2. Better weaponry ?
If you've heard the arguments, you may move on, but if they are new to you...
Let's look at the weapons each side uses from a standpoint of practicality. My personal favorite is the
support class, and most every dedicated support player prefers the STG 44 over the BAR. Why? Refer to the code below.
Code:
// Weapon characteristics:
"Damage" "50"
"Accuracy" "0.025"
"SecondaryAccuracy" "0.02"
"AccuracyMovePenalty" "0.1"
"Recoil" "5.0"
"Penetration" "1.0"
"FireDelay" "0.12"
"SecondaryFireDelay" "0.3"
This is the decompiled script containing weapon statistics used for both the STG 44 and the BAR. The recoil, rate of fire, damage, and all else is the same and will always be the same for both weapons. The only difference between the two? The STG 44 has over 30% more ammunition per magazine. The additional ammunition is an enormous advantage to support players in the sewers or the wheelhouse where indirect or missed shots can deplete your ammunition and leave targets remaining.
The STG44 also has a higher point modifier in the HLXStat system, which baffles me by the way, but that means STG users earn more points and, consequently, lose less over time to deaths by the BAR (I think). Weapon files can be found in /orangebox/dod/scripts/ listed as weapon_*.ctx.
Machine guns. Is there anyone here who can claim to be better at the .30 Cal than the MG-42? If so, why aren't you on Kalt?? Because, let's be honest, with the exception of very few people the MG-42 is a far superior casualty producing weapon on Kalt. They are fearsome, their overheating is never a huge issue, and their rate of fire is so wildly suppressive that you cannot slip through a burst of MG-42 fire (I can literally strafe in and out of a stream of .30 Cal). Yes, that's subjective, but eGO prefers the MG-42 and from my experience it is the superior weapon on Kalt. Want numbers? The MG-42 accounts for more than 40,000 more kills on eGO servers than the .30 Cal (as of 8-17-09). Moving on...
The rifle. The K98 is a ranged monster that tends to fare much better than its Allied counterpart. I say it tends to fare better not because the weapon is better (that is for a different thread) but because the players that use K98's are usually better than those who use Garands. I can think of a dozen very capable K98 riflemen off the top of my head and only a handful of Allied rifleman that could match them (on Kalt).
The assault. The Thompson and MP40 are very similar weapons, official DoDs stats place the Thompson slightly ahead in terms of usage (as does eGO) but headshots are shooting at about the same here so the effect of these weapons is negligible.
With superior weapons, what follows must be...
3. Better players.
Yes, I went there. There is an ingrained mentality on Kalt. The perception is that the Axis are the better team (which they are) and therefore the better players continue to join them and, as a result, the Axis play better. The cycle perpetuates itself indefinitely. These players flock to the better weapons because, why? They perform better with them. Did I mention that the STG 44 hits at ~26% headshots versus the BAR's ~18%? With identical weapon characteristics, the reason for this is simple: Axis players (on the whole) have better skill. Players will sit as a spectator for 20,30, 40 seconds to a minute waiting for a slot to open up on the Axis team and they would do this before even considering joining the Allies. I've seen this, and we've all (mostly) been guilty of it at some point.
I could find dozens of first-rate Kalt players (or Avalanche players for that matter) who join the Axis more than 75% of the time (you can view this in HLStats by finding the player and viewing their ?Teams & Actions? tab). Challenge: find me three or more dominating forces on Kalt who have joined the Allies more than 60% of the time. Don't bother looking in the top 10, or the top 20, 30...