Imagine this. You’re in the middle of a fire fight. You and the enemy are exchanging heavy fire. Both sides have taken damage. Then… click click, you’re out of ammo. Damn! You panic. I’m dead now! Suddenly, another click click. Your opponent has run out of ammo too. Thank God. You breathe a sigh of relief. I have time. But what do you do next? Do you reload your machine gun then fire away or do you take out your pistol and immediately return fire? Tough choices. Fact is there are no easy answers to this question. Whether or not to reload your more powerful machine gun in favor of switching to your weaker pistol depends on the situation. Let’s go over some scenarios where it would be advantageous to do one over the other.
But before we move on, make sure you guys have the automatic reload setting off. Wolfenstein has it on by default. You need to turn it off. I know it’s a hassle to have to reload manually, but your combat skills will improve a great deal if you do.
The only time where you will always want to reload your machine gun (MP40/Thompson) instead of switching to a pistol is when you’re far away from the opponent. In this case, switching to a pistol makes no sense because there’s no way you’re going to kill someone from that far with a handgun. It’s best to run to a safe place before reloading so you don’t get hit with enemy fire.
If you are in a duel with someone, whether to reload or not depends upon a host of factors. But if you have akimbo pistols then the choice becomes clearer. Generally speaking, you always want to switch to akimbo pistols if you are in a duel. It’s faster to switch than to reload. The enemy is probably hurt really bad by the time you run out of ammo. He might just need one or two more bullets to die. Finish him off by quickly switching to your akimbo pistols. Remember to press rapidly as you fire. You’ll get more shots that way.
Most players, however, including the advanced ones, will reload during duels. Big mistake. By switching weapons, you give yourself an enormous advantage in duels because if you are a good strafer, most players will not be able to take you down in one clip. Since you guys more than likely will run out of ammo at the same time, whoever gets the next shot first will probably win. In most of my duels, my akimbo pistols kill my opponent even before they get a chance to finish reloading. That’s why it’s so important to switch rather than reload. It’s a lot faster.
Now, the one time when you might not want to use your akimbo pistols and reload instead during a duel is when you feel like you didn’t get any hits on your opponent. This might be because your clip only had one or two bullets left in it. In this case, it’ll be OK to reload rather than to switch. It might be difficult to take down someone with full HP using only two pistols. This is especially true if he’s a medic. Reload and resume firing. Of course, if you are really confident, then you can also use your akimbo pistols to take him down. This is what I usually do. I wouldn’t recommend it though unless your aim is fairly good.
If you can only wield one hand gun at a time, the choice to reload or switch is really 50/50. Obviously, if you feel like the enemy only has a few HP left, then switch to a hand gun and fire away. But if he has a lot of HP left, then it might be wiser to reload and resume. The choice is further complicated by the fact that it’s really hard to estimate how much HP an enemy has left.
Lastly, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being in front of an enemy crowd and out of ammo, don’t reload. Chances are you are going to die. But before you do, switch to your pistol and find the weakest player you see and try to take him down with you. At least you’ll get a kill to go with your death.
Learning when to reload and when to switch weapons is one of the most difficult things for a beginning player. Even advanced players have a hard time with it too. But by effectively using the correct weapons in the correct situations, you can give yourself a distinct advantage over the overwhelming majority of players.
