A weapon made for military units on the basis of the silent sniper rifle. The rifle has higher stopping power than the Vintar BC, its predecessor, at the expense of its rate of fire, which allows the shooter to eliminate enemy forces one by one without revaling his position.
― In-game description
The Tide is a unique variant of the Vintar BC silenced sniper rifle featured only in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.
Characteristics[]
Here's Tide. Based on a silent sniper rifle, it was specifically designed for military units to fight zombies. Tide yields rate of fire in favor of stopping power, allowing the sniper to pick off zombies one by one without disclosing his location. However, it then became clear that stalkers alone will be enough to stop zombies at the Barrier, so the rifle never reached mass production.
― Nimble's description
The Tide is a retooled Vintar, with a roughly 50% boost to the weapon's damage per shot, putting it ahead of the SVUmk-2 for bullet damage. However, as a drawback, it has a much lower rate of fire than a standard Vintar, but also has lower recoil and is much easier to control for mid-long range engagements as a result, the lower rate of fire letting the crosshairs more or less return to their original location between shots. In addition, the Tide also is noticeably more accurate, and has greater effective range. Its bullet velocity was notably increased, which is effective at countering the considerable drop of its ammunition.
Overall, the Tide's excellent damage, high accuracy, and integrated silencer, as well as its use of the more common (than the sniper ammo) 9x39mm rounds make it one of the best sniper weapons in the game.
Its excellent handling, damage and automatic fire capability also allow it to function as a stopgap assault rifle, seamlessly transitioning between sniping and close combat. However, this is hampered by its limited magazine capacity of only 10 rounds. The ability to accurately plant multiple rounds on target at range is not something to be ignored, however, and makes this rifle an excellent choice for dealing with powerful-but-slow enemies such as Controllers. Overall the Tide is one of the most versatile weapons available, and should not be overlooked.
Upgrades[]
The Tide shares the Vintar's upgrade tree. Once maxed out in accuracy upgrades it is third in accuracy, behind only the Lynx and Gauss rifle, in the sniper rifle class.
Acquisition[]
The Tide can only be purchased from Nimble by requesting a sniper rifle - the player may or may not get it on their first request. Buying this gun, or any gun from Nimble triggers a side quest with Snag, who will attempt to take the gun away claiming it is his.
Trivia[]
- In the Russian version of the game, the weapon is named "Priboi", which is the equivalent of the word 'tide'. The name may also be a reference to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl mod "Priboi's Story", which supposedly was one of the sources of inspiration for the developers of Call of Pripyat.
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