Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of the original BB was that on most maps, even the official ones, there were uber weapons everywhere. There was ammo everywhere. I'm not saying that it should be like Zombie Panic, but there does have to be a limit. Running around with a minigun and melting faces off every zombie you come across is fun for a while, but the Horror aspect does not come into play at all.

Therefore, I propose that in BB:S, the weapons be the following, divided into three categories:

[These are rough guidelines only]
[Examples of alternative weapon choices have been provided]

Freely Available:

Axe - Melee weapon. Used to chop zombies' heads.
Alternatives: Baseball Bat, Lead Pipe

Magnum - Your head asplode. Slow to fire, slow to reload, and powerful recoil, but extremely powerful.

Sawed-off Shotgun - Demolition Man, anyone? Fires 2 shells with a wide spread, then has to reload.

.22LR Hunting / Sport Rifle - Winchester-ish. Can take down zombies reliably with a headshot, and is accurate, but otherwise lacks power. Wooden stock can be used as a weapon.

Flamethrower - Throws Flames. To be constructed, you need a kerosene tank, a pressure-washer unit, and other such paraphernalia.

Fertilizer Bomb - Used to make a big boom. You need a bag of fertilizer, a blasting cap, some kind of a detonator, and so on.

Chainsaw - Think of a fully-automatic melee weapon. Too bad the one we found needs a new spark plug, and is out of gas.

The premise of these weapons is that Civilians gain access to them right away, usually at map start. They are powerful weapons against small numbers, but not great against a zerg rush. The last 3 are hard to assemble, but powerful once you have it all together. Not something you'd get at the start of the game.

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Police-Grade:

Taser - A Melee weapon that will drop a zombie instantly, regardless of where you hit it. If you can't destroy the brain, at least stop it from sending signals for a while.

Glock 17 - Standard-issue police sidearm. 9x19mm can take a zombie down in a couple of headshots, but otherwise lacks power.
Alternatives: Beretta 92F, Five-Seven, P228

Remington 870 - Standard-issue police shotgun. Pump-action, blows away limbs. Wooden stock can be used as a weapon.
Alternatives - Benelli Nova, Mossberg 500

MP5A4 - SWAT-issue police SMG. Rapid and accurate 9x19mm fire.
Alternatives - UMP, MP7, P90, TMP/MP9, Uzi (full size)

Accuracy International AE - Police Sharpshooters' weapon of choice. Basically a cheaper, law-enforcement model of the infamous Arctic Warfare Magnum.
Alternatives - Remington 700 Police, TRG-22, Sig 3000

Ingram Mac-10 - Sitting in police evidence lockers by the dozen. Confiscated from local gangsters. Medium-powered, high-fire rate, high-recoil, low-accuracy SMG.

AK47 - Sitting in police evidence lockers in some of the more crime-infested areas. Confiscated from local gangsters. High-powered, medium-fire rate, high-recoil, low-accuracy assault rifle. Heavy wooden stock can be used as a weapon.

Tear Gas Grenades - Firing Tear Gas into an area will assault the senses of anything (including zombies) there, disorienting and confusing them. They must then rely on hearing, which can be circumvented by players' sneaking. Good for bypassing an area with a massive zombie horde.

These weapons are not as freely available, but most law-enforcement types will have these around.

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Military Grade:

SOCOM MK23 - Military & Special Ops issue sidearm. More powerful and accurate than the police sidearms.
Alternatives: USP, Glock 20, MP7 (Full-Auto SMG in the Pistol slot!)

Benelli M3 - Standard military shotgun. Can be fired on pump or semi-auto.
Alternatives: SPAS-12, Benelli M4 Super 90, SPAS-15 (Reloads with a magazine)

M4A1 - Standard military assault rifle. 5.56x45mm is an accurate round which has surprising stopping power due to its fragmentation inside the target. Metal stock can be used as a weapon. Has an attached grenade launcher. Lower recoil than the AK.
Alternatives: F2000, Steyr-AUG, Tavor-21, AK74

M249 SAW - Crowd control, anyone? Fires 5.56, but 200 at a time.
Alternatives: RPK, PKM, Negev,

Frag Grenades - Pull the pin, throw. Boom. Simple.

Nerve Gas Grenades - Similar to above, except the gas cloud wil remain deadly for a longer period of time. Again, if you can't destroy the brain, you can stop the brain/spinal cord transmissions. These can be absorbed from the air through contact, so the victim doesn't necessarily have to be breathing.

Barrett M82A1 - Sniper Supreme. Put a huge .50 caliber hole in your target, and everything behind it.

These weapons are NOT available to non-military units. The only way to get them is if/when military intervention arrives in your area. Plus, I doubt that your local gun store sells grenades or .50BMG rounds or 5.56mm in 200-round boxes.

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A cool realism touch could be achieved by using "regional" weapons skins, for example:

USA:
Beretta
M4A1
SPAS-12
M249

Russia:
Tokarev
AK74
Saiga-12K
RPK

Germany:
USP
G36C
SPAS-12
MG36

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Discuss.

This post has been edited by EcheloN on September 04, 2006 10:47 pm

Now that I will agree with. Nice set of guidelines!

I think the chainsaw should already be fueled and ready to go. Too much of the civilian weaponry has to be assembled. THe flamethrower and bomb I understand, but not the chainsaw. Don't make it too hard to do things.

This post has been edited by Security Corporate on September 04, 2006 08:30 am

Things like the flamethrower or chainsaw would make the game into ezmode, the point is that they are supposed to be hard to obtain.

How about if it's not possible to store it in the inventory, and if you leave it on it runs out of gas quickly.

There will be no Chainsaws in BBS.

/cry

awh.. no chainsaws? How about hedgetrimmers?

BUSHHOOKS! For the love of God we need Bushhooks! Oh oh! And Fire Axes, and Hedge Clippers, and Sledgehammers, and Lawnmowers!

haha, will the fire axe be blue?

most "police grade" weapons are readily available to the public

Some countries have stricter gun control laws, or weapons are just not as freely available.

Then again a zombie outbreak in Switzerland or Israel would be over in like 2 seconds.

thats a really good idea... what about a zombie outbreak.. in other countries?... sorry a little off topic.. but you really got me thinking

Police weapons are cool, i mostly like the MP5. Its TEH TACTICALzzz

And, yeah i agree with echelon. Israel would end a zombie outbreak in a short period of time

Why would be over fast in Switz or Israel? Especially in Switz...