HMG: the new chaingun

In the near future, we will be replacing the chaingun with its successor.

One of the first heavy weapons available to the human team during the early stages of Tremulous matches, the chaingun provided a source of rapid-fire ranged damage with an extensive ammo clip that didn’t need to be reloaded, at the expense of an absurd degree of recoil. Up close, the chaingun proved to be utterly brutal, tearing apart even the largest of aliens with an endless barrage of heavy firepower. Some enterprising players discovered the benefits of utilizing a jetpack to organize stealthy rushes with the weapon, while others, typically new players, confusingly used the battery pack. We will perhaps never know the rationale for the latter decision.

In Unvanquished, we will alter the chaingun to be the HMG, or the Heavy Machine Gun to correspond to the SMG that players will start out with. We have removed the multi-barrel design, finding it to be needlessly cliche. Instead, the weapon represents modern machine guns from a more futuristic perspective. It will be held with both hands and will provide the same heavy spread and rapid-fire damage. Graphical effects will provide ample screen shaking to emphasize the intense nature of this weapon. Concept art has been done by the great Alex B. O’Dowd. We hope to get to modeling it soon.