Submachine gun (SLASH'EM)
) 
| |
|---|---|
| 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 |
- For the weapon in dNetHack and its derivatives, see submachine gun (dNetHack).
A submachine gun is a type of weapon that appears in SLASH'EM, SpliceHack, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The submachine gun is a one-handed launcher that uses the firearms skill and is designed for use with bullets. It is made of iron.
In Hack'EM, it appears as a "strange broken crossbow" when unidentified, similar to the item in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack.
Contents
Generation
Submachine guns are generated differently across variants.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, submachine guns are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Soldiers have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a submachine gun and 2 different stacks of 3–27 bullets as ammo.[1] Lieutenants have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a submachine gun and 2 different stacks of 3–32 bullets as ammo for it.[2]
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, submachine guns are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, submachine guns are very rare and make up 1⁄1000 of weapons randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops.
Weapons outlets, used armor dealerships and gun stores can also stock submachine guns. Gun stores have a total 2⁄25 chance of generating a submachine gun on each square.
The chest within the thieves' hideout in the village of the Town branch has a 3⁄20 chance of containing a cursed -6 submachine gun named "Klobb".
In addition to generation details for monsters in SLASH'EM, stormtroopers have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a submachine gun and a stack of 3–32 bullets as ammo.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, submachine guns are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Gun stores can stock submachine guns, and have a 1⁄20 chance of generating a submachine gun on each square.
The chest within the thieves' hideout in the village of the Town branch has a 3⁄20 chance of containing a cursed -6 submachine gun named "Klobb".
Stormtroopers have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a submachine gun and a stack of 3–32 bullets as ammo. Grund the Orc King always generates with a submachine gun and a stack of 3–41 bullets as ammo.
A submachine gun can be created at a forge by combining an iron chain and a pistol.
Description
The submachine gun has a range of 10 squares with a base rate of fire of 3. It has two different modes of fire–fully automatic and semi-automatic–and a hero can switch between them by applying it.[3] Submachine guns are always generated in fully automatic mode.
In Hack'EM, a submachine gun can be combined with an iron chain at a forge to create a heavy machine gun.
Rate of fire
In fully automatic mode, the impact of a submachine gun's enchantment and the hero's firearms skill on its rate of fire is detailed in the table below:
| 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, also known as a "sub-gun") 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, hence the "sub-" prefix. Submachine guns tend to feature stability-focused improvements—the magazine often, but not always, acts as a foregrip, and they usually have a folding or fixed buttstock.
The submachine gun was developed during World War I (1914–1918) as a close quarter offensive weapon, mainly for trench raiding. At its peak during World War II (1939–1945), millions of submachine guns were made for assault troops and auxiliaries whose doctrines emphasized close-quarter suppressive fire. New submachine gun designs appeared frequently during the Cold War, especially among special forces, commandos and mechanized infantrymen. Submachine gun usage for frontline combat decreased in the 1980s and 1990s, and 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.
Submachine guns tend to have higher rates of fire than other automatic weapons, primarily due to their lightweight construction and lightweight bolts. 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 highly likely to be an exaggeration, the gun's 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. It is not clear which model of submachine gun that the weapon in variants of NetHack is meant to be based on—one guess is that its much lower rate of fire may have been an attempt to scale it to multishot mechanics, since replicating an SMG's actual rate of fire would be highly impractical.
The Klobb is a weapon that appears in the 1997 Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007, and its real life counterpart is the Skorpion VZ/61: the weapon was originally named after its real-world counterpart, but underwent some name changes due to legal reasons (being the first such instance to occur in the medium of video games) before settling on its given name. The Klobb is especially infamous in retrospect for being a weapon with a high rate of fire, but a low amount of damage and absurd inaccuracy—these "imperfections" are the basis for its very low enchantment in SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The Klobb's qualities also make it one of the most memorable weapons from GoldenEye 007, with a contemporaneous review describing the ability to dual-wield the Klobb as one of the game's most satisfying moments.
