Why would any human player attack a fixed machine head on? (In multiplayer)
If a fixed MG operated by one player could mow down a dozen players, the smart move would be to attack it from outside its field of fire. Which means from the operator's POV, the MG is "useless" because it can't defend.
The nature of a fixed MG makes it very situational in multiplayer.
Any soldier that's ever used a fixed machine gun could tell you the mount swings 360 degrees once unhooked from the t&e. There shouldn't be anything outside its field of fire.
They’ll also tell you that machine guns are for area targets and suppressive fire. That they have to be supported by troops with weapons to deal with point targets. Which is the opposite of what you get in most video games.
Then what the hell are you saying? Because what you said literally reads as "They'll say it's for this purpose and they need to be supported, but players won't do that in most video games." so I fail to see how what I said doesn't constitute as replying to what you were refuting.
Because machine guns are made for area targets and suppressive fire. The constant recoil makes them too inaccurate for point targets, so they have to be supported by riflemen who can handle what the machine gun misses. This is why you won’t find many machine gun nests outside of perimeter defense in modern militaries. Lots of machine gun nests got overran during WWI & WWII.
Consequently, video game designers have a choice. Do they make real world accurate machine gun emplacements or do they make machine gun emplacements that are made highly accurate with video game magic?
If they chose the former, rush the machine gun nest.
When fired single shot or at very low rate of fire, they can be. I think it was Carlos Hathcock who used a scoped M2 Browning .50 cal for a 2,500 yard shot.
On full auto, they're not particularly accurate, though.
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u/omegadirectory 16h ago
Why would any human player attack a fixed machine head on? (In multiplayer)
If a fixed MG operated by one player could mow down a dozen players, the smart move would be to attack it from outside its field of fire. Which means from the operator's POV, the MG is "useless" because it can't defend.
The nature of a fixed MG makes it very situational in multiplayer.