PvE usage of firearms

[Katieclysm]

I've noticed something as I progress into endgame technology... I think I hit peak deadlyness with the crossbow and tranq arrows. Should I even bother unlocking the assault rifle if I'm not playing PvP? An unconscious dino is basically a dead dino, so I'm not seeing how anything else could come close, unless firearms get a lot more damage output or something.

The damage numbers on the wiki just don't look useful. 95/237 damage + 190/474 torpor per shot (depending on headshot) with the crossbow, vs. 30/75 per bullet with the AR, flinging stupid amounts of metal downrange. Am I missing something here?

[BigWoopMagazine]

The only gun I bother with in my PvE server is the longneck rifle. It actually has a higher damage per bullet, whereas the assault rifle does less damage per bullet than the bow and crossbow. The idea with the assault rifle is for higher DPS in PvP, and likewise with the fabricated pistol. I think it's a major waste of ammo on dinos. If you look around for improved blueprints you can get powerful longnecks, I have one that does 200% damage and kills most dinos in 1-3 shots.

The shotgun is viable too, but it takes way more ammo, which I think is tedious to make. Besides that, as a close range weapon, I'd rather just use a powerful dino for such close attacks.

My current setup is longneck rifle with scope attachment for lethal, and crossbow with tranqs for taming.

[Midnight Piper]

Originally posted by BigWoopMagazine:

The only gun I bother with in my PvE server is the longneck rifle.

+1
The longneck is the only firearm I consider worth having. They plan a sniper rifle eventually, could be interesting.

[ntengineer]

The compound bow and arrows are nice for bigger dinos. They do a lot more damage and negate some of the more armored beasts out there.

[pinoycarter]

Unless you're just bored, there's practically no reason to grab an AR. You'll likely get an AR BP from a drop if not an acutal AR. Save your EP.

Just look at the crafting reqs mate. It's not cost or combat effective due to how much ammo you'd use/carry to kill anything significant in PVE. It's best possible application is in a cave, IMO, and there's just so much crap in there most of the time that you can blindly swing a pike or maybe use a SG to more effect. If you're not in caves...use dino.

[Katieclysm]

Alright, I'll toy with the Longneck and see if I can get some use out of it. Anyone know what the base damage increase is on the Compound Bow over the crossbow? I'm not seeing it on the wiki.