Guards Using Crossbow's

[Sn3z]

I playing on Dread and have only access to few crossbows at the moment but the guards seem to missing so many shots, are crossbows bad for defense?

[Akatosh]

I got the same feeling. But as the NPC don't use ammo, I just gave them sniper or assault rifle when I don't control them, as you can't choose yourself who is the guard, like in the 1st game. Pretty sad...

[Sweatington]

assault rifles for everyone.

[Sn3z]

I just got a bug where one NPC was able to rapid fire his crossbow(no reload animation until I interuppted him and looked into inventory) he was actually hitting stuff really far away but no head shots.., after watching other npc's they seem just terrible. Perhaps better shooting stats will help?

[Protectron]

Get full-auto-only assault rifles like the BAR1918 variants (such as the FBI Fighting Rifle from the Bounty Broker), or the Non-compliant SKS (Bounty Broker), put a Brake on them and hand them out to all your NPC-controlled survivors.

Their gunshots, unlike yours, won't spawn zombies - but they may attract those who are already around unless you are closer to the them than the NPCs.

The RTX Rampart, RTX Cyclone, Dillinger Pattern 1911, G18 Auto Custom, Raider's Uzi 22, Raider's AR15 and Raider's AK47 are also auto-guns forcing the NPCs to unload a lot of lead. This makes any NPC squeeze of the trigger kill at least one zombie, and with Sharpshooting specialization often many more.

[ChanceGateau]

That's an interesting idea... It makes me wonder if the survivors can passively improve their abilities, or if they only improve when they are the active character. I know the gym and shooting range allow that... but one would think they'd improve shooting at whatever zeds happen by.

[Protectron]

Yes they'll improve the shooting skill when shooting as an NPC... at least during sieges. I never bring them along, so I don't know if that also happens outside the base. But presumably so.

Also, this also happens with Melee, but is much slower and they'll mostly be shooting when defending the base anyways.

And Crossbows on NPCs is absolutely terrible! They hit center-mass most of the time and the reloading is just going to kill them. Non-magazine/drum shotguns, revolvers and bolt/lever action guns are also probably just going to get survivors killed because they get stunlocked failing to reload because of zombies interrupting them.

Edit: it's better putting a Brake on a G17 than using crossbows and slow-firing, slow-reloading guns (except .50 rifles).

[Voca]

Sometimes when I give my npc both a rifle and a sidearm, they will use the sidearm only during guard duty. Anyone notice that?

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by Voca:

Sometimes when I give my npc both a rifle and a sidearm, they will use the sidearm only during guard duty. Anyone notice that?

I dont use side arms except for my active character, too often I've found the pistol is the active weapon.

[Sn3z]

Well I have a few rifles now but I will try and put back crossbows on high level shooting stat npc's later to see if it makes a difference..

[jackshile]

you have to swap to main gun before you change your character .. if sidearm was active it will stay active.. if you swapped to main gun they will use it.. I havent seen anyone swapping to sidearm so far.. almost whole my comunity uses .50 cal and 2 of them have 7.62 AR set to burst .. seems to have better chance to headshot zombies than full auto

[rexpiscator]

I had a Follower save my ass with his 'snap-to' skill...a juggy had me in it's hands and was ready to rip me in 2 pieces, my man point-blanked the juggy in the head and it stunlocked the critter, who then dropped me and I scuttled away, like Dr. Zoidberg....

[Protectron]

Originally posted by jackshile:

-... 7.62 AR set to burst .. seems to have better chance to headshot zombies than full auto

The AI is rarely just squeezing and holding the trigger. They usually fire in bursts of 3-4 even with full-auto-only guns.

[V-Fib]

Originally posted by Voca:

Sometimes when I give my npc both a rifle and a sidearm, they will use the sidearm only during guard duty. Anyone notice that?

Pretty sure they just use whichever firearm you had actively equipped when you switch away from them. Make sure you stay on your primary when you put them back to guard duty.

[Tadomikari]

The better the shooting stats including specializations helps aid in NPCS performance when it comes to shooting, the higher the stats the better at shooting they are. If theyre missing with crossbows even with good stats I'd say maybe because the AI uses the base crosshair and it being used better with increased stats but due to bolt drop from crossbows it leads with poorer aim. I might be wrong but that seems like quite the good reason.

[Kiiwi]

Crossbows aren't great for watch tower guards, they'll miss almost every single shots, but sometimes the bolts can be retrieved, and NPCs don't use ammo, just stay idle for a while and get all the bolts, if it doesn't despawn.