Firearms

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Firearm
Weapons

Pistol

Damage 5 points (4 against a flak jacket.)
Base accuracy 5%
Capacity 6 Bullets from Pistol Clip
Locations Mall Gun Stores (4%/6%), Armories (3%), Police Departments (2%), Streets (1%?), Junkyards (1%?)
Encumbrance 4%
Double action revolvers were standard issue for many police forces 30 years ago. While modern urban police use semi-automatics almost exclusively, revolvers remain popular with security guards and with rural police. This model can fire both .357 magnum and .38 spl ammunition.
Double action revolvers were standard issue for many police forces 30 years ago. While modern urban police use semi-automatics almost exclusively, revolvers remain popular with security guards and with rural police. This model can fire both .357 magnum and .38 spl ammunition.
  • Starting Skill: 5% Accuracy
Average Damage Per Clip: 1.5
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 200 Attacks (34 Clips, 233 AP)
Average Damage Per Clip: 9
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 34 Attacks (6 Clips, 39 AP)
To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 51 Attacks (9 clips, 59AP)
Average Damage Per Clip: 16.5
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 19 Attacks (4 Clips, 22 AP)
To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 29 Attacks (5 clips, 33AP)
Average Damage Per Clip: 19.5
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 16 Attacks (3 Clips, 18 AP)
To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 24 Attacks (4 clips, 27AP)
Average Damage Per Clip: 15.6

Use: Pistols will appear in your inventory. Clicking on the pistol itself does nothing and wastes an AP. Instead, use the fields above your inventory to fire a pistol at someone.

If you'd like to drop your empty pistol, use the "Drop" menu. Clicking on the pistol merely wastes an AP and takes no actions.

Reloading a pistol is achieved by clicking on the "pistol clip" item. It will automatically reload an empty pistol, or if none are empty then the one with the least number of rounds left.

Comments: Is much more useful if one has Basic Firearms Training. Before then it is best to stick with the Knife, or heal others until you get enough XP to buy Basic Firearms Training.

The pistol is an excellent general-purpose weapon due to its decent damage, high accuracy, and plentiful ammunition.

How many loaded pistols to carry is a matter of personal preference. Some people prefer just one, reloading every six shots, which allows them to maximize the amount of other gear (such as loaded shotguns, or FAKs) they can carry without much decreasing their effectiveness at dishing out damage. Other people prefer to pay the small encumbrance penalty needed to avoid re-loading every 6 shots, which not only slightly increases damage done in combat, but allows you to act much more quickly in "live" combat situations where you need to fire more than 6 shots in a row.

If all of your pistols are empty, you can use one as a bludgeon against generators and radios, but with only ~30% accuracy.

Some users consider the pistol a better long-term choice than the shotgun, the idea being rooted in simple mathematics. When searching for shotgun ammunition, a player has a lower chance of finding anything than he or she does of finding a single pistol clip. If the player manages to find a unit of shotgun ammunition, it consists only of a single shell, with which a player, if lucky enough to hit an enemy, can only do at most ten points of damage. In comparison a single unit of pistol ammunition holds six rounds, with a maximum possible damage of 30 points, spread out in increments of 5. Although dealing all that damage does take more time than simply firing with a shotgun, it also incorporates much less time spent searching for additional bullets. In addition, if the target has lower health than 10 points, only one or two pistol rounds are needed, instead of wasting a shotgun round.

Considering that all pistols in Malton have a 6-shot capacity, it is a logical assumption that they are revolvers. Modern police forces issue higher capacity semi-automatic pistols almost exclusively. Thus, Malton is considered somewhat behind the times in issuing revolvers as the standard police sidearm. Revolvers remain popular as crime guns, which means many might be found in police station evidence lockers. In the USA they are also popular as self defense weapons and target guns, which would account for their presence in mall gun stores. The term "clip" as used in Urban Dead is generally understood to mean a 6-shot revolver moon clip.

Shotgun

A typical hammerless side-by-side double barrel 12 gauge. Popular with hunters, collectors, and Old West reenactors.
A typical hammerless side-by-side double barrel 12 gauge. Popular with hunters, collectors, and Old West reenactors.
Damage 10 points (8 against a flak jacket.)
Base accuracy 5%
Capacity 2 Shotgun Shells
Locations Mall Gun Stores (4%/5%), Armories (2%), Police Departments (1%), Pubs (1%)
Encumbrance 6%
  • Starting Skill: 5% Accuracy
Average Damage Per 2 Shells: 1
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 100 Attacks (198 AP)
Average Damage Per 2 Shells: 6
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 17 Attacks (32 AP)
Average Damage Per 2 Shells: 11
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 10 Attacks (18 AP)
Average Damage Per 2 Shells: 13
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 8 Attacks (14 AP)
To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 12 Attacks (22 AP)

Use: Shotguns will appear in your inventory. Clicking on the shotgun itself does nothing and wastes an AP. Instead, use the fields above your inventory to fire a shotgun at someone.

If you'd like to drop your empty shotgun, use the "Drop" menu.

Reloading a shotgun is done by clicking on the shotgun shell. It will automatically reload any empty shotguns you carry.

Comments: Is much more useful with Basic Firearms Training. Some people favor the Shotgun over the Pistol, since it deals twice as much damage. The advantages end there. Shotgun Shells are found on a per-shell basis at roughly the same rate as Pistol Clips. Therefore for every shell you find you will find 6 pistol rounds. Also, since shells must be loaded individually, each shell fired is a product of 3 AP, 1 to find, 1 to load, and 1 to fire, thus making the shotgun rather inefficient. The frequent reloads will reduce the number of AP available for actual attacks, unless one carries several loaded shotguns. Also, the shotgun has a maximum damage of 20, while if every shot from a fully loaded pistol met its mark, it would deal 30. However some Shotguns are found already loaded, with one or two shells already in them. The exact ratio of this is unknown. If someone has information about this please update.

This prevents the Shotgun from being the ultimate assault weapon, but it does not prevent it from being very powerful. Get the correct skills to fire the Shotgun accurately (as everyone should do before trying to use firearms), and use it to soften up your enemy a little (or a lot) before switching to another weapon for "the kill". People also like to use it for a "heavy firepower role". The amount of damage inflicted in only 2AP can make the difference between getting kill XP and running out of AP. Multiple Shotguns work even better in this role, especially when the player has high accuracy ratings.

To use the shotgun for the final blow also helps in maximizing the XPs earned upon a single kill, as it always gives 20 XPs, regardless of the HP level of the victim. However you should exercise prudence and not waste precious shotgun shells on an enemy that can be dispatched just as easily with something else.

Based on the maximum capacity of two (2) rounds, one may assume that the shotguns found in Malton are of the double-barreled, break-action variety. This is inconsistent with the shotgun's presence in modern police departments, as tactical shotguns are single-barreled and fed with a tubular magazine, typically holding 5 to 9 shells. Double barrel shotguns are popular with hunters, collectors, and Old West reenactors, accounting for their presence in Mall Gun Stores. Sawed-off versions may also be found in police evidence lockers as contraband. They pack a lot of firepower but are slow and cumbersome to reload.

As to why are there no pump action, semiautomatic or otherwise modern high capacity shotguns are found in Malton Police Departments, it is most likely done to balance the game. Role-playing aspect is theorized by some that since Malton was a largely peaceful city before the Outbreak, the departments' firearm budgets were never given much priority. Instead, most of the money was spent on public service programs and shiny new patrol cars, most of which now lay ruined and rusting among the rubble.''

Flare Gun

A typical flare gun.
A typical flare gun.
Damage 15 points (12 against a flak jacket)

30 points (24 against a flak jacket) if used against someone wearing fuel-soaked clothing.

Base accuracy 2.5%
Capacity One-Use Only
Locations Fire Stations (5%), Mall Hardware Stores (2%/3%), Armories (3%), Stadiums (2%), Police Departments (1%)
Encumbrance 2%
  • Starting Skill: 2.5% Accuracy
Average Damage Per 5 Flares: 1.875
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 134 Attacks
Average Damage Per 5 Flares: 11.25
To Kill 50HP Enemy: 23 Attacks
  • Other uses:
If a flare is fired into the air (by clicking on it in the inventory), it will show where it was fired to all survivors and zombies in a 14 block radius. (note: Flares can only be used as signaling when fired outside of buildings.)


Comments: Not terribly useful as a weapon. Its very low accuracy (half that of other firearms) is hardly compensated by its high damage, with three exceptions.

  1. If your only combat skill is Basic Firearms Training, this is in fact the best weapon in your arsenal!
  2. If you have Basic Firearms Training (that improves the Flare Gun's accuracy to 15%), then you might want to fire your Flares at near-death targets, even if you have otherwise better combat options. XP from a "finishing blow" is based on the amount of damage the weapon can cause, not the HP lost by the target. For example, a Pistol shot killing a zombie always gives 5 "damage XP" (plus 10 "kill XP") even if the zombie was at less than 5 HP. With a Flare, you would instead get 15 XP, effectively turning 50 HP zombies into potential 74 XP targets. The 15% chance to hit is a drawback here; if you have other combat skills, you may find that the AP you spent firing Flares was better spent tracking down and attacking another zombie with a more accurate weapon.
  3. Flare guns can also be a viable option for improving poor combat odds. While their average damage per AP is less than that of a pistol or shotgun in skilled hands, the flare gun's higher variance means it has a better chance of substantially exceeding that average. For example, a character with maxed-out skills has an 18% chance of killing a 45-HP foe with ten flare attacks, and only an 8.5% chance of killing that same foe with ten pistol attacks, even though the average damage for a pistol attack is nearly 50% higher (32.5 vs 22.5 HP). For further discussion, see Guides:Beyond average damage.
  4. Since the May 28th 2008 update flares have been given a double boost in damage if it hits a human or zombie wearing fuel-soaked clothing (can happen if the target is attacked with fuel can; target doesn't actually have to wear any clothing items to be fuel-soaked). Since flares are basically fireballs they will cause such clothing to briefly burst in flames, cause 30 points of damage or 24 if the human/zombie being hit has a flak jacket.

Flare guns are commonly of the break action type and reload in a manner similar to a double barreled shotgun. However there are no loose flare rounds to be found in Urban Dead, nor any reloading of flare guns. Each flare gun item in the inventory represents a single shot.

Ammunition

Pistol Clip

A 6-round revolver speedloader.
A 6-round revolver speedloader.
Used by Pistol
Contents 6 Bullets
Locations Mall Gun Stores (8%/11%), Armories (8%), Police Departments (7%), Junkyards (1%?), Gatehouses (?%)
Encumbrance 2% / 0% when loaded
Description A basic pistol ammo clip. It costs 1 AP to reload with a pistol clip (click on the clip to reload). Reloading will always fill empty pistols first. A pistol can only hold 6 bullets, so if all of your pistols are partially loaded, reloading a clip will only fill (6) the pistol in your possession that had the least number of bullets. Extra bullets are lost.

As mentioned in the Pistol description above, the "clip" status of this ammunition also backs up the suggestion that the pistols in Malton are actually 6 shot revolvers. A semi-automatic pistol would usually be Magazine fed as opposed to using clips of ammunition.

Shotgun Shell

Shotgun shells.
Shotgun shells.
Used by Shotgun
Contents 1 Shell
Locations Mall Gun Stores (7%/11%), Armories (6%), Police Departments (6%), Junkyards (1%?), Street (?%)
Encumbrance 2% / 0% when loaded
Description A single shotgun shell. It costs 1 AP to reload with one shell. A shotgun can hold at most 2 shells. Shotguns have a logical reload pattern: If you have a shotgun that is already loaded with one shell, then it will load a second shell into that one first. The fact that each shell counts as 2% encumbrance and only adds 1 ammo to the shotgun makes holding a lot of ammo difficult, due to the amount of space taken up by each shell.


At A Glance

Name Dmg Dmg w/ Flak Jacket Enc Acc Acc+1 Acc+2 Acc+3 Ammo Notes
Pistol 5 4 4% 5% 30% 55% 65% 6 Bullets Gun can be reloaded with one clip.
Shotgun 10 8 6% 5% 30% 55% 65% 2 Shells Gun can be reloaded with two shells.
Flare Gun 15 or 30 12 or 24 2% 2.5% 15% 1 Flare After used, gun is discarded. Double damage if the target is fuel-soaked.


Items: Melee Weapons | Firearms | Useful Items | Decorative Items | Miscellaneous Items