It needs to be heavy armor piecing, thats the ONLY saving grace it could have, otherwise the dps of the mg32 is better due to mag size as they're both med pen and the damage is 21 points difference, This is unfortunate, I really hope they buff it soon seeing as they nerfed the fire rate by 50 RPM, Imagine an anti charger mg able to deal considerable damage to tanks and titans.
Heavy armor pen definitely isn't the way to go for balancing. Just add 25rnds per mag to all MGs across the board. Or atleast just the HMG, but that might encrouch on the MMG too much. Maybe buff that things reload by a wee bit to further seperate their utilities.
@danielmyers-cowan3416 The problem with buffing the hmgs reload or mag size or rpm is that its fire rate is already higher than the stalwart, it has more damage than the mg42 and it has med pen already with neatkj the same reload time, buffing a weapon that already outclasses and outperforms makes no sense, however, overhauling it does, what they could do, is slow the fire rate down, or make it only have the first fire rate mode, and make it heavy pen, that way, it's has a slower rpm than the med mg, does nore damage and that damage diff of 21 makes sense as its a higher caliber and armor pen, otherwise I see no reason to use the hmg as it has worse recoil, less ammo and less handling speed than the mg42.
@@Automaton_Sleeper_Agent oh no not saying to buff the HMG reload, I meant buff the MMG reload if they were oo increase HMG mag size as it's barely better than the HMG. Cut the medium MG43 reload down to 4.5 from 5.1 while keeping the HMG at 5.8 but adding 25rnds per mag would be my ideal change. I think heavy pen would be too strong because there are so few options that do it, and none of them handle chaff remotely as good as the HMG. Heavy pen would just delete the railgun, autocannon and anti material rifle from the game. But with its medium pen the HMG can make short work of charger and even bile titans. A bit over half a mag dumped into a bile titans sack with the HMG will kill it, at max firerate this takes like 2 seconda
MG-43 has tier 1 medium armor penetration. HMG has tier 2. Meaning for any armored target you shot at with the mg it only does half its full damage. HMG does its full damage all the time. Also it over penetrates. MG-43 does not. You can make short work of chargers and bile titans with the HMG. Though titans are more high risk. Still easily doable once you are good at kiting enemies. Still I agree it needs more ammo per drum magazine. 25 more rounds would be good.
Have been rocking it a lot lately for the bots. I think what helped me was not trying to kiill every single thing with it. HMG for heavy enemies. Anything else I use my primary (Med pen) and secondary (mainly for the babies). Supply backpack is awesome with it not just for the HMG but also for whatever primary i am using that has medium pen. Currently I have been using the new charging scorcher weapon (works great with bigger bots; big splash, stunlock, clip feels big since you have to charge) and the desert eagle for all the baby bots. Stun grenades are also a god send on higher difficulties as I can stun to help make shots easier or stall so I can reload. The supply backpack helps me always maintain some. SPREAD DEMOCRACY, take advice from other people with a grain of salt. We all have different ways to play. Shoot I love stalwart for bugs (it becomes my primary)
U should try resupply pack, mg43, punisher, thermite or napalm grenades and the grenade pistol. along with a mix and match of eat-17s, precision strike, 500kg, orbital railgun or laser. Although I usually opt for precision + railgun
I recently fell in love w this weapon after I discovered how to make it work which was a great feeling because I had a similar experience to you where I tried it on launch and immediately binned it. I saw a cinematic video where a guy was running it with the rover dog and I decided to try that combo to keep the bugs off me while reloading and it worked great. I also discovered what you did which was the higher RPM actually does great on this weapon. I found that I don't run low on ammo that often. POIs have enough ammo to keep me topped up usually and if not I can call in a resupply or a whole new HMG. My loadout is HMG, grenade pistol, stuns, with light engiie kit, and I'm still trying to find the best primary. For a while I was using the JAR but it just wasn't fast enough for hunters, so I've been checking out the assault rifles and for a while I was using the penetrator because it can also go through medium armor, and I've been trying the default liberator since it in theory should be way better at doing what I want my primary to do (kill chaff bugs that get close namey hunters) but for some reason none of them feel quite right compared to the penetrator. I dont use the sickle because it has that spin up time. For strats I bring the laser dog to watch my back while I reload and so I can focus on warriors or larger enemies, then the precision strike+500kg. I found my buggest weakness with this kit was chargers and titans so I bring the combo to deal with them and it works really well. A couple nights ago I got a 600 frag mission and I regularly top frag, which I know isn't strictly the aim of the mission but it's really fun. Havent used it a ton against bots but the couple times I have it was alright, it can kill hulks which is hilarious.
@@beakwooda.k.aadregallus8788 thanks i’ll try that! i’ve actually been running thE BI in another load out and have found it super enjoyable but i never thought to try it with the HMG
I'd suggest the punisher shotgun, it's great for killing chuff and stuns and kicks back the med targets as long as you hit one part of their flash which is really easy with the punisher, reloading takes a little bit when it's completely out, you can actually reload a shot and then fire it while your firing, it's nice but you'll have to shoot a bit slower as if you fire it too fast the round won't be reloaded, still short enough to stun lock two or three med enemies Tip, don't let it run out of ammo, it's takes a while to reload the first two rounds when the chamber is empty
HMG went against automatons more to me. Since the increased armor penetration compared to a standard machine gun is fully revealed on them. You can destroy the Hulk in the eye, shoot down gunships, and extremely limited ammunition is not so annoying. They would also fix his sight in the first person view, otherwise it is not very convenient to work at a distance.
Bugs I use two loadouts with HMG - HMG, Supply Pack, Railcannon Strike, and Eagle Airstrike. 2nd - HMG, Supply pack, Autocannon Sentry, and Gatling Sentry or HMG Emplacement. The HMG is very well complimented with the Turrets. For Bots I will run HMG, Supply Pack, Shield Generator or Autocannon Sentry, and Orbital Laser.
lowing fire rate down to minimum makes it easier to control and without wasting so many rounds paired with a armor with reduced recoil and this gun is fun to play with . Paired with a good primary and your unstoppable
I would love to use Heavy machinegun more, but the extreme downsides don’t make up for the firepower. It’s not a mg meant to clean off smaller targets and doesn’t have magazine capacity/reload time for that role. HMG lacks in versatility unlike Starwart and Machinegun. If HMG had 125-150 magazine capacity or faster reload for 75 magazine It would be my go to support weapond.
I think it needs to be reworkd to have an included ammo pack, with simular ammo to the emplacement version that will simply let you keep firing. One supply pack could refill it 75% and the ammo grates could refill it by 15%
btw the HMG's first person red dot is misaligned (yes, even after the update that "fixed" misaligned optics), you can see in the video that the bullets go a bit lower than the dot position.
The build looks interesting, gives enough autonomy from allies and turning it into a kind of support unit. I use a similar one, but instead of a supply backpack I use a shield together with an SMG, which allows me to absorb more damage
For me I find it easier to use and it is more effective against the bots. For both factions, I run it on the lowest fire setting because ammo economy is paramount and you want to avoid over killing your targets. You can run it on the normal setting on cold planets or after you get the tap fire rhythm down. Against bugs, I like using the Breaker, incendiary, and pummeler for ad clear, the impacts or stun grenades can pair nicely witht the gun to buy you space to reload. Bots require the stun grenades. Scorcher, Diligence CS, Jar 5, (old) Eruptor, and pummeler are great primaries to run with the gun. I chose these over the laser weapons so you can take advantage of using the supply pack on weapons that may struggle with ammo economy. Grenade pistol is required if you bring stun nades. Eagle strike and Orbital laser for bots, and eagle strike and EATs for bugs. I use the HMG like a battle rifle and the primary mostly. Use your normal primary on weak enemies or on targets far away. Try to spend ammo on both guns equally. Take advantage of the stages of reload as much as you can. I've averaged around 200 bot kills per mission and over 300 kills on bugs using this build and battle philosophy
How did you get your first person view to look so clean and zoomed in? Mine always has a visual bug where I can see inside of some of the weapons and it’s never zoomed in enough. I play on PC, so maybe it’s just a PS5 thing?
My only gripe with it is the use while using the 30% detection reduction light armor. Since it doesn't have recoil reduction, the HMG, even laying down, is just all over the place, so I don't get to use it because I am always a sneaky sneaky guy.
I run HMG/supply pack vs bots on 7/8 difficulty consistently with heavy armor, stun grenades and plasma punisher. HMG for hulks, gunships. Plasma for chaff/devastators works good with a team. Not a fan of it against bugs PS If you get a factory strider in front of you shoot off the chin turrets then give it 1-2mags of HMG to the eyeball itll go down
not a machinegun enthusiast but i am a teamkilling enthusiast, and no not in a intentional griefing way. my fav stratagems and weapons i run are. Airburst rocket launcher, Eagle cluster, 380, Mortar. Work much better on bugs.
HMG Need Medium 2 pen at the least. (AMR Pen)then let us reload while walking (not running) and 3 reserve mags. (1+3 mags) That would make it significantly better to play.
One tip id give isleave a couple bullets in your mag to cut down reload time. It takes like 4 seconds just to pull the bolt to the rear. I haven't seen this tip in any video yet and i have trained myself to reload at the last bullet. It actually makes me feel stupid when i empty the mag now. I rock the hmg, supply backpack, hmg turret, and gatling turret. Plus the health booster thingy. At extraction i just unload the hmg turret for a minute straight even if theres no enemies. Then when im dry i immediately start blasting the hmg at 950 rpm. Makes for alot of chaos
There is not much point to bring the HMG against the bugs. It doesn't open more targets than the MMG. Against the bots it shreds devastators though when MMG struggles. If you use it only against them, you don't really need the ammo backpack as you have enough bullets with POI+ calling new ones when available.
I've used it. But I could care less about it, tbh. It's weak af. The stalwart and standard machine gun do just as well against medium armor enemies with faster reload times and more ammo. The hmg is pointless, tbh
heavy machine gun is crap. not enough ammo in magazin, not enough magazins, extremly long reload time and you have to stand still to reload. worst stratagem to use
I been using it and it’s so much fun. You just gotta get used to it and have a good long range primary to pair with it . Try wearing armor with reduced recoil and lower the fire rate to minimum and it’s a lot easier to control
It needs to be heavy armor piecing, thats the ONLY saving grace it could have, otherwise the dps of the mg32 is better due to mag size as they're both med pen and the damage is 21 points difference, This is unfortunate, I really hope they buff it soon seeing as they nerfed the fire rate by 50 RPM, Imagine an anti charger mg able to deal considerable damage to tanks and titans.
Heavy armor pen definitely isn't the way to go for balancing. Just add 25rnds per mag to all MGs across the board. Or atleast just the HMG, but that might encrouch on the MMG too much. Maybe buff that things reload by a wee bit to further seperate their utilities.
@danielmyers-cowan3416 The problem with buffing the hmgs reload or mag size or rpm is that its fire rate is already higher than the stalwart, it has more damage than the mg42 and it has med pen already with neatkj the same reload time, buffing a weapon that already outclasses and outperforms makes no sense, however, overhauling it does, what they could do, is slow the fire rate down, or make it only have the first fire rate mode, and make it heavy pen, that way, it's has a slower rpm than the med mg, does nore damage and that damage diff of 21 makes sense as its a higher caliber and armor pen, otherwise I see no reason to use the hmg as it has worse recoil, less ammo and less handling speed than the mg42.
@@Automaton_Sleeper_Agent oh no not saying to buff the HMG reload, I meant buff the MMG reload if they were oo increase HMG mag size as it's barely better than the HMG. Cut the medium MG43 reload down to 4.5 from 5.1 while keeping the HMG at 5.8 but adding 25rnds per mag would be my ideal change. I think heavy pen would be too strong because there are so few options that do it, and none of them handle chaff remotely as good as the HMG. Heavy pen would just delete the railgun, autocannon and anti material rifle from the game. But with its medium pen the HMG can make short work of charger and even bile titans. A bit over half a mag dumped into a bile titans sack with the HMG will kill it, at max firerate this takes like 2 seconda
MG-43 has tier 1 medium armor penetration. HMG has tier 2. Meaning for any armored target you shot at with the mg it only does half its full damage. HMG does its full damage all the time. Also it over penetrates. MG-43 does not. You can make short work of chargers and bile titans with the HMG. Though titans are more high risk. Still easily doable once you are good at kiting enemies. Still I agree it needs more ammo per drum magazine. 25 more rounds would be good.
They never buff only nerf 😂
Have been rocking it a lot lately for the bots. I think what helped me was not trying to kiill every single thing with it. HMG for heavy enemies. Anything else I use my primary (Med pen) and secondary (mainly for the babies). Supply backpack is awesome with it not just for the HMG but also for whatever primary i am using that has medium pen. Currently I have been using the new charging scorcher weapon (works great with bigger bots; big splash, stunlock, clip feels big since you have to charge) and the desert eagle for all the baby bots. Stun grenades are also a god send on higher difficulties as I can stun to help make shots easier or stall so I can reload. The supply backpack helps me always maintain some. SPREAD DEMOCRACY, take advice from other people with a grain of salt. We all have different ways to play. Shoot I love stalwart for bugs (it becomes my primary)
Sickle, jetpack, and eat rockets, with the medium machine gun
U should try resupply pack, mg43, punisher, thermite or napalm grenades and the grenade pistol. along with a mix and match of eat-17s, precision strike, 500kg, orbital railgun or laser. Although I usually opt for precision + railgun
I recently fell in love w this weapon after I discovered how to make it work which was a great feeling because I had a similar experience to you where I tried it on launch and immediately binned it.
I saw a cinematic video where a guy was running it with the rover dog and I decided to try that combo to keep the bugs off me while reloading and it worked great. I also discovered what you did which was the higher RPM actually does great on this weapon. I found that I don't run low on ammo that often. POIs have enough ammo to keep me topped up usually and if not I can call in a resupply or a whole new HMG.
My loadout is HMG, grenade pistol, stuns, with light engiie kit, and I'm still trying to find the best primary. For a while I was using the JAR but it just wasn't fast enough for hunters, so I've been checking out the assault rifles and for a while I was using the penetrator because it can also go through medium armor, and I've been trying the default liberator since it in theory should be way better at doing what I want my primary to do (kill chaff bugs that get close namey hunters) but for some reason none of them feel quite right compared to the penetrator. I dont use the sickle because it has that spin up time.
For strats I bring the laser dog to watch my back while I reload and so I can focus on warriors or larger enemies, then the precision strike+500kg. I found my buggest weakness with this kit was chargers and titans so I bring the combo to deal with them and it works really well. A couple nights ago I got a 600 frag mission and I regularly top frag, which I know isn't strictly the aim of the mission but it's really fun.
Havent used it a ton against bots but the couple times I have it was alright, it can kill hulks which is hilarious.
Use breaker incendiary, its the best for clearing light targets even at range, once they on fire you can 'fire and forget' basically.
@@beakwooda.k.aadregallus8788 thanks i’ll try that! i’ve actually been running thE BI in another load out and have found it super enjoyable but i never thought to try it with the HMG
I'd suggest the punisher shotgun, it's great for killing chuff and stuns and kicks back the med targets as long as you hit one part of their flash which is really easy with the punisher, reloading takes a little bit when it's completely out, you can actually reload a shot and then fire it while your firing, it's nice but you'll have to shoot a bit slower as if you fire it too fast the round won't be reloaded, still short enough to stun lock two or three med enemies
Tip, don't let it run out of ammo, it's takes a while to reload the first two rounds when the chamber is empty
600 frag mission meaning you threw 600 grenades?
@@obi-wankenobi7160 600 kills
HMG went against automatons more to me. Since the increased armor penetration compared to a standard machine gun is fully revealed on them. You can destroy the Hulk in the eye, shoot down gunships, and extremely limited ammunition is not so annoying. They would also fix his sight in the first person view, otherwise it is not very convenient to work at a distance.
so basically worst version of AC?
Bugs I use two loadouts with HMG - HMG, Supply Pack, Railcannon Strike, and Eagle Airstrike. 2nd - HMG, Supply pack, Autocannon Sentry, and Gatling Sentry or HMG Emplacement. The HMG is very well complimented with the Turrets. For Bots I will run HMG, Supply Pack, Shield Generator or Autocannon Sentry, and Orbital Laser.
lowing fire rate down to minimum makes it easier to control and without wasting so many rounds paired with a armor with reduced recoil and this gun is fun to play with . Paired with a good primary and your unstoppable
I would love to use Heavy machinegun more, but the extreme downsides don’t make up for the firepower. It’s not a mg meant to clean off smaller targets and doesn’t have magazine capacity/reload time for that role. HMG lacks in versatility unlike Starwart and Machinegun.
If HMG had 125-150 magazine capacity or faster reload for 75 magazine It would be my go to support weapond.
I think it needs to be reworkd to have an included ammo pack, with simular ammo to the emplacement version that will simply let you keep firing. One supply pack could refill it 75% and the ammo grates could refill it by 15%
btw the HMG's first person red dot is misaligned (yes, even after the update that "fixed" misaligned optics), you can see in the video that the bullets go a bit lower than the dot position.
You are right! I was recently running the anti material rifle and all the shots were a little higher then the centre.
It would help if they FIXED the first person reticle
The build looks interesting, gives enough autonomy from allies and turning it into a kind of support unit. I use a similar one, but instead of a supply backpack I use a shield together with an SMG, which allows me to absorb more damage
For me I find it easier to use and it is more effective against the bots. For both factions, I run it on the lowest fire setting because ammo economy is paramount and you want to avoid over killing your targets. You can run it on the normal setting on cold planets or after you get the tap fire rhythm down. Against bugs, I like using the Breaker, incendiary, and pummeler for ad clear, the impacts or stun grenades can pair nicely witht the gun to buy you space to reload. Bots require the stun grenades. Scorcher, Diligence CS, Jar 5, (old) Eruptor, and pummeler are great primaries to run with the gun. I chose these over the laser weapons so you can take advantage of using the supply pack on weapons that may struggle with ammo economy. Grenade pistol is required if you bring stun nades. Eagle strike and Orbital laser for bots, and eagle strike and EATs for bugs. I use the HMG like a battle rifle and the primary mostly. Use your normal primary on weak enemies or on targets far away. Try to spend ammo on both guns equally. Take advantage of the stages of reload as much as you can. I've averaged around 200 bot kills per mission and over 300 kills on bugs using this build and battle philosophy
How did you get your first person view to look so clean and zoomed in? Mine always has a visual bug where I can see inside of some of the weapons and it’s never zoomed in enough. I play on PC, so maybe it’s just a PS5 thing?
I also play on PC. Never knew this was a thing, I will look into it though.
Thanks mate, I appreciate it!
My only gripe with it is the use while using the 30% detection reduction light armor. Since it doesn't have recoil reduction, the HMG, even laying down, is just all over the place, so I don't get to use it because I am always a sneaky sneaky guy.
I run HMG/supply pack vs bots on 7/8 difficulty consistently with heavy armor, stun grenades and plasma punisher. HMG for hulks, gunships. Plasma for chaff/devastators works good with a team. Not a fan of it against bugs
PS If you get a factory strider in front of you shoot off the chin turrets then give it 1-2mags of HMG to the eyeball itll go down
I need to test this out!
not a machinegun enthusiast but i am a teamkilling enthusiast, and no not in a intentional griefing way.
my fav stratagems and weapons i run are.
Airburst rocket launcher, Eagle cluster, 380, Mortar. Work much better on bugs.
HMG Need Medium 2 pen at the least. (AMR Pen)then let us reload while walking (not running) and 3 reserve mags. (1+3 mags)
That would make it significantly better to play.
Reduced recoil works while standing.
One tip id give isleave a couple bullets in your mag to cut down reload time. It takes like 4 seconds just to pull the bolt to the rear. I haven't seen this tip in any video yet and i have trained myself to reload at the last bullet. It actually makes me feel stupid when i empty the mag now. I rock the hmg, supply backpack, hmg turret, and gatling turret. Plus the health booster thingy. At extraction i just unload the hmg turret for a minute straight even if theres no enemies. Then when im dry i immediately start blasting the hmg at 950 rpm. Makes for alot of chaos
There is not much point to bring the HMG against the bugs. It doesn't open more targets than the MMG.
Against the bots it shreds devastators though when MMG struggles. If you use it only against them, you don't really need the ammo backpack as you have enough bullets with POI+ calling new ones when available.
would be fine if they'd let you anchor the gun on the bipod
how do you top off on a PS5?
I believe it is the down button on the D-pad to resupply yourself.
@@MrIncognito23 thanks!
the new incendiary impact granade goes well with mg
This is an anti hulk and anti ATAT weapon against the bots. it's bad against the bugs.
You literally missed half of your shots how this good
To quote myself "it's not great, but it's not bad". Just a fun way to play. If I wanted to hit all of my shots I would bring in a sniper.
@@MrIncognito23 fair enough. I do enjoy using it but only if the rest of the squad had a good set up.
I find the regular mg somewhat better than this gun
I love the mg43!
I've used it. But I could care less about it, tbh. It's weak af. The stalwart and standard machine gun do just as well against medium armor enemies with faster reload times and more ammo. The hmg is pointless, tbh
2,6k shots, only 1.3 hit is not a great ad for that crap of a machine gun
heavy machine gun is crap. not enough ammo in magazin, not enough magazins, extremly long reload time and you have to stand still to reload. worst stratagem to use
I been using it and it’s so much fun. You just gotta get used to it and have a good long range primary to pair with it . Try wearing armor with reduced recoil and lower the fire rate to minimum and it’s a lot easier to control
I absolutely love it. It completely shreds
Only two ammo boxes and just medium armor piercing? Too weak. Too boring. Too little ammo. Have to stop to reload. Lot of anti-fun mechanics.