Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Weapons Analysis A Look At How Range and Player Health Affect Weapon Effectiveness and Gameplay Balance -=B2Z=- Scallion

Overview Assumptions Arguments Principles for Picking Adjustment Graphical Analysis Proposal

Assumptions All analysis is based on values found in COD4 %game path%\main\iw_11.iwd file Ranges are assumed to be in inches (assumption from IW Forums) and have been converted to yards Range considerations based on map scaling,.iwd files and gameplay needs; not based on real weapons

Assumptions (ctd) Damage values between min and max damage ranges are scaled by a percentile (available on request, found on IW Forums) No perks were used for adjustment of values – Juggernaught and Stopping Power cancel each other out; adjustment based on these places one or the other at advantage to the expense of those not using these perks Analysis does not consider explosive weapons; may be included in future work

Arguments Normal mode requires an unrealistic number of hits to produce a kill Hardcore mode eliminates balance in weapons with (arbitrary?) health selection Weapon balance must be restored to make game more enjoyable to players

Adjustment Principles Headshots should typically result in a kill Engagement beyond 40 yds is province of snipers and allows relaxation of this point Reasonable limitations for weapon type should be considered 2 or 3 shots to kill are reasonable, depending on weapon type and range Non-headshots should not typically result in kill

Analysis Unless otherwise stated, graphs assume a non-headshot Root data available by request (contact Scallion at b2zclan.com) Drop-offs noted in second graph are fairly constant across all graphs; note classes

Note: This appears to be case if all minimum and maximum damage ranges are equal. Useful for comparing weapon power.

2-D Plots These charts show the distribution of required shots at range Allows quick idea of number of rounds most guns require to kill These are normal (non-head) shots Note top section in 30 and 42 health is exclusively the two shotguns Additional plots for other health levels may be obtained by contacting -=B2Z=- Scallion (please specify health setting you require)

The problems with this are immediately evident and led to development of hardcore mode.

Hardcore mode allows a 1-shot kill for every weapon. Inherently, this skews favor towards a majority single-shot kills, reducing balance of weapons which do not provide this advantage.

Restores balance to weapons. Single-shot weapons tend to be lower firing-rate, slower-reloading, less accurate, etc

The Fix By adjusting modded server player health to 42, a balance is restored to the game, without loss of hardcore elements Allows a quick fix, without adjustment of 26 weapon files; retains quality of well reasoned adjustment

Conveniently: