Armour piercing whats the point ?

[Sveny]

Unlike fallout NV there are no values for penetration, so why go to armour pericing it just seems to do less damage ?

i know you can see armour values for diffrent damage types in vats with a perk, feels a bit unfinished to me.

[✿✿❤❥Nannia❥❤✿✿]

When it comes to Armor Peircing in Fallout 4 I find that Armor Pericing is Diffrent from previous Incarnations in the previous games.

As I have played Armor Peircing seems to Do more perice to higher armored Targets (and target type) meaning more overall damage to a heavier Ballistic Armor Target since Melee (and Unarmed) does Ballistic Damage. However there is a Cap tolerance with Armor Pericing of at least 300-400 and seems to Perice more armor based on that target's armor your damage and perks. Rather then a % or a set amount other then its cap.

Ex: You punch a Sentry Bot with a Puncturing Power Fist and it does REALLY good damage. But you punch a Gunner (with no Power Armor) it does about the same Damage if not a little less. Even if the Gunner has Less Armor the Amout it could peirce was more the the Sentry Bot then it was to the Gunner.

If you are often against Deathclaws, Radscorpions, Powered Armored Targets, Gen 1 and Gen2 Synths, Sentry Bots, Assultrons, Mr. Handy Variants, Protections, or Mirelurks. You often want the Armor Peircing. However General Purpose choose higher damage or more varied damage types.

The Glowing Sea is the most useful place for Armor Pericing.

Further Notes: Certian Targets with Metal or Hard Shells have a Melee Resistance % but IS bypassed completly with Armor Pericing. Same with Energy Damage Mods but Energy Damage Mods still require you to go through energy armor. Which may prove ineffective against Enemies with Energy Resistance lowering overall damage instead of improving it.

[Zotliatlicor]

To test this all you need is 2 Pipe .38 guns, one normal and one with AP receiver and find yourself a Mirelurk. You can do this at lvl 1-2. There is a HUGE difference.

[EolSunder]

This topic already been talked about for years, google is your friend. Armor piercing is valuable only if you cannot add on a stronger more powerful normal factor. When it comes to weapons modding a weapon to a more powerful version and upgraded damage is superior to armor piercing. Armor piercing is only useful if you are equal damage values. a 10 damage 10mm armor piercing is better than a 10 damage 10mm normal. But upgrade to a 15 damage receiver usually is superior to the 10 damage armor piercing.

Been proven in many posts long ago, no need to rehash it. For Fallout 4 ignore any armor piercing mods, UNLESS there isn't a higher damage one available. Higher base damage > better than armor piercing.

[Pigron]

I am just going by experience and not any systematic testing, but I would have to agree with EolSunder, that higher base damage is always better than armor piercing.
I have a pugilist who carries both ordinary bladed and puncturing knuckles, and in his melee with mirelurks, he can always take them down with three hits in VATS with the bladed base 45, and 4 hits with puncturing base 39. At the end of a 3 round flurry in Vats, their health bar is about the same with either but the stacked bleeding from bladed finishes them without an additional hit.

Now with ranged weapons, there would be a better case for puncturing as you may have a better chance to hit by selecting spots that are better armored and would otherwise stop more damage.

There is the legacy of canon from the first Fallout where the story is told of a boy who killed a deathclaw by shooting it directly in the eye.
New Vegas paid homage to that story with a special Red Ryder BB gun that has insane armor piercing ability and breaks the game if you go and get it at the beginning.
Maybe deathclaws have extra armor piercing scripted in which is why so many commenters are having great luck with them.