MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun

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Last updated: 1.005.000
Current patch: 1.005.001

Support WeaponHellpodHeavy Armor PenetratingStationary Reload

A very powerful but difficult-to-wield machine gun with intense recoil.

— Ship Management Terminal

The Heavy Machine Gun (abbreviated as HMG) is a Stratagem in the form of a Support Weapon.

Procurement

The Heavy Machine Gun is unlocked at the Patriotic Administration Center for Requisition Slip.svg 6000 Requisition Slips at Level 12.

Stratagem Statistics

General
Call-in Time Standard 7.75 seconds
Upgraded 4.75 seconds
Uses Unlimited
Cooldown Standard 480 seconds
With Morale Augmentation 456 seconds
With Streamlined Request Process 432 seconds
With All Upgrades 410.4 seconds

Detailed Weapon Statistics

MG-206 HEAVY MACHINE GUN
Fire Rate 600 rpm
Recoil 43.75
Horizontal Recoil 32.5
Vertical Recoil 55
Spread ↔[5.00] ↕[5.00]
Sway 1
Ergonomics 0
Capacity 100
Spare Magazines 2
Starting Magazines 1
Mags from Supply 2
Mags from Ammo Box 1
Attacks
*12.5mm BCHP RIFLE ROUNDS P Projectile
12.5mm BCHP RIFLE ROUNDS P
Projectile
Caliber 12.5 mm
Mass 52 g
Initial Velocity 980 m/s
Drag Factor 30%
Gravity Factor 100%
Penetration Slowdown 25%
Damage
Standard Damage Ballistic Icon.svg150 Ballistic
vs. Durable Damage Ballistic Icon.svg35 Ballistic
Penetration
Direct Armor AP4 Icon.png Heavy
Slight Angle Armor AP4 Icon.png Heavy
Large Angle Armor AP4 Icon.png Heavy
Extreme Angle Armor AP0 Icon.png Unarmored I
Special Effects
Demolition Force 15
Stagger Force 25
Push Force 20

Tactical Information

The Heavy Machine Gun is a bulkier alternative to the MG-43 Machine Gun and M-105 Stalwart. A lumbering titan of a weapon, its Armor AP4 Icon.png Heavy armor penetrating ammunition effortlessly chews through smaller enemies and lets the user take on heavier targets like Hulks, Chargers and Harvesters.

  • Armor AP4 Icon.png Heavy armor penetrating bullets receive no damage penalty against Armor AP3 Icon.png Medium armor, making it capable of pulverizing Armor AV3 Icon.png Medium armor targets like Hive Guards, Bile Spewers, Devastators, and Scout Striders.
  • Against Hulks, the head can be targeted directly, allowing for a swift kill.
  • Factory Striders can be felled with the Heavy Machine Gun. Their chin-mounted Gatling Lasers can be removed in as little as 9-10 hits, and the Strider itself dies by unloading 69 rounds into its belly panels.
    • Their Armor AV4 Icon.png Heavy eye can be targeted to deal damage to its head, but to kill them this this way will take 115 rounds. As such, the head should only be targeted if it is already damaged, or if aiming for the belly panels is infeasible.
  • Some Secondary Objective buildings can be targeted by the Heavy Machine Gun. Anti-Air and Mortar Emplacements can be destroyed quickly, while Spore Spewers/Shrieker Nests require more ammunition.
  • To wield a machine gun with bullets of this size necessitates compromise. Users can expect high recoil, poor handling, and smaller magazine size relative to other machine guns.
  • Ammo management is especially important for this weapon, as to reload its 100-round ammo drum requires the wielder to sit in place for 5.5 seconds.
    • To mitigate its recoil, it is best to fire the weapon in a steady position, such as when crouched or prone. Recoil can be further controlled by firing ADS (Aimed down sights) and in short bursts or lowering the weapon's RPM.
    • Reloading while a round is still in the chamber reduces the reload time by 1.6 seconds, or almost 30%, Reloading with only one bullet left grants this faster reload without wasting ammunition, but can be difficult to achieve given the quantity of bullets per drum.
  • Some of the Heavy Machine Gun's downsides can be alleviated with the right equipment:
    • Certain Armor Passives pair particularly well with the Heavy Machine Gun. The Fortified and Engineering Kit passives substantially reduce recoil when in a steady position, and the Peak Physique passive greatly improves handling.
    • With only two reserve ammo drums, the Supply Pack and Siege-Ready armor passive (which increases the number of reserve ammo drums to three) are each useful for keeping the weapon topped off. Supplies from Supply Packs and Resupplies always replenish both reserve drums, even without the Superior Packing Methodology upgrade.
    • Guard Dog Stratagems help address smaller, faster enemies that the Heavy Machine Gun might otherwise stumble to aim at, as well as protecting the user while they reload.

Applicable Ship Modules

The following Ship Modules affect the MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun:

Department Ship Module Effect
Patriotic
Administration
Center
Donation Access License Support Weapons deploy with the maximum number of carriable magazines.
Streamlined Request Process Decreases Support Weapon stratagem cooldown by 10%.
Payroll Management System Reduces reload time for all support weapons by 10%.
Bridge Morale Augmentation Reduces cooldown time for all Stratagems by 5%.
Engineering
Bay
Streamlined Launch Process All Support Weapons launch immediately once called in, reducing overall deployment time.

Media

Trivia

In order to support the destruction of the Automatons, the Ministry of Defense has fast-tracked new support weapons for immediate distribution. The LAS-99 Quasar Cannon and MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun are now available for requisition.

— Arsenal Expansion Notice

  • The weapon is commonly mislabeled as the MG-101 instead of MG-206 in official information and media.
  • The MG-206's "high" rate of fire was previously an eye-watering 1200 RPM, high enough to empty the 100 round drum in just under four seconds of sustained fire - with predictably poor accuracy, given its prodigious recoil. This was first reduced to 900, and then later to 750, to better emphasize the weapon's role as a methodical heavy-hitter compared to the other machine guns.

Change History

Patch
Description

1.005.000
2025-12-02

Fix

  • Fixed the red glow that would happen if the player would empty one or two magazines with MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun, M-105 Stalwart or MG-43 Machine Gun

1.002.200
2025-03-18

Change

  • Improved armor penetration across a wider range of angles before transitioning to glancing shots

1.001.104
2024-10-15

Change

  • Magazine capacity increased from 75 to 100

1.001.100
2024-09-17

Changes

  • Stagger force increased from 20 to 25.
  • Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks.

Fix

  • HMG scope is no longer misaligned.

Undocumented Changes

  • Durable damage decreased from 50 to 35.
  • Large Angle Penetration decreased from Armor AP4 Icon.png Heavy to Armor AP3 Icon.png Medium.

1.000.400
2024-06-13

Changes

  • Increased projectile damage from 100 to 150.
  • Increased projectile damage against durable* body parts from 23% to 33%.
    • Durable damage increased from 35 to 50.
  • Decreased fire rate from 450/750/900 RPM to 450/600/750 RPM.
  • Decreased reload time from 7 seconds to 5.5 seconds.
  • Increased stagger strength from 15 to 20.

1.000.302
2024-05-07

Fixes

  • Fixed issues with some weapon scopes not being aligned in First-Person-View.

1.000.300
2024-04-29

Change

  • Third person crosshair enabled

Fix

  • MG-206 Heavy Machine Gun now triggers hitmarkers while scoped in.

1.000.200
2024-04-02

Change

  • The highest fire rate mode reduced from 1200 rpm to a more moderate 950 rpm.

1.000.104
2024-03-28
(Mid-Patch)

Addition

  • Added to the game.