Want to know how ballistics are handled in AAPG? How much damage bullets do at long range? How much you should lead a target? Here are the answers you're looking for!

This is a guide for the PC version of the game! PS4 mechanics will differ in some ways I cannot test.

<aside> ⚠ī¸ IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

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This weapon mechanics guide was originally made by BCPull on steam and was last updated by him on the 6th of September 2016. This is why I saw the opportunity to retest some of the info from back then to see if things have changed and to update it. Most of the texts are written by him and the community can be thankful to have had such an insightful person take so much time out of their day!

Sadly, I am not as proficient as he was and cannot actually pull any of this info from the game files. The updated info has therefore been tested "by hand" through many hours of manual tests.

For this, I also wanna say a huge thanks to the lovely Unic0rnen for having the patience to endure all these tests. As a compensation, she got to shoot me a few dozen times :D

A thank you also goes out to @ANDR!C0 on the AA discord for supplying the weapon config files, which allowed me to update this article with the actual values added in version 2 of this article.

For version 3 of this article, a member of the AGS development team was willing to provide feedback and their valuable insight on the contents of this guide to further improve it. I'm honored by the offer to help me out with their knowledge and extremely grateful for this commitment to the community! Thank you!

Have fun reading! motivated2die (motivated#5559 on Discord)

<aside> ℹī¸ Updates to this article V3.3: 26.01.2022 - VIP health and precise hitbox area visuals added under item 1 V3.2: 20.01.2022 - new bullet drop visualizations for pistols under item 3 ****V3.1: 30.09.2021 - [Dev]Kartigan mentioned in a Server Hop how shotguns are implemented ****V3: 05.08.2021 - most of the article is now validated thanks to generous help by a member of the AGS dev team, some interesting info has been added to the mix ****V2: 25.06.2021 - fully updated weapon config values from the game files, all charts updated accordingly, new full TTK charts ****V1.3: 14.06.2021 - revised fire rate and TTK charts for new M16 values V1.2: 05.03.2021 - added stats for the MP7 under item 10 and 12, added time to kill charts, corrected some rate of fire stats ****V1.1: 02.03.2021 - made the diagrams interactive V1: 01.03.2021 - original version

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CONTENTS

https://embed.notionlytics.com/s/YVVWNVMxVldRMVp3WkdzNGRtaFFVMVJaTVhnPQ==

https://timelinetool.app/notion/event/U134RQB7SMYYV830

A little cross-promotion

Over the last year I have spent a lot of time trying to make quality videos exploring and explaining different mechanics of AAPG. These videos include visual comparisons between what a player sees and how the spectator view or demo rec recording perceive it, low vs high ping effects, single fire comparisons and netcode analyses.

You can find a playlist of these videos here:

INFORMATIONAL RESOURCES for Americas Army Proving Grounds

And if you would like to get some more information on these topics, just head to this subpage of the article to get a link and breakdown of all the most interesting talking points of the videos:

AAPG informational video resources

Introduction and Contents

<aside> 💡 This guide mainly applies to the PC version of America's Army: Proving Grounds. The recoil and damage stats will differ a bit on the PS4 version. But many of the underlying mechanics will still be quite similar, so consider to keep reading even if you are playing on the PS4! 🙂

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Welcome! This is a comprehensive look at most of the core weapon mechanics in America's Army: Proving Grounds. If you've ever wanted to get into the nitty-gritty details of how everything works, this is the place to look. We'll cover every aspect of weapon handling from the moment you spawn in to the moment your bullet lands.

  1. Where you hit matters: Health and damage zones Getting hit in the head hurts much more than getting shot in the leg. We'll break down just how much more.
  2. Bleeding out: How bleed damage works Everything deals a combination of "instant" damage and "bleed" damage. We'll cover the difference and why bandaging up is a good idea.
  3. Long range 101: Bullet drop and leading targets Which aspects of bullet ballistics are modeled in the game? How much do bullets drop? Where should you aim?
  4. **Long range 201: Damage falloff (or, why that guy isn't dead already) **Bullets lose energy over distance. How does the game handle this? What does it mean for gameplay and weapon balance?
  5. Weapon Handling Basics: Accuracy, Sway, and Recoil, low health penalties, stamina: the out-of-breath penalties Practically every action you take can tie in to how your weapon handles. Are you standing, crouching, or prone? Have you been running recently and need to catch your breath? How much damage have you taken? It all plays a role.
  6. Low health and stamina penalties See, how having a low health can affect you, and how running makes your character tired over time.
  7. Bullet penetration and shots through walls Only some walls are bulletproof and some guns put bullets through them better than others. Learn how the game handles this very important mechanic.