Rifleman Archive
Thread: What does conceal shot and sneak really do?
I was just wondering what they did and how well they actually worked. I would also like to know what is the most powerful rifle special. Thx for the help.
Master Commando of Invictus with a long road ahead to master rifleman
sneak lets you move after you have taken cover, which imobilizes you before you get the sneak skill.
concealshot lets you fire a shot that the mob cannot detect. it can be fired standing, kneeling or prone, but make sure the mob is alone, or his friends will aggro on you. also you can only miss twice, or the mob will aggro on you.
the most powerful shot is strafeshot2, but it depends on the circumstance as well.
Sneak just allows you to move while under cover. Before you get this skill you are imobilized while under cover. (under cover gives you a defensive bonus but the general opinion around here is it doesn't help you much) .
Conceal shot will hit a target without revealing your position (in PVE only). Used against a single opponent this is a very good tool to take out an enemy who is overmatched against you one on one. Right now if you try this against a mob that is social you will get all of the targets friends charging at you the minue you fire. Rumor is that this is changing with the next publish. We'll see.
Personally I don't like the way conceal shot works. The target sits around like they haven't been hit. That bothers me from an RPG aspect. The target should react to the shot, move around a bit looking for the attacker then settle back down. Having the ronto just stand there is a little non immersive.
/agree
they should act freaked out when they get hit with a concealshot. maybe move around more than usual.
I wouldn't even mind if they charged toward the shot for a meter or so. Then stop as they can't quite figure out where it came from. But they should do something other than just stand there. A mountain squill who is struck by my rifle should flail his arms around in impotent fury at not being able to see where the shot is coming from.
It would even be more realistic if, occasionally, less aggressive creatures bolted. I realize that I would have to chase them but so what. That would make it harder for me to just sit in one place and spam them with conceal shot which is very effective but not very imaganitive or challenging.
Of course with maskscent & camo being broken when you fire, if they moved closer to you, they'd just aggro on you =(
TopFlite wrote:
It'd actually be REALLY useful if a conceal shot actually made the mob (and even some of his buddies if they're social) move out from camp or in some random direction. You could use this as a method to single out 1 or 2 mobs from a full pack.
Of course with maskscent & camo being broken when you fire, if they moved closer to you, they'd just aggro on you =(
That is an excellent idea. Conceal shot should make some mobs move in a random direction for just a bit. It would make it necessary for you to move around and take conceal shots one at a time rather than spamming them. It would spread out a herd and give you a better chance of taking them out one at a time without aggroing the whole group. I'm worried that if this new change affects conceal shot the way it seems like it might we will be a nerf target with this command. I think we should think of imaginative ways to fix this command before the nerfbat comes swinging down on it.
Personally while I think it is silly that a whole group of targets aggros you on the first conceal shot. I don't think you should be able to spam it over and over again without aggroing the group. Eventually the group should figure out where the shooter is (NPC's should figure it out after 2-3 shots, agressive mobs maybe 4-5, and non aggressives a little longer maybe) Me sitting (not even under cover which I think should be changed as well) and shooting over and over again while the creature or NPC just stands around like nothing is happening should be changed. If that means on a solo target I have to peace and move and set up again before taking more shots that would be fine too. Sniping a target should be an art not just repetiive motion.
I think they took the need to be under "Cover" out for this shot because right now taking Cover is buggy.
If you are a ranger or have any Terrain Negotiation over 50 and "Take Cover" your movement will become bugged. (Either stuck walking or stand still, I forget which since I haven't used this since I got stuck once)
Eldur Longbow
One thing that we need to keep in mind that, at the moment anyway, "cover" does not add to concealment. It is more like ducking behind a rockor log for protection, not getting under something so that they cannot see you. Doesn't make sense since it is so closely tied to the concealment line, but that is the way it works. It just adds ranged defenses bonuses.
As they said before, until you get Sneak (a passive skill, nothing you activate) you are immobile while under cover. Once you get sneak, you can crawl while in cover.
Most of our shots willclear us out ofcover. That is, when you shoot those shots, the Takecover state goes away and you goback to normal defenses. Two shots, however, do not: Concealshot and Surpriseshot.
Surpriseshot only works while under cover. Concealshot can be used in or out of cover.
Concealshot also does not trigger an autoresponse attack from the target. That is, what ever you hit will not notice you until you miss twice. Note, if they had aggroed on you, and you got away, the conceal is already broken, so you have to wait a bit before you can use it on them again.
The description for Surpriseshot says it does a lot of damage and that it must be used from cover. It does not mention anything about keeping you from being noticed. Some have reported it works like concealshot unless you miss only once. Others have said otherwise. It will, however, give a big damage bonus.
As some said, TakeCover has limited value. While there is likely a slight reduction in the number of times you are hit or maybe the amount of damage if you are hit, for the most part, it is hard to tell that it is helping.
In all, I love Concealshot. It is costly HAM-wise, and it has a long delay between shots, but as long as you setup correctly, choose the right weapon, and do not miss, you can take down things without a scratch (though, not without risk) that no other profession can. Sneak is very helpful if you do use cover in that it lets you get into cover out of range, then crawl into range while still under cover.