ST-CS-10-339-75
March 2002

8.  Silencers  (S)

There is a long running debate about the effects of the optional silencers on the M4A1 rifle and USP pistol. There are four issues; visibilty, sound, damage and accuracy.

It is generally held that a silenced weapon produces less muzzle flash. This is not so. The player with the weapon will himself see less muzzle flash - but other players see exactly the same muzzle flash, silenced or unsilenced.

These two images are of an unsilenced M4A1.

Unsilenced M4A1, first person	Unsilenced M4A1, third person

The regular unsilenced muzzle flash from the first person perspective can be seen. Note here the degree of muzzle flash from the external observers point of view.

The next images are of a silenced M4A1.

Silenced M4A1, first person	Silenced M4A1, third person

The smaller silenced muzzle flash can be seen from the first person view; but, unexpectedly, the muzzle flash from the third person view is unchanged.

The silencer reduces the volume of sound of firing the gun, not only to the player firing the gun but to other players in the game. A special test map was created to measure the distance of sound propogation for weapon firing.

The following table gives the audiability distances in world units.

The first point of note is that the sound of cartridges hitting the ground is louder than that of the silenced M4A1. So, when silenced, other players will be able to hear the bullet cartridges at a greater distance than the gunfire.

The second point of note is of course the huge advantage held by A3D users. In all cases, A3D users can hear over twice the distance of EAX or no 3D sound users.

A silenced M4A1 inflicts less damage than an unsilenced M4A1. On the te_glasswall3 map, two players jumped up onto the wooden wall at opposite corners. One of the players was a counter-terrorist with an M4A1, the other a terrorist with full armour. The counter-terrorist fired single shots into the legs of the terrorist until death. It was known these were leg shots since if they hit anywhere else, armour would be reduced (armour covers all the body except the legs).

Eight trials were performed, four silenced and four unsilenced. The health values of the terrorist after each round hit are given here;

An immediate fact stands out; when silenced, it always took five rounds to achieve a kill. When unsilenced, it always only took four rounds. Even with only eight trials, the data is undisputably clear.

To be more exact, on average, the silenced M4A1 round caused 18.9 points of damage and the unsilenced M4A1 caused 22.3 points of damage. Adding the silencer reduces damage by 15.3 percent at the range used in this trial.

As far as can be seen by visual inspection, the silencer has no impact - beneficial or harmful - on weapon accuracy. A statistical analysis is possible, and may be carried out at a later date.