Spray and pray better than accuracy? LMG vs Assault Rifles

[davidow 0]

So I found both an FN FAL and a M249 SAW at a crashed heli. First I was all about the FN FAL with its 8000 damage, nice sights and good range (effective: 400). But then it hit me that the M249 is probably way better for several reasons.

The reasons why I think that lots of weak lead is better than accurate and powerful lead:

• With the arma2 engine, players can get suppressed by bullets striking nearby which makes their crosshair jump all over the place.
  
• 200 bullets in one magazine means that you can keep someone suppressed for a longer time.
  
• 200 bullets in one magazine means that zombies wont really be a threat unless they are really swarming.
  
• Lots of bullets flying through the air scares the shit out of people IRL as well! (at least it works on me)
  
• The damage of the m249 is far less (3555) than the power of the FN FAL (8000!), but losing 3555 blood in one bullet is not too shabby. Often the victim will be in "pain" and their aim will be shaking a lot. Sometimes they are even knocked unconcious with the first hit.
  

Now, am I correct when I believe that even though Assault Rifles are awesome, LMG's are still more viable and the better choice, or am I making a fool of my self?

[Ipurgepeople 106]

Well, those reasons are certainly valid... but here's my thoughts: The FN FAL ammo can only be found at Heli crashes which in and of themselves is pretty rare. I find M249 belts quite frequently in my deer stand hopping all over the map and in fire houses in cherno, etc.

In short, while the FN FAL does indeed do more damage.... It is hard to get ammo for unless you can find a few crash sites and get lucky.

[Hawk24 94]

The FN FAL is a battle rifle, not an assault rifle

Also the recoil of the LMGs is pretty heavy unless you go prone(which makes them a devastating instrument of terror)

In my experience the M249 SAW is useless after the first 5 rounds because the smoke covers up 100% of your sight picture

That doesn't mean that it's less viable than the FN FAL, it's actually quite the contrary

FN FAL ammo is rare and you need precise aiming because of the 20rnd magazine

We have 2 SAW gunners in our group, they fuck people up ....really...they literally shred them to pieces....incredibly effective

I'd take the M249 over the FAL

[Mastiff (DayZ) 42]

Take the M249 good practice for when you find the god mode MK48 which has the same damage as the FN

[Slide885 59]

I shy away from the FN FAL due to the rarity of the ammo (I'm currently hoarding it.) However I'll say that both suppresion and Mid range precision are incredibly important to an actual small squad. That being said I do love my Saw, and my friend's MK. 48.

I would aslo like to say that in WWII the Russian's discovered the best way to combat the German war machine with their precise rifles was to put as much lead in the air as possible. They stamped out unnumerably cheaply made submachine guns with high rates of fire. Can't recall the name of the gun right now, but maybe its a good lesson from history.

[Proudful 1]

^

PPSH-41.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Proudful

[Jaycat 10]

It all comes down to personal taste, personally I'd never take a fal over a M249, the M249 has a audible range of about 80m like the other assault rifles, meaning you're not going to attract any attention from zeds while using it as oppose to the FAL which has an audible range of 180m, not to mention the rarity of ammo for the fal and the abundance of it for the M249 (200 shots in a belt which means 100 shots per inv space, the most of any gun).

At the end of the day the FAL is just a slightly better enfield with much rarer ammo.

[AllYoYens 34]

Machine gun has more ammo, more ammo capacity, greater suppression, about the same audible range of the FAL and has a better sight IMO. I used the MK48 but I ended up hating it for the loudness. One I fired a single shot I would literally have to fight 50 zombies because they would all spook within 1km and they would respawn already spooked. I would have to disconnect because it was an endless horde.