Thompson (weapon)

The Thompson is a submachine gun featured in every Call of Duty title set in World War II to date, as well as a brief appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It appears in the Zombies map, Mob of the Dead as the "M1927" for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Call of Duty and United Offensive
"The Thompson submachine gun is effective at close range and fires the powerful .45 ACP round. It's notoriously inaccurate at a distance but compensates with a high rate of fire."

- Call of Duty manual description.

Campaign
This is commonly a starting weapon for the American campaign, in a similar way to the Soviet campaign's PPSh-41. The Call of Duty and the Call of Duty: United Offensive  versions are somewhat different, in that the Call of Duty: United Offensive version is much less powerful, only doing one third the damage as the older version, which could kill an enemy with a single bullet. It has a high magazine capacity and damage, along with minimal recoil, which makes the Thompson a versatile weapon in that it can be used to good effect at all ranges. However, ammunition is not always readily available in comparison to the MP40, which is very similar to the Thompson, but with more abundant ammo, but ammo is still plentiful in comparison to other weapons such as the BAR or the M1A1 Carbine. It has a Fire Select switch, allowing the user to switch between semi-automatic and fully-automatic modes of fire.

Multiplayer
This can be a very effective weapon in multiplayer, as it takes just two bullets to kill an enemy at any range in Call of Duty. However, in Call of Duty: United Offensive, it loses its effectiveness at range due to damage drop-off, which forces the player to land six rounds to kill one enemy.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour
In Call of Duty: Finest Hour, the Thompson has a 30-round magazine, and is available in most of the American missions, as well as being used by British Sgt. Dehart in the British North African campaign. It can kill an enemy in two to three shots.

It uses the fire sound from the PPSh-41. It uses the circular peep sight when aiming as opposed to the above "V-notch" that all other games use.

Campaign
The Thompson in Call of Duty 2 is still one of the common Allied weapons. However, it now only has a 20-round magazine, which means that the player will be reloading more frequently. It is a one-shot-kill in close range, but at long range the damage is greatly reduced.

It seems to be the favored weapon of Sgt. Randall. He uses it during the whole game and is never seen with an alternative.

Multiplayer
The Thompson is still fairly ineffective in multiplayer, as it takes three to six shots to kill, which, combined with its small magazine size of just 20, makes the Thompson sub-par to the other submachine guns available.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, the Thompson is used by many American soldiers. The Thompson is appears in every mission in the hands of Sgt Hawkins and other soldiers and is usable by the player in the mission, "We've Been Through Worse" and in every mission after Piano Lupo, with the exception of "Crucifix Hill". It has a 30-round magazine. Ammunition is common.

Call of Duty 3
"Submachine gun. .45ACP. The "Tommy Gun" was blow-back operated with a cyclic rate of 700 rounds per minute. Wartime M1A1 were fed by 20 or 30 round stick magazines and generally issued to officers and NCOs."

- In-game description The Thompson M1A1 returns yet again in Call of Duty 3 as one of the main weapons of the American Forces. The weapon keeps roughly the same statistics fire wise as it does in Call of Duty 2 but it now has much more intrusive iron sights, taking up roughly half the player's view. It is featured in the trailer.

Campaign
The Thompson M1A1 is common in the campaign. It is first introduced in the first mission, "Saint-Lô". The Thompson is powerful, with low recoil, but inaccurate at long ranges. It is extremely useful for clearing out enclosed areas with multiple enemies, and should be ideally used in conjunction with a rifle for targets at a further distance. Ammunition for the M1A1 is scarce on some levels, so the player should ideally watch their shots.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the Thompson M1A1 is carried by the allies if the player chooses the Light Assault class. The M1A1 is somewhat more accurate than the MP40, and has slightly less recoil. However, it has a smaller magazine than the MP40, but has a shorter reload time to compensate for this.

Call of Duty: Roads to Victory
In the PlayStaion Portable installment of the series the Thompson makes yet another appearance. It inflicts medium damage onto enemy troops, requiring two body or one head shot to kill any enemy soldier. It is one of the starting weapons in all of the American missions (except "Lucky Thirteen", which takes place in the air).

Call of Duty: World at War
"American submachine gun with high accuracy and moderate power. Effective at close to medium range."

- Create a class description.

Campaign
In Call of Duty: World at War, the Thompson is never a starting weapon in the missions, unlike almost every other game, but it is often found on fallen Marines. It can first be found in "Semper Fi", where two are on the floor of a hut, in which two Japanese soldiers are executing a Marine. It is a preferred weapon of Cpl. (later Sgt.) Roebuck when he is promoted to Sergeant and is one of the four weapons available to use and re-supply in the beginning of the mission "Breaking Point". Interestingly, even if the Marines used this weapon, it is somewhat rare to find while Arisakas, Type 100s, and M1 Garands usually rule the Pacific campaign missions, yet they are far from scarce either. Because of the fairly low ammo and high rate of fire, the Thompson tends to run out of ammunition fairly quickly. When two players are playing co-operative mode on the same console, if one player receives a flamethrower as a starting weapon in a mission, the other receives a Thompson with full ammunition.

Multiplayer
The Thompson is the first submachine gun available. The weapon has low recoil, with high damage and a high rate of fire. These traits make it effective even at long range.

Its main flaw is its small magazine, however this is mitigated by the lightning fast dry reload or Round Drum attachment which increases its capacity to 40, at the cost of a longer reload.

The Thompson has the same penetration as rifles, which is better than the other submachine guns. It is roughly equivalent to another submachine gun with the Deep Impact perk. It is, statistic wise, almost the same as the Type 100 but with a smaller magazine and better penetration through walls and wooden covers. The Type 100 has exactly the same amount of time needed to kill as the Thompson, because of this and the larger magazine, the Type 100 is often a better choice.

With Stopping Power, the Thompson kills in two to four hits, and three to five without. Juggernaut users require three to five and four to six hits, respectively. In Hardcore game modes, it kills in one to two hits unless through cover or against Juggernaut or Second Chance users.

Zombies
The Thompson appears in all maps, both off the wall and from the Mystery Box. It can be bought for 1200 points, with ammo costing 600 points. It is a good weapon, especially in the early to mid rounds, due to its good accuracy, fire rate and high close range power. In higher rounds, it loses its effectiveness quickly, and requires several shots to take down a single zombie, making headshots a priority.

On Der Riese, it can be Pack-a-Punched via the Pack-a-Punch Machine into the Gibs-O-Matic, giving it a doubled magazine, larger ammo reserve and more power. Even after Pack-a-Punching, ammo reserves may be problematic in the higher rounds. However, this can be countered by the fact that ammo can be bought off of the wall for 4500 points. It is relatively ineffective unless the player can make a large number of headshots in later rounds. The Thompson is very accurate laterally and vertical recoil is gentle and uniform, conductive to headshots with a good damage multiplier for such. Between the 40-round magazine, fast dry reload and with the addition of Speed Cola, the Gibs-O-Matic can sustain fire for a fair amount of time.

Weapon Attachments

 * Suppressor
 * Aperture Sight
 * Round Drum

Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts
In Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts, it is the standard submachine gun of the U.S. Army Divisions, 80th Infantry Division in Europe and the 2nd Marine Division in the Pacific. It appears in almost all American missions, as a secondary weapon along with the M1 Garand. It is a very good weapon on medium to close range, and its ammo can be scavenged from dead American soldiers, as it ammo would not be an issue, but the problem for all players is its high rate of fire and small magazine would be outperformed by other weapons like the Type 100 and MP40.

Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS)
The Thompson appears in the Nintendo DS version of Call of Duty: World at War as one of the five submachine guns available for use. Like most weapons featured in Nintendo DS games, there are a few similarities and differences between the DS version and the console version of the weapon. The first similarity would be the general appearance of the gun, even with a similar looking compensator. Another similarity would be the irons sights, though they offer a better peripheral view at the cost of being less pin point accurate. Unlike most depictions of the weapon in the Call of Duty series, this version of the Thompson is fitted with the historically accurate 30 round magazine. Even more similar to the real life counterpart, it has much higher recoil and stopping power.

Campaign
In the campaign, the Thompson is found in every American mission as a starting weapon or being used by allies. The only exception would be "On the Water", which is a vehicle based level. The Thompson is well rounded weapon, killing in three shots at any range, moderate but manageable recoil, a moderate reload time, and a decent magazine size of 30 rounds. Despite the good qualities, it is beaten by the Type 100 as it has a higher rate of fire and ammunition for it is more common, at the cost of higher recoil.

Multiplayer
The Thompson is the only submachine gun available to the Americans if the Allied faction is chosen. As with all weapons in multiplayer, its power is reduced, taking four shots to kill, as opposed to three. Luckily, it has still retained the steady damage at all ranges, like its single player variant. Due to these traits, it is a moderately encountered weapon. It can be effectively used in close quarters, as its recoil will push the players aim upward towards the head, where damage is increased. Its use in long range combat is also manageable, as long as the player burst-fires or uses the weapon like it is semi automatic.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Thompson returns in the revised Call of Duty: World at War Zombies maps for the Hardened and Prestige editions of Call of Duty: Black Ops and the Rezurrection map pack.

It can be purchased off of the wall, but is no longer available from the Mystery Box. It is one of the few Call of Duty: World at War weapons that can be obtained in every classic map, as it can be found on the wall in all the original maps. It remains a highly useful weapon, worth noting if a player does not want to gamble with receiving a poor weapon from the Mystery Box.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
The Thompson appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II Zombies map Mob of the Dead as the "M1927". It costs 1500 points to purchase at the Docks, on the wall nearest the Plane Part. The weapon is basically the same as its Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops counterparts, except for a higher rate of fire and an increased magazine capacity from 20 to 50 rounds, making it more effective for the later rounds, but ammo reserves are still a big problem.

When Pack-a-Punched via the Pack-a-Punch Machine, it becomes the Speakeasy. This is a reference to the establishments that sold alcohol illegally during the prohibiton era, as they were nicknamed "Speak-easies".

General

 * Apart from Ray Gun, Monkey Bomb and the M1911, the Thompson is the only weapon in Zombies that is present in all three main installments of Zombies.

Call of Duty 2

 * Two versions of the Thompson can be found; semi-auto, and full-auto.

Call of Duty: World at War

 * On the Nintendo Wii version, the Thompson's empty-reload animation is the same as its mid-magazine reloading animation. Adding a Round Drum fixes it. The Gewehr 43 also has the same issue, but only when it is equipped with a Silencer.
 * The Create-a-Class picture of the Thompson is missing a muzzle brake. It resembles the Thompson in Call of Duty 3.
 * When playing online with the Thompson that has a Round Drum, the player (from third-person view) still has the original 20 round Box Magazine.
 * On the Nintendo Wii version, the Thompson is portrayed without the compensator that the consoles versions have.
 * On the left side, it can be seen written, "THOMPSON SUBMACHINE GUN CALIBER.45 M1A1 NO. 080878".
 * The selective fire switch on the Thompson is set for semi-automatic, even though it is always fully automatic in the game.
 * In Nacht der Untoten, walking up to the Thompson on the wall tells the player the gun's cost is 1500 points, even though it actually costs 1200 points. This has been fixed in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * The files for the Thompson can be found on PC even without Classic Zombies maps installed. However, the files are empty.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

 * The M1927 was known as the "Tommy Gun" in an early trailer for Mob of the Dead.
 * The markings on the side of the gun call it a "CTFA M1921" as opposed to the M1927 name in-game.

Video
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Gameplay with the Thompson in the beta Call of Duty: World at War