Suggestion: Consolidate 9mm Pistol ammo and 9mm SMG ammo into one universal 9mm ammo type.
Description: I find it both confusing and irritating that there are two separate 9mm ammo types, one for
pistols and one for sub-machine guns. In real life both weapon platforms use the same ammo and I feel this should be reflected in the game. By having just one 9mm ammo type there would be increased
inventory for other items along with reduced confusion among players. Unless there is a very specific,
lore reason for the two 9mm ammo types to remain separate, like the SMG requiring more powerful
9mm rounds in order to cycle, they should be consolidated into just one 9mm ammo type.
I second this. SMG ammo IS pistol ammo. That’s the whole point of a SUBmachinegune. It’s meant to fire pistol rounds. It baffles me that we have 2 separate ammo categories for this.
Having asked for this before too, I vaguely remember someone pointing out this situation is period accurate?
There was higher pressure 9mm ammo which was good for the SMG’s but if you used it in the pistols you would break the frames because the slide would get thrown back so hard
And there was lower pressure (older powder type) 9mm ammo for pistols, but if you used it in an SMG it didn’t generate enough backpressure to cycle the gun properly so they kept jamming
This is true with some older mid-20th century pistols, but the Glock 17 can handle higher power loads that are used in SMGs and always has been. As can the majority of more modern military grade pistols. That’s the whole point - to only have 1 ammo type for special forces operations.
Sweden introduced 9mm in 1939 when they got the Finnish Lahti pistol (called the m/40 in Swedish service). After the Kongo war, Sweden introduced a 9mm with a hotter load. Sometime in the 80’s the m/40 pistols started to break in large quantities (due to said hot ammo) and they were retired in favor of the older m/07 pistol.
So basically, there’s no reason to do this in the game. To my knowledge, Sweden didn’t buy low-pressure ammo to keep the m/40 in service. Plus, the m/40 isn’t even in the game.
Particularly if Runners can use pistol 9mm for their mounted SMGs. I mean… then let them at least drop the blue ones.
EDIT: This post was a brain fart. They use the white .32 of course. I had so much of it at the end (before I dropped it all) that I was hoping for a .32 auto weapon. Hence the confusion possibly.
The specific 9mm bullet for the swedish smg was more powerful than standard bullets of the time it was introduced. But the Glock in the game is able to fire that bullet without problem. So considering lore there is no reason to have different ammo for pistol and smg. But I hope they introduce older weapons used by sweden like the lahti pistol and smg. And give them a weaker bullet. Sweden even used small numbers of P-38s that could be in the game.
One of the reasons is to keep the game mechanics working. I don’t mind having more ammunition types.
About the period accuracy could make up a few different reasons why they shouldn’t be compatible. The charge can be different, the speed loader could be different or another long list of excuses.
But I think the difference is important for the game mechanics.
@Alinde - Why? I’m really interested, here, as to me keeping the two ammo types separate and maintaining the low stack maximum for 9mm pistol is… really awkward. What’s your input on why they shouldn’t be common?
It could be a means to initially keep the SMG ammo limited. You find more ammo for weapons you carry. If it was the same for the Klaucke and the SMGs, you’d have abundant SMG ammo once you find your first exemplar.
@Alinde, that would make sense if we were stacking mags. Which, we kinda are, but that happens when you add the rounds to the weapon, not in your inventory. It’s more bizarre than that, because the game stacks 7.62x51mm and 7.62x39mm together as a single round, but those are very different cartridges, (and, obviously, are used in non-compatible magazines.)
It doesn’t make a lot of sense that the 9mm handgun rounds only stack to 120 given they’re in a high-cap pistol where you’ll burn through that fast. It also doesn’t make a lot of sense that they’re distinct from the SMGs. This is especially true because both are chambered for 9x19mm, and one of the big selling points of SMGs was the cross-compatibility of munitions.
@pegnose, it could have been dumb luck, but I was actually seeing SMG ammo dropping more often than pistol ammo early on. I suspect the real reason is that SMG rounds drop more frequently, and in larger quantities, but the sidearms are pretty situational to begin with, so it would make it easier to keep ammo in the 17, but, given you trip over PPK ammo, I’m not sure that’s an important consideration.
Either way, I’m a fan of consolidating the 9mm ammo types together.