The Commando is currently one of the better balanced perks in the game, I think; he's very useful for his role, but greatly limited outside it. Nevertheless, nothing's ever perfect in the opinion of everyone, so let's discuss how we think the Commando and his current weapons could be improved. Let's not argue about the need/lack thereof for a MG, or suggestions of new weapons in this thread, please.
First: I have a suggestion for a new Commando perk effect, which could be added with a small nerfing of the damage bonus, to keep the overall balance. It's not really needed and it may be impractical to bother incorporating into the game at this point, (Save it for KF2 maybe?) but I think it would be extremely fitting for Commandos, and would do well to further establish his trash-killer role.
"Do X% extra damage with Bullpup/AK47/M4/SCAR if this extra damage would kill the target"
or in shorthand, "Finisher Damage"
The implications of this effect are insignificant against larger enemies, saving you only one round occasionally, but on smaller enemies in large numbers it becomes very useful; the saved rounds add up. For example, instead of double-tapping suicidal clots with a SCAR, leaving them with a sliver of health, requiring a switch of weapons or a third overkill SCAR shot, you'd kill the clot with the double tap. This will save you substantial amounts of ammo throughout the waves, without increasing the Commando's effectiveness outside of his role of "taking out the trash."
Second: the SCAR has too much spare ammo; it's not restrictive enough to encourage conservative ammo use, which should be of concern to a Commando. This also makes sense realistically and logically; 7.62x51 is notably heavier than 7.62x39, as is the nature and purpose of intermediate rifle rounds compared to rifle rounds. I suggest a nerf from 15 magazines down to 12 magazines. (300 rounds at level 6, 240 offperk) This should still be plenty, if you use it deliberately, but little enough to encourage less spraying.
Third: The M4 needs a buff if it wants to compete as an equal to the AK. I used to disagree with this, but playing with it over time on higher difficulties has had me change my mind. Here are some suggestions to consider. I'm not suggesting all of them be incorporated, but they're all something worth considering, and some combination of them could bring the M4 up to par with the AK, I think.
-Make it weigh 5kg (allowing it, a SCAR, and a 4 weight tertiary weapon to be held)
-Reduce recoil; with its high rate of fire, the recoil winds up about as bad as the AK's, and this attribute is something that should be in the M4's favor, between the two
-Increase magazine capacity. 32 (40 at level 6) or 36 (45 at lvl 6) would be nice even numbers. Along with the extra rounds being useful, the different numbers would just help to differentiate the two weapons.
-Make the red dot itself smaller, making precision headshots easier by obscuring less of the target. If the body of the optic were less vision-obstructing that would be good too, but that's bound to be too much work to be a practical use of time.
-Reduce price, maybe to $750, ($225 at level 6) although this somewhat admits defeat to the AK and makes the M4 a tier 1.5, which isn't a greatly useful role when getting a SCAR and AK isn't hard at all, especially when spawning with an AK.
-Make it the spawn weapon for level 6, instead of an AK. A mildly inferior weapon is vastly more likely to be kept than to be bought.
Fourth: Still talking about the M4, (and now including the M4203) but this isn't an issue of balance, just audio aesthetics. Ditch the looping sound for full auto M4 fire, just play the semi auto fire sound effect once per shot. The looping sound doesn't synch up with the shots fired, which is unintuitive, and if you fire only one round, you hear the echo without the bang, which is really weird and unappealing. The other commando rifles sound leaps and bounds better. This critique also applies to the medic guns, but it's not so bad for them, since they're far less deliberate-use oriented.
I don't have substantial suggestions for the AK or Bullpup, I love 'em as is.
TL;DR? Understandable. Just skim for underlined bits.
First: I have a suggestion for a new Commando perk effect, which could be added with a small nerfing of the damage bonus, to keep the overall balance. It's not really needed and it may be impractical to bother incorporating into the game at this point, (Save it for KF2 maybe?) but I think it would be extremely fitting for Commandos, and would do well to further establish his trash-killer role.
"Do X% extra damage with Bullpup/AK47/M4/SCAR if this extra damage would kill the target"
or in shorthand, "Finisher Damage"
The implications of this effect are insignificant against larger enemies, saving you only one round occasionally, but on smaller enemies in large numbers it becomes very useful; the saved rounds add up. For example, instead of double-tapping suicidal clots with a SCAR, leaving them with a sliver of health, requiring a switch of weapons or a third overkill SCAR shot, you'd kill the clot with the double tap. This will save you substantial amounts of ammo throughout the waves, without increasing the Commando's effectiveness outside of his role of "taking out the trash."
Second: the SCAR has too much spare ammo; it's not restrictive enough to encourage conservative ammo use, which should be of concern to a Commando. This also makes sense realistically and logically; 7.62x51 is notably heavier than 7.62x39, as is the nature and purpose of intermediate rifle rounds compared to rifle rounds. I suggest a nerf from 15 magazines down to 12 magazines. (300 rounds at level 6, 240 offperk) This should still be plenty, if you use it deliberately, but little enough to encourage less spraying.
Third: The M4 needs a buff if it wants to compete as an equal to the AK. I used to disagree with this, but playing with it over time on higher difficulties has had me change my mind. Here are some suggestions to consider. I'm not suggesting all of them be incorporated, but they're all something worth considering, and some combination of them could bring the M4 up to par with the AK, I think.
-Make it weigh 5kg (allowing it, a SCAR, and a 4 weight tertiary weapon to be held)
-Reduce recoil; with its high rate of fire, the recoil winds up about as bad as the AK's, and this attribute is something that should be in the M4's favor, between the two
-Increase magazine capacity. 32 (40 at level 6) or 36 (45 at lvl 6) would be nice even numbers. Along with the extra rounds being useful, the different numbers would just help to differentiate the two weapons.
-Make the red dot itself smaller, making precision headshots easier by obscuring less of the target. If the body of the optic were less vision-obstructing that would be good too, but that's bound to be too much work to be a practical use of time.
-Reduce price, maybe to $750, ($225 at level 6) although this somewhat admits defeat to the AK and makes the M4 a tier 1.5, which isn't a greatly useful role when getting a SCAR and AK isn't hard at all, especially when spawning with an AK.
-Make it the spawn weapon for level 6, instead of an AK. A mildly inferior weapon is vastly more likely to be kept than to be bought.
Fourth: Still talking about the M4, (and now including the M4203) but this isn't an issue of balance, just audio aesthetics. Ditch the looping sound for full auto M4 fire, just play the semi auto fire sound effect once per shot. The looping sound doesn't synch up with the shots fired, which is unintuitive, and if you fire only one round, you hear the echo without the bang, which is really weird and unappealing. The other commando rifles sound leaps and bounds better. This critique also applies to the medic guns, but it's not so bad for them, since they're far less deliberate-use oriented.
I don't have substantial suggestions for the AK or Bullpup, I love 'em as is.
TL;DR? Understandable. Just skim for underlined bits.
Last edited: