Clarifying the aiming system

So realism has increased but a disabled head still allows the full functioning and accuracy of it’s weapon system? I’m sorry, but to me, that’s a fundamental flaw in a semi realistic tactical game, even if the enemy are aliens.

Context is key. I stated:

Which means I was referring to realism in projectiles and aiming specifically, not damage model. Games often reduce realistic effects (especially with damage) when it would negatively impact one or more aspects of the gameplay the designers are going for.

Phoenix Point is not a realistic FPS game, so realism in damage to locations isn’t as much of a focus as other elements of their system. Their main differentiator from other games in the series is the mutation system which is evident through the different body parts having various effects. If a disabling headshot killed the target than that would be the primary tactic of players and the other body parts would be a secondary target if the head wasn’t available. So they diverged from reality to increase the tactical element of which body part to go for.

You may disagree with their design decision, but it was a choice they went with due to all of the gameplay features they were planning.

This one’s been a long-running debate. I brought it up in BB1.

I don’t have an issue with a disabled head not killing the Crabbies - as far as I’m concerned they are reanimated corpses being kept alive by the PandaVirus, so the head is simply a vestigial remnant of the creature it once was.

The thing I take issue with is that you can hit a human in the head and it does nothing but take down their Will. But - and it’s a big but - in a game that has such location-specific targeting, making a head shot an insta-kill is essentially a one-shot mechanic on all Human targets - unless you say that taking down their will Stuns them rather than killing them.

So I can understand why they haven’t made the head fatal in game terms.

Doesn’t stop the bizzaro-world that makes arm shots more fatal to Crabbies than head shots, though.

Wot @Tsudico said. The bar simply tells you the best case scenario if your shots all hit the thing. Useful if you’re targeting, say, a wounded Siren and want to know whether your shots can take her down.
The middle circle has a 50% chance that each shot will land there (which is a different probability than 50% of the shots landing there)
The big circle has a 100% chance that all shots will pass through it.

So it’s not conflicting information, it’s different information.

Think of it as asking 3 separate questions:
“What chance to I have of killing this thing if I hit it?”
“Where are half of my bullets likely - but not certain - to go?”
"How much of this creature can I cover with my bullet spread?

Do bear in mind that because it is a ballistic projectile system, it is entirely possible for a bullet to pass through the gaps in, say a Grenade Crabbie’s arm and completely miss the damn thing (it’s happened to me).

You’re better off not trying to translate the information into %age chances to hit, but rather using it as a way of getting as much of a creature’s body into your circle of opportunity as you can - which is hard when you’re trying to hit a worm with something that can’t hit a barn door at 20 paces.

Ahh, I see what you mean.

You were talking above about people targeting the heads of creatures for insta-kill shots if able to aim freely, to which I took that as your definition of realistic aim.

Whereas you only need sufficient realism to be able to a aim at a point on the map in order to cause damage to that area of the map. You could potentially change the system in PP to just that and still be able to destroy the environment.