Bayonet Ya: Difference between revisions

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pzxb2sxbDU "Alreet get yourselves sat doon there so you can all see... THE BAYONET!!!"]

** Bayonets can be very effective in combat for two psychological reasons: First, soldiers who are prepared to fight with bayonets will often be trained to go into a [[The Berserker|certain mindset]], which is traditionally ingrained into them in Basic Training in some armed forces such as the US Army. Second, and perhaps much more relevant: Having a bunch of guys running at you with improvised spears and screaming for blood is ''pants-shittingly terrifying''.

* Before the invention of the bayonet, early gunpowder age infantry would often be split into musketeers and pikemen. The muskets fired too slowly, inaccurately, and with too short a range to reliably defend [[Anti-Cavalry|against cavalry charges]], and proved less than adequate in hand to hand fighting. Therefore, it was the pikemen's job to keep the horsemen at bay with a medieval style pike formation, while also serving as a buffer between the gunmen and hand to hand combat. The Bayonet revolutionized things by turning the musket into a spear, allowing a musketeer to both shoot volleys and stop cavalry, all while not being useless at hand to hand. Due to the early musket's aforementioned disadvantages, bayonet charges also served as a surprisingly effective means charging enemy infantry, something a single shot gun could hardly be used for. The bayonet started out not as an emergency weapon, but as primary form of armament.

**Even in the eighteenth century the bayonet's primary use aside from anti-cavalry was not the generation of casualties for as suregons noted only a small percentage of wounds were from bayonets. It was for the destruction of units that had already been softened by fire. A bayonet charge was like a game of "chicken" and the unit that had it's morale at a lower ebb ran first.

** The expansion pack ''finally'' introduced another bayoneted weapon, the Light Plasma Gun... which had good damage and unlimited ammo ''anyway'', making it pointless.

* As of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', shotguns can be equipped with bayonets, which increase melee damage and change the sound so it's a little less ''thwack'' and a bit more ''stab''.

* ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'', which uses [[MacGyvering]] as a gimmick, gives you the option of creating a shotgun with a pitchfork bayonet.

* ''[[Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45]]'' allows standard riflemen to attach bayonets to their rifles.