Most damaging firing mode

  Updated:  Added some graphs to better visualize the data.

  In today's post I will investigate what firing mode causes the most damage.

  Methodology

  For purposes of calculating probable damage value,  -1 dice pool modifier (from recoil) is synonymous with -1/3 damage value (DV).  This is because each die in a roll has a 1 in 3 chance of garnering a hit, and each hit increases the modified DV by 1.  Therefore -3 dice equals -1 DV, or -1 die equal -1/3 DV.

  To get a true comparison, we must normalize damage over a single action phase.  Therefore semi-auto and burst fire are calculated based on firing twice, while single shot and full auto will only get one shot. I will assume narrow bursts for all bursts (short, long and full) as this maximizes damage.

  This table shows the results of this normalization.  "P" stands for the power attribute of the weapon.  Total DV is Damage - (Recoil / 3).  By subtracting the recoil from the calculated damage, we can simply add any recoil compensation as a positive damage value modifier at a later time.  HW Total DV is Damage - (Recoil * 2 / 3), for heavy weapons.

Firing Mode	Damage	Recoil	Total DV	HW Total DV*
Single shot	P	0	P	P
2 x Semi auto	2P	1	2P - 0.33	2P - 0.67
2 x Short burst	2P +   4	5	2P + 2.33	2P + 0.67
Long burst + short burst	2P +   7	8	2P + 4.33	2P + 1.67
Full burst	P +   9	9	P + 6.00	P + 3.00
2 x Long burst	2P + 10	11	2P + 6.33	(2P + 2.67)
High velocity full burst	P + 11	11	P + 7.33	(P + 3.67)
Minigun full burst	P + 14	14	(P + 9.33)	P + 4.67

* Heavy weapons, shotguns, high power chambering and others for which uncompensated recoil is doubled.

  Results


  Base Damage

  Looking at fully compensated recoil first, we can see from the graph that minigun full burst starts out as a clear winner, but two long bursts overtake it once base weapon power (P) reaches 4.  Most firearms (those with firing modes anyway) have a minimum power of 4, so we conclude that two long bursts do the most damage.

  However, only high velocity weapons can fire two long burst.  For all others, one long and one short burst is the next best, trumping minigun full burst by power 7, and even high velocity full burst by power 3.

  These two clearly beat everything else with power less than 4.

  Single shot was left out of the graph because my graphing program will only show seven colours.  Rest assured, it falls behind everything else immediately.

  Recoil

  When we incorporate the added (uncompensated) recoil the situation becomes even more clear. Two long bursts takes the lead at only power of 3, and power 5 for one long and one short burst to do the same, or power 3 if you don't count miniguns.

  Miniguns are always heavy weapons, and their uncompensated recoil is always doubled, which is why it is shown in parentheses.  They are included for theoretical comparison.

  Heavy Weapon Recoil

  High velocity weapons are never heavy weapons, and therefore never suffer from double uncompensated recoil, indicated by parentheses.  Here we see two long bursts would supercede everything by power 2, one long and one short burst at power 3.

  Summary


  Here is shown the best candidate from the "complex action" group, minigun full burst, versus two long bursts and one long and one short burst, for all (correct) recoil variations.

  In all cases we see that two bursts (whether one long and one short, or two long) is the most efficient way to cause damage in a given category of weapons, with two long bursts being best overall.

  Full burst, whether it be normal, high velocity, or minigun should be relegated to suppressive fire.

  Other Factors


  Clearly rate of fire and recoil are not the only factors for calculating damage.  Other factors, such as range, armour piercing, modifications, accessories and reloading interval will be the subjects of my next few posts.