My favorite class is machine gunner, and with the pending addition of 50+ player servers I think it is high time heavy machine guns are added to the game. To add them in as quickly as possible I have devised a simple plan.
As german hvy mg you have the mg34 or 42 as they are now, but with a tripod attached, obviously you cannot fire mg34 from the hip with tripod, also no sprinting or jumping, maybe sprinting but with 1/2 current stamina. You will setup the machine gun exactly as you do now, with the following exceptions: setting up take much longer, as you unfold the tripod legs and set the machine gun on top, maybe 5-20 seconds. You will be able to setup crouching anywhere as well as prone, you will setup on window sills and such as normal. Once setup the difference between light machine guns will be much less recoil, but slower traverse.
Ammuntion will be handled as follows, a new class will be available, mg assistant, basically a rifleman with no grenades, he will be able to resupply the machine gunner with ammo 10 times, but it will be much different than normal. Machinegunner will spawn with no ammo and will be able to only carry a maximum of one spare belt, each belt will be 50 rounds, but reloading will be instant . In effect the machine gunner assistant will simulate the practice of feeding belts into the mg, without any new coding.
The mg carries a max of 100 rounds (one belt in the gun and one in reserve) Since he can carry only 1 50 round belt in reserve, the mg assistant needs to give him ammo after every 50 rounds fired or the mg will run out of ammuntion very quickly.
This way we can simulate the fact the hvy mgs needed a crew to operate, rather than just one man, to keep firing, the mg will need a guy by him to keep feeding belts, or he will run out of ammo after 100 shots, also he will probably need 2 assistants since each one only carries 500 rounds, less than 30 secods firing time.
To summarize: To minimize new coding hvy mgs will deploy exactly like current mgs, except they will be able to deploy crouching as well as prone, and they will take much longer to deploy.
They will not play any animation or have any delay in reloading, but they will have only 1 50 round belt in the gun and one in reserve. Since they only have one belt in reserve, they need an mg assistant to give them a new belt after every 50 rounds to keep firing. The mg assistant will be a normal rifleman but with the ability to resupply the mg 10 times.
They hvy mgs advantage will be that it is more accurate and has less recoil than a light mg and that, as long as the assistant is feeding belts, it can fire continously (excepting barrel changes)
Its disadvantages will be that undeployed the player carrying it will move slowly, and be essentially helpless, it will take a long time to deploy, and thus be very vulnerable to enemies moving outside its arc of fire, and the gunner will need constant ammo resuplly from teammates.
Soviet maxim gun will be slightly different from the german guns. Just like dp the maxim will have no barrel change, but with a water cooled barrel and slower rate of fire, it will be able to fire for some time without overheating. Undeployed, like the german guns it will rest on the shoulder, delpoyed it will just be put on the ground sincec it has a carriage instead of a tripod.
The only new coding is as follows: the art for the new gun, for the germans the only new art will be adding a tripod to the existing model, the animation of setting up the tripod, or for the soviets setting the gun on the ground.
Thats it, the rest, as i explained can be covered by minor changes to existing code.
As german hvy mg you have the mg34 or 42 as they are now, but with a tripod attached, obviously you cannot fire mg34 from the hip with tripod, also no sprinting or jumping, maybe sprinting but with 1/2 current stamina. You will setup the machine gun exactly as you do now, with the following exceptions: setting up take much longer, as you unfold the tripod legs and set the machine gun on top, maybe 5-20 seconds. You will be able to setup crouching anywhere as well as prone, you will setup on window sills and such as normal. Once setup the difference between light machine guns will be much less recoil, but slower traverse.
Ammuntion will be handled as follows, a new class will be available, mg assistant, basically a rifleman with no grenades, he will be able to resupply the machine gunner with ammo 10 times, but it will be much different than normal. Machinegunner will spawn with no ammo and will be able to only carry a maximum of one spare belt, each belt will be 50 rounds, but reloading will be instant . In effect the machine gunner assistant will simulate the practice of feeding belts into the mg, without any new coding.
The mg carries a max of 100 rounds (one belt in the gun and one in reserve) Since he can carry only 1 50 round belt in reserve, the mg assistant needs to give him ammo after every 50 rounds fired or the mg will run out of ammuntion very quickly.
This way we can simulate the fact the hvy mgs needed a crew to operate, rather than just one man, to keep firing, the mg will need a guy by him to keep feeding belts, or he will run out of ammo after 100 shots, also he will probably need 2 assistants since each one only carries 500 rounds, less than 30 secods firing time.
To summarize: To minimize new coding hvy mgs will deploy exactly like current mgs, except they will be able to deploy crouching as well as prone, and they will take much longer to deploy.
They will not play any animation or have any delay in reloading, but they will have only 1 50 round belt in the gun and one in reserve. Since they only have one belt in reserve, they need an mg assistant to give them a new belt after every 50 rounds to keep firing. The mg assistant will be a normal rifleman but with the ability to resupply the mg 10 times.
They hvy mgs advantage will be that it is more accurate and has less recoil than a light mg and that, as long as the assistant is feeding belts, it can fire continously (excepting barrel changes)
Its disadvantages will be that undeployed the player carrying it will move slowly, and be essentially helpless, it will take a long time to deploy, and thus be very vulnerable to enemies moving outside its arc of fire, and the gunner will need constant ammo resuplly from teammates.
Soviet maxim gun will be slightly different from the german guns. Just like dp the maxim will have no barrel change, but with a water cooled barrel and slower rate of fire, it will be able to fire for some time without overheating. Undeployed, like the german guns it will rest on the shoulder, delpoyed it will just be put on the ground sincec it has a carriage instead of a tripod.
The only new coding is as follows: the art for the new gun, for the germans the only new art will be adding a tripod to the existing model, the animation of setting up the tripod, or for the soviets setting the gun on the ground.
Thats it, the rest, as i explained can be covered by minor changes to existing code.
