Weapon Mechanics

Reload

Weapons consume ammunition to fire. Each weapon draws from their own pool of ammunition, separated into rounds that are currently loaded in the weapon and the rest in weapon's ammunition reserves.

When the rounds in the magazine are fully consumed, the player will need perform a reload to restock the weapon's magazine with fresh ammunition, drawing from the reserve pool.

The player can also choose to perform a reload with rounds still left in the magazine. This is known as a Tactical Reload. Any rounds that are still in the magazine are returned to the pool of reserve ammunition. Depending on the weapon, tactical reloads are often faster than reloading an empty weapon.

The player can interrupt in the middle of a reload by sprinting, swapping weapons, or attempting to fire any remaining bullets. Doing so will cancel any progress of the reload. Reloads are only completed when the ammunition counter is visually updated.

Upon emptying a weapon's magazine, the player will automatically attempt to start reloading. Attempting to shoot an empty weapon will also do the same.

If a weapon has no more bullets in reserve, the player will be unable to reload their weapon.

Feed Systems

Broadly speaking, weapons are either reloaded using removable magazines or per round.

Removable Magazines

Most weapons are fed with detachable magazines, or similar mechanisms, that allow the weapon to be fully replenished in a single action. Regardless of the number of rounds expended, the weapon will be fully loaded after completing the reload.

If the player does not have the reserves ammunition for a full magazine, a partially loaded magazine with the remaining rounds will be loaded instead.

If the reload process is interrupted partially through, all progress is canceled and the player will have to fully restart the next time they attempt a reload.

Per Round

Some weapons are reloaded per round, or per shell. These weapons generally have internal magazines that are reloaded by replenishing a single round at a time.

These weapons will often take a longer time to fully stock up. However, they have the advantage of being able to be topped-up at any time. Each individual round is often replenished rather quickly.

These reloads can be safely interrupted part way through, keeping any rounds that have been already inserted into the weapon.

Reload Times

The reload duration of each weapon can be one of their most distinguishing features. Some weapons reload in an instant while others take a painfully long time.

In general, handguns are often the quickest to reload. While heavier weapons, such as light machine guns have a much lengthier process.

Penetration

Bullets can fully penetrate through zombies and continue to travel, hitting and damaging any zombies behind the original target. The amount of damage retained after striking a target and the number of targets a bullet can fully penetrate is dependent on the penetration value of the weapon.

There are three penetration values a base weapon can have:

• Low penetration (1)
• Moderate penetration (2)
• High penetration (3)

Bullets will inflict full damage to the first target struck. Each subsequent target will receive reduced damage. Each target the bullet passes through reduces subsequent damage by 50% divided by the penetration value. Once the remaining bullet penetration damage falls below 50%, the bullet stops traveling and does not hit any further targets. As such, the penetration value is indicative of the amount of zombies that a bullet can fully pass through, with the penetration value + 1 being the maximum possible number of targets a bullet can damage.

Bullet penetration damage can be expressed through the following formula.

${\text{Penetration Multiplier}}={\begin{cases}1-({\frac {0.5}{\text{Penetration Value}}}\times {\text{Targets Penetrated}})&{\text{if Targets Penetrated}}\leq {\text{Penetration Value}}\\0&{\text{if Targets Penetrated}}>{\text{Penetration Value}}\\\end{cases}}$

Bullets will seamlessly pass through any other players without causing harm to them. Shooting through obstructing players does not impede bullets and will not count towards the penetration damage calculations as additional targets.

Comparison of Penetration Values

The following table shows the bullet damage on each target, depending on the penetration value of the weapon.

Penetration Value	First Target	Second Target	Third Target	Forth Target	Fifth Target	Sixth Target	Total
Low (1)	100.00%	50.00%	-	-	-	-	150.00%
Moderate (2)	100.00%	75.00%	50.00%	-	-	-	225.00%
High (3)	100.00%	83.33%	66.67%	50.00%	-	-	300.00%
Very High (4)	100.00%	87.50%	75.00%	62.50%	50.00%	-	375.00%