Karma from head shots?

[Bogdanovici]

Yep.Had anyone noticed?Or is just me?I gain karma by killing certain enemies with one single shot in the head :laugh: .Even when i was sniping the heads of some feral ghouls ,who are not part of some faction, i got karma.So why is this happening,and in favor of what faction i get that karma?Do i get karma because i kill the enemies in a fast and free of pain way ,without even seeing me? :laugh:

[revelationjp]

karma is your personal good or evil, not associated with any faction. thus killing feral gouls is a "good" act, while killing innocent townspeople is "evil".

[Bogdanovici]

karma is your personal good or evil, not associated with any faction. thus killing feral gouls is a "good" act, while killing innocent townspeople is "evil".

Well.... i dont think so.I had just made a little experiment: i attacked a bunch of powder ganger in 2 ways:

1.I just attacked them head on in close combat.After i killed them i got no karma ,actually it noticed me that the powder ganagers vilified me.

2.I killed them from distance with my sniper, right in the head.And i got karma, the notice "You got Karma" appeared.

[revelationjp]

Powder gangers are escaped convicts, so thier being evil alignment isn't so surpriseing. I've recieved good karma for killing them in different ways. I'e head shoted them, open sights, vats, free fire, sometimes i get karma sometimes not. I think what you're seeing is coincidence. I may be wrong though.If someone can verify one way or the other i'd apprciate it. I just don't see how (or why for that matter) karma would be awarded for head shots over any otehr way. But karma IS verifiably independent of faction. You don't "get Karma" with the gangers, you lose (or gain) reputation with them, but your karma level is independent of that. It's you own Good v. Evil level. You can be good and still have a good rep with the legion, or evil and be liked by the NCR. You can be hated in goodsprings, but be a good person.

[Bogdanovici]

I got really interested in this and i tried to do a more accurate experiment: I found a spot with 2 powder gangers,saved the game and start killing them in different ways:

1.Attacked them head on with power fist ,i've tried it 5-6 times,results: 100% of the time no karma gaining.

2.Attacked them head on with assault carabine,5-6 times,results:100% of the time no karma gaining.

3.Attacked them head on with assault carabine using vats aiming at the head,results 100% of the time no karma gaining.

4.Attacked them from distance while sneaking, from the first 2 tries i've observed that i get karma while i'm completely hidden ,also noticed that i get karma regardless of what part of the body i hit if i kill him in one shot.

5.Tried 4 again but this time waiting to be completely hidden and aiming different body parts,i've tried over 8-9 times,results:100% of the time i got karma.

Also tried it on animals/insects ,results: no karma gaining or losing regardless of the way i kill them(hidden or not).

Also tried it on civilians like gamblers,results: losing karma regardless of the way i kill them(hidden or not).

Also tried it on friendly factions,results: no karma gaining or losing regardless of the way i kill them.

Conclusion it appears you can gain karma by killing enemy humanoids(humans,ghouls,super mutants etc) with one single shot while sneaking,and you are completely hidden.

[csgators]

I got really interested in this and i tried to do a more accurate experiment: I found a spot with 2 powder gangers,saved the game and start killing them in different ways:

1.Attacked them head on with power fist ,i've tried it 5-6 times,results: 100% of the time no karma gaining.

2.Attacked them head on with assault carabine,5-6 times,results:100% of the time no karma gaining.

3.Attacked them head on with assault carabine using vats aiming at the head,results 100% of the time no karma gaining.

4.Attacked them from distance while sneaking, from the first 2 tries i've observed that i get karma while i'm completely hidden ,also noticed that i get karma regardless of what part of the body i hit if i kill him in one shot.

5.Tried 4 again but this time waiting to be completely hidden and aiming different body parts,i've tried over 8-9 times,results:100% of the time i got karma.

Also tried it on animals/insects ,results: no karma gaining or losing regardless of the way i kill them(hidden or not).

Also tried it on civilians like gamblers,results: losing karma regardless of the way i kill them(hidden or not).

Also tried it on friendly factions,results: no karma gaining or losing regardless of the way i kill them.

Conclusion it appears you can gain karma by killing enemy humanoids(humans,ghouls,super mutants etc) with one single shot while sneaking,and you are completely hidden.

 

This fits with what I have observed, I have gotten karma from sneak head shots against ghouls and powders, but I don't get why. Very strange decision by Obsidian (unless its a bug).

[revelationjp]

I posted this earlier, but it disappeared for some reason... anyway, wanted to let you know I duplicated your experiment, (trust but verify and all that) and to my surprise duplicated your results perfectly. I don't know why, but it definately appears to be a game mechanic, for whatever reason.

[erszebet]

Yeah, it seems if you attack and kill evil characters unprovoked you get good karma.

 

Which makes no sense to me, an unprovoked attack is an unprovoked attack, doesn't matter how nice the person you just murdered is :P

[csgators]

Yep, I confirmed this tonight as well, a surprise one shot kill gains karma while a straight up fight doesn't. Very peculiar.

[Liquidacid23]

a bug maybe because when I assaulted the powder ganger in the prison earlier I was getting the +karma at random while straight up shotgunning groups of them .. some of them even shot me first then I had to shoot them 2 or 3 times in the arms and legs for the kill and I still got a +karma message.. not on everyone tho seemingly at random