Please take note of the Actual Recoil column instead of the Statcard Recoil columns.
Comparing same-BR SMGs, Thompsons are notably less controllable than their counterparts while featuring worse overall sights and ADS speed. This is compounded by their higher-than-average rate of fire, muzzle flash and visual recoil that disrupts the sights to the point of unusability. They also generally have 1 less magazine than their 9mm counterparts.
To illustrate the point, except for 1 thompson variant (21/28), every other thompson variant has to peek through the aperture located in the rear of the gun, which gets violently shaken when the gun is fired, and further obstructed by the muzzle flash and smoke.
The additional damage dealt by .45 ACP is also meaningless in the following context.
It takes 10 damage to down/kill a soldier without vitality upgrades.
It takes 13.5 damage to down/kill a soldier with the vitality upgrade.
- To reach that threshold with an unupgraded 9mm SMG, which deals 5.7 damage on body shots, you need 2 torso hits. 3 against soldiers with the vitality perk.
- To reach that threshold with a max-upgraded 9mm SMG, or an unupgraded .45 ACP gun, you need 2 torso hits. It remains the same against soldiers with the vitality perk.
- At max upgrade level, a .45 ACP gun deals 8.2 damage. This means that you need a minimum of 2 torso hits. It remains the same against soldiers with the vitality perk.
The extra damage offered is meaningless. Especially when 9mm SMGs are generally unlocked sooner, cheaper and are far easier to control.
“But what if I’m shooting at targets at long distance, where damage dropoff is more notable?”
You’d need to address the fact that the bullets fired from .45 ACP guns fire in a notable arc because they fire at a velocity roughly 33% slower than 9mm SMGs, lead your target if they’re moving, along with the aforementioned worse handling characteristics and sights.
It is, to put it bluntly, an exercise in futility, and you’re better off engaging a target that is within range, or using an entirely different weapon.
And that’s not even the worst part.
M2 Carbines render the use of Thompsons pointless.
“What if we took every bad thing the thompsons have and address it to the point where the western allies have no reason to bring thompsons, let alone assaulters in BR5?”
I’m not going to delve too much into this because balancing the M2 Carbine should be its own thread.
So, here are my suggestions.
- Keep the performance of the thompsons, but lower the 21/28 and 1928A1 (box) to BR3, and the 1928A1 (drum) to BR4.
OR
- Keep the thompson BRs where they are, but improve their recoil modifier, visual recoil and ADS speed.
Lower their BRs or increase their performance to make them comparable to same-BR weapons.
