Lambda: I can't wait for this to go nowhere
Leon: Legendary AR-L real? Also, why is the default in that fugly SIG Metallic color?!?!
Alcat: Magazine rotated by 15 degrees to help feeding!
PlayBONK: Please do not pay me before any work is done.
Zdann: @RJC9000 hey look, some ignorant COD player used your old mod image in their screenshots. Again!

The winner of the Next Generation Squad Weapon program and the new standard issue service rifle for the US Army. Has nothing to do with US Congress needing to show off how hard and strong their penetration is towards certain other nations, we swear.

Thanks to PlayBONK for the new animations!

The MCX Spear is unlocked at Level 65 and will appear as the SCAR-H.
The MCX Spear is a high powered, high recoil battle rifle. Aim well and be mindful of the kick.

Stat Notes:
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The Spear's gameplay role was designed to be functionally similar to "Contractor (TTI TR-1) but without Graze and able to fire on full auto": a double tapping DMR-style weapon.

The Spear's damage sits at a base damage of 112 by the default XM1186 GP ammo type. I'm not a ballistics expert, but considering the XM1186 cartridge reportedly has similar recoil impulse and stopping power to that of 7.62x51mm NATO rifles, giving the Spear gets a similar base damage to other Payday 7.62 battle rifles seems appropriate.

The fire rate is surprisingly high for a battle rifle at 750 RPM. I have next to no information online on the intended cyclic rate on the Spear, so I went with 750 RPM due to ~750 RPM being a generally accepted average estimate for most AR derivatives. Considering the generally high kick of the Spear, I highly doubt you will use this fire rate except in the most desperate of scenarios, or if you pick modifications that help reduce your recoil.

The Spear is a very accurate rifle with a base accuracy of 80 and can easily be pinpoint accurate with 100 Accuracy.

Your biggest challenge with this weapon is dealing with the intentionally high kick and low stability of the weapon (at least with the default XM1186 ammo), as befitting of a battle rifle and for a cartridge reported to have a lot of kick (with those reports coming from people using civilian rounds/military training rounds and not the full powered NGSW armor piercing cartridge firing at 80,000 PSI).

Pace your shots and fire the weapon on semi auto, swap ammo types, and/or stack stability, and you should be fine in keeping the Spear on target.

The default ammo type is the special NGSW XM1186 General Purpose round, allowing the Spear penetrate body armor as well as walls and shields. The XM1186 cartridge bumps your damage up to ~111, which, according to my testing, is just enough to two shot headshot the common FBI enemies on the hardest difficulties with Underdog basic's damage boost. Since the Spear was intended to play more like a DMR focused on scoring headshots, "can pierce body armor" is a nearly non-existent advantage despite being one of the draws of the round. So I over exaggerated the penetration to cement the XM1186 cartridge as the piercing ammo type, with said over exaggeration being accidentally accurate as far as one NGSW weapons test went.

According to an industry insider, a test involving the XM1186 cartridge that saw the XM1186 punching through concrete when fired at 200 meters from an XM250. Although the details of said test are unknown (such as how thick the concrete is), I am quite certain the Spear is more than capable of similar feats when viewed in the context of the typical Payday engagement ranges.

The 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition was initially supposed to be the sniper rifle style ammo that would have given the Spear the TTI (Contractor) range table with a 10% damage sweetspot. Unfortunately, the code didn't work and I decided to drop Weaponlib as a requirement for the weapon, so the Creedmoor rounds just grant accuracy and stability boosts as an allusion to its role as a very expensive alternative to 7.62 NATO that is suited for long range marksmanship. In gameplay terms, you should use 6.5 Creedmoor if you like the battle rifle archetype and are willing to give up armor piercing for greater stability.

The 7.62x51 NATO ammo type sacrifices a bit of damage and your ability to pierce armor/shields for 20% more ammo pickup compared to the base (3-7 bullets per pickup), considering how 7.62x51 NATO is more widespread as an ammo type compared to the XM1186/Creedmoor. It probably isn't realistic that your damage gets lowered for picking this ammo type, but this effectively serves as a "light" ammo type for people who would prefer the Spear as a more traditional assault rifle role that you can fire on full auto with. At any rate, you can change the stats in the files yourself if you are displeased with 7.62 NATO lowering your damage breaking your immersion.

The Marksman Barrel is an allusion to the Spear beginning life as an entrant into the US Military's CSASS contract. The Marksman Barrel functions similar to DMR kits on other weapons: increased damage and accuracy, but reduces your fire rate to 450 RPM and the weapon is locked to semi auto. The Marksman Barrel was supposed to confer the sniper rifle category (Graze), but after dropping the Weaponlib requirement on the Spear, that no longer makes any sense. In gameplay terms, it should raise your damage to make the Spear act like the M1A/M308: granting just enough damage to let you one shot headshot with a full Berserker damage proc.
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Known Issues

If you are looking very closely, you'll see your right index finger clipping through the trigger guard. That is an unfortunate problem caused by having to fit this animation to a vanilla weapon whose proportions don't perfectly match.

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Probable Future Asked Questions:

Q: Skinmaps, please!
A: Not really interested. I'm perfectly happy with the weapon in bog standard Coyote, FDE, or Black finishes.

Q: Do a matching XM250/SLSAW?
A: https://modworkshop.net/mod/41485
Note that this is the prototype NGSW trials version and not the proper M250. Why everyone focuses on Spear but not the XM250 is beyond me, the XM250 looks to be an actual upgrade over the M249 SAW, Ron Cohen quality assurance aside.

Q: Can we have a bunch of new vertical grips that don't use the bottom MLOK rail?
**A: Since most of the Payday 2/custom Vertical Grips are Picatinny mounted, the vertical grips mounted on the handguard via MLOK slots would effectively be exclusive to this gun. I'm not against them, but I'm not sure what interesting VGs are missing.

Q: Hey wait a minute, (x) isn't accurate to the real rifle!
A: Yeah, I have to live with what models/textures are available on the Internet. Since not all of us are involved in the NGSW weapon testing/are SIG Sauer employees, here are some of the noted inaccuracies compared to the most up to date information I have on the Spear:
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-The default stock is a Magpul SL-K as opposed to a Magpul SL-M used by the NGSW weapons. If someone wants to direct me to a proper Magpul SL-M model, let me know.
-The markings on the left side of the receiver that state "SLMAG" are incorrect to the real XM7. Blame Akinaro for that I guess.
-**The forward assist is on the gun, while some of the 2023 PEO pictures show the XM7 with the forward assist being removed. Somewhere out there, Eugene Stoner gets his wish many decades later. **
-The SIG Sauer Stamped Steel Magazine is missing the updated stamping and vent holes that let someone see if the magazine is loaded with 20/15/10 rounds. The modeler and I were working with relatively limited information and neither of us knew about the recently updated version from the SIG Sauer Defense catalogue until we finished production, I apologize for that.
-The Handguard is missing a cutout for the gas block as well as one additional MLOK slot on the bottom rail. This is a relatively recent change and I fear that ringing up Akinaro to fix this would involve remodeling the entire gun ... again.

• There's a new M7A1/Product Improvement with a lighter BCG, removed forward assist, and

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Q: I preferred the old animations, do you still have the 1.04 version?
A: https://modworkshop.net/mod/43772

Q: Expensive US Military paperweight 2 stronk/2 wekk, need nerf/buff!
A: Change the stats yourself.