.50 cal rifles and you

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

This isn't a 'remove 50cal sniper rifles!1!!1!!oneeleven!1!!!1!!' thread

I'm curious to hear peoples thoughts on the .50cal rifles.

Yesterday I was roaming around the Stary area and had a friend who was on the Southern Stary hill, facing the hill looking over the tents. He was trying to counter snipe the snipers over Stary tents.

He tells me he has taken fire but they've missed him and he's taken up a new position and is scouting for him.

2 minutes prior to this I've found a heli crash site and it has an L85 so I grab that and try to locate this sniper, I spot him.

I pull out my SVD and wait for the right time to shoot, unfortunately he manages to spot and takes a shot at me, he misses even though I am proned but I manage to get up and run through the thickest bushes possible, some how he manages to hit me whilst I'm sprinting at full speed through super thick bushes.

I die, AS50 at 500m isn't an ideal situation to be in.

My friend decided to move around and try catch him off gaurd if/when he loots my body but is also shot with an AS50 whilst sprinting through super thick bush.

This leads me to think he may be using a thermal AS50, maybe even an aimbot of some sort because I know how hard it can be to hit running targets.

Anyway, I have an AS50 and M107 at our base but I choose to use the SVD for my own reasons.

50cals seem to take a lot of the skill out of sniping, you don't need to worry about hitting the upper body at all, as long as you hit somewhere, you're gauranteed the kill.

I'm curious to hear peoples opinions on the matter, personally I don't think they should be in the game but at the same time I know this game isn't about balance and it is supposed to be hard

Edited August 12, 2012 by jdz

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

No one? :/

[martin_sonderegger@bluewin.ch 141]

Well, think about any sniper encounter during night time, the AS50 is pretty much useless if there's not enough light.

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

Any sniper rifle other than the DMR is useless at night because it's the only one that can be used with night vision

[irbab00n 21]

Well, the only thought I have on this is that .50 caliber sniper rifles are just too common right now. That's partially due to earlier patches allowing for such easy duplication that you could turn one lucky find into an entire personal armory. Add on top of that the recent onslaught of scripters giving themselves and other players AS50's, they are just everywhere. Having said that, the passage of AS50's between players is pretty common so finding one is not necessarily surprising anymore.

I'm just hoping that when the stand alone game is released, there are more measures to ensure that finding weapons as powerful as the AS50 are greater.

[louist 163]

The DMR isn't the only option for night time. Turn up the gamma, and turn off shadows and it's pretty damn bright out.

[Zeromentor 169]

I dislike the ease of using the .50cals ingame. Personally, I don't have much of a problem with the 1-hit kill. Infact, without body armor of some kind, most people would die to sucking chest wounds and the shock of being hit by a .308, so I kind of expect there to be 1-hitters.

Also, some snipers are very good shots. Others, not so much. I have no problem with them being ingame. The only problem is that the rarity of such weapons is thrown out the window due to dupers (which is most clans out there, and potentially anyone looting their camps). This makes the rare and powerful M107s and AS50s very often encountered among the sniper playstyle. Infact, I see more AS50s than CZ550, M24 and M107 combined, which shows the extremes of the problem, and have only found 1 AS50 at a crashsite.

But the limited ammunition (or the planned rarity of such) is suppose to balance it out. Sadly once again, duping causes these limits to disappear.

Not like I use long range rifles often. I perfer close-medium range weapons, like FN Fals, M14s, and AKMs. I hand scoped rifles to people who like to sit back and shot (or who might be more of a hinderance than assistance in a city or close-range environment). But I don't see a problem with them. I do, however, have a problem with the beta patch that nerfed many guns to the point of uselessness (see: 9mm ammunition).

[martin_sonderegger@bluewin.ch 141]

Any sniper rifle other than the DMR is useless at night because it's the only one that can be used with night vision

Exactly, that's why I'm not really terrified by people with AS50s. From a balancing stand point it's not that bad either, during the day the rarest weapons (the .50 cals) are the most powerful for long-range engagements, while another rare weapon (the svd) allows for more stealth. As soon as it's getting dark, the rather common DMR is suddenly more useful than any of the fancy sniper rifles, while the close to mid range weapons don't lose any effectiveness. And don't forget about the inventory space, which isn't endless, so if you are running around with an AS50 and another backup weapon for the night, you won't have that much space for meds, food and water.

The only "problem" is that the AS50s are rather common thanks to duping, but they're still useless in the dark.

[rollo23 57]

Hiding behind bushes wont do much as most snipers turn there vegitation and object detail to minimal so on your screen it will look like your hidden but on his screen you will be visible.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Luke688

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

Regarding the rarity of 50cal rifles, I've only ever found 1 M24 and 1 SVD camo.

The other day I found 4 crashed helicopters and 3 of them had M107s.

I've also shot 3 people with my SVD and all of them got up and ran away...

I know, I should've hit them in the head but at 600m away, no zoom and limited visibility, it is very hard to hit exact head shots.

[bazbake 456]

I've found two M107's from helicopter crashes. In fact, this is the only sniper rifle I have ever encountered in the game other than the CZ550.

This thing is too powerful. I hate using it. I wish I didn't even have it, but until I find a decent assault rifle I'm stuck with it (I only swapped out my AKM because the game glitched my only rounds of AKM ammo into oblivion...coincidentally, an hour later I found a magazine of AKM ammo...in a barn). Honestly, I would prefer to rely on my pistol (since the M107 takes up so much of my inventory I don't even want it anymore and won't mourn it when I eventually die) but they keep nerfing the pistol.

@Zeromentor

A sucking chestwound from ANY bullet will eventually kill you. It's why we have bleeding mechanics instead of straight-up damage. This is not a reason, this is an excuse. The damage tables for a .50 caliber rifle are just too damn powerful for this game compared to the other weapons and they seriously need to be nerfed.

Realistically, the .50 caliber weapon should be only a little more dangerous to an unarmored human target than a .45 caliber handgun (or even less dangerous considering how .45 caliber JHP handgun bullets perform) within the effective range of the handgun. Realistically, you should only be able to fire that .50 caliber weapon from a prone or supported crouch position. Realistically, the M107 should be a series of sacrifices you make for long-range, reliable stopping power.

Realistically, the .45 caliber weapon should do more damage than the .50 caliber weapon to people, animals, and zombies at a maximum 50-75 meters but the .50 caliber weapon should do more damage to vehicles and armored targets at a maximum 1.5km and go through one target and into the next and even through brick walls in a straight line if the first target is soft enough.

Unfortunately, what you instead have is a .45 caliber weapon that does less damage than just about every weapon and a .50 caliber weapon that does more damage than every other weapon when the real difference is how far the bullet goes and how deeply it penetrates. Guns statistics now go up in a straight line instead of you having trade damage for range and fire rate. So now there's always a better weapon and never a weapon that serves your needs.

(And lasting shockwave trauma from bullet velocity is a myth unsupported by ballistics science.)

Flattening bullet damage is one of the easiest ways to prolong the longevity of the game while maintaining levels of danger for all of the players. If you have two teams of mixed combat potentials, with only the shotguns and handguns having reliable stopping power + accuracy, the snipers will have dominance at range but can't be guaranteed anything more than suppression and the advantage of surprise. If stray 1911 and revolver bullets can fuck up someone's day, every action will have a high risk/reward no matter how well-geared you are.

Edited August 12, 2012 by BazBake

[Inception. 9443]

We have two AS50's and two M107's. I don't use either; I use the DMR, because I am the designated marksman. Of course, if we're up against a vehicle, I'll take out the .50.

[Buffjesus 357]

.50 cals are efficient

every other long range rifle are pieces of shit.

OH BOYZ I HIT HIM ONCE

LOG OUT

DMR KING OF THE ABORT FORCE

[Zeromentor 169]

I've found two M107's from helicopter crashes. In fact, this is the only sniper rifle I have ever encountered in the game other than the CZ550.

This thing is too powerful. I hate using it. I wish I didn't even have it, but until I find a decent assault rifle I'm stuck with it (I only swapped out my AKM because the game glitched my only rounds of AKM ammo into oblivion...coincidentally, an hour later I found a magazine of AKM ammo...in a barn). Honestly, I would prefer to rely on my pistol (since the M107 takes up so much of my inventory I don't even want it anymore and won't mourn it when I eventually die) but they keep nerfing the pistol.

@Zeromentor

A sucking chestwound from ANY bullet will eventually kill you. It's why we have bleeding mechanics instead of straight-up damage. This is not a reason, this is an excuse. The damage tables for a .50 caliber rifle are just too damn powerful for this game compared to the other weapons and they seriously need to be nerfed.

Realistically, the .50 caliber weapon should be only a little more dangerous to an unarmored human target than a .45 caliber handgun (or even less dangerous considering how .45 caliber JHP handgun bullets perform) within the effective range of the handgun. Realistically, you should only be able to fire that .50 caliber weapon from a prone or supported crouch position. Realistically, the M107 should be a series of sacrifices you make for long-range, reliable stopping power.

Realistically, the .45 caliber weapon should do more damage than the .50 caliber weapon to people, animals, and zombies at a maximum 50-75 meters but the .50 caliber weapon should do more damage to vehicles and armored targets at a maximum 1.5km and go through one target and into the next and even through brick walls in a straight line if the first target is soft enough.

Unfortunately, what you instead have is a .45 caliber weapon that does less damage than just about every weapon and a .50 caliber weapon that does more damage than every other weapon when the real difference is how far the bullet goes and how deeply it penetrates. Guns statistics now go up in a straight line instead of you having trade damage for range and fire rate. So now there's always a better weapon and never a weapon that serves your needs.

(And lasting shockwave trauma from bullet velocity is a myth unsupported by ballistics science.)

Flattening bullet damage is one of the easiest ways to prolong the longevity of the game while maintaining levels of danger for all of the players. If you have two teams of mixed combat potentials, with only the shotguns and handguns having reliable stopping power + accuracy, the snipers will have dominance at range but can't be guaranteed anything more than suppression and the advantage of surprise. If stray 1911 and revolver bullets can fuck up someone's day, every action will have a high risk/reward no matter how well-geared you are.

So you agree that many weapons are too weak, not that the .50 is too powerful. Because what I gathered from this post was, ".45s are not strong enough" which is so very true.

But many of the rounds in this game would really kill you in the first hit. If you managed by some great miracle to survive, then you'd be next to useless in a combat situation.

Sadly, BI nerfed the hell out of many rounds, and never once looked at the DayZ setup to provide us with more realistic damage. And Rocket has been unable to change the damage to something that makes sense.

I, for one, was deeply saddened when the .45 lost it's 3 hit potential, and now takes more than a full magazine to kill a player.

[redsh1rt 24]

None of the sniper rifles are hard to use. The problem is there is no downside to using a 50cal as opposed to the rifles with less stopping power. If 50cal sniper rifles are to be included in a standalone game, they'll need a drawback - like taking up more room or weighing more/making you move and fatigue faster.

[snipingnewbs 17]

50cals seem to take a lot of the skill out of sniping, you don't need to worry about hitting the upper body at all, as long as you hit somewhere, you're gauranteed the kill.

Did you know that the .50cal was designed to stop light armored vehicles and take down helicopters.

Did you know this is a military simulator?

Did you know that if you happened to get hit by a .50cal round it would tear you in two, or remove the limb it hit.

Its one hit kill for a reason. A 600+ grain round is enormous. But I guess you don't really know fuck all about fuck all except your own opinion. Now that you know plenty about.

[sostronk 334]

If hacking and duping decrease enough, its probably going to be quite difficult to get ammo for them. If not, they can always decrease the ammo drop chance some more. With an ammo shortage it will make people think twice about having them. Especially if its taking up alot of slots in their pack. Right now there is a massive loot inflation for these because of all the exploits/hacks.

[sostronk 334]

Did you know this is a military simulator?

I heard ARMA 2 was a military simulator. I heard DayZ was a Zombie apocalyse simulator.

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

Did you know that the .50cal was designed to stop light armored vehicles and take down helicopters.

Did you know this is a military simulator?

Did you know that if you happened to get hit by a .50cal round it would tear you in two, or remove the limb it hit.

Its one hit kill for a reason. A 600+ grain round is enormous. But I guess you don't really know fuck all about fuck all except your own opinion. Now that you know plenty about.

DayZ is not a military simulator, it's built off one though.

I do know how big a .50 cal round is and how devistating it is

I do know that they're also for taking out vehicles.

I am a firearms collector, not some kid who learns everything about firearms from COD and Battlefield.

I also realize this game is meant to be harsh, as stated in the original post.

I was not asking for it to be taken out either, merely trying to encourage a decent discussion between all of the hacking threads.

Now Mr.Smartypants, please read my original post before you get all cheeky again

PS, I gave you my beans so you see this post.

Edited August 12, 2012 by jdz

[JESUSFOOD 12]

I'm new and have yet to be sniped by anything other then a scoped assault rifle. However I think most people who shoot on site or horde rare weapons would decline drastically if duping was eliminated from the sound of things

[Wrath (DayZ) 140]

A .50 BMG round will make you explode where ever it hits you

[mikemyers (DayZ) 9]

well a good sniper should really be able to take on any sniper regardless of what they have.No point in having beast sniper is you dont know how to use it correctly.

[qazdar 1]

If the game had real physx ,you would have seen people losing their legs and hands adn better their heads that's the addition of .50 in real life on the other .338 and 7.62 rifles :D

[umishak 3]

I snipe a lot but M107 or AS50 is not my weapon of choice mainly due to nearly no noise (the latter one - don't take me wrong but when I want to shoot group of people I want them to scared shitless run to nearest cover) and disabling whole right portion of my vision because of these weapons is not worth it.

Mostly I take DMR but using bolt action system makes the game better, cause you are forced to plan your shots and cannot switch to adrenalin spree and waste precious ammo. Still shooting on more then 750m with DMR is like rolling a dice and wishing for 6.

Personally I like M24 cause of DMR mag = 4x M24 mag (ultimate ammo storage) and accuracy of this rifle.

IMO any .50 cal is perfect anti-sniper weapon just its for longer range than any other weapons and of course for shooting down Huey.

But still how many of you had to calm yourself down before placing first shot on multiple targets when you are alone in the tree line? :)

Anyway with spotter holding L85A2 AWS you are dead no matter what sniping system I can get my hands on. Its infamous accuracy makes him cry every time. In reality this weapon is supposted to be precise but in DayZ further than 500m it is just random.

I still wish for bolt action .50 cal sniping system in DayZ :) M95 (my favorite BF3 weapon)

Edited August 13, 2012 by mishak

[skillet (DayZ) 39]

I love the 50 cal snipers. I was able to kill 3 out of a group of 4 because of it tonight. The 4th guy dc'd. If I had a two shot rifle, I probably would have only gotten one or two before the others dc'd.

I'll revaluate the snipers when or if they fix the dc issue.