Hello there!
I'm making a "first-time" character (in the sense I progressed from Junkyard for the first time and the game has finally clicked in for me) and so far have distributed my stats in the following way, having decided I wanted to experiment and fuck-up to learn along the way instead of following a pre-build (no hate for following builds, obviously, but I'm parting from a failing is fun pov here):
STR: 6
DEX: 7
AGI: 8
CON: 4
PER: 10
WIL: 3
INT: 4
Every level I've maxed out points in: Guns (55, ef. 83), Dodge and Evasion (55, ef. 73), Stealth (55, ef. 103), Lockpicking (55, ef. 69), Traps (55, ef. 69), Mechanics (55) and Mercantile (55).
My feats so far are: Aimed Shot, Hit and Run, Nimble, Strafe, Interloper and Snipe.
I'm currently running a 8.6 scoped Marauder and a 8.6 XM Harbinger (Though I've tried a 7.2 version of the Harbinger as well).
My question pertains to ammo types and deciding on my equipment from this point of the game onward, since I assume that once I reach Core City my options for merchants are going to expand (so far I've been using Blaine and the Junkyard Black Eels vendor, having sided with them in that questline).
I made up my mind early to use a Sniper build because I've roughly modeled my character on Golgo 13's Duke Togo and wanted to replicate the feel of him in combat, thus the feat list, but I've experimented with weapons before I got my hands on the Harbinger, and later for a secondary piece since it has such a high AP cost and even if I manage to delete an enemy before the fight starts, it usually results in a cascade coming after me regardless.
Background given, my question is:
For such a build, focusing on starting an engagement with an advantage and then continuing from there, are higher calibers, provided the character can shoot the weapons they're tied with, necessarily better? Should I discard 7.62 and 5mm from this point onward?
I ask because in my experience, even with lower AP weapons like a SMG, if I load it with 7.62 I get more shots per turn than with an AR, but I fail to eliminate an enemy with said shots, whereas in with the AR I can reliably kill one (or more) enemies per turn. I can't seem to find an advantage with using a lower caliber weapon in this way, even if the modifications the weapon has theoretically would make it more reliable than their higher caliber equivalent.
Being practical, I had a Tactical Muzzled 7.62 SMG (Black Cat, I think) and a Scoped Marauder, and despite the latter having a higher and more accurate burst size, the enemies I was facing (Junkyard Mutants) ate the damage I dealt, and I only managed to complete the encounter with the AR (despite using the appropriate JHP rounds on both of them).
I haven't had the opportunity to use a rifle with the same frame and different barrel (yet), which made me question if there's any usage in making a 7.62 Marauder, or stocking that type of ammo, instead of jumping to 8.6, stuff like availability aside. Also, I'd like to know if this is more frame-dependent than I'm thinking at the moment.
What are your thoughts? If a SMG and a AR have a miniscule AP difference (13 - 11), and one does more damage per shot than the other, why would you use the SMG?
Or is it more build dependent, and the SMG is intended to be more viable for characters with lower % on hit, and I'm just trying to fit a square peg in a hole here?
Any advice or insight is appreciated!
Thank you!
