LMG

For the unique variant of this weapon added by the Odyssey DLC, see Unique LMG.

The LMG is a heavy, multi-shot firearm which fires 6-shot bursts of rounds which deal a moderate amount of damage each; a slightly shorter delay between each shot; a slightly longer time between bursts; moderate range and low overall accuracy.

Acquisition[edit]

LMGs can be crafted at a machining table once the Gas operation research project has been completed. Each requires 75 Steel, 5 Components, 34,000 ticks (9.44 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 6.

LMGs can also be purchased from outlander and orbital combat suppliers, outlander settlements, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Mercenary gunner	11.32%	Normal	70-320%
Elite mercenary	46.53%	Normal	100%
Ancient soldier	10.56%	Normal	100%

Analysis[edit]

The LMG is an early crowd control weapon: it fires rapidly and has great raw DPS, but with low accuracy. These traits make it specialized at handling crowds of clumped up enemies, as missed shots can hit other nearby enemies. As a general purpose weapon, it is typically outclassed by heavy SMGs and assault rifles of the same quality, as the LMG suffers from middling range, poor accuracy, and long firing cycles. However, it can perform decently as a supporting and suppressive fire weapon, acting as a smaller and cheaper minigun. Its stopping power is high enough to stagger humans, scythers, and lancers, enabling it to hinder a crowd if slightly.

Inexperienced shooters can effectively use an LMG if they fire at short range AND they do not have to engage in melee. However, in that setup, the heavy SMG and especially the chain shotgun will be better choices, which perform better at short range, and poor shooters shouldn't try shooting far away anyways.

The LMG can see use in a minigun-style killbox, where enemies can be clustered up and ideally slowed down. Although it is outclassed there by actual miniguns, the LMG is cheaper, available earlier, and not as committal. Otherwise, its niche is fairly small. It is poor against separated enemies, e.g., in a regular killbox where enemies are not clumped up, and it is also poor in open engagements due to the long forcing cycle.

This analysis assumes quality is held equal. A particularly high quality LMG or a particularly good unique LMG can be worthwhile.

Stats[edit]

Against an unarmored human, an LMG can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 3 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 6 hits (~10.4 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Against single targets, the LMG is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 12, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Combat in Darkness[edit]

The combat in darkness precept, if active, provides a massive additive boost to accuracy. This has a pronounced effect on low-accuracy weapons like the LMG, as going from 25% -> 50% true hit rate is a bigger DPS increase than 50% -> 75%, meaning the LMG's amazing pre-accuracy DPS can be taken advantage of. With combat in darkness, the LMG is very effective against single and isolated targets, as well in killbox setups where enemies come one-by-one.

Empirical example: a base pawn with combat in darkness, Shooting 10, and firing 25 tiles away will have a 54% true hit rate with an excellent LMG, and a 78% true hit rate with an excellent assault rifle. This translates to 9.76 DPS with the excellent LMG and 8.49 DPS with the excellent assault rifle, a +15.05% DPS increase. With more accurate shooters and higher qualities, the LMG can become even better, as the assault rifle will be limited by the accuracy cap while the LMG can still benefit further.

However, the LMG still has worse maximum range than rifles and retains a long firing cycle, so there are cases where it is worse:

In an open engagement, range and firing speeds are important, so assault rifles or charge rifles remain a more flexible choice.
LMGs with Darkness can perform well in a killbox. However, if the colony has enough firepower with rifles (where enemies reliably die as they walk in), the LMG becomes redundant. In this case, because the extra firepower is unnecessary, the LMG actually kills enemies slower due to the increased warmup and burst time. In addition, they are less flexible when dealing with sappers and breachers.
- Exception: trigger-happy shooting specialists, as well as trigger-happy pawns or shooting specialists under Marksman Aura, will have very low Aiming Time. For them, LMGs will fire and cooldown faster than either rifle. However, not all pawns will be shooting specialists, and the killbox would need to be shortened to accommodate for the LMG.

Attack table

Ranged

LMG			Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Quality	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	10.8	14.4%	32%	38.4%	28%	20.8%	16.27	5.21	6.18	4.56	3.42	210
Poor	12	16%	36%	43.2%	31.5%	23.4%	18.08	6.51	7.77	5.79	4.16	320
Normal	12	16%	40%	48%	35%	26%	18.08	7.23	8.68	6.33	4.7	425
Good	12	16%	44%	52.8%	38.5%	28.6%	18.08	7.96	9.58	7.05	5.24	530
Excellent	12	16%	48%	57.6%	42%	31.2%	18.08	8.68	10.49	7.59	5.6	635
Masterwork	15	20%	54%	64.8%	47.25%	35.1%	22.6	12.2	14.69	10.62	7.91	1,060
Legendary	18	24%	60%	72%	52.5%	39%	27.12	16.27	19.53	14.37	10.58	2,125

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality. Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band.
The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.}

Melee

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

LMG			Stock (Blunt)					Barrel (Blunt)					Barrel (Poke)					Human: Left & right fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
Quality	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
Awful	3.98	11.6%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	8.33%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	8.33%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	8.33%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 37.5%	100	210
Poor	4.07	11.82%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	20%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	20%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	20%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 20%	100	320
Normal	4.4	12.75%	9	2s	13%	4.5	25%	9	2s	13%	4.5	25%	9	2s	13%	4.5	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	425
Good	4.74	13.73%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	25%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	25%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	530
Excellent	5.08	14.7%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	25%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	25%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	635
Masterwork	5.92	17.14%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	25%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	25%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	1,060
Legendary	6.59	19.09%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	25%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	25%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	2,125

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version history[edit]

0.3.410 - Can now spawn on pawns
Alpha ? - Name changed from L-15 LMG
1.5.4062 - Texture recreated with higher quality
1.6.4518 - Cooldown reduced from 1.8 seconds to 1.6 seconds, and damage increased from 11 to 12.
Odyssey DLC release - Added unique version.