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Southern Weapon Suggestion: M14A1

Zammo76

Active member
Feb 5, 2018
27
1
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I've suggested this weapon on the Steam, and Reddit forums and its generally got a big thumbs up.

If you decide to add any new South Weapons please consider the M14A1.

It could be an early to mid war option for US Army and US Marine Machine Gunners.

Here's a couple of videos showing it off:



[video=youtube_share;p-v9jB1eyaE]https://youtu.be/p-v9jB1eyaE[/video]
 
While I think that there is certainly to be made that the M14A1 was present in Vietnam in some numbers, for at least a short period of the war, I just don't think that it's crying out to be included as a weapon in the game.

Automatic variants of the M14 were, by virtually all accounts, mediocre weapons. Even firing prone, with a bipod, the M14 has poor accuracy firing bursts, on account of having very high recoil. Like the BAR, it only had a 20-round clip, feeding from under the gun, which severely limited its usefulness as a fire-support weapon.

The M14A1 was not substantially changed from the vanilla M14; there were no major changes to accommodate its use as a LMG (a heavy-barrel version, the M15, was actually rejected in favor of the M14A1). The only differences were some modest changes to the stock and hand-guard, and the addition of a bipod. There's nothing to suggest that the M14A1 did any better in automatic fire than the standard version.

Furthermore, the M14A1 was intended as a direct replacement for the BAR, and in terms of function, is very similar - an automatic rifle, firing a full-power cartridge from a 20-round magazine.

Gameplay-wise, I don't think that there is a strong case for adding such a lackluster and unremarkable weapon to the game, which would more-or-less replicate a less-distinctive BAR on the US Army side. Especially when there are a number of other interesting Southern weapons, such as the Stoner 63 Rifle / Machine Gun, or the Carl Gustav m/45 (a.k.a S&W M76) that have yet to be added to the game.
 
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VTD75;n2330425 said:
such as the Stoner 63 Rifle / Machine Gun, or the Carl Gustav m/45 (a.k.a S&W M76) that have yet to be added to the game.

Both of those weapons were not used by regular infantry types, which is what we play as in game. If there was an official MACVSOG or Navy Seal faction then that would be different. The M14A1 would fit better in game with what we currently have.
 
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JokersWarPig;n2330451 said:
Both of those weapons were not used by regular infantry types, which is what we play as in game. If there was an official MACVSOG or Navy Seal faction then that would be different. The M14A1 would fit better in game with what we currently have.

...except we have the silenced XM-21, and the "duckbill" shotgun, neither of which ever came even close to being standard issue. The latter was exclusively a special-forces weapon, of which no more than handful were ever made.

I agree that actual usage number should partly inform whether a weapon in included in the game; it would be silly to fill the game with weapons that were only questionably related to the war.

But both the Stoner and the m/45 were deployed in numbers at least a few thousand each, and saw relatively extensive use. Moreover, they are distinctive, highly recognizable weapons that are strongly identified with American involvement in Vietnam. It's no exaggeration to say that the Stoner 63A and the m/45 are much better known than the M14A1.

I'm not against the M14A1, per se, although I think it would be very challenging to incorporate it into the game in a way that accurately reflected its shortcomings as a weapon. I just think that, given limited developer resources, time should be spent adding unique and distinctive weapons that meaningfully expand gameplay, rather than what would, in many ways, be a close cousin of the existing BAR.
 
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I'm not opposed to weapons like the Stoner or the M45 appearing in game at all, I'm also not opposed to seeing an M16 with and XM148 Grenade launcher attached to it. I would say though that those weapons should be locked to a new SF themed faction on some different maps. Keep the infantry as standard issue as possible, give the "tacticool" stuff to the SF team.
Off the top of my head a few maps could even be done for a SOG or SF faction
Lang Vei
Cambodian/Laotian Border (This could be a redone version of Kobura)
(another) A Shau map

Granted that also involves making new maps and some skins, but considering some already great reskin mods/mutators exist I don't think it'd be very hard for some members of the community to do something that ends up being so good that it becomes official like some maps have already done.
 
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