SCATTERMAG PISTOL

TYPE OF WEAPON: SHOTGUN STYLE PISTOL
ROUNDS: 8 SHELLS
MAXIMUM RANGE: 100 METRES
USAGE: ASSASSIN WEAPON

Whilst having a maximum range of 100m, don't expect to do damage to anything except at point blank. This weapon is excellent to use as a cloaked assassin, during heavy fighting the sound from the weapon is very hard to make out - essentially giving you a free second shot against less competent players. Try not to panic once your opponent starts moving, focus on moving around and only firing when it's going to hurt them good. Miss more than 3 rounds and you'll more likely need a reload.

GAUSS RIFLE

TYPE OF WEAPON: ASSAULT RIFLE
ROUNDS: 30 9MM BULLETS
MAXIMUM RANGE: 200 METRES
USAGE: MEDIUM RANGE FIGHTS

The Gauss Rifle is one of the best weapons in the game, but it can be tricky to master. To make sure your rounds stay on target, do not hold down the fire button until you run out of bullets. Use a 'tapping style', where you fire each bullet you want by clicking the mouse button each time. Once you're used to this you'll find yourself much more accurate and deadly. The only time to go into 'burst mode' is when the enemy have closed to around 30 metres. Use bursts of 3-5 at a time, but make sure you allow your Cone of Fire to reduce all the way before refiring.

It has the worst refire rate of all the empire assault rifles, but it by far has the highest damage per bullet. Don't spray-and-pray as it will just get you killed. Keep in mind that if you're facing an enemy using Heavy Assault weapons and you've only got a Gauss - DON'T RUN RIGHT UP TO THEM! Walk backwards and keep your range advantage, their rounds will be going all over the place while you pick them off from a distance. However, if you do end up being point blank against an enemy HA user - do your best and tightest circle strafing and switch directions once in a while. After that, just hope you've done enough.

PHOENIX MISSILE LAUNCHER

TYPE OF WEAPON: ANTI-VEHICLE MISSILE LAUNCHER
ROUNDS: 1 MISSILE
MAXIMUM RANGE: 250 METRES
USAGE: ANTI-VEHICLE AND ANTI-MAX

The Phoenix Missile Launcher has two modes. The first is 'fly-by-wire', meaning you use the mouse to direct the missile in mid-air, and the second is a standard dumb fire mode.

Whilst only allowing for one missile at a time, each round again does the most damage of all empire AV weapons. The ability to control the missiles flight with the mouse means you can be completely hidden from the enemy and still hit them - so hiding behind the base walls away from those pesky snipers is possible. Take two or three boxes of ammo if you're planning on a field trip. This weapon is highly versatile, able to kill Mosquitos in 3 hits, a Reaver in 4 hits and a Lightning in 5! It is terrible against infantry though!

Another area where the Phoenix is sorely underused is indoors against enemy MAXs. The rounds travel quickly and 3 missiles are enough to drop an enemy MAX. The best tactic to use is dumb fire mode, sidestepping out quickly from a doorframe or other such obstacles. This gives you time to reload while taking very little damage.

Another quick tip: If you're sure you're going to hit it with a dead straight shot, then use dumb fire mode. You can refire while you already have a missile in the air - using 'fly-by-wire' you can't reload until you're missile has exploded.

JACKHAMMER

TYPE OF WEAPON: TRIPLE BARREL SHOTGUN
ROUNDS: 16 SHELLS
MAXIMUM RANGE: 50 METRES
USAGE: BASE/TOWER ASSAULT

Let's not get this twisted: the Jackhammer is a killing machine. But only at point blank range, anything beyond 20 meters you may aswell be firing blanks if the enemy isn't almost dead already.

The JH has a special 'tripleshot' mode, where all three barrels fire instantly after each other. If every pellet of buckshot hits your enemy then you will instagib them. If you miss even a little bit then you're refire rate takes ages and you will most likely be killed by an average player.

Just because you have a 16 shot near auto-shotgun in your hands doesn't mean that you should just keep blasting until it's dead. Accuracy again counts for everything. So many JH users just blast all over the shop and don't appreciate how good a weapon it is indoors. One thing that gets you to appreciate a limited clip is the Sweeper Shotgun. It's only got 8 rounds, and you can kill an enemy rexo in 4. Don't miss now! :) Once you find yourself annihilating players with the Sweeper, transfer what you learnt to the JH and you'll be a messenger of death!

ENFORCER BUGGY

TYPE OF VEHICLE: ASSAULT BUGGY
WEAPONS: FIREBIRD ROCKET LAUNCHER
ARMOUR: LIGHT
SPEED: 80 KPH
USAGE: HIT AND RUN/SKIRMISHES

The Enforcer has the most armour of all the buggies on Auraxis. It's agile handling can be used by good drivers to dodge lots of incoming fire and retreat quickly once too much damage has occurred.

The Firebird launcher is a high capacity and high damage weapon. A decent gunner can score impressive damage against even the strongest enemy vehicles on the battlefield - including BFRs. The rockets themselves do not fly very fast, so you need to learn the right amount of lead time depending on distance. Splash damage is not very impressive, but direct hits will cause a lot of damage. The missiles are (for all intents and purposes) unaffected by gravity.

The hardest thing about gunning an Enforcer, besides lead times, is that your aim can easily be thrown off by a driver running full pelt across bumpy terrain. There's not much to be done here other than trying to anticipate where the Enforcer will end up at your next shot. Unless you're on flat ground or retreating, there's no reason the driver should be running at 100% throttle anyway.

THUNDERER APC/CFV

TYPE OF VEHICLE: CAVALRY FIGHTING VEHICLE
WEAPONS: 2x GAUSS CANNONS
ARMOUR: MEDIUM
SPEED: 63 KPH LAND, 40 KPH WATER
USAGE: ASSAULT VEHICLE, TROOP TRANSPORT

First and foremost, the Thunderer is a battlewagon. Technically it's an Armoured Personnel Carrier but the Thunderer's weapons and armour are impressive enough to take on enemy Main Battle Tanks.

If you want a transport, then use a Deliverer. If you want to do a lot of damage, use a Thunderer. It's two Gauss Cannons have almost no splash damage, but the rounds themselves cause immense damage (they can instagib grunts) and can put a Lightning down within 15 seconds. The rounds are direct projectiles, effectively they are unaffected by gravity. So you just aim and lead.

It's weakness comes against aircraft. A skillful enemy pilot will fire from long distance and with the Thundy's COF you will be hard pushed for a direct hit. Luckily, there are a lot of bad pilots and they will try to fire in close - two or three rounds will destroy a Reaver!

A Thunderer can fit 5 people in, and is a very useful vehicle at getting behind enemy lines in one piece. It can also travel over water.

VANGUARD TANK

TYPE OF VEHICLE: MAIN BATTLE TANK
WEAPONS: 150mm CANNON, 20mm DUAL AUTOCANNON
ARMOUR: HEAVY
SPEED: 60 KPH
USAGE: ATTACK SPEARHEAD

Vanguards are awesome. They have the biggest tank cannon in the game, can instagib troops and pour insane damage onto enemy vehicles. It's reload is fairly long, so the usual NC Mantra of "Accuracy is everything" applies here.

The trick is that 150mm shells ARE affected by gravity, so you're going to have to learn how much the shells fall over distance and change your trajectory to hit your targets. After a couple of weeks sitting in the gunner seat you *should* get the hang of it. It's best to practice on the various indestructible trees found around Auraxis...

The gunner also has control of 2x20mm autocannons, which are designed more for attacking aircraft. It's tricky to get used to because with one gun firing after the other you have to adjust your aim for long range targets. Enemy aircraft nearly always fly in close (don't know why...) and when they do, switch to 150mm cannon for a nice surprise and a quick kill of a poor pilot.

As a sidenote for drivers: Tanks make for great troop squashers :) Best vehicle to get your Transport Citation merits in. Remember you have a lot of armour, if it's an easy group of kills then slow down a bit!