Weapons of Battlefield 3: DAO-12

Welcome back, readers, to another Weapons Of, still in the Frostbitten locales of Battlefield 3. Having mastered the PDW-R quite quickly and quite easily because of its all-round awesomeness, I thought I'd change it up a little by trying to master a shotgun. Since I've already mastered the Remington 870MCS, the M1014 and the Saiga 12K, the DAO-12 seemed like the perfect candidate for some field-testing.

Background:
The DAO-12, or Armsel Striker as it is called in real-life, is a rather unique South African weapon that has combined the power and ammunition of a shotgun with the rotating mechanism found in revolvers. Chambered in the extremely popular 12-gauge shotgun shell, the Striker typically has a 12-round revolving cylinder feeding it ammunition, except in the more compact models which only have a 7-round revolving cylinder. Due to its rather unique design, the Striker requires shells to be loaded into each cylinder individually and has a strange clockwork mechanism to wind the drum. While the weapon is extremely interesting, it does seem to come across as a rather cumbersome and ineffective weapon.

(source: Wikipedia)

Statistics:

• Ammo capacity = 8 rounds (standard), 12 rounds (extended magazine)
• Damage:
• Buckshot = Maximum of 18 decreasing in a linear pattern to a minimum of 6 from 25 metres onwards 
• Flechette = Maximum of 12.5 decreasing to a minimum of 8.4 from 30 metres onwards 
• Frag = Maximum of 20 decreasing to a minimum of 5 from 40 metres onwards 
• Slug = Maximum of 75 decreasing to a minimum of 37.5 from 50 metres onwards
• Rate of fire = 220 RPM (180 RPM when using frag rounds)
• Bullet velocity:
• Buckshot = 300 m/s
• Flechette = 450 m/s
• Frag = 150 m/s
• Slug = 300 m/s
• Reload times = 0.69 seconds mid-mag, 2.30 seconds from empty

(source: Symthic)

Weapon Assessment

This is actually a pretty solid weapon. I'll admit I was quite surprised at how decently it performed when I started using it because it's not a weapon you often see in the hands of many players. In terms of damage output, the DAO-12 can deal out a ton of punishment and hold its own with the other shotguns because of its 8-round revolver-style drum magazine, making it the shotgun with the highest ammo capacity in the game, tied with the MK3A1 which is a significantly worse weapon than the DAO-12. Personally, I found the DAO-12 quite versatile, depending on what ammunition and attachments you decide to use, the shotgun can perform various roles, from close-quarters devastator to accurate long-range powerhouse.

Recommended Attachments

• Iron Sights
• Extended Magazine 
• Buckshot

For a down-and-dirty fight in the trenches, the iron sights serve well for the kind of range where you'll be engaging your enemies while the extended magazine gives you a whopping 12 rounds of 12-gauge goodness to spread around. Buckshot provides a large spread, allowing you to potentially damage and kill multiple enemies in quick succession.

• IRNV 
• Flash Suppressor
• Slug

For anything other than a close-up battle, this is the kit to go with. The IRNV may seem like a strange choice considering the epic nerfing it has endured following accusations of it being too overpowered, but it's excellent for spotting hard to see targets, particularly in dark areas although it gets difficult at range. If you keep watching the screen and paying attention, however, you should be able to spot most enemies when they are hiding or blending in with the environment. The flash suppressor helps you to reduce recoil, allowing you to fire quick follow-up shots in order to dispatch of your opponent as quickly and cleanly as possible. Finally, the slugs give immense firepower and range at very little cost and as such, should be used at all times except with the situations reported earlier. 

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.

Weapons of Battlefield 3: RPK-74M

Welcome readers, if you exist outside my imagination, to a new series covering the various firearms that appear in various video games, mostly providing recommendations regarding the best ways of using them, particularly in the fast-paced world of modern multiplayer video games. Today we'll be covering the RPK-74M since I'm trying to get the Mastery Dog Tag for it in Battlefield 3. Hopefully, if I can scrounge up funds, I can buy a DVR and editing software to make some videos that complement the text.

Let's start with some background then move on to some basic statistics and numbers (yay, numbers!) before I give my recommended loadout. Before you go out and try my recommendation then come back screaming because it doesn't work, let me remind you I am in no way an expert or the best Battlefield player in the world. I'm an enthusiast and I recommend the loadout that works out the best for me, it might not suit your particular style of play but as an average player, I reckon it should fit most people just fine.

Background:
The RPK-74M was a product of modernisation in the Russian army during the 1970s, transitioning from the big and beefy 7.62x39mm to the relatively small 5.45x39mm, the same cartridge used in the AK-74M. This modernisation and tendency towards smaller cartridges was reflected at the same time in the rest of the world with China moving from the 7.62x39mm round towards the 5.8x42mm DBP87 round and the West moving from the 7.62x51mm NATO round towards the 5.56x45mm NATO round. In terms of design, the RPK-74M is basically an AK-74M with a longer and heavier barrel, a bipod, raised front sight as well as a special 45-round box magazine, although it can also accept the normal 30-round AK74 magazines, for better performance during sustained fire.

(source: Wikipedia)

Statistics:

• Ammo capacity = 45 rounds (+1 in the chamber when doing a mid-magazine reload)
• Damage = Maximum of 25 dropping in a linear pattern to a minimum of 18.4 from 50 metres onwards
• Fire rate = 700 RPM (rounds per minute)
• Bullet velocity = 600 m/s (metres/second)
• Reload times = 3.00 seconds with at least one round in the chamber, 4.00 seconds from empty

(source: Symthic)

Weapon Assessment:
I'm not particularly fond of the RPK as a light machine gun because it has a small magazine capacity in comparison to other weapons in the same class save the M27 IAR, meaning it has less suppressive capabilities than say the M249 or PKP Pecheneg. However, if you think of it as an assault rifle with a higher magazine capacity and utilise it in this manner, there is quite a lot to like about this gun. First of all, the recoil is relatively low, in comparison to other weapons in its class which makes this a prime candidate for accurate fire. While the comparatively small magazine might seem like a disadvantage, if you aim and use small bursts to increase your accuracy, then this becomes a potent mid-range weapon. Sustained fire isn't too bad but the problem is that you have to keep reloading unless you have extended magazines but even then, I wouldn't recommend using it like a proper LMG, you'll eat up all your ammo and waste valuable time reloading. Running and gunning with the RPK isn't a particularly good idea because the hip fire spread is all over the place and it's a little slow to bring to bear. What you want to do is move cover to cover and firing only when stationary rather than when in motion.

Recommended Attachments:

• Kobra Red Dot Sight
• Bipod
• Flash Suppressor

The Kobra RDS is probably your best choice for optics because the sight itself is relatively unintrusive and gives a much better sightline than iron sights. Compared to the other sights, this takes up the least room which means you get a clearer view of your peripherals. The bipod is excellent for when you need accurate sustained fire while remaining stationary and more useful than the foregrip which helps manage side-to-side recoil but is ultimately pointless since the side-to-side recoil is very manageable and gives you a penalty when aiming down sight. The flash suppressor provides a reduction in vertical recoil and helps mask your weapon's flash when firing, allowing you to stay visually hidden from your enemies, provided you have good cover.

Battlefield 3 Field Notes: We Must Be Supersoldiers

Hello readers, welcome back to another installment of Field Notes! This time, we're headed back to the bright and ridiculously lens-flare prone Battlefield to examine what the player-character in multiplayer actually is. To help break up the monotony of text, there's a video in the middle somewhere, enjoy!

Have you ever considered that the troops in Battlefield 3, on both the US and Russian sides are basically supersoldiers? Let me give you a run down of why I think this might be the case. First, these guys absorb bullets like the various types of rounds are made out of rubber or some sort of material that hurts you but doesn't kill you. Second, when they do get shot, they have healing factors that can be accelerated by standing around an unopened box of medical supplies. Then there's the issue of explosives apparently doing very little damage to the player other than taking down their health if there's enough distance between the player and the explosion. If I remember correctly, explosions typically involve shrapnel which could hit a major artery and lead to heavy bleeding or at least ruin the use of limbs and a rather powerful shockwave that has the capacity to turn people deaf without proper ear protection (I suppose this is mitigated by the fact that most soldiers wear a form of hearing protection) and occasionally break some bones.


Then, there's the ridiculous weapon proficiency that each soldier seems to have. Arguably, a gun is a gun and there probably won't be too much of a problem wielding various firearms if you're trained in using one already but each gun tends to have different characteristics that would probably take some getting used to. For example, in the Assault class, you can use a conventional assault rifle like the Colt M16A3 or a bullpup like the FN F2000. While most weapons operate on roughly the same principles (i.e. point the gun, pull the trigger, lead spits out the barrel towards where you point), I suspect it would be difficult to operate one weapon from the other especially when you were trained for one design and not the other. Keeping with this example, reloading would be a confusing mess for a pretty long time since your muscle memory from using the M16 would influence you to load the magazine up front when the well is at the back on the F2000. Then, there's the issue of compensating for fire rate and recoil, which isn't too bad in terms of recoil for the M16 and F2000 but the fire rate would be a different story since the F2000 fires significantly faster that M16. Imagine the difference in recoil though between a 5.56x45mm rifle like the M16 and a 7.62x51mm battle rifle like the G3A3, I suspect it'd be a bit harder to handle the 7.62 when firing full-auto even though it has a significantly lower rate of fire.

Alright, maybe that last bit was a little too much of a gripe and realistically, you could use most guns if you know how to use one in general. However, the fact that you are apparently trained in using all sorts of vehicles is definitely ridiculous. Apparently, the player-character has received training in piloting helicopters (transport, attack and scout varieties regardless of the faction), piloting planes (fighters and ground-attack varieties, again regardless of faction), driving and manning the weapons system on tanks, driving and using the weapons systems on IFVs/APCs, driving land transport (fast reconnaissance vehicles and personnel carriers) and driving water transport (boats mostly). Man, the US Marine Corps and Russian Army are made up of some really talented, or ridiculously well-trained people, especially since their troops apparently have the capability to use all sorts of vehicles and weapons systems.

I realise that Battlefield 3 is nowhere near realistic but it's still pretty hilarious if you think about how insane all the mechanics in the game work if you apply some semblance of realism or logic to it.

Battlefield 3 Field Notes: Re-Enlisted

Hello readers, if you exist outside my mind, at least, I like to think I actually have readers although that's probably wishful thinking. To celebrate the upcoming release of Battlefield 4 and because I felt like getting back to it, I'm playing Battlefield 3 again after nearly a year away from it and let me tell you, post-patches, Battlefield 3 is a vastly different game. This will be a semi-regular series written in both a meta-universe and in-universe style, varying depending on the content. For example, this introductory post will be about the game while the next one might be about a specific match/battle or vehicles and weapons. It's largely practice for my skills or lack thereof in creative writing.

The first match back and I've realised I've lost all semblance of motor control in a first-person shooter. I'm not the best video gamer, most of my friends will tell you that, but I like to think that I'm skilled enough to move an analog stick around but my reflexes have gone to hell after playing so many third-person shooters and fighting games for the past year. Some things I haven't lost, though, I still spam the select button to spot enemies for my teammates, a force of habit from my Bad Company days. Also, I'm still fairly proficient with vehicles. I can drive a tank and engage enemies with the best of them and I got skills when it comes to helicopter flying. Let's not talk about jet flying though. Before I took a break from the battlefield, I could barely fly a jet let alone dogfight properly. I tried flying one by spawning in a FA/18 Super Hornet and I basically crashed into the aircraft carrier when trying to takeoff.

Still, my performance wasn't too bad for a soldier off the battlefield for a year or so. Managed to get a decent score, fifth overall and third on my team. KDR doesn't mean jack on Battlefield but I managed to get better than 1.00 KDR, which is an achievement for me since I die most of the time trying to arm MCOMS or capping flags. PTFO, right? People are mostly the same though. They run down the middle and are pretty predictable. It was pretty much a massacre for the enemy team because they were headstrong and kept pushing down the middle. I never understood that mindset. As a rather poor combatant, I've always used varying tactics to outwit rather than outfight the enemy. An exposed flank is basically death to half an enemy team or more. I mean, if you slap a suppressor on your weapon and sneak in from their side and get the enemy from behind, they have little time to react and even if they take you down, you would have taken a fair chunk without them noticing or reacting quick enough.

Weapons-wise, I'm sticking to my 5 Service Star quest whereby I try out every weapon until I get 500 kills so as to unlock the dog tags for it. The current weapon I'm working on is the FAMAS and that thing has been nerfed to oblivion. No other way to put it. Usually, DICE does a great job in balancing weapons but man, they really made this thing terrible. When Back to Karkand first came out and the FAMAS got unlocked, it was a pretty popular weapon. A nimble, fast-firing and devastating close-quarters weapon. Now, it's got a ridiculously high rate of fire coupled with a small magazine, a long reload time and ridiculous recoil. The only way to use this thing is to walk right up to an enemy and pull the trigger. No need to aim, the recoil is way too difficult to control. Most guns I can develop an understanding of and a tactic to compensate for its weaknesses but this gun has too many to count. This is going to be a long 5 Service Stars.

I didn't play too many matches but I did have a lot of fun and now I remember why I love the Battlefield series so much. There'll be more Field Notes for Battlefield 3 and other games that fit the theme in the near future and until then, we've got a few awesome articles on the way. This is Renegade Sandwich, signing off.