I absolutely love all of the additions Obsidian made to weapons in this game. Crafting ammo, and making upgrades really adds a lot to the Fallout series. However, I've got a question that I can't really find an answer to. It is in regards to type of bullets (armor piercing and hollow points). I know hollow points are good to use on soft target (no armor) but what if there are areas "exposed" on a target?
In other words if I am shooting at an NCR officer with armor but he has nothing on his head, should I use a hollow point bullet? Or does the armor that an NPC wear cover their entire body even if they technically do not have anything on their head?
I'm pretty sure the game mechanics are not that advance, if the target is wearing armor you'll probably need AP.
Oof, now that's really rather silly. If there's actually the separate head-armor with it's own DT, then it shouldn't mix what the body covers, not when targeting different areas is such a main part of the game. Though... I could see it overpowering headshots even MORE than they already can be. (which isn't really that much. But the cinematics make it seem so usually)
Another rule of thumb, relevant for enemies with "natural" armor (like radscorpions and, I think, super mutants), is that if you see a shield icon popping up next to their health when you are using hollow point, you are boosting their DT rather than bypassing it.