I keep wanting to use bolt action snipers, but I just can't find a situation where semis aren't better. At close range you can spam it to kill someone without having to switch to pistol, at long range you don't have to worry so much about shots missing because people spaz about left and right constantly, and in between it's a good combination of quick HS kills and faster body shots for difficult targets. Not to mention at REALLY long ranges people don't even render.
Well, the point of bolt actions is getting headshots or go home. But I agree that for infiltrating purposes, semis are more suitable.
I guess what I'm questioning is whether it's actually advantageous at any point to be dedicated to headshots. It's not like people have momentum or anything, they can literally change direction on the spot in the time it takes a bullet to arrive.
Oh, and another thing: are the faster firing bolt action rifles some kind of joke by the devs? What's the point in having a faster refire time when all guns are arbitrarily limited by the ****** 'hold breath' mechanic? I can't even compensate for the movement in the scope because the bullet doesn't really go where it's aimed.
I dunno, haven't had a problem with BARs. Though, to be honest, I probably haven't given semis a fair try either. 3 bodyshot kill, isn't it? As I see it, semis would be much better against moving mid-range enemies with no cover, and BARs are better against people who are not moving or obviously moving in a straight line/towards something. Since you can 1 shot kill with BARs, they're very effective against people who foolishly decide to peek out of cover. I had a real problem when I tried them in Beta, but then again i was still getting accustomed to how guns behaved overall in PS2. (Muscle memory at that time was attuned to how guns worked in Blacklight: Retribution.) I dunno, if I have a spare 100 certs I'll buy the Gauss SPR.
I find with the semis at longer ranges I can get off 3 successive shots in one 'breath' and kill a stationary target anyway.
Popping caps at the crown gives me over 300 certs/hr if the fighting is intense. Are you kidding? Bolt action all the way!
1 headshot to kill is the point - bolt actions suit infiltrator's hit-and-fade style very well. Decloak, fire, cloak. When I find a good spot I can stay there for quite a while by cloaking before & after firing. Few things annoy me more than spending minutes to find a good spot, staying there for a good 15 shots undetected, then looking on helplessly as a "friendly" inf rolls up and starts blazing away with his semi-auto, giving away my position in 10 seconds flat :| Semi-autos are great for moving targets and softening up or finishing off targets that are also taking automatic fire from your allies, but overall I prefer the bolt action.
the problem with the bolt action rifles is the steady increase of nanoweave players which makes it f***** hard to kill at range even with the longshot. Headshots are no longer one hit kills so your forced to either hit him again or get closer to overcome the minimum damage range. Bolts are getting less usefull the more people advance which makes them as long range weapons ridiculously futile. Semi-autos are by far the better choice in cqc unless of course you got the aim to pull off a headshot.
I find that in a populated fight, sitting back in stealth with a bolt action and waiting for an enemy infiltrator to appear is its saving grace ...they aint moving and nanoweave (not sure about on the highest rank, but I doubt it) isn't gona save a squishy infiltrator. Playing smart with positioning, cloaking and a bolt action is a pretty good counter to enemy snipers in my opinion.
I'll take my LA80 over any of those ****** semi autos any day. The only time I switch from my rifle is when I go close quarters, then I switch to the stalker. Semi auto rifles suck, they can't fire as far, they don't have the damage and the bullet drop is horrendous.
I only use bolt-action because one headshot kills. If you shoot someone in the head and kill them they won't know where you are. If it takes two shots they have time to look around and see the tracer to find your position. Then they can buy a tank and come kill you after they respawn.
What's the range difference? Never had issues with the drop so far, and generally speaking three taps at range will work anyway. People might move before the first bullet hits (which goes for both semi and bolt), but almost never between the 1st and 3rd. I don't think I've actually had it happen, although sometimes they die before the 3rd either because they were wounded or someone else hit them.
I've use bolt-action only and I think I've been killed by a semi-auto sniper less than 5 times. In a sniper fight, they're just out matched. If I get hit once or twice I almost always still get away, wait for shields to recharge, heal if I need to, then reengage. If I hit them, they're dead. As for long-range sniping, using a semi-auto rifle is unless, you might as well just throw rocks at them. I've hit a heavy 10+ times and still not gotten a kill. I've ran out of bullets without getting a kill at long range, plus bullet drop is insane. Semi-auto are only useful at close or mid-close range and since I live at medium to long range, semi's are never even a consideration to me after trying them early on.
Oh yeah dude. Use the trial time for the LA80 (go into the weapons list and at the bottom click on "Trial") and see the pure awesomeness that is the LA80.
Bolt drivers are all about the headshots. They get even better when you get skilled enough to hit moving targets. Makes it much easier to pick off people when you land a bodyshot instead of a headshot. As for effective range.. I don't think there is a difference but that you have to land three very long ranged shots at extreme ranges(two if you manage to get a headshot). I tend to snipe from the 350m+ ranges when the render distance allows.
Bolt and semi auto comes more down to preference, besides that semi is better at closer ranges while bolt is better at more extreme long ranges. I have always preferred more precision sniping in games, always preferred bolt actions cause of that. I prefer taking a little longer to take a shot but making that 1 shot a kill. I also like to be far from the battle as well so nobody sees me.
Semi-autos are great at medium range and you can easily land the follow up shots on moving targets. Useless at longer ranges, and in my experience it is almost stupid how much easier it is to counter snipe someone using a semi-auto. The volume of shots it has to put down range to get a kill gives it away. You can't kill a target instantly, which means before they die they are getting hit indicators telling them a direction. You can find a nice spot with a bolt action and hang out there all day if you are sure to not miss a headshot and give them a hit indicator.
In my experience, BARs are great on Esamir against Infantry pushes in the open. There's usually Infils and combat medics going for revives on the edge of a hill everywhere, and HA's aiming for that tank driving by down the road.. Just seems that despite the many moving targets, there are PLENTY of guys standing still at the same time. And with the longer-range open combat scenarios on Esamir, the XM-98 has treated me well. However, on Indar and Amerish I rarely find these types of encounters.. So I just don't use Infil for much aside from hacking a vehicle terminal to spawn a Sundy inside an enemy Tech Plant or turn their turrets against them. Occasionally even pushing up to a well-defended wall.. But honestly my medic with the NS-11 gets FAR more kills during wall pushes.
A relevant point mentioned in passing by some others: Headshots, and thus bolt-actions, do not make it obvious where you were being shot from. If I rapid-fire someone to death with a semi-auto, even if I kill 'em fast, they will get enough hit markers to get a general idea about where I killed them from, and they will quite possibly be back for me, or send their friends after me. Headshot kill, you're slumping to the ground before you can know where you were killed from. Combine with suppressor and you can camp in some pretty nice spots.
