So I got bored while Tyr was grabbing pistol mags in game and ended up thinking about the Police starter class.
Basically I started thinking how odd it seemed and decided to look into it more thoroughly. I wanted to list some facts and what I feel are slight disadvantages compared to the other classes and how I feel the policeman really fails at having a proper niche to stand out. The meta has changed in my opinion in considerable ways since this class was introduced many years ago now and I think a review is justified.
A human starting as a policeman gets: Police uniform, Police Badge, a Pistol with (6) shots and 2 reloads, for a total of 18 rounds possible.
The starting skill is Small arms training, adding a 10% boost to his small arms training. This skill covers not only pistols but shotguns as well. The base accuracy of a pistol is 30%, combined with the starter skill we have a character who has 18 potential attacks at 40% accuracy, doing anywhere from 4-7 damage without the skill 'dead shot'.
Since they really fill the same niche overall, attack enemies for experience, I will included soldier's stats here.
A soldier starts with: Fatigues, Dog Tags, an Assault Rifle loaded with 15 rounds and 2 backup mags. The starting skill is Assault Weapon training, the assault rifle being the only weapon of its skill tree. This character can attack 45 times at an accuracy rate of 30% with his starting skill for a potential 4-11 damage.
I want to remind people that zombies and vampires had less health and healing ability when these classes were introduced. I didn't do hard math but I would safely say that only a soldier could reliably take down a Vampire NPC even, and after they lose the ammo they're kind of fucked.
In comparison most other classes such as the Scientist get something cool and infinitely useful like a lazarix card for potential exp gain from the beginning or how Carpenters or Firefighters get the valued walkie talkie.
Heck, even the vagrants get a pretty decent niche with scavange ability and that sweet baseball bat to compensate for their lack of combat abilities strait away.
Right now I really just want to bring attention to these discrepancies I feel are legit more than I can offer concrete solutions sadly.
Thoughts?