Light Machine Gun

[Brian Boru]

In current experimental run thru Far Cry 5, I've used one of the M-60 LMGs as my main weapon. It's been useful in confirming my dislike for such weapons, which I always try to avoid as I view them as too overpowered to present much of a challenge in play.

I'm surprised by its inaccuracy. Too many times when lining up an unhurried headshot, it misses—using the exact same Enhanced Ranger scope and best suppressor I use on my very accurate 45/70 AR. It does hit maybe 2/3 of the time, but that's no good for undetected play. Off the hip, takes too long to zap attacking wildlife, even ones already latched onto me

It doesn't have much if any single-shot capacity either—no setting for it in the weapon wheel. I'm not sure if a quick light click fires only one bullet, maybe…

Ammo in the wild seems to be very scarce, in contrast with AR ammo which is everywhere. And the reload animation takes so long! Altho I undoubtedly reload too often, I'm not sure if it needs any reload before entire clip/belt is used.

It is good at bringing planes and choppers down tho, and spraying across the cabin of an approaching truck usually gets both occupants.

So I guess it's for loud play, which isn't my thing—I've ditched it for the 45/70, saving up for a SPAS-12 for local control until I can get the D2 shawnoff sotgun

Is above generally true for other LMGs, and LMGs in other games? Maybe it's just a bit of a learning curve…

 

[ZedClampet]

In current experimental run thru Far Cry 5, I've used one of the M-60 LMGs as my main weapon. It's been useful in confirming my dislike for such weapons, which I always try to avoid as I view them as too overpowered to present much of a challenge in play.

I'm surprised by its inaccuracy. Too many times when lining up an unhurried headshot, it misses—using the exact same Enhanced Ranger scope and best suppressor I use on my very accurate 45/70 AR. It does hit maybe 2/3 of the time, but that's no good for undetected play. Off the hip, takes too long to zap attacking wildlife, even ones already latched onto me

It doesn't have much if any single-shot capacity either—no setting for it in the weapon wheel. I'm not sure if a quick light click fires only one bullet, maybe…

Ammo in the wild seems to be very scarce, in contrast with AR ammo which is everywhere. And the reload animation takes so long! Altho I undoubtedly reload too often, I'm not sure if it needs any reload before entire clip/belt is used.

It is good at bringing planes and choppers down tho, and spraying across the cabin of an approaching truck usually gets both occupants.

So I guess it's for loud play, which isn't my thing—I've ditched it for the 45/70, saving up for a SPAS-12 for local control until I can get the D2 shawnoff sotgun

Is above generally true for other LMGs, and LMGs in other games? Maybe it's just a bit of a learning curve…

I've never seen an LMG that was good for headshots and stealth. Maybe a burst fire assault rifle, if it can be suppressed, would be fun to try? LMG's I associate with "spray and pray". You just go in shooting and do your best to hit the enemies wherever you hit them. They are great to have handy when all hell breaks loose, like you are sneaking up on your first target when an NPC you didn't even know was there spots you and alerts the whole base. Of course, when things go that badly, I usually run away, let things calm down, and then try again, but it seems like things never go back to normal in at least one of the recent FC games.

 

[Pifanjr]

From what I understand a light machine gun's job is to suppress one or more enemies while the rest of your squad moves closer and flanks them. The rest of your squad is typically also carrying ammunition for the LMG because it uses so much.

 

[Frindis]

Probably because a lot of games don't let you shoot the LMG with a bipod, which is for most of the time what it is intended to be used with. If you look at games like Arma 3 or PUBG, you'll need a bipod /tactical stock to control the recoil if you are not incredibly good at controlling it from shoulder/hipfire. Even using the bipod it is still hard to get headshots or accurate follow-up shots, but you'll shred through an enemy's armor so fast it does not matter.

 

[Brian Boru]

I've never seen an LMG that was good for headshots and stealth

That makes sense, dummy here using the wrong tool for the job—Juan Cortez would read me the riot act!

I recall trying out each new gun in FC3, with names like Buzzsaw, Shredder, Ripper etc—and they lived up to their names. Ripped thru outposts, removing any puzzle or tactical challenge from the situation—which is why I went off 'em.

Strange tho that they can be fitted with suppressor and scope for spray n pray.

the rest of your squad

I'm playing solo, FC games don't have squads—but they do have Guns For Hire, which are only a bit similar. Maybe multi has squad play, where your scenario would make sense.

bipod

Interesting, I've only ever come across a bipod in Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 for some sniper rifles—typically needed for shots beyond ~400m.

 

[Frindis]

Interesting, I've only ever come across a bipod in Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 for some sniper rifles—typically needed for shots beyond ~400m.

That might also be because several games have integrated bipods, so you can't see that it is deployed or the animation of it, but you might see the icon showing. Some will also deploy when you go prone, which I believe is the case with Arma 3.

 

[ZedClampet]

Probably because a lot of games don't let you shoot the LMG with a bipod, which is for most of the time what it is intended to be used with. If you look at games like Arma 3 or PUBG, you'll need a bipod to control the recoil if you are not incredibly good at controlling it from shoulder/hipfire. Even using the bipod it is still hard to get headshots or accurate follow-up shots, but you'll shred through an enemy's armor so fast it does not matter.

Helldivers 2 gives you a bipod when you go prone with the LMG, but it's not always a good idea to be prone in Helldivers, so I rarely use it. Gun runs out of ammo really fast and you have to get up on one knee to reload it. You can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. I usually take a sniper rifle instead and use my primary weapon, an auto-shotgun, to clear out groups.

 

[neogunhero]

What comes to mind when I think of inaccurate LMGs is the M249 from CSGO. Haven’t played much of CS2 so I’m not sure how it’s changed, but I remember it being a super infamous weapon. Deadly when accurate, but it’s rarely ever accurate. You can line up an unhurried headshot from only a few meters away and still miss even if you one tap the trigger.

That confirms why LMGs really are the quintessential “spray-n-prey” gun. Holding the trigger and getting close enough to sniff your enemies is really the only viable strategy when using an LMG in the Far Cry games.

Like Frindis said, other games that give you lots of customization for LMGs make them more suitable for certain situations. In the modern era Battlefield games and Insurgency Sandstorm, LMGs are quite useful with the right attachments. I have many fond memories of holding a point while laying prone with my LMG on a bipod, mowing down players.

As for the reload taking so long that’s pretty common in most games. Battlefield is arcadey so the reload is decently quick, but games like Insurgency Sandstorm can take a good 10 seconds I’m guessing. You also have an option to double tap the reload button in Insurgency to do a quicker reload but you throw away your mag, so when you get to resupply you’ll be missing the mags you threw away.

 

[Frindis]

I found a couple of old clips of me using the LMG in PUBG (check out the trigger discipline in the first one ) You can also see that the LMG has a bipod and if you look closely you'll see that it deploys automatically when I lay prone.

It is either in close situations I have use for it or if I am setting up an ambush on a bridge or for example shooting people from 150-250 meters with a scope when they are running in an open field (like that poor guy in the next video) and I can just slowly pick at their health without them being able to do much against it:

 

[CotyHickle]

What comes to mind when I think of inaccurate LMGs is the M249 from CSGO. Haven’t played much of CS2 so I’m not sure how it’s changed, but I remember it being a super infamous weapon. Deadly when accurate, but it’s rarely ever accurate. You can line up an unhurried headshot from only a few meters away and still miss even if you one tap the trigger.

That confirms why LMGs really are the quintessential “spray-n-prey” gun. Holding the trigger and getting close enough to sniff your enemies is really the only viable strategy when using an LMG in the Far Cry games.

Like Frindis said, other games that give you lots of customization for LMGs make them more suitable for certain situations. In the modern era Battlefield games and Insurgency Sandstorm, LMGs are quite useful with the right attachments. I have many fond memories of holding a point while laying prone with my LMG on a bipod, mowing down players.

As for the reload taking so long that’s pretty common in most games. Battlefield is arcadey so the reload is decently quick, but games like Insurgency Sandstorm can take a good 10 seconds I’m guessing. You also have an option to double tap the reload button in Insurgency to do a quicker reload but you throw away your mag, so when you get to resupply you’ll be missing the mags you threw away.

The reload thing irritates me. Most of the time, I died while reloading my guns. lol