How is the starting machine gun against bots? I know the other one seems to suck.
If you're low level and have nothing better, it works.
But once you unlock the auto-cannon, it's not even a competition. It works against all the bot enemies until and including the Hulk and you can even destroy factories if you hit the vent from the front.
If the machine gun is your favorite, by all means use it, but considering all the other options available and the amount of bullshit harder difficulties throw at you, you'll end up frustrated with it's performance.
I've only been playing 7 hours but I've been having a blast, though I'm curious what specific stratagems I should be working to unlock. I tried the heavy gatling one and while it's fun to watch it doesn't actually seem too effective. The eagle strafe run is great though, and I kinda dig the mine layer for defense. Any suggestions? Also, how badly does the anti material rifle scale at higher difficulties? I've been in love with that thing since I first unlocked it.
If you want to prioritize, my advice would be the following.
1. Auto-cannon = good against light armor (most enemies are like this) and can destroy bug hole and bot factories by shooting the steamy light.
2.Eagle airstrike = this stratagem basically destroys any bug holes and bot factories in it's path and is useful for destroying buildings if you need to. This is useful because you sometimes want to throw some shit and move to the next objective.
3.Orbital laser/Orbital rail cannon = these are very good anti-heavy options, but you'll mostly need them at 5+ diff
As for the anti-material rifle, I'm not a fan. It's dogshit against bugs and while it can be used against bots, I find that my Diligence (the first Marksman rifle) with the scope does a better job and it frees a support weapon slot for something more useful.