in my opinion the sidearm keeping is actually the biggest issue here, i cant see how people can ignore this.
the tiberium auto rifle is a spammable midrange weapon that will do 25 damage + 5x7 poison damage. any basic class is destroyed by just 3 hits, because you get 105 poison damage ignoring your armor (that would be only 25 anyway). but it fires slow and is avoidable.
the flechette has one of the highest headshot dps (380 compared to 400 of volt rifle) and good aimers can kill any class. its gives the hotties a smaller volt rifle. for225$. forever.
the carbine makes it absolute nonsense to go as soldier with AR, because its stronger, just less ammo (basics/cheap classes usually drop in the first magazine anyway). engi with carbine can kill on their own and have bombs...but carbines are mostly bought when there is no silo or they cant manage to get it.
but: the problem are not the weapons itself imo, its just that we keep them all the time. you pay 225 for your flechette and can compete with any class, even win 2 on 1 fights. even on maps without silo! until your game crashes! both tiberium guns btw also do decent damage to heavy armor.
i definatly will pay the 150/225 to my hotwire most of the times, especially the flechette is an extreme buff for hotties with aim compared to the pistol. but dont forget, this setup will cost 500/575 on every death with the next patch, so we should wait how it works out when we actually have to decide on every respawn to invest for a sidearm or not. for defensive hotties its a no-brainer as wont die much and usually stack up a ton of $, but offensive suiciding hotties will have to pay more and cannot start with big weapons right at the start of map
if your ref is gone, you will think a lot about buying a sidearm on every death. as i write that i see how the crippled defender is nerfed right now =/
if i would have to suggest something: its lame to keep them for next map, an flechette/auto engi rush at the very beginning can be very hard to defend.
but i like to keep the sidearm for the rest of the round. maybe this feature should be kept in the game, but adjust the cost a bit (maybe like hp 250, carbine 500, both tibs 1000).
tl;dr---
(tiberium) sidearms are strong, the issue imo is keeping them forever. lets wait for the patch how it will work out, when we lose them on every death making it more expensive and cant keep tib guns to next map and being instant rushed by multiple tib guns and having them even on maps without silo. engis seem op because they can destroy basics/cheap units easily with auto rifle and flechette can compete to any class.
