So any tips for a new player? I thiiink I'm pretty lucky because I got Browning and a ton of stens, and a two type 58's to dummy link, and I'm making pretty balanced teams that synergize (I think). Mostly 2smg, 2ar/hg and one other.
Any tips on deciding who's good actually? So far it's 60% appearance and ability names for me (ppk's being 'annihilation command' will never not make me cackle madly).
Especially unsure how to judge rifles against each other. Should I be prioritizing better ROF on them?
And I'm not sure what sort of balance for logistics vs missions I should be doing.
Your main goals are as follows:
1. Rush through the story using supports to carru you until you clear chapter four. This unlocks the unique Anti-Rain Team, four high class 4* assault rifles who are pretty much the protagonists of the game. Use them.
2. Save up gems to unlock at least five Echelon slots, ideally seven.
3. Make three teams: first a 3 Assault Rifle/2 SMG combo team, then a rifle/handgun team, then finally a second 3AR/2SMG team.
Guns you should be focusing on early on:
NOT FOUR/FIVE STARS!!! Five stars are VERY expensive to max out. It might not seem too bad right now, but later on you will regret it. Dummy linking, which is the main source of power, gets expensive at around X4/X5 and higher rarity dupes are hard to come by. Raise only 2-3 stars with the occasional 4* for now. Once you start rolling in cores from disassembling unneeded 3 and 4 star guns, then you can start raising 5*s while cycling your now-obsolete (but high level) lower rarity gun waifus on to logistics duty.
Handguns:
PPK is the goddess-queen of budget handguns. You will probably find her useful even in a team of 5*s. Makarov, Astra, and M1911 are all workable.
SMG: Skorpion and STEN will be your go-to gals for SMGs, since you'll be getting lots of copies. M38 is also decent, having shitty buff tiles but the ever-valuable stun grenade skill. If you roll either of the UMP sisters, especially UMP45,
use them. They're amazing.
Assault Rifles: F2000, Galil, and Type 63 are the best 2* ARs, the rest are all some degree of trash. The Anti Rain squad are all great, especially M4A1 with her unique buff tiles.
Rifles: M14 is fucking incredible, matching or sometimes outclassing her 5* equivalents, and the best part is
she's completely free. SV-98 is decent enough, as is Springfield. If you're lucky enough to roll WA2000,
THEN USE HER. She's easily one of if not THE best gun in the entire game. Same goes for her 4 star equivalent, SVD.
Machine guns: due to their operating costs it's recommended to avoid them for a while, but M2HB and LWMMG are the standout winners from what we have.
In general: anyone with stun or smoke is useful. Pair stun and smoke for a phenomenal combination. Flares are likewise invaluable for night missions.
You can usually tell whose good or bad by looking at their buff tiles and skills. SMGs or Assault Rifles with side buff tiles are almost exclusively trash, for example, since they're demanding that you put your tanks in the back row or squishy DPS in front - both of which are very bad ideas.
If you're lucky enough to get high rarity dupes, there's no harm in dummy linking them with a few exceptions - WA2000 is good enough that you'll want two of her, for instance.
This is a pretty good tier list that explains why guns are good or bad. Most useful is the 'safe to scrap' section.
Levels aren't actually levels. Sure. They increase your HP and some other stuff, but it's best to view them as a level
cap. Your
real 'levels' come from Enhancement in the Factory, since that's what increases your actual stats. A 4000 team can rocket up to 8000 simply through enhancement.
4-3E and 5-2E are your best friends.
