I eagerly await M2 Dictator. For me, it'll come tomorrow.

A trick I've noticed with Railgun: Press spacebar. Press the pause button while the shot is charging. If you still want to aim while it's charging, double tap the pause button really quickly. When the shot fires, it'll be completely silent. I don't know any tactics that this could be used for, but it's interesting.

From M1 and up, Shaft can't destroy a Hunter of the same modification, making it less powerful overall. In addition, there are quite a few cheap Shaft protection paints like Dirty.

I've been Thekillerpenguin since I started.

If you were to reduce the power further, there would be no point of using Shaft over Railgun.

If the wiki is correct, the highest you can MU a M2 Smoky's critical damage is 98.2.

There was one enemy Shaft (who I sniped many, many times) and no Railguns. Railguns usually aren't a big threat to me; a well placed shot can destroy them in one hit or knock off their aim.

Yesterday, I was in a Rio CTF (ranks were from WO3-Captain, I think) with Hunter-Shaft to rank quickly. I was hiding in the bushes on the red team side of the beach with Lead paint, so I was almost invisible. The combination of camouflage, my MUed Shaft, and hiding my laser sight racked me up an undefined D/L ratio (and 30+ kills) for the first 13 minutes of the game; when I left (since I had enough left for a rank up party), my D/L was still 14.25. I don't have a screenshot. tl;dr: The laser sight makes Shaft less effective, but that doesn't mean it's not good.

The "Micro-upgrades Dictator" page on the wiki is outdated; I think the M0, M1, and M2 stats are correct, but the M3 Dictator stats are incorrect. M3 Dict actually has ~296 HP by default and 330 max.

Gold didn't really quit. He's just on a hiatus. I'm not sure if he'll be reinstated when he comes back, however; I certainly hope so.

You have no idea who you're dealing with. I'm going to be putting plenty of micro-upgrades on my M2 Dictator. :ph34r:

I was under the impression that you didn't have Shaft .-. GL, HF, GG no re when I get MUed M2 Dictator/M2 Ricochet.

I'm all prepped for a rank up party, with just 3 XP left to go. Anybody else close to ranking? Soon, this tank will be mine:

At your rank, it probably won't do particularly well without MUs. You might want to consider getting something else then.

I don't have M2 Ricochet (yet, I'll get it tomorrow), but in gameplay, there's a big difference between M1 and M2 Rico. A M1 Ricochet can destroy my M2 Hornet in about 7-8 hits, probably. A M2 Ricochet can destroy my M2 Hornet in about 6 hits. That's pretty dang powerful, especially on DP. M2 Ricochet deals enough damage to take out a M2 Viking within one clip, so it certainly doesn't lack in firepower. I'm not sure how it works at the M3 ranks, but it ought to do fine if you stick MUs on the damage and reload.

M1 Smoky is really cheap when you consider that M1 Thunder costs, what, 38,600 crystals. Compared to that, 11,000 crystals is nothing.

Don't use giant text, please. I never said Smoky wasn't good at deflecting, if that's what you're saying. It might be underrated at lower ranks, but everybody who's seen a M2 or M3 Smoky in combat learns to respect it really quickly.

Is M2 Railgun a good buy?

M1 Shaft is far superior to M0 Shaft. One MU on the sniping damage of a M1 Shaft will let you destroy M2 Hornets in one hit, so it's very useful even against M2s. I highly recommend it.

My M1 Dictator only has one MU in health, and it can take two hits from M1 Rails. If I use Tundra, it can take 3.

Sometimes. I hate Shaft users who constantly press the 3 key. Shaft's already powerful enough; putting a DP on (especially if you're sniping light hulls) is overkill and often pointless. I respect Shaft users who refrain from drugging and show signs of knowing what they're doing. My M1 Shaft can destroy M2 Hornets in one hit (it currently deals 141 damage, go figure), so I get accused of drugging once in a while.

I expect that a lot of Rico users are learning the converse.

I will. ;)

Great choice. Have you considered Shaft as well?

I am going to have fun with my M2 Rico when I get it. Besides the fact that I like Ricochet's bouncing feature, it can also destroy M2 Vikings (my biggest gripe) pretty easily; after doing the math, you can mow down a M2 Viking in a little under 1 clip. Prodigi and Emerald don't protect against Ricochet, so M2 Meds aren't protected against it.