Hey, i wanted to become a stealthy sniper in Fallout 3, but it takes so much ammo to actually hit a target, i would assume with the right weapon and skill i would become better at it. What stat should i improve to hit a target more often with a Sniper Rifle?

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/939933-fallout-3/46511507 It might help set up your build.

Thanks, i will try this, but somehow i think i will have to mod something in the end to get what I'm looking for. It's not that i crit enough, its just i miss so [censored] often, i feel like I'm fireing off shotgun shells with my rifle. To demonstrate how bad it is, i fired 25 bullets without hitting that raider at springvale elementary, i was standing on the little cliff by the playground there. If those raiders weren't so stupid, i would have been a dead cold lousy sniper.

As you increase in level and add to your small guns, agility, strength, etc. you will get to a point where you can hold on a target rock steady. I often use the Victory rifle effectively on targets that I can see through the scope even when they do not show up in the HUD.

I think it's the commando perk that is causing it actually. Gonna do a quick leveling to test it.

Cheat leveled to the point where i could choose Commando Perk and it was a success. I just need to level up and choose Commando Perk as soon as i can, the effect this perk is giving me is satisfying without the overall experience to be overpowered. Thanks for the help folks*.

lol or u could have waited till you leveled up naturally n had like 70 odd points in small guns skill and get perks like commando and sniper. FO3 is supposed to be an rpg which means it takes time to get better at things

Or if you have it for computer, make life easier and just test it there and now. Just a thought.

Since I didnt see it mentioned , The condition of your weapon has an effect on the spread variation that the game mechanic uses to determine your accuracy. With mods like FWE , you can adjust this yourself. But there might be something in the console comands that do it also . Short of just adjusting your skill,perks and weapon condition.

True, this rifle have been pritty rare in the game so far, a Sniper Rifle with a scope, i have only found one so far. And as we all know, bottle caps, are rare in this world. But i think it will all work out nicely. started over now and get a feeling i will be a tiny bit more deadly eventually.

Actually i have 100 points in small guns atm, and it didn't help at all, as i wrote earlier, i missed 25 times on a rider from like 300 meters. A sniper rifle can kill on 2.4km.

If you are using just the standard hunting rifle, then yeah. If you use Ol' Painless or Lincoln's repeater, you should be able to freehand snipe easily with those two weapons. The spread is extremely low. You will find that you can reach out and touch someone a lot farther if you stay out of VATS. VATS seems to have a range, a range that is dramatically short.

You might be right on that. I usually don't bother to vats anymore with the current sniper rifle, but my build now is 10 agi 10 luck, which probably helps on that department.

And Im guessing your sniper rifle is around 20% health condidtion ?

Check on every vendor to repair it for you .... most will be around 50% repair I think. But not all can repair all items.

Getting your sniper rifle to 50% + should improve your accuracy.

Think of it like a cone of + and - numbers. 0 is a dead on hit ... but for example with your weapon condition,small guns skill ... the spread will be -8 to +8 ... so the game rolls a dice on that possibility of 17 different outcomes. With + or - 3 equal to a small damageing hit.

Then you take a perk ... wich I think is mostly about effecting the Vats% ... maybe a small amount on the regular bullet spread chart. The bloddy mess perk is actually better than a vats related perk (comando,sniper) for killing outside of vats.

Edit to add: Remember that comando and sniper perk add a percentage to hit. So if your base amount is higher , due to more skill and better weapon condition. Then the perk will add more actual chance to hit.

Take all the perks you can and use the weapon in this mod.

http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16611

The gun feels like a standard hunting rifle but has a cute little scope on top. Plus it does well over 100 damage.

Its about time we had a scope on the hunting rifle. Thanx for link.

But then again if were talking about modding ... why not just use the console comand "player.additem"

I myself dont bother with a scoped weapon. The Lincon Repeater is far superior to the sniper rifle or hunting rifle.

Once inawhile I find a scope of the situation advantageouse. But with display setting actorfade on 4-5, and useing the LR. There is no reason to pick up a sniper rifle.

If someone creates a mod for the LR with scope , then maybe. but thinkin way over powered.

Take all the perks as everyone has suggested, then get a good rifle. Lincoln’s Repeater is satisfactory out to a very long way. The vanilla sniper rifles are about useless. They shoot high and to the right, and having to use Kentucky windage all the time is a pain. However, there is a mod that corrects the aim point of the sniper rifle. If you use that, it will hit where you aim and you can kill stuff as far away as your computer will draw them. I also use the Missile Launcher at really long ranges on stationary targets - fun to watch an Enclave trooper go head over heals from 500 yards away.

Im just wondering (incase im missing it) How are you all judgeing the distance of ... example : 100 yards , 300 yards , 500 yards ?
The best I have done is to figure out that a perception stat of 7 is roughly equal to actor fade 4 in graphic settings.

Meaning that the distance a hostile red blip shows up on your compass is equal to the distance the graphic of said hostile will render.

But sometimes you have to aim in the direction of red blips to get them to first render. After rendering ... they will stay. And if Im in sneak mode , its usually well outside thier percetion range. 150 meters give or take. But my perception range at 7 is 200ish

I’m a woodsman and hunter and I learned early on how far away something was, be it groundhog, deer, or human - (when in the service). You go by the perceived size on the target. You can’t see a human at 800 yards, but you can at 500. At 200 yards you can make out some features. The game’s graphics play a few tricks with this, but after a while you learn to judge “their” distance markers.

Don’t get too technical with your distance measurements. In the game, if you can see it, you can kill it. Don’t worry about how far away you are, just shoot at the head with Lincoln’s Repeater and it will be hit - if you can shoot without yanking the mouse that is - called flinch in the real world. The trajectory of a projectile in FO3 seems to be flat, meaning they don’t drop over distance, unlike arrows in Oblivion. So just shoot straight at it. If you shoot some of the other weapons, their group size at a distant is so wide you may as well shoot a shotgun.

This game uses a plus or minus spread to determine if you hit per shot.

Similar to how a real gun might yeild a cone of trajectory.

Based on your small guns skill and weapon condition you might get a spread of +8 to -8 for example.
0 yeilds a critical while
+ and - will give progessively less dmg as the # moves away from 0.
+8 -8 is 1 chance in 17 to hit dead on. The game rolls the dice per shot taken.

Hence all those times you couldnt hit shiot

Some how I feel I meant to tell this to somebody else.

Thanx for listening Tmar

@Mktavish

Pax.

Allrighty , at the risk of sounding like more of a complete idiot.

What does PAX mean?

Pax: A time of wide-ranging stability when there is only a single dominant power. Used with a Latinized name: "Editorials lauding the civilizing influence of Pax Britannica were met with ...

Per Google.

@Mktavish,
"If someone creates a mod for the LR with scope , then maybe. but thinkin way over powered"

If you are refering to the lasar rifle, it is available in FWE as the Drifter's Lasar Rifle. It is a scoped lasar sniper rifle. I don't use it much since it leaves ash piles all over. I prefer the Victory Rifle for it's instant kill in sneak mode or knock down if you are detected.

No ... LR stood for Lincoln Repeater ... but thanx for bringing the possible misconception with that abrev to my attention.

@Tmar , Im still trying to figure out how Pax fit into our conversation ? The best I can figure was , we were both trying to explain bullet spread to each other ???

Ah ... and now I understand your Flat reference comment.