The Bolt Gun Is Useless? (SPOILERS!!!)

[Dr. Sedula]

I've got the bolt gun for later mission (you know the one). People keep saying it's a one-shot kill on the Joes if you charge it fully (10 secs) and make a headshot ...

... except the Joes keep coming, even after a full charge-up and a direct shot to the face. that I know hit. They just sort of stagger, and keep coming.

I can even see the impact mark on their faces sometimes as they kill me.

These are the Joes in the insulated suits, so the other stuff I'm carrying does nothing at all, as far as I've been able to tell through experimentation.

I've been enjoying the game, and I'd hate to have to quit this far into it, just because I can't get past this one bit.

I may be able to distract them with Noisemakers, but I still wonder why the game itself describes the bolt gun as a Joe-killer, when they just shrug off fully-charged headshots.

"What are we supposed to use, man? Harsh language?" :-)

Any useful suggestions?

Oh, and I'm not playing on insane-crazy-hardcore, just Medium (ordinary) so I don't know what's going on here. Maybe the bolt gun is a fake-out, and I'm just supposed to sneak through?

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

The bolt gun does kill working joes in one shot to the head. Doesn't even have to be fully charged - just enough to reduce the reticule to the point when your hit is guaraneteed.

It's going to be hard to get through that mission without killing at least SOME of the joes, so I guess you can shotgun them as well, as long as you have enough ammo. You need about 3 shotgun shots to the head to kill an industrial joe.

Pipe bombs can also do the trick (you need 2 in order to kill an industrial joe). They are way too expensive to spend on one joe, so if you can group them together and use the bomb's AOE damage it would be great.

[[TW]Sergeant Beanbag]

Originally posted by Dr. Sedula:

Any useful suggestions?

Sounds like you will be interested in this :)

[Dr. Sedula]

Thanks for the quick replies. Much appreciated.

I confess, after having three more fully-charged head shots get shrugged off (yup, the reticle was a point). I tried some tricky distraction stuff with Noisemakers which failed because the path is a ring and multiple Joes came from both sides.

Finally, in a fit of sheer annoyance, I stealthed `til one of them saw me, and then I just flat-out ran to the elevator, zig-zagging around the ones in my way. A couple of them tagged me, but I threw them off (my health was high).

Point being, the Joes are hard to kill down there, but they ain't fast. :-)

So, I'm on to the next bit. Thanks again for the tips, though. I appreciate the quick help.

Be well,

[Dr. Sedula]

Follow Up:

I ran past the Joes going into the Reactor, but found that I had to defeat them once I left the Reactor area. There was no way to set the necessary machinery otherwise, as they would simply swarm you to death.

I realized that the platform ring shakes ever so slightly, and that this shake was disrupting my aim just enough that the game counted it as a "miss", even when I could see it hitting.

I ended up leading the Joes back into the tunnel where you first come back from the Reactor. No tremors in there.

I stood at the far end, and because the tunnel is long and the Joes are slow, I had time to headshot kill them.

If some of the Joes start to get too close to you at the tunnel's end, remember to run around them, and lead them back in there again, to finish the rest off.

Keep your health Medkitted as high as you can, because if a Joe grapples you, it can really hurt.

Try to break their hold and run , if they do grab you -- if you stay near, the other Joes will swarm on you.

When the final wave of Joes appears after you set the explosion, just evade them and run like hell for your destination doors. It's not a good time to engage.

Hope this helps anyone who might be having the problems I had. Thanks yet again to those who helped me.