PC Hunting Rifle

[Vapid Actions]

EDIT: Replied to an old tab again, but I'll leave it as is ..
You guys are talking different parts of the shooting cycle..

ADS > shift to sprint works always, regardless of manual or toggled ADS (Gazz's point)

"Manual press to hold ADS" > release right mouse to stop ADS, works, if you're not reloading.

If you are reloading, AFTER reload, you're put back in ADS, in the toggled version of it.

Since the hunting rifle still auto-reloads after every shot, every manual ADS-shot with it puts you into a locked ADS state. Same with crossbow. Not really game breaking, but cumbersome and annoying.

This. I don't see it under current bug reports or known issues. Certainly this isn't intended. If I'm no longer holding ADS with manual ADS, regardless of what events are taking place, I shouldn't be in ADS. This is my biggest problem with the hunting rifle. Other than that, I'd love it. I wanted to make an entire playthrough revolving around it, but this was just too much when you're not inside of your base on BM night.

 

[ComradeSch]

Any chance TFP change the basic sniper rifle the hunting rifle? since it is the only basic weapon that is bad compared to the double barrel and the ak47. Maybe change it to m1903 springfield?

The AK-47 is very recoil-heavy and inaccurate compared to the hunting rifle and the shotgun (which is a single-barreled hunting shotgun, not a double barreled coach gun) is only good at close range or for getting rid of those stupid vultures. Both are, however, extremely good at enclosed spaces and dealing with multiple zombies in, say, a building, or you need to make a fighting retreat out of a Shamway because you were too loud and woke up all the zombies in it.

However, for wandering around the overworld or hunting, where you're likely to encounter maybe three threats at a time at the worst, a hunting rifle can be extremely resource-efficient. If you aim for the head (headshots usually one-hit most enemies no matter the weapon) even a base Quality 1 hunting rifle can be extremely effective at picking off single targets.

In other words, it's an ambush weapon, something to deal with foes at a longer range, and it forces one to make each shot count. If you're good with it, it'll work wonders for you. And I've had since the days one could use cornmeal and water to cast massive amounts of weapons to get good with the hunting rifle, especially since that was the primary weapon I actually used apart from the shotgun and 9mm pistol.

 

[Carl_Bar]

The AK-47 is very recoil-heavy and inaccurate compared to the hunting rifle and the shotgun (which is a single-barreled hunting shotgun, not a double barreled coach gun) is only good at close range or for getting rid of those stupid vultures. Both are, however, extremely good at enclosed spaces and dealing with multiple zombies in, say, a building, or you need to make a fighting retreat out of a Shamway because you were too loud and woke up all the zombies in it.
However, for wandering around the overworld or hunting, where you're likely to encounter maybe three threats at a time at the worst, a hunting rifle can be extremely resource-efficient. If you aim for the head (headshots usually one-hit most enemies no matter the weapon) even a base Quality 1 hunting rifle can be extremely effective at picking off single targets.

In other words, it's an ambush weapon, something to deal with foes at a longer range, and it forces one to make each shot count. If you're good with it, it'll work wonders for you. And I've had since the days one could use cornmeal and water to cast massive amounts of weapons to get good with the hunting rifle, especially since that was the primary weapon I actually used apart from the shotgun and 9mm pistol.

Thats called a bow. It makes the hunting rifle look like a resource hungry hog by comparison in that scenario.

Firearms are for oh crap scenarios when you've got a lot of zombies coming at you. Outside of horde night that's mostly an indoors thing, and horde night has a nigh endless supply.

And thats the issue, the kill rate of the hunting rifle is wholly inadequate for that. The AK can kill rapidly and at similar ranges, (fire in 1-3 und tap fire bursts), and can repeat the dose far faster than the hunting rifle.

Now the Marksmen, thats a wholly different beast, an actual magazine means provided you can get quick headshots you can hold your own with the AK as you can follow up about as often as the AK can plop out a burst.

The reload isn't just about the time ethier, being able to keep aiming means you can be lining up the next shot in the downtime. With the hunting rifle you have to get the sights back after the reload before you can more than loosely point. That induces and extra delay above and beyond the simple time between shots.

 

[tricorius]

Am I the only one who uses the hunting rifle for actual hunting? Deer, boars, wolves, etc...sneak headshots kill even the meaner boars in A18.

 

[Ganeden]

Once you start specing into it it's basically a superior bow in my opinion. Between the reloading of the arrow and pulling of it, you shoot just as fast if not faster since you have to do less judgements about enemy movements when using guns. It can be used close range for an enemy that surprises you, shoot it and watch it fall and then stand over it and kill it after reloading or switch to another weapon, something that isn't done with bows. It's like a really powerful one-shot shotgun. Most people who aren't specialized still use bows a lot basically to save ammo and you have to do zero of that if the rifle is your main weapon. You never run short of ammo and you'll invest more time in resource collection even if it's just stone arrows you're making. It's a lot more powerful and if you're not good with arrow judgements this is a lot easier.

Lastly I would say it's better because you can find good ones in the wild unlike with bows. From what i can tell the best bows aren't even on the loot table while there's not only no multiple-crafting-tiers of hunting rifles but you can actually find good ones in the wild. Best I've found is a level 5 wooden bow.

The one area it falls short of a bow is with stealth. But if you use a silencer on it that only matters within 20 blocks or so. For me, it's biggest disadvantage was that stupid stuck-in-reload mechanic they had for so long. But without it the hunting rifle can really be versatile.

 

[Maynard69]

Once you start specing into it it's basically a superior bow in my opinion. Between the reloading of the arrow and pulling of it, you shoot just as fast if not faster since you have to do less judgements about enemy movements when using guns. It can be used close range for an enemy that surprises you, shoot it and watch it fall and then stand over it and kill it after reloading or switch to another weapon, something that isn't done with bows. It's like a really powerful one-shot shotgun. Most people who aren't specialized still use bows a lot basically to save ammo and you have to do zero of that if the rifle is your main weapon. You never run short of ammo and you'll invest more time in resource collection even if it's just stone arrows you're making. It's a lot more powerful and if you're not good with arrow judgements this is a lot easier.
Lastly I would say it's better because you can find good ones in the wild unlike with bows. From what i can tell the best bows aren't even on the loot table while there's not only no multiple-crafting-tiers of hunting rifles but you can actually find good ones in the wild. Best I've found is a level 5 wooden bow.

The one area it falls short of a bow is with stealth. But if you use a silencer on it that only matters within 20 blocks or so. For me, it's biggest disadvantage was that stupid stuck-in-reload mechanic they had for so long. But without it the hunting rifle can really be versatile.

Well with steel arrows it takes plastic, not feathers and that is much easier, but your post reminded me.. I have not seen a compound bow in loot yet at all in 18, its like you say, just the wooden.

Also, I did get confirmation that the auto-locking-ADS thing is a bug.

 

[ComradeSch]

Thats called a bow. It makes the hunting rifle look like a resource hungry hog by comparison in that scenario.
Firearms are for oh crap scenarios when you've got a lot of zombies coming at you. Outside of horde night that's mostly an indoors thing, and horde night has a nigh endless supply.

And thats the issue, the kill rate of the hunting rifle is wholly inadequate for that. The AK can kill rapidly and at similar ranges, (fire in 1-3 und tap fire bursts), and can repeat the dose far faster than the hunting rifle.

Now the Marksmen, thats a wholly different beast, an actual magazine means provided you can get quick headshots you can hold your own with the AK as you can follow up about as often as the AK can plop out a burst.

The reload isn't just about the time ethier, being able to keep aiming means you can be lining up the next shot in the downtime. With the hunting rifle you have to get the sights back after the reload before you can more than loosely point. That induces and extra delay above and beyond the simple time between shots.

I don't know what you've been doing with the hunting rifle but I've been able to keep my sights on enemies while operating the action with the hunting rifle. The reload animation in my experience completely ignores whether or not you're aiming.

By no means am I saying the Hunting Rifle is better than the marksman rifle either, I'm just saying it's not useless, and I've definitely gotten away with picking off zombies a LOT with the Hunting Rifle, and fully equipped with a long scope, suppressor, bipod and with the right perks, it can be remarkably effective, it does have some advantages over the bow, however.

1. You don't have to draw it and hold down the fire button to have a shot ready. I've been in many situations with the bow in which I was not able to fully draw the bow before the zombies closed in. The ability to snap-shoot is very, very valuable.

2. The arrow of a bow has significant drop, inferior accuracy and bows don't have very good sighting options. A hunting rifle uses rayscanning, thus has a way higher effective range, much higher accuracy, and can also mount an 8x scope to fulfill the task of the marksman rifle in the early game.

3. While the bow's ammunition is very easy to craft, the Hunting Rifle's very good accuracy, damage and range means that with the amount of 7.62mm ammo you do find (it's by no means rare) you can get by without crafting the ammunition, and while the bow's upgrades are lacking, the hunting rifle has more potential.

4. If you have non-running zombies and you back up slowly and methodically fire the hunting rifle at the zombies' heads (you walking backwards will draw them into a disorganized pursuit and they'll just follow you), you'll likely thin the horde down rather easily. You can kill hordes if you're disciplined, patient and skilled with the hunting rifle. I have loads of experience since I've been playing the game since before the AK-47 was introduced and 99% of the kills I got were with the hunting rifle, backing up slowly, and methodically picking off the zombies one at a time. In fact, I didn't have an automatic weapon at all in that save file (the SMG was practically impossible to find).

Now, if you have a marksman rifle, should you pick a Hunting Rifle? No. Marksman Rifles ARE better. But comparing the hunting rifle to a bow isn't really fair to either the bow or the hunting rifle, and a hunting rifle is still an excellent weapon when used correctly.

 

[Amanitasec]

Sure the Hunting Rifle could be better, but it's pretty good as is. If you funnel the zombies and slow them with barbed wire or other traps you can hold off the hordes. Even without AP ammunition I used it for my horde defense weapon all the way to day 39 when I finally found a Marksman rifle. Even now that I have one though I'm not sure if it'll work out as well as the Hunting Rifle, with the lower damage base I'm not sure that it'll put everything down in one shot.

Iam doing exactly the same. Funnel zombies to congo line, slow them down with barbed wire and electric fence, and shot with HR with 7,62 AP and penetrator skill through many heads at ones. Everything is running smooth and with low ammo costs as long as no demolisher appears. Then one shot from junk turret or my friend shotgun to the body, and we have great hole and terrified faces right away...

View attachment 30200

 

[ComradeSch]

Iam doing exactly the same. Funnel zombies to congo line, slow them down with barbed wire and electric fence, and shot with HR with 7,62 AP and penetrator skill through many heads at ones. Everything is running smooth and with low ammo costs as long as no demolisher appears. Then one shot from junk turret or my friend shotgun to the body, and we have great hole and terrified faces right away...
View attachment 30200

Finally, someone who's got the right idea on how to actually use this thing and isn't just "shoot at it till it dies". Proper tactics are a force multiplier, especially against zombies.

 

[Maynard69]

Thats called a bow. It makes the hunting rifle look like a resource hungry hog by comparison in that scenario.
Firearms are for oh crap scenarios when you've got a lot of zombies coming at you. Outside of horde night that's mostly an indoors thing, and horde night has a nigh endless supply.

And thats the issue, the kill rate of the hunting rifle is wholly inadequate for that. The AK can kill rapidly and at similar ranges, (fire in 1-3 und tap fire bursts), and can repeat the dose far faster than the hunting rifle.

Now the Marksmen, thats a wholly different beast, an actual magazine means provided you can get quick headshots you can hold your own with the AK as you can follow up about as often as the AK can plop out a burst.

The reload isn't just about the time ethier, being able to keep aiming means you can be lining up the next shot in the downtime. With the hunting rifle you have to get the sights back after the reload before you can more than loosely point. That induces and extra delay above and beyond the simple time between shots.

Are you on the wrong forum? talking about a different game? 70% of this is the opposite of what happens in 7d2d lol a18 feathers are rarer than ammo.. and bows are harder to find and just as hard to craft. If I wanted to waste no bullets, I would just melee everything. If I ever get a hold of compound bow I might use it just to use up feathers since I have no use for them until then.

AK does near 1/2 the damage of the HR in a lot of cases for the same bullet, a ton less range, and is way less accurate.

Marksman is good, but slightly less damage than the HR, perked correctly reload is fast and it is not hard to pre-aim and fire fast with the HR, I dont even see the marksman as much of an upgrade. To me they are nearly equal now that u can put the best scope on the HR.

This is dependent on the ads working correctly tho, the way it is now is pretty meh, its still good tho

 

[Gazz]

@Maynard69

I cannot be mad at people who don't like the hunting rifle. They simply prefer a completely different play style with different weapons. Nothing wrong with that.

The game simply supports more than one play style.

It's only annoying when they keep trying to change every weapon in the game to work with their one play style. That's not cool.

 

[Kage848]

@Maynard69
I cannot be mad at people who don't like the hunting rifle. They simply prefer a completely different play style with different weapons. Nothing wrong with that.

The game simply supports more than one play style.

It's only annoying when they keep trying to change every weapon in the game to work with their one play style. That's not cool.

For me it's not the HR really. My only issue, and it's really not a big dead, is they are in the same tier of the thier respective perk tree. I have never thought of the HR in the same tier as the AK and none on my friends ever did either.

I guess some people do? And I guess TFP agree. We will have to agree to disagree here.

That is all.

 

[HungryZombie]

I think you could increase the damage on the hunting rifle even higher, making it more useful. I does have big drawbacks later in the game compared to other rifles. More damage would keep it relevant.

Are you talking about using a hunting rifle unperked late game or with perks maxed out? You reload much faster with perks late game which is very useful. Hunting rifle is more situational than a main weapon so I'm not sure damage needs to be increased. You shoot and move from long range which is what makes it relevant to me at least.

 

[HungryZombie]

I may have been overstating it by saying its trash lol. But, Dps is the only thing that's going to save your life when the ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan. That 10 minute reload time on that horrible weapon will only get you killed.

Come'on dude. The HR should not be the weapon you use when the ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan. That don't mean it's trash. How the HR saves you is you can snipe from long range and move. 1 shot a cop from a distance and it can't spit on you.

 

[Maynard69]

@Maynard69
I cannot be mad at people who don't like the hunting rifle. They simply prefer a completely different play style with different weapons. Nothing wrong with that.

The game simply supports more than one play style.

It's only annoying when they keep trying to change every weapon in the game to work with their one play style. That's not cool.

True, Im not mad, Gazz. I say that stuff jokingly.

Something very satisfying in 1 shotting tough z's from a distance with the HR though. I think it is the "thunk" sound and occasional rag doll.

"Oh look there is a lumberjack a mile away to the east. Should I run over there and kill it? *thunk* Oh nevermind, I already did. I'll just get back to what I was doing"

That is another reason I like it lol

 

[konrax]

The hunting rifle on pvp servers is pretty deadly because of it's superior range and high damage. Even with a 2x on it the rifle can be really nasty.

 

[Maynard69]

The hunting rifle on pvp servers is pretty deadly because of it's superior range and high damage. Even with a 2x on it the rifle can be really nasty.

Yep, thats where I first started liking the HR. It is pretty beastly if you spot the other guy at range. You used to be able to find them quickly too in backpacks and such. Was a great starter weapon for that, but back then no scope so Sniper was king at range.

 

[Carl_Bar]

I don't know what you've been doing with the hunting rifle but I've been able to keep my sights on enemies while operating the action with the hunting rifle. The reload animation in my experience completely ignores whether or not you're aiming.
By no means am I saying the Hunting Rifle is better than the marksman rifle either, I'm just saying it's not useless, and I've definitely gotten away with picking off zombies a LOT with the Hunting Rifle, and fully equipped with a long scope, suppressor, bipod and with the right perks, it can be remarkably effective, it does have some advantages over the bow, however.

1. You don't have to draw it and hold down the fire button to have a shot ready. I've been in many situations with the bow in which I was not able to fully draw the bow before the zombies closed in. The ability to snap-shoot is very, very valuable.

2. The arrow of a bow has significant drop, inferior accuracy and bows don't have very good sighting options. A hunting rifle uses rayscanning, thus has a way higher effective range, much higher accuracy, and can also mount an 8x scope to fulfill the task of the marksman rifle in the early game.

3. While the bow's ammunition is very easy to craft, the Hunting Rifle's very good accuracy, damage and range means that with the amount of 7.62mm ammo you do find (it's by no means rare) you can get by without crafting the ammunition, and while the bow's upgrades are lacking, the hunting rifle has more potential.

4. If you have non-running zombies and you back up slowly and methodically fire the hunting rifle at the zombies' heads (you walking backwards will draw them into a disorganized pursuit and they'll just follow you), you'll likely thin the horde down rather easily. You can kill hordes if you're disciplined, patient and skilled with the hunting rifle. I have loads of experience since I've been playing the game since before the AK-47 was introduced and 99% of the kills I got were with the hunting rifle, backing up slowly, and methodically picking off the zombies one at a time. In fact, I didn't have an automatic weapon at all in that save file (the SMG was practically impossible to find).

Now, if you have a marksman rifle, should you pick a Hunting Rifle? No. Marksman Rifles ARE better. But comparing the hunting rifle to a bow isn't really fair to either the bow or the hunting rifle, and a hunting rifle is still an excellent weapon when used correctly.

If you don;t have time to draw a bowstring back you shouldn't be using a bow or a hunting rifle.

Combat in this game comes broadly in 4 forms:

1. Sneaking through buildings sneak killing lone zombies with the occasional one waking up on you.

2. Sneaking through a building and ethier having it go wrong or just not bother with the sneak part so a whole room full of zombies rush you at once.

3. Horde Nights

4. Running into random zombies at a distance out in the wild.

Exactly one of those is conductive to using a hunting rifle. The last one. In any other scenario the RoF or noise is an issue. And that last one is where the bow excels. Yes you need to know what your doing and i agree the primitive bow is absolute junk, but i haven't found getting a low tier wooden bow too arduous.

I'll have to check but the last time i used the hunting rifle the reload animation interrupted the aiming by taking the sight out of alignment.

Are you on the wrong forum? talking about a different game? 70% of this is the opposite of what happens in 7d2d lol a18 feathers are rarer than ammo.. and bows are harder to find and just as hard to craft. If I wanted to waste no bullets, I would just melee everything. If I ever get a hold of compound bow I might use it just to use up feathers since I have no use for them until then.
AK does near 1/2 the damage of the HR in a lot of cases for the same bullet, a ton less range, and is way less accurate.

Marksman is good, but slightly less damage than the HR, perked correctly reload is fast and it is not hard to pre-aim and fire fast with the HR, I don't even see the marksman as much of an upgrade. To me they are nearly equal now that u can put the best scope on the HR.

This is dependent on the ads working correctly tho, the way it is now is pretty meh, its still good tho

Feathers are rarer and whilever your using a primitive bow that can be an issue, but once you get your first wooden bow i've never had serious issues.

Also yes the HR does roughly double the damage of an AK. So what i can squeeze of a 2-3 round burst, re aim, and be ready to fire another before you've fired and reloaded your hunting rifle.

@Maynard69
I cannot be mad at people who don't like the hunting rifle. They simply prefer a completely different play style with different weapons. Nothing wrong with that.

The game simply supports more than one play style.

It's only annoying when they keep trying to change every weapon in the game to work with their one play style. That's not cool.

Yes the game supports more than one playstyle, but when one of those, (really more given how many other decent weapons there are), is blatantly inferiour to the other/s you have a balance issue. Usable isn't the same as equivalent. The Hunting rifle is usable. But there's no combat situation where proper use of an alternative does not offer clear advantages and no disadvantages that actually matter, (Provided you don;t try to full auto AK everything in sight with a machine gun ammo efficiency really isn't a serious problem for any of the weapons), over it.

 

[Maynard69]

Lmao, I dont like the Archery, I like the HR. You dont like the HR, you like Archery. That is ok. But a lot of what you say is kinda bull there ^

Not everybody sneaks, I play on insane and dont really try to sneak at all. (except night time in the wild, that is fun to sneak kill) POI's are not as stuffed with zombies as they once were. By the time they are really dangerous you are equipped to handle it. I can throw down a junk turret and 1 shot most z's with the HR. If not, the turret will help finish them. The reload is not that slow.

I never said feathers were an issue. I could care less, I am not using arrows. Cant be an issue for me. Ammo is just as easy to get without long side trips checking every dang birds nest.

Also saying "so what" to 1 shotting vs 2-3 burst. That is 2x-3x more bullets wasted. (at minimum, thats if you 100% headshot) That is 1000-2000 additional bullets for the 1000 I would use. Saving them for horde night. (you could probably add another 500-1000 to that since mine never miss) Hardly a "so what"

Also it is not like I dont have an AK (and perked sledge) still on my belt if I get in trouble. Just because I use the HR a lot, doesnt mean I cant use the AK. I just prefer not to because it is a waste compared to how I am doing it.

After damn near 7000 hours, i have kinda got a feel for it.

 

[Laz Man]

A 50 cal. would be glorious lol

Maybe the .50 cal could be the unique legendary rifle.