For anyone who has come to the Forums in search of a bit of help in deciding which weapons are worth spending your hard-earned Silver on, and which ones are better off being converted into said Silver, I will be making a Guide Topic for each weapon class, per Faction.
So, without further ado, BEHOLD! The gospel, according to Simp:
“MG” will be defined, for the purposes of this Guide, as any weapon classified by the game as a Machine Gun and generally used by the Machine Gunner class. BattlePass, Legacy Gold Order, Event Exclusive, and Premium Exclusive Rifles are not included in this Guide.
Madsen (Research Tier 2) [BR II]
- Not as bad as you think. The Madsen is actually much better than its direct competitor (Italian Breda Mod. 30) in pretty much every way. It hits hard, has a good magazine size for BR II (and that magazine takes up less vision than the Bren), and even handles pretty well firing un-mounted. It’s just alone. Soviets need some diversity in the low-BR MG department. Fortunately, and also sadly, you really shouldn’t be using many Machine Gunners with the Soviets. Assaulter and Engineer squads should be the priority, and even Riflemen squads are overall better than MG squads. Only value in them is if you can build the HMG in a good spot. Not likely. Anyways, like I said, it’s your only option at BR II, so spending Silver on it for your hopefully few Machine Gunners is a must.
DP-27 (Research Tier 3) [BR III]
- Mid MG for Mid BR. It’s pretty average across the board, in a kind of underwhelming way. The DPM is pretty much the same weapon only slightly better, so don’t waste a ton of Silver on the 27.
DPM (Research Tier 4) [BR III]
- You won’t see it until Research Tier 4, for some reason, but it’s a slight improvement to the DP-27. This should be the MG you stick with until the RD-44, so spend some Silver on giving it to your Machine Gunners.
DT-29 (Research Tier 4) [BR IV]
- Not worth it. BR IV weapons represent a pretty significant Silver investment, and the functional difference between the DPM and this is NOT worth the cost. The DPM will serve you just fine until you hit the goldmine that is the RD-44.
RD-44 (Research Tier 5) [BR V]
- Remember when I said you shouldn’t be using MG squads as the Soviets? Well, this is the exception to that. It’s an RPD in WW2. A prototype apparently existed in 1944 for it, so devs used that to justify putting it in the game. Very high rate of fire, easily manageable recoil without mounting it, and excellent sights already make it formidable as an MG. Then it gets nutty. Most MGs in Enlisted have a penalty to dispersion that kicks in when you start moving. Essentially, you become much less accurate if you shoot and move at the same time. The RD-44 does NOT have this. You can move all you want while firing and the accuracy does not change. It’s a laser beam sitting still AND strafing back and forth like a maniac. Effectively making this the best MG in the entire game, as it functions like a 100rd Assault Rifle that does extra damage to boot. The RD-44 has an argument as the best weapon in the entire game. There is no Soviet bias in Ba Sing Se.
Maxim-Tokarev (Research Tier 5) [BR V]
- Waste of Silver. There is no reason to ever use this weapon while the RD-44 is so over-powered. It does more damage (just regular MG damage) while being worse than it in every single other aspect. Don’t bother.
Hope this helps. If you’re an Enlisted vet, and have some differing opinions or helpful insights, reply with them!