It's not a machinegun, but I'll take it!

[Malidictus]

If you've seen my name around the forums, you know I like machineguns. For ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ YEARS I've been ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about Overkill outright refusing to add new machineguns to the game, detailing how the last one we got was CrimeFest 2015 some three years ago. Well, imagine my surprise today when I saw the introduction of the XL 5.56 Microgun! Yeah, it's not an LMG. Yeah, it doesn't have a bipod. Yeah, it technically has all the same issues as the 7.62 Minigun. I don't care, I'll take it! In fact, I love it! Consider this thread an expression of my thanks and a "lite" review of the Microgun.

The good:

The Microgun looks AWESOME! I know it's technically a smaller gun, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ if it doesn't look and feel massive on-screen. To be perfectly honest, I've always had a problem with the general design of the Minigun, chiefly with where the front grip is mounted. It just felt far too close to the pistol grip, creating a really awkward stance. Compare that to Preadtor and Terminator 2. In Predator, they used a modified rifle grip. In Terminator 2, they used a chainsaw grip set very far forward on the gun. In both cases it gave the operator the "feeling" of a steady grip. Payday 2's Minigun has what I'd describe as a "shopping bag grip," with the hangles too close together.

Well, the Microgun doesn't have that issue. Its off-hand grip is mounted on a large and sturdy bracket held well to the side of the gun. I don't know how ergonomic that is, but it gives the gun the feeling of much sturdier handling. Moreover, the shoulder stock means the weapon is held at the shoulder, so more of it is visible on-screen. And I really, really love the giant bolted-on carry handle. This thing feels as much like a gun as it does like a crate, and I LOVE it for that!

Oh, and the engineering! I looked for images of the XM214 Microgun (what I think this is based on) online, and none of the ones I found resemble what we got in-game. They all look like a smaller-scale M134 Minigun, with a lot of the same problems. The model we actually got seems to be a "custom" modification similar to the Flamethrower, and I LOVE the engineering thought that's gone into it. All the mountings and brackets and connections, the seemingly solid side grip, the ammo keg. Hell, we ACTUALLY have a battery this time around, rather than assuming it's somewhere in the ammo keg, like it is on the Minigun. Even the little detail of the cables from the battery going through the side grip armature to keep it from drooping and then passed through loops on the body to keep them from drooping and flopping around are details that I absolutely love. Could have done without the severe droop on the ammo belt, but oh well.

All in all, I love how this gun looks and feels to fire. Whoever did the in-game model, you nailed it!

In terms of in-game experience - it's basically the Minigun. The numbers differ, but the general experience is the same. The stats differ (2000 RPM @ 35 DMG vs. 3000 RPM @25 DMG), but the effect this has on my in-game experience is largely academic. I do seem to have a much easier time staying ammo-positive, though, thanks to the slower rate of fire, but this is my LMG build either way. I'm not going to run out of my ammo, I don't need to aim for the head. The Microgun does seem to have a bit more modding capacity than the Minigun on account of having more barrel assembly options, though that's mostly because I try to pretend "I'll take half that" doesn't exist.

I like the Minigun, so I was always going to like the Microgun, as well.

The kind of still good but it wasn't my main point

The Microgun's sound is a bit weird. The sound itself is fine, a more "metallic" ring to the Minigun's "buzzsaw" sound. However, it causes strange oscilation issues. It almost sounds like the gun is trying to play a sound effect for every shot and the game can't handle that, causing the sounds to interrupt each other. It's not necessarily bad, just a little weird. I'm still not sure if that's a problem on my machine or if it's a problem with the gun. The Minigun's firing sound was one of my main selling points with that gun, so it's a bit disappointing that the same isn't the case here.

The animations for the Microgun are good but limited. I LOVE the equip animation, even if it's unnecessarily long. Bsically, my character hoists this big piece of iron up by its carry handle, then shifts grip to grab it from below. It absolutely does look good and gives it a very real sense of weight.

The reload animation, on the other hand, I like a little less. It's not BAD necessarily. My character grabs the Minigun by its carry handle and sort of holds it to tue side with their left hand, while doing "something" offscreen with their right. Yeah, it's a cheaty offscreen reload animation, but it's not like the Minigun doesn't have the same issue. The problem is the gun remains motionless for the entire duration and there isn't much of a sound effect to imply something's being done. There IS an animation for disconnecting the ammo belt and then reconnecting it, sure, but it's low-key and fast. The rest of the time, it feels like I'm waiting for a loading bar.

See, when the Minigun reloads, you can see the gun shift in the character's hands as parts are presumably being pulled off, moved and reattached. They aren't - the actual reload isn't animated, but the illusion of it exists regardless. With the Microgun, the lack of ANY motion or much of a sound during the animation makes it feel... Flat. It feels artificial, like I'm waiting on a timer rather than for some kind of in-universe operation to be carried out. It's not disruptive, it doesn't ruin the gun, but it does feel a bit cheap.

On the flip side, I LOVE the animation for when you stop firing. Unlike the Minigun, the Microgun understands momentum. When you let go of the trigger, the barrel assembly doesn't just snap to a stop. It spins freely for almost a second, slowing dlow gradually as it goes. It even makes a nice sound in the meantime. That little touch I thought was pretty well done.

Overall

Considering I didn't expect Overkill to ever add a weapon I'd actually be excited about, the Microgun's addition makes me very happy. I'd heard something about "a new minigun" being dug out of the files, but I don't put too much stock in these things. It's seemed like for the longest time, the developers were content to add minor iterations on existing weapons. Oh, look - another AK. We now have 17 of them. Oh, look - another pistol I'm never going to be able to tell apart from the other. We needed more of those. Oh, look, another Sniper Rifle that looks exactly like one we already had. I'm sure there are people who liked all of those, but I wanted some kind of unique, large LMG for myself.

While the Microgun is not the machinegun I was looking for, I'll take it! :)

[Ashley]

You really need to learn how to compress your points a little :X

[Malidictus]

♥Overkill_Ashley♥ lähetti viestin:

You really need to learn how to compress your points a little :X

Oh, come on. You wouldn't love me if I posted with any kind of brevity. Besides, I've been absent from the forums for a while. I have an average word count to maintain :)

*edit*
The long and short of it, though, is I really like the Microgun. I love the engineering inherent in the character model and the weapon's balance, kind of having some issues with the sound and animations but nothing major. Really happy for today's patch.

[Copy & Cat]

Couldn't you just say that you liked?

[Malidictus]

Where's the fun in that? :)

[Ashley]

Malidictus lähetti viestin:

♥Overkill_Ashley♥ lähetti viestin:

You really need to learn how to compress your points a little :X

Oh, come on. You wouldn't love me if I posted with any kind of brevity. Besides, I've been absent from the forums for a while. I have an average word count to maintain :)

*edit*
The long and short of it, though, is I really like the Microgun. I love the engineering inherent in the character model and the weapon's balance, kind of having some issues with the sound and animations but nothing major. Really happy for today's patch.

Yeh the animations need a bit of work IMO but overall the update is really good.

[Malidictus]

I haven't had the chance to try any of the new Akimbo weapons (Akimbo Strykes intrigue me), but just the Microgun itself is enough for me, personally. FINALLY something that's right up my alley :)

[Sunday Driver]

Can I get this forum post in the hardback edition? :P

It's good you're enjoying the new stuff though. I love all these new toys too.

[BitsOfSkin]

Malidictus lähetti viestin:

I haven't had the chance to try any of the new Akimbo weapons (Akimbo Strykes intrigue me), but just the Microgun itself is enough for me, personally. FINALLY something that's right up my alley :)

Akimbo Strykes are a good, close combat high damage weapon, but outside CQC they're a PITA.
Firerate is too high for such (relatively) small magazines, really, and setting them to single fire makes them less good than other pistols.

DAT 5.56 MINIGUN DOE...
Egads, that thing has barely any recoil, it's like a slightly less powerful version of the bigger one, but it makes up for it by being very steady and fairly accurate.

[Jostabeere]

Akimbo XL 5.56 Microgun when?

[Malidictus]

BitsOfSkin lähetti viestin:

DAT 5.56 MINIGUN DOE...
Egads, that thing has barely any recoil, it's like a slightly less powerful version of the bigger one, but it makes up for it by being very steady and fairly accurate.

Yeah, I was surprised about how smooth the weapon was, as well. Maybe I haven't played my Minigun for a while, but I don't remember it being this easy to control. The numbers don't seem to bear out such a difference, though. The way I have them built, by Microgun has 76 Stability, my Minigun has 72. More Weapon Stats shows similar recoil values, as well: (-0.17, 022, -0.06, 0.11) and (-0.18, 0.24, -0.06, -0.12), respectively. For the sake of completeness, I checked the Lua dumps, and both weapons have a base recoil profile of (-0.15, 0.2, -0.05, 0.1).

The way I have my "gatling guns" set up, they should have essentially the same recoil per shot. I guess the extra 1000 RPM from the full-size Minigun really do add up to a lot more recoil. You see, back in the day the Minigun was given actually substantially lower recoil per shot than a standard LMG. The KSP, for instance, has (-1, 1.4, -0.2, 0.8). I think this was done to account for its ludicrous fire rate. Well, now the Microgun has a fire rate closer to that of the Buzzsaw-42 than the Minigun, so that same deliberately lower recoil makes it smooth as silk. Rather surprising, really.

I need to spend less time posting here and more time playing with it :)

[Z3r0_]

Okay, what new machine gun would you have added OP? Personally I would've gone with a something that could be the free equivalent of the RPK and Brenner 21, in the same way that the KSP 58 is the free equivalent of the KSP and Buzzsaw 42. The way I see it, there'd be a couple of options:

PKP Pecheneg: Pretty much a reskin of the Brenner 21, with a higher ROF (around 800) at the cost of slightly lower accuracy and not having a tactical reload option (being belt-fed)

Ultimax 100: This would be more similar to the RPK, but would trade off a significantly reduced fire rate (as low as 400 rpm) for much higher accuracy, possibly on par with the 80-damage LMGs.

[The Least Interesting Chibi...]

Someone with way better might want to correct me if I'm wrong, but if the raycast is from the barrel to the crosshair point, then the better handling might be because it's shoulder mounted and thus the barrel is more parallel to camera.

[Stark Raven]

I saw someone post a "thirdperson" view of the animations, and from that perspective, they are... well, not good. If they could give that some more love and attention, it would improve things a lot.

Like not completely removing the static belt for one...

[X-SR71]

The new Microgun doesnt accept the Epic 1000 achievements skin >:(

[StupidNameHere]

I am always happy to hear that people are happy. Especially about Payday. AND I DON'T EVEN REALLY BENEFIT IN ANY WAY. I LOVE sorry caps this game.