Very well written and informative! I enjoyed this. > Ok, here's my impression of things > with respect to various weapons. > > Pistol, weapon of last resort unless you have a > silencer. The normal pistol > does the least damage per round and has the shortest > range. I'm not sure > how to describe range in terms of the sounds you hear, but > I know that if I > am going to hunt with a pistol, that I'm going to get very > close to my > target before firing. > > Shotgun, same range as pistol, but substantially more > stopping power. > Whereas a pistol usually takes me eight plus hits to take > down a tyrant, I > can usually take the same tyrant down in four shotgun > blasts. It's major > drawback is the small magazine size, two shots, meaning > that you had better > be accurate with it, and I'd not use it by choice against > large hordes. > > Hunting rifle. Seems to do slightly less damage than > the shotgun, but with > a much longer range. It's five round capacity makes > it suitable to take on > small to medium groups if you start shooting at longer > ranges. Equipped > with a scope, it can become quite the deadly weapon at > medium ranges, being > able to one-shot all zombie types other than tyrants and > matriarchs. > > The MP5. I'm not sure why we love this weapon so > much. It's damage per > round seems like the pistol, but its 40-round clip makes it > much more > effective for crowd control, and the relatively soft firing > sound makes it > easier to hear hits, meaning you can hose down a zombie > effectively. It > also has a medium range more than the shotguns but less > than the rifles. > It's main drawback appears to be that because of the > relatively low damage > per round, you end up going through a lot of .45 ammo. > > Assault rifle. For my money, this is the best all > around weapon. It has > enough range to allow its use for sniping, but has the > 40-round capacity for > crowd control use. While you can't scope it, it does > seem to be > sufficiently accurate to be a reasonable sniping weapon. > > The Benelli is a fun weapon to have on hand. It > brings the stopping power > of the shot gun with a larger 8-round magazine size that > means you can get > into a fairly serious firefight before you have to > reload. Its main > drawback as a heavy assault weapon is the shorter range, > meaning you have to > get closer to be sure of hitting. Like the MP5, it's > quiet firing sound > makes determining whether you've hit much easier. > > The sniper rifle is problematic. It's one-round clip > makes it totally > unsuitable for any actual firefight. For its intended > purpose of long-range > sniping, it seems to be quite effective, an effectiveness > that is reduced by > the relative rarity of 7.62 ammunition and the > disproportionate cost of > buying it. The scope appears more powerful than the > one that you can attach > to the hunting rifle, so for those who enjoy sniping, the > disadvantages are > worth it, so long as you have more efficient close-combat > weapons handy to > switch to. > > The m-60 is for its class the most underpowered weapon in > the game. Its > effective range seems to be less than the rifles and its > three-round burst > minimum chews through its rare ammunition quickly. It > also has a long > preparation and reload time, making it less useful in close > combat > situations. > > The Vulcan mini-gun, I am less qualified to comment on as > I've never had one > in multi-player mode, and have only used it in the > single-player game. > Given the rarity of 7.62 ammunition, keeping it loaded > would be difficult, > and the slowing effect that it has on you while using it > might be > problematic. If there are missions that involve > defending fixed positions, > the Vulcan would likely be an ideal weapon. > > So each weapon has situations I'd choose to use it in as > follows: pistol: > when I had nothing else, with silencer, if I feel like > getting up close and > personal, or if I'm in a building where ranges are going to > be short and I > might not want to draw attention to myself from other > zombies while I'm > killing one. Shotgun/Benelli, good for dealing with a > medium crowd of > zombies at medium to close range, provided you have a good > escape route, > especially with the shotgun. Rifles: better for long > range attacking or > holding off a crowd, covering someone else or clearing an > area from long > range before venturing into it. The machine guns also > fulfill this > function. I've successfully used the 60 for close-in > crowd combat when ten > plus zombies were moving toward me. > > The key is to figure out what your favorite style of play > is, then > concentrate on developing skill with the weapons of that > type. > > Chris Bartlett
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