Quoted from "Shalan"

No, but a "poor man's MP18 Trench with slightly better medium-range damage" is. The MP18 outclasses it in most intended engagement ranges (up to around 30m)

The crossover is around 22 metres really, not 30, which is fair. The Madsen trench is decently effective at all ranges up to about 50m but excels in none, that is why it is a good all rounder.

The Madsen LW and Storm are a total pain to use because the huge magazine makes it very hard to track strafing opponents close up. MG's with irons also have I think either 200 or 220 ms zoom times which makes trench even more attractive.

MG15 is quite fun, but not good, Chauchat is also fun but a bit quirky with fantastic ADS damage output under 12M, meh hipfire and a touch of inconsistancy at range.

BM, Lewis, Huot all lack the hipfire and ROF to be quite competitive up close but work well at mid-long distance .

Final all round MG candidate is BAR, between Storm and Trench that extra hipfire wins every time for me on a CQC weapon, especially with LMG's longer time to ADS. BAR Trench is great up close but quickly loses accuracy.

By my logic the BAR Telescopic should be horrible up close unless you almost always know when your opponent is coming. The added 50 ROF does not come even close to making up for 300MS ADS time and poor hipfire in a 1v1 scenario.

Basically BAR Telescopic requires very good situational knowledge and positioning to work at all ranges, this disqualifies it from 'best all round MG' except in the hands of a very good player.

Quoted from "LucidNonsenze"

Quoted from "Shalan"

Well, what is good about BF1 is that there is no "best weapon overall" for each class, there are a lot of good weapons that are good for different situations and playstyles. Except Beretta M1918 Trench for Assault - It's an ultimate choice for most assault engaments and the only real way to fix it is to remove trench variant at all(e.g. replace it with optical or experimental), because 900 rpm with good hipfire is just too good.
About hipfire on all LMGs - I can't agree that using any variant of non-trench LMG is a bad idea for hipfiring: since LMGs have not only negative ADS spread increase, but negative hipfire spread increase too - they are pretty strong in that role, BAR would regain 1.5 base hipspread after 5 shots and Chauchat LW after 4 shots. Of course Madsen Trench is my favourite LMG for "gas bunker cleaning", but I hipfire a lot on BAR Storm and Chauchat LW and have no problems outshooting people under 15m, except The Mighty M1918 Trench.

I was also repulsed by the idea of a zoomed optic on my LMG at release. I initially felt completely handicapped in close quarters with that big, obtrusive lump attached to it.

It took me quite a while before I decided to persevere with them. But now, I feel utterly lost without them (with the exception of the Chauchat LW as it's essentially designed around its close-range punch). The visual feedback you get makes all the difference and it's totally worth the slight close-quarters inconvenience. They also largely optimise the bipod they're always paired with too.

Apart from the BAR Telescopic, I find the MG15 Suppressive has its magical moments too. I'm aware that it's a straight downgrade to the Low Weight variant for the first 100 bullets (and the Storm variant off the bipod), but I seem to be so much more confident and accurate thanks to the optic while I'm both on and off the bipod.

Of course, the Chauchat LW would be the go-to if there was a need for close-quarters. That thing hits like a truck.

If I could put a scope on the Madsen LW and MG 15 LW, I'd never use anything else.

will vote for BAR Trench.

Overall best support gun changes depending on your playstyle, and for me, it's dependent on where you're fighting on the map itself.
Here's what I go with normally:
Close quarters with short sight lines (<15m) - Trench or Chauchat LW (If using gas grenades Trench Madsen usually)
For strictly longer ranges (35m+) - Benet-Mercie Telescopic or Lewis Gun Suppressive - These actually can decently take on snipers around 100m
When constantly moving between Close and mid ranges, I'll switch out between BAR Telescopic, Huot, MG15 LW, and Chauchat Telescopic.

In reality though, it comes down to what you're comfortable with, and what works for you. Unfortunately there isn't a test range to test out weapons and get a good feel of how they operate.

We'd need veritable to crunch the numbers but for support class raw TTK, the Madsen has the second highest at 50m and it overtakes the MP18 at 12.

The MP18 trench has far better hip spread and very slightly higher ROF. But, the Madsen has the negative FSSM and SIPS, so face-offs under 15m sound like a toss up and the Madsen gains with every meter past that. If

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any stats, but I don't see a poor mans anything.

I've used the trench LMGs enough to know they're not for me.

Quoted from "BleedingUranium"

If I could put a scope on the Madsen LW and MG 15 LW, I'd never use anything else.

Quoted from "BleedingUranium"

If I could put a scope on the Madsen LW and MG 15 LW, I'd never use anything else.

I'd love an optical sight on either of those.

If limited to a single LMG, it'd be one of those two.

Quoted from "OldBFAddict"

We'd need veritable to crunch the numbers but for support class raw TTK, the Madsen has the second highest at 50m and it overtakes the MP18 at 12.

The MP18 trench has far better hip spread and very slightly higher ROF. But, the Madsen has the negative FSSM and SIPS, so face-offs under 15m sound like a toss up and the Madsen gains with every meter past that. If

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any stats, but I don't see a poor mans anything.

I've used the trench LMGs enough to know they're not for me.

Well he said Huot best gun. and also all class best pistol P08 apparently.

Quoted from "Skanic"

Quoted from "OldBFAddict"

We'd need veritable to crunch the numbers but for support class raw TTK, the Madsen has the second highest at 50m and it overtakes the MP18 at 12.

The MP18 trench has far better hip spread and very slightly higher ROF. But, the Madsen has the negative FSSM and SIPS, so face-offs under 15m sound like a toss up and the Madsen gains with every meter past that. If

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any stats, but I don't see a poor mans anything.

I've used the trench LMGs enough to know they're not for me.

Well he said Huot best gun. and also all class best pistol P08 apparently.

Right, but I'm specifically referring to actual vs raw TTK for the Madsen Trench at 50 meters. I'm just going by the chart which assumes all body hits without factoring in accuracy & effects of recoil. True TTK should be average shots to kill and probably include deployment time.