Soldat Weapons Analysis [Normal]
Hello, this is STM1993, bringing to you a
simple weapons
guide analysis. Yes, simple, some explanations and details, but not walls of text to explain every individual thing because that'd be too long and lots of things are self-explanatory, so I've summarized everything as short as possible while keeping all important details - all you need is a brain to think to figure the details out. You will need to look at the weapon.ini in your Soldat folder to further guide you. I’ll teach you how to interpret this analysis for those who are good at understanding and don’t want to read too much. I’ll assume you’ve played Soldat for a while and are decent in it (but I’ll still provide a bit of details to those who are newer to the game). I’m going to talk about all the weapons – including bonuses (grenades included, but cluster grenades not included), but my main focus is on Primary weapons. This analysis will tell you more about the weapons, help you find out what weapon is well-suited for you and show every player out there that every weapon has its own pros and cons.
Take note:• 1 second is equals to 60 ticks.
• Reload time may be slowed down when doing some moves like backflipping, but fireinterval time will NOT slow down in any way. Use a Barrett to understand this.
• For TOTAL reload (time before you can shoot after a reload), you have to count in the reload time + the fireinterval. Use a Barrett to understand this.
• Damage and Speed add up to give the total damage of the gun using some calculations.
• Desert Eagles fire two bullets in one shot
• When fired automatically, the Steyr Aug’s 2nd shot onwards are fired at a slightly upward angle.
• Spas shoots 6 pellets in one shot
• Spas has a unique reload system of reloading one shell by one shell.
• Barrett, LAW and Minigun have startup times – hold down the shoot button to fire
• Barrett has a scope function when you crouch/prone. You can scope further if you prone.
• LAW can only be fired if you are on the ground, in crouch/prone position
• The Knife and Fists have a certain melee attack animation where you can only attack what’s directly in front of your Soldat character.
• The Knife is meant to be thrown. Hold down throw to charge and then throw at higher speeds over long distances. Same thing for nades – hold down to charge and throw over longer distances at higher speeds.
• Bink is basically inaccuracy when being shot.
• Self-bink applies to autos – shooting automatically for too long will result in inaccuracy. The 4th automatic shot onwards you fire will be affected by self-bink.
• Movementacc is movement inaccuracy – moving while shooting makes you inaccurate.
• When you have a Socom, Knife or DEs in your secondary, no one can see it. If you've played long enough you'll understand what I mean.
• This analysis is written during Soldat 1.4.2, but the general information here should apply to all Soldat versions.
Currently updated for: 1.5.0List of Weapons1 – Desert Eagles (DE)
2 – HK MP5 (MP5)
3 – AK-74 (AK)
4 – Steyr Aug (Aug)
5 – Spas-12 (Spas)
6 – Ruger-77 (Ruger)
7 – M79 (M79)
8 – Barrett M82A1 (Barrett)
9 – FN Minimi (Minimi)
0 – XM214 Minigun (XM214)
USSOCOM (Socom)
Combat Knife (Knife)
Chainsaw (Saw)
M72 LAW (LAW)
Flamer (Flamer)
Rambo Bow (Bow)
Flamed Arrows (Flame Bow, Flbow)
M2 Stationary Gun (Stat Gun, Turret, M2)
Fists (Fists)
Fragmented Grenades (Nades)
Damage Propertion :Damage proportion as seen in normal mode for guns goes as follows:
Head: 115%
Body: 100%
Leg: 90%
However, the proportion is reversed when it comes to grenades. When calculating damage, we also calculate “real damage”, by using the formula: Damage x Bullet Speed x [ 100% (body) or 115% (head) or 90% (legs) ]
A soldat's HP in Normal mode is 150 units, but if you want to compare it to "real damage", it is 150,000.
Take note all these calculations are theoretical. Practically, a bullet will slow down as it travels, and you will tend to miss, and lag may sometimes cause you to do less damage or no damage. To see a more practical damage value, take away 2,000 to 3,000 real damage. That's a more accurate value to use in general.
First of all, I’d like to start out by introducing to you the type of weapons we have – three categories:
Primary
Secondary
BonusPrimary weapons, as the name suggests, are the main weapons you’d use in combat.
Secondary weapons, on the other hand, are extra weapons that can act as a backup for your Primary.
Bonus weapons are special weapons – they cannot be picked on the weapons menu, but they may be available in certain maps, game modes or come in the form of boxes.
From here, weapons can be further classified into sub-groups. These sub-groups will help us determine and compare each weapon with a simple grouping – the core part of this analysis. The sub-groups classify weapons by:
• The weapon type
• The weapon’s Range
• How the weapon deals damage
• Offensive or Defensive?
• Ammo and Reload
The weapon type tells us how the weapon is fired. In Soldat, we have three weapon types respectively.
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Automatic (Auto) weapons are fast-firing weapons. They can be fired by simply holding down the shoot button, or you can tap the mouse button for each shot as though it were a semi-automatic.
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Semi-Automatic (Semi) weapons are slower-firing weapons, fired by just clicking the shoot button. You cannot hold down - it will not shoot if you do.
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One-Shot (1-hitter) weapons are special. They may be fired like semi-autos, or you need to hold down to shoot, or you can even fire it like an automatic. Generally, they are extremely slow but as their names suggest, they can kill in just one hit.
The weapon’s range tells us how effective a gun depending on how far your target is. There are three groups:
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Close-Range would mean that a gun is effective when your target is just nearby. They usually have the advantage of shooting enemies in rather curved terrain due to low bullet speed, but the bullet is slow, so it is easily avoided and may take a while before it reaches the enemy.
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Long-Range would mean that a gun is effective when your target is far away. They have the advantage of faster bullet speed so they can hit enemies quickly – and tend to be easier to aim because the bullet flies relatively straight. Since they fly straight, they cannot perform curved shots like the close-ranged weapons or probably less effective – they would rely more on ricochets.
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Mid-Range would mean that a gun is effective when your target isn’t very close, but not very far away.
^ Note that the classification on range is quite highly dependent on the person who rates it, because my mid-range may be long range to you. So if you don't really agree with my rating, try out the weapons and make your own rating! =D
How the weapon deals damage basically tells us what the gun relies on to deal damage. If you don’t understand, read ahead and learn about these three groups:
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Damage Per Shot (DPS) would mean that the gun does most of its damage by just shooting once and hitting the enemy.
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Damage Over Time (DOT) would mean that the gun does most of its damage by shooting many times within a short span of time.
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Explosive (EXP) would mean that the gun does explosive damage – a direct hit is a 100% one-hit kill even with vest (unless you have Flame God), but a non-direct hit simply does damage and pushes you away. Weapons with this method of dealing damage are generally considered as 1-hitter (exception: grenades).
Offensive or Defensive? This will tell us whether this gun is usually used in the middle of combat or usually a distance away. Three groups:
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Offensive weapons are very capable of charging in, maneuvering around and dealing a lot of damage, basically great weapons for rushing your opponents. These guns usually have no bink, only self-bink if any.
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Defensive weapons work best when not in a heated combat but instead, a distance away and picking out opponents before they can reach you. These guns usually have movementacc and bink.
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Hybrid weapons are a mix of the two.
Ammo and Reload is not to be forgotten. This tells us how much ammo the gun has and how fast it takes to reload – More explained in these three groups.
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Speed weapons have generally low or decent ammo, but they have a very fast reload.
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Tank weapons have long reload time or severe ammo problems. These guns will dominate when they have ammo but are extremely vulnerable when out of ammo.
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Strike weapons shoot once, then they have a very long delay before the next shot.
Let us begin the main section of the analysis – The classification.
Primary: DEs, MP5, AK, Aug, Spas, Ruger, M79, Barrett, Minimi, XM214
Secondary: Socom, Knife, Saw, LAW
Bonus: Flamer, Bow, Flbow, M2
Primary Classification[Auto] MP5, AK, Aug, Minimi, XM214
[Semi] DEs, Spas, Ruger
[1-hit] M79, Barrett
[Short] DEs, MP5, Spas, M79
[Mid] DEs, MP5, Ruger, Aug, Minimi
[Long] Ruger, Aug, Minimi, Barrett
[DPS] DEs, Spas, Ruger, Barrett
[DOT] MP5, Aug, Minimi, XM214
[EXP] M79
[Offensive] DEs, MP5, M79
[Defensive] Ruger, Barrett, Minimi, XM214
[Hybrid] Aug, Spas, AK
[Speed] DEs, MP5, Aug, Spas
[Tank] Ruger, Minimi, XM214
[Strike] M79, Barrett
Special Case – AK-74AK has the lowest DOT compared to other autos, but highest damage per shot (DPS) of the autos. It fires slowly for an auto, but faster than non-autos - so it’s easy to aim with and also ensures that many if not all shots counts - a good hybrid between semis and autos. Its bullet speed is average, so it has some flexibility for long range and for short range. It excels in very few areas and is almost always in the middle. AK cannot be classified under Speed, Tank or Strike; it has the ammo and firing rate to last pretty long and have many shots hit while its reload is decent – it is quick enough in a less intense situation while it is rather slow in a heated battle. It’s close to Tank, but the reload isn’t as bad as that of other Tanks and ammo issues are not a problem for the AK.
Special Case – XM214 MinigunThe XM214 is not really a killing machine – it’s a support weapon – more on the defensive side. It has no range rating because at close range, it is able to kill really fast but it has a terrible startup time. At mid-range, it works okay, but it is much weaker and bink will give it problems and every other gun can defeat it. At long-range, the gun can actually be used to spray but it can do almost nothing. The main purpose of the minigun is to push back enemies as well as to bink them (making them inaccurate).
Secondary Classification[Auto] Saw
[Semi] Socom
[1-hit] Saw, Knife, LAW
[Short] Saw, Knife
[Mid] Socom, Knife, LAW
[Long] LAW
[DPS] Knife
[DOT] Socom
[EXP] LAW
[Offensive] Saw
[Defensive] LAW
[Hybrid] Socom, Knife
[Speed] Socom, Saw
[Tank] N/A
[Strike] LAW
Special Case – KnifeThe Knife is thrown – that means you may lose your knife if not picked up – you have to collect it or else its gone. It can take a while for you to collect a knife, you can also pick it up almost the instant it hits your enemy, or you may even pick up your enemy’s knife. That’s why it is not given a rating in the “ammo and reload” group. Knife is a 1-hitter, yes, but if you throw with too little force or too far away, your knife can't kill in one throw.
Special Case – ChainsawThe chainsaw works like an auto and is also a 1-hitter at the same time, except that it is a melee weapon which doesn’t go through the melee animation. It is the only secondary weapon capable of slicing hordes of full-health enemies in one go without the aid of a berserker. But defensively, it is not very helpful since most attackers would be a distance away from you where your saw can’t reach and you may be pushed back by their bullets. It has no grouping for DPS/DOT/EXP, because it is known that sometimes, the saw can’t kill instantly when it simply touches the enemy, usually at the leg. The saw must hit the enemy twice if that is the case – but it seems like one slice because the chainsaw has a “firing rate” of 2 ticks – which is incredibly fast. But then again, which saw user would only tap his attack button when using the saw? They will always hold it down to make sure that it hits and kills.
Bonus Classification[Auto] Bow, Flbow, Flamer, M2
[Semi] N/A
[1-hit] Bow, Flbow
[Short] Nade, Fists, Flamer
[Mid] Nade, Bow, Flbow, M2
[Long] Bow, Flbow, M2
[DPS] Bow
[DOT] Flamer, M2
[EXP] Nade, Flbow
[Offensive] N/A
[Defensive] M2
[Hybrid] Fists, Bow, Flbow, Flamer, Nade
[Speed] Flamer, Bow, Flbow, M2
[Tank] Nade
[Strike] N/A
More info and Special Cases:FistsEveryone has fists. It is a last resort if you really can’t find guns and have no grenades, but there is another use for it. If someone goes too close to you (even if you have a gun with you, unless it’s a knife or probably a saw), you may end up punching your enemy, dealing rather decent damage to them (3-4 punches = dead in all punches hit). If you are lucky, you may even be able to punch off their weapons!
FlamerFlamer is obtained from a “Flame God” box, where you’d gain a 10 second invulnerability and change the other weapon you are not currently equipped with to a Flamer (you have to use it for 10 seconds, you can’t switch weapons until the 10 seconds are over). The Flamer cannot be dropped, but if you are punched or die, you’d lose the Flamer permanently – it won’t drop on the floor, it’d just disappear. The Flamer shoots fire that travel over a short distance before disappearing. The fire would stick onto the enemy, and then deal pretty heavy damage quickly over time. The more flames sticking onto the enemy, the faster he dies, and if you were moving, the flames do less damage. For some reason, due to the netcode and lag, bots are extremely good at flamers and are equally vulnerable to them, while Flamers used by humans against humans is ineffective UNLESS the ping of both players are very low (16-64). Flamer fires can be extinguished if they hit colliders (boxes, etc.). Be careful though ; Flamer fires can be ricocheted, though its range would be severely shortened.
BowThe Bow is only available in Rambo Match. It shoots arrows, which act like bullets, except that it cannot ricochet and it passes through colliders (boxes, etc). It is both an auto and a 1-hitter – it can be fired at the firing rate of a semi but you can hold down to shoot it. It can kill in a single hit, though in very rare cases, at very long ranges and hitting the leg, you would only receive heavy damage. Equipping the Bow allows you to regenerate health overtime quickly – and you get a cool Rambo headband on your character’s head. Punching is a terror to the Rambo – he is unable to shoot his arrows properly and will die unless he gets away.
FlbowThe Flbow is only available in Rambo Match, and you can use it by switching weapons when you have the Bow. It shoots explosive fire arrows. Its explosive damage is very low, but it can still kill in one hit if it hits you directly. Compared to the Bow, the weapon is fired slightly slower and the bullet speed is slightly lower. Equipping the Flbow allows you to regenerate health overtime quickly – and you get a cool Rambo headband on your character’s head. Punching is a terror to the Rambo – he is unable to shoot his arrows properly and a successful shot may make the Rambo kill himself.
M2The M2 is a turret available in certain maps. You stand on it, holding the gun on the stand. This weapon is extremely powerful and accurate and has a high bullet speed, being able to kill in just 3 shots. Unfortunately, you have to stand still on the turret to use it (crouch/prone does not count). If you shoot too much without stopping (about 18 bullets if you go full-auto), your turret will overheat, meaning you can’t shoot until you let it cool down. A general tactic is to shoot in short bursts of 2-3 so that you can continue firing for a long period of time. But then again, no one keeps using the turret non-stop in actual matches because one can become extremely vulnerable as he is a non-moving target, and usage of the turret is only to temporarily slow down enemies. One interesting fact is that, the M2's bullets will somehow "explode" into smoke (it can do very slight damage and push you like a grenade explosion) at a certain range - that means the M2 has a limited firing range - which is around that of having your Barrett scoped to the maximum by proning + half a screen.
NadesNades are some of the most important equipment in Soldat which everyone should always keep in their inventory. Unlike most explosive weapons (other than the Cluster Grenade), it does not kill 100% in one direct hit. It can be thrown directly at enemies and explode violently to deal heavy damage and push them back, thrown at the enemy’s feet to kill them instantly, spammed quickly, or laid as miniature mines that explode on timer or when stepped on. They are always available and ready to be used until you run out of grenades.
Notice a general pattern in most of the weapons?
Autos always have DOT, Semi and 1-hitters often rely on DPS. The weapons which have “Speed” are offensive weapons, while those with “Tank” and “Strike” are defensive weapons. 1-hitters tend to be "Strike". Defensive weapons tend to be long-ranged, while offensive weapons tend to be short-ranged. 1-hitters tend to be great against single opponents, autos are great in most situations but perform well against crowds, semis are generally better against single opponents but can handle a small group of enemies if need be. Bonus weapons are overpowered, but they too have their weaknesses.
I’m sure there are many other patterns that you might have noticed and you’ve probably figured some things out about the weapons, but we’ve come to the end of the main part of the analysis. Now, I’m going to give you another grouping like the above, but it will help you determine the Primary weapon you want to choose.
Automatic = Shoots fast, Deal lots of damage in a short time. Easy to aim with.
Semi-Auto = Shoots slow, but has incredible damage in each shot. Every shot must count so it’s harder to aim.
1-hitter = Very slow, but can kill in 1-shot – will be terribly owned if miss or overwhelmed.
<Range Rating> Semi Auto 1-hitter[Short-Mid-Range] DEs /Spas MP5 M79
[Mid-Range] DEs / Ruger Aug / Minimi M79 / Barrett
[Long Range] Ruger Aug / Minimi Barrett
[DPS] Barrett, M79, Ruger, DEs, Spas
[DOT] Steyr Aug, Minimi, MP5
[Offensive] DEs, MP5, M79
[Defensive] Ruger, Barrett, Minimi
[Hybrid] Spas, Aug, AK
All-rounder: AK
So you have chosen a Primary weapon, congratulations! Now, all you have to do is pick a Secondary weapon to support your Primary! Here are some things to take note of other than referring to the above section or to make things more understandable in words:
The Socom is a backup gun in case you are out of ammo and have no time to reload.
The Knife is a versatile short-ranged 1-hit killing weapon, usable only against a single opponent. Just remember to pick it up after you’ve thrown it.
The Saw is THE melee weapon, excellent for rushing your enemies and eliminating a whole row of them.
The LAW is a mini-sniper and artillery that you can only use on the ground.
^ Take the above, determine which Secondary weapon would suit your play style and your Primary weapon, and use it.
For example, if you like to fly in the air a lot, then you probably shouldn't use a LAW because you need to land on the ground to shoot. If you think your primary's ammo is not a problem, then the Socom is not so useful. Perhaps you like to rush a lot and you're good at picking up speed, then use a Saw (beware - in true competitive gameplay like gathers it is very difficult to use a saw because players there are very aware). Otherwise, you'd probably use a Knife for its versatility.
We have come to the end of the whole analysis. Have fun!
Note and Disclaimer: (added 22/7/09)This used to be called a 'guide' but that is misleading.
This is just a personal analysis. You may or may not agree with it, and it should not be used as a strict guideline for your playstyle. Develop your own guideline by your own experience.
