Shooting and you ... or me as example

[TyrDaishi 36]

So I did a lot of long range shooting (starting at 500-600 meters) the last week and I must say I'm still confused about it. Just some information on what I did:

-Mosin with lrg, compensator, bipod all pristine
-range estimation with maps and without (using mildots method or pure estimation of the range)
-shooting at objects, zeds and players (moving or still; standing,crouching or prone)
-all ammunition used was pristine

-I have no chain of doom most of the time I play

All in all I'm confused why

1. It seems completly random if I can see where the shot hits (smoke puffs, blood on players, zeds)
2. It seems kind of random (even considering desync, lags, high ping) if I hit shots I made from the same position (same heightdifference, same distance to the target, target has the same height) 50 times or more
3. Even the Time the Bullet travels seems to be inconsistant (yes even on buildings; non moving targets) ranging from ~0.5 seconds to ~1 seconds at 500-600 meters.


What's up with that? I don't think this is all related to lags, desync? Are their mechanics in the game that give every bullet a unique behavior? Is it possible to change server values that influence this behavior? Any tips?

Edited June 5, 2014 by TyrDaishi

[liquidsnake 275]

Sounds like they got a lot of work to be done on ballistics. It's a shame, because it should be the first thing on their to-do list

[ZomboWTF 527]

i have the same feeling, and i won't be touching a mosin because of it

 

in DayZ Mod i was a good sniper, mostly my estimating of distances was very very good, non moving targets got a headshot most of the time between 300-700 meters

 

but in the Standalone, with a pristine mosin with LRS without compensator and Bipod, i can't hit a zombie at 500 meters at all, plus i don't know if i am overshooting or undershooting, which plainly sucks atm

[smoq2 221]

The whole ballistics mechanics as well as even weapon spec configuration files are just placeholders. There's a fair amount of randomness regarding dispersion, which is a hot discussion in another thread.

 

Plus, bullet trajectory is calculated serverside, so lag is an included factor, thus you can never estimate bullet travel time accurately.

 

Also, current unoptimised server performance impacts damage calculation speed on the target, so if the server you are playing on has low FPS (not your FPS, but the frequency at which the server updates everything around you), it can even be up to 2 seconds before your target registers the hit and drops dead, and the actual bullet impact.

 

There is also a bug where there is no blood/dust indication on the hit spot.

 

Taking all this into account, well... Don't snipe. :) Or do it when you're sure of the distance and your target won't be moving for a couple of seconds (e.g. looting your other victim ;))

 

You can hope they will look at it sooner than later, but I wouldn't expect anything done in the matter until beta. Apparently Rocket claims that even 64bit servers won't do much in this aspect.

Edited June 5, 2014 by retro19

[jameslennoxhood 74]

You have to use the zeroing, it is page up and page down by default. if you know the distance and dial it in its easy as pie, ive killed people at Balota from the rooftops at Chapaesk, which is 800 metres. :)

[kakysas666 191]

I can successfully now hit a target at over 900 meters away (980m to be precise). Of course, it has not to move or anything. But the biggest problem in dayz for good sniper is guessing the distance. I try not to use map (unless I am checking after the fact) and just use my eyes. For some reason I thought that if a scope is zeroed to 200 and you shoot at 25 meters, it shouldn't have an effect, but it does. The bullet flies over the target head.

[TyrDaishi 36]

Zeroing is so basic that I didn't even bother to mention it. I'm doing it ofc as well as using correct times to hold my breath before the shot.

As I mentioned the things I described happened as well in postions where I knew 100 % that the distances where correct because I made multiple succsessful shots from the same position at the same target point at the same kind of target (human) using the same point of aim.

[MarchmelloMan 16]

Haven't tested it that extensively but purely from my playing experience the mosin works pretty good (with the LRS at distances from 100-400 metres). It is still my strongest pvp weapon and until now I could hit everything I aimed at (not even using the zeroing function).

So I dunno if dust or sth is regularly popping up at hits over 500 or 600 metres, but for pvp it works fine and hits my targets.

[Bororm 1156]

Everything retro19 said is correct.  Server lag affects bullet travel time, for all guns at all distances.  I've even had shotgun pellets have a huge delay even at sub 30m ranges.  

 

There's currently a bug where you can't see bullet impacts past something like 300-400m.

 

Sniping really sucks right now.  It's doable, but you have to trust fully in your zeroing which it seems like you're doing.  It's probably just server lag.  It doesn't matter if you're getting a chain or not, it's the server itself lagging.

I'm not all that good of a sniper, but I'm not terrible either.  In the mod and in arma in general I can hit my shot, on the first shot, the majority of the time but in the SA everything is up in the air as to whether you're going to hit or not, and the lack of impacts just leaves me second guessing myself constantly.

 

Damage is also pretty "random" dependent a lot on what gear people have, so with a lack of impacts, at these distances you may hit some one and not even really know it because you hardly damaged them on the first shot.  This is even true of headshots, as a pristine helmet can block an entire mosin round.

 

I really hope they fix seeing impacts especially, it just really sucks to not be able to adjust properly.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Bororm

[TyrDaishi 36]

I wanted to do testvideos last night but when I got into the game my fully geared character was wiped. I need to go and get my stuff back, but that will take some time.