Firearms
For other attacks see also Melee Weapons and Unarmed Attacks
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% |
- Starting Skill: 5% Accuracy
- Average Damage Per Clip: 1.5
- To Kill 50HP Enemy: 200 Attacks (34 Clips, 233 AP)
- Basic Firearms Training: 30% Accuracy
- Average Damage Per Clip: 9
- To Kill 50HP Enemy: 34 Attacks (6 Clips, 39 AP)
- To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 51(9 clips, 59AP)
- Pistol Training: 55% Accuracy
- Average Damage Per Clip: 16.5
- To Kill 50HP Enemy: 19 Attacks (4 Clips, 22 AP)
- To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 29(5 clips, 33AP)
- Advanced Pistol Training: 65% Accuracy
- Average Damage Per Clip: 19.5
- To Kill 50HP Enemy: 16 Attacks (3 Clips, 18 AP)
- To Kill 60HP Enemy w/ Flak Jacket: 24(4 clips, 27AP)
- Average Damage Per Clip: 15.6
Comments: Only 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.
Considering that all pistols in Malton have a 6-shot capacity, it is a safe assumption that they are revolvers. Modern European and American police forces issue higher capacity semi-automatic pistols almost exclusively. Thus, Malton is considered somewhat behind the times in issuing revolvers (in .38 Special or .357 Magnum) as the standard police sidearm. .38 Spl 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 should be taken to mean a 6-shot revolver speedloader.
Shotgun
| 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)
- Basic Firearms Training: 30% Accuracy
- Average Damage Per 2 Shells: 6
- To Kill 50HP Enemy: 17 Attacks (32 AP)
- Shotgun Training: 55% Accuracy
- Average Damage Per 2 Shells: 11
- To Kill 50HP Enemy: 10 Attacks (18 AP)
- Advanced Shotgun Training: 65% Accuracy
- 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)
Comments: Not a useful weapon for those without 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.
That 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
| 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
- Basic Firearms Training: 15% Accuracy
- 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 a good weapon. Its very low accuracy (half that of other firearms) is hardly compensated by its high damage, with three exceptions.
- If your only combat skill is Basic Firearms Training, this is in fact the best weapon in your arsenal!
- 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's 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Most flare guns are re loadable. However, since all the boxes of loose flare rounds in Malton's sporting goods stores were quickly looted in the early days of the Outbreak, one should simply discard the gun after use, and locate another loaded flare gun.
Ammunition
Pistol Clip
| 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. Exceeding 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
| Used by | Shotgun |
| Contents | 1 Shell |
| Locations | Mall Gun Stores (7%/11%), Armories (6%), Police Departments (6%), Junkyards (1%?) |
| 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 | 12 | 2% | 2.5% | 15% | 1 Flare | After used, gun is discarded. Double damage if the target is fuel-soaked. |
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Items: Melee Weapons | Firearms | Useful Items | Decorative Items | Miscellaneous Items |
