HV ammo is just more vertical recoil in exchange for faster bullet speed. Doesn't do more or less damage at any range. Some people seem to like it for whatever reason. As far as I'm concerned it's just paying 100 certs to re-learn how far to lead targets and counter your vertical recoil.
HVA helps you be more effective at hitting targets at range - especially moving targets. If you can't understand how a higher velocity round would benefit you then don't buy it for your gun.
My question is this: How much of an increase to bullet Velocity do HV rounds give you? Does it more than make up for the loss in velocity by using a Suppressor? I intend to soon be using the T16 Rhino LMG, with a 3.4x red dot optic, handgrip, suppressor and possibly HV Ammo. Does it make the bullet actually shoot some sort of straight!?
Hi KnightCole, I play Vanu so I don't have bullet drop myself but your shots should have a flatter trajectory. The bullet speed is noticeable ( at least for my weapon - Flare LMG ) and so is the increased recoil but it's not a large amount. From my in game use experience my shots seem to retain their potency at longer distances and the increased bullet velocity helps me hit non stationary targets. I can snipe people with my LMG - obviously not as far as with a sniper rifle. I am not familiar with the suppressor mechanics but I would think that HVA would help nullify the suppressors reduction in effective range - that would be a good thing to test. Anyway, I enjoy being a marksman and engaging the enemy at farther distances so HVA is beneficial to me. So if you like that playstyle too it's worth looking into as an upgrade but it's not something I would consider a must have if you want to use your certs for something else.
I use both HV and suppressor as my general loadout - I do feel like it counters the suppressor about equally. Love it when flanking outdoors, takes them so long to react, and you really don't have to lead much. It's odd, but I'm even a fan of that loadout at short range. Soft point + suppressor requires you to lead a bit even at short range, and I have had that mess me up - whereas with HV + suppressor, I can just point straight at them all the time, and that makes me more consistent. I like that.
Yes, it does. It extends the range at which your shots hit their minimum damage value by ten meters. This has the net effect of increasing damage at all ranges between 10 meters and the max range of the weapon. Additionally, faster bullet speed makes it a lot easier to hit targets at range. The extra recoil means that you have to limit yourself to very short bursts or single shots, but if you are shooting at range, then you were going to be doing that anyway. It does make your weapon less effective at closer ranges. That's the trade-off.
Where. The. Hell can I find different types of ammo? I've been looking everywhere and I can't find this stuff in game.
Less effective? As in HV makes it do less damage? Hmm, I dont need to be doing less damage....if thats the case, I will just not use it haha.
Hm, i have another source here which is very often quoted in this forum about weapon stats. There the differences between High Velocity Ammo and Soft Point are a different compared to your source: "Soft Point Ammunition - SPA decreases bullet velocity by an unknown value, as well as extending the initial damage dropoff range for the weapon to 15m instead of 10m and reducing minimum damage by 1 tier (167 → 143, 143 → 125, 125 → 112, 112 → 100, 100 → 91)." "High Velocity Ammunition - HVA increases bullet velocity by an unknown value as well as increasing vertical recoil by 6%-12% and extends the range a weapon reaches it's minimum damage value at by 10m." ------------------------------------------------- So HVA is like the Heavy Barrel in BF3. It gives you a slower dmg reduction at range and a shorter bullet travel time for the price of more recoil and SPA gives you 5m more before the dmg dropoff starts for the price of a lower minimum damage. To be honest, this sounds more logical then your source. However i cannot prove which source is correct and who's not I hope this will help maybe...
I never tested this myself, but I started operating with this in mind, and began using Suppressor + High Velocity Ammo. I must say, it's really powerful. I can say that the projectile velocity is at least as much, if not more, with both Suppressor and HVA than it is without either. Side note, if the definition of Soft Point Ammunition is correct, than due to damage falloff, you actually do more damage at any range with SPA than without. That said, the damage increase is only 1-2 points, and there is no change in TTK for most weapons. The purpose of SPA is to reduce your TTK by 1 bullet in the 10-15m range, which for most weapons is the result.
I used HV ammo on the AC-X11 carbine thinking it helped..... took it off and it felt like the devs stealth BUFFED my gun. Don't ******* equip it ,,, it's worse then stock, how this "perk" made it out of Beta is beyond me.. Also it's been noted that this is basicly the heavy barrel perk in battlefield 3. It sucks cause it adds recoil without the ability to equip bipod which makes it a laser beam in that game.... Your better off hitting 3 rounds that do less per shot but more total at medium range vs hitting 1-2 rounds that do more but less total damage. In battlefield I run support with the lA86A2 and I never use heavy barrel,,, equip flash suppressor(less recoil) or extended mag (more rounds with the possibility of hitting) I really wish the devs would stop copying and pasting BF3 game mechanics......it's just fail everytime..
If I understand the formula correctly, HV Ammo will increase damage if it's between the min/max damage range but only by a few points.
HV ammo increases my weapons kick so I can't reliably hit people at range with it. Soft-point decreases my shot velocity so I have to lead in close combat. I find alternative ammo types self-defeating to be honest.
A Compensator will adjust for the HV ammo's added recoil very nicely. What I'm not sure of is whether it's worth it to you to sink 100 certs into the Compensator for the sole purpose of mitigating the HV ammo recoil. RE: If the long-range damage fall-off is more beneficial than using stock ammo with a Flash Suppressor. Regardless, I enjoy using the AMR-66 (TR Battle Rifle) as HA, and I have it equipped with HV ammo, Flash Suppressor and either the 3.4x or 6x scope. It's especially effective at counter-sniping and culling respawns at Sunderers, and as it's semi-auto, the recoil is very manageable. (The Forward Grip is rather useless for this gun, as its recoil is almost perfectly vertical.)
It really is your choice, whatever fits your play style. If you find yourself more often times than not in close range combat with enemies, equip soft point for that added boost to your firepower. If you're a long range fighter and prefer to pick off enemy units, equip high velocity.
Imagine the ideal projectile weapon: it has a projectile that flies in a straight line and impacts the target almost instantaneously. High Velocity Ammunition helps your weapon be more like the ideal weapon. It's down side is that it increases recoil, so it simply comes down to how good you are at dealing with recoil. If you are good at dealing with recoil, then HVA will always be an asset, even at close ranges, because it reduces the chance that you will miss your target because they are strafing, ducking behind cover, or being blocked by another player or vehicle. Soft Point Ammunition makes your weapon less like the ideal weapon, however it's benefit is that it makes your shots hit harder in the close-mid range area. Personally, I could care less about a little bonus damage if I'm not hitting the target at all because there's a huge lag between when I squeeze my trigger and the shot impacts the target. As a result I've found SPA to be almost worthless, especially if you try to use a Suppressor with it because that will make your rounds travel so slowly that you have to lead almost every target you fight, even at close range. Since you might be fighting many targets at different ranges simultaneously, this lag time means you have to adjust to hit every target, which consumes even more of your time and ammunition. As always, personal tastes may vary, so just give each a try and see what you like best. Personally, I find HVA to be universally good (especially in the aforementioned HVA + Suppressor combo), and SPA to be universally bad (with or without a Suppressor).
Soft point ammo is the flipside of your example. For people who can handle bullet drop, it's fantastic. I've countersniped infiltrators with the MSW-R, simply because the Soft Point Ammo doesn't reduce your ACCURACY, it just makes the bullet slower. If you're good enough to counteract this, it's not an issue.
