Weapons at your Disposal
Unlike the other squad based simulations out there, Swat 3 does not include a lot of various weapons to play around with.
A decision was made by the design team to only include the weapons that the LAPD would be using now or in the year 2005.
For the low down on weapons in S3, here is an excerpt from an interview I conducted with S3 producer, Rod Fung: "Swat 3
includes the Heckler & Koch MP5 and MP5SD models. The MP5's are 'the' primary close-quarter battle weapons as they are short,
accurate, and most important of all, reliable. Since both HK's are 9mm, in the game it would be best to use them in situations
where suspects are not wearing body armor, and limited ballistic penetration is desired (such as in many indoor situations).
In the game another primary weapon that you can equip yourself with is the M4A1 Carbine. The M4A1 is currently very popular
with law enforcement and military special operations teams. The M4A1 is considered the pinnacle of development in the AR15/M16
family lineup. The M4A1 is a .223 caliber firearm that is capable of penetrating level 3 body armor, so it would be the best
choice when encountering suspects with body armor. They only disadvantage in using an M4A1 indoors is that if you happen to
miss your suspect, your bullets could potentially penetrate interior walls and injury a fellow officer or hostage.
The final
primary weapon that you can equip your officer with is a Benelli Super-90 14-inch Entry model. The primary ammunition load
for the Benelli shotgun is 00 9-pellet buckshot. The shotgun is a good choice for some situations as it is very lethal when
you can place all of your nine 00 buckshot pellets on target, and it is especially lethal within the 7 yards. This is the
really advantage of the shotgun, placing maximum ordinance on target. As for secondary firearms, we gave our LAPD SWAT officers
the only choice that they would consider, the 1911 .45acp. The 1911 is an icon for LAPD SWAT. SWAT currently issues three 1911
pistols to each officer, and they will continue to issue them in 2005 (when the game takes place) as well. The great advantage
of the 1911 is that it is a single-action automatic pistol that can be carried 'cocked and locked' (hammer back, thumb safety on)
which allows a very short, light trigger pull for an accurate first shot. This is extremely important that operators have this
level of first shot accuracy in hostage rescue situations. In addition to the primary ammunition in most firearms, each firearm
in the game has secondary ammunition as well. In most cases the primary ammunition is a jacket hollow point round, while the
secondary ammunition are full metal jacket rounds. The Benelli's primary load is 9 pellet 00 buckshot and the secondary load
is a frangible breaching round. The M4A1's secondary load is a less than lethal bean bag round which you can use to assist in
gaining compliance on a suspect if they refuse to give up."
