As you know, the needle shout line has been known for firing several shots with even one pull of the trigger... enough, in fact, that some can't even count it. The wiki has long been the only place with numbers sufficiently able to be called the official bullet count. However, between my attempts at disproving that needle shots are the only guns worth using in FSC (being kicked for not having one isn't even a rare situation anymore) and snooping around in spiral spy, i have evidence that threatens to question it's validity.
This started back when i formed an inquiry a while back based on damage values for the prisma driver compared to strike needle. I noted the needler to not be doing as much damage as has been implied, and that my gun had the unique property of ricocheting inside vana's hitbox; so out of contempt for linearity in loadouts, and the fact that this presented opportunity to eliminate said bandwagons; i did a statistical breakdown of the two. Removing all info irrelevant to this particular post, i found that the needle shot delivers significantly less than the listed shots per clip, as well as on charge. This was my first instance of noting the lower shot value
Now, my explorations in spiral spy found me figuring out OOO was efficient in coding the animations for the needle shot. Rather than making it repeat the animation, it plays one pre-looped one based on the shot type. This is where i get the larger part of my curiosity: The animations retain the names "attack_pistol_blend_fire_repeat5.dat", and "attack_pistol_blend_fire_repeat8.dat", which seem to be inconsistent with the wiki's listed 15 on charge and 6 on normal shot. Given that there is a possibility the animation does not align with the spawned number of bullet instances, and that it is also possible that i overlooked some rounds (my method of in-game testing that contradicts this was to enter the training hall, have someone shoot it, and at max range (where doing such is an easy task) count the bullets when spread out); it is entirely possible this means nothing. But considering the fact that one of these originates in the core files, and the fact that gaining info that questions existing bits in general is cause for letting it be known; I feel it necessary to start a thread on the matter.
Notice beforehand i am utilizing a steam account; and i am, thus, incapable of posting anything on the wiki myself, so any conclusions gained here will have to see implementation on the wiki by someone else. Now knowing this, proceed to discuss.
Does the regular attack have a canned animation for the whole thing? 'cause that seems weird seeing how the bullet spread is randomized.