Vostu-pattern carbine

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The Type-51 Carbine, also known as the Covenant Carbine, is a Covenant infantry weapon. It is widely used by Brutes, Jackals and Elites, and also sometimes used by Marines and Flood Combat Forms.

Design Details
The Type-51 Carbine is the Covenant equivalent of the UNSC BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and the BR55 Battle Rifle, in terms of usage. It is a semi-automatic weapon that combines high accuracy with decent damage power, used primarily for mid-range combat. Unlike most standard-issue Covenant weapons, such as the Plasma Rifle, the Carbine doesn't run on a battery. Instead, it fires solid, radioactive projectiles, similar to that of a Fuel Rod Gun, from an 18-round cylindrical magazine, sometimes suggested as being analogous to a "charger clip" style magazine, (such as in an M1 Garand or M91 Carcano used in WWII). It has a similar feature to the Assault Rifle and the Battle Rifle in that it displays how much ammunition is left in the current magazine. It is sometimes carried by Brutes and Elites, though this is not usually their preferred weapon, as they prefer more common weapons, such as the Spiker for the Brutes, and the Plasma Rifle and Energy Sword for the Elites. In the hands of a Brute, or Elite, they can be extremely effective, allowing them to engage their enemies at mid range with uncanny accuracy. This is the weapon of choice for Jackal Snipers in Halo 3, along with the Beam Rifle. In fact, it almost always replaces the Beam Rifle for Sniper Jackals, unless on a higher difficulty.

Advantages
With a 2x zoom ability, its possible to make head-shots from large distances. It is also effective at killing an unshielded opponent in Multiplayer, and has equal effectiveness to an unshielded enemy as that of a Battle Rifle and the M6C, M6D and M6G pistols. Like those weapons, it will kill an unshielded opponent with one shot to the head instantly.

The weapon can land headshots, and can be used at almost all ranges. Because the Carbine fires shielded radioactive isotope rounds (not plasma bolts), it is useful against the Flood as it can destroy the embedded Infection Form immediately if shot at. It's also very useful in the Halo 2 Campaign against Brutes. Because Brutes have very little head protection, a skilled player can take out three or four Brutes with one magazine or with one shot to the head when playing on easier difficulties. Its fast rate of fire is useful to shoot off a Brute's helmet and then shoot a Brute's head in less than a second. However, this tactic is not recommended in Halo 3 Campaign, because Brutes have better armor protection on their heads.

The Carbine, when used correctly, can take down an enemy slightly faster than a Battle Rifle. However, it requires more aim, taking at least seven shots to the head in Multiplayer. Damage done by the Carbine is slightly lower than that of the Battle Rifle (if all three bullets hit), but it fires about twice as fast, making it almost as effective. Experienced players would prefer the Carbine over the Battle Rifle because of the constant shifting of aim required.

The Covenant Carbine has one other advantage over the Battle Rifle. It is able to do damage to Jackal Point Defense Gauntlets, Enforcer shields, Stationary Shield Generators, Brute Power Armor, and other shields of such nature better than the Battle Rifle. However, it is not as effective as other Covenant weapons for this purpose.

The Carbine's magazine, though holding half as much ammo than the Battle Rifle, will last longer because the Battle Rifle fires in bursts of three, emptying a magazine with twelve pulls of the trigger. The Carbine fires one round at a time, requiring eighteen pulls of the trigger to empty a magazine.

This is a better choice over the Battle Rifle when you want to ride in the passenger seat of a vehicle. Since you are unable to scope in a vehicle, the Battle Rifle's spread would cause many rounds to miss its target. A Carbine is not severely affected by this problem.

Disadvantages
The Carbine's rounds give off a yellowish-green trail, giving away your position just like the Sniper Rifle's vapor trail or the Battle Rifle's tracer trail. Its distinct sound may also attract the attention of nearby players. Also, in Halo 3, a green mist is ejected from the ammo slot, giving away the player's position if reloaded while using Active Camo. It also has weaker firepower to the Battle Rifle, so it usually only gives an advantage to more skilled players. Less skilled players with some degree of luck may be able to use it effectively as well. Also, it is not as effective if you spam the trigger because constant shifting of your target will make many shots miss. However, a player with good aim and that can take cover well can be deadly with a Carbine. It also has less ammo than the Battle Rifle. Another distinct disadvantage is that it is less effective than the Battle Rifle when you want to take on multiple enemies at once.

Changes From Halo 2

 * In Halo 2, when you zoom in, the view is a group of seven hexagons melded into a honeycomb shape. In Halo 3, four lines will separate from the center in addition to the hexagons, almost on the same plane as the reticule lines.
 * In Halo 3, the Carbine has a green patterned circle on top of the magazine indicator.
 * Carbine ammo is much more abundant, double the amount usually given in Halo 2.

Halo 3
During the Halo 3 Beta, there were concerns that the Carbine was overpowered compared to its counterpart the Battle Rifle. This disparity was attributed to an excessively high rate of fire, which allowed it to inflict more damage over time than the Battle Rifle did. In the final cut, the Carbine's rate of fire has been reduced to about that of the Halo 2 version. Furthermore, its power has been reduced slightly from its Halo 2 counterpart. It now takes eight head shots to kill a fully-shielded opponent in multiplayer, as opposed to seven in Halo 2 and the Halo 3 Beta. In addition to the reduction in per-shot damage, the Carbine, also starts with two spare magazines when found in multiplayer, whereas it only started with a single spare magazine in Halo 2 multiplayer.

Also, in the Beta, when reloaded, it did not seem to emit a small cloud of gas as it does in the final version of the game.

As far as the Covenant Carbine's role in the campaign, it is still occasionally found to be used by Brutes, but it can most frequently be found in the hands of Jackals, who utilize it in a marksman role.

Grunts
As with the Battle Rifle, the Covenant Carbine will easily take down Grunts from close to far range. Simply aim for the head, and the Unggoy will be dead. However, if you aim for the body, it will take 4-6 shots, decreasing its effectiveness.

The Battle Rifle would lose to the Carbine in this case since not only does the Carbine use up less ammo than the Battle Rifle(the Battle Rifle can fire 48 bursts at full ammo, the Carbine can fire 90) but the Carbine also fires faster. Unless you know you can take out more than one grunt with a single burst, the Carbine would be far more effective. If you cannot shoot it in the head though(usually when its gas tank is blocking its head while its fleeing), then simply don't shoot it at all, since they would be no real threat to you, and if they fire at you, they would obviously show their head.

Jackals
Once again, it is inadvisable to alternate to the Battle Rifle due to the three-round burst, unless you can hit the hand while it is facing you with the first bullet and quickly kill it with the last bullet in the burst(if you can aim for the head that quickly), or if the Jackal is running away from you, where it will usually turn its back on you and lower its head, where the battle rifle would work far more effective against unshielded foes. Otherwise you would just waste much more ammo than you would with the Carbine, especially given the maximum ammo capacity of the Battle Rifle, which is 48 bursts. If the Jackals are on patrol or have their back turned to you(whilst not running away), simply aim for the head and pull the trigger, resulting in a one-hit kill. However, if in the middle of a firefight, you should run up towards the Jackal, melee it or shoot the exposed hand which should make it flinch and take away its shield for an instant, and kill it with a headshot.

Unlike human ballistic projectiles, the Carbine rounds will inflict damage on the Jackal's personal shield, causing the shield to collapse within 4-10 shots (depending on the difficulty) and providing you with a clear shot at their head. However, unlike with the plasma rifle, the damage done is not enough to actually collapse the shield with a reasonable amount of shots. It is much more conventional to just dispatch it like with a Battle Rifle- shoot the space in the shield, and follow up with a headshot. Skilled players can use this tactic to take Jackals out in just one second.

Jackal Snipers
Jackal Snipers are relatively easier than normal Jackals due to the lack of shielding, however they can be still lethal as a single shot can kill you in Legendary. To avoid it firing on you, simply shoot it at the head. The Battle Rifle is, however, inferior in this case, because of the spread. Usually, Jackal Snipers will be at a distance, causing the BR's fire to split. The Carbine works best at close-medium ranges. The best way is to have a Sniper or Beam Rifle as a secondary weapon. Taking cover so the Jackal doesn't spot you, zoom in to 10x, and aim at their head. Without moving your aim, switch to Carbine, zoom in, and shoot. Note the Carbine is less accurate and may miss, especially at extreme range, so fire several shots to kill it.

Elites
The carbine is not as strong against energy shields as the plasma rifle, but is still effective against Elites due to its high power and good rate of fire. In Heroic, it should take around 7 to 8 shots to disable the shield (around 12 shots against Major, Honor Guard, or Spec Ops Elites), then a single headshot to bring down the Elite.

Brutes
In Halo 2, the Carbine is one of the absolute best weapons to use against Brutes, due to their lack of shielding and vulnerability to headshots. Torso shots are somewhat less effective, requiring about 10 to 15 hits on Normal or 14 to 16 on Heroic to kill a Brute. In Halo 3 Brutes can be killed with around 4 to 7 shots on Normal, or 6 to 10 shots on Heroic. In both games, it's harder to get a headshot on a Brute when it goes into berserk mode because it is more difficult to aim for the head, as the head no longer presents itself at the top of the target; however, it is possible to fire two to three shots in the area between the shoulders.

Flood
As with all Covenant weapons in Halo 2, save for the Energy Sword, Brute Shot, and Fuel Rod Gun, this weapon is somewhat underpowered against the Flood in Halo 2, unless you land a "chest headshot". That is, if stuck with the Carbine, aim for the tentacles protruding from the chest (this is where the Infection Form has burrowed, and one shot should put the Combat Form down). Of course, the weapon has some use as a semi-sniping weapon. If playing as the Arbiter and not in a conflict zone, engage Active Camouflage, go up to the Flood Form, and melee them (thus depleting their shield, if they have one). Then, aim for the chest and the Combat Form will go down. Note that the Infection forms can still re-infect the Form, in contrast to the Energy Sword (which will disintegrate them). In Halo 3, a few shots in the upper body should kill a Combat Form and instantly dispatches them if you hit them in the depression in the chest, much like the Battle Rifle. However, the Carbine is not recommended against Pure Forms.

UNSC Remarks

 * “So—it’s just their projectile weapons that we’ve figured out how to reload? I guess I’m cool with that.”
 * “It’s almost a direct analog of the BR55. I just wish it had a more — um — conventional scope.”
 * “In my youth I used to board Olympus a couple o’ times a year—you see where I’m going with this? Yeah. That foxtrot gun is the size of my old board.”
 * “Wish it was smaller; wish it had a proper stock — or at least a butt pad.”
 * "Hey — don’t inhale immediately after the charger ejects. I heard that shit gives you Boren’s Syndrome.”

Trivia

 * The Carbine smoke is of the same of that of plasma grenades, which causes Boren's Syndrome, a deadly, if mostly fatal, disease.
 * The Carbine is notorious for its large and unwieldy size, as many Marines have commented. This is obviously because the Carbine was designed with the Covenant races in mind, particularly the Elites (the unusually shaped grip could have been designed for the Elite's two main fingers), certainly not for human use.
 * The ammo of the Type-51 Carbine is loaded similarly and correspondingly to most modern human weapons, a rare generality unlike many other Covenant weapons.
 * In the Halo 2 and Halo 3 instruction booklets, the Carbine is incorrectly labeled as having 36 rounds, instead of the actual 18 rounds. Ironically, this is the number of rounds the Carbine's human equivalent, the Battle Rifle, has.
 * The green ring on the end of the magazine is an ammo indicator and is effective when you need to keep your focus on the actual battle.
 * If you run out of spare ammunition, the Carbine would not eject the empty magazine.
 * In Halo 2, on the level Sacred Icon, there is a glitch which means that you start off with 78 spare rounds instead of the usual 72. However, if you empty the magazine and then try and pick up Carbine ammo, you will only be able to get a total of the usual 72 spare rounds.
 * Despite having a 2x zoom scope capability, the Carbine doesn't appear to have a scope mounted on it. A theory suspects that the magazines are in fact the scope, explaining the symbols in the center of the the ammo count as well as to why there is no other scope on the Carbine; another theory is that like the Beam Rifle, scoping relies on the user's HUD.
 * If you give a shield-bearing Jackal a Carbine in Halo 2 and then melee it, it will drop the Carbine and pull out a Plasma Pistol. This is done for the Unlimited Plasma Pistol Glitch.
 * If you give a shield-bearing Jackal a Carbine in Halo 2, it will hold both the Carbine and its shield in either hand, and the Carbine will protrude from the shield in an erratic manner.
 * In Halo 2, when you reload, the magazine will pop out but disappear almost immediately. In Halo 3 they will fall on the floor and take a short while to disappear.
 * The ammunition for the Carbine is powered along its entire flight path, consuming up to 50% of its mass by the time it reaches its maximum effective range.
 * Some consider the crosshair of the Carbine to be slightly off, which is notable when attempting long range headshots.
 * In the level Gravemind, several Carbines have 120 rounds in reserve, much more than the usual max, 72. This also occurs on other levels, especially if the Carbine is taken from an ally scripted to pick the weapon up, such as the Marines in the detention block in Gravemind.
 * In the Halo Wars official strategy guide, the Covenant Carbine is called a "slug beam rifle", probably because it fires radioactive rounds at rather high velocities and at long ranges.
 * The producer's idea of the Type-51 self-ejecting the spent magazine might have came from the WWII-era M1 Garand's en-bloc clip.
 * In Halo 3: ODST, the Carbine has a new firing sound. It now sounds much deeper than before.