Bullet Drop Formula

Discussion in 'Infiltrator' started by ImmortalPancake, Sep 30, 2015.

  1. ImmortalPancake

    Hey, so I play NC and I LOVE extreme long range sniping. I am pretty good at it but there are a few things that are a pain that probably wont get changed but still thought I would mention them. First off I would love to see a range finder attachment for the rail slot. At the moment the only way to really gauge range is by putting a waypoint at your target but this is a giant pain to do since you have to move the waypoint every time you move to your next target. It would work the same as in Battlefield and show the distance of whatever is in your cross hairs. For those of you who disagree with this its not like you can zero in the scope like in BF so you will still have to manually compensate for drop.
    Just thought I would mention that but here is what I am really wondering about. I am looking for a formula for bullet drop on the sniper rifles and the different scopes for them like the EM4 with the 12x will drop 1 mil-dot every 300m or something like that. Even if there is nothing like this I would like something that tells the drop of each gun like 1m drop every 300m or something like that and then you base the shot on that. If there is something like this does anyone know the size of players so that you base the drop on the height of the target. I know I am doing a pretty bad job of explaining this but hope you guys still understand what im getting at. Any info you guys have would be great.

    P.S. Anyone know what exactly you have to do to get marksman kills? It says kill players at a range of 70+ meters but I have killed players at over 100m and not gotten one.
  2. Campagne

    I'm afraid I can't help you with bullet drop, as I just go by the "feel" of the rifle, if that makes any sense.

    I can however, tell you that Marksman service ribbons are earned by getting 5 kills at 70m+. Just keep making those long shots and you'll get one soon!
  3. ImmortalPancake

    OK thanks. I did not know that it was every 5 kills. I thought maybe the waypoint distance wasnt accurate or something so only some of the kills were registering.
    It sucks that there is no real way to calculate drop so you just have to guess it. Considering that modern snipers can do that I think its kind of stupid that you cant so that in the future. I think you should be able to calculate drop because it would make the game more realistic as well as make sniping more tactical.
    • Up x 1
  4. CNR4806

    According to past dev notes, drop is dependent on both velocity and gravity (example: look at the proposed tank gun change nerfs. It didn't happen at the end (thankfully), but this came directly from the dev team).

    It is potentially insanely tedious to record all information regarding bullet drop with so many variables (scope, range, bullet velocity, potential difference of bullet gravity between guns). Not saying it's impossible, just labor-intensive, and all for little gain unless a range-finder is actually added to the game.
  5. cobaltlightning

    Imma have to parrot Campagne, with all the feels.
    [IMG]
    Sorry.


    But the drop is only one calculation out of 3, except for the VS. Their big-*** bolt action is the Paralax, and between all 3 big bolt actions (Longshot for NC and RAMS .50 for the TR) At extreme distances I don't really feel so much a difference between shot fired and bullet missing the target completely. I am a terrible sniper, get backstabbed by spies all the- wait, wrong game.

    I would recommend different distances in the VR with the various targets, and see how much you need to adjust your aim for that as well as the elevation.


    As for the rangefinder, there is an implant called 'Rangefinder' which does exactly what you want. It only goes out to 500 meters, but beyond that you won't see infantry anyway.
  6. MisterSlim


    Some of the other posts here covered the rest of your post, so I'll just comment on this section here. Firstly, let me start by saying that I would LOVE to see a little (a lot) more immersion when it comes to sniping.

    However, the real-world difficulty of range and drop estimation (without a laser rangefinder) is pretty annoying. It still requires a lot of "Eyeballing", as you have to know the height of your target, as well as exactly how many mils it takes up, just to know how far away your target is. Being off by .1 mils sounds like no big deal, but at 1km, you're missing big a pretty big area. In terms of drop calculation, it took me around 4-5 hours to calculate the amount of drop (yay for ballistic charting!) my round of choice has at 100yd increments out to 1800yds (and this was for ONE cartridge type, out of my specific rifle, at my typical elevation, at my , and at my typical barometric pressure/ambient temperature xD).

    Again, don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to see more immersion when it comes to in-game sniping. I think it should to be revamped a bit to be more teamwork and communication oriented, and be seen by the community as an offensive-support class. But, I don't think the community would be into a super-immersive long-range shooting experience xD

    -Stay Frosty
  7. ImmortalPancake

    Thanks for the info, I took a few months off from the game because life got in the way and I was playing other games with friends in the spare time I did have and I do not believe this was added to the game before that. I will have to start grinding implants and hope I unlock it. Even so it would also be nice for this to be an attachment because now you have to chose between range finder and hold breath which I really like for sniping.
  8. ImmortalPancake

    Good to see someone with the same opinion. I think BF 3 and 4 did an amazing job with sniping mechanics and would love to see something similar to that in terms of detail. Also if this was done I think it would actually reduce the number of hardcore snipers because it would take more work to master and cert into but also really pay off once learned. As for the offensive-support that is exactly what I want to see. It would make sniping more strategic and more importantly make it part of squad play instead of something you just do on your own.

    Another thing I came up with is adding something for a spotter. It would go in the recon slot and be kinda like the engineer turret but much smaller and less flashy like a pair of binoculars on a tripod or something. The sniper would deploy it and then a squad mate would use it instead of the sniper to spot and call out targets. Players spotted with this wool would stay spotted for longer than normal and the person using this would get a kill assist for every kill that the sniper who placed this tool gets on an enemy spotted with it. This wool would also display range and have a better zoom like 16x or something. It would also be upgraded so you could toggle night vision and thermal. This would make sniping more realistic and make it much more team oriented.
  9. jmdafk

    I agree with this stuff.
    Im not a sniper (and a poor shot) but find it stupidly easy to rack up kills playing as one. Its just far to easy.
    Given there are some very good and very dedicated snipers imo it would make sense to change it to appeal to these guys and get rid of the cowardly players and the kd padders like myself who use the class as a way to get easy kills.
  10. MisterSlim

    I've always loved the idea of a spotter system. I find it so odd that it's almost never included in games, since it's such a big part of precision shooting. I've never even attempted a 1000yd shot alone (also never attempted one whilst kneeling or standing up, but as far as in-game goes, I can let this slide, since I've never been invisible whilst doing it either xD), and I don't know very many people that have. It's true that spotting isn't as glamorous as shooting, but it's still super difficult, and absolutely vital. The equipment is generally hard to use (my personal spotting scope is a 20x-60x variable zoom, so you can imaging how hard it is to track the trail of distorted vapor being left by an object .284 inches in diameter, moving three times faster than sound, at 1000+yds away using that tiny FOV xD), and it takes an ENORMOUS amount of focus and practice.

    -Stay Frosty
  11. ahandyman

    May be a little late. And I feel like all of my posts pretty much repeat the same info. But here goes.
    I love long range sniping, like you, and this is the path I went down.
    Your bullet speed is defined and known, and can be seen in game. Calculating how long it takes for a bullet to reach a target is as simple as distance divided by speed.
    We can then look at the PS2 Weapon Data Sheet, and see that the gravity value for sniper rifle projectiles is 7.5m/s^2.
    After spending some time in VR training, we can find the zeros for each tier of rifle, and find the zeros for these rifles are set at approximately ~55m for bottom tier rifles, ~60m for medium tier, and ~65m for top tier (which, funnily enough, is at .1seconds of travel time).
    And then you can math it up, and figure out exact bullet drop, etc.
    OR, you can just look at the following spreadsheet and see for yourself. Drop is in meters, not mildots.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iHYkidbkYRIpIK8oTiffImfk4_YVOLr7cZ5xXVt1BSM/edit?usp=sharing

    I did all this before they messed with the render ranges. Letting infantry render past 300m has made a world of difference for me and opened up all new sniping lanes and opportunities.

    EDIT: Should also mention there's a rangefinder implant. Forget what tier, tho. =]

    EDIT2: Planetmans are generally regarded as 2m in height.
  12. Kcalehc

    For the drop, use the rangefinder implant (or just use your personal waypoint) in the VR to test the drop at certain ranges and learn (or write down) how many mil dots on your favorite scope are required for each range increment. Then you can adjust in the game for height differences as you go - takes a little while to get it down, but it'll become second nature once you snipe enough.

    Marksman ribbons (/kills for) can also be earned with mines, so long as you're far enough away when it kills someone, it counts.