BIS Config is confusing -- Ammo related--

[carlostex 38]

OK, i haven't been doing Arma stuff for a looong time now, and i didn't have the habit of looking through configs but... BIS configs makes me confuse.

So in the CfgAmmo section there is:

caliber=

hit=

I assume these are two of the most important lines for adjusting the power of a bullet. There's also typicalSpeed and airFriction that i suppose help to affect the speed and drag on the projectile. But let's stick with the top ones.

From what i understand, caliber affects the penetration capabilities of the projectile, the higher the more it penetrates, and hit affects how much damage it causes to an object.

Looking at BIS config i can see for instance:

.45 ACP ball ammo:

caliber=2.6

hit=8

5.56x45mm NATO ball:

caliber=0.7

hit=8

Now there is also the factor of projectile velocity which should help penetration as well, as BIS puts initSpeed in the CfgMagazines when they should put it in CfgWeapon (cause some weapons have longer barrels and can fire bullets faster than weapons with shortel barrels but that can use same magazine), but let's not deviate any further.

As far as i know, 5.56 ahould penetrate much better but it also has less stopping power. The.45 ACP round should be the opposite, it can't penetrate hard body armor but on soft tissue its wounding potential is higher than 5.56.

So BIS config values show the exact opposite! Of course, this dependes on a lot of factors as well, like the body armor system which i still have to take a look. But all in all this just seems sloppy to me.

Opinions? Am i looking at it wrong? Engine limitations? Config balance? What do you guys, specially the most experience config writers think?

Edited January 23, 2014 by CarlosTex

[x3kj 1247]

I have started to get into the config stuff recently and i wondered about the same thing a week ago or so.

Here is a post that should help

It seems as if calibre is some mix between size and mass. as it influences kinetic energy or penetration for the penetration simulation of vehicles and obstacles

hit is as far as i understand from the system from old days which determines how many hitpoints the target loses.

As currently there is a strange mix of penetration simulation and hitpoints going on - kinda counter intuitive. Why simulate something if you put hitpoints in there that ignore penetration anyway ?

typical speed is for kinetic energy calculation - maybe because they dont want to track real speed because of performance reason? idk, but i agree, it doesnt make much sense.

For the ACP, maybe because typical speed is lower, so to make up for kinetic the caliber value is higher to match the characteristics.

I think it's propably made up that way: first set up typical speed as we know that. Then set an initial calibre weight and test it's penetration characteristics against objects (plywood, steel, etc) and fine tune it. And then you take your D24 dice and roll a value for hit value :rolleyes:

For body armor i don't know how it works, but it could be this way: Penetration only matters for actually penetrating through a guy on the other side. The hit value is applied eitherway, but is reduced by body armor...

For vehicles the penetration is only checked to see if the projectile can penetrate and damage internal parts. If it doesnt the hit value is applied anyway, reduced by armor. So penetrating hits do more damage since they can damage internal parts directly. But to destroy a vehicle you don't need to penetrate. It will just take more hits to destroy it.

Edited January 23, 2014 by Fennek

[dr_strangepete 6]

Everything is a factor - read this wiki page on weapon config, explains a couple things:

Weapon Settings - https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Weapons_settings

.45 ACP ball ammo:

caliber=2.6

hit=8

5.56x45mm NATO ball:

caliber=0.7

hit=8

if look at all the other values too, for example - .45 ACP has a typicalSpeed of 280, whereas a 5.56x45 is 920

It claims initSpeed is declared in CfgMagazines incase it wasn't already defined by CfgWeapons - and typicalSpeed is the speed at which ammo exerts 100% hit value, and varies according to actual impact speed

(always welcome for corrections if ive misunderstood something)

@Fennek - i guess i read over where you mention acp typicalspeed, my bad

[x3kj 1247]

typical speed doesnt seem to affect anything...

i tested different settings and neither the penetration changed, nor the drop in energy or anything else...