So. New gun incoming. Yay! Oh, and the Freezethrower too. That's such a custom concept that I'll leave that up to Tripwire.
As for the UMP 45 though, it makes me wonder. Its really going to stand out among the other SMGs, but for better or worse? Lets look at some details of the real deal.
The UMP is a versatile SMG format, available in a few different calibers, but since its confirmed that this is the .45 ACP variant, this part's sorta irrelevant. By locking down the precise model though, we get a sharp idea of the characteristics to expect from this gun. That said, lets start with the biggest difference compared to the rest of the SWAT's arsenal - Rate of Fire. And anyone who's seen a representation of the UMP knows - this thing goes slow.
Like, real slow. Think AK-47 slow. That's because they have the same RoF - 600 RPM - ~10 shots per second. Any slower, and it'd virtually be an automatic Varmint. Compare this to the Kriss, which clocks in at twice that speed - a blistering 1200 RPM (at least the real one does anyways, but KF2's seems on par, if not close). Even the next slowest SMG (MP5) is just under 900 RPM. The given reason for its set fire rate from H&K is that the .45 round is a hard hitter with significant kick, thus creating recoil that would be too unwieldly if it fired as fast as many modern SMGs. Setting it this low lowers the recoil rate to a managable ratio, making it suitable for controlled burst fire.
But does a slower rate of fire necessarily mean better control in a video game? That's the next aspect to focus on - Recoil and Stability. Make no mistake, if Tripwire does this right, there will be kick. But I think the Recoil won't be an issue for most of us.........as long as the stability is there. But it may not be. The MP7, for example, can quickly veer off all over the place if one fires continuously. The MP5, by contrast, is likely the most stable SMG of the bunch, with the P90 right behind it - both are almost laser-like when crouching. Kriss's recoil is mostly self-countering, but instability still mounts up as a result of its crazy RoF. The UMP then, considering the other 4 SMGs, could be super stable then. I don't imagine they want to give us an SMG that's more difficult to use than the others, especially since the other guns are all rather effective in their ease of use.
But reloads will be a major factor. And boy, will there be reloads. Mag size is likely to be the UMP's biggest shortcoming as the only official UMP 45 mag houses just 25 rounds, so that's 50 rounds for a maxed SWAT. Even the MP7 does better. This could be alleviated somewhat by giving the UMP some speedy reload speeds compared to the others, but I don't think it will see such special treatment. Granted, this is one department where Tripwire might opt to not strictly adhere to reality, and simply choose a custom value for the magazine for balance purposes as they see fit. I used to think they did for the first two SMGs but after looking them up, it seems that MP7 does indeed have 30 round mags now (pretty sure it originally only had 20 & 40 round options), and MP5 surprised me with 40 round stick mags. But a low round count of 25 could be easily offset by the one value we really want to know, and thats....
Damage. This is the dealmaker, and will determine (besides pricing) where it fits among the Tiers. Usually, it'd be easy to think of a number that makes sense balance-wise, but this gun is so much different from the others, it's hard to guess. The slow RoF, Recoil, the small mag - they'll all factor in to the balance. Compare to the Kriss, and try to forget that they technically both fire the same round. The Kriss has a damage per shot of 33 (a mere 3 damage higher than the P90), but this is because it spits the rounds out about 33% faster than the other SMGs. So when a gun with a damage of 33 fires 100% faster than the gun in question (with a bigger mag, no less), what would be the ideal damage value of the new gun? It all depends on where they wanna place the UMP in the scheme of things. Will it be a Tier 2? I'm hoping for Tier 3, maybe with a damage value between 44-50. They could surprise us all by making it a Tier 4 with some shockingly high damage, but I don't see that happening. It'd look silly if an UMP could compete with a Kriss, even in a game - the Vector is functionally superior in virtually every aspect.
I understand that this post may not have much point to it since its all pure speculation. Tripwire tends to reveal the weapon stats to new incoming weapons a couple of weeks or so after officially revealing them, so we may get the final details even as soon as this weekend. It'll give us more to discuss. That said, what are your thoughts and opinions on what might be, and what should be?
As for the UMP 45 though, it makes me wonder. Its really going to stand out among the other SMGs, but for better or worse? Lets look at some details of the real deal.
The UMP is a versatile SMG format, available in a few different calibers, but since its confirmed that this is the .45 ACP variant, this part's sorta irrelevant. By locking down the precise model though, we get a sharp idea of the characteristics to expect from this gun. That said, lets start with the biggest difference compared to the rest of the SWAT's arsenal - Rate of Fire. And anyone who's seen a representation of the UMP knows - this thing goes slow.
Like, real slow. Think AK-47 slow. That's because they have the same RoF - 600 RPM - ~10 shots per second. Any slower, and it'd virtually be an automatic Varmint. Compare this to the Kriss, which clocks in at twice that speed - a blistering 1200 RPM (at least the real one does anyways, but KF2's seems on par, if not close). Even the next slowest SMG (MP5) is just under 900 RPM. The given reason for its set fire rate from H&K is that the .45 round is a hard hitter with significant kick, thus creating recoil that would be too unwieldly if it fired as fast as many modern SMGs. Setting it this low lowers the recoil rate to a managable ratio, making it suitable for controlled burst fire.
But does a slower rate of fire necessarily mean better control in a video game? That's the next aspect to focus on - Recoil and Stability. Make no mistake, if Tripwire does this right, there will be kick. But I think the Recoil won't be an issue for most of us.........as long as the stability is there. But it may not be. The MP7, for example, can quickly veer off all over the place if one fires continuously. The MP5, by contrast, is likely the most stable SMG of the bunch, with the P90 right behind it - both are almost laser-like when crouching. Kriss's recoil is mostly self-countering, but instability still mounts up as a result of its crazy RoF. The UMP then, considering the other 4 SMGs, could be super stable then. I don't imagine they want to give us an SMG that's more difficult to use than the others, especially since the other guns are all rather effective in their ease of use.
But reloads will be a major factor. And boy, will there be reloads. Mag size is likely to be the UMP's biggest shortcoming as the only official UMP 45 mag houses just 25 rounds, so that's 50 rounds for a maxed SWAT. Even the MP7 does better. This could be alleviated somewhat by giving the UMP some speedy reload speeds compared to the others, but I don't think it will see such special treatment. Granted, this is one department where Tripwire might opt to not strictly adhere to reality, and simply choose a custom value for the magazine for balance purposes as they see fit. I used to think they did for the first two SMGs but after looking them up, it seems that MP7 does indeed have 30 round mags now (pretty sure it originally only had 20 & 40 round options), and MP5 surprised me with 40 round stick mags. But a low round count of 25 could be easily offset by the one value we really want to know, and thats....
Damage. This is the dealmaker, and will determine (besides pricing) where it fits among the Tiers. Usually, it'd be easy to think of a number that makes sense balance-wise, but this gun is so much different from the others, it's hard to guess. The slow RoF, Recoil, the small mag - they'll all factor in to the balance. Compare to the Kriss, and try to forget that they technically both fire the same round. The Kriss has a damage per shot of 33 (a mere 3 damage higher than the P90), but this is because it spits the rounds out about 33% faster than the other SMGs. So when a gun with a damage of 33 fires 100% faster than the gun in question (with a bigger mag, no less), what would be the ideal damage value of the new gun? It all depends on where they wanna place the UMP in the scheme of things. Will it be a Tier 2? I'm hoping for Tier 3, maybe with a damage value between 44-50. They could surprise us all by making it a Tier 4 with some shockingly high damage, but I don't see that happening. It'd look silly if an UMP could compete with a Kriss, even in a game - the Vector is functionally superior in virtually every aspect.
I understand that this post may not have much point to it since its all pure speculation. Tripwire tends to reveal the weapon stats to new incoming weapons a couple of weeks or so after officially revealing them, so we may get the final details even as soon as this weekend. It'll give us more to discuss. That said, what are your thoughts and opinions on what might be, and what should be?
