SGW3 DAMAGE STAT PSA

Idk why I'm making this, but I felt that this is important to mention for anyone still thinking of playing this game.

SGW3's damage bars are incredibly misleading, and this guide will tell you how they actually work, more or less.

Disclaimer: While I believe that the contents of this guide are mostly truthful, keep in mind that there could be other factors that the game does not tell me that can also affect damage.

What the damage bars ACTUALLY mean

On the surface, SGW3's weapon balance (especially for the snipers) seems incredibly illogical. Why exactly do semi-auto 7.62 rifles (traditionally the laughing stock shooters) generally have higher damage stats compared to bolt-action .338s?

Well, according to Trogdor (according to their Steam page, they're indeed a CI developer), in this thread asking the same question :

Originally posted by Trogdor:

The 338 is more powerful as a single shot, but the "damage" bar actually shows Damage per Second, so if the 7.62 rifle has a quicker bolt action and a bigger mag, then it might show up as having more Power

This is why the XM-2015 reportedly seems to deal a pathetic amount of damage on paper, and why the ES-25 appears to be as powerful as a .50 cal; the former is bolt action and has a default mag size of 5, while the latter is the fastest firing semi-auto rifle with a default mag size of 20, making it super spammable, and thus, higher DPS.

In addition, seeing as how the damage values don't change when you increase your magazine capacity, I'm assuming the game looks at its default value.

This can also be seen on the other weapons. For example, the KT-R has the lowest damage value of the 7.62 secondaries because of its low rate of fire and puny default mag capacity, while the FM-3000 UM, being an LMG has the highest because of its ability to carry a whopping 250 rounds in its mag. As for the pistols, the Garett M9, chambered in 9mm, has a higher damage stat than the M1984, chambered in .45, because it shoots much faster and has a larger mag.

So how much damage is actually being dealt per shot?

To view this, you must access your workbench in your safe house and view each individual bullet - there, you will see that .338 does indeed deal more damage than 7.62, and .45 deals more damage than 9mm (as they should). From this, you can infer that this is how much damage you really deal with your weapons.

In practice, according to my (admittedly slightly inaccurate testing because of the possibly of me accidentally hitting "higher damage" areas), this mostly holds true. Tested against the same standard enemies at the same outpost, the XM-2015 and the ES-25, on average, both:

• Kill in one shot to the upper body
  
• Incapacitate in one shot to the lower body
  
• Incapacitate in three shots to the legs

Please note that there have been instances were 3 shots to the legs outright killed a guy, and I have no idea what happened - again, maybe I hit a "higher damage" spot.

I haven't tested the secondaries nor the pistols yet, I'll do it when I feel like it.

Weird ♥♥♥♥?

Now, I should clarify a few oddities I encountered while testing. While damage values I've seen at the workbench have been confirmed when I compared the XM-2015 and the ES-25, oddly enough, I got more or less the same shots to kill with the .338s (I tested the Rook SS-97, the BMT 03, and the MacMillan), even though they should theoretically have higher one shot kill potentials, and incapacitate in fewer shots. My theory is that the damage multipliers on enemies makes it so that the shots to kill are still the same despite the fact that you're dealing more damage due to how the math works. That being said, this was against the two common enemy types, namely the common separatist model with light armour, and the thicc bois with ski masks and thicc coats. I have not yet tried this against heavies, captains (the ones with stars over their heads), the gas mask separatist, nor the 23S super soldiers. I'll test this when I feel like it.

Furthermore, even though the whole "Damage refers to DPS which calculates the damage of the bullet, RoF and mag capacity" rings true for most of the weapons, there's some stats I'd like to address.

Firstly, for unknown reasons, the bolt action .338s (the MacMillan, the Archer, and the BMT) deal more damage on paper than the semi-auto Rook, which flies in the face of the whole DPS theory. I have no idea why this is the case, but when I tested them, I saw no clear differences in shots to kill.

Secondly, shotguns all deal the same damage on paper, even though the mag-fed, semi-auto Origin 12 should have a higher damage stat than the pump-action OFM 500 if the whole XM-2015 vs ES-25 deal is to be believed. Again, no clue.

Why did I write this?

• Damage values for the sniper rifles do not matter as long as you can get headshots (which are obvious one shot kills), which isn't hard.
  
• Pistols should only be spammed up close, and they generally kill enemies quick enough so they don't alert others. Headshots are also instant kills.
  
• You rarely should be using your secondary if you're good at stealth.
  
• If you're playing the game loud, you're playing it wrong.
  
• Everybody but me hates this game.

This is pointless. Go away.

[f15rotor]

I can't make the sniper rifle fire in Prologue. Any ideas?

[astrofelix59]

I think the recoil stat is most important, that's what really determines when you can get the second shot off.

[astrofelix59]

Don't like the ES, personally think the Dragoon is much better less sway w/o bipod, fire rate nice and high to get that second shot off if he didn't go down with the first.

Pretty much swap to Stronisky and AK first mission, until the Dragoon can be got. They will do the job all the way through, and don't have to spend on ammo. AK is solid on single fire and gets a red dot sight, silenced from the start so disagree about not being a secondary game. It's that sort of talk that gave us totally shit secondaries in Contracts

[Doge]

oh wow great info, never knew this thanks

[Chonky]

And here I am, an old army geek who picks the gun i would prefer IRL... I mean, f*ck game-mechanics , right? ;)

[sl4ught3rhus]

I just picked this and contracts up for a bargain so I appreciate the post! After playing sniper elite v2 remastered, 3 and 4 and now moving on to this there is a bit of a different feel to the game from the sniper elite series but I've enjoyed the first hour so far...

[Vandreal_Wolf]

LOL!!!

Dude, you're awesome! Thanks for the heads up on this. It's good to know what's what before going in. I'm about to play for the first time so I hope I will enjoy it as much as you have.

[Rickidoodo]

Thank you for writing this. SGW is an underrated game. I love the ai in this game. It feels quite real. Wish more people would play. Also, I am in love with Lydia :)