Weapon Recommendations Thread: Firearms

Silencer

Silencer

Night Watchman
Staff member
Admin
I'm surprised that we don't have one of those yet...

So, what weapons do you prefer when it comes to guns? I found that I can take on practically all enemies (bar some robots, whom I dispatch with Pulse Grenades) effectively with a 10mm SMG or a Chinese Assault Rifle Does it change at all in any point in the game? I've been sticking with those weapons for quite a time now. Does it make sense to develop Energy Weapons or those fancy do-it-yourself v3 weapons like the Rock-It Launcher or a Rail Spike gun? Did you find the Sniper Rifle of any use?
 
I used the A3-21 plasma, i think it is the best weapon.... it replaces the gauss rifle to the eyes :(
 
Right now, I'm using the Hunting Rifle. Good damage and most mutants have ammo for it. I prefer Lincoln's Repeater, but rarely get the ammo for it. Oh, and I use VATS most of the time, since it's a miracle to hit anything otherwise.
 
Gotta love the hunting rifle.

I've only had limited use of it, but the laser rifle seems to be very good.

Marching into Paradise Falls blasting Eugene was bliss.
 
Silencer said:
I'm surprised that we don't have one of those yet...

So, what weapons do you prefer when it comes to guns? I found that I can take on practically all enemies (bar some robots, whom I dispatch with Pulse Grenades) effectively with a 10mm SMG or a Chinese Assault Rifle Does it change at all in any point in the game? I've been sticking with those weapons for quite a time now. Does it make sense to develop Energy Weapons or those fancy do-it-yourself v3 weapons like the Rock-It Launcher or a Rail Spike gun? Did you find the Sniper Rifle of any use?
Click to expand...

The rail spike gun worked very well for me; I've landed more critical hits with it than any other weapon I've used. You can finish the game with a chinese assault rifle, though - you will never need energy weapons or big guns.

I haven't tried the Rock-It launcher yet, but it sounds like fun.
 
The hunting rifle was my common carry around weapon to take care of small stuff. Indoors or in tighter situations was the Combat Shotgun(to the face while sneaking). For the sake of ammo and weapon wear and tear I would switch to the Chinese assault rifle or named 10mm SMG. Also, nothing bats the 10mm in VATS, although I rarely used VATS other than when they had something ridiculous like the Deathclaw that you are locked in a tiny room with, in one of those Radio Sat Towers.

Oh, and towards the end I started sneaking around with the Shishkabob(flaming sword)
 
Combat Shotgun above all. Its a great weapon inside AND outside Vats, good damage, spread helps a lot... the only problem is that there are less Combat Shotguns than assault rifles or Chinese Rifles in the game. I usually keep the Chinese Assault Rifle for backup.
 
I'm a good deal into my second run of the game, and really, all of the guns are pretty good.

I have yet to use VATS this time. It can be quite satisfying, especially hitting a moving target with the sniper rifle, something that would be very easy in VATS.

Anyway, gun impressions:

Combat Shotgun: Is your friend. It's always the go-to gun when I'm in a tight spot. It's not great outside against enemies that don't close range, but that's the only drawback. Degrades pretty quickly, but the effectiveness doesn't seem to suffer all that much.

Hunting Rifle: Good against ranged opponents, but the low clip size makes it bad to use against feral ghouls or animals, or anything that charges your sorry ass.

10mm SMG: Very solid against most anything, but eats ammo quickly out of VATS. Sydney's SMG is extremely good.

Assault Rifle: No reason to use these, except they are always repairable.

Chinese Assault Rifle: Good gun, great in VATS. Out of VATS you burn ammo fast.

Scoped .44: Excellent for sneaking. VATS negates scope advantage though.

Sniper Rifle: No question the most fun, out of VATS anyway. Degrade rate is an issue. Reservist rifle is sturdier, and 3 shot clip doesn't make much of a difference. My favorite gun.

Laser Rifle: Not as good as the sniper rifle at range, not as good as the shotgun up close. So I rarely use it. It's more or less the hunting rifle with a bigger clip and a cool zappy noise. Much better in VATS due to the low AP cost. great to sell.

Plasma Rifle: Only used for a couple shots. Outside of VATS the slowness of the blast hurts it.

Rocket Launcher: Don't forget to use this puppy. Slow rate of fire but very good when used in the right situation. Missiles are hard not to sell though.

Minigun: Love it, but it's not good for indoors and "warm up" time makes it annoying when you are just shooting one thing. But for shooting a lot of things at once, there is nothing better. Eugene is recommended.

Flamer: Don't really care for it, but it's pretty good.
 
Reservist : To be used effectively, you need to snipe outside of VATS, with high level sneak, luck, agility, and small guns skill. You should be able to nail targets a mile away (figuratively speaking of course). Much farther than you would with VATs.

Blackhawk .44 : Excellent, period. VATs makes this weapon awesome. However, the problem is that it's hard to come by spare Magnums to repair this with, and .44 ammo is fairly scarce.

Infiltrator (DLC Pitt) : Silenced and excellent choice for stealth characters. Solid DPS, and plenty of ammo to spare.

Eugene : Awesome weapon for the "Destroyer" type characters. Slap on some Enclave Tesla Power Armor, grab 1k 5mm rounds, and let er rip. You can literally annhilate fields of mid-tier enemies, and take down a Deathclaw very quickly.

Vengance : Amazing weapon, however it burns through energy cells and it deteriorates very quickly. Gatling Lasers are also very hard to come by.

Gauss Rifle (DLC Operation Anchorage) : Ridiculous damage, ridiculous health. It's a railway rifle on steroids.




To answer the OP about the Sniper Rifle; it is a very useful weapon outside of VATs when you have the correct perks, skills, and stats. What most people do not realize is that VATs does not account for the increased accuracy bonuses of the scope.


The Sniper Rifle has the highest effective range, and highest critical rate of all the weapons in the game. Although DPS wise it is not the highest, it is an excellent choice for picking off most enemies with the exceptions of Super Mutant Behemoths.
 
Hunting Rifle(now Ol'painless)i use it all the time.
Lincoln Repeater for enemies with HR can't take.
10mm SMG because i can put 20 rounds i one VATS turn
 
Flamers are brilliant for charging beasties like Feral Ghouls and Mirelucks because they seem to be dazed by the flame and not attack! Burn the bastard Hunters with an entire tank full!

The Reservist's Rifle and sneak is great for popping critical sneak headshots when walking the wastes. Plus it looks great slung across your back when you're wearing the painless doc johnson style Wasteland Surgeon's outfit! Even with any choice of PA and crazy DR I'd still choose this a tattered, bloodstained shirt and hat.

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my load out is as follows

Gauss Rifle (sneaked out of the simulation from operation anchorage for all those pesky critters out at 600 yards)

Xuanlong assault rifle (When i need to fill the sky's with lead)

Colonel Autumn's 10mm (because it looks cooler in my opinion than the 44 and rocks outside vats against most average creatures)

Trench knife (for stabbin people in the back, the Shishkebab feels like cheating)

and on occasion when i get bored with col autumns 10mm i use the blackhawk
 
does anyone else think that fallout 3 would benefit from better pistols i remember the desert eagle, the 14mm, and of course the gauss pistol. Maybe the 44 is enough for most people but i personaly like automatics the best (more shots per mag and higher rate of fire)
 
The weapons I use most this game are Scoped Plasma Rifle with extended clip and laser pointer. Gauss rifle with stealth suit for nice stealth kills. Bozar or Moded Chinese Assault rifle for spray and pray situations. HK CAWS for close combat encounters and "Missing Name" nuke rocket launcher for mass destruction.
 
the sniper rifle is not that good. it is not very good at extreme range out side of vats and in vats it is fairly useless because it does not factor in the scope when doing chances to hit checks the best sniper weapon in the game has to be the gauss rifle from operation anchorage
 
i'm a big fan of sniping, so naturally, i get every sniper rifle i can, ammo can be an issue however, so i get Lincon's repeater ASAP, that helps with closer up baddies due to it shooting .44 rounds.
and for the way weaker stuff, a hunting rifle.
the lever action rifle is also nice to use, 10mm ammo is plentiful
 
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