Having a solid amount of firepower at your disposal is all well and good – but landing it on your target is what is going to convert it into damage dealt.
So let us take a closer look at aiming your weapon, and go over a few considerations that may improve your aim.
Get Into Your Opponent’s Head and Lead Your Shots
Depending on the nature of player you encounter, they will be easier or harder to shoot at.
An AI might stop some distance away from you and open fire. Players might do this too, but they are more likely to be moving while doing so.
There are two main ways that a player would be moving in relation to you.
Longitudinal movement – towards or away from you.
This kind of movement impacts the distance between you and your opponent. This therefore also impacts how long it takes projectiles fired to reach them.
Lateral movement – to one side or the other of you.
This kind of movement does not necessarily change distance but does change the orientation of the opponent in relation to yourself. Such movement are lateral to the direction of projectiles fired, and so aiming at the target directly runs the risk of missing.
Rather than aiming directly at your target instead aim at where you think your target will be when your projectile would reach them. This is known as leading your shots.
The amount of leading required depends on the speed of your target, the distance to your target, and any changes in distance occurring.
Evasion
Keep in mind that an opponent trying to evade your shots may change their speed and course to throw off your shots. Look for patterns in their movement to try to predict where they might be heading, and aim your shots accordingly.
Crosshairs and Recoil
As mentioned previously, within the game, the mouse cursor takes the form of a crosshair.
Usually, when you fire your weapon, any projectile travels in the direction that your cursor is pointing.
That’s usually true for the first shot but as you continue firing your weapon you may also notice that your shots are straying further off-target. This would be due to the recoil on the weapon – and some weapons are more susceptible to it than others.
Pressing the default ‘F6’ key toggles on the recoil indicators.
When firing shots in rapid succession, weapons’ recoil increases, reducing accuracy as the spread of projectiles increases. This is more of a factor for consideration when you are taking on encounters at medium and longer ranges, as the distance strayed from target increases over distance.
At such ranges it can be beneficial to burst-or-individual-fire your rounds. Being more conservative on ammunition and being mindful to reload when appropriate can increase your overall damage output per projectile fired, as more find their target at range.
One more thing that can increase weapon recoil is jumping. Firing immediately following landing may be impacted accordingly.
Damage Drop-Off, Projectile Range and Speed
Some weapons’ damage levels will drop off over distance slower than others, and a few don’t drop off at all. Weapons with a more significant drop-off will perform better at closer ranges, with more bullets and time needed to take out opponents further away.
Some projectiles will de-spawn at a shorter distance than others. Most notably shotgun pellets but the same is also true for most light-bullet weapons like pistols and SMGs.
Just as importantly, different weapons will fire projectiles at different speeds. The faster the projectile and the shorter the distance, the more difficult it will be for an opponent to dodge.
Manual Versus Automatic-Fire Weapons
Some weapons fire a single projectile when you hit the fire button, while others will continue firing projectiles if you keep the fire button held.
A couple of automatic-fire weapons require a moment to begin firing.
A weapon that is automatic and does not require a delay to fire can generally also be used as a non-automatic.
A couple of more weapons behave differently, and require a more involved process, and charge their shots on button-press and fire on release. These typically retain and continue charging shots while a SuperAnimal is jumping.
All of these factor into how weapons are aimed, but the other side of the equation would be dodging and evasion. We’ll be looking at this ‘next’.