Project Reality Forums

So I would like to ask about one thing in the changelog.

Added minor explosion damage to helicopter .50 cal weapons

Firstly, how strong is the explosion damage and what is the blast radius? How many explosion from 50.cal is needed to kill person?

Secondly, how is this realistic? Do helicopters use some kinda "special round" that produces explosion damage or was this added purely for balance or some other reason like that co-pilot cant use his rifle?

I would like to have these questions answered. I personally like this change, but I want to know a bit more about it.

Out of interest which choppers have the .50's? The Cow, what else?

Kiowa, and possibly the Eurocopter EC635 (mec littlebird)

About those explosions I've tested the kiowa on local co-op, and it is much easier to kill single infantrymen on the ground. The blast radius seemed to be about 0,50-1 meter. The reason for that could be the fact, that a .50 cal bullet hitting a wall or similar material can produce some lethal fragments of it flying around, or sth like that. But I don't know how is this theory adequate to DEVs real intentions.

I believe it's added so there will be a bit more balance between the Blackhawk's miniguns and the Cow's .50s.

It just feels stupid if they added random explosion damage for balance reasons. Could DEV answer if this was added becoase of balance or becoase its realistic?

wait 50 cal bullets explode? since when? or do you mean the round fragments on impact?

It's a very small explosion radius that will do probably half the damage of the actual round hitting you. Me and a squadmate were under fire from an Mi-18/Cow, I was hit by the explosion damage while he was hit directly by a round. He was heavily injured and his field dressing didn't quite heal him up, but I was fine after applying a dressing.

Had they not been orbiting around like mad at the time they probably would have had a much easier time mowing us down than in previous versions.

Hitman.2.5 wrote:wait 50 cal bullets explode? since when? or do you mean the round fragments on impact?

Since the new patch. They do explosion damage now (it doesn't explode as if it were an incendiary round, the explosion isn't visible or audible, it just does damage to anyone that might be too close to the impact).

Guess you could realistically explain it with the risk of riochets, fragments and such. It's a gameplay decision though, most likely. Same as with the minigun, though; that also has splash damage; simply because simulating every single projectile would be either impossible or needlessly laggy.

why?

the real reason firing lots of bullets is good, you might not hit him, but it'll throw small rocks or fragments of the ground at dangerous speeds, which also is what contributes to the "suppression effect" depending on the surface or on how the round impacts it could also fragment at speed which may as well be a small explosion or send sharp pieces of cement at you.

I remember this was in previous versions of the mod, but got removed somewhere in0.8XX.If you guys remember flying the mec scout heli on kashan and how hard it was to kill infantry with it?Now it will be like before, easier to kill infantry with scout helos, but not so easy.I like this change.

I like it too but, but...random explosion damage?

well i love it to bombing explosive in games. really love it.

I'll be honest, it was a bit silly to be able to duck behind a 3" thick wall and be immune to the Cow's .50's.

Possibly this explosion damage will help simulate wall/building penetration [somewhat]. I.e. if it hits around the wall behind you, you will get hurt.

It's a gameplay issue, because moving objects firing bullets have trouble getting registered hits in the BF2 engine. When idle you'll have a 90% chance that your hit gets regged. Try this on a moving chopper and it drops dramatically.

BH's miniguns have splash damage to simulate the rain of bullets it produces. Now the OPFOR .50 choppers have splash damage as well as balance. Seems fair and it makes perfect sense.

kevin9 wrote:well i love it to bombing explosive in games. really love it.

sense, make none you

i think it's for simulating the 6.000 Rounds, that the actually Minigun shoots with. The engine is limited to much lower "Rounds pr minute" RPM

It wouldn't be far fetched to say the kinetic energy of the round impacting ground/walls/vehicles would send a decent bit of fragments a short distance, but enough to kill someone? I'm not so sure on that, we'll have to see what the dev's are up to on this one.

Do standard 50. cal rounds have a magnesium head? Because they do impact on a wall and explode behind it turning everybody on the other side into mush. I guess the Barret uses them, do normal belts get them too?

We made this change due to feedback from a r/l Kiowa pilot: https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f254-v ... tions.html

Cool. The fifty cals on choppers always felt pretty pointless.