Equipment

This category covers two areas:
1) Equipment choice - What to pick and why
2) Equipment stats - Damage stats, Fire rate etc.
Comment, correct and send general suggestions regarding this category here.
* Updated within the last 7 days

Tips
Automatics
Extra ammo
Grenades
HK69
Kevlar and Helmet saves the day
Knife
Medic
Night Vision Goggles
Pistol
Secondaries
Silencer vs. Laser
SPAS
SR8 vs. PSG
Weapon stats

Automatics
The basic carbines (LR300/M4/AK) work pretty much everywhere and are all great choices as your "first gun". The damage and rate of fire is the same for LR300 and M4 but after being inspired by another player's video I checked the recovery time for both guns and there is a noticeable difference with M4 being the quicker (better) one. I haven't found the video (or demo) again but I remember it suggested there was some kind of difference in, I believe, spread pattern that was to LR300's advantage. When I've found some comments on this I'll post them but for now I can't say much more regarding LR300 and M4.

AK is a bit different with slightly lower firing rate in exchange for slightly higher damage (compared to LR300/M4). Which of the three you prefer is something you have to work out for yourself.

G36 is different and a bit more difficult to use effectively (in my opinion). As sniper it's outperformed by SR8 and in close quarters by LR300/M4/AK, instead the G36 needs to be used as a G36 and nothing else. G36 is a great weapon from mid to long range due to the combination of its great firing rate and scope. I would personally not recommend anyone to start off with G36 since it's a bit more specialised than LR300/M4/AK.

Finally we have Negev, AKA the n00b gun. Negev's size and firing rate draws most new players' attention sooner or later but the problem is that it's not a good substitute for LR300/M4/AK. Why? The damage output is simply too low. Actually Negev (together with Mp5) has the lowest damage per hit in the game! And the firing rate is not making up for this if you check the stats further down.

However, the restriction for no secondary doesn't really matter and the stamina penalty was removed in 4.0 so in situations where the damage is less of a problem and the huge clip / awesome firing rate is important, Negev has its obvious use. Examples for such situations are when providing cover fire, forcing the enemy back or as a finisher. Anyway, when you're somewhat of a pro, look back and see if Negev still feels interesting, in the meanwhile, my advice is to stay away from it.
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (7)

Extra ammo
My opinion is that extra ammo, in almost all situations, is a waste of equipment. If you survive long enough to run out of ammo you have most likely:

• Shot awfully bad! (probably sprayed too much)


• You've picked a strange weapon (like Negev or PSG) giving you no new ammo from drops.


• Reloaded your gun too frequently.

However, I have received a comment (credit to KD197) suggesting that it could be useful to, for example, snipers that rarely move in enemy territory making it less common to run into dropped ammo (especially in TDM/CTF where you can survive for a long time before re-spawning with new ammo).
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (1)

Grenades
Grenades are a good choice for any player.

• HE can be used to give you time, kill foes, as a diversion and a lot more.


• Smoke can be used to help you escape, stop enemy "bombardment", be a diversion and a lot more.

Check out the grenade note in the Player Tactics category for a bunch of useful tips regarding grenades.
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (0)

HK69
I won't call this gun useless but it sure requires very specific tactics and scenarios to be of any use. I guess you could start with it, push back / kill enemies early on and then, as soon as possible, switch it with a weapon on the ground... and of course this is also a very unappreciated, yet effective, weapon on a crowded public server, but a crowded public in general is quite different in terms of tactics.
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (0)

Kevlar and Helmet saves the day
Almost all my gear sets use kevlar and helmet (even my sniper gear). Protection gives you more time to act since you survive longer in exchange for stamina (wears out more quickly with kevlar). It sure limits your gear a lot to always pick kevlar and helmet but the gain is huge so it's hard not to.

Notice though that SR8 does the same damage against both protected and unprotected targets making Kevlar and Helmet a less obvious choice if you expect your biggest threat to be SR8 bullets (credit to KD197).
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (2)

Knife
The Urban Terror knife is not a sneaky one stab kill, unless you hit a target, without helmet, in the head or the target is injured. However...

Up close, guns can act a bit weird with barrels going through bodies making knife useful. Also, even though it's damage, it's still a sneaky weapon. Don't forget to set the "firing mode" to stab though, throwing might be fun but it's not very useful.

I never play on knife only servers so I know very little about knife battles. Someone who knows this better are welcome to confirm if this how to is useful or not.
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (2)

Medic
A good heal can often be compared to a kill! Of course useful in survival game types (TS/Bomb) but it requires you to survive well (mainly play defensively) to actually become useful. Very handy and easier to use in TDM since you will pass a lot of injured team members. In CTF medkit can save players from dying (having to wait to be re-spawned), give an injured flag runner more stamina and is excellent in the case of both flags being held to save the flag runner. But its use may not be as obvious in CTF as in other game types since dying doesn't matter as much. Should be left out in FFA/1on1 (some quicker bandage is the only benefit) but I guess that's common sense.

In case someone didn't know the medkit works the other way around as well. If a player with medkit is healed by a player without medkit he can still be healed back to 90%.
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (0)

Night Vision Goggles
Night Vision Goggles (AKA NVGs, Tac Goggles, Visors) are a bit like nukes, very powerful but when they backfire the result is devastating. Extremely powerful when combined with smoke (unfortunately often exploited in a bad way in publics). The backfire part is that you can't see the difference between a friend and a foe which isn't a problem in a tight, well coordinated group but when things become messy you should have an easy to reach key to turn them off.

Friend or Foe?

Notice that NVGs work with scoped weapons

Last updated Oct 2010 | comment (1)

Pistol
Your pistol is a very important part of equipment no matter what primary you choose. Try both and find your favourite. When you're out of ammo with your primary and either have to move to a secure spot to reload or continue fighting, your Pistol is what will keep you safe. Don't consider your pistol some kind of "necessary junk", it's a lifesaver!

So, Desert Eagle or Beretta? Well Desert Eagle has a terrifying damage per shot making it a one hit kill against even moderately damaged targets but its clip size is not impressive. Also Desert Eagle suffers from a really bad spread. The first one or two bullets are quite accurate but after that spread becomes a mess and it's not very quick at recovering back to normal.

Beretta is the complete opposite with the lowest damage in the game (except it's a one shot kill against an unprotected head which Mp5 and Negev are not) but with very low spread and 15 bullets per clip. Which one you prefer is personal choice.

Desert Eagle, fired quickly

Beretta, fired quickly

Desert Eagle, tried to compensate for recoil

Last updated Oct 2010 | comment (0)

Secondaries

• A secondary is a good choice for snipers (SR8 and PSG) and HK69, but playing with pistol to save up an equipment slot works as well.


• I share a very common opinion (based on UrT resources I've found) that picking a secondary when playing an automatic rifle is a waste of equipment. However, not everyone agrees to this (comment from KD197) which is good to know.

Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (0)

Silencer vs. Laser
Laser is more effective than Silencer in lowering spread, which is very handy. The big difference between the two though is that Silencer makes you harder to spot while Laser often gives away your position. You want to aim in the direction of the enemy but that will also alarm everyone about your whereabouts. Lasers are better in 1on1 battles but silencer can instead turn the 1on1 into an ambush which I find a lot more useful. Use Laser with care if you're going to use it at all.


Could there be someone on the other side?
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (1)

SPAS
I've collected the damage and fire rate stats for all guns in the same article... except SPAS. Why? Well, SPAS is strange...

SPAS damage seems quite random. My first assumption though was that SPAS shoots out a consistent amount of pellets... This theory didn't work in reality. Shooting at a wall from the same distance can end with anything from 5 to 12 marks in the wall (higher/lower values might exist but that's what I've seen). I've still not figured this one out.

Second assumption was that each pellet did the same amount of damage each time. This looks quite possible when close to min and at max damage (everything is multiples of 4) but in between you can get values like 19, 51 or 47.

Okay, so what can I say about SPAS? Well...

1. Max damage is 80%.


2. All hits are reported as "Body" even when it's clear all pellets must have hit the torso for example.


3. SPAS does the same damage no matter where it hits (an up close shot with all pellets hitting, at the torso or thigh, both inflict 80% damage).


4. SPAS don't care about protection scoring the same maximum on targets with and without kevlar/helmet (probably connected to the fact that SPAS hits are reported as Body hits).


5. Distance is important since the spread is terrible.

Final word: Always aim at the center of the target (usually torso) since a headshot will inflict lower damage due to more pellets missing!


12 marks in the first hit, 8 in the second, 10 in the last, all fired from the same distance.
The third example also demonstrates SPAS's nasty spread with no pellets hitting where
I was actually aiming (just slightly below the center of the "circle")
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (1)

SR8 vs. PSG
What you want as a sniper is a one shot, one kill scenario. SR8 accomplishes this when hitting torso or head (including targets with kevlar and helmet) while limb hits do 50% damage to the target.

PSG will not kill in one shot against torso (97% damage and bleeding without kevlar, 63% damage with kevlar) which is a big drawback, big enough to make it very unpopular in competitive play. The advantage is firing rate making it a decent finisher. Some players fancy the PSG and actually do pretty well with it but a common opinion is that SR8 is simply the only choice for snipers.


In a situation like this you want that shot to kill
(in this particular case, pressing print screen was a poor choice)
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (2)

Weapon stats

RoF = Rate of Fire measured in bullets per second (full auto).
DpS = RoF multiplied with damage against kevlar just to give a general impression of the guns' damage output.
Notice! RoF is based on stopwatch statistics from demos and not from actual source code. Due to this neither RoF nor DpS is exact but accurate enough for most of us.

Boot kick does 20% damage no matter where you hit and no matter if you got kevlar/helmet (the hit is always registered as torso even with kevlar).

SPAS got its own article since it's quite a special gun.

For more stats, check out Taggedzi's Urban Terror Oasis.
Last updated Sep 2010 | comment (1)