the first shot, I stand to lose the team 10 res. The LMG is free and just as effective. But yeah, hands down, the HMG is the best weapon for just killing aliens of any kind. They are the only counter to Onos, and utterly annihilate fades. Once you get HMGs, you hardly need anything else to win. Just go in, set up sieges, blast the hell out of anything stupid enough to try and stop you, and do it again to the second hive. Jetpacks or heavy armor is redundant if you have HMGs. You're already going to win.

Just don't all reload at once.

Shotgun:
- Cheaper
- Quicker to reload
- Can give fades nasty surprises and frags lerks in one shot

HMG:
- Lots of damage, but shared to a longer time-span.
- Effective at long range
- Makes instant-toast of anything smaller, and tears bigger cretins to shreds in a few more seconds.

You make the conclusion of that. For me, it's always a mixed group (at hive 1 aliens do not stand even a smallest chance) when commanding, and don't care otherwise.

it depends, if you are gonna be sieging a hive while they have fades then HMGs would work alot better. But if you are just ramboing around killing rts then for sure you would want a shottie


and for owning aliens in pubs, i would pick the shotgun

On rare occasions I prefer HMG but only when there are **ALOT** of Onos.

Shotguns simply require less (point wise) and can deal huge damage when point blank and reload seems better IMO. Nothing like reloading a single shot to get off that last blast for the win.

As for distance with the shotty, I'll usually take JP.

I prefer a shotty to go with my strange ninja vent running. HMG is nice but I think it works best with combined arms. SG much more suited to vent running.

not everyone can handle a shotgun, hmg is easy enough, and is just a better all-round weapon.

shotty usually.
yet vs onos I am in doubt. hmg probably then

HMG might be slightly more powerful and easier to use.

But shotty is cheaper and doesnt need an Advanced armory, and is way cooler than the hmg, or at least i think that.

HMG because it's usally best for fighting more than 3 or more aliens and I am horrible with shotgun so thats why I prefer hmg.

I prefer the HMG in most situations. I'm a feckin' horrible shot. I'm getting better with the shotty though. One of the few good things about Combat is that it allows players who actually know what they're doing to experiment and practice with parts of the game they usually don't touch, because they aren't competitive with them.

I usually prefer shotgun over HMG. It's cheaper, does more damage in bursts, and makes fades run. Admittedly that means you need to be a good shot.
Anyway, when I get HA I usually ask the comm for a shottie instead of an HMG, and when I comm I usually drop shotties to the people I know can aim, and HMG to the randoms.

I used to think shotguns were the best gun in ns and it's far superior to hmgs, but yeah i've learned. Think about it, with the hmg you could deal constant damage to the fade when it's blinking at you, when it's slashing you, and when it's trying to blink away. And besides that, it's awesome for killing everything else except for buildings.

Depends on the map, if it's small then I like a shotgun if it's large open map then I like a HMG. But level 3 shot gun really does own if your in melee range

Btw, slightly off-topic,

you ever seen those comms that get lvl2/1 HA and then ONLY hand out shotguns?

they get cained soooooooo much...

I like them both, But I find that I am better at catching a fade as he blinks away with an hmg, and so I have to vote for it.

I like the HMG better becuase it's the same kinda weapon behind the LMG and deals a pistol's load of damage with 125 ROUNDS! IF something survives that, then you deserved to die.

Early game you don't have this choice, as you lack adv. armory. Late game, as a commander, ask yourself - do you want an average close range only anti-alien and good close range anti-building unit or a long range awesome anti-alien and sucky anti building unit. Because that is the choice you're presented with.
Pick according to your strategy.

Early game:shotteh pwns all.
Late game however: A few HMGs with a GL for Wols and other buildings. <----pwns all.
period.

I would much rather wait a tick or two for the res and have one rine in the group get a GL. Unless it was a small group of two or so, but what are you sending out expensive weapons in a lone group of 2 for anyway? Unless jp, but then ur just rushing anyway and the shotteh would be best. Under ideal conditions 6v6, 4 HMGs and 1 GL and of course 1 comm supporting will pwn anything short of an incredibly organised attack by the aliens.

Really depends on what you're up against. I have no preference over them, as they both have their uses :

SG :
- Nullifies close-ranged advantage of skulks if skilled
- Kills alien structures faster than anything (most posibly more than a GL)
- Tears down Fades easy

HMG :
- Further strentghens marine's range advantage
- Can tear up almost anything from a distance. Even more with a jetpack
- Better in ability than the LMG and pistol combined.

If I've been given a jetpack I'll take a shotty, HMG with heavy armor. Either of them will do if I'm a light.

I agree HMGs are definately better for killing aliens than a shotgun. It's just that when you need to get through some ocs, or any structure for that matter quickly, shotguns are far superior. Taking down a hive with HMGs will work, but shotguns will do it 100 times quicker. Plus like swift said, not all reloading at the same time is a GOOD thing. Can't count how many times an entire team of heavies goes down trying to siege furnace hive from smelter, becuase they all unload killing skulks, then die all reloading at the same time. I've gotten to the point where I just won't fire my HMG if everyone else is, even while everyone and the comm are screaming at me to do so. THen when they are all frantically jumping around reloading all at once, I open fire and here comes the string of Norml E. High kills a tthe top of the screen. . "Omg TY Norm!"

I, as a marine usually prefer a shotgun. But, if there is an Onos I'd be more inclined for an HMG... Situation really depends on what I need. IMO

I hate the shotgun. Low rate of fire, and has to reload every five seconds. With the HMG you can correct your aim; machineguns 2 win...

But I love the grenade launcher. Even though it's crap when you're on your own; the supporting power as a group more than makes up for it.

Ultimately all the guns in ns are the best.

Thats why they are different.

They were all designed for a specific use.

i prefer a hmg over a sg
excellent against escaping fades, any lerks, skulks aswell of course
against onos, well, neither one hmg nor one sg are ever enough to take an onos alone
though i reckon that three hmgs would work better than three shotguns (combinations of the two would work out best)

however, in combat i mostly take shotguns, since these are the best against hives

The new shotgun sound is really distracting, can I get a hurrah.

I actually wasn't aware there was a new shotty sound. It seems the same to me.

I really, really, love the Shotgun, but yesterday for example, I had a rush of about 6 skulks, coming in at me, not all at once but in two's usually, and I was able to defend our Phase gate enough that our team COULD have gotten there, (Thanks people who don't listen:(), And almost take down an Onos with the Heavy Machinegun, and I don't think I coulda gotten that far with the shotty... That might be because I'm not a great player, or it could be the shotty it's self, but I find later ingame the HMG is better because it has the longer range abilities and whatnot...

The new HMG sound is rad too, tbh. It doesn't sound like it's shooting two rounds at a time, and sounds more like an actual gun than a repeated, loud noise. Ditto with the shotgun. It actually sounds like you're firing buckshot shells now. I like the new noises.

Heavy Machinegun and Shotgun both suck if there is a lerk using umbra on the other team, so always equip your guys with one heavy machinegun, two shotties, and one or two nade launchers. Spend your money on heavy weapons and don't bother with crap like heavys or jetpacks. The faster you get big honking guns in the field, the better for your team, provided they have half a clue about where to take the guns.

SG + Weapon lvl 3 = Ownage

1 well placed shot at skulk and he is gone. 3 Marines can take out onos in a sec. 2 clips and RT is down.

HMG is only good in combo with HA (not JP...).

Shotgun, primarily for its extreme halting and stopping power, and quicker reload when you are in a tight spot. If someone interupts your reload, you can continue to shoot. I just think it brings the punch you NEED, with the potential to do 160 damage is ALL pieces of that shell impact their target.

hmg fires 10 bullets a second

10 x 26 = 260 damage in 1 second

For me, it depends on the situation. Aganist skulks and such, ill take a shottie or keep my lmg. For onos and (sometimes) fade, ill take a Hmg. I hate the reloading with the shottie, everytime i try to shoot something in the middle of a shottie reload, it shoots like a second too late or a second too early! I hate it! But i like the new shottie sounds too! Sounds like a godd*mn cannon now! Dont know about the new hmg sounds thou. And it is supposed to fire two rounds at a time if you read its bio in the manuel (thou that is soooooo out of date, i dont know how reliable that is )

look it's not that hard to keep your crosshair on something for 1 second, a lot of players can keep their crosshair on a fade for the entire duration

hmg > sg, though i do admit that the sg is a lot cooler

My point and click skills are much better than my tracking skills so I would go with the shotgun, it's also nice to be able to take down structures and reload just a few shells quickly instead of a whole clip.

In small areas or maps (like combat), I usually like the shottie. Just wait in a corner for my mates to arrive, and if some skulk or such decides to come at me, 1 or 2 shots at him, or even when you wait for him to get right in your face, and own him point-blanc.

In open maps, I like the hmg better because of its range and moderate accuracy. So i think it depends on the situation, but a combination of both will make a stronger fire-power.