Combine SPAS-12

Combine SPAS-12
Production information
Type	Pump-action / Semiautomatic shotgun
Affiliation	Combine
Manufacturer	Luigi Franchi S.p.A.
Model	SPAS-12
Technical specifications
Magazine / reload type	6 rounds internal tube magazine, shells reloaded individually
Ammunition type	12-gauge buckshot shells
Maximum ammunition	30 rounds
Damage	8 point per pellet: 56 point in total (Primary fire) 84 point in total (Secondary fire)
Rate of fire	Slow
Accuracy	Poor
Range	Short to medium, effectiveness decreases with distance
Usage
Used by	Father Grigori (Held and tossed only) Gordon Freeman Isaac Kleiner (Held only) Alyx Vance Overwatch Soldiers Rebels
Counterparts	HECU SPAS-12
Game information
Entity name	weapon_shotgun (weapon entity) item_box_buckshot (ammo entity)

 

"Here, I have a more suitable gun for you. You'll need it—Catch!"

―Father Grigori

 

The Combine SPAS-12 is a powerful pump-action shotgun that fires buckshot in a cone-shaped pattern. It is used by various characters and NPCs in Half-Life 2 and its episodes.

Overview

Overwatch Soldier running towards Freeman with his shotgun at Bridge Point.

• The SPAS-12 is first given to Freeman by Father Grigori in the sixth Half-Life 2 chapter "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...".

• The SPAS-12 fires one shot if the main fire key is pressed, and will fire two shots at once when the alternate fire key is pressed. The alternate fire uses two shotgun shells at once. However, when Gordon pumps the shotgun, only 1 shell is ejected.

• This weapon is used by both Rebels and Overwatch Soldiers, who have a different uniform than regular soldiers.

• When the gun is reloaded, Freeman inserts one shell at a time. The reloading process can be interrupted at anytime by hitting any of the fire keys.

• After the chapter Entanglement, Kleiner greets Alyx and Gordon with a SPAS-12, mirroring a scene from Half-Life.

• In Episode One, the SPAS-12 is found in the chapter Lowlife, along with the USP Match.

• In the Episode One Hospital, Alyx picks up a SPAS-12 that she effectively uses against opponents. Just like with her gun, it appears to have unlimited ammo.

• In Episode Two, it is found in the chapter To The White Forest, while trekking through the Victory Mine.

Tactics

Alyx wielding a SPAS-12 in the Hospital.

• The SPAS-12 is very effective at close range against most targets. However, its effectiveness decreases significantly with range because its pellets spread more the farther they go.

• The SPAS-12 is one of the most effective weapons in the game, as the single shot's spread is tight enough to hit enemies at up to medium range, and it does a lot of damage per pellet. Its ammunition can be found very often as well.

• Ammunition for the SPAS-12 is extraordinarily common. SPAS-12s found on the ground or dropped by Overwatch Soldiers supply a full magazine of 6 rounds, and boxes of ammo contain a staggering 20 shells. Two boxes of ammo can fully resupply even an empty SPAS-12 with some shells to spare. It is even possible to carry the box with a Gravity Gun to refill ammo when in urgency, as long as the reserve ammo is 30

• The double-shot is very powerful, but its large spread means that it should only be used at short range.

• The SPAS-12 is a very good weapon when dealing with Zombies of nearly any type, and their Headcrab counterparts can be dispatched very quickly, easily, and safely with the SPAS-12. Even if only a few pellets hit a Headcrab, their combined damage should be more than enough to kill it. However, if fighting a Poison Zombie using SPAS-12, use caution by strafing constantly and make sure it fully reloaded, due of higher health than other type of Zombies, and combined with three Poison Headcrabs it make it dangerous even for SPAS-12 users.
  • When dealing with Zombies, aim for the head to avoid fighting the Headcrab, two round burst is the guaranteed kill. As long as the "killing shot" is aimed at the head, the Headcrab should die.

• It may be desirable to enter a firefight with the SPAS-12 and, once the supply of shells has been exhausted, switch to a backup weapon instead of reloading.

• A common tactic when using the SPAS-12 is to reload every one or two shots if possible to avoid the long reload time. However this is generally not recommended if multiple enemies are at close range.

• Compared to its Half-Life counterpart, this weapon has less ammo that can be carried and lower magazine, making it less useful in firefights. However it deals higher damage and higher firing rate than Half-Life counterpart, thus it more effective to against most lone enemies. Also, a box of shotgun shells restores 20 shells instead of 12, making it more worthwhile to use.

• The SPAS-12 is the most effective weapon against Antlions, even at some distance, due to their size being larger than most other enemies.

Behind the scenes

Shotgun-wielding Gordon Freeman given on Valve's Facebook page for GameSpot's All Time Greatest Video Game Hero.

• The SPAS-12 in the leaked Half-Life 2 Beta has a completely different model and completely different firing sounds. The sounds can still be found in retail sound files. The model appears in the E3 2004 trailer and in the retail game files as a "DirectX 7" model, although its textures are missing.

Trivia

• In Episode One, the firing animation for the female NPCs is changed. They fire their shotgun from the hip, increasing the rate of fire; while the male NPCs will fire in the same way as in Half-Life 2. The reload animation is also changed, NPCs pump the shotgun in the air after putting a shell, although they cannot do this while moving. In Half-Life 2, the Resistance NPCs will fire their shotgun from the shoulder with a much slower pumping rate; thus, they are incapable of defending themselves while attacked by enemies that use automatic weapons at close range, since the Resistance NPCs will have to aim first before firing, during this process, if they are attacked, they are unable to shoot the shotgun and will have to re-aim again. Unless when firing on move. This is removed in Episode One and Episode Two as female NPCs can fire their shotgun instantly without aiming. Furthermore, this firing animation is also applied in updated Half-Life 2 although the female NPCs will still re-aim when attacked.
  • Before an update, Alyx and Barney are the only NPCs that is unable to fire SPAS-12 while moving; they can only fire when stationary. And as result, they will often be overwhelmed by enemies easily. After update, Alyx are capable to use SPAS-12 effectively. However Barney remain unable to firing on move.

• NPCs appear to use the SPAS-12 semi-automatically when on move, as there is no pumping sound between shots, and the rate of fire seems to be slightly higher than the player's shotgun. Also, when a Combine soldier is shooting, it appears as though they discharge four shells through both barrels, and then a single shell due to the fact that they only fire five shells before they reload.
  • NPCs only uses pump-action mode for the SPAS-12 when they standing still.
  • Although the real SPAS-12 can switch between pump-action and semi-automatic modes, only the player uses the pump-action, while the NPCs can use both semi-automatic and pump-action. It is impossible to switch modes in-game.
  • In Episode One, Rebel NPCs are given pumping sound.

• Due to it's short range. NPCs who uses the SPAS-12 can be rather aggressive as they will always charge to their targets up close regardless how dangerous the situation is. Furthermore, when they do charge, they will always have advantages against most other NPCs who are armed with better ranged but weaker weapons especially if they fire the shotgun in semi-automatic mode. Therefore, Combine Soldiers are usually overpowered at these ranges and, may even able to kill high health targets like Alyx in just a few shots.

• Even though many Overwatch Soldiers and some rebels use the SPAS-12, Freeman is the only one who fires the shotgun with the alternative firing mode.

• The Nova Prospekt Prison Guards seem to use the SPAS-12 more frequently than normal Overwatch Soldiers, perhaps due to the shorter combat ranges and therefore enhanced shotgun effectiveness.

• As with the original SPAS-12, artwork for the shotgun often depicts Gordon Freeman with it, making it the only weapon besides the crowbar he is depicted with in concept art.

• It is possible to alter the number of pellets in the shell used by SPAS-12, via the console command "sk_plr_num_shotgun_pellets #"

• In real life, the SPAS-12 cannot fire two shots simultaneously, as it only has one barrel.

• Unlike how the NPCs reload the SPAS-12 all at once, the player must reload one pellet at a time.

• In Episode One, when Alyx takes a SPAS-12, she will take the furthest shotgun (from right to left) in the rack, and this SPAS-12 will always be unobtainable for the player, given that it is, essentially, just a prop to be used by NPCs.

Gallery

Pre-release

Leak worldmodel.

Leak viewmodel.

Leak SPAS-12 aimed at an early Zombie model in the first Half-Life 2 trailer.

Shotgun Soldier in an early Episode One screenshot.

Leak SPAS-12 aimed at a Antlion Guard.

Retail

HUD icon, a vector glyph used in-game through the font "HalfLife2.ttf".

Worldmodel.

Viewmodel.

Pumping the SPAS-12. Note the shell ejecting.

Reloading the SPAS-12.

Box of shotgun shells.

Ammo crate model.

Nova Prospekt Prison Guard with shotgun.

Kleiner greeting Alyx and Gordon with a shotgun, mirroring a scene from Half-Life.

Gordon's weapons being taken away and destroyed in the Citadel, among them the SPAS-12.

Gordon wielding the SPAS-12 on the "game of the year edition" cover for Half-Life 2.

Alyx aiming at Zombies with her SPAS-12 in the Hospital.

Alyx wielding the SPAS-12 during the evacuation.

Shotgun Soldier.

List of appearances

The Half-Life Wiki has more images related to Combine SPAS-12.

• Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One
• Source Particle Benchmark (Game files only) (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two

External links

• Franchi SPAS-12 on Wikipedia