The best loadout?

[Chaser82]

I have nothing left to do in the game but grind perks. So I switched to double barrel shotgun & 30-30. And turns out it's the best loadout possible? At least on Nez Perce you can hunt all species and get a full 5-star hunt rating. Of course if you care about hunt rating, otherwise it's doesn't matter what weapon to use.

30-30 allows to hunt everything from fox to moose. Also its perfect for shooting at small and fast moving targets, thanks to 6+1 ammo capacity and quick chambering. And I don't even have gunslinger perk yet.

Here's a badger shot almost pointblank, thru the brain due to awkward angle from tower. Energy didn't exceed recommended level and I got 5-star hunt rating. This means that you can shoot tier3 animals from any distance with 30-30.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947481290

Elk hear you crouching from 200 meters (which is nuts), and I'm too lazy to crouch in slow mode.. Not a problem, 30-30 can get them from 300 meters, which really surprised me by the way. And a full 5-star hunt, so recommended energy and caliber is a useless information. Hunt rating equals meat loss and nothing else. With 30-30 you get almost 0 meat loss, around 0.5 kg.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947462126
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947462116

Usually I shoot from 100-150, rarely from 200 meters. Just to check shot this moose bull from 300 and he didn't run too far. So who needs higher calibers if 30-30 can do that?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947481278

Now, when I don't care about birds and rabbits, I can replace the shotgun with a crossbow for situations where stealth is required. Or do the opposite and grab .338 for super long range. But 30-30 is gonna be my main weapon, until it gets nerfed or something.

PS forgot to mention, I think that 30-30 has the smaller spooking range than other rifles. I didn't measure it, but when I shot that badger there was a herd of mule deer grazing at ~170 m. And they didn't run away!

[Rottenflesh142]

W/O new ammo types added to the game at this time abc123, We will/may never know what truly is the best load out will be. 12Ga. buckshot or slugs will be added to the game two weeks before they shutdown the servers IMHO. And no one will ever get to hunt with a 45.70. or .700 nitro. 435today

Edited for spelling.

[Chaser82]

Originally posted by Rottenflesh142:

W/O new ammo types added to the game at this time abc123, We will/may never know what truly is the best load out will be. 12Ga. buckshot or slugs will be added to the game two weeks before they shutdown the servers IMHO. And no one will ever get to hunt with a 45.70. or .700 nitro. 435today

I don't think it will be added. I know devs said it's "on horizon", but this can mean anything. I don't care what people say, it is much more revealing what they do. And they did nothing to improve the core gameplay since the release. Fixing bugs doesn't count. Even the most trivial QOL requests were never implemented. Like remember vehicle camera choice, let me swap blue/red markers hotkey, etc etc... How hard is that, lol? I'm using blue markers all the time, and instead of just a tap I have to hold the button, 1000 times a day. They don't care, they want to release their promised DLCs and abandon this game. Crossbow bolt uses bullet physics, predator animals have copy/pasted deer behavior. And you expect something like changeable cartridges? Be realistic.

[[NRG] Miriam]

Hello there,

we understand that players are eager for new features and improvements, and we appreciate the feedback. Additionally, improving core gameplay can sometimes take time and effort behind the scenes, which may not be immediately noticeable, the overall quality of the game is still important to us. We listen to the suggestions and so far we added and improved (based on those suggestions) many features - check out more on this road map:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1288320/announcements/detail/3627116953544092195

As for the feature that you mentioned, we can't make any additional promises about when or if it will be added, but we can say that it's something we're actively exploring and considering. (Not speaking on the "ongoing" and "coming" on the road map - these are coming this year for SURE - ability to change the ammo types included) We appreciate your patience and support as we work to create the best possible experience for our players - that's our main goal and always will be.

[Chaser82]

Originally posted by Mauserich:

... the load used in the cartridge is not an elk, bear or moos cartridge. It is a controlled-recoil load with a 125-grain bullet..
...But in a game that has the claim to a certain degree of hunting realism and also serves as a role model in some respects for real future hunters, I don't think that's good. ,-)

Yes, this has been discussed here many times. Hunt rating absolutely doesn't care about respecting the lower energy threshold. See how impact energy was 3 times less than recommended on these elk and moose? And I still have a 5-star hunt rating. So the game encourages you to pick the smallest caliber possible, because you can hunt more animals with less meat loss and more money.

[Chaser82]

Originally posted by NRG Miriam:

...we work to create the best possible experience for our players - that's our main goal and always will be.

If that were the case, you would make life a lot easier for people who play, especially on Ranger. Bad sound design was mentioned since the first day, and still the wind in mountain areas is louder than anything. Some animal calls are so loud that its impossible to estimate the distance, completely misleading. Why wiki has useless bullet drop graphs instead of much needed energy graphs? Impossible to tell big/old from small/young for bears/foxes/birds etc. Talking about Ranger, don't care about "hunter (non)sense". 50 Kg bear and 500 Kg bear have the same scale and look the same in the game. Absolutely unrealistic predator reaction to caller, simply copied from deer. I can continue for a long time...

How is this ok for you, if you care about players and their experience? What did we get instead - radio in the vehicle and more (bugged) story missions? Adding more guns/maps won't fix the gameplay issues, only divert attention from them for a couple of days.

PS Myself and many people asked here/on discord/in your feedback site to make a toggle for auto reload, make a toggle to disable super unrealistic and immersion breaking gigantic blood splashes on hit. How many years you need to implement these trivial things? "We read everything..." - cool, but what's the point of reading if you don't do anything?

[Kak2R🍸🧀]

Originally posted by abc123:

Originally posted by NRG Miriam:

...we work to create the best possible experience for our players - that's our main goal and always will be.

If that were the case, you would make life a lot easier for people who play, especially on Ranger. Bad sound design was mentioned since the first day, and still the wind in mountain areas is louder than anything. Some animal calls are so loud that its impossible to estimate the distance, completely misleading. Why wiki has useless bullet drop graphs instead of much needed energy graphs? Impossible to tell big/old from small/young for bears/foxes/birds etc. Talking about Ranger, don't care about "hunter (non)sense". 50 Kg bear and 500 Kg bear have the same scale and look the same in the game. Absolutely unrealistic predator reaction to caller, simply copied from deer. I can continue for a long time...

How is this ok for you, if you care about players and their experience? What did we get instead - radio in the vehicle and more (bugged) story missions? Adding more guns/maps won't fix the gameplay issues, only divert attention from them for a couple of days.

Love this game, but agree with most of this.

[Gumby]

my favorite weapon is the .270 pump, for many of the reasons you like the 30/30 (fast reload, small calibre, low meat loss), but unlike the 30/30, the 270 shoots super flat, not like a rainbow.

[dbond1]

Originally posted by Castiel:

my favorite weapon is the .270 pump,

Yeah, I like it too. Just edges the .308 for me, I just wish it was a bolt-action .270. I tend to split my time with those two cartridges. I nearly always carry one or the other and then mix up slot 2 for whatever I am in the mood for. 223 and .30-.30 for fox/badgers, shotguns for bunnies and birds or the .300 for the big stuff.