As I understand it, pistols are effective at 0-1 tiles, rifles are effective at 4+ tiles, but what range are SMGs effective at? 0-1 tiles since they use pistol ammo? Also are shotguns 0-1 as well?
SMGs are more like automated pistols, so pretty much yes. 0-2/3 tiles
Really depends on the SMG and ammunition used. As Reservoir said most SMGs ingame right now are the mechanized pistol type-- e.g TEC-9, MAC-10 and the Pipe SMG.
With something like the FN P90 or MP5 you could feasably expect a bit more accuracy with single shots over a longer range, but then you’re limited by accuracy, recoil and ammunition-- 9mm +P+ really is a massive change compared with standard 9mm for example.
You’d be better off grabbing something like the Ruger or Marlin for anything at range and then switching to a heavy pistol or SMG for emergency close in work, because things like the TEC-9 shred anything at close range.
Edit: Oh and yeah, Burst. If you want to hit anything at range, don’t use burst.
Side note: If you burst of a bunch of zombies aim at the far end of the group not the close one. It’ll drastically raise your chance of hitting. Don’t know why but it does.
As for range I find the sweet spot to be about half the max range with the weapon/ammo. It says 14 I shoot at 7.
I think it’s because bullet trajectories tend to land near the target. If you aim it at the zombie at the front of the pack, the area of impact will be around the target where the only areas that the trajectories have a chance of triggering a hit event is directly behind the first zombie. The bullets that impact the sides and front of the zombie won’t hit intercept anything.
If you aim at the zombie in the rear, the burst of bullets will have to get through the pack in order to hit that last zombie, even if a bullet is destined to hit the ground around the zombie at the back, the trajectory you put it in will make it such that it has a chance to intercept multiple zombies before its precalculated miss into the ground.
So thrown spears and rocks have a better range than guns? Good to know :D.
Kinda what I was thinking about. How come I can throw a spear off screen but I can’t shoot across the street?
I’m assuming by the (usually) low damage spears do starting out that you’re just sort of flinging them at the zombies, not actually getting them with the pointed end. That’s not exactly that hard to pull off.