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Semi-auto vs full auto

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Temstar

Grizzled Veteran
May 21, 2009
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#1
Yes it's that time again!

Personally, I swear by semi-auto. Bullpup, AK, SCAR, AA-12, I just feel that having to fire for every single shot encourages well aimed shots rather than spray and pray.

Now back to what I wanted to talk about. A long time ago someone suggested that semi-auto does less damage shot for shot than full auto. But others say they're the same. Was this ever conclusively proved one way or the other? What about hunting shotgun single shot vs double shot vs double shot with only 1 shell loaded?

Also, I might be just going crazy, but I seem to notice that semi-auto recoils less than full auto firing single shot. It's easist to test this on AK-47 and AA-12 with their lower RoF, fire one round at a time on full auto and compare to semi auto fire. Can anyone confirm?

What are people's preferences on semi vs full auto?
 
#8
Reddog said:
Auto all the way, short sharp bursts and fire discipline beat having your gun set to semi while being mobbed and unable to quickly cut your way out any day of the week.
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You can flip semi back to auto you know.

In any case, both AK-47 and AA-12 have slow enough RoF that you can very easily fire in semi as fast as full auto. SCAR does so much damage per hit and recoils so intensely that full auto is only ever useful against Scrakes, FP and Pat when they're in your face. (a situation which you should (A) avoid and (B) easily foresee before hand and toggled already to full auto).

So that leaves only bullpup that you may consider using full auto on all the time. And even then bullpup can't take on scrakes or FP. And against the weaker specimen you're better off shaving off all the heads of a mob rather than spend 10 bullets killing each specimen by spray and pray. Bullpup is one hit decap for commando against all the weaker specimen except for Husk and Siren anyway.
 
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#10
Reddog said:
That wasted split second to change over can be used firing in a pinch, hence my point. Just because the gun is on auto doesn't mean you're spraying and praying, you can tap out single shots or small bursts at heads easily with either of the commando guns.
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ScarFace completely concurs. Matter of fact I can remember a time or two when I accidently hit semi and it caused me massive damage b/c I couldn't put down the zeds quick enough before I switched back.

Unless used by accident, I NEVER use semi and I've never "prayed and sprayed". Short controlled bursts are the ticket and you have the option, without delay, to shoot rapidly if the situation calls for it.
 
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#11
Always full auto,

as mentioned, short burst, or controlled mouse clicks is what I use. I tried going semi auto, but came a situation where I needed full auto but forgot to put it back into full auto caused me to get smacked around by a few gored fast.

I think its more a matter of taste then anything, some people like it full auto, some like it semi auto. I play suicidal only and I've found that short burst works for me best.
 
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#12
brick_top1982 said:
Always full auto,

as mentioned, short burst, or controlled mouse clicks is what I use. I tried going semi auto, but came a situation where I needed full auto but forgot to put it back into full auto caused me to get smacked around by a few gored fast.
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Samey. Sometimes I'll use semi-auto with the Bullpup but rarely. I don't understand why people have the idea that you're spraying willy nilly if you use full-auto. I think most people are capable of quick bursts with the AK or Bullpup.
 
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#15
Reddog said:
Just because the gun is on auto doesn't mean you're spraying and praying
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I think it's human nature to spray when under stress, no matter how hard you fight your instincts. That's why M-16A2 had full auto removed and replaced with 3 round burst. GIs where spraying their full auto M-16 so hard that it takes them on average 50,000 rounds to kill one enemy.

Same story with British L1A1 vs FN FAL. They made L1A1 semi auto only as the british army feels that you actually make your average rifleman more effective by taking away full auto and forcing him to take aim between each shot.
 
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#16
Temstar said:
Personally, I swear by semi-auto. Bullpup, AK, SCAR, AA-12, I just feel that having to fire for every single shot encourages well aimed shots rather than spray and pray.
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I use semi-auto only for scar, very rarely for AA12. I only swich to full-auto when I gotta take out bigger enemies.

Bullpup instead is way too weak for semi-auto and also its recoil is almost unnoticable anyway so theres not much point using semi-auto. AK instead has huge recoil so I can understand why someone would use single shots but its still kinda weak weapon if used like that, especially on higher difficulties. Thats why I rather use auto for AK, and shoot small bursts when necessary.

Temstar said:
Now back to what I wanted to talk about. A long time ago someone suggested that semi-auto does less damage shot for shot than full auto. But others say they're the same. Was this ever conclusively proved one way or the other? What about hunting shotgun single shot vs double shot vs double shot with only 1 shell loaded?
Click to expand...

I dont have any actualy proof but I can pretty safely say they do the same damage. Wouldnt make any sense if they didnt.

Im not sure about the hunting shotgun tho, might be that single barrel shot two times in a row does less damage than double barrel shot. At least it kinda feels less powerful o_O.

Temstar said:
Also, I might be just going crazy, but I seem to notice that semi-auto recoils less than full auto firing single shot. It's easist to test this on AK-47 and AA-12 with their lower RoF, fire one round at a time on full auto and compare to semi auto fire. Can anyone confirm?
Click to expand...

Once again, I have no proof but I think semi-auto recoils less than firing single shot when full-auto is on. Altho, as far as I know most weapons tend to fire more than 1 bullet dispite of clicking only once when auto-fire is on?

I could be entirely wrong, havent been able to play KF in weeks :S and Im already starting to forget stuff.
 
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#17
oh, since this is sorta on topic, just remember there is a bug with the AK/SCAR when switching between semi and fullauto when in ironsights mode. if you have you are in IS mode and switch from semi to full, then leave IS, the gun will still "fire" but you won't do any damage......just toggle back and forth with the setting and IS/hip mode and eventually it will correct itself.

last time i checked, this bug hasn't been fixed yet.
 
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#18
I constantly switch between auto and semi. I mostly switch to semi when taking out crawlers with the FN Scar. But in suicidal I most swtich to semi to conserve rounds for later in the wave. Focus on 1 head shot kills on clots, gores, stalkers etc etc. But I still switch all the time. Long range shooting I tend to switch to semi. Medium to close range, I burst.
 
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#19
I don't understand why it's called "semi-auto"; you're either auto, you're not. Either I can hold down the mouse button and it'll keep firing, or it won't.

Anyway, my preference is based on accuracy. The bullpup and its iron sights have fairly good accuracy, which is why it's one of my favorite weapons. I can score a succession of head shots on a big mob and be ammo efficient. Of course it's weak, so I can't stick with it.

Personally, the SCAR doesn't make sense to me - it's got a small clip, so it's clearly not meant to be used in auto fire for long, and its damage is weaker than the M14's. If I wanted to snipe, I'd go sharp shooter and use the M14. Yes, the M14's iron sights are ridiculous, but I can adapt to the laser and I won't be left defenseless against FP's.

As for shotguns, I'm pretty sure that the individual bullets of the scatter shot are about are pretty strong. I don't want to make a rash comparison, but I can decapitate a scrake on hard with only 3 ~ 5 hits. So it's presumably stronger than the SCAR. Besides which, I can decapitate anything below a scrake in one hit, and often land head shots on entire mobs if I'm careful with my aiming (almost 100% of the time if they're up close).
 
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#20
Herborist said:
I don't understand why it's called "semi-auto"; you're either auto, you're not. Either I can hold down the mouse button and it'll keep firing, or it won't.
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its called semi auto because any semi auto weapon system can be made to fire fully auto, whereas a bolt action is no where near capable of being semi auto or full auto.

on subject: i dont see why anyone would need to switch to semi auto when they can just stay in full auto and fire single shots but when they need to (SHTF!!) they can respond quicker.
 
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