New Blaster Configuration, Is It Time?

So I have been to myself a lot lately, not much has there been to report till now, except the new trends in modded stock and homemade blasters.  The one annoying trend I see in modded stock, Flywheel Rapid Fire. Yesterday I was in Fullerton playing with the SCUN group, even there I saw a Stryfe used...as a backup blaster nicely used in it's role. Same as I intend to use a Minimized RapidStrike.  However most of the blasters fire came from Airguns and blasters that use hoppers.  I quickly found that after the wind picked up, Elite darts just couldn't cut though the wind.  Yes the Elite blasters were excellent for cover fire, but the heavier #6 washer felt tip slugs and my Soft Poly MHA domes were what got the kills.

"MY" trend lately has been, as you know, use a mean single shot Firestrike as a primary and leave  the Retaliator as backup.  It has been working my last 3 or 4 meets.  Yesturday even without a hopper, I faired well (covered by 2 very good teammates with Hopper blasters of course).  My point is that it is the Fidelity of the shot, skill of the shooter and abilities of your blaster that is going to get you to clip someone after yelling...

"Say Hello To My Little Friend!"

Fire, and win the round, rather than that winning dart, dancing all over the air and losing the round.

Fishtailing has been an issue as blasters become more and more powerful, the darts get wilder and wilder.  I find on mine, domes have worked best.  Recently in depth threads in Nerf Modders Welcome on facebook basically lead to the idea that compression of the dart as it flies out of the barrel make the surface jagged and thus, fishtail.  The faster you shoot it, the more air pressure it took to get it there, makes sense.

So you have to ask yourself, Is it time for a new blaster loadout?   You know, one where you don't just give up and pack some Trustfire Batteries, a Rapidstrike, 12-18 round magazines and just throw away ammo saying the hell with it?

I say that is dumb, work on stability of your shooting platform, your aim, why do you "need" to throw away 200 rounds of ammo when Cartaya can bag just as many fools with 15 rounds and an Ultra Match.  You don't "Need" to have that much firepower.   However, the RS and Stryfes are great blasters and some people I know, "Want" to and are great at it.

My friend Kyle Pettigrew, my favorite player because he is serious and damn good at Military Navy Seal type tactics.  He makes a great teammate for a guy like me who likes to pick people off from +100.  So there is a place, if you're good like Kyle with a FA or a Stryfe, go for it.

My problem, everyone thinks that's their place lately.  I have seen rounds where over 2000 darts are fired most hitting nothing but air.  I mean even Kyle owns an Ultra Match and can appreciate it, once made an awesome singled Longshot, had one for awhile now.  Wouldn't you know it, Singled Longshots are just now starting to be trending in NIC forums again.

See You In Disneyland.

--Cartaya