This might be seen as a bit crazy, but I think both the OVP and Beretta 1918 could be moved to BR1 without being much more powerful than the PPD 34, the most similar gun to these 2 and what I will be comparing these to. So here below, I will compare some of the main stats of these guns and justify why these 2 guns could go to BR1. See the table provided for a reference, the data is from the Enlisted Resource.
Damage
Starting off with damage, all 3 guns are in a fairly similar range, the PPD being slightly weaker at 6.4 damage compared to the 6.8 of both Italian sub machine guns, but all three guns are still powerful enough to kill in 3 shots (assuming no vitality or body armor), and only is noticeable over long range (which defeats the point of using the SMG at all)
bullet velocity
A fairly simple comparison, the PPD has the fastest velocity at 450 m/s, with the OVP falling 15 slower at 435, and lastly the Beretta 1918, a whole 50 meters slower at 400, but this makes little sense, given the 2 Italian guns shoot the same cartridge (but whatever, we can see so many examples of this throughout the game)
Reload speed
The Beretta 1918 is just barely the fastest reloading out of the 3, at 2.3 seconds (which is a pretty normal speed for any SMG), only 0.04 seconds faster than the PPD’s 2.34 second reload, while the OVP lags behind at 2.7 seconds, which combined with the high rate of fire which will be covered next, leads to you reloading longer than you shoot.
Rate of Fire
The rates of fire of the 3 SMGs are very similar, the Beretta 1918 and OVP sharing 1040 RPM, and the PPD 920 RPM. you would think the 120 RPM difference would make it a bit worse, but in my testing I found that it actually wasn’t very important, and if anything I could shoot for slightly longer and didn’t waste as much ammo on a single soldier. I think this could be more up to preference between individuals, but I think the rates of fire are close enough compared to each other.
Recoil
The PPD 34 and beretta 1918 have very very similar recoil values, 8 vertical, 5 horizontal for the PPD and 7 vertical, 6 horizontal for the Beretta, literally trading 1 point of recoil on either plane which is little difference, both guns decent recoil. As for the OVP though, it’s a lot worse in terms of recoil, having 12 vertical 6 horizontal (12 is on the higher side of average SMG recoil values), you can feel it kick a lot more than the Beretta 1918, combined with the high ROF, controlling it is more difficult.
Dispersion
While it isn’t a huge deal since the values aren’t too far off, but dispersion also is a factor to consider. the PPD has 0.71 dispersion, which is an average value, and the 2 Italian guns have slightly worse dispersion, of 0.76 (Beretta) and 0.77 (OVP)
Summary
I think the PPD and Beretta 1918/OVP are similar enough to let the latter 2 guns be transferred to BR1, through a number of comparisons I made. In addition to the points made earlier, there is also the fact that the sights of these guns are, in many people’s opinions, quite bad. The sights are mounted on the left or right of the gun depending on which one you take (which makes aiming a bit trippy if you use both in the same loadout), and the magazine covers half of the screen similar to the Bren. The beretta 1918 is by no means a bad gun, but due to recent BR2 SMG power creep by the US and Soviets, it is much less viable now (and the OVP is just a watered down Beretta essentially, so it’s in the same boat). I could see the Beretta 1918 not being wanted on BR1, but I think the OVP at the very least would be fine, since it’s mostly slightly nerfed stats of a 1918. So what are your thoughts on this, forum members? do you think they would be okay for BR1, too powerful for 1 but needs a buff, or good as is?
. I guess match after match fighting SMG spam recently has had it’s effects on me.