(This article is currently under construction!)
1 Information
The machine guns (also known as autocannons or Bordkanonen) are auxiliary support weapon that are available to many combat units in the game.
2 Overview
Many vehicles appearing in the game are equipped with extra machine gun, autocannon, or Bordkanone type weapons alongside their primary weapon systems; which further augment their combat effectiveness by providing extra damage output. The type and firepower of the machine guns/autocannons used by the units vary greatly, but their mechanics are identical.
In the game data, these auxiliary type weapons are usually collectively labelled as 'machine guns' for descriptive reasons; even though their real specifications vary greatly from standard armour-piercing heavy machine guns to high-calibre autocannons and Bordkanonen in both appearances and performances. This article will adopt this convention for simplicity as well.
3 Mechanics
Machine guns can be fired by pressing down the corresponding key (Default: 'X') while occupying a unit equipped with one in the first-person mode. The AI-controlled units will always employ their machine guns when aiming down and attacking enemy units in a certain range (1000) along with their main weapons during combat. Similar to primary projectile weapons, firing machine guns will consume energy from the unit's energy battery: 1 (100) energy point is required for 300 (30000) weapon damage output, just like the primary weapon systems.
There are many notable differences between the mechanics and behaviours of the normal projectile type (primary) weapons and the machine gun (auxiliary) type weapons:
- The machine guns of all vehicles possess identical functions and mechanics aside from their individual firepower output and visual/sound effects. This is in contrast to the normal projectile-type weapons in the game, where each weapon possesses fully distinct physics properties and unique attributes, and so their individual characteristics and performances can vary greatly from one another with different types of advantages and behaviours.
- The machine guns are 'hit-scan' type weapons. Unlike the normal projectile weapons, the hit registration of the machine guns is instant, as there is no particular projectile travel time to inflict damage on targets. Therefore, the machine guns are not bound to the normal physical limitations of the projectile type weapons, and can damage the target instantly as long as they are fired at the target in reticule that is within the effective range of machine guns.
- The machine guns possess the universal range of 1000 in-game distance unit regardless of their types and firepower, which is slightly shorter than the length of a sector (1200). This distance is notably shorter than the ranges of the most primary weapon projectiles and therefore it practically limits the applications of the machine guns to close 'in-range contact' combat situations, which also somewhat compensates their hit-scan type advantage.
- The machine guns can damage more than one target as long as there are multiple units aligned into the tracer vector of the machine gun's reticule arc. Therefore, their effectiveness is dramatically increased when fired upon a closely packed or lined up group of enemy units. The default weapon radius of the machine guns is 5, which is significantly smaller than the normal projectile weapons to compensate their unique hit registration mechanics.
- The machine guns can attack targets that are placed behind the obstacles by piercing through them, such as buildings/structures or terrains. This feature renders them more effective in terrain environments with numerous obstacles, where the normal projectile weapons cannot easily hit targets behind them. Conversely, the machine guns cannot be used to inflict damage on non-unit type buildings/structures (such as power stations).
4 Damage Output
In the game, different units are equipped with different types of machine guns/autocannons, and therefore there is a great variation of firepower.
The following list contains the damage output of the machine gun/autocannon for each unit. Units that do not have machine guns are excluded.
4.1 Resistance
Fox: 4000
Weasel: 4000
Jaguar: 5000
Tiger: 6000
Rock Sled: 5000
Firefly: 6000
Wasp: 8000
Hornet: 15000
Dragonfly: 35000
Falcon: 7000
Warhammer: 9000
4.2 Ghorkov
Speedy: 2000
Tekh-Trak: 6000
Ghargoil: 5000
Ghargoil 2: 10000
Ying (Yak-131): 6000
Tien-Ying 7 (Mrat 17): 7000
Gigant: 8000
Gigant 2: 8000
4.3 Taerkasten
Eisenhans: 10000
Leonid: 10000
Phantom: 10000
Ostwind: 4000
Thor's Hammer: 18000
4.4 Mykonian
Myko Ground Cube: 4000
4.5 Sulgogar
Blue Spore: 13000
5 Notes
- Some vehicles in the game possess unused machine gun firing animations even if they are not equipped with machine guns anymore in the final version of the game. These effects can be reinstated by re-enabling their machine guns in the data scripts.
6 Trivia
- Each faction possesses unique machine gun sound effects for their own vehicles.
- Dragonfly and Thor's Hammer are two vehicles that possess distinct machine gun/autocannon firing sounds to represent their superior firepower and damage output.
- The Resistance machine gun sound effect is used for Taerkasten Phantom. This could be either a legacy design from the development phase, or to represent the fact that Phantom is armed with a modern jet fighter autocannon.
- Myko Ground Cube is the only Mykonian vehicle equipped with a machine gun. However, it does not have any sound effect and employs the same type of machine gun (visual effects, etc.) as the human factions.
- Sulgogars machine guns (only equipped and used by Blue Spore) do not have sound effects but possess special visual effects that consist of a blue particle beam pulse.
7 Notes
Under Construction.