Why doesn't anyone use the Link gun much?

[legacy-Shakuurn]

I like the Link Gun. A lot. It's a nice twist on the old shaft-based weapon, incorporating more teamplay into it. But, I guess that's it's downfall, to balance out the ability to link up, the gun was toned down and made unsuitable for plain DM, where there are no teams. Not to mention it doens't feel as powerful as it should... (Sound and visuals play wonders on weapon mentality. :bulb: )

Oh well, in UT2K4, hopefully the Link will be used more often. The secondary fire skeletizes the target at the time of killing, if I recall correctly.

[legacy-Dark_Spectre]

The best way to get your squad using the link, is to just shoot someone else that has it equipped. They will shoot you back at first, and then *hopefully* realize what you are doing and start using it as well. Works wonders on defense.

[legacy-Powerslave666]

Only times I use it are either when that's all I have or when I only have lg and link.

[legacy-Mejwell]

I use the Link Gun all the time.

I spent one day just practicing with the thing, and by the end of it I was excellent at predicting where the primary shots would go. In case you didn't know, those shots do VERY decent damage: I would estimate ~22. This means that with 4-5 good shots you can kill someone with a link gun, and it has a very good refire rate. Once you get the prediction part of it down (which I did) you can kill someone with a link gun MUCH faster than you could with, say, a minigun.

What I believe is that I recall in UT99 the pulse rifle's primary was basically useless, so people only bothered to use the secondary cutting beam. Now, in UT2k3, the primary is a very good killer, and the secondary isn't nearly as useful. However, since people were conditioned to using the secondary all the time, they feel that the only reason to ever use the weapon would be for the secondary, and they vastly underestimate the primary fire's potential. There have been threads like this in the past, and there's always someone who replies "The beam is too difficult to use because it wobbles too much" or the like. They don't even mention the primary fire.

I do agree that the secondary on the link is pretty useless. It takes some VERY good twitch skills to be able to hold it over an enemy, and it often times does an average less damage per second than the primary would deal in the same situation. That, and no one ever links, period. I'd like to think that I use the link gun rather frequently. However, even I have only linked with someone once, and that was just as a gimmick.

In summary: I definitely don't think the Link Gun is as useless as people make it out to be, although many of the other weapons are better. It's still better than the minigun, though.

[Raffi_B]

Link projectiles gain damage as they are in the air longer. Initial is somewhere like 10 or 15, max is 30.

[legacy-kF Mk II]

Originally posted by Raffi_B
Link projectiles gain damage as they are in the air longer. Initial is somewhere like 10 or 15, max is 30.

Is that for real? Interesting stuff.

[legacy-cAm]

Originally posted by Raffi_B
Link projectiles gain damage as they are in the air longer. Initial is somewhere like 10 or 15, max is 30.

i did not know that.:up:

[legacy-ast27]

secondary is a nice finisher if you know how to track well.

[legacy-EvilDrWong]

Originally posted by Raffi_B
Link projectiles gain damage as they are in the air longer. Initial is somewhere like 10 or 15, max is 30.

um... how do you figure?

Other.TakeDamage(Damage * (1.0 + float(Links)), yadda yadda yadda);

that just says to do more damage if it was fired when people were linked. Nowhere in there does damage increase as time goes by.

[legacy-Vinylmixer]

Basically because the Pulse (in UT) was Mega strong and the link gun (which is it's 2k3 counterpart) is very weak compared to it so it really didn't get used much.

I can't say I use it much myself, purely because at first it just seemed to weak but I have come across players who kick **** with it (secondary) so it is definately a useable weapon!

[-=¤willhaven¤=-]

we use it all the time in assault

its great for attackers and defenders.

[legacy-X0n3r0g]

Originally posted by willhaven
we use it all the time in assault

its great for attackers and defenders.

He was referring to UT2003 of course. The jury is out on the polishing job. By the way when yall get done not for nothing...

[legacy--Loric-]

Hardly ever :

- Primary shots are large and are obstruding your field of view when shooting. It make it hard to see where the shot lands.

- Secondary twisted beam is also confusing. The fact that the beam ins't straight like in ut doesn't help targeting at all. The beam is also very distracting and each time I use it, my crosshair just gets lost by that visual pollution.
In UT, the secondary was very effective because it was easy to correct your aim. In UT2003, the way the beam twists makes it too hard to follow your opponent.

- You don't get a real bonus by linking as of now.
The bonus you get (1 beam at x2 damage) will make the same damage as if the 2 players were separately shooting at the same opponent ( 2 beams at x1 damage)
In addition when 2 people shoot separately they increase their chance to hit (since there are 2 beams instead of one, which tends to confuse the opponent and makes it harder for him to escape)
And when 2 people link, the one linking is defensless (can't move much without breaking the link) and relies on someone else aiming skill (who is trusting anyone else, at least on pubs?)
Finally, the linking feature can only be used realistically as a defender weapon (since you need to be relatively still to be able to keep linking).

UT's pulse gun was cool, UT2003's link gun isn't.

[legacy-KittyFantastico]

Originally posted by -Loric-
Hardly ever :

- Primary shots are large and are obstruding your field of view when shooting. It make it hard to see where the shot lands.

- Secondary twisted beam is also confusing. The fact that the beam ins't straight like in ut doesn't help targeting at all. The beam is also very distracting and each time I use it, my crosshair just gets lost by that viusual pollution.
In UT, the secondary was very effective because it was easy to correct your aim. In UT2003, the way the beam twists makes it too hard to follow your opponent.

What Loric said. :up:

Can't comment on team play Link.

[legacy-Sneaky]

Primary although potent, is very slow and I only use it over long range when I dont have anything else however secondary in a confined space can be quite deadly.