burst fire modes in Rainbow Six Siege. Where did the idea for a burst mode originate and

how is it realised in the game? Are there any hidden advantages to using the burst fire

mode as opposed to firing controlled bursts in full auto?

All very valid questions, I think and

many thanks to Discord user Snaiiks for suggesting the topic over on Prodigio Pete's server!

And with that, let's get to it!

As always, the video is divided into several

chapters and you can find the relevant time stamps in the comments section below.

Up first, it's time for a brief history lesson. The three round burst fire mode was

initially created for the M16A2, which was originally requested and then first adopted

by the US Marine Corps in the early 1980's. This development was in response to the experiences

of the Marine Corps in the jungle warfare of Vietnam where a frequently cited statistic

claims that US troops fired around 50,000 rounds of .223 ammunition for each confirmed

enemy killed. Some sources will even claim that up to 200,000 bullets were expended per kill.

Unsurprisingly, this was seen as rather inefficient.

Of course, a problem like this could have been solved by providing troops with more

training and guidance to ensure greater discipline when engaging or suppressing targets. Rather

than spend additional time, effort and money on preparing troops for combat under stressful

conditions though, it was deemed easier and cheaper to simply remove the fully automatic

fire mode from infantrymen's rifles and replace it with a 3-round burst instead. So

the philosophy was to simply take the “spray” out of “spray'n pray”.

Many modern firearms nowadays are fitted with a 4-position fire selector switch that will

include safe, single fire, burst fire and full auto, thereby providing the user with

the choice of switching to “full auto” when deemed necessary and these are the types

of weapons we see in Rainbow Six Siege. In total, there are 11 weapons in the game as of “Operation Health”

that have a discrete burst fire setting; 6 assault rifles and 5 sub-machineguns.

All of the weapons, represented in the game,

that feature a burst mode will also always have a full auto mode. So why would anyone

limit themselves to 2 or 3 shots per trigger pull, when you can just as easily use the full

auto mode instead?

It looks like we might need to conduct some experiments!

But before we get into the tests I want to

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And with that, on to the experiments! The first thing that comes to mind in terms

of in-game balancing is that maybe choosing the burst mode will offer improved recoil

stats compared to manually limiting your bursts in full auto mode. This is easily tested by

firing a sample of bursts at a blank wall and then comparing the impact pattern with

a set of manual bursts in full auto. As you can see, the two patterns are virtually identical

with the exception of one or two outliers that may have occurred because I accidentally

fired off 4 rounds instead of 3. The bottom line is that there is no difference in the amount of recoil.

Hmmm, disappointing. But what about the aim reset time after firing,

is that any different? Let's take a quick moment to compare!

So as you saw on the left hand side, we have controlled full auto bursts

and on the right hand side, we have the burst mode.

And apart form the couple of bursts on the left hand side where I might have fired off 4 rounds

They all look pretty similar to me. Let's just confirm that by slowing things down a bit.

And one more time.

Well I think that's quite conclusive.

The point of aim reset is exactly the same as long as, of course, you fire the same amount of bullets.

And that means that the only benefits of using the burst mode in Rainbow Six Siege are exactly

the same as those of using it in real life. It allows operators to conserve ammo with

controlled bursts of fire without having to concentrate on releasing the trigger every time.

Conserving ammo might not be a very important factor in the game but maybe you won't have to

reload as frequently which means that you are less vulnerable to being pushed by a sudden

counterattack. But even more important than this is the question

of whether or not the burst fire mode can help you to land more shots on target quicker

compared to going full auto or bursting manually. This, I think is a relatively personal factor

and may vary from player to player depending on the amount of practice you've had in

managing recoil in the game in general and with specific weapons. I have seen some comments

by players that like to use the burst mode because it forces them to pick their shots

and has helped to increase their accuracy. Whether or not this could apply to you is

something that only you can find out by trying the mode out for yourself.

But before you rush off to give the burst mode a go on your favourite weapon, there

are a few other questions to consider! For instance, is a single burst enough to take

out an opponent and which muzzle attachment works best when using this mode with each

of the 11 weapons? There's only one way to find out, we need

further experiments and some good old-fashioned number crunching. And before you start panicking,

don't worry, there'll only be a few numbers, it will be ok. I promise.

Let's start off by examining each gun's capability to take down an opponent in a single

burst. If we assume that you are engaging your target at close range, thereby doing

max damage and each shot hits the torso or arms of the enemy: the general rule of thumb

is that the assault rifles can down an opponent in one burst and the sub-machineguns cannot.

The exceptions here are the AR33 and suppressed F2, which are not quite powerful enough and

the unsuppressed UMP45 which is. But all of these stats are for level 1 armour opponents

without rook plates. As soon as you come up against a more heavily armoured opponent, your

chances of success with a single burst start to decline and you will usually need at least

two full bursts to land and in some cases even three or more.

The takeaway here is that you should always assume that you will need more than one burst

and considering that the Vector's damage per shot is so low and the gun only fires

in 2 round bursts, I would almost say that it's worth treating the Vector's burst

mode like a more powerful single fire mode. And now let's find out which muzzle attachment

is the best when using the burst fire mode. I tested all muzzle adapters (apart from the

extended barrel and suppressor since they don't affect recoil) for all of the 11 guns

that have a burst fire option and the results are subtle but conclusive. Unsurprisingly,

no attachment is consistently the worst option with the compensator performing slightly better,

flash hider a little better still and best of all is still the good old muzzle brake.

These results are valid for all of the guns with the exception of the Type-89. With this

gun, the three round burst using the 4 different muzzle options always produced pretty much

exactly the same outcome… this was somewhat surprising and I wonder if maybe a bug is

preventing the muzzle attachments from adding any benefits to the Type-89's recoil behaviour.

But that's something that needs further testing before I can confirm it for sure,

maybe the differences are just very, very subtle.

But there we have it. The two and three round bursts in Rainbow Six Siege do not add any

benefits in terms of the in game mechanics and I would almost say that for most players,

it's worth practicing a little bit to be able to manage recoil and to exercise some

trigger discipline in full auto mode rather than relying on the burst. Most of the time,

a single burst will not be enough to take down an enemy, so you will need to get use

to tracking an opponent and firing off multiple aimed bursts anyway, which in the end requires

pretty much the same skill as tracking an enemy while hosing them down full auto.

But having said that, theoretical analysis can only take you so far and I would strongly

encourage you to maybe spend some time using the burst mode, to see if it works for you.

If you do use bursts, I can only recommend that you attach the muzzle brake to give yourself

the best possible recoil pattern. And that's it. I would love to hear about

your experiences with this feature in the game! Leave a comment below and let me know

if you have used the burst mode in the past and what your thoughts about its usefulness

are. As always, I hope you enjoyed the video and

I will see you in the next episode! And hey, if you did enjoy it, why not consider subscribing

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