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Why would they need nerfed?  They're kinda poor now not because guns or ammo are uncommon, they're poor because every zombie within a mile comes running as soon as you shoot.

They could easily be more common, and could include semi-automatic rifles (which are quite common), and still not be overpowered.  I mean if we're aiming for a realistic depiction of rural Kentucky, you should be practically tripping over guns.

Side note: How come you often find a gun but no ammo, or ammo but no gun?  I could see it happening sometimes, but it should be rare.  Like, you'll find a pistol in a dresser in some house, but no ammo for it anywhere in the building.  Or visa versa, you find ammo, but no corresponding gun in the building.

oh boy, you may not have been around for some of the Silencer/ Suppressor thread battles we have had in here. to call it divisive may be an understatement. check out some of these threads to see just how....heated...this topic can get
 
http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/15504-silencer-andor-makeshift-silencer/#comment-191580
 
http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11876-yet-another-silencer-thread-that-will-be-locked-if-it-gets-out-of-hand/&page=2
 
hmmm, that may not work like it used to. if you cannot go to the thread, just search for either silencer or suppressor in the search feature

At some stage there will be more types of guns added. However, the actual balance of the game may result in there being a less than there may be in Kentucky, if we feel that this is needed for balance. Gameplay > Realism is always our choice, we just like to keep it as real as we can within gameplay confines. But yes you're not going to be picking up suppressors and similar to pop on your gun in every other house certainly. Also at any future point we get the military in all bets are off from heavier gear at that point, but of course such things would be only in military hands not in peoples wardrobes.

Yes, increasing the spawn rate of the current crop of guns and ammo would give you too much because there are only FOUR ammo types and a handful of weapons... but if they added more weapons, and more importantly, more ammo types that problem would just plain go away: You'd have to find USABLE ammo for weapons you actually OWN.

Weapons and ammo that I think would fit the gameworld and era:

PISTOLS
9mm pistol(current is fine)
.45 govt model - 7+1rnd
.40 police pistol - 13+1rnd
.22 target pistol - 10+1rnd
.380 pocket pistol - 7+1rnd
.38 pocket revolver - 5rnd
.357 revolver(should be able to use .38 as well, to be realistic) - 6rnd

SHOTGUNS
12 gauge pump(current is fine, make it more rare than the 20ga & .410)
20 gauge field - 4+1rnd
.410 youth - 4+1rnd

RIFLES
Varmit Rifle - change to semi auto, .223/5.56, 10+1rnd
Sporter Rifle/Carbine (semi-auto) - .223/5.56, 30+1rnd (rare)
Assault Rifle/Carbine (full auto) - .223/5.56, 30+1rnd (ultra rare)
Youth/Target Rifle (semi-auto) - .22, 10+1rnd
Bolt-Action Rifle A - .308, 4+1rnd
Bolt-Action Rifle B - .30-06, 4+1rnd
Lever Action Rifle A - .30-30, 6+1
Lever Action Rifle B  - .357 magnum, 9+1rnd
Lever Action Rifle C - .22, 19+1(may seem op but .22 lever actions are awkward/time consuming to reload)

This would increase the variety and more or less reflect the real world circa 1993 without going full call of duty throwing in exotic crap and tons of military gear. Remember: more ammo types and weapons=harder to find exactly what you need.

 
 

Should we reduce the massive numbers of foods, furniture and craftables and use our imagination as well? We have to track our calories now in the base game for gods sake. This games depth is clearly one of its strong points and the firearms have little to no depth. Poor argument.

I agree but it would be nice to have a revolver to help my imagination   

Remember the Lost Kids in Hook? Remember how they eat? Just do the same with firearms x) 

Blows my mind that you think the military will be running around with shotguns and varmint rifles . . . just because TIS doesn't want the world crammed with firearms or for the game to be defined by its firearm selection.

^This pretty much tells the whole tale.
 
If they plan on expanding the game with some Military content, then there should absolutely be Auto and Semi-Auto firearms in the game. And i'm quite certain that guards at Fort Knox carry around such firearms too.
 
So if ANYTHING, the additions of Fort Knox and other Military elements should come close to flooding the game with high caliber militaristic firearms.

They clearly do care about realism though.  That's why we're getting a nutrition system.  It's why fire spreads and is dangerous both to you and zombies.  It's why you can get cut by broken glass then die a week later from infection.

He's not saying they're anti-gun.  He's saying that because they didn't grow up in a gun-friendly country, they don't get how jarring it is to have so few guns in rural Kentucky.

Maybe the reason why the developers have made there be so few guns and bullets is because they are themselves from a country where guns are rare, and have not experienced or imagined the gun culture in the place.

Thanks for that, nice to know that I am wrong just because you say I am. There was zero need to be that demeaning and rude.
 
 
I am done here. Go ahead, passive-aggressively mock me all you want.

We've been over this.  The game would not be any more about killing everything, or any less about day-to-day survival if it had a more realistic variety of guns.  They'd still be very loud, and so would draw in zombies from all around.  They wouldn't make you any less likely to starve to death, or get unlucky and get scratched and infected.  Have you ever been able to just take a shotgun and all the ammo you can carry to the mall and kill all the zombies there?  No?  Then why would that be any more likely if they added a few kinds of guns?

I'm not saying we need something like Jagged Alliance, with hundreds of kinds of guns.  I'm saying we are missing major archetypes of guns.  No semi-auto long guns.  No revolvers.  No full-autos.  You know, we even have all the ingredients in-game already to make slamfire shotguns.  All they are is two pieces of pipe and a nail.  They're totally something survivors would make, and they'd fit right in with the crafting of the game.
 

Well if you're looking for challenge in the post zombie-apocalypse world, try Singapore. Per square mile, they would have about 20,000 zombies and less than 100 guns. You would be so buff from killing all those zombies with a baseball bat.

If the amount of guns currently in the game is what they'd like to keep it at, well, I definitely challenge that. There is so much more room to play with than they think there is when it comes to keeping the game balanced and not easy. 

One thing that bothers me about the guns is that the varmint rifle is bolt action... .223/5.56 bolt action rifles have never and will never be popular in the united states. The most popular "varmint rifle" of the era this game is set in was probably the ruger mini-14 which is semi automatic. The AR15 craze where everyone and their mother bought one hadn't really kicked in by 1993 as far as I know.

Oh and while we're talking about properly fitting the era the game is set in... The pistol red dot sight is a total anachronism, and laser sights for handguns in 1993 were a big bulky affair.

I wouldn't mind a .45 pistol. The M1911 is an insanely popular pistol that has no IP issues to worry about. The AR15//CAR15 also have no IP issues to worry about, Colt lost that battle a long time ago to Bushmaster, you can build a real rifle and call it an AR15. Please just don't add a rifle and call it an "M4" please, we have enough anachronisms.


EDIT: and for the people that say "just use ORGM".. it is full of anachronstic weaponry and exotic crap like desert eagles and steyr augs etc. I want realistic weapons not call of duty...

(Lengthy post, but I feel that this is a somewhat thought-out view on this subject. TL;DR there is more room to play with here than some may think)
 
The lack of emphasis on gun culture in general in the game is something that has really annoyed me, although I understand why it wouldn't look desirable to make the change.
 
So many decisions are made around development based on what is realistic for the setting, I just think the extremely large amount of gun ownership especially in Kentucky should be regarded, even if it means just adding shotguns/rifles to home spawn lists and automatic/sport weapons in the future. As for making the game easier... guns are relatively easy to find as-is, all this change would do (apart from more accurately represent gun culture in Kentucky) is make different varieties more available. If you, for example, find a single hunting rifle in a map where respawn isn't on, you already have a hard time finding the gun parts to fix it with, so for loot balance it could work for that too.
 
As for gun varieties, there definitely needs to be at least some automatic weapons (and a variety of professional/cheap variants/brands/models of currently existing weapon types) for the game to hold credibility on it's 90's Kentucky setting. We already know that there are military establishments that are supposed to be ingame at some point. I understand from a gameplay perspective why you wouldn't want it to become DayZ where several militarized players dominate the server, but from a single-player perspective (and even a multiplayer perspective where the gun spawn rate is admin-controlled) the problems could be circumvented simply by adding the options.
 
There is a huge opportunity here to capitalize on the setting. Plenty of games are praised for their gunplay, the setting definitely allows for it to work here, too.
 
When the game does release, and Fort Knox and the military airfield just south of what we have already is added, do you really see late-game multiplayer communities fighting each other with just basic handguns and big-game rifles? In Kentucky, of all places? It would take a lot of material and research on the balance to fully defend that from the critical side of the playerbase.
 
Considering it is hard enough as-is ingame to hit anything with a pistol and especially rifle with no gun skill (and the rate it takes to learn it), there is more room to play with here than you may think.
 
In my humble opinion, this should be something the devs test and get feedback on before writing it off completely.

Haha yep. I'm a gun lover and proud of it. What  led me into it was my interests in history, particularly military history. Started collecting World War rifles. Mosin nagants, Mauser K98K, Vz24, Enfield, Springfield, M1 Garand, Arisaka, SKS, etc. My M44 nagant had kill marks etched into it, 1944 production so it likely saw use at Seelow heights or Berlin. Target shooting and firearm collecting is a great past time that I heartily recommend every American try out responsibly. Go to the range with a gun buddy and learn about firearms, take a course in safety and use. Try out target shooting and work up to skeet and competitive shooting. Enjoy the past time that is a right and responsibility! Oh, and don't buy into media hype on gun violence in the U.S. It's down 40% in 20 years, and rifles of all types (full auto, semi auto, bolt action, pump action, lever action, etc) account for 6% of all gun deaths. 

The US has 50% of the world's guns? Glad I live on the side that has the guns!

"37% of Americans say they or someone in their household owns a gun" according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February, 2013. A 2007 study by the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime found that the United States, which has 5% of the world's population, owns 50% of the world's guns. Another Pew Research Center study found that people living in a rural area were twice as likely to own a gun as those living in an urban area.

I'm just saying, while searching through houses in a rural area of Kentucky, it doesn't feel like I'm finding a proportionate amount of 50% of the worlds guns.

Well if you're looking for challenge in the post zombie-apocalypse world, try Singapore. Per square mile, they would have about 20,000 zombies and less than 100 guns. You would be so buff from killing all those zombies with a baseball bat.

Well if you're looking for challenge in the post zombie-apocalypse world, try Singapore. Per square mile, they would have about 20,000 zombies and less than 100 guns. You would be so buff from killing all those zombies with a baseball bat.

Well if you're looking for challenge in the post zombie-apocalypse world, try Singapore. Per square mile, they would have about 20,000 zombies and less than 100 guns. You would be so buff from killing all those zombies with a baseball bat.

Well if you're looking for challenge in the post zombie-apocalypse world, try Singapore. Per square mile, they would have about 20,000 zombies and less than 100 guns. You would be so buff from killing all those zombies with a baseball bat.