Iron sights all the way! Even on your rifles! The best WWII snipers never used scopes!

Nothing says desperate "am I going to hit him?" moment like a sight that requires skill that you may not have.

And wrapping the rifle in bandages and rags! Who wants to be a wasteland hero that is clean cut?

Over, under sights, the scope sit on a ring slightly raised above the actual iron sight.

Http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:DFJOdJin3pYFFM:http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a203/GRBSD/Husqvarna-HoldenIronsighter_0789a.jpg&t=1

As for doing it in game a toggle would work, setting 1 you look threw the scope, setting 2 you look threw the lower ring at the sights.

Yeah, I know. I said most. As in most, but not all. There's also offset scopes too, but that's not the point.

Sniper rifles are a funny thing... especially when you look at them from around the WW2 era to now. Generally, in the 40's when the US and GB started fielding snipers, it was more out of necessity than planning. And as such, what was usually issued was nothing more than standard hunting rifles, or military issue battle rifles. Accurate marksmanship is such a small part of a snipers game that it really didn't matter too much, especially in the WW2 European theater, whether they had scopes or not. However, it is important to keep in mind the other half of a snipers job... and the part that takes up 90% of their time - recon and observation. It's difficult to do this without glass, and as such MOST snipers in WW2 were issued at least a spotting scope, and a scoped rifle. Some had bino's, etc.

If someone didn't have a scope, it's because rifle scopes weren't exactly a dime a dozen like they are now. Many of the snipers who were using the scopes didn't even understand how to use them until the official schools were set up to properly train their unit commanders, and the troops themselves.

The most notable sniper who used iron sights was a guy named Simo Hayha, and it's important to note that a few hundred of his kills were made with a 9mm submachine gun. Also, that time of year there isn't a long daylight period there... sniper craft is more about field skills than shooting, so much of the time shooting is secondary.

That being said, while I can hit a E type target at 500m with iron sights on an M16A2, I would have a hard time finding a human target at that distance without magnified optics. Optics are used for a reason, because there is a point where your eyes and irons simply won't allow you to observe the target - which is important if you mean to shoot it.

I'll take a 5-25, or even a fixed 10x any day of the week over irons. I can see - and shoot - much farther with it... especially on moving targets, and partially concealed, non-skylined targets that might be wearing camo or other clothing that blends in with the AO. Novice shooters often shoot leaps and bounds better with magnified optics, because they are much more precise. Use the best tools available, and all. Anyway....

That being said - the scopes in FO3 svcked, and I'm glad they are using different reticles in at least a few of the rifles. One of the first mods I installed was new reticles. The vanilla ones are HORRIBLE, since much of the time you couldn't even see the cross hairs.

Because, as .46ACP said, the non-scope iron sights in Borderlands blew chunks. If a gun in that game didn't have a scope, I never bothered trying to aim it - it just made shooting worse.


(Which is why I hope the various rumors/comments I've seen about FO:NV having an option to aim like FO3 did are true - I have no desire for this "iron sights" junk. )

edit: oh, and while I don't have nearly the firearms experience of some of the other posters, I have used guns IRL - Boy Scouts, target shooting, the rifle club in undergrad, etc. I don't really feel the need for "realistic" sights in my video games. :shrug:

I personally find that if the iron sights are good, ala COD, I'll prefer to use them. I never shoot from the hip irl so it seems more intuitive to me. But if the other sighting mechanisms in the game work better in game terms, then I use those instead. In FO3, i mostly used VATS for any close work (I dissuade myself with the argument that this allow my "character" to do the shooting, even though I know it's a HUGE advantage with the DR modifier) or scoped weapons for long range stuff because the sighting mechanisms left a lot to be desired. In other games, it's different. Most times I "sight in" with slow fire accurate weapons and "spray'n'pray" with high ROF weapons and shotties. But it really depends on the game and the game mechanics since I'm trying to accomplish my game objectives, not trying to practice my real life weapons skills. I go to the range for that.

I'm pretty sure the options are:

1. True iron sights: aiming down the sights, no recticle, some zoom depending on the gun.

2. Semi-iron sights: gun brought up and centered but slightly low, with recticle remaining and some zoom depending on the gun. This was what we saw in the E3 videos when people were complaining that the gun was too low and the recticle was still showing. This is also pretty close to FO3 except that the gun model moves instead of staying put off to the right.

Personally, I'm not too fussed about iron sights, except that it was a little odd in FO3 that there was a 3rd-person animation for aiming but no 1st-person one.

I kind of like the semi-iron sights--you get the new aiming animation, but the gun isn't blocking half of the screen and you still have the recticle turning red to confirm that you have an enemy (rather than an ally) in your sights. I don't know yet which option I'll use until I've tried them both.

the scopes i buy have a diamond shape piece of metal that is attached under the scope so when you put it on you can look under the scope and use iron sights

As long as I can actualy zoom in with a scope I'll be happy