Submachine gun
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| |
|---|---|
| Name | submachine gun |
| Appearance | submachine gun |
| Damage vs. small | 1d2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d2 |
| To-hit bonus | -1 |
| Weapon skill | firearms |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 250 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 25 |
| Material | iron |
A submachine gun is a type of one-handed firearm that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. It is a launcher designed to fire bullets, and is made of iron. In Hack'EM, it appears as a "strange broken crossbow" when unidentified.
The submachine gun has three different modes of fire that it can switch between: fully automatic, burst, and single-shot.
Generation
Yendorian army soldiers and lieutenants have a 1⁄2 chance of generating with a submachine gun.
Description
Applying a submachine gun will switch it between fully automatic mode, burst mode and single-shot mode; a submachine gun defaults to fully automatic mode.
Rate of fire
In fully automatic mode, the submachine gun's rate of fire depends on its enchantment and skill of the user.
| Enchantment | Unskilled/basic | Skilled | Expert |
|---|---|---|---|
| -7 to -6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| -5 to -3 | 3 | 3 | 1d2+2 |
| -2 to +2 | 3 | 1d2+2 | 1d3+2 |
| +3 to +5 | 1d2+2 | 1d3+2 | 1d4+2 |
| +6 to +8 | 1d3+2 | 1d4+2 | 1d5+2 |
| +9 | 1d4+2 | 1d5+2 | 1d6+2 |
Strategy
While the submachine gun is lightweight, compatible with shields and has a good rate of fire, the assault rifle outclasses it in most relevant metrics: though it is 15 aum heavier, less accurate and somewhat less commonplace, the assault rifle has a superior rate of fire that can easily compensate for lower accuracy while dealing more damage, especially with high Luck and an enchanted gun and bullets.
Origin
The submachine gun (commonly abbreviated SMG) is a magazine-fed automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun (colloquially known as the Tommygun), to describe an automatic firearm with notably less firepower than a machine gun that does not use rifle cartridges. Unlike pistols, SMGs feature stability-focused improvements: the magazine often, but not always, acts as a foregrip, and they usually have a folding or fixed buttstock.
Due to their lightweight construction, most notably due to their lightweight bolts, submachine guns actually tend to have a higher rate of fire than other automatic weapons, rather than a lower one as depicted in SLASH'EM. Notably, the Ingram MAC-10 was said to be able to "saw a man in half" due to its 1500 rounds/minute rate of fire. While it is unlikely that the gun was actually capable of such a feat, its rate of fire was indeed approximately twice that of most machine guns or assault rifles. Other iconic SMGs, such as the Uzi or MP5, still have quite high rates of fire, in the 900-1000RPM range.
While submachine guns saw common use during both World Wars, they have largely been supplanted by assault rifles in modern armies. They are still used by police and special forces who expect to engage in close-quarters combat, as their size makes them easier to handle than assault rifles in such circumstances, and their low-power rounds are less likely to penetrate walls and cause collateral damage.
