It does not say the M27 will replace all M4s is says
Quote:
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The M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle will replace the M4 carbine in many combat-related positions. Other troops will continue to use the M4.
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"in many" does not = "all" so the M4 is not going to disapear
Many years ago when the idea of turning SPWW2 into SPMBT began there were discussions that involved a number of people , not just Andy and I, and it was agreed that standardized ranges based on how we knew the game worked the data we inherited from SSI were the best compromise given how big we suspected the database was going to get so there is a ( mostly ) uniform constant for rifles using full strength cartridges, intermediate cartridges, carbines, SMG's and pistols and we have for the majority of infantry weapons like that but there will always be exceptions that creep in when the database is as large as they are for the two games and when multiple people were involved in the early OOB work. Once ACOG type optics started being common we increased the accuracy of the rifles they were attached to and added one hex to their range and we considered that a fair trade-off and still do in a game where how well the rifle functions in it's intended purpose is more reliant on the Experience and Morale values of the units that use it not max range fire.
That said nearly 20 years of work has no doubt introduced some unwanted variables. I did notice on a check I ran that there are Type 56 rifles and Type 56 carbines and while the carbines have a HEkill of 2 vs 3 for the rifle version their range is consistent at 8 but there was a phase early on when there were multiple people working on OOB's that "national naming" was in vogue so if one nation used the word "carbine" to describe a rifle then "carbine" was used and maybe it really wasn't a short barreled weapon. That said where their are Rifles and Carbines of the same type listed in an OOB the carbine version should not have the range the rifle version does and that will be investigated and I have found wider variances in the range of the various "M4" carbines both for range and HEK than I expected to but given there are 1413 Weaponclass 1 weapons in the game ( we have a program that counts things like that ) it's not a simple or easy project
Edit.
I have found consistencies and happily for me it was the first one I seriously looked into.
The M1 and M2 in all the OOB's are consistent for all the M1's data and all the M2's data and (hopefully) I will find many more as I dig through this but ( surprise, surprise ) the one weapon type that I have ( so far ) found the widest range of different values over what amounts to a dozen or so entries in various OOB's is the M4/M4A1 and why that is exactly IDK but they will all be normalized to a consistent set of values that fits the game parameters and removing inconsistencies between similar weapons as happened with the M4/M4A1 is what I am setting out to do but SO FAR I am finding more consistencies than inconsistencies but it's a large database and it's going to take while