The Machine Gun is an Atomic Era ranged unit in Civilization VI. It upgrades from the Field Cannon (or its replacements).
- Attributes:
- Has a ranged attack with Range 2.
- -17 Ranged Strength against District defenses and naval units.
Strategy[]
Despite being the most advanced ranged unit, the Machine Gun most commonly finds use as a city garrison because of the military landscape at the time it appears. Unlike the Artillery and the Rocket Artillery that come into play around this time, the Machine Gun doesn't receive extra Range from Observation Balloons and Drones and is thus unable to attack cities without exposing itself to retaliatory strikes. Players also unlock Fighters and Bombers in this era, which they can build in any city that has an Aerodrome. A Fighter costs 20 less Production than a Machine Gun yet has 6 more Movement, 3 more Range, and 15 more Ranged Strength and can attack land units and cities with impunity (unless an opponent has Anti-Air Guns or Mobile SAMs), whereas a Bomber costs 20 more Production than a Machine Gun but has even greater Movement and Range than a Fighter and greater Bombard Strength than a Rocket Artillery. Fighters are much better against units and Bombers much better against cities than Machine Guns, so civilizations with access to Aluminum have good incentives to start building an air force rather than relying on ranged units that are comparatively slow and weak.
The one advantage the Machine Gun has over the siege and air units of its time is its lack of a strategic resource requirement. Players who don't have Oil or Aluminum and need to defend against an incoming enemy force may benefit from training or purchasing some Machine Guns to give their cities an extra attack and higher Ranged Strength - they can create quite a strong defense network, especially when combined with Machine Guns that have earned some high-tier Promotions to form Corps and Armies. Players who've built Aerodromes and aircraft, however, will have little use for Machine Guns and can hold off on upgrading their Field Cannons until they have a large surplus of Gold.
Civilopedia entry[]
Since the days of the arquebus innovative gunsmiths had sought for a rapid-fire firearm that required little training or skill to use. Stoper’s revolving arquebus in 1597 Nuremberg, the “Puckle Gun” in 1718 in London, Belton’s multi-shot flintlock in 1777 all had their proponents; but it was left to Richard Jordan Gatling to perfect an infantry weapon with controlled rapid fire, automatic loading, portability, speedy reloading of ammunition canisters, and operated by a simple hand-crank. The Gatling gun was immensely popular among military types of all nations, and it laid the foundation for the development of the machinegun, which stalemated WW1 and dominated WW2 infantry combat. In time, the weight was reduced without loss of rate of fire, machineguns becoming submachineguns (such as the Thompson so beloved of Prohibition-era gangsters) capable of being fired from the hip.
Trivia[]
- The Machine Gun unit is modelled after U.S. soldiers from World War II. However, they are armed with the MG 42, a World War II German machine gun.
- Interestingly, when a German player trains Machine Guns, they wear World War II German M35 helmets and feldgrau uniforms, like all other German trained Infantry and AT Crews.
Gallery[]
See also[]
- Machine Gun in other games