where should I aim?

Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:01 pm

what is the best place to shoot someone in New Vegas? is there a bonus to shooting someone in say, the head rather than the arm?

I noticed some serious calculations on other threads in the forum, and would just like a noobie answer for a noobie player. Thanks for the help.

Also, does the answer become different in VATS or not in VATS? Thanks.

edit: Does zooming in help increase damage, or only provide a scope?
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Jessica Colville
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:07 pm

Well, obviously shooting the head will do the most damage if you can hit it. Shooting body parts helps cripple them so shooting at legs can be useful for fast-moving monsters. I'm 99% sure that zooming in does nothing to damage.
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Jennifer Munroe
 
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Post » Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:19 am

what is the best place to shoot someone in New Vegas? is there a bonus to shooting someone in say, the head rather than the arm?

I noticed some serious calculations on other threads in the forum, and would just like a noobie answer for a noobie player. Thanks for the help.
Also, does the answer become different in VATS or not in VATS? Thanks.


Headshots do double damage. But if you cripple someone's arm and they're carrying a two-handed weapon(like a Missile launcher) they will drop it. If you cripple someone's leg, they will slow right on down, which is awesome if they're melee and you aren't. I'm not really sure what crippling the torso does, but I do know it's the easiest spot to hit and the perk "Center of Mass" gives you a 15% damage bonus for hitting the torso.

In short: Headshots when you feel you have the firepower to take the enemy down quickly or when you are performing a sneak attack; arms if they're carrying a powerful weapon that's beating the crap out of you; legs if they're melee and you can't kill them fast enough; and torso when you have Center of Mass or at long range. The benefits do not change inside or outside of VATS, and there is no "always best" spot to hit someone in.

-Nukeknockout
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Sarah Knight
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:55 pm

If you ever get around shooting people, try the abdomen. Easy, painful, and reliable! Fun for the whole family.
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Shelby Huffman
 
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Post » Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:35 am

Crippling the torso makes it easier to stagger them, which basically a short-term stun. With certain weapons you can basically stun-lock them till they die so they can't retaliate. You'll notice this too if your own torso gets crippled, you'll get staggered much more.

In FO3, before NW introduced Super-Slam, crippling the torso was a priority for my Unarmed Character so I could stun-lock my opponents. In New Vegas, if playing ranged, you generally want to cripple the arms to incapcitate ranged opponents or the legs against melee opponents. If playing Melee or Unarmed, it's not neccesary to cripple the torso since you can easily stun-lock them with Super Slam.

However, I suppose using center of mass you might be able to incapacitate opponents faster by crippling thier torso and stun-locking them instead of going for the arms or legs. I'm not sure, I havn't tried it.
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Nicole M
 
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Post » Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:54 am

In certain cases it can also be quick and useful to shoot their weapon first if its a really powerful one, that way they'll be forced to switch to something else that's probably not going to be nearly as good.
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Sunnii Bebiieh
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:07 pm

Ideally the head.
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kelly thomson
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 8:12 pm

....
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Theodore Walling
 
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Post » Fri Dec 16, 2011 2:06 am

thx for the info.

is there a chance to hit both inside and outside VATS?
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Adam
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:31 pm

thx for the info.

is there a chance to hit both inside and outside VATS?


Nah. Outside VATS, you hit where you aim, plus or minus the weapon spread. Shotguns are the worst, Sniper rifles are the best.

-Nukeknockout
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Kit Marsden
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:24 pm

thx for the info.

is there a chance to hit both inside and outside VATS?


When you use freehand aiming, your accuracy is partly determined by how well you aim, and the rest is partly random chance of where inside your projectile's possible 'cone of travel' a given bullet or energy pulse happens to get put in by the game's dice-cup when it's fired. A lot of factors affect this part, from what gun you are using, what mods it may have, what perks you use, whether you are moving, standing or crouching when you fire, how far away your target is, and so forth. But there are some weapons with a very narrow cone of 'spread' for their projectiles, and those are very close to being a hitscan weapon (virtually 'hit exactly where you aim', even at long distances). With those weapons, if you are a good shot, you'll be a stone killer. For a reference on all weapons in NV and their individual specifics, I use this site:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Fallout:_New_Vegas

Search under Items > Guns.

Usually, it will be a lot easier to pick out and hit specific body parts in VATS, than it is freehand. But a lot depends on your distance from the target, and what VATS-enhancing perks you may have chosen- ones like Commando, Gunslinger, Sniper, etc. At medium to shorter ranges, and with good VATS +hit% bonuses from perks, you can be very deadly at choosing specific body parts to disable and kill your opponents. At longer ranges, VATS isn't so good. If you are freehand-aiming and not using VATS, you can sometimes get one well-aimed shot off at a specific bodypart from Stealth or hiding, but after they start running around and charging you over uneven terrain and around misc. objects... heh, you're often lucky just to hit them anywhere on their body freehand, forget specific bodyparts.

I'll usually go for sneak kills with freehand headshots (as already mentioned, headshots are the best kill-shot in the game, if you can make one), and then finish off with VATS at closer ranges if that doesn't kill them or if they have friends. Once you end up with multiple enemies closing in on you at close range, VATS is your best bet to survive- well, unless you are an uber-FPS shooter god who never misses in wild close-in furballs. I'm not.
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GRAEME
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:14 pm

You gotta shoot em in the head.
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alicia hillier
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:50 pm

When you use freehand aiming, your accuracy is partly determined by how well you aim, and the rest is partly random chance of where inside your projectile's possible 'cone of travel' a given bullet or energy pulse happens to get put in by the game's dice-cup when it's fired. A lot of factors affect this part, from what gun you are using, what mods it may have, what perks you use, whether you are moving, standing or crouching when you fire, how far away your target is, and so forth. But there are some weapons with a very narrow cone of 'spread' for their projectiles, and those are very close to being a hitscan weapon (virtually 'hit exactly where you aim', even at long distances). With those weapons, if you are a good shot, you'll be a stone killer. For a reference on all weapons in NV and their individual specifics, I use this site...


Are there any general trends affecting the 'cone of travel'? Do sniper weapons tend to have a narrow cone, and thus are more effective at longer ranges? Is crouching a good idea in order to narrow the cone of travel?
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Paula Ramos
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:10 pm

Yes, crouching (unfortunately) makes you more accurate, as does aiming (be it iron sights or through a scope). Moving decreases your accuracy. If your arms are crippled, your accuracy is worse. Steady is a chem that reduces inaccuracy to your weapon's minimum spread (generally this chem is the only way to achieve minimum accuracy with most weapons) regardless of other penalties/benefits. Certain special ammo types increase accuracy.

Also, whether a weapon is flagged as ''hitscan'' determines if you have to lead a target; this includes weapons that have visible projectiles. Most bullet-firing weapons are actually flagged as hitscan, meaning the check for whether you hit happens instantly, and the bullet flying is mainly for aesthetics and applies a delay before the damage is inflicted. So, as counter-intuitive as it is, don't lead your targets when shooting at long range. This MAY not be true with plasma weapons; I forget if they're flagged as hitscan or not.

Queue
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I’m my own
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:26 pm

thanks for the info you guys.

Would it make sense to use weapons with a large spread up close and weapons with a small spread at a distance?
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Terry
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:35 pm

thanks for the info you guys.

Would it make sense to use weapons with a large spread up close and weapons with a small spread at a distance?


Yes. Because the spread size becomes steadily less important the closer the target gets, as the space occupied by the target in your field of vision increases.

-Nukeknockout
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Milad Hajipour
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:32 pm

Nah. Outside VATS, you hit where you aim, plus or minus the weapon spread. Shotguns are the worst, Sniper rifles are the best.



Oddly enough though the only two weapons with no spread at all aren't sniper rifles. One is Elijah's Jury Rigged Tesla Cannon, the other is the Alien Blaster.
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Pixie
 
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Post » Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:37 am

Oddly enough though the only two weapons with no spread at all aren't sniper rifles. One is Elijah's Jury Rigged Tesla Cannon, the other is the Alien Blaster.


I plead ignorance? Besides, those are too outside examples that don't clearly fit into weapon categories. Alien Blaster is a one-off, category of itself, and Elijah's Jury-rigged TC doesn't represent the other TCs.

-Nukeknockout
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Jason White
 
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Post » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:02 pm

You gotta shoot em in the head.


Nice...
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Lisa Robb
 
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