DF WEAPONS
We all have already probably seen many
times how much damage does a hit from the different weapons found in Dark Forces. However,
I think it gives a wrong impression about how strong are these weapons really, because it
ignores the firing rate.
Of course, the overall firepower of a
weapon is the amount of damage that the weapon can cause in a specified time. To get a
right picture about every weapon's firepower, its blast power has to be multiplied with
the firing rate. The same principle applies to the Earth Army weapons: the energy of a
single UZI bullet is rather small in comparison to the other firearms, but UZI's
devastating firepower comes from the high firing rate. I did the same calculations and
measurements for the weapons in Dark Forces, and got some interesting results.
The single shot power was measured as a
maximum measured shield loss when Kyle gets hit by it, so we can name that unit SD (Shield
Damage). Here are those measured values, together with the measured approximated firing
rates, for the weapons of interest:
Weapon |
Single shot damage |
Firing rate (/min) |
Punch |
18
SD |
120 |
Mod.
Bryar pistol |
10
SD |
120 |
Blaster
rifle |
10
SD |
420 |
Imperial
repeater (primary fire - 1 bullet) |
10
SD |
300 |
Imperial
repeater (secondary - 3 bullets) |
30
SD |
117 |
Fusion
cutter (primary fire - 1 bolt) |
15
SD |
250 |
Fusion
cutter (secondary - 4 bolts) |
60
SD |
128 |
Mortar
gun |
40
SD |
92 |
Concussion
rifle |
30
SD |
78 |
Assault
cannon |
30
SD |
252 |
Missile |
60
SD |
52 |
Now, if we multiply the single shot damage
with the firing rate, we get the amount of shield damage that the specified weapon can
cause in a burst of fire of a one minute duration. These amounts are a better, more
realistic indicator of a weapon firepower. Here they are sorted:
Weapon |
Firepower (SD/min) |
Fusion
cutter (secondary - 4 bolts) |
7680 |
Assault
cannon |
7560 |
Blaster
rifle |
4200 |
Fusion
cutter |
3750 |
Mortar
gun |
3680 |
Imperial
repeater (secondary - 3 bullets) |
3510 |
Missile |
3120 |
Imperial
repeater (primary fire - 1 bullet) |
3000 |
Concussion
rifle |
2340 |
Punch |
2160 |
Mod.
Bryar pistol |
1200 |
Of course, it is almost impossible to make
all four bolts of a secondarily fired fusion cutter hit their target. The top rating of
the assault cannon is not a big surprise, but the blaster rifle's bronze is, at least for
me. Although it is sharing the last place with the pistol in the bolt power, thanks to 420
bolts per minute, it got the third place. From this viewpoint, its firepower is superior
to both fusion cutter and imperial repeater!
For the missile, the mortar gun and the concussion rifle, the practical firepower
is higher, as they can cause damage to multiple enemies simultaneously. We all know that
the first place actually belongs to the concussion rifle which can easily clear a
battalion of troopers in one blast (play the first level of "Prophecy" level
pack :).
For those who are working on a Dark Forces
FAQ, feel free to take any data from here.
-Fish
|