Critical Hits

[DrKissinger1]

I'm doing another run through Fallout 2, this time as a lone sniper. My last game was a Fast Shot gunslinger with 3 party members. I'm using Finesse and Small Frame, and I took 2 levels of More Criticals.

I'm looking at Better Criticals for my next perk, but I have no idea how substantial the benefit would be. The perk mentions critical hit tables, and I only then realized that I have no idea how critical hits are managed in the game. I almost always get a critical hit, but it varies from marginally more damage to blindness to instant death. Is there any documentation that explains the critical hit system? Is a random roll made after it's determined that a critical has been made? Or are there modifiers? How much does a targeted shot to the eyes add to the chance to crit / magnitude of crit?

My apologies if this has been asked before. I saw someone mention it in a buried thread, but he didn't really get much of an answer.

 

[Per]

When you get a critical hit it rolls a d100 on a table from 1-100, with results that depend on creature type and hit location (the tables for brahmin can be found in the Fallout Bible). Better Criticals adds 20 to the roll, improving criticals overall and more importantly unlocking instant kills above 100. It's one of the best perks.

 

[DrKissinger1]

Great to know. Many thanks, Per. Your guides have been my lifelines, as well.

 

[DrKissinger1]

Oh, something else. I think it mentions in the manual that targeted shots add to the chance to score a critical hit. Does anyone know what this increase is?

 

[Per]

They use different tables with different results, e.g. aiming for the leg won't result in blindness and aiming for the chest will only result in damage multipliers/no armour. Aiming for the eyes will have a larger chance of resulting in instant death/no armour/large multipliers, it's difficult to say what kind of modifier that would be equivalent to.

Also:

edityourpost

 

[Kanhef]

Like many people, I've wondered what exactly the critical hit tables are, and been surprised that no one seems to have figured it out. The Bible section on brahmin is talking about PNP, so I don't know if it's the same in the computer game. So I've started experimenting [FO1] a bit with a 20% base critical chance (10 luck + finesse) and the LE BB gun. I need the gun to determine damage multipliers, since two different criticals can display the same message. Not sure how well it will work on the tougher critters, though.

One interesting discovery I don't recall seeing mentioned anywhere else: Finesse effectively adds +25 DR to all of your shots. Since armor-bypassing criticals ignore DR, they do the same amount of damage for characters with and without finesse.

I currently only have data on rats and radscorpions; it's a bit tedious to make a statistically significant number of shots at each of the eight targeted locations. There isn't much surprising qualitatively, though it is possible to get instant kills without the Better Criticals perk. Targeted shots have a critical chance bonus: about 25% for legs, 35% for arms, 40% for groin, 45% for head, and 60% for eyes. These may vary by species; the specific criticals are quite different. Effects including crippled limbs, blindness, knockdown, knock unconscious, bypass armor, and instant death occur in fairly predictable locations; I've seen damage multipliers of 1.5, 2, 3, and 4.

I'll probably make a nice-looking document out of the raw data when I get a few more creatures done. Once I have the 'normal' critical hit tables, I'll try to find out exactly what the Better Criticals perk does.

 

[ocelot]

When you get a critical hit it rolls a d100 on a table from 1-100, with results that depend on creature type and hit location (the tables for brahmin can be found in the Fallout Bible). Better Criticals adds 20 to the roll, improving criticals overall and more importantly unlocking instant kills above 100. It's one of the best perks.

What does rolling a d100 mean? Also, what does unlocking instant kills above 100 mean? I know Better Criticals facilitates insta-death criticals and is therefore a really good perk, but I couldnt really understand this explanation.

The only things I feel pretty certain of is that the maximum damage multiplier a critical can give you is 4. The Red Ryder LE is indeed a good weapon to test this with. I've done exactly 100 hitpoints of damage at times, without Bonus Ranged Damage or Living Anatomy, but never more, that's probably settled. Also it's felt good to get a 120hp critical with the .223 Pistol because you know the odds were really low. =)

EDIT: oh, apparently you're not supposed to spell 'because' see you zee.

 

[Per]

One interesting discovery I don't recall seeing mentioned anywhere else: Finesse effectively adds +25 DR to all of your shots. Since armor-bypassing criticals ignore DR, they do the same amount of damage for characters with and without finesse.

Isn't that a bit like saying an über-sniper build gives enemies +10,000 HP, since you'll be getting insta-kills anyway, and anyone else can get that too once in a while?

There isn't much surprising qualitatively, though it is possible to get instant kills without the Better Criticals perk.

I can't recall ever getting that, though of course it would depend on the tables. Maybe there aren't enough heated rat battles that you'd be likely to notice.

Once I have the 'normal' critical hit tables, I'll try to find out exactly what the Better Criticals perk does.

There was someone named Mossgerila (or something like that) on the Gamespot/Gamefaqs Fallout forum that posted a lot there about what traits and perks really do numerically. I always wanted to ask if he'd come up with that looking at the engine, but I never got around to trying to contact him. And now even his posts are gone, it seems.

What does rolling a d100 mean?

Wikipedia. There didn't seem to be a less unwieldy way of saying it.

Also, what does unlocking instant kills above 100 mean?

That the insta-kill entries in the critical tables are found above 100 where you need a bonus to reach, though this is evidently not so certain.

 

[WraithUV]

That the insta-kill entries in the critical tables are found above 100 where you need a bonus to reach, though this is evidently not so certain.

It would appear I can confirm this, as during my current game, I just shot a Mole Rat. I have awareness, but not yet Better Criticals, and when I checked the rat had 26 HP.

I did a targeted shot to the eyes, and got the message:
"Mole Rat was critically hit in the eyes for 18 hit points, summoning this creature to the great ratcatcher in the sky."

Ergo, instant death result --though of course it's also possible that a targeted shot also adds to the critical result roll, not just the critical chance roll, but I figured I'd mention it for whatever it's worth.

-Wraith

 

[Sorrow]

I have never got an instant-kill critical on anything other than a rat.

 

[toudi_sk]

play someone WM2 mod? I make not rare criticals hits in the eyes for NO damage and Alien Queen go down immediately - one shot/ one kill

(Alien Queen have sure more HP than 200)

 

[ocelot]

Yeah, it seems that rats are the only type of critter that you can frequently get insta-death criticals even without Better Criticals. Frankly, I think it's another bug. It makes all types of rat much less dangerous than they should be. Take a Mutated Mole Rat with 72hp. That's trouble to a young character. But with a single critical punch to the eyes you can rake in the XP quite easily. Also, I think it's possible to get such a critical on a floater without the Perk, if you hit them with a nasty critical to the Float Sac. It's pretty rare tho, and it's been a long time.

 

[toudi_sk]

this text is NOT fake

 

[fallout ranger]

I've had the very same one. I get other wierd messages with the aliens/Wanamingos too. Like three hits for an average of 15hps each kills it. Strange.

 

[Kanhef]

It is hard to make killing shots on floaters and centaurs. At least when aiming at the head or eyes; the tables vary significantly between critter types. The weaknesses of such unnatural creatures may be in different places than we expect from human and normal animal physiology. For example, about 20% of groin-shot criticals on rats are instant kills, 45% do double damage, bypassing armor, and the rest do 1.5x damage. In radscorpions, the criticals are 1.5x damage (50%), 2x damage (20%), or 2x damage and knock unconscious (30%). I'll try to start grinding on floaters next, and see what I come up with.

 

[ocelot]

It is hard to make killing shots on floaters and centaurs. At least when aiming at the head or eyes; the tables vary significantly between critter types. The weaknesses of such unnatural creatures may be in different places than we expect from human and normal animal physiology. For example, about 20% of groin-shot criticals on rats are instant kills, 45% do double damage, bypassing armor, and the rest do 1.5x damage. In radscorpions, the criticals are 1.5x damage (50%), 2x damage (20%), or 2x damage and knock unconscious (30%). I'll try to start grinding on floaters next, and see what I come up with.

I don't find Centaurs to be hard to get one-shot kills on. But floaters, yes. If you're gonna experiment thoroughly, I'm interested in what you find out about float-sac hits especially, because I'm almost sure I remember getting the occasional insta-death critical that way, without Better Criticals. Btw, you seem to state that 2x damage is the highest possible against radscorpions and rats. While I'm not disagreeing offhand, such a claim is surprising. I do specifically remember going 4x damage several times, though I never took note of what kind of critter it was against. So if you're correct, some types of critter are far more susceptible to extreme critical damage than others.

 

[Kyuu]

Btw, you seem to state that 2x damage is the highest possible against radscorpions and rats. While I'm not disagreeing offhand, such a claim is surprising. I do specifically remember going 4x damage several times, though I never took note of what kind of critter it was against.

Actually, he was only talking about the damage multipliers for criticals to the groin on rats, and to the brain (same slot as the groin on most critters) on radscorps. It's quite possible, and even likely, that other areas can get bigger critical damage multipliers.

 

[Kanhef]

Btw, you seem to state that 2x damage is the highest possible against radscorpions and rats. While I'm not disagreeing offhand, such a claim is surprising. I do specifically remember going 4x damage several times, though I never took note of what kind of critter it was against. So if you're correct, some types of critter are far more susceptible to extreme critical damage than others.

That was just for that specific location. There are 4x multipliers against radscorpion eyes, for example. However, it may be that some of the better criticals aren't possible on certain critters. The Master, for example, seems quite resistant to critical hits.

 

[ocelot]

That was just for that specific location. There are 4x multipliers against radscorpion eyes, for example. However, it may be that some of the better criticals aren't possible on certain critters. The Master, for example, seems quite resistant to critical hits.

Yeah, I bet they made it that way on purpose, to make sure one cannot end the final battle too quickly with a lucky critical.

 

[ocelot]

Hey, anyone know what the best modifier for unaimed shots/bursts is, excluding insta-kill criticals introduced by Better Criticals?