It's a completely different system. You're talking about vehicle presets. Those are a custom Empires thing that was built out properly for numerous reasons. Likewise, Empires poaches a lot of Source stuff for infantry loadouts and those just weren't built in the same way.
btw is it just me or remembered perks basically never work and I have to reselect them. I would prefer empty perk instead of it looking like selected but its not. I dont think its every time but atleast 80-90% of the time. Its been like that for quite a few versions, never got to reporting.
I dont know about not actually working, but i see that alot of times whenever i rank up and the game assigns the slots to some perk, it doesnt show that its not in effect yet.
I will keep experimenting with it when I get to play, to get some sure info. I just know I most of the time have to reselect every perk that was assigned from memory for it to work. Mostly noticable on ammo upgrade. EDIT: or I think just reselecting class fixed it for the current available perks
I have been on hiatus from Empires for a few months (again...) but I am glad to see that it's still alive and still has it's nice great special community that adds to the uniqueness of the gaming experience. As unbalanced as it might be in certain aspects, I still had a blast playing it again. Hopefully the activity will rise over time so it won't just be a weekly experience. Though there are a few points that bug me a bit. I like how you turned the Scout into the Assault class and swapped some weapons around, though I wonder why now only the NF can use Machine Guns? I know that BE got Assault Shotguns, but they seem subpar at first glance and can't really replace the unique role of the MG, especially since there might now be an interesting synergy with the Assault's "Hide"-skill, at least in theory. Adding MGs back for BE should be possible since atm they have fewer primary weapons than NF anyway. Secondly, Absorbant Armor... isn't it a tad too fragile? It's base weight/armor ratio seems to be worse than paper. The cooling-effect doesn't really help when it's destroyed in seconds (which it did that one game I used it). And lastly, when and why did the single player training get removed? I know that most of us don't need it, but I think it made the mod more accessible for new players (which is crucial!) and also helped learning about the research tree and comparing loadouts, especially after updates.
That hmg you are talking about has a range that isn't great anymore. So you can't be as super effective with it at a distance. At the range it should be working smg2 can possibly beat it, it just doesn't have the clip size to fire at multiple people. Auto shotty is a nice asymmetrical thing to nf's hmg. I think it was said that while nf get's an extra primary be gets an extra secondary, the machine pistol. Doing the math, abs takes much less damage from rails and ranged I think, but for everything else it's about on par with say reactive or budget. Bio is a massive counter to it though, one missile of bio eats through nearly 4 plates. I think rpgs and mortars also do quite a bit of damage, they take off a little more then 4 plates of abs. Ouch. Single player training is currently broke.
Lazybum nailed it, the HMG fills a similar role to the autoshotgun, there is no traditional HMG any more and NF have an extra primary (SMG3) while BE have an additional secondary (Heavy Pistol)
smg1 needs more ammo. It shouldnt be on the same ammo limit as smg2 since it does less damage and has higher rof. Its empty way too soon ( see what I Did there )
its funny you say that because I'm actually lowering its clip and increasing it's rate of fire next patch. It'll have more ammo total though. I think SMG1 should be good at killing people, but not more than one. It's good for an engineer who's defending himself from someone but you won't be able to breach and clear an entire room like an assault or rifleman can. Similar to how a grenadiers mortar works, you get one shot to kill someone but after that you're in trouble.