Ammo Types

[fluppi]

So I sunk almost 60h into this game and I'm enjoing it, even it seems quite buggy. One thing I don't understand is the difference between the ammo types. So I'm on the Mission to harvest a Red Deer for Frau Fleischer and this evening I managed to spot a mythical class red deer after almost 5h searching. I loaded my .270 with the polymer rounds because it's the highest caliber I got and aimed for the Brain because I thought I should make this quick for the score and I need high penetration to get through the skull. I hit, but just a flesh wound, the deer got away, after chasing him for 30 min I got my second chance, same shot same wound, he got away again. Now he left the area an I had to track him down for another 30 min. This time I aimed for the lung and shot the third time, after 200 meters I found him dead. I realised that only my last shot counted, the other two must have been regenerated or voodoo happend, I don't know but is was a fail anyway, because I only got silver rating not the needed gold.

Next time I went after some fellow deer with the .243, got one right in the left lung with the standard round, but this poor guy had also to run away a few meters. So I tried the polymer round of the .243 on the next one, hoping to penetrate both lungs and take the fellow deer down in the shot, but he also ran some meter before dying and the harvest monitor also showed, that I only hit one lung.

After those quite long storys I am sitting in front of my desk and having no clue where the difference between those ammo types is, from my experience they both seem to have the exact same effects. Or does the shooting distance make a difference? But I'm quite sure those fellow deer were from about the same distance. Maybe someone can help my understand the ammo system of this game.

[12lambes]

The differences between ammo types are not very significant if your aim is a little off. Any round can kill any animal if they hit it just right (although good luck with .223 against a Moose or a Bison).

To get instant death you need either a brain shot, a spine severing shot, or a heart shot.

Vital hits will drop animals quickly but not always instantly.

The angle of your hit is almost equally important to your calibre. Try to make sure you have the animal perfectly perpendicular to your rifle's barrel for best results.

That said, the stats on the different ammo types are pretty accurate to how they behave, polymer usually penetrates the best but is the most expensive.

When in doubt, lead poisoning is highly lethal.

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by fluppi:

After those quite long storys I am sitting in front of my desk and having no clue where the difference between those ammo types is, from my experience they both seem to have the exact same effects. Or does the shooting distance make a difference?

Most people think that the polymer tips are superior, and will penetrate more but that is not true.

The ammo types for each rifle are usually the standard and then the polymer, or soft point and hollow point. Basically, the standard rounds do more damage and more pentration than the more expensive varients. However, although these rounds' maximum penetration and stopping power outmatch the more expensive secondary ammunition, they lose energy fast. The more expensive secondary ammo will have more power and penetration ONLY at long distance, and only because the primary ammo effectiveness has decreased at that distance. The primary ammunition will do more damage and penetration at close range than the secondary ammunition will ever be capable of at close or long range. Using polymer tips at close range will actually give you less penetration than the standard. I would say carry both ammo types but switch ammo to secondary at 150m+ (or 50-100m+ for 30-30 & 45-70).

Originally posted by fluppi:

I loaded my .270 with the polymer rounds because it's the highest caliber I got and aimed for the Brain because I thought I should make this quick for the score and I need high penetration to get through the skull. I hit, but just a flesh wound, the deer got away,

Shooting an animal in the head on the front or side of the skull of most animals is a bad idea, the skull is spherical and will likely deflect the bullet, I would recommend never to do it. If the deer is facing you, aim for where the top of the front legs meet the centre of their chest, this is where the heart is and not at the head. If the animal is side on, aim for where the leg meets the chest but slightly behind in the armpit crease, this will give you the best lung shot. If the animal is facing away from you, the back of the skull is flat enough and more reliable to penetrate for a brain shot, or alternatively if you have elevation from the target you can aim for the thorasic spine.

Originally posted by 12lambes:

To get instant death you need either a brain shot, a spine severing shot, or a heart shot.

Shooting at the spine does not guarentee an instant death, neither does a brain shot. If you use a calibre that has low damage or penetration relative to the size of the animal then they can survive for a while before dying. You can see this in these screenshots, I was experimenting with calibres. As you can see, I did not get 100% quick kill which means they ran some distance even if it is a guarenteed 1 shot kill.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1099608274

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909038998

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=878482758

I hope this helps.

[Cybertox]

I had a lot more success with Polymer than Soft even at closer ranges.

[fluppi]

So you say the wildlife uses some kind of ablative tank armor? Isn't this a bit unrealistic with projectiles with about 2000+ joule kinetic energy hitting mostly soft targets? I mean bones are not that bad, but they aren't made out of steel plates.

[fluppi]

Originally posted by Sʜɪғᴛʏ Ƭнє Rєɗ Acє:

Originally posted by fluppi:

After those quite long storys I am sitting in front of my desk and having no clue where the difference between those ammo types is, from my experience they both seem to have the exact same effects. Or does the shooting distance make a difference?

Most people think that the polymer tips are superior, and will penetrate more but that is not true.

The ammo types for each rifle are usually the standard and then the polymer, or soft point and hollow point. Basically, the standard rounds do more damage and more pentration than the more expensive varients. However, although these rounds' maximum penetration and stopping power outmatch the more expensive secondary ammunition, they lose energy fast. The more expensive secondary ammo will have more power and penetration ONLY at long distance, and only because the primary ammo effectiveness has decreased at that distance. The primary ammunition will do more damage and penetration at close range than the secondary ammunition will ever be capable of at close or long range. Using polymer tips at close range will actually give you less penetration than the standard. I would say carry both ammo types but switch ammo to secondary at 150m+ (or 50-100m+ for 30-30 & 45-70).

Originally posted by fluppi:

I loaded my .270 with the polymer rounds because it's the highest caliber I got and aimed for the Brain because I thought I should make this quick for the score and I need high penetration to get through the skull. I hit, but just a flesh wound, the deer got away,

Shooting an animal in the head on the front or side of the skull of most animals is a bad idea, the skull is spherical and will likely deflect the bullet, I would recommend never to do it. If the deer is facing you, aim for where the top of the front legs meet the centre of their chest, this is where the heart is and not at the head. If the animal is side on, aim for where the leg meets the chest but slightly behind in the armpit crease, this will give you the best lung shot. If the animal is facing away from you, the back of the skull is flat enough and more reliable to penetrate for a brain shot, or alternatively if you have elevation from the target you can aim for the thorasic spine.

Originally posted by 12lambes:

To get instant death you need either a brain shot, a spine severing shot, or a heart shot.

Shooting at the spine does not guarentee an instant death, neither does a brain shot. If you use a calibre that has low damage or penetration relative to the size of the animal then they can survive for a while before dying. You can see this in these screenshots, I was experimenting with calibres. As you can see, I did not get 100% quick kill which means they ran some distance even if it is a guarenteed 1 shot kill.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1099608274

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909038998

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=878482758

I hope this helps.

Thanks to your tip I got my mythical deer from the front, hit right in the heart.^^

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by fluppi:

Thanks to your tip I got my mythical deer from the front, hit right in the heart.^^

Nice!

[Alliesaurus]

Shooting anything in the head will usually deflect and become a flesh wound, although shooting the lower back of the skull or spine shot is veey effective, i wouldn't use the 270 on fallow deer you don't get an integrity bonus using it on them and i am sure it's the same with red deer, so if you want a high score use the 243 with polymer tips and go for a spine shot, heart shot, lung or vitals, yesterday i killed a fox by hitting its liver lol

[Alliesaurus]

Originally posted by fluppi:

So you say the wildlife uses some kind of ablative tank armor? Isn't this a bit unrealistic with projectiles with about 2000+ joule kinetic energy hitting mostly soft targets? I mean bones are not that bad, but they aren't made out of steel plates.

The polymer tips have less chance of deflect against bone than tge regular ammo, you wouldnt use a 270 with kevlar tips on steel plates it just wouldn't work, the bones in most of the animals are small in diameter but do cause deflection

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Ne0NBuRn3R SCO:

Shooting anything in the head will usually deflect and become a flesh wound, although shooting the lower back of the skull or spine shot is veey effective, i wouldn't use the 270 on fallow deer you don't get an integrity bonus using it on them and i am sure it's the same with red deer, so if you want a high score use the 243 with polymer tips and go for a spine shot, heart shot, lung or vitals, yesterday i killed a fox by hitting its liver lol

.270 is fine on red deer for integrity bonus.

[Dominemesis]

Tipped rounds penetrate better, so animals with tougher hides/thicker skeletons are what you want to use for. Hollow points and softs expand better, so if you prefer going for lung/heart shots more than brain/spine shots, use those to produce a more severe wound. Essentially if your aim is solid, penetrators will help with heavier animals. If your aim is only ok, then soft/hollows will help bleed out an animal better if you didn't land the 1-hit kill.

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Dominemesis:

Essentially if your aim is solid, penetrators will help with heavier animals. If your aim is only ok, then soft/hollows will help bleed out an animal better if you didn't land the 1-hit kill.

Honestly, from my experience if your aim is solid it doesn't matter what bullet type you use. The .243 that you start with for free will 1 hit kill any animal in the game if you are accurate. The higher penetration rounds are only necessary at further distances where the bullet would lose some energy or if your aim is really bad. The tipped rounds are for long range sniping or short-medium ranged handicap for super easy mode in my opinion.

[Vedo]

I honestly only use polymer-tip ammo. See no point in using the other kind because you should be going for insta kills anyway, why would you want to bleed it out when you can just one shot it right... However i take my time with my shots, i make sure i have the best angle possible before taking the shot, never rush.

[Lightshifty]

Originally posted by Vedi:

I honestly only use polymer-tip ammo. See no point in using the other kind because you should be going for insta kills anyway, why would you want to bleed it out when you can just one shot it right...

If your aim is right then you shouldn't get any bleed

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1093453154

[CharonMoon]

Originally posted by Lightshifty:

Originally posted by fluppi:

After those quite long storys I am sitting in front of my desk and having no clue where the difference between those ammo types is, from my experience they both seem to have the exact same effects. Or does the shooting distance make a difference?

Most people think that the polymer tips are superior, and will penetrate more but that is not true.

The ammo types for each rifle are usually the standard and then the polymer, or soft point and hollow point. Basically, the standard rounds do more damage and more pentration than the more expensive varients. However, although these rounds' maximum penetration and stopping power outmatch the more expensive secondary ammunition, they lose energy fast. The more expensive secondary ammo will have more power and penetration ONLY at long distance, and only because the primary ammo effectiveness has decreased at that distance. The primary ammunition will do more damage and penetration at close range than the secondary ammunition will ever be capable of at close or long range. Using polymer tips at close range will actually give you less penetration than the standard. I would say carry both ammo types but switch ammo to secondary at 150m+ (or 50-100m+ for 30-30 & 45-70).

Originally posted by fluppi:

I loaded my .270 with the polymer rounds because it's the highest caliber I got and aimed for the Brain because I thought I should make this quick for the score and I need high penetration to get through the skull. I hit, but just a flesh wound, the deer got away,

Shooting an animal in the head on the front or side of the skull of most animals is a bad idea, the skull is spherical and will likely deflect the bullet, I would recommend never to do it. If the deer is facing you, aim for where the top of the front legs meet the centre of their chest, this is where the heart is and not at the head. If the animal is side on, aim for where the leg meets the chest but slightly behind in the armpit crease, this will give you the best lung shot. If the animal is facing away from you, the back of the skull is flat enough and more reliable to penetrate for a brain shot, or alternatively if you have elevation from the target you can aim for the thorasic spine.

Originally posted by 12lambes:

To get instant death you need either a brain shot, a spine severing shot, or a heart shot.

Shooting at the spine does not guarentee an instant death, neither does a brain shot. If you use a calibre that has low damage or penetration relative to the size of the animal then they can survive for a while before dying. You can see this in these screenshots, I was experimenting with calibres. As you can see, I did not get 100% quick kill which means they ran some distance even if it is a guarenteed 1 shot kill.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1099608274

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909038998

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=878482758

I hope this helps.

Tnks very useful.