MGS 5 Weapon Ballistics (WIP)

Through out this guide I will show you through the various scopes that The Phantom Pain has to offer, and how to measure and use them effectively during combat, albeit lethal or non-lethal.

DISCLAIMER & LIMITATIONS

Metal Gear Solid 5: TPP's ballistics are well far from realistic, very far. Meaning that anything taken away from this guide most likely will NOT be applicable to other games such as ARMA or any other military FPS out there.

I would also like to state that I am not at all in any way an expert on this subject. I am simply just a big fan of MGS 5 and its mechanics, whom wanted to better understand how to use snipers effectively within TPP's virtual physics.

Because of this, some information may be inaccurate or wrong and I am whole-heartedly open to suggestions and further investiagtions into TPP's weapon ballistics. So please, share what you think of this guide and perhaps what you might have even found out yourself during your time playing.

Some limitations that have been proven include;

A thershold distance of 350m and beyond marks the point where the game engine cannot process any further entities, meaning that anything after that point will cease to exist, or just appear to be low textured.

Another limitation is that their is no wind resistance on bullets, meaning that the only reason you would measure horizontal compensation is when you're leading shots with moving targets.

Finally, all scopes are screenshotted at a 4.0x magnifcation and will not include 6.0x and 8.0x as those two zooms completely ♥♥♥♥ up the mildots making the scope impractical when zoomed.

Enjoy the guide :)

Sniper Scope Basics

Weapon scopes, obviously, are used for magnifying what ever target a sniper unit may be aiming at. All Sniper rifles in TPP come with a already designed pattern on the scope, this is called a reticle:



Keep in mind that the telescopic sight (a snipers scope), and the reticle (a measurment tool) within that scope, are two seperate things.

The sniper scope we will be analyzing is called the VM Scope which is unlocked by developing the final stage of the Brennan LRS-46 sniper rifle. The reason behind utilizing this scope is that its very bare bones in terms of how to read it, making it very easy to undestand for beginners.

As we begin to look at this scope first you must understand what the hell all those lines are for, these are called 'mil-dots'. Mil-dots are line measurments that determine the amount of vertical compensation that must be given to allow the bullet to reach its desired target, which will a topic for later.

For now, here is what they look like:



All we need to take away from this is that about every small dash (minor lines) on the scope is the equivlent of about 100m, all the larger dash (middle lines) inbetween the two small ones is about 50m.

Now we get to move on to the real stuff :)

Lethal Weapon Trajectory

As I stated earlier, mil-dots are a form of measurement of how much vertical compensation is required by the sniper unit. Which is nessecary due to gravity pulling down on the bullet, this is a general concept adequtely named; bullet drop.

Here's visual guide of what bullet drop essentially looks like:



Well how do we compensate for bullet drop? by using the reticles hand-dandy measurement guide. Like I said earlier all small lines on this reticle is about 100m starting from the center, whilst every middle line is about 50m respectively.

In visual terms, your VM scope will be measured like this:



As you may have noticed, 350m is considered not applicable. This is due to a limitation within the games engine that stops all processes passed a threshold which is about 350m away from the player, meaning if a target is that far away your bullet will not do anything whatsoever.

Now that we got all of that covered, lets move on to actually applying this information in game!

Using a makeshift shooting range in the deserts of Afghanistan, here's where we'll be observing what we learned:

Lets start at a standard 100m, as you might have guessed this just a straight away, garunteed on target hit, easy.

100m:



As we move away from the center, we gradually compensate more and more:

150m:



200m:



250m:



And like I said, any further than about 350m is a engine thershold that stops all processes, so don't even bother trying to do trick shots in TPP.

Non-lethal Weapon Trajectory

Have you ever noticed that sometimes even if you are aiming correctly with say, a lethal rifle, and then you move on to your STN and ZZZ rifles and they dont hit their mark whatsoever? This is due to a massive difference in bullet drop on both of the types of weapons ammuniton. For example; a lethal bullet is exploded out of the barrel by sheer force created by an explosion of gunpowder, whilst a tranqulizer round is what we can assume is being launched out of the barrel by air pressure alone. (evident by the URAGAN-5 *AIR-S*) This of course means that the tranquilizer wouldn't reach the same maximum range and speed of a lethal bullet.

Realistic connections aside, this essentially means more compensation is needed to hit your mark. Starting to see a pattern?

Due to the fact that tranquilizer rounds do not kick up any dust when they hit a surface, i'll have to resort to shooting Big Boss' even faker face.

A hit at about 100m is just about where the circle of the center point ends, not much difference right?

100m



At about 200m, it keeps its pattern of being between the minor line and the middle line.

200m



And for whatever reason the engine cant cope with BB decoy's being that far away so Id estimate your mark from 300m away would be between the 0 and 1 in the Y marker.

300m (guessimated)



As far as I can tell, tranqs and lethal rounds are about the equivalent of odds and evens, so whenever you alternate between the two types, just keep that in mind.

How to aim with the other scopes

Now we get to look at scopes other than the VM, most of these are pretty useless or too complicated for players. Images will be shrinked for sake of space, click on them for the full image.



Rifle Scope E (4x)/Rifle Scope W (4x):
(I mashed these two together because they're practically the same scope.)

100m



200m



300m



This thing basically just sucks, as it is probably the first scope you get in the game. You have to do a lot of estimation to hit anything with this over the intial 100m center. But for minimalists or people looking for a challenge (such as myself) this is probably pretty fun to use.

Rifle Scope (2-8x):

100m



200m



300m



Im not sure if this was on purpose or not, but obviously the reticle doesnt match with the games virtual physics as at 200m, you'd expect it to line up with the line with the 2 next to it but I guess it was just an over sight.

Rifle Scope E2 (4x):

100m



200m



300m



definitely an upgrade from the first E rifle scope. Mil dots actually work on this one, and its highly accurate as well so I'd use this in the early game. And the stuff on the left side as far as I know is head measurements of some sort, I am not sure how to use them or even if they work in game, but if you want to give a try be my guest.

Rifle Scope W2 (4x):

100m



200m



300m



I just dont get this one, its basically a glorifed red dot sight. Its hard to estimate where you should aim and unless everything youre shooting at is from 100m away, I wouldn't bother.

Tips & Tricks

Tips by User Pillagius:

pin-point accuracy for most rifles - about 50m (+/- roughly 5m based on weapon and it's modifications), for pistols - 40m (+/- 3m).

Moreover, when a ensured hit is detected, (by the game) your crosshair will turn red indicating that your bullet will make contact.

SSR = Sure-shot Range (red crosshair indicator), ER = Effective range distance

WU S.Pistol SSR is 35m, while effective range is 45m.

Burkov TB "red" crosshair appears at 22m, while it's effective range is 35m.

M2000-NL SSR is just 55m while ER is about 160m

(Tested on mother base too see if the vertical postion of the target made a difference)
From low to high ground.
- 1 story height - nothing. If it does something - effect is too insignificant. Even at max ER of M2000-NL - 160m, shots where flying exactly where I've aimed.
- 2 story height (usual guard tower height) - nothing substential. At 160m M2000-NL got a very small projectile drop compared to even grounds.
- 3 story height - still nothing serious... I hit the neck one time I aimed at the center of the face, but i think it's because poor guy leaned a little when started moving, since next shot hit the head no problem.

Tip by Users Styke and Ben Dover

The tape titled 'Quiets Humming' when played on a loop removes the sway while using the scope on a weapon. Making it a nice free equivlent to Pentazemin (even though the costs of Pentazemin isn't really that bad.)

Conclusion

Thank you for reading through the entire guide! I'll try to keep this as small as possible and out of the way, but heres a link to my new youtube channel. I jumped on the MGS TPP bandwagon, but I took a few steps away from the others. In this series I use a mod that allows me to force Subsistence Mode onto missions that wouldn't normally allow it, all while aiming for that glorious S rank with a giant buff in difficulty. If you're interested, please take a look! :)

Otherwise, thank you! And I hope you found this guide useful!

[juicetang]

@Diamond Doge Thank you! I'm glad it helped out!

[hacker666666hack]

Oh, okay, thanks for the info. by the way, this guide helped out a lot since im doing a loadout similar to MGS3, y'know the Patriot, M1911A1, etc. using various dlcs. and I read this since the Non-Lethal sniper is the hardest thing to shoot in my opinion. thanks for the guide overall.

[juicetang]

@Diamond Doge Not nessecarily, there isn't any actual mechanic like in most traditional shootres. But during R&D development you can develop a drug called Pentazemin, which produces the same effect.

[hacker666666hack]

Is there a way to hold your breath?

[juicetang]

@Mr.Gaytes Probably the VM Scope 4-8x, just because its the easiest scope to read. For night missions I'd use the RF Scope due to the lit up reticle and useful range finder.

[Mr. Gaiety]

So in your opinion, which would be the best scope in the game?

[RIFTMAKER]

thanks for the makksman hints

[Pillagius]

Well, the main problem was to find flat surface and some kind of fixed vertical scale to test it. Mother Base was fairly nice choice, the other problem was to find volontiers at needed range and height :P

So, ATM a fairly high position of the enemies doesn't make you adjust your aim much, plus most of the time you're on even ground or higher than the enemies you shoot or close enough for the projectile to fly straight. We'll se how it works when shoting from higher to lower ground, because for WU S.Pistol it seemed that I had a few extra meters to my ER, while shooting from higher ground ;)

And one more thing - Assault Rifles seem to have much longer max effective range than I've pointed out earlier, when equiped with sniper rifle barrels(somewhere closer to 70m, compared to usual 50-55m), but it makes them too long and much less handy in confined spaces.

PS: Jesus... Grammar on my previous comment is eyetearing... Sorry for causing so much pain...

[juicetang]

Cool! Thank you. I was actually going to base this entire guide on a vertical shooting range, but then I realized that wouldnt give me accurate measurements, but as you've proven it does make a difference, will add this to your tips.

[Pillagius]

So far what i've found out about difference higher/lower ground adjustments.

NOTE: I've been testing that on Mother Base, since it's all nice and even. Most of sories are equal height, so I've used them as measurement, since with markers I couldn't get 100% accurate measurement of height.
From low to high ground.
- 1 story hight - nothing. If it does something - effect is too insignificant. Even at max ER of M2000-NL - 160m, shots where flying exactly where I've aimed.
- 2 story hight (usual guard tower height) - notihng substential. At 160m M2000-NL got a very small projectile drop compared to even grounds.
- 3 story hight - still nothing serious... I hit the neck one time I aimed at the center of the face, but i think it's because poor guy leaned a little when started moving, since next shot hit the head no problem.
- 4 sorty hight... um... Do you even need to aim at something that high in this game? Still... adjust like half mm up or aim right aboube the head.