Another glorified weapon suggestion post in a topic that’s rarely ever mentioned. All jokes aside, airguns are rarely, if ever seen in games at all. The one exception I can happen to think of is the Tikhar from Metro. Anyways, enjoy, long post so must be good, yada yada yada.
So before I launch into the meat and potatoes and to make my post seem longer than it actually is, we first need to explore why airguns have any type of value in the first place. Most notably, airguns are quiet, almost to the point of being integrally suppressed, and their ammunition is relatively easy to manufacture and craft compared to firearm cartridges. The best airguns can achieve well over 1000 ft/s (304 m/s) of energy, which is comparable to small pistol cartridges, and are extremely accurate…within their range.
The most glaring problem with airguns is their limited range and how fast that muzzle energy dissipates and becomes harmless. Most airguns have a maximum effective range of only around 50 yards, and even the best only have a lethal range of around 100 yards. Pellets are also light and can encounter heavy turbulence when breaking the sound barrier, which is why even airguns manufactured for hunting are limited to about 800 ft/s (270 m/s). Note that any kind of armor would render airguns almost entirely useless.
Based on this information, airguns in Unturned II would be limited to the following roles:
- Allowing players to practice shooting without expending too much resources.
- Hunting of small game, and even larger animals up to and including deer.
- As a quiet, pistol damage (think two to three headshots) weapon for eliminating Turned and possibly as a entry-level weapon against players.
Ammunition for airguns ranges from .177-caliber to even .50-caliber. For the sake of standarization, pellets should be either .25-caliber (6.35mm) or .30-caliber (7.62mm). As expected, pellets should be easily craftable and require only metal such as lead and a workbench or a furnace and a mold.
A small subcategory of airguns worth mentioning is the airbow, which is an airgun made to fire arrows with enough force to rival crossbows.
As for power, most airguns are split between two main categories: spring-piston and pneumatic. Spring-piston airguns are then further divided into break-action ones and those who use an external cocking lever. Pneumatic airguns can also be divided into those that use a lever to fill the reservoir, and those that have a pre-filled detachable reservoir. The latter could possibly utilize air compressors or diving tanks as propellant.
On a further note, I feel that due to the power difference the only airguns worth considering in UII are rifles and carbines, as pistols simply do not have enough power to have consistent lethality. Between the different variants I’d at least like to see a break action single shot air rifle and another one that’s repeating and pneumatic, possibly craftable like the Tikhar, as well as an airbow. Anyways, yeah. That’s it. Hope you enjoyed reading this relative waste of time as much as I did researching it and typing it up.