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The BAR - Learn it, Live it, Love it!

By warhawks - 26th June 2011 - 11:52 AM

Deployed in the final year of World War I, the Browning Automatic Rifle (or BAR) was effectively a form of light machine gun and was first deployed in combat use by American forces in 1918; it was to see much further service during World War II.

Widely regarded for its reliability under trench conditions - an environment which caused problems for many other similar weapons - the M1918 (as it was designated) was air cooled, gas operated and magazine fed, using 0.30-inch ammunition and was loaded via a 20-round detachable box magazine (which could be rapidly changed in theory in 2-4 seconds; 6-8 seconds in practice). The BAR weighed a little over 8kg and had a cyclic firing rate of 550 rounds per minute at 600 yards. It could be used in either semi- or fully-automatic mode.



Uses In Company of Heroes


The BAR is an upgrade obtained in the US Barracks building (Tier 1). At the cost of 200 MP and 60 Fuel, this upgrade is called a global upgrade, meaning that all Rifleman receive the upgrade once completed and any new rifleman built/spawned will have BARs.

Upgrading to BARs is really a no-brainer for the American player, as you can see by the chart below, the firepower of the BAR is far superior to that of the M1 Garand, especially at Short and Medium range. The yellow shaded area is the M1 Garand and the various shades of blue are the BAR.

IPB Image

For more weapon DPS information, please see the Zaxis DPS Calculator.

Knowing when to upgrade to BARs will not be covered in this guide, but there are numerous guides here on GameReplays that cover this topic. The time at which one upgrades to BARs really depends on their playstyle and other factors such as opponent (faction), map, etc.




Frequently Asked Questions


When upgrading to BARs, how many riflemen in the squad get BARs?


What is the max number of BARS a (six man) rifleman squad can hold?


After initial upgrade, at what point (number of men) does a BAR get dropped?


When you use Suppression fire, and is it better to stand still? Does moving when issuing suppression fire diminish its effect?


What is the distance of Suppression Fire?


Does suppression fire vary depending on the distance between Rifleman and enemy units? For example, suppression less effective the further away the unit is?


If two Rifle squads issue suppression fire at the same time, does it stack?


Does suppression fire effect more than one enemy unit/squad? If so, how does one accomplish this?


Do enemy squads who are suppressed suffer more or less damage to other weapons, etc?


Does Suppression Fire work against all infantry types, like mortar teams, mg teams, snipers, etc?


Does the enemy’s level of veterancy have any effect against suppression fire?


Does Rifleman Veterancy have any effect on BARs, their output, rate of fire, damage, etc?


How does cover affect suppression fire?



Final Notes


There are a couple other notes worth explaining and you should find helpful.
  • Never use Suppression Fire against Wehrmacht units under the effects of For the Fatherland.
  • Know the best ranges you should try to use BARs given the situation. BARs make Rifles more effective at all ranges. You should feel more comfortable leaving BAR Rifles in a long-range firefight, but should still look to close the distance wherever possible.
  • Know weapon vs. weapon matchups. For instance against "rifle" armed units you want to get up close, while against Mp40s, Mp44s, and FG42s, you want to keep your distance at which point the BAR will help win that matchup.
  • Use Suppression Fire selectively. One of the best uses of Suppression Fire is to pin down enemy SMG-wielding units that are charging your Rifles. Mp40s you can probably manage just with regular fire, but against Mp44s especially, Suppression Fire is one of the better counters. Additionally, having a Rifle squad with BARs (Suppression Fire) next to your vehicles/tanks is a good way to pin any axis infantry carrying a Schreck.
IPB Image

Here is a very nice tidbit on Suppression Fire. A squad doesn't need to have any BARs to use it! It only requires that you've purchased the BAR upgrade. For instance, if you'd managed to pick up a couple of LMGs for some reason and missed out on the free BARs when they came around, you would still be able to use Suppression Fire. In fact, Suppression Fire with LMGs is one of the nastiest things around. During the last 7.5 seconds of Suppression Fire an LMG puts out the suppression of almost 2 MG42s firing at the same target. Likewise if you had an LMG instead of a Garand, the same modifiers apply.

References


http://dow2.info/coh/Weapon_Browning_Automatic_Rifle.html

Guide by Kolaris and Warhawks, edited by Schmieds.