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Two recurring complaints throughout development have been:

1) For a joint NATO / Soviet organisation, the Xenonauts sure don't have much Soviet equipment. They do have Soviet soldiers, but their weapons are American and their vehicle is British. We used to be able to point to the MiG interceptor, but even that is now researchable rather than starting.

2) There's not enough different ballistic weapons - we only have one type of assault rifle, for example. The M-16 and the AK-47 actually behave quite differently in reality.

While vanilla Xenonauts is not going to add any extra weapons or change the existing ones for design reasons, we've always said we'll make it as easy as possible for people to mod the game to their preferences.

As such, the build now includes art for Soviet equivalents of the starting Xenonaut weapons, as well as a few unused NATO weapons we did while settling on the current selection. There is a total of 16 new images there. It's now just a question of altering text files to change the NATO weapons into Soviet weapons, or to add extra guns like AK-47s into the game. In fact, with the tool Quartermaster is working on it may even be easier than that soon.

I was going to stick these in a mod, but without an installer we can't have it automatically loaded onto everyone's PC (yet). We might include the Soviet Weapon mod as an example mod to go with the final game though.

The guns can be found in the directory /assets/weapons/ballistic. A few of the weapons are shown below:

AK47_colour.png

RPG7_colour.png

PK_black.png

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Incidentally, I created this thread mostly just so we can point people at it when they make one of those two complaints in the future.

Haha, nice.

It will probably be best to mix both sets of art for that true feeling of unity. For example, use the M-16 image for the assault rifle and Russian art for the sniper etc.

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I think this is really great. I mean, you're producing stuff basically just to help modders. Way to win over the community ;) For me, it's not a very big issue. I've never been a really big fan of the AK-47. It seems a bit lanky, but I like that you can do anything to it and still fire, kinda like the old G3 we used when I was doing my mandatory service. Regarding Ak-74, wikipedia says it was first used in conflict in '79. And USSR would probably have an endless amount of 47's to send to this new organization claiming it will fight the aliens, I can't see them sending their new pride to be honest.

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AK47_colour.png

ak74.jpg

Well, the two don't look all that different. One could just rename it if they wanted. Technically the game isn't supposed to use real names so it's going to be called the "assault rifle" anyway. It's not that big of a leap of faith to assume it's the "74" variant unless one is an expert on guns and is bothered by details.

My source: http://world.guns.ru/assault/rus/ak-74-e.html

I've never been a really big fan of the AK-47. It seems a bit lanky, but I like that you can do anything to it and still fire, kinda like the old G3 we used when I was doing my mandatory service.

Does black colouring make it look more futuristic for you?

Apparently AKs do come in pure black and not just the famous "wood & black" pattern.

r1wvvl.jpg

ak74m-gp30.jpg

Looks better on a dark background:

5mbk2g.jpg

Edited by Jean-Luc
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If we're going to geek out on weaponry, it would be quite easy to say that the Sov's are supplying AKM's, as that would be correct for the time period.

Personally, as proven by the current shift back upwards in calibre sizes due to value of their abilty to knock targets down (5.56 is probably going to be supplanted by the 6.5mm or 6.8mm rounds), I'd rather take a AK47/AKM over the '74 anyway.

It's very nice artwork (just like the rest of the Xenonaut art) anyway Chris.

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Those guns are sexy. But why would we want to fight the aliens with an outdated AK-47?

Maybe because the 7.62 caliber is a much heavier bullet than a 5.45?

Against your average unarmoured Mk1 human it doesn't make any difference but if you want to punch through the armour of some alien soldier...

If you use the AK-74 instead, you get the same thing with a different picture. Boring.

An AK-47 has semi and full auto modes while M16 (depending on variant) use semi and 3 round burst.

IMO, those are enough differences to warrant using both. The commonly suggested lower accuracy of the AK doesn't really start playing a role at the combat ranges on Xeno maps.

In the interest of actual variance, I would suggest not using the PKM (picture in 1st post) as "the russki machine gun" as it fires 7.62, just like the M240 that the Xenonauts use for "the ami MG".

Instead, use a more modern russian MG, firing 5.54x39.

Something like an RPK-74 with a 45 round mag. While larger mags (100 round drums or double drums, etc) never went into production, you could just handwave it and decide that the Xenonauts use the cooler magazines anyway.

That way the player would have an actual choice and the weapon diferences were not only decorative.

Do I use a medium MG and assault rifle (7.62) with more punch but also more weight and maybe fewer rounds per belt/box... or a lighter weapon for use against regular infantry... with more dakka?

For suppressive fire, volume of fire is more important than penetration so a lighter MG could actually be better because more rounds fit into the magazine / belt and the soldier can carry considerably more ammunition. (weight...)

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All true, but beyond the cosmetic might not be worth the work. At least not for Goldhawk, considering these weapons ideally won't be used at all after a few hours into the game. That said, having the choice is good, and I'd probably use a mod that did just what you suggest Gazz.

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If you also intend to offer a russian made sniper rifle, I would suggest a KSVK or OSV-96.

The time frame is wrong (they were developed much later) but this is a game, not a historic documentation.

This would add a 12.7x108 sniper rifle to the Xenonaut's repertoire. (russian heavy MG ammo)

Both rifles have a 5 round magazine.

The barrel could actually be shortened because there's no ingame point whatsoever in using a rifle with 2 kilometers of effective range.

IMO, the KSVK would actually be more apropriate because it's a bolt-operated rifle. That gives you an easy justification for seriously increasing the firing cost and balance the rifle.

Ammunition would be... heavy and bulky.

I don't have any exact quote but just from the dimensions it would have to be 6-7 times as heavy as a 7.62 round.

Well, if Chris wants to include "some russian rifles" then he might just as well use ones that add something to the game instead of just having different colours on their graphic.

Edited by Gazz
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I feel like I've entered the forums for "Jagged Xenonauts 1.13" with the "tons of guns" options turned on. (I just started a new game of JA 1.13 with tons of guns, first time I've played the game in 5-7 years, and wow they were not kidding when they mentioned a ton of guns - I'm a bit overwhelmed! Probably should have gotten back into the swing of playing the game before swamping myself with the guns.) I'm a fan of simplicity here in Xenonauts - no need for real-world sims since, well, we're fighting aliens.

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well period M-16s were full or semi auto (the A1) the A2 came out in the 80's and was lighter and was semi and 3 round burst. another thing that would separate them is that the A1 used a 20 round magazine, while the AKM typically used a 30 round magazine, a pretty big difference in the early game, especially considering that the AKM used an equivalent round as the precision rifle in game. so an AKM would do pretty much the same damage as a precision rifle, with more rounds and about the weight being roughly between the precision rifle and the assault rifle.

the M16 would allow more gear to be carried, while the AKM would be a better assault rifle itself. if you like flexibility, the M16 is your gun of choice, if you tend not to use grenades and such, then the AKM is your gun of choice.

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For me it comes down to the roles rather than the specific weapons.

If one assault rifle can use full auto then it is stepping into the machine gun role, if another has an added scope then it is stepping into the precision rifle role.

I don't really need those weapons unless they have been incredibly well balanced.

Even then I am not that bothered as long as the main roles are covered.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShKAS_machine_gun

if this was in game, it would be something like:

modified for a 50 round box magazine this super heavy weapon has enough ammo for 2 short bursts. reloading is a long involved process however as one will most likely have to repair a jam. there has been some debate as to whether the benefit of a (barely) man carried weapon system which rivals the quad .50 machine guns of a hunter.

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