Defender Machine Gun

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Defender Machine Gun
Weapon in Just Cause 4
Type	Light machine gun
Usage	Two handed
Maximum ammunition carried	312
Maximum ammunition in the weapon	104
List of owners	Black Hand Army of Chaos (never seen in use) Demons (through possessed Black Hand machine gunners)

The Defender Machine Gun (also known as Defender 50) is a weapon in Just Cause 4.

Appearance

This weapon resembles the Urga Vdova 89 from Just Cause 3, albeit with a deployable shield fixed to the front end of the gun. Deploying the shield also lowers a small pole that acts as a tripod. According to the writing on the magazine, this weapon uses 7.62 x 51mm NATO cartridges.

This weapon does not seem to be based on any particular machine gun, be it light, general purpose, medium, or heavy.

Performance

The Defender would be a general purpose machine gun, considering its versatility and ability to adapt to all sorts of combat situations (deployable shield and tripod). It fires weaker bullets at a fairly high rate of fire. Spread is significant across longer distances, and recoil and muzzle drift is moderate. Deploying the shield noticeably reduces recoil and muzzle climb. With Just Cause 4's improved AI, enemies will take cover when shot at, so laying down sustained fire will effectively suppress them, allowing nearby friendlies to advance. Tap fire is recommended when attempting to shoot accurately, eg killing a target inside a vehicle, via the window. Interestingly, fire rate increases over a period of time, as long as fire is sustained, making it all the more effective at suppressive fire. However, the weapon seems to shoot fairly weak bullets, as it takes a few shots to kill a Black Hand private. Soldiers equipped with body armor can survive over a second of continuous fire from the Defender (assuming bullets hit the armor-protected torso, and not the head).

This is balanced by the fact that the Machine Gun has a shield that can be deployed using Secondary Fire, so if the player is aware of any enemies near them, they can use the shield for an extended period of time. The shield covers Rico's entire body apart from his head. It is completely bulletproof (except against high-caliber gunfire) but can be penetrated with explosives or high-caliber bullets, such as those from a minigun. The shield is infinitely durable and can be deployed again and again, even if it has already been penetrated by foreign ordinance. When the shield is deployed, the player enters first person view and acquires targets using the weapon's iron sights and ghost ring, which are clear, fine and fairly easy to use. The player should only ever use the shield strategically, to make sure there wouldn't be enemies behind Rico. This is a great weapon for a defensive situation where the player may be cornered.

However bullet resistant the shield is, it is still incapable of blocking the rocket from a RPG operator, so keep that in mind when going up against one or a grenadier. However, should the shield be between the player and the explosion, the player will take slightly less damage.

When the shield is deployed, the weapon no longer needs to reload. All spare ammunition is directly fed into the weapon. It is unknown how this works as there is no animation to demonstrate this, but it certainly benefits its role as a mounted machine gun.

However big its ammunition capacity is, this weapon is also fairly inaccurate, and has relatively lower damage per round compared to other automatic weapons.

Locations

• Black Hand machine gunners wield this gun, though these types of soldiers are not too common.
• 4 weapon crates will always spawn it, but it can also randomly be found in any weapon crates.
  • 2 at Casquillos Vacios.
  • Starting point for the mission Garland King's New Star.
  • At an abandoned outpost behind where you start out for Operation Whiteout.
• Unlocked for supply drop after completing Training: Bridge Defense.

Bugs/Glitches

Main article: Just Cause 4 Bugs and glitches

 PC   If Rico grapples to a object immediately after retracting the shield, there's a chance the shield won't go up and will remain fixed.

Fast Traveling to a new location can fix this.

Trivia

• This weapon is unique in the sense that it is the only weapon in the Just Cause Game Series with a deployable shield.
  • This weapon is also the only handheld weapon without magnified optics that the player can aim with in first person.
• Along with the Bárbaro Machine Gun, this gun is the successor to the Urga Vdova 89 from Just Cause 3. When the shield is deployed, this weapon acts more like the vehicle mounted machine gun from Just Cause 2.
• According to a loading screen, this weapon's name is actually named "Defender 50". This might just be an older, but more realistic name. Many vehicles in JC4 had more realistic names until they were renamed to include words like "bus", "tractor" and so on. See also: Cut game content from Just Cause 4.
  • If the "50" in the name refers to the caliber of this weapon, these .50 cals must be the weakest of their kind, given the low damage per shot.
• Initially, it was thought this was the only weapon with permanent spawn points. Later, it was discovered other weapons also had permanent spawn points.
• According to the side of the weapon, this weapon was made by the fictional Black Hand Armaments LTD company.

Gallery

Shield in the process of opening, or closing.

On Ricos back.

An earlier view over the shield before the game launch. Notice how the view is entirely in focus.

In the final version, the view is partly out of focus when the shield is in use.

Wielded by a Black Hand (defected or not) machine gunner in Extermination.

Notice how the shield is deployed, even though it should be folded up. This is a glitch of sorts.

Video