FM .... is it usable or useless now?
14 posts · 2006-06-08 03:45:13 to 2006-12-20 09:08:17
the best combo is to go in as a full loaded howitzer and have someone buff you with improved hacking
i roll 1000+ with code nuke3.0 and codbomb2.0 aginst most npcs and a decent ammont of damage for a hacker agains a fullly loaded lv50 with resistances.
fm mixed with upgrade master is an excelent support tree that i am testing at the moment although there are some issiues im working out , like some fm upgrades deleting the better upgrade master ones
EG: the improved hacking buff (viral damage 78 , healing 3
overrides Upgrade master (too many to list off the top of my head - max buffer +250 max health +200 increased ct and viral damage i think )That is not a good thing. hacker benifit more from the um buff than improved hacking yet it deletes the better um.
maube an error on the devs part or an intentional nerf ?
Combat Aura 2.0
Message Edited by Bayamo on 06.18.2006 11:13 AM
Combat Auras unstackable. Combat Aura 2.0 would rarely affect anyone on my team because their own trees - gunner, martial arts, whatever - all had "higher versions" running. Whatever damage buffs they applied to themselves from the operative tree were getting in the way. To compound the problem, Combat Aura 1.0 overrode Combat Enhancement. If you don't want combat enhancement and Combat Aura to stack, make Combat Enhance override Combat Aura and not vice versa. These two hacks are supposed to be the primary use of this tree - to run into battle, constantly buffing your allies' damage and accuracies - and it isn't happening because they don't stack.

Whats good?
Improved Hacking
Combat Aura 1.0
Combat Aura 2.0
Viral Deflect
All those can be run together, with a team on gunmen/ma it helps a lot, add heals and rez as well as recall abilites it can be quite useful.
Granted you need a certain type of team for it to work, but the right team can take advantage of FM with corpsmen.

I'll agree that viral deflect and improved hacking are good, but without the combat aura bonuses that seem so pitifully lacking these days, FM is not a cost-effective tree in terms of memory slots.
Little input here for those who want to use it...
Partial FM and Trama Surgeon can be loaded together with a touch of Guardian patcher and you have a great team healer/supporter.
Problems: Abilities don't stack. Combat Auras should stack. Why would I run an ability that costs IS/time when I can simply use a similar ability one time for a fixed Is cost with a longer duration?
Viral Shielding should stack with Hyper Deflect. Why would I use Viral Shielding (high level ability) when I can use HyperDeflect? I know.. the memory costs, but really.. ?
Combat Auras should not delete CE 1.0 or the Corpsman upgrades.
Deflect Bullets is also screwed up.
That "higher version" stuff is true and it's just wrong IMO.
In fact.. I'm going to CCR this right now. 

Well balanced so far, although I have found people using another killer load. And right now it's killer. It's the return of the H
