Grenade Launcher has other meanings. See Grenade Launcher (disambiguation) for other uses. | MKAP-97 Anti-personnel Weapon | |
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| Faction | Red Faction Nanotech Enhanced Forces |
| Type | Non-automatic |
| Power | Very High |
| Range | Short |
| Rate of Fire | Moderate |
| Special | Sticky Bombs |
| Clip/Ammo | 40mm HV Grenades |
The MKAP-97 Anti-personnel Weapon is the Multi-Grenade Launcher for Repta during the Commonwealth Civil War. Later, it was obtained by Alias.
A favorite of interdiction forces worldwide, the MKAP-97 is extremely effective at saturating the strike zone with a bombardment of explosive bomblets. Heavy weapon specialists can lock on to specific personnel and use aiming reticule to carpet the location with bomblets that explode shortly after contact. Unarmored enemy personnel caught in the ensuing blast are often eliminated from the combat engagement.
Description[]
This big gun is a super grenade launcher that fires volleys of five 40mm grenades per shot. Loaded with 15 shells in the top-mounted magazine, you only get three volleys per magazine - but the damage potential is immense, probably the highest out of all weapons in the game. Despite being branded as an "anti-personnel weapon" (and supposedly issued for riot control), the MKAP-97 is an absolute overkill against human targets. Five grenades exploding at once make quite a big mess of any poor sap caught in the blast radius, which is not small. Hostile armour does not fare much better when showered with explosives coming from the mouth of this monster of a weapon. The MKAP-97 cycles somewhat fast, but the reload takes a while.
The primary fire of MKAP-97 lobs time-fuse grenades, that can also detonate upon contact with an enemy. The time detonator is shorter than on the NGL-8's analogous firemode. The secondary fire gives the gun an extra sadistic flair: it makes the grenades behave like sticky bombs. While they can be used to create short-lived minefields, they can also latch onto living humans. Such "tagged" enemy is pretty much a dead man walking.
Although it is extremely strong, the MKAP-97 has many drawbacks that limit its usage considerably. The most important is the ammo consumption rate: five grenades per shot reduces the full ammo supply to nine volleys. So, do not waste your ammo on any random target. Moreover, the individual grenades are markedly weaker than the ones launched by NGL or N.I.C.W., but it is rarely a issue when you make enemies eat a quintuple package per serving. However, the MKAP-97 also suffers from much worse range than other grenade launchers - in a sense, it is more of a grenade thrower. In result, it is a bad idea to use this weapon outside close range engagements, as even if you would attempt to fire on a high-arc trajectory, the grenades will end up exploding before reaching the ground. Lastly, for some reason this weapon is not Geo-Mod compatible (likely due to its specialized anti-personnel nature). All things considered, the MKAP-97 is a super-powerful weapon, but one that is situational in usage. It is perfect for groups of enemies rushing at your position, but other than that it struggles to be effective.
The MKAP-97 is the penultimate weapon encountered in the singleplayer campaign. Repta will use it against you in the first confrontation with him. The gun can be missed, so be sure to search for it after the battle.
In multiplayer, the MKAP-97 is more often than not an one-shot-kill. The quintuple-grenade volley is hard to dodge, and the sticky bomb attack is still a death sentence. Also, the ammo shortage will be less of a problem if you refill your 40mm grenades supply regularly.
Gallery[]
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