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Subject: How do spartans shoot their guns accurately

Reach for Halo!

I woke up this morning, and I have my Halo reach CQC spartan with his assault rifle in hand sitting on my nightstand. I realized that the Mjolnr armor is made of metal. The assault rifle is also made of metal. That got me thinking on how a spartan fires a gun accurately in Halo.

When someone fires a gun in RL the fleshy shoulder absorbs the impact of the recoil of the gun. Thus allowing the shooter to be more accurate by lessening the recoil plus not allowing the gun to jump of the shoulder.

In Halo there is nothing but metal to cushion the impact. (Which it does not.) That being said, in order for the gun to fire accurately in Halo, the spartan would have to rely solely on his hands to grip the gun, and not place it on his shoulder because it would move every time the gun fires. (b/c it is metal on metal) That would be very hard to do, not to mention impractical for a spartan to fire from that position.

tl;dr Because metal on metal does not cushion the impact of a rifle, how does a spartan accurately control the rifle he is firing.

  • 08.04.2011 9:20 AM PDT
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They have enough strength and the strength of the suit allows them to hold the gun completely still.

  • 08.04.2011 9:22 AM PDT

Reach for Halo!


Posted by: The Final Few
They have enough strength and the strength of the suit allows them to hold the gun completely still.

Then why even place it on their shoulder?
Why not link the gun to their helmet sights and fire from the hip?

  • 08.04.2011 9:23 AM PDT

"Die? Didn't you know? Spartans never die." - Kurt-051's last words.


Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

Posted by: The Final Few
They have enough strength and the strength of the suit allows them to hold the gun completely still.

Then why even place it on their shoulder?
Why not link the gun to their helmet sights and fire from the hip?

They do.

  • 08.04.2011 9:28 AM PDT

Reach for Halo!


Posted by: Ultra Force

Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

Posted by: The Final Few
They have enough strength and the strength of the suit allows them to hold the gun completely still.

Then why even place it on their shoulder?
Why not link the gun to their helmet sights and fire from the hip?

They do.


not for ar, br, dmr, sniper, spartan laser, shotty. I know they did it in the books, and in the last cutscene on reach, but why not in game. It makes no sense to do it the way they do

  • 08.04.2011 9:34 AM PDT

NightPhoenix443
"True Honor lies in the heart of the sword; not the heart of the man"

The HUD(Heads up display), standard issue to every soldier and Spartan it's a pretty simple system.

  • 08.04.2011 9:36 AM PDT

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

Because it's still not accurate.

  • 08.04.2011 9:36 AM PDT
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I killed him in the face!


Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

Posted by: Ultra Force

Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

Posted by: The Final Few
They have enough strength and the strength of the suit allows them to hold the gun completely still.

Then why even place it on their shoulder?
Why not link the gun to their helmet sights and fire from the hip?

They do.


not for ar, br, dmr, sniper, spartan laser, shotty. I know they did it in the books, and in the last cutscene on reach, but why not in game. It makes no sense to do it the way they do


When was the last time you played Halo?! You always have your HUD on...

  • 08.04.2011 9:38 AM PDT

NightPhoenix443
"True Honor lies in the heart of the sword; not the heart of the man"


Posted by: mcheifshawn
The HUD(Heads up display), standard issue to every soldier and Spartan it's a pretty simple system.
The entire MJONIR power armor is not completely metal if you look at the stuff in between it's a cushioned area for easy movement and weapon holding.

  • 08.04.2011 9:39 AM PDT

rifle-butt cushions,typically made of rubber which helps the rifle stay in place.. /thread

  • 08.04.2011 9:39 AM PDT
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GT: Greg Is So Hot

Halo's gameplay is effectively a blood-relative of the bygone Quake 3/Unreal Tournament '99 era shooter. They embraced the "form follows function" philosophy. When you play Halo, do you feel like an eight foot tall, two ton cyborg super soldier? Of course not. You feel like a floating Steadicam with a gun strapped to it- and that feeling is by design.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, OP, don't read too far into this sort of thing. Just take the game at face value and enjoy yourself.

[Edited on 08.04.2011 9:46 AM PDT]

  • 08.04.2011 9:45 AM PDT
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I understand nothing because my life is a conspiracy.

It's the future.

  • 08.04.2011 9:46 AM PDT
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pure arm work. You know how strong spartans are. That's all you need to know.

  • 08.04.2011 9:47 AM PDT

I'm Quadrophenic...


____________(˜˜˜||˜˜˜˜||˜˜˜˜˜)_∏______
l | --------____.`=====.-.~:________\___|================[oo]
|_|||___/___/_/~```|_|_|_|``(o)----------<)

Well you're making this assumption based on the fact that the gun actually is metal on metal, it is in a contact based sense, but the way you're question is thought out that's not all we can look at. Scenario: the gun is fired with the armor on, this creates an impact which creates a shock wave that comes from the explosion of the bullet transferring to the gun and, because the Spartan is holding the gun with his hands, his hands an anything else the gun is touching (armor). so now we look at the human body, basically a large extremely complex gyroscope and compensator. we compensate for motion very very well with our joints and muscles etc. But the shock of a bullet being fired in a compressed chamber is a lot so that con't account for all of it. So now we look at the armor, hard metal so this has to absorb something (however minute) and then the energy would get passed on to whatever it is touching, much like someone feeling the shock of a baseball against a bat. So now we look at what is touching the armor, the spartan. see the shock still goes into the human, even though the armor's there, its simply an energy transfer.

This same concept can be applied to the fact that even though high end bullet proof vest can take the explosion of a frag grenade literally in contact with the vest, any person wearing that vest's inside would me turned to "soup" because the shock wave from the explosion still enters their body.

Gotta love physics.

[Edited on 08.04.2011 9:57 AM PDT]

  • 08.04.2011 9:50 AM PDT

Reach for Halo!


Posted by: shadow alfa92

Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

Posted by: Ultra Force

Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

Posted by: The Final Few
They have enough strength and the strength of the suit allows them to hold the gun completely still.

Then why even place it on their shoulder?
Why not link the gun to their helmet sights and fire from the hip?

They do.


not for ar, br, dmr, sniper, spartan laser, shotty. I know they did it in the books, and in the last cutscene on reach, but why not in game. It makes no sense to do it the way they do


When was the last time you played Halo?! You always have your HUD on...


What i am saying is that with the HUD on and gun linked to it, why not just fire from the hip instead of making the shot harder by firing from the shoulder. BTW that rubber butt stop would do nothing. Sorry to say.

  • 08.04.2011 9:52 AM PDT


Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

What i am saying is that with the HUD on and gun linked to it, why not just fire from the hip instead of making the shot harder by firing from the shoulder. BTW that rubber butt stop would do nothing. Sorry to say.


The Assault Rifle doesn't even have iron sights.
You always fire from the hip.

  • 08.04.2011 10:07 AM PDT


Posted by: BlueRuby2k10

Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

What i am saying is that with the HUD on and gun linked to it, why not just fire from the hip instead of making the shot harder by firing from the shoulder. BTW that rubber butt stop would do nothing. Sorry to say.


The Assault Rifle doesn't even have iron sights.
You always fire from the hip.


Actually, the assault rifle has iron sights that can pop up apparently.

Either way, firing from the hip (regardless of having a crosshair due to neural implant or hud) provides little control of the gun. With do you think the only times you see somebody firing from the hip is when they literally don't have to aim, or want to spray and area.

  • 08.04.2011 10:35 AM PDT

Weapon of Oppression


Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron

Posted by: BlueRuby2k10

Posted by: SAM DA COOL MAN

What i am saying is that with the HUD on and gun linked to it, why not just fire from the hip instead of making the shot harder by firing from the shoulder. BTW that rubber butt stop would do nothing. Sorry to say.


The Assault Rifle doesn't even have iron sights.
You always fire from the hip.


Actually, the assault rifle has iron sights that can pop up apparently.

Either way, firing from the hip (regardless of having a crosshair due to neural implant or hud) provides little control of the gun. With do you think the only times you see somebody firing from the hip is when they literally don't have to aim, or want to spray and area.


Since when ? I doubt that the assault rifle has pop up sights, since it has never been proven in canon or anything.

And the spartan would be able to handle the gun due to recoil dampening systems integrated into the suit.
Plus being able to lift double your body weight while weighting half a ton helps too.

  • 08.04.2011 10:56 AM PDT

Actually, Although not seen during gameplay, the MA5C has concealed iron sights used by UNSC servicemen with the improper equipment to up-link a targeting reticule to the user's neural interface. Source is Contact Harvest.(From halopedia)

How much firing experience do you two have? Regardless of sights(or lack of them) firing from the shoulder produces greater accuracy.

  • 08.04.2011 11:14 AM PDT

The rubberized butts and HUD uplinks are the main reason but another reason why they are so accurate is ...

Short Controlled Bursts :P

  • 08.04.2011 11:48 AM PDT

Fear the Flight of the Falcon!

If you pay close attention, you can tell that the SPARTANs hold their guns to the soft, flexible part of their armor suits. The shoulders are't completely covered in the metal.

  • 08.04.2011 11:51 AM PDT

A question is, why would a gun firing with it pressed against a metal surface be so much worse then held against a soft surface?

  • 08.04.2011 11:52 AM PDT

Reach for Halo!

reduce the recoil, keep the weapon on target quicker and faster

Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
A question is, why would a gun firing with it pressed against a metal surface be so much worse then held against a soft surface?

  • 08.04.2011 11:55 AM PDT


Posted by: dazeDnConfuz3ed
rifle-butt cushions,typically made of rubber which helps the rifle stay in place.. /thread


And the fact that the space in between the shoulder pad and the neck is a body glove and not metal.

  • 08.04.2011 11:56 AM PDT

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Posted by: Cmdr DaeFaron
A question is, why would a gun firing with it pressed against a metal surface be so much worse then held against a soft surface?


It's all about physics. Impulse, specifically. Because a soft surface gives, the time period which the force of recoil is dispersed is longer, allowing for the force to be dispersed over a period of time longer for soft surfaces than hard ones, making the impulse (change in momentum) felt at any point in time less.

Regardless, the Spartans trained without their armor for years. Could just be habit. And the weapons are designed to be held against the shoulder. Firing from the hip would slow reloading, could block ejection ports, and may make a larger profile.

Beyond that, it is easy to mentally visualize where you are aiming without having to check your sights if the weapon is shoulder-mounted. If a Spartan couldn't shoot a target without the use of a smart-linked scope, would you call them super soldiers?

  • 08.04.2011 11:58 AM PDT

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