OICW

Overview
The OICW is a Combine-adopted rifle found in SMOD: Redux. It is a somewhat stubby assault rifle with a fairly large green scope and grenade launcher under the barrel. The OICW is a very well balanced weapon, having moderate damage per shot, fairly high accuracy while stationary and crouching, an innate scope and grenade launcher, and a fairly basic 30 round magazine. However, it's recoil is rather intense while firing full-auto, and it's accuracy while running is very poor.

While the OICW is essentially non-existent in the early levels of the campaign, it becomes more common in the later chapters of the game, Nova Prospekt in particular. It does, however, still remain uncommon even in those chapters.

Acquisition
The OICW is first found in Nova Prospekt, being held by a Combine Elite by the stairs leading to cell block B4. After that, it is uncommonly held by various Soldiers across Nova Prospekt and beyond.

Advantages
-Moderately high damage per shot.

-Sizable 30 round magazine.

-Sports an underslung grenade launcher

-Equipped with a scope, making long and medium range engagements easier to manage.

-Notably accurate while stationary and crouch-walking.

-Remains accurate when fired in short bursts.

-Grenade launcher inflicts very heavy damage if targets are near the blast's center.

-Scope uses a deep-green color, which brightens up dark areas without brightening lighter areas, avoiding potential blindness to the user.

-Although firing in full auto causes recoil to increase, accuracy remains relatively precise.

-Fairly high but manageable rate of fire.

Neutral
-Zooming in will slow down the weapon's fire rate, which helps for accuracy, but can make dealing with groups harder.

Disadvantages
-Very heavy recoil if fired in full-auto for too long.

-Terrible accuracy while running.

-Uses the fairly scarce Rifle ammo.

-Grenade launcher uses the rare SMG grenades.

Tactics
-As the OICW has very rough recoil if fired in full-auto, try firing in bursts or single shots to retain accuracy.

-If firing in full-auto is necessary, try carefully pulling down on the mouse while firing to counteract the recoil.

-Use the grenade launcher sparingly, as the grenades used for it are fairly rare.

-Consider using the grenade launcher against packed-up groups. Due to the heavy damage of the grenades, you will almost certainly kill or seriously injure most or all of the targets.

-The OICW is one of the best weapons to use against Aces, as the moderate accuracy and damage per shot, as well as the fairly high rate of fire make this weapon very well suited to faster moving targets. Not to mention, the grenade launcher is capable of doing major amounts of damage to the Ace, should you be able to catch them in the blast.

-Combine Elites are capable of using the grenade launcher against the player and their allies. If you hear them charging up, be sure to get out of the way.

Trivia
The OICW is a fixed and refurbished variant of the original OICW from the Half-Life 2 Beta.