The two terms are used in a number of skills and augmentation perks. For example, the Hip Shooter (Gold) perk gives “-50% Recoil Reduction” and “50% Extra Accuracy”.
Does anyone know how exactly these two effects differ? I can see how Recoil Reduction reduces the weapon “jerking” when firing full auto, but what’s the effect of “accuracy” then?
Recoil reduction is for while you are firing, and accuracy is for before you pull the trigger while aiming.
I’d explain it differently.
With higher accuracy the chance of hitting what you’re aiming at is higher.
With lower recoil on the other hand, the gun/aim stays on what you aimed at after your shot, so your next shot has a higher chance to get on the same spot.
But it’s still distinct from pre-firing weapon sway, I suppose? Cause otherwise the “no sway” ultimate makes little sense.
So basically there was is:
Does that sound approximately correct?
And in practice it means, accuracy is not very useful for full auto weapons, since recoil is so extreme accuracy hardly matters, right?
Extreme accuracy like in a snipe rifle no, but you still want more rounds landing on weak points.
I like to look through my red dot ever chance I get when fighting machines at closer range. But I am also running so there is already sway that you learn to adjust for.
Right, pretty much.
Weapon sway is the natural movement when not firing, but does also have some influence while firing…
Accuracy is hinted at by the size of your crosshair. Smaller crosshair, better accuracy. Your shot(s) can land anywhere in the area covered by your crosshair, more or less. It may be difficult to see because the differences may be so small, but when looking at different quality versions of a given weapon you should be able to notice that the crosshair tightens as you go up in quality—better quality weapons are not just more powerful, but also slightly more accurate, and have somewhat better handling in other ways. Some 6C weapons work drastically different from 1C~5C weapons, however, so there are exceptions there in regards to “better quality, more accuracy, etc.”
Recoil is represented not just by how the weapon moves about when you fire, but also in how your crosshair expands. Worse recoil, more negative impact on your accuracy. Not just in the vertical, the kick, but also off to either side. This is why you often should fire in short, controlled bursts—to make sure you’re actually hitting what you WANT to hit, rather than sending rounds way wide of your chosen mark.
As Juan states, accuracy buffs aren’t entirely wasted on automatics. Since sway, accuracy, and recoil all “play together” a massive buff in one can still be felt, even if it might seem like a waste when looking at it alone.
Since he brought up the 2x RDS, I have to point out that two weapons currently have an issue with the RDS not being calibrated properly. If you run a K-Pistol SMG or a KVM 89 LMG, be aware that the RDS is a bit off. It is worse with the K-Pistol; the difference between point of aim (where the RDS’ red dot is) and point of impact (where the initial shot will land) is quite extreme, with the point of impact being HIGH. You can sight in on a Runner and go to start shooting, and miss it completely—you can end up shooting over it, no fault of your own, just because the sight is off. With the KVM 89, the difference is smaller, and the point of impact is LOW of the red dot, so the issue isn’t as much of a problem. Still, you may sight in on a weak point, and end up hitting armor or something below the weak point, wasting the full damage potential of your first shot…which should be considered something of an issue, worthy of correction in the case of both guns.
I like Hip-Shooter on SMGs, especially, but it’s probably a great perk for pretty much every other automatic in the game as well. Automatic rifles, MGs… I’ll swear by it on the COM-10. Combined with an SMG compensator, especially, Hip-Shooter makes the COM-10 a straight killing machine. I knew somebody who complained about that augment on his HP5, said it didn’t seem to matter—I told him it was probably because the HP5 didn’t need it, that the HP5 handled fine to begin with, so the gains weren’t going to be so great. Might take that into consideration; weapons with worse handling will seem to experience better gains with buffs, compared to weapons which already compare favorably. Like the HP5, compared to the COM-10, the Vosa/Skorpion probably doesn’t need/wouldn’t benefit greatly from Hip-Shooter, but the K-Pistol probably would.