Okay, time for another update. Been a long time now. The game is much more balanced now! They have a better queue system, and well, there isn't a favored team anymore it seems. So that is good! The last couple of weeks I have been part of some really cool and balanced battles. Otherwise the devs have released a lot of new patches for the game (the mmo part isn't here yet though!). Mostly balance things, but also a few new vehicles and mechanics. Like spotting is in the game now, but you need to carry around a radio-pack on your back to be able to do that. When you spot enemies or friendlies the map gets updated in real-time with dots of different kinds. For those without the radio-pack it's very useful for finding the front. Before this you had to ask in chat and hope for the best. You do need a small radio in your inventory to get constant updates. But when you visit a forward base of a town HQ you get an updated map. Playing a spotter can be kinda fun if you like painting the map with dots, and well, you are guaranteed to be helping your team if you ever feel you are not contributing to the team effort.
So now after over 200 hours in-game it's time to talk about the infantry weapons!
Infantry Weapons
Bolt-action Rifle: Long range, kills in one or two shots. Will be your standard weapon. Very accurate, but slow firing. Can be equipped with a bayonet or a rifle grenade kit.
Carbine: Semi-automatic fire, kills in one or two shots, but not as accurate as the bolt action rifle. Good when you need to lay down cover fire. It also weight less, so it's a good weapon to use when playing medic, engineer or something like that.
Submachine gun: Close quarters weapons, kills in a few shots, but every shot has a higher chance of causing bleeding on your enemy. The problem is the weapon feels overall fairly useless. If you shoot from standing or crouching position your shots will go all over the place, and while you miss with your shots a guy with a rifle will take you out. It's a fun weapon at times, but I have a hard time seeing the role for it on the battlefield which I find is a shame.
Storm-Rifle: Late game weapon. It's basically the STG44. Not as accurate as the bolt-action rifle, but has two modes. Semi and fully automatic. Good weapon in a pinch when you need to spray and pray. It's very heavy though and you will be slowed down while carrying it.
Shotgun: High spread, have a high chance of causing bleeding and kills in one or two shots. Also have a knock-back effect. You need to get in close, but compared to the SMG you don't even need to aim to hit someone with this weapon. It's a late game research, but I find the weapon total horse-shit, especially since it performs better than the SMG. This weapons has caused many rage-quits for me.
Heavy-Machine gun: 50 round magazine machine gun that fires high caliber bullets. Tears down men and week covers in seconds! If you ever come under fire by a MG the only thing you can do is to pray. It does have draw-backs though. It's very heavy, and can only be fired from stationary position, prone or sitting. It doesn't have the biggest arc of fire, so if you can get past that arc you can often flank and kill these pesky machine-gunners! They are also slow, so a grenade often takes them out while they try to flee.
Pistol: Standard 9mm pistol that every character starts with. Medium rate of fire, short range and kills in about three to four hits. Not a good weapon to use as your standard weapon, but if you are playing as a dedicated medic or engineer you might not need anything heavier. Better than nothing for personal defense, but if you are attacked while only having this weapon it's better to just flee. Since everyone starts with this weapon you can find plenty of magazines on the battlefield so there will always be plenty of ammo to scavenge.
Revolver: High powered personal defense weapon. Late game research and kills in one or two hits. It has longer range than the standard pistol and is much better overall. The ultimate backup weapon for a medic for an example. One drawback is it only holds 6 rounds and in a pinch you can find yourself running out of ammo quick!
Infantry Explosives
Grenade: Standard frag-grenade. Can be throw fairly far. If you hold down your mouse button before throwing you can prime it, and with practice you will be able to get grenades to explode the moment they land next to your enemies. They incapacitate more often than kill, but a second grenade on the same spot will make short work of the survivors and also probably a couple of medics trying to help the wounded. Geneva convention haven't been written yet in this world, so don't worry about the ethical consequences of these tactics! With the rifle grenade kit for the bolt-action rifle you can extend your range with a lot. Good for taking out engineers behind enemy lines for an example. You can't prime it in this mode though!
Smoke-Grenade: Good way to conceal your attack. Remember it works both ways and while concealing you, the smoke will not protect you from bullets. The smoke grenade is a requirement when fighting foxholes and entrenched positions. A good use of the smoke grenade is to throw two or more to fake out your enemy. If you only throw one they know which "smoke-area" you will be coming from and if a MG decides to fire into that smoke... well, things will probably not end up well for you and your comrades.
Green-Ash: Grenade filled with poison gas. Will kill infantry and people in vehicles, and entrenched positions without gas-masks very quickly. A very good weapon for area denial and to put terror in the enemy. Like mentioned the gas-grenade is very useful for taking out vehicles. The best part with this is that you then can capture the vehicle. Most drivers will equip themselves with gas-masks but sometimes you encounter someone that forgot their mask.
HE-grenade: Heavy grenade to take take out vehicles and entrenched positions. Does very little damage to infantry if you don't score a direct hit. HE-grenades are very heavy and will slow you down. Often in a assault you will have people dedicated to carry these grenades. Most of the time they will only be equipped with a pistol or at times nothing at all. It is your job to protect these brave men! You can not throw them very far either, but this weapon in combination with the smoke-grenade can cause serious damage in a short amount of time to entrenched positions.
Satchel-Charge: Big satchel with a big bomb inside. Very heavy but will do heavy damage to structures! Good to take out bridges for an example. One problem with the weapon is that it can't be thrown so you will have to go up to the place where you want it planted and more often than not this will be a suicide mission. It has an arming timer as well.
Bazooka: Heavy weapon with a medium range. Good for taking out vehicles and foxholes. A direct hit will take out infantry as well. The weapon and its rocket ammo are very heavy though. Not very useful for assaults, but a good weapon to use in a defensive position. Especially when attacked by vehicles. Most drivers will turn around when attacked by this weapon. It takes a couple of rockets to totally destroy a vehicle, but this of course depends on the vehicle. A truck will get demolished by one rocket, while a Half-track can take two or three rockets depending on how good hits you score.
Mortar: Fires high explosive rounds on a long distance. Good for taking out smaller structures and artillery positions. Very heavy weapon and so are the mortar shells. To be 100% effective with the mortar you need to be a two man team. One with binoculars acting as a spotter and of course the mortar handler. When under attack as a mortar team, I recommend ditching the equipment and run away. You will never make it away while carrying all that heavy equipment. In general (if not specialized) all other infantry men are 50-100% more agile than you.
Will write a little about the vehicles next time I think. Anyway, some other stuff before I close out this post. First off, this is a great time to buy the game. It is currently 33% off on Steam, and the game got a large influx of new players over this holiday. So you wouldn't be alone as new.
14 Euro (or dollar) is not much to pay for this excellent game!
And secondly, they won the Indie game of the year over at
indiedb!