Darkstar

The Darkstar is an assault rifle available to the Vanu Sovereignty. It is unlocked upon completion of the Master Assault Rifles directive.

The Darkstar is an 'auraxium' variant of the Pulsar VS1, sharing most of the same base stats and decorated with a special 'auraxium' camo. Compared to the base weapon, the Darkstar features a built-in Compensator and Forward Grip along with a conversion to a heat-based ammo pool. In exchange, the Darkstar's magazine size is reduced by 10%. In addition, the Darkstar is also given exclusive access to the Cure Launcher by default.

Heat
The Darkstar uses a heat-based ammo pool, in contrast to the standard magazine-based ammo system most infantry weaponry uses. Heat provides a meter that fills upon firing, and dissipates when not firing.

Damage Fall-off

 * 143 before 10 meters
 * 125 at 50 meters
 * 112 after 80 meters

Ribbons and Medals
It is possible to earn both Ribbons and Medals while using the. Each ribbon is a standard reward for achieving a set amount of kills with the rifle. Medals are awarded upon reaching kill milestones with the weapon.

History

 * February 2, 2017 Update
 * Damage from 143@10m-125@65m to 143@10m-112@80m
 * Vertical recoil from 0.198 to 0.187
 * Horizontal recoil from 0.16 to 0.15
 * Horizontal recoil tolerance from 0.7 to 0.525
 * September 15, 2021 Update
 * Fixed projectile sizes that were smaller than the standard on the following weapons:
 * Darkstar (VS Auraxium Assault Rifle)


 * March 30, 2022 Update (Arsenal Update)
 * Added a Cure Grenade Underbarrel Launcher.
 * Kept integrated Forward Grip.
 * Kept integrated Compensator.
 * Can now engage a manual reload.
 * Manual short reload set to 1.75sec., long reload set to 2.2sec.
 * Overheat penalty from 1.75sec. to 2.2sec.
 * Consecutive shots before overheat from 30 to 24.
 * Heat recovery delay from 0.5sec. to 0.343sec.
 * Heat bleed-off rate from from 570 to 364.
 * Dev Note: This weapon's innate forward grip benefits can be stacked with an attachable forward grip as an option.
 * May 4, 2022 Update
 * Updates to usability here bridge the gap between what felt off about the first pass, and how we'd like these weapons to perform overall. Heat weapons don't use traditional short/long reloads, and only use their overheat value for a reload (this is an unresolved issue with all heat weapons with a manual reload,) and we've brought the directive weapon overheat values in line with those weapons' short reloads.
 * Reload/Overheat penalty from 2.2sec. to 1.75sec.
 * Shots until overheat from 24 to 27.