Thompson (weapon)

The Thompson submachine gun is a submachine gun that is featured in every Call of Duty title set in World War II to date.

Singleplayer
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 UO 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 1. However, in UO, it loses its effectiveness at range due to damage dropoff, which forces the player to land nine 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.

Singleplayer
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 a lot more. 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
In multiplayer, the Thompson is still fairly ineffective, as it takes three to ten shots to kill, which, combined with its small magazine size of just twenty, 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 a variety of American soldiers. The weapon looks very similar to the Thompson in past installments, and again uses the V-Notch iron sight. The Thompson is found in every level of the game, with the exeption of "Liberators".

Call of Duty 3
The Thompson returns yet again 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.

Singleplayer
In the campaign it can be found around American dead bodies and in the hand of many American allies. It is first introduced in the first mission, Saint-Lô, but ammo for it is somewhat rare during mid-campaign missions, but there is plenty again in the last two missions, The Crossroads and Chambois.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the Thompson is carried by the allies if the player chooses the Light Assault class. It is accurate at close to medium range. It is once again shown with the inaccurate 20 round magazine and the standard M1A1 features.

Call of Duty: Roads to Victory
In the PSP 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).

Single player
It's never a starter weapon in missions unlike almost every other game, but it's 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 level Breaking Point. Interestingly, even if the Marines used this weapon, it is often too rare to find while Arisakas, Type 100s, and M1 Garands usually rule the Pacific campaign missions. This is probably based on the fact that the Thompson was mostly used by NCOs. Because of the fairly low ammo and high rate of fire, the Thompson tends to run out of ammunition fairly quickly.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the Thompson is the first SMG 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 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 Deep Impact on. It is, stat-wise, almost the same as the Type 100 but with a smaller magazine and better penetration through walls and wood covers.

With Stopping Power the Thompson kills in 2-4 hits, and 3-5 without. Juggernaut users require 3-5 and 4-6 hits. In Hardcore it kills in 1-2 hits unless through cover or against Juggernaut or Second Chance users.

Nazi Zombies
The Thompson appears in all Nazi Zombie maps/levels, both off the wall and from the Mystery Box. It can be bought for 1200 points, and ammo costs 600 points. It is a good weapon, especially in the early to mid rounds, due to its good accuracy, fire rate and high short-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 upgraded to the "Gibs-o-Matic", giving it a doubled magazine, larger reserve and more power. Even after the upgrade, ammo reserves may become 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. Thankfully, 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, lightning fast dry reload and with the addition of Speed Cola, the Gibs-o-Matic can pretty much sustain fire for a fair time.

Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts
The standard submachine gun of the US Army Divisions, 80th Infantry Division in Europe and the 2nd Marine Division in the Pacific.

Call of Duty World at War (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.

Singleplayer
In single player, 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
In multiplayer, the Thompson is the only SMG 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's semiautomatic.

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. It can be purchased off of the wall, but is no longer available from the Mystery Box. It is one of the few WWII weapons that can be obtained in every classic zombie maps, 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.

Trivia

 * On the Nintendo Wii version of Call of Duty: World at War, 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, so it is backwards.
 * The Create-a-Class picture of the Thompson in Call of Duty: World at War is missing a muzzle brake. It resembles the Thompson in Call of Duty 3.
 * This is the first American weapon held by the player in Call of Duty 2.
 * When playing online in Call of Duty: World at War with the Thompson that has a Round Drum, the player (from 3rd person view) still has the original 20 round Box Magazine.
 * In 'Loose Ends' and 'All Ghillied Up', there are posters of a Russian woman holding a Thompson.
 * In a 3rd person view the player model holds the weapon by the stock.
 * In Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty: Roads to Victory and Call of Duty: World at War, the Thompson holds 20 rounds even though it is shown with a 30 round magazine.
 * On the Nintendo Wii version of World at War, the Thompson is portrayed without the compensator that the console versions have.
 * The Thompson is also available in the classic maps of Nazi Zombies in Black Ops. The gun appearance and stats stayed the same as in World at War. However, if you reload the Thompson in World at War, the ironsight was missing, but in Black Ops, the ironsight is there.
 * In World at War, on the left side it can be seen written: THOMPSON SUBMACHINE GUN CALIBER.45 M1A1 NO. 080878.

Tactics

 * In Call of Duty 3 the Thompson has high recoil and not a lot of ammo so fire in short bursts or "stutter-fire" (firing varying bursts with not a lot of space between them to create an effect like full-auto), this will increase accuracy and conserve ammo. Don't use full-auto unless the target is near.
 * When playing Zombies, it is best to go for headshots with the Thompson, since it is very reliable up to about Round 12 and ammo can be bought off the wall.

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