Project Reality Forums

So after returning to find 1.0 (and being pleasantly surprised with most of the changes) I have noticed one thing that irks me a little.

Sniper rifles seem to have lost their one hit kill capability. Unless I manage to luck up with a head shot, it takes me at minimum two hits to drop a target from a conventional faction (soldiers with body armor). Now while I can understand trying to increase the survivability of conventional soldiers versus each other, this change has somewhat taken a crucial advantage away from snipers. Being able to drop your target in one shot has both a psychological effect on the enemy and a tactical benefit of putting them in disarray for an effective response to engaging you.

For example, I come across an enemy squad walking along. I identify the medic, line up my shot and fire. He gets tagged, and naturally they sprint for cover. While they're behind cover, he's getting patched up and one or two of their squad is peaking around to scout for me. Had I been able to drop him on that shot, they would instead be hastily trying to recover their downed man, which would lure them into position for a friendly squad to advance on them, or give me more ability to pick off other members of their squad.

The tests I've done with conventional forces show the first shot, a center mass shot for average circumstances, will put the soldier to black and white. So while you may momentarily remove him from play, he is still capable of being of use while he's alive.

I find myself leaning towards the marksman kit instead of the sniper kit. In the same time it takes me to put two accurate shots on a target with my sniper rifle, I can put 3-4 on target with my marksman rifle and the target suffer the same fate. And of course the overall advantage of semi auto fire coupled with higher magazine capacity just makes it all the more appealing, especially when the marksman rifle can achieve the same effective range as a sniper rifle.

I would like to hopefully see the return of the feared "one shot, one kill" sniper.

Didn't noticed that. Maybe you were playing as a MEC sniper?

Doesn't seem to be rifle specific, seems to be an issue with any sniper rifle. Tried it with the M40A3, m24, SV98, etc. All of them seem to require two center-mass shots to drop a target that has body armor, where-as last I played back in .97 it took one.

the only sniper rifle I havent manage to get 1 shot kills with is the useless mec sniper rifle.

other then that rest seems fine.

Sniper's primary role should be scouting and relaying enemy troop movements, or used to take out high value targets such as officers, HAT/AA and mortar/MG/AA emplacements. If there is indeed a change in killing power I must say I agree with it, as it takes away the focus on getting a good K/D and adds more to proper recon and teamwork.

[quote=""'Xander[nl"];1955251']Sniper's primary role should be scouting and relaying enemy troop movements, or used to take out high value targets such as officers, HAT/AA and mortar/MG/AA emplacements. If there is indeed a change in killing power I must say I agree with it, as it takes away the focus on getting a good K/D and adds more to proper recon and teamwork.[/quote]
Oh, I'm well aware of the intended role of the sniper, it's probably my favorite role to fill. However in the instances I do come across said HVTs, I prefer the ability to drop them on that first hit and throw the enemy into disarray trying to get that person up off the ground.


[quote="ExeTick""]the only sniper rifle I havent manage to get 1 shot kills with is the useless mec sniper rifle.

other then that rest seems fine.[/quote]

A friend and I were testing this last night after I played around in co-op and deployment and noticed I wasn't dropping enemies with one shot. Not one time did I have an enemy of conventional forces instantly drop after being struck center mass with several different factions' sniper rifle.

Both of us would be at the black and white phase after being struck (we did our tests standing still, center mass shots), and it was generally taking 15 seconds to bleed out without any medical attention (use of a patch or otherwise). Needless to say unless you manage to find that one unfortunate SOB that's already used his and got seperated from his squad, you're not going to be dropping anyone

Qside wrote:Shoot them in the legs or head to get a guaranteed "OHK".

Easier said than done with a target moving perpendicular to you. Especially considering how whacky the hit boxes can be at times. Common sense dictates aiming center mass as it is the largest area, giving you the greatest chance of landing a hit.

Edit: After a new round of testing, I've found leg shots do not grant one hit kills.

So after some more testing, I've found that one sniper rifle still maintains the ability to neutralize a perfectly healthy enemy in one shot:

The L115A3

Here's what I've compiled thus far in tests, all data below is vs targets from conventional factions.

M24 - 2 shots - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head
M40A3 - 2 shots - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head
SV98 - 2 shots - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head
L115A3 - 1 shot - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head
FR-F2 - 2 shots - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head
M1891 - 2 shots - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head
SMLE - 2 shots - center mass, legs; 1 shot - head

So the rumors that PR only exists for the British military propaganda were true

You forgot the canadian and german rifles which one shot to the chest as well. In 0.98/7 the only rifles that one shotted with a chest hit were the brit, canadian and german rifles, the exact same ones. Its always been like that, and 7.62x51 or other similar size calibres haven't one shotted to the chest before. Leg shots from all sniper rifles definitely do one shot, all the time, unless the hit doesn't register.

Chris is right. It's been that way forever.

I didn't get around to testing the canadian and german rifles quite yet, but I'll be doing that shortly.

As for the leg shots, the hits registered and the victim was simply put into a black and white state, same as a center-mass shot. Tried lower leg, thigh, even knee caps. All the same result.

Back in .97, most sniper rifles were producing consistant one hit kills from center mass, at least for me. Granted every now and then I'd have some hit fail to register, or perhaps a freak circumstance only glance the target. Could get OHKs with the M40 on Muttrah, the SMLE on Ramiel, the M24 on Kashan, the SV98 on Beirut, etc. All instances with the rifles being utilized against a conventional faction.

Update:

Tested the G22 (German Sniper Rifle), C14 Timberwolf and the SSQP1.

G22 - 1 shot torso, legs, and head

C14 Timberwolf - 1 shot torso, legs, and head

SSQP1 - 2 shots torso, legs; 1 shot head

RealKail wrote:I didn't get around to testing the canadian and german rifles quite yet, but I'll be doing that shortly.

As for the leg shots, the hits registered and the victim was simply put into a black and white state, same as a center-mass shot. Tried lower leg, thigh, even knee caps. All the same result.

Back in .97, most sniper rifles were producing consistant one hit kills from center mass, at least for me. Granted every now and then I'd have some hit fail to register, or perhaps a freak circumstance only glance the target. Could get OHKs with the M40 on Muttrah, the SMLE on Ramiel, the M24 on Kashan, the SV98 on Beirut, etc. All instances with the rifles being utilized against a conventional faction.

They were always near fatal, never one shot (except for the exceptions). Getting shot in the chest would black&white you but not instantly kill you, despite the fact that the target usually bleeds out in the following second or two

I wish people would just say 'torso' instead of 'center mass'. This is a game.

T.A.Sharps wrote:Sorry dude.
This is completely false, a fantasy of people who don't like Snipers in PR anyway.

scouting and relaying enemy troop movements
Ineffective since the Sniper has no way of easily communicating directly to the Team as a whole.

Also, if a Sniper can see the bad guys, he should be shooting bad guys, not just spectating.

used to take out high value targets
There are no high value targets.

There is only about 50 players you would be fighting... nothing would be helped by taking out an officer or HAT kit while letting a whole squad move on to the flag, or against your teammates.

I agree. People act like if you take the sniper kit that you better not use it. Other than vehicles, the sniper rifle is one of the best weapons to engage enemies who set up a defense in a building or ridge line.

T.A.Sharps wrote:Kevlar can stop a .30 cal round.

If you shoot 'em in the chest, where the kevlar is, it is accurate that is doesn't kill them with one shot. There really should be no damage at all in PR if you shoot someone in the kevlar, the suppression effect would be all.

I'm by no means a ballistics expert but to my knowledge, while body armour can save a life in r/l in most cases, being hit in your body armour will normally take the solider out of combat as they will still be mortally wounded by the shock of the bullet which will cause quite a bit of internal damage from the blunt trauma.

The big problem is we cant realistically represent this ingame in any way and that's before you even take into account gameplay dynamics too.

[R-DEV]Rhino wrote:I'm by no means a ballistics expert but to my knowledge, while body armour can save a life in r/l in most cases, being hit in your body armour will normally take the solider out of combat as they will still be mortally wounded by the shock of the bullet which will cause quite a bit of internal damage from the blunt trauma.

The big problem is we cant realistically represent this ingame in any way and that's before you even take into account gameplay dynamics too.

It varies. It can range from doing nothing to the equivalent of somebody smashing your chest in with a hammer.

Also, a 7.62 round can punch through body armor depending on the range.

[R-DEV]Rhino wrote:being hit in your body armour will normally take the solider out of combat as they will still be mortally wounded by the shock of the bullet which will cause quite a bit of internal damage from the blunt trauma.

Modern Kevlar + ESAPI plates shrug off .30 cal rounds like they're made out of sugar.

And this was some old as fuck body armor.