Heavy Machine Guns

## Overview

Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) are a powerful type of mounted weapon found on military humvees or placed via tripod or weapons platform at defensive positions. They are too heavy to be carried around by a single person and so they must be mounted. These devastating weapons fire .50 caliber rounds at a high rate of fire that can easily shred through flesh, bone, and metal. HMGs also remain quite accurate at long ranges.

## List of weapons

* M2 HMG - (aka Ma Deuce) The infamous .50 caliber successor of the M1919 heavy machine gun, which is chambered is .30-06. Capable of utterly destroying fleshy, unarmored targets and still dealing exceptional damage to lightly armored targets. Belt-fed and fires from a closed-bolt, is air-cooled, and features select fire.
* M2HB - heavy barrel version of the M2
* M2A1 - recently upgraded version of the M2 that now came with a barrel that can be quickly changed, a new flash suppressor, and a carrying handle that can be removed.

## Properties and uses

Heavy machine guns are mighty weapons that can easily destroy hordes and make short work of even the toughest infected types in a single or a few shots. They are truly among the most powerful weapons in-game.

The downside of these weapons is they are not portable due to their weight, and can only be used from fixed positions, usually only where they are originally found. Additionally, their ammunition is limited, and will never replenish - unless locations are set to reset their loot - and even then it will only replenish a few hundred rounds and not the original amount. Once the ammunition on an individual HMG at a given location is used up, it becomes essentially useless. However, one can manually replenish the ammunition stores of HMGs themselves by transferring .50 caliber ammunition from their own inventory into the mounted weapons. This is a strategic idea if one expects to purposefully direct a horde that is to be destroyed to the gun emplacement location. Conversely, .50 caliber ammunition can be scavenged from these mounted weapons to be used in other applications, like for .50 caliber sniper rifles instead.

Most HMGs found in the world only have iron sights be default but can also be fitted with telescoping sights (scopes) and night sights.

* HMGs can be effectively used to wipe out hordes in seconds due to their fast rate of fire and devastating damage. Accuracy for headshots is not even necessary as it only takes one body/head shot to kill a common infected. Even limb shots tend to cause instant kills at least half of the time, with the surviving infected becoming stunned and bleeding out soon after.
* Besides using HMGs to mow down infected with fully-automatic fire, HMGs can also be fired semi-automatically. Especially when fitted with a scope, HMGs are very effective at sniping infected due to their inherent accuracy from being fixed emplacements, their range due to the .50 caliber round, and their immense power, even at these longer ranges.
* Most HMGs use the powerful .50 caliber round, which can reliably stagger and kill even Threshers and Pariahs in just a short burst of well-aimed shots. Due to this, HMGs become one of the most efficient weapons for dealing with the special infected.
* On moving vehicles, a HMG's usefulness is increased significantly, and can function as a traveling turret if an ally mans it. Even if the player is alone, the strategy remains the same: travel towards a horde or special infected spotting and park the vehicle a distance away where the infected is in good sight lines but hasn't detected the player character. Switch to the gunner seat and fire away.

## Locations

Due to being more like static emplacements rather than items, HMGs are not found as random loot and are generally only found in select locations around the map - most reliably found mounted on abandoned humvees or fixed onto tripods at military checkpoints. Some rooftops or balconies have been fitted with heavy machine guns, usually at defensive positions where infected concentration is high. Some survivor hubs have HMG emplacements to aid in defense and bolster firepower. Heavy machine guns can also be custom fitted by \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (weapons dealer) onto some types of vehicles, or bought to be built onto defensive positions at player-created safehouses. Otherwise, HMGs cannot be moved or transferred whatsoever due to their weight.

* Sunset St. checkpoint - there is one on the abandoned humvee by the knocked-over fence. It has a little over two-hundred rounds left, apparently having been used in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the infected that seemed to have overran the checkpoint. A blood trail leads from the weapon to the mangled body of the former gunner a few feet away.
* Unmarked farmhouse rooftop - this location has a HMG that, unlike other HMGs that can be found, already has a telescopic sight attached. It seems that somebody has been using it to snipe infected (or people...) in the town below from the farmhouse rooftop.
* West Moorland St. checkpoint - there is one mounted on the abandoned humvee with only 70 rounds left. It has seen extensive use in controlling the hordes moving in from downtown before the checkpoint was ultimately abandoned.
* Sheridan Square - The main entrance is guarded by 2 humvees, each with .50 caliber HMGs. The back entrance is guarded by one humvee with a .50 caliber HMG. There is also one HMG fixed to a tripod, located on the overlooking balcony. All of these weapons are usually manned by a soldier or guard, however, and cannot be used by the player character, except in the quest \_\_\_\_\_\_\_, when the player character is urged to man the weapon to take out a horde of runners.

## Notable quotes

* "Those heavy machine guns at the military checkpoints will make short work of any horde or even the biggest, ugliest infected... if you know how to use them."
* "Get on that fifty and blow that fucking horde to smithereens! Hold both handles and press the trigger with your thumbs!"
* "The guns on the humvees still work. If a horde is chasing you, I'd imagine you can just jump in the gunner seat and mow them down. They wouldn't stand a chance."
* "How did Sunset get overrun? They had heavy machine guns at that checkpoint!"