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Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
 Work In Progress This article is still under construction. It may contain factual errors. See Talk:Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 for current discussions. Content is subject to change. |
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Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 is a 2006 first-person shooter developed by Tripwire Interactive. It is a revamped and improved version of Red Orchestra: Combined Arms, a 2004 total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. Set across various battles of the Eastern Front of World War II, the game is noted for its emphasis on slower-paced, more realistic gameplay compared to other shooters of the time. Systems and features intended to increase immersion and realism include ballistics simulation, ammunition counted via magazines rather than loose rounds with no numerical indicator of remaining ammunition, and the ability for every small arm to kill in a single shot- players also do not have health points, with the lethality of shots depending on where bullets impact on the player character's body.
A sequel to the game, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, was released on September 15, 2011. A popular free DLC mod, Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45, was released in 2006, transporting the action to the European Theatre of Operations (ETO). Another mod for the game is Mare Nostrum.
The following weapons appear in the video game Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45:
German Infantry Weapons
Sidearms
Luger P08
The Luger P08 appears in-game used as a sidearm by tank crewmen, machine gunners, snipers, and infantry officers. It holds an 8-round magazine.
Walther P38
The Walther P38 is also available in-game, used as an alternative to the Luger by the same classes. Like the Luger, it loads from an 8-round magazine, and when running the player decocks the hammer before holstering it.
Submachine Guns
MP 40
The MP 40 is avalaible to German squad leaders, tank commanders, and a small percentage of infantry. It is an effective submachine gun that features low rate of fire and low recoil, which makes for great accuracy and control, an excellent advantage over the Soviet PPSh-41. Like the PPSh, the MP 40 became an icon of the German war machine, despite the Karabiner 98k being issued in greater numbers.
MP 41
The MP 41 version is nearly identical to the MP 40 aside from the replacement of the folding metal stock with a fixed wooden stock; this was only used in small numbers and mostly issued to police and other rear-line units, so it is unclear why Tripwire included it in the game. It is generally carried by the same classes that use the MP 40, if not in lesser numbers.
Rifles
Karabiner 98k
The Karabiner 98k appears in-game as the standard German battle rifle, a bolt-action weapon loading from five-round stripper clips. It is accurate and powerful to great distances. Both the standard and scoped sniper variants, the latter fitted with a Zeiss ZF42 telescopic sight, are featured in the game, with the bayonet available only on the standard version. The in-game texture for the rifle features a prominent serial number on the stock just ahead of the buttplate, something that was not done by the Germans, indicating that the reference rifle was at some point captured by the Soviets.
Gewehr 41(W)
An early German semi-auto battle rifle, the Gewehr 41(W) appears in earlier maps. Unlike its contemporary, the SVT-40, its magazine was fixed and its gas system uses a gas trap with an annular piston, rather than the more usual (and reliable) gas port with regular piston. As a result, the G41(W) was not very reliable, although this is not represented in the game since malfunctions aren't simulated. Reloading is performed via the top of the weapon via single rounds or five-round stripper clips. The in-game rifle can only be loaded with five-round clips, and only after at least five rounds have been fired. The (W) indicates it was manufactured by Walther and not Mauser. Despite both G41 versions being fitted with bayonet lugs to accept the standard Kar98k bayonet, it is not available in-game.
Gewehr 43
The Gewehr 43 appears in-game as the successor to the G41(W), using 10-round detachable box magazines. In the game, the player can equip either the standard version or the scoped sniper variant fitted with a ZF4 telescopic sight. The G43's gas system was actually a reverse-engineered copy of the SVT-40's, leading to greatly improved reliability. However, the rifle's gas system used so much power to cycle that the G43 had an unfortunate habit over time of "beating itself to death" as per its Soviet cousin; this is not modelled in-game and was seldom even a concern until encountered by post-war owners. The scoped version allows the player to sustain a greater rate of fire than the scoped Kar98k, at the cost of somewhat reduced accuracy.
Sturmgewehr 44
The Sturmgewehr 44 is a weapon that combines the power of a battle rifle with the close-quarters effectiveness of a submachine gun. It fires from a 30-round magazine and is featured in later war maps. The game allows the player to use a selector switch to alternate between semi-auto and full-automatic fire.
Machine Guns
MG 34
The MG 34 is the standard early-war machine gun for the German faction and the world's first true general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). It fires from a side-mounted 50-round drum magazine and the ability to quickly swap barrels upon overheating is replicated in-game. It can be fired from its bipod or from the hip, although the latter method is extremely difficult to control due to the heavy recoil and rate of fire. It is also featured in nearly every German vehicle in the game, including the SdKfz 251 halftrack (turret-mounted), Panzer III (co-axial and radio operator), Panzer IV F1/F2/G/H (co-axial and radio operator), Panther (co-axial and radio operator) and the Tiger I (co-axial and radio operator).
MG 34 Panzerlauf
The MG 34 Panzerlauf.
MG 42
A redesign of the MG 34 that was designed to supplant its earlier cousin, the MG42 is usable by the German faction in later maps. Originally intended to replace the MG 34, the older design remained in use regardless until the end of the war, although the cheaper, stamped-metal MG 42 overtook it by far in production. It has an extremely high rate of fire (1,200 rounds per minute) and, like the MG 34, its barrel can be replaced to combat overheating. In the scope of the game, it can only be fired deployed from its bipod, using 100-round belts instead of 50-round drums.
Launchers
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust appears in-game as a disposable anti-tank grenade launcher, bearing a shaped charge warhead. In the game, both sides have access to it on certain maps and measures are taken to simulate the aiming methods used by the real weapon, including the range scales and ballistics. It is highly effective in urban combat maps where tanks and vehicles are vulnerable to infantry attack from concealed positions. Note that the Panzerfaust warhead itself is a grenade, not a rocket.
Grenades
Model 24 Stielhandgranate
The Model 24 Stielhandgranate is the standard "stick" grenade in use by the German forces in-game.
Nebelhandgranate 39
The Nebelhandgranate 39 appears in-game as a smoke grenade that covers a large area in white smoke. Two are typically carried by German squad leaders.
Mounted Weapons
7.5cm Pak 40
Several 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank guns can be seen on some maps.
8 cm Granatwerfer 34
The Granatwerfer 34 Mortar can be seen in German positions.
8.8cm FlaK 37
Some FlaKs 37 can also seen on the maps.
MG 15
MG 15s can be seen on destroyed Stuka Ju 87 dive bombers.
Soviet Infantry Weapons
Sidearms
Tokarev TT-33
The Tokarev TT-33 is the standard sidearm of the Red Army, issued to Officers, Machine Gunners, Anti-tank Gunners, Snipers and vehicle crewmen with the standard eight-round box magazines, and when running the player decocks the hammer before holstering it.
Submachine Guns
PPD-40
An early Soviet submachine gun, the PPD-40, appears in-game fitted with a 71-round drum magazine. Due to the complexity and cost involved in construction, the largely machined steel weapon was phased out early in the war and replaced by the much cheaper stamped steel PPSh-41, so it only appears in the early war maps. While the real-life weapon is capable of firing from smaller box magazines, only the drum magazines are featured in the game. Due to an animation oversight, it appears to fire from a closed bolt in-game.
PPSh-41
The iconic weapon that became the symbol of the Red Army during the fight against the Germans in the Great Patriotic War, the PPSh-41 appears in-game as the standard submachine gun of the Soviet faction. It only fires from the 71-round drum magazine, with the 35-round box magazine being unavailable; during the early period the drums were almost the sole method of loading the weapon, but during the later phases of the war it was not uncommon for infantry to only carry a single drum and several sticks since the drum was difficult to load and prone to jamming and misfeeds. Firing at 900 RPM, it easily has the highest recoil of any small arm in-game - counter to the real weapon, which is one of the most controllable pistol-caliber automatics produced. Another inconsistency with the real weapon is that the firing animation shows it firing from a closed bolt, versus an open bolt.
PPS-43
The PPS-43 was designed to provide vehicle and scout crews with a compact but reliable submachine gun that would be easier to manage in tight quarters. Per these requirements, it features a folding stock and only uses 35-round box magazines instead of drums like the earlier PPD-40 or PPSh-41. In-game, it is used by officers, tank commanders and specialized troops. Like the other Soviet submachine guns in the game, it appears to fire from a closed bolt rather than the real-life open bolt. It is possible this is due to the developers using US-legal semi-automatic kits for animation references rather than truly authentic examples.
Rifles
Mosin Nagant M91/30
The Mosin Nagant M91/30 is the main service weapon of the Red Army in-game, utilizing a five-round stripper clip. It can be fitted with a bayonet. A marksman variant, fitted with the PU 3.5x sniper scope, is used by Russian snipers. The sniper rifle cannot fix a bayonet in-game, although its real counterpart can. The in-game PU sniper rifle has the early pre-war "hex" receiver, which was no longer in production when the PU scope was introduced and never used on PU sniper rifles (only top-mount 4x PE scopes were used on these "hex" rifles).
Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine
The Mosin Nagant M38 Carbine also appears in-game. It cannot be fitted with a bayonet owing to the different sight base assembly compared to a 91/30. The M38 and M44 carbine versions were primarily issued to engineers, rear-line troops, artillery gun crews, mechanized units, and cavalry owing to their more manageable length. Like its parent rifle, it loads from a 5-round stripper clip.
Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine
The Mosin Nagant M44 Carbine is also used by the Red Army faction in-game, also using a five-round stripper clip. Interestingly, the M44 bayonet is permanently attached in-game and cannot be folded or removed.
Tokarev SVT-40
A semi-automatic battle rifle introduced just prior to the USSR's entry into WWII, the Tokarev SVT-40 appears in-game, firing the same 7.62x54mmR round as the Mosin Nagant, fed from 10-round box magazines. The game features both a standard version capable of mounting a bayonet and a PU-scoped sniper version. The SVT seen in-game is slightly anachronistic, as the plum-colored finish on the bolt would mean the rifle had been through the postwar re-arsenal process. The scoped SVT-40, like the Mosin Nagant sniper rifle, it is incapable of mounting a bayonet, despite no apparent removal of the lug.
PTRD-41
The PTRD-41 is used by the Russian faction's anti-tank class and early war German anti-tank class (presumably meant to be a captured weapon or standing in for the Panzerbüchse 38). Unlike the later PTRS-41 (not featured in the game) with a five-round fixed magazine fed by en-bloc clips, the PTRD can only hold one round at a time. After each round is fired, the bolt is held open and a new round is manually loaded into the breech, similar to a large field artillery gun. This makes the firing/reloading process slow and cumbersome. The rounds are useful against light infantry vehicles and early war tanks such as the Panzer III, but have considerable difficulty penetrating late-war German tanks such as the Tiger or Panther. A single hit with the PTRD will easily kill infantry (more often than not removing limbs), leading to some players repurposing it as a sniper rifle with amusing results. However, it does have an accuracy advantage over the German Panzerfaust and can fire more shots (despite the PTRD rounds being far less powerful than the Panzerfaust grenade).
Machine Guns
Degtyaryov DP-28
The standard light machine gun for the Soviet faction, the Degtyaryov DP-28 fires 7.62x54mmR rounds from a 47-round pan magazine affixed to the top of the weapon and uses a folding bipod. It features a reasonable rate of fire and accuracy, but unlike its German counterparts (and its real life counterpart) does not have quick-detach barrels; this was apparently done by Tripwire because their research suggested most DP gunners were not issued spare barrels. This can result in the weapon overheating and jamming if it is not allowed to cool. It can be fired at the hip, at the cost of accuracy and stability.
Degtyaryov DT
A variant of the DP-28 designed for vehicle use, the Degtyaryov DT is mounted in the bow of the Russian Universal Carrier, the turret of the BA-64 armored car, coaxially and at the radio operator's position on the T34/76, T34/85 and KV-1S tanks, and coaxially only on the T60 and IS-2 tanks.
Grenades
F-1 Hand Grenade
The F-1 Hand Grenade is the standard fragmentation grenade in use by the Soviet forces in-game. The Soviets called it a "lemon" (limonka), not unlike the US "Pineapple" Mk II Hand Grenade. This also became the slang word for any fragmentation grenade.
RDG-1 Smoke Grenade
A Soviet RDG-1 smoke grenade that covers a large area in non-incendiary white phosphorous. Two apiece are typically carried by Soviet squad leaders.
Mounted Weapons
76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3)
Several 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) can be seen on multiplayer maps.
