Weapons of Battlefield 3: PDW-R

Hello fictional readers! Welcome back to another instalment of Weapons Of, again in the brown backgrounds and blue-tint combat zones of Battlefield 3. Today, I'll be covering a brilliant weapon, the PDW-R. Just an update on the RPK-74M, I managed to successfully master the rather difficult and inconsistent LMG, scoring five service stars and a mastery dog tag in the process. Now, on to more pleasant weaponry with the PDW-R.

Background:
The Magpul Personal Defense Rifle (PDR), called the PDW-R in-game, is a personal defense weapon (PDW) currently in development at Magpul Industries. Chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO, the PDR is an interesting PDW because it doesn't use a proprietary rifle round, although this could be due to the fact that Magpul doesn't actually have a proprietary round, unlike Heckler and Koch's MP7 which uses 4.6x30mm round or Fabrique National's P90 which is chambered in 5.7x28mm. The sleek, futuristic ultra-compact bullpup is a traditional PDW at heart though, aiming to bring immense firepower and range to its wielder in a small, manoeuvrable frame. With its ergonomic design, compatibility with standard STANAG magazines and ultra-compact frame, the PDR is definitely in a class of its own when it comes to PDW design.

(source: Wikipedia)

Statistics:

• Ammo capacity = 20 rounds (standard, +1 in the chamber during mid-mag reloads), 30 rounds (extended magazine, +1 in the chamber)
• Damage = 25 maximum dropping in a linear pattern to 14.3 minimum at 50 metres onwards
• Rate of fire = 750 RPM
• Bullet velocity = 430 m/s
• Reload times = 2.50 mid-mag, 3.40 empty

(source: Symthic)

Weapon Assessment:

This is one hell of a weapon. I don't know what it is about this gun but I've been doing fantastically well with the PDW-R scoring lots of kills with only a few deaths in return. The low recoil is remarkable, the amount of firepower you get is ridiculous and the fire rate is just perfect. Excellent in close quarters and medium-range combat, I'd recommend this weapon for most standard engagements in Rush, Conquest, TDM, SQDM or whatever game mode tickles your fancy. Although I dislike the playstyle, I found the PDW-R well-suited to running-and-gunning, it has fantastic hipfire accuracy and the reload times are really forgiving, making it well-suited for the soldier looking to race through the battlefield. The only issue I found with this weapon was that I kept running out of ammo because I kept killing so many people, even though I had squad ammo on as a specialisation.

Recommended Attachments:

• EoTech Holographic Sight 
• Laser Sight
• Extended Magazine

While the iron sights for the weapon are fairly good and since the weapon's effective range tends towards close-quarters battle, I would recommend going with the EoTech from an aesthetic perspective, as it lends itself well to the futuristic look and feel of the weapon as well as giving the player a slight zoom when aiming down sights when compared to iron sights. The PKA-S would provide the same function but unlike the EoTech, it takes up a fair amount of screen room and really detracts from the player's peripheral vision. The laser sight is to help with hipfire accuracy when you come across an enemy quite suddenly and have no time to aim down sight, a common occurrence because this weapon really lends itself well to moving quickly around the map, taking out targets on the way to the objective, or as an objective in TDM and SQDM. For the last attachment, the extended magazine is a must to balance out the weapon's fairly high rate of fire, allowing you to engage more targets without reloading constantly, which you will be doing if you stick with the standard 20-round magazine.