What we do know:
- Attachments do something
- Marco says they do it on maxed weapons
- Some sight descriptions say that they "Increase the shooters chance of hitting a target" Linky
- Once SIB weapons are "maxed", that's the end of HA, damage and range improvement
- Once conventional weapons are "maxed" (e.g. level 100), their range still increases
What we probably know:
- Attachments improve effective hit rate on mobs and avatars by creating an effective HA that is HA*(100% + mod %) for unmaxed weapons
- Attachment condition (i.e. degree of disrepair) doesn't affect its behavior
- Attachments don't improve hit rate on maxed SIB weapons
- Once conventional weapons are "maxed", their hit rate and damage stop progressing
What we don't know:
- Attachments don't improve hit rate on maxed conventional weapons
- Attachments affect CHA the same way and in the same cases that they affect HA
- Attachments improve skill gains
- Attachments improve loot
- Attachments don't improve range
I've tried to test if attachments affect range by using the autoaim feature combined with "move to object when interacting with it", but unfortunately that feature doesn't just move to the maximum range possible. It is still possible to test this by finding the edge of range of a target with attachments on, and then taking them off. I haven't done that yet because it is best done with the longest range weapons available, and i don't have a Marber and didn't at the time i conceived of the test feel like wasting a few PEDs ammo to do so. If we found that attachments have the same effect on range that they do on effective HA, we could more easily test a couple other hypothesis.
The other hypotheses are close enough to impossible to test that i have no inclination to try, especially since i think attachments work only by increasing effective HA (the most obvious and logical effect) and
possibly skill gains (minutely).
The only thing that makes me vaguely uncomfortable in that stand is Marco's response to the question either Jimmy B or i asked (can't remember who now lol) about it. He seems to think attachments do things on maxed weapons, but i think he just didn't know and was giving the RCE-friendly response.