Takes 3 shots to kill a super mutants. Wtf?

I've got a 50 cal sniper rifle that deals the damage, however lately it's having a harder time killing bad dudes.

I know right. a .50 should kill anything, particularly in the head - without some super duper fantastic armour. Expect a realism mod, or semi realism mod when the construction set is out.

Something to remember is this game's combat mechanic is of course, meant to be abstract representation. Sometimes, in this case, that's still a tall order to swallow - in relation to the immersion aspect.

It's not fallout NV's 50 cal, that's for sure. I do one shot most super mutants if I hit them in the head with my 50 cal sniper. You have to pay attention to the types. Certain types of enemies are designed as bullet sponges and you'd have to stack a lot of effects to one shot those guys. There is a gauss rifle sitting above 50 cal though (roughly double the damage without any modification...haven't used/modified it yet, but I have one now!).

I'm not sure if I like the bullet spongy enemies or not yet. In general, I don't like the concept, but it seems to be playing well. There is more ammo around to compensate and the higher tier enemies have better loot (especially legendaries!). It allows for more progression in that finding a 50 cal isn't 'you win' anymore... instead, it just helps out. You'll eventually want to find a special rifle with a cool property and modify it. If you stack something like the rifle perks, ninja perk, and a weapon that does double damage on full targets, you can probably end up one shotting even the bullet sponges. It will take a lot of work to reach that point... a lot more than racing your gun skill up and beelining for the first available big rifle, which was my classic strat prior to Fallout 4 that would trivialize combat. I actually get tough fights now and have to employ a variety of tools to win, which is fun.

You need to bank on sneak multipliers and the legendary perk that doubles your damage on enemies that haven't been damaged yet (I think the effect is called 'instigating' in most cases).

Well I've a maxed out .50 cal sniper rifle (hunting rifle) which is outclassed damage wise by my .45 combat sniper rifle which was a surprise since I was expecting more of it.

I'm hoping that there will be a real 50.cal rifle (like the anti material gun from NV) rather than the upgraded hunting rifle.

Yip, play on "Survival" difficulty and you will lose any joy of playing sniper. Without sneaking, you have to shoot raiders in their bare head a several times. No satisfaction from these unrewarding headshots

Sneak multipliers and you kill anything 1 shot with the 50 Cal.

The gause rifle fully charged you just kill everything one shot, sneak is overkillcharged most of the time.

Maybe as part of a DLC or a mod, but not at the moment which is a shame as I loved that big beast for big and clawy game hunting.

I get it takes alot of shots with on legendarys but on regular enemies its a huge let down. I dont evem use it anymore instead I doore damage with my .308 cambat rifle

Don't play on the hardest difficulties...

They've gone the easy route of simply upping enemy HP and lowering your damage...

You know, instead of actually making the enemies better at combat, they just turned them into bullet sponges.

I have a 50 Cal Pistol and its a 2 shot to super mutants in the head in combat. If I am sneaking and get the 2x damage headshot it instant kills them unless they have a Skull icon.

Yeah. .50 caliber does seem underwhelming.

I've got a .50 caliber rifle, I've got 2 Ranks in Ninja (extra sneak damage), 3 Ranks in Black Widow (extra damage against male enemies), and I performed a sneak critical against a male "Raider" (no adjectives on the name), in his HEAD, and it only took off 1/3 of his life bar. I can one shot these guys in the head with my modded 10mm pistol.

I expected the damage of a .50 rifle to be exceptional. And it really isn't.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I'm playing on Normal, and I'm Level 26.