Heavy Machine Gun

Heavy Machine Gun
Weapon type	Other
Technical specifications
Magazine size	Infinite
Ammunition	Infinite
Damage per shot	50
Rate of fire	8 bullets each second
Damage per second	400
Damage per magazine	Infinite
Total damage	Infinite

The Heavy Machine Gun is a mounted weapon featured in Left 4 Dead 2. It is new in the sense that it replaces the Minigun from Left 4 Dead. It fires extremely powerful bullets accurately and operates with a slower rate of fire relative to the Minigun. Ammunition is unlimited. Unlike the Minigun, there is no wind-up time and it fires the instant the trigger is operated.

The HMG can fire continuously for 15 seconds and takes one minute to cool down if it overheats.

The only sign of overheating is the barrel glowing from orange to yellow hot, indicating that it's about to overheat and any further usage will render it useless for a full minute.

Locations

• The Plantation ― Located at the center of the top floor overlooking the garden at the rear of the plantation house. (Mostly useless, since enemies and even tanks can come from where it is unable to cover)
• The Bridge ― Just before the drop-off to the helipad, the Heavy Machine Gun is located on a truck directly opposite the drop down. (Useless, since nobody would need it at that point)
• The Port ― Used by Louis on the bridge during the finale. It can only be used by players if Louis is kicked via console commands (the command is under sv_cheats: kick Louis).
• Port Finale ― Located on the bridge during the finale. It is usable in both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

Tactics

• Firing short bursts (rather than holding the trigger down) gives a steady rate of fire and will delay, if not prevent, overheating. Short bursts on demand are possible because there is no wind-up time like the Minigun found in Left 4 Dead.
• The Heavy Machine Gun, like the Minigun, uses the crosshair of whatever weapon (melee, guns or items) the operator is currently holding. In gameplay, this seamless transition makes aiming the Heavy Machine Gun easy and instinctive, but has no effect on the weapon's accuracy. The weapon's crosshair expands and contracts infinitely and automatically thus coping perfectly with targets at all ranges. This effect can be used to change the crosshair of the Heavy Machine Gun to best suit the player's preference or play style, helping players fire more accurately without improving the accuracy of the gun itself.
• AI Tanks are programmed to attack the player operating the Heavy Machine Gun. This feature can be used to the Survivors' advantage in two ways: Firstly, AI Tanks can be drawn into a "killing zone" whereby they are overwhelmed by concentrated interlocking fire from the gun and other teammates. Secondly, AI Tanks can be drawn away from threatened teammates by mounting the Heavy Machine Gun.
• The Heavy Machine Gun is in a favorable position in the finale of The Sacrifice. It is placed on the bridge, allowing the gunner to cover the entire intersection plus the generator area, possibly allowing the sacrificing Survivor to live long enough to restart the generator. The gun's location is also out of reach for most Infected. Furthermore, AI Tanks will also attempt to target the HMG, not the sacrificing player.
  • However, to make it happen at least 2 human players are required, as bots will not do the sacrifice.
• In The Port, the Heavy Machine Gun manned by Louis is very helpful when trying to achieve KITE LIKE A MAN.
• In The Plantation, the gun is on a balcony overlooking a hedged garden. However, very few (if any) Common Infected attack from that direction and from angles covered by the gun. Players choosing to defend from this position can try to improve their chances by throwing bile bombs down into the area covered by the gun and hope that the Tanks will spawn in the same area.
  • Though, in the Survival Guide trailer, Rochelle fires it from the bottom floor, this is impossible in-game unless the HMG is spawned via concole commands there. It's likely an early-development video.
• In The Bridge, the gun appears once the Survivors have accessed the bridge and the end-of-finale phase has begun. It's useful when playing on survival mode.

Notes

• The Heavy Machine Gun appears to be modeled after the Browning M2HB .50cal heavy machine gun.
• Compared to the Minigun, it is easier for the Heavy Machine Gun to overheat.
• The absence of a visible bullet belt/ejection feed animation when firing could be the cause to put a yellow/black cover over the ammo box and feed port on the gun.
• The Heavy Machine Gun was originally going to have limited ammo, unlike the minigun which has infinite ammo.
• The Heavy Machine Gun is mistakenly listed as "Minigun" in the stats.
• Unlike the Minigun, there is never a chance to "Cr0wn" a Witch in the canon campaigns because no Witches spawn in areas covered by the Heavy Machine Gun (except for some in Custom Campaigns).
• There is a Heavy Machine Gun present in the beta version of the Waterfront + Park level, located on a tower just before the CEDA checkpoint and the Gauntlet Crescendo. Whether this was going to be a placement in the final game, or simply used to test the weapon's use is unknown. The latter is suggested, due to the presence of many newer weapons/items in this test level.
• Louis uses a Heavy Machine Gun to defend the new Survivors in The Passing. However, his stance resembles him using a Minigun due to him re-using animations made for him in Left 4 Dead 2.
  • If Louis is removed using the console, a player can take his place on this Heavy Machine Gun.
• The Heavy Machine Gun appears in the finale of The Sacrifice in The Port, which is also the same area for the finale of The Passing. The Heavy Machine Gun also appears in the Left 4 Dead version of The Sacrifice even though it is not used anywhere else in the same game; presumably, this was done to help with storyline continuity and the overall job of tying both campaigns together.
• The Heavy Machine Gun takes over the Minigun's entity and properties in Left 4 Dead 2 and uses both the prop_mounted_machine_gun and prop_minigun entities.
• In The Plantation, using and dismounting the Heavy Machine Gun on the balcony will sometimes cause it to spray blood.
• The Heavy Machine Gun formerly replaced the Minigun in the Left 4 Dead 2 ports of the original campaigns, which is odd considering that the Minigun was kept in when No Mercy was ported over to Left 4 Dead 2. As of the January 13th, 2012 patch, the Minigun is in all the ported versions of the Left 4 Dead campaigns. Death Toll was updated later on January 21st to use the minigun in place of the Heavy Machine Gun.
• The Mounted Machine Gun has three console commands;
  • mounted_gun_overheat_penalty - The time, in seconds, for the gun to cool before it can be operated again.
  • mounted_gun_overheat_time - The time it takes for the gun to overheat.
  • mounted_gun_rate_of_fire - The rate of fire, in seconds.
• A Tank will always spawn on the helipad every time a player uses the Heavy Machine Gun (or simply climbs up the army truck) at the end of the bridge in The Parish. This is because of a script attached to not just the gun itself, but the truck as well, meaning that simply jumping on the truck and staying for too long will continuously spawn Tanks.
  • Another interesting fact is that the rumbling sound made by the Tank on the helipad sounds different than the normal Tank walk.
  • Additionally, the tank does not attach the chopper, for some reason.

Gallery

The Heavy Machine Gun seen from Rochelle's perspective in a Survival level from The Parish campaign.

Rochelle using the Heavy Machine Gun in the Zombie Survival Guide trailer.

Louis using the Heavy Machine Gun as seen in The Passing.

The Mounted Machine Gun on The Bridge level of Left 4 Dead 2.

External Links

• CVG video on the Parish Bridge finale, featuring the heavy machine gun. Although it cannot clearly be seen, the long barrel is visible, and the rate of fire can be seen. A tool-tip comes up clearly saying, "Heavy Machine Gun"
• IGN Preview of Swamp Fever campaign which mentions "a more powerful, mounted machine gun" but also that "these more powerful weapons have limited ammo".
• L4D2 - Zombie Survival Guide
• http://www.l4d-game.de/2009/10/30/uncut/ ― the Feature Video on the German L4D page shows the Heavy Machine Gun from first person view at 3:20.