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Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
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Work In Progress This article is still under construction. It may contain factual errors. See Talk:Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 for current discussions. Content is subject to change. |
Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 features a complete arsenal of WWII weapons for both the Soviet and German armies. The game is unique amongst first person shooters due to its high level of realism, including:
1) Iron Sights: Players can only aim via a weapon's actual iron sights, not via a graphical crosshair.
2) One Shot Death: Players can be killed by a single shot to any part of the body, not just the head as in other games. There are also no health packs or medics to heal wounds. Once a player dies, they respawn within 20 or 30 seconds and rejoin the battle. In order to keep the player from having to deal with the penalties of severe wounds in a moderately fast-paced shooter (while avoiding the 'health' system of other games), any wound that would make the player combat ineffective will 'kill' them, e.g. shots to the upper leg can cause the femoral artery to rupture and the player's corpse will fall to the ground and bleed out while the player themselves respawns.
3) Ballistics: Realistic ballistics are used for all weapons including rifles, pistols, machine guns, and tank weapons. However, tank shells had to be slowed to approximately half of their real-life velocity due to engine constraints.
4) Melee Attacks: Every firearm except for the machine guns and anti-tank rifle has a melee attack, consisting of a buttstock strike or - if a bayonet can be affixed to the weapon - a bayonet stab.
5) Magazine Management: Instead of numerical "ammo counters" as featured in other games, players need to mentally keep track of how many rounds they've fired from each magazine. The only indication of how much ammunition remains in the magazine is the weight; when replacing an old magazine with a fresh one, the game will indicate if the new magazine is "Heavy", "Light", or "Very light", giving the player an idea of how many rounds may remain inside.
6) Reinforcement System: Although on the surface this seems similar to the 'ticket' system used in games like the Battlefield series, the RO:O reinforcement system is independent of anything but how many players have been killed. This allows mappers to create the illusion of a larger force than a 25-player team being involved in the fight by reinforcing (respawning) enough players to fill a company or battalion, for example.
7) Artillery Support: In the same vein as the reinforcement system, ingame artillery can be adjusted for explosive power, time of flight, barrage strength and number of rounds in a barrage to simulate anything from mortars through to a field battery or rocket launcher (Nebelwerfer or Katyusha depending on side) battery.
A sequel to the game, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, was released on September 15, 2011.
The following firearms appear in Red Orchestra 2: Ostfront 41-45:
Soviet Infantry Weapons
Sidearms
Tokarev TT-3
In the game, the Tokarev TT-33 is the standard sidearm of the Red Army, issued to officers, machine gunners, snipers, and vehicle crewmen with the standard 8-round box magazines.
Submachine Guns
PPD-40
An early Soviet submachine gun, the PPD-40, appears in-game fitted with a 71-round drum magazine. Due to the complexity and cost involved in construction, the largely machined steel weapon was phased out early in the war and replaced by the much cheaper stamped steel PPSh-41, so it only appears in the early war maps. While the real-life weapon is capable of firing from smaller box magazines, only the drum magazines are featured in the game. Due to an animation oversight, it appears to fire from a closed bolt ingame.
PPSh-41
The iconic weapon that became the symbol of the Red Army during the fight against the Germans in the Great Patriotic War, the PPSh-41 appears in-game as the standard submachine gun of the Soviet faction. It only fires from the 71-round drum magazine, despite the 35-round box magazines also being available; during the early period the drums were almost the sole method of loading the weapon, but during the later phases of the war it was not uncommon for infantry to only carry a single drum and several sticks since the drum was difficult to load and prone to jamming and misfeeds. Firing at 900 rpm, it easily has the highest recoil of any small arm in-game - counter to the real weapon, which is one of the most controllable pistol-calibre automatics produced. Another inconsistency with the real weapon is that the firing animation shows it firing from a closed bolt, versus an open bolt.
PPS-43
The PPS-43 was designed to provide vehicle and scout crews with a compact but reliable submachine gun that would be easier to manage in tight quarters. Per these requirements, it features a folding stock and only uses 35-round box magazines instead of drums like the earlier PPD-40 or PPSh-41. In-game, it is used by officers, tank commanders and specialized troops. Like the other Russian submachine guns in the game, it appears to fire from a closed bolt rather than the real-life open bolt. It is possible this is due to the developers using US-legal semiautomatic kits for animation references rather than truly authentic examples.
Rifles
Mosin Nagant M91/30
The Mosin Nagant M91/30 is the main service weapon of the Red Army in-game, utilizing a 5-round stripper clip. It can be attached with a bayonet. A marksman variant, fitted with the PU 3.5x sniper scope, is used by Russian snipers. The sniper rifle cannot fix a bayonet ingame, although its real counterpart can. The ingame PU sniper rifle has the early pre-war 'hex' receiver, which was no longer in production when the PU scope was introduced and never used on PU sniper rifles (only top-mount 4x PE scopes were used on these 'hex' rifles).
Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine
The Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine also appears in-game. It cannot be fitted with a bayonet owing to the different sight base assembly compared to a 91/30. The M38 and M44 carbine versions were primarily issued to engineers, rear-line troops, artillery gun crews, mechanised units and cavalry owing to their more manageable length. Like its parent rifle, it loads from a 5-round stripper clip.
Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine
The Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine is also used by the Red Army faction in-game, also using a 5-round stripper clip. Interestingly, the M44 bayonet is permanently attached in-game and cannot be folded or removed.
Tokarev SVT-40
A semi-automatic battle rifle introduced just prior to the USSR's entry into WWII. The rifle fires the same 7.62x54R round as the Mosin Nagant, fed from 10-round box magazines. The game features both a standard version capable of mounting a bayonet and a PU-scoped sniper version. The SVT seen ingame is slightly anachronistic, as the plum-coloured finish on the bolt would mean the rifle had been through the postwar rearsenal process.
PTRD-41
The PTRD-41 is used by the Russian faction's antitank class. Unlike the later PTRS-41 weapon (not featured in the game) which has a 5-round fixed magazine fed by en-bloc clips, the PTRD can only hold one round at a time. After each round is fired, the bolt is held open and a new round is manually loaded into the breech, similar in fashion to a large field artillery gun. This makes the firing/reloading process slow and cumbersome. The rounds are useful against light infantry vehicles and early war tanks such as the Panzer III, but have considerable difficulty penetrating late war German tanks such as the Tiger or Panther. A single hit with the PTRD will easily kill infantry (more often than not removing limbs), leading to some players repurposing it as a sniper rifle with amusing results. However, it does have an accuracy advantage over the German Panzerfaust, as well as being able to fire more shots (despite the PTRD rounds being far less powerful then the Panzerfaust rocket).
Machine Guns
Degtyaryov DP-28
The standard light machine gun for the Soviet faction, the Degtyaryov DP-28 fires 7.62x54R rounds from a 47-round pan magazine affixed to the top of the weapon and uses a folding bipod. It features a reasonable rate of fire and accuracy, but unlike its German counterparts (and its real life counterpart) does not have interchangeable barrels; this was apparently done by Tripwire because their research suggested most DP gunners were not issued spare barrels. This can result in the weapon overheating and jamming if it is not allowed to cool.
Degtyaryov DT
A variant of the DP-28 designed for vehicle use, the Degtyaryov DT is mounted in the Russian T-34/76 and /85 (co-axial and radio operator), IS-2 (co-axial only) and T-60 (co-axial only) tanks, as well as the Universal Carrier (bow machine gunner) and the BA-64 (turret-mounted).
Grenades
F-1 Hand Grenade
The F-1 Hand Grenade is the standard fragmentation grenade in use by the Soviet forces in-game. Note that the Soviets called it a "lemon" (limonka), not unlike the U.S. Mk2 "Pineapple". This also became the slang word for any fragmentation grenade.
RDG-1 Smoke Grenade
A Soviet smoke grenade that covers a large area in non-incendiary white phosphorous. Two apiece are typically carried by Soviet infantry commanders.
German Infantry Weapons
Sidearms
Luger P08
The Luger P08 appears in-game used as a sidearm by tank crewmen, machine gunners, snipers, and infantry officers. It holds an 8-round magazine.
Walther P38
The Walther P38 is also available in-game, used as an alternative to the Luger by the same classes. Like the Luger, it loads from an 8-round magazine.
Rifles
Karabiner 98k
The Karabiner 98k appears in-game as the standard German battle rifle, a bolt action weapon loading from 5-round stripper clips. It is accurate and powerful to great distances. Both the standard and scoped sniper variants, the latter fitted with a Zeiss ZF42 telescopic sight, are featured in the game, with the bayonet available only on the standard version.
Gewehr 41(W)
An early German semi-auto battle rifle, the Gewehr 41(W) appears in earlier maps. Unlike its contemporary, the SVT-40, its magazine was fixed and its gas system used a gas trap with an annular piston, rather than the more usual (and reliable) gas port with regular piston. As a result, the G41(W) was not very reliable, although this is not represented in the game since malfunctions aren't simulated. Reloading is performed via the top of the weapon via single rounds or 5-round stripper clips. In the game, you can only reload via 5-round stripper clips and only if you have fired more than 5 rounds. The (W) indicates it was manufactured by Walther and not Mauser. Despite both G41 versions being fitted with bayonet lugs to accept the standard Kar98k bayonet, it is not available ingame.
Gewehr 43
The Gewehr 43 appears in-game as the successor to the G41(W), using 10-round detachable box magazines. In the game, the player can equip either the standard version or the scoped sniper variant fitted with a ZF 4 telescopic sight. The G43's gas system was actually a reverse-engineered copy of the SVT-40's, leading to greatly improved reliability. However, the rifle's gas system used so much power to cycle that the G43 had an unfortunate habit over time of 'beating itself to death' as per its Soviet cousin; this is not modelled ingame and was seldom even a concern until encountered by postwar owners. The scoped version allows the player to sustain a greater rate of fire than the scoped Kar98k, at the cost of somewhat reduced accuracy.
Sturmgewehr 44
The prototype for all future assault rifles, the Sturmgewehr 44 is a weapon that combines the power of a battle rifle with the close-quarters effectiveness of a submachine gun. It fires from a 30-round magazine and is featured in later war maps. The game allows the player to use a selector switch to alternate between semi-auto and full-automatic fire.
Submachine Guns
MP40
The MP40 appears amongst the German faction in-game. It is an effective submachine gun that features low rate of fire and low recoil, which makes for great accuracy and control, an excellent advantage over the Soviet PPSh-41. In the game it is commonly carried by squad leaders, tank commanders, and a small percentage of infantry. Like the PPSh, the MP40 became an icon of the German war machine, despite the Karabiner 98k being issued in greater numbers.
MP41
The MP-41 version is nearly identical to the MP40 aside from the replacement of the folding metal stock with a fixed wooden stock; this was only used in small numbers and mostly issued to police and other rear-area units, so it is unclear why Tripwire included it in the game. It is generally carried by the same classes that use the MP40, if not in lesser numbers.
Machine Guns
MG34
The MG34 is the standard early-war machine gun for the German players and the world's first true general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). It fires from a side-mounted 50-round drum magazine and also comes in-game with replaceable barrels to prevent overheating. It can be fired from its bipod or from the hip, although the latter method is extremely difficult to control due to the heavy recoil and rate of fire. It is also featured in nearly every German vehicle in the game, including the Panzer III (co-axial and radio operator), Panzer IV F1/F2/G/H (co-axial and radio operator), Panther (co-axial and radio operator), Tiger (co-axial and radio operator), and SdKfz 251 halftrack (roof-mounted).
MG42
A redesign of the MG34 that was designed to supplant its earlier cousin, the MG42 appears in-game amongst German troops in later maps. Originally intended to replace the MG34, the older design remained in use regardless until the end of the war, although the cheaper, stamped-metal MG42 overtook it by far in production. It has an extremely high rate of fire (1,200 rounds per minute) and, like the MG34, its barrel can be replaced to combat overheating. In the scope of the game, it can only be fired deployed from its bipod, using 100-round belts instead of 50-round drums.
Launchers
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust appears in-game as a disposable antitank launcher, bearing a shaped charge warhead. In the game, both sides have access to it on certain maps and measures are taken to simulate the aiming methods used by the real weapon, including the range scales and ballistics. It is highly effective in urban combat maps where tanks and vehicles are vulnerable to infantry attack from concealed positions.
Grenades
Model 24 Stielhandgranate
The Model 24 Stielhandgranate is the standard "stick" grenade in use by the German forces in-game.
Nebelhandgranate 39
The Nebelhandgranate 39 appears in-game as a smoke grenade that covers a large area in white smoke. Two are typically carried by German infantry officers.