Explanation of weapon stats

[Baxter]

So, Despite having played through and finished both campaigns of the Original silent storm, it's now, when I'm about to start Sentinels that I'd like to know a bit more about how the different stats work, and how the final damage of a weapon is calculated. Stuff like name, range, durability, and clip size are self-explanatory, what I'd like to know is what handling does, and how the weapon's ammo type and damage interact

 

Handling goes from easy to hard but I don't know what it actually affects, is it the AP cost for aiming a weapon? If I've got two weapons with similar stats but different handling, which one should I choose?

 

Damage also confuses me a bit because I know enough about weapons to get me in trouble. Sometimes the damage a weapon does doesn't seem in line with the ammunition a weapon is using, or a weapons has a higher AP cost for firing them. How does the type of ammunition used affect a weapons damage? The TT 1933 does 13-21 damage according to the gun, but its default ammo says 28 damage, and the JHP ammo says 36, so how does the 13-21 and the 28 or 36 combine to decide total damage dealt? A british luger does 15-23, but the british .38 round says 22 damage, which weapon will do more damage to enemies?

 

I'm trying to figure it out mainly due to the face that sentinels has a barter system for weapons (which I'm actually kind of excited about), and I don't wanna handicap myself by investing in poor weapons early on.

[Okim]

Hi.

 

Handling depends on weapons mass as far as i noticed. Mass is a hidden value.

 

The easier it is to handle a gun - the lower AP it needs to raise the weapon. So for example an 'easy' hadling pistol take additional 1-2 AP to make the very first shot that you do after movement or any other non-weapons-related action. A 'hard' handling MG will take up to 10 AP to raise in addition to firing costs. These weapons require you to carefully plan where you wish to put your soldier armed with it as mobility for him is a bad idea.

 

Weapon damage is a tricky one. There are 2 damage values used by the weapon - its min and max possible damage. These values highly depend on ammo type which has its own damage value (that is actually an average between its own min/max value). It is a bit confusing, but easily measured.

 

The value that you see in ammo description is a core one. Let`s take your TT example. The default ammo for it has its damage value of 28 points. The pistol shows 13-21 damage range which means that it deals 46-75% of its ammo damage value. So, if you load it with JHP ammo with its 36 base damage - you`ll get 16-27 damage range for you pistol (but with no penetration which is another confusing part of weapon`s stats).

 

To sum up - the values that are shown in weapon`s description are true for default ammo. If loaded with JHP ammo the damage in any case will be higher.

[Okim]

Penetration is something that i can`t figure out right now, but according to my modding experiments i can say for sure that higher penetration is much better than lower one

 

If penetration is high enough (30-50) the weapon can damage PKs or even deal damage directly to its operator. It also seems to be dependent on minimal damage value of the gun.

 

I believe that penetration is also used to overcome body armours, but i have no confirmation on that.

 

P.S.: all JHP ammos in the game have almost 0 penetration value (which is not shown anywhere, btw).

[Baxter]

Oh, I didn't actually notice that changing ammo types changed the weapon base damage. That was stupid. At least that makes it easy to compare stuff now. Penetration I understood though, even though there's not really a table of how much penetration does what.

 

Is accuracy also a hidden stat? Or is every weapon equally accurate?

 

Also, what's the maximum weapon familiarity you can get? Does it provide a measurable effect, or is it unknown to what degree it affects weapons?

 

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to say thank you as well!

[Okim]

Accuracy depends on range. There are two values for each weapon - min and max range. What you see in weapon description is the maximum range.

 

Minimum range is the one where you get 50% chances to hit with a snap shot (as fas as i noticed). Minimum is usually 10-15 points less than max (rifles get better minimal while smg and mgs - lower minimal).

 

I`m not sure, but familiarity seems to be a boost to the shooting skill when you use that particular weapon. I don`t know what the max is, but i assume that its 10.

 

What does penetration i can only assume. BTW, there is a manual for the game lying in its core folder. Some data might be found there.

[Ecthel013]

Penetration also affects the chance of the shot going through enemies and environmental objects like walls (different materials have different strengths), if I'm not mistaken.

[Ichthyic]

Hi.

 

Handling depends on weapons mass as far as i noticed. Mass is a hidden value.

 

The easier it is to handle a gun - the lower AP it needs to raise the weapon. So for example an 'easy' hadling pistol take additional 1-2 AP to make the very first shot that you do after movement or any other non-weapons-related action. A 'hard' handling MG will take up to 10 AP to raise in addition to firing costs. These weapons require you to carefully plan where you wish to put your soldier armed with it as mobility for him is a bad idea.

 

 

no, it's not mass. this is entirely wrong. Through much experimentation while buffing evade by making my characters bleed (yes, I am a sadist), I have discovered what it relates to is the absolute skill level required to even use the weapon. "Hard" to use weapons require a much higher shooting skill to use than "easy" weapons.

 

that's it. that's all there is to it. The reason nobody usually notices this, is because by the time you find decent weapons that are hard to use, your shooting skill likely is already well high enough to use them. You will only notice this if you are grievously wounded, and your shooting skill is down in the toilet. all of a sudden, you can't use your hard to use gun any more, no matter how familiar you are with it. heal yourself up with even just a basic adhesive plaster, and presto... you can use your gun again. Tested this over and over again.

 

this works the same in all 3 silent storm games, btw, but the only place it is really noticeable is in the 3rd one. all of the skills and stats appear exaggerated to make the game a bit tougher in that one.

 

specific example: silenced mauser. it's a "hard" handling weapon. turns out, you need at least 20 shooting skill to use it. if your shoot skill falls below this, you simply can't use it at all. Now... how many times has your shooting skill in any of the 3 games fallen below 20?

 

yeah.

 

so, bottom line? handling is really a non-issue. ignore it entirely.

[Ichthyic]

Accuracy depends on range. There are two values for each weapon - min and max range. What you see in weapon description is the maximum range.

 

Minimum range is the one where you get 50% chances to hit with a snap shot (as fas as i noticed). Minimum is usually 10-15 points less than max (rifles get better minimal while smg and mgs - lower minimal).

 

I`m not sure, but familiarity seems to be a boost to the shooting skill when you use that particular weapon. I don`t know what the max is, but i assume that its 10.

 

What does penetration i can only assume. BTW, there is a manual for the game lying in its core folder. Some data might be found there.

 

yes, familiarity directly adds to the percent chance to hit with the weapon. some weapons max at 10, others at 20. usually the ones that max at 20 are rifles, but not always. almost all pistols seem to max at 10.

 

everything in the game has an armor value, including destructable objects. the more penetration your weapon has, the more of the damage will bypass the armor value of the object/person. shoot JHP ammo at a building... it takes forever to do damage. shoot an mg42 at the same building with over 40 penetration.... the bullets both damage the walls and pass through them more than half the time. Likewise, body armor (the wearable kind).... it works great if for some odd reason, you are being shot at only by low level pistols with 5 or less penetration. also works great to limit bleeding damage, which is a bug of course. However, get something with some penetration on it (over 10 for light armor, 20 for heavy), or get a critical hit, and it's like it isn't even there.

 

in Hammer and Sickle, body armor is very heavy (realistically so!), and weight limits you ap drastically if you go over your weight limit. the ONLY time I have ever had body armor save anyone, is when they get hit for low health, and it prevented them from bleeding to death (actually kept "evading" the bleed!). so... really not thinking even heavy armor has much value by the time you find it, considering the weight. will likely protect you better from grenade shrapnel than it will from weapons fire, so if you plan to wade your grenadier through a minefield, or expect they will be getting hit by light grenades... by all means, wear armor. Otherwise, I can think of a few items that weigh a similar amount that actually might be more useful.