This topic will give initial descriptions of GUNROX weapons (their types, parameters and usage)
Every weapon has has several important characteristics which defines the way it can be used in a battle. E.g. Scout.

The picture shows us AP (action points) requirements for one attack, damage and fire ranges, ammo used, installed upgrades, weight and attrition of the weapon.

Attack range shows how far (or close) your enemy should be when you're able to hit him.

Damage shows min/max damage depending on a distance to enemy and chance shows how often you will hit an enemy instead of making a scratch. The further you enemy is the closer chance and damage values to the distant ones.

Therefore you can see that it's impossible to shoot your enemy if he close to you (closer than 8 cells). Damage range is nearly independent from the distance but Scout's hit chance goes down for distant enemy.

For another instance let's look at the sawed-off shotgun.

As you can see it is possible but not effective to shoot at enemy staying 6 cells away from you. Damage dealt will be really low and scratch rate is high. But things changes if you're next to your target.

AKSU, on the other hand, is not a good choice to shoot at your enemy nearby.

It is possible but nearly pointless. Sure you will not scratch but the damage given will be far less than a fist punch. But from the 8-9 cells distance you'll give maximum damage although a hit chance is lowered a bit.

After this short intro let's look at each weapon type closely:
Melee
Shotguns
Pistols
Submachine guns
Assault rifles
Sniper rifles
Machine guns
Grenade and rocket launchers
Traps
Medkits
Optics
Grenades

Melee Melee weapons are bats, knifes (including built-in ones), pipes, your own fists and so on.You can use them only standing near your enemy and it costs 3 AP to stab, punch or hit your enemy. Low level players can use these weapons as an alternative to short-gun for close combat. E.g. it can be extremely effective against a sniper without a secondary weapon or in houses where your enemy can't use long range weapons. At the beginning you can often loot Hunter Knife, which increases unit melee fight efficiency (gives 90% accuracy instead of 70% using fists). Melee skills perk gives you more accuracy and more damage (min & max)

Also you should remember that many melee weapons have ability of stun or poison meaning that your enemy in is even more trouble. E.g. after one baseball bat smash he will not be able to shoot 3 times from shotgun (provided he has the usual 12 AP).

Be aware that if you scratch then no stun or poison effect is applied to your enemy.

In the end it worth to mention that there is a "disarm" perk in melee sub-tree which allows you to knock enemy's weapon down to the ground in close combat. (That's the way you can get personal artifact from its owner).

Shotguns
Another close combat weapon along with melee stuff. It costs 4 AP to shoot (1-3 tier shotguns) and commonly they have higher damage than melee. Another difference is that you no longer have to stand near your enemy to hurt him. 1-2 cell distance is acceptable but be aware that the further you are the lower accuracy is.

Another thing shotguns have is an arc of fire which allows you to hit multiple units per shot.

If a multi-hit happens, damage is calculated for each unit separately depending on distance, armor and so on. By the way this way you can hit an enemy invisible to you but staying in an arc of fire (like one behind a bush). This can be important for those who use (we discuss them below).

Pistols
This kind of weapon has minimal AP requirements per shot, 2-3 depending on a model but damage is also not great. It remains constant in whole fire range but accuracy is lowered if the distance is high.

You can install a laser pointer to have accuracy 100% and a silencer to increase critical hit damage.

Pistols are rarely used in the game openings due to low damage, however it can be useful when every single AP is important. It allows you to shoot'n'hide in a position where you have not enough AP for fire or move back with other weapons.

On higher levels pistol can be a good weapon for a critical hit unit because the more shots you do the better chance to do a critical hit with higher critical damage.

Remember that in any circumstances pistol hits only one unit per shot.

Submachine guns
Pretty universal because their damage, similarly to pistols, does not depend on a distance.

Accuracy is lowered with distance but this can be fixed using laser pointer or skilling-up.
This weapon is in the middle between a shotgun and an assault rifle. Submachine gun damage is higher than pistol has but far less then shotgun has in close range or assault in distant range.
One can think that such universality is a disadvantage, but you should keep in mind that this gun gives more damage that a shotgun on a distance or an assault rifle in close combat.

There is another difference between this kind of weapon and a shotgun or rifle, it has no arc of fire and therefore can't hurt multiple units per shot.

Keep in mind all this info and you are able to use submachine guns effectively.

Assault rifles
Perhaps the most used weapon on low levels is AKSU. It deals good distant damage (8-9 cells range) which allows you to attack your enemy as soon as you see him (remember that a unit has a visibility range of 9 cells without perk-upgrades). So you can move, hit and pull back out from your enemy's sight.

Tip: A unit has a vision range where he can see enemies of 9 cells. AKSU has a maximum fire range of 9 also but it is sometimes possible to shoot an enemy with AKSU from the position where he can't see you.

All of this with 4AP-per-shot requirement makes assault rifles extremely dangerous on open space or in a place where it's easy to shoot through (e.g bushes). On the other hand you should remember that rifle has not a 100% accuracy for distant damage and is completely useless in close combat. Shotguns or even melee are far more effective.

Unlike submachine guns, assault rifle has an arc of fire which allows you to hit multiple enemies.

You can install silencers as well as a built-in grenade launcher which will make your unit extremely dangerous. It throws 40mm grenades that hits a place of 3 cells in diameter (even if an enemy is behind a wall). You can throw them even not seeing your enemy.

Moreover 40mm grenades do not scratch, but be aware of their dispersion. Grenade launchers skill decreases dispersion but not increase the damage of a built-in grenade launcher.

Sniper rifles
Drastically differs from all weapon types described above. E.g. scout:

At first it requires 7 AP per shot which means only one shot per turn. Second is that it has big minimal range of fire (8 cells) i.e. sniper rifle is absolutely useless in close and mid-range distance (surprise! huh... nearly like in real life)

This weapon plays on long distances... much further that a unit's sight range. Using rifle you can hit your enemy before he could even see your guys... or girls.

Rifle has an optical sight which allows you to look at distant locations on the battlefield (see [URL="https://www.gunrox.com/forum/showpost.php?p=23660&postcount=12"]optics[/URL]).

Bee aware that the further your enemy the higher scratch rate so sometimes it worth to make several steps closer to your enemy before shooting and then pull back.

It's easy to see from above that sniper rifles are used for making damage on long range or harassing your enemy on his positions. Also it's a good means of scouting to be aware of where your enemy is and what he is doing.

Sniper is helpless in close combat and should carry some alternative weapon for this situation.

Machine guns
You need to have a "dr. minigun" perk to use this type of weapons which is available starting from 6 level.
Machine guns have big maximum fire range (a bit lower than snipers have) and wide arc of fire making this weapon very dangerous in lack of covering.

However it has a huge damage range and fire action is really costly (9 AP). Moreover you can't shoot an enemy staying close to you so you can't think about this weapon as a perfect killing machine.

Note: talking about minimum fire range - you can't aim at someone close to you (see pic.)

But if he is standing on the path of your bullets he'll eat lots of them :)

Another con of this kind of weapons is its weight which makes it difficult to bring lots of other gears or at least will require several "strong back" perks. Furthermore machine gun is greedy for ammo - it eats 20 or more bullets per shot, depending on the model.

Due to high AP requirements machine gunner can't go far away after a shot is made. Therefore he often standing at the back of main forces hiding behind a non-solid covering or near an opening in a solid one.
In this case other units scoping an enemy and machine gunner makes a shot being out of enemy's range. Without a backup a machine gunner is not very effective because enemy can come really close where this type of weapon is nearly useless.

Rocket launchers
Another type of weapon requiring a special perk to be used. It's called "Dr. Explosive" which in turn require one perk of "Damage resistance" and two perks of "Strong back". At low levels Thumper (the first available launcher) very similar to a built-in grenade launcher except of having better damage. Milkor (2nd one) becomes more popular then due to increased damage and accuracy.

On higher levels rocket launchers coming into play. They have long range of fire ~10-15 and big explosion diameter. Very useful when your enemy is grouped and not very close to you.

Rocket launchers skill increases damage and decreases dispersion for all launchers. For the built-in ones only dispersion is decreased.
Also it is a good thing to know
- that no scratches can occur for all launchers
- "blind" effect seriously decreases accuracy of all launchers

Traps

Traps are placed to the key points in the battlefield to prevent or identify enemy movements. Enemy unit can't see your traps unless he has at least 10 points more on "Traps" skill then the unit placed it.

Trap works when:
- an enemy moves near it
- it was given any damage (e.g. any explosion occurs near it or it was visible and in an arc of fire)
- an ally unit is standing on a trap and received damage.
- being planted at the doorway and the door is closed

Higher "Traps" skill increases their damage.

Medkits
At the beginning you can use 3 types of medkits that have different healing power and AP requirements. They can be very useful to return heavily wounded units back to life & fight.

Press a medkit button to use it as it is depictured below

"Healing" perks and skills increases medkits' power and in future will allow you to heal other units.

Optics
One of the key point of your win is knowing of your enemy's position and actions. You can see him when you come close to him but it's not always applicable because he will see you too. Sometimes coming so close can be very dangerous. Another case is when you are willing to see if there is an enemy near some covering before doing any actions (e.g. run to this covering)

In all these cases you can use optics that can scope an area on the map without moving your units to it. I'm talking about Binoculars or optical-sight for a weapon like sniper rifle. They are used in the same way, the only difference is AP requirements and scope radius.

Pictures below shows how optics can be used to see an enemy under the mouse

Push appropriate icon...

...and define an area to reveal. There should be no bushes or walls between you and that area.

And here you go. Now you can see you enemy.

Important - it worth mentioning again that you can't see areas that are covered from your scoping unit by bushes, walls and so on. You should look at the map carefully before using optics.

Some words about using optics for shooting. If is was used then you will see an area until any movement from one of your units. So if you want to use optics to find a target for a machine gun or sniper rifle then first you should move them to a position of fire and only after that use optics.

Grenades
One more blowing up weapon. AP requirements is a bit higher than built-in grenade launcher has but on the other hand maximum range is also higher (10 cell compared with 9). Works similar to 40mm grenade damaging the place of 3 cells in diameter. Explosion damages units covered by walls if they stand in this diameter.

You can throw grenade not only to your enemy but also to a place in the map. Just click on the grenade as your primary weapon...

...and aim

Be aware that you can't throw a grenade through any covering (e.g. bushes, walls...)

Raising up "Grenades" skill you will increase damage and explosion diameter. By the way, grenades can not scratch which is their strong point. The weak point is dispersion. Grenade is not always hits the place you aimed to but the cell near it in any direction. Having a good "Grenades" skill is a good idea to decrease dispersion.

There are several types of grenades in the game. Acid grenade deals small damage and poison effect to an enemy and he will be loosing HP for several turns which can be very dangerous.
Flash grenade don't deal damage at all but blind effect is applied. It significantly reduces accuracy and sight range of enemy. Can be a good counter for grenadiers or to gain tactical advantage.

Neither acid nor flash work through walls or bushes.