First off, I would like to state how amazing this game is, and that I'm enjoying it a lot. This subject has been floating around in my head for a while, so I've decided to post it here for you guys, and myself, to have a civil debate on it. Without further ado, lets get started.

Guns

Pros: Spare parts are plentiful; powerful; "cool designs" ; adds a "survival" feel to the game; various modifications (such as scopes, suppressors, extended magazines, etc.) ; various types of ammunition (such as incendiary, hollow point, and armor piercing).

Cons: Moderate accuracy; some of the better ones (Light Machine Gun, Anti-Materiel Rifle (French weapon), etc.) are few and far between.


Energy Weapons

Pros: accurate; "cool designs" ; they don't burn through ammo as fast, as most are single shot rifles; nice disintegration/melting effect

Cons: pricey; spare parts are rare; few mods for most of the weapons; ammo is pricey (though you can always convert your Energy Cells to Microfusion Cells) ; seem to have to rely on critical hits for high damage


These are my thoughts on the two types; feel free to post your own! And please try to keep it civil, I'm not a fan of online wars.


Cheers,

Grizzly

EW CHEW through ammo.

Here's how it breaks down from my own experience:


Guns kill thing. Energy weapons buy more guns. Energy weapons use multiple units of ammo per shot and rely very heavily on critting to actually kill anything.

I'm on my first playthrough. I just made the decision to sell all my Energy Weapons (around level 21). Why?

1. Good old fashioned lead just fits the atmosphere of this game for me (at least with my initial Char).
2. Energy Weapons cost a lot. Enjoying the caps procured from selling them (have been visiting the Medical clinic a lot. Need the scratch. )
3. Not needing the Energy weapons skill has freed up a whole lot of precious skill points which are at a premium in this game.

Personally i like Guns more, (specifically the anti-material rifle) i have a low energy weapons skill (38 i think) and the multiplas rifle has a glitch for me where i'll use the iron sights and shoot, but even after i release the iron sights the gun will stay aimed for about another 5 seconds. It's incredibly annoying. Besides that, i don't really like many of the other energy weapons anyhow.

Energy Weapons are lethal later on, but Guns are more efficient all-around. And even at later stages, it's not like the .50 Calibre Anti-Material Rifle cannot compete - it eats Deathclaws for breakfast .

My current build has a low EW, but 100 guns. Will start bumping up EW soon, however simply because of how fun EW are, what with the Alien Blaster/Gauss etc.

EW not burning through ammo fast? Sounds to me like the OP hasn't used them.

They aren't as accurate at long range, except for the Gauss Rifles (but that has some issues of it's own related to accuracy...) and most of them use 2 or more "bullets" per shot.

The best thing about EWs is Meltdown

Well, if you need ammo you can just raid the silver rush, or the building with all the mr handys, there are tones of mf cells there.

I guess I just haven't noticed the multi e cell/mf cell usage per shot. I have 1000+ ammo for energy weapons, so it just doesn't seem to go down that fast. :/

As is always the case during these debates, both the parties seem to neglect to see the positives of their favoured weapon type and only focus on the negatives.

For instance for energy weapons, yes you burn through ammo faster, however you also have much fewer kinds of ammo to worry about. Whereas a guns user has tens, a guns user might find himself with 300 5.56mm rounds, but swiftly running out of 20 Gauge.

You say guns users can just focus on guns and sell the valuable energy weapons they happen across, the opposite is also true for you, as you can sell the more abundant guns you find. And the lower level energy weapons are not worth much (laser rifle, laser pistol, plasma pistol). You may also sell all the guns ammo you find, since there are so many kinds of guns ammo it will be abundant.

In general I find both guns and energy weapons have their ups and downs, both of them are very very viable. And both are extremely fun

You cheated to get all that ammo, didn't you?

I've been relying on the Recharger Pistol/Rifle for a while because none of the stores will restock the EW ammo ><

Since I'm all about stealth, I prefer guns because you can put silencers on some of them.

My next playthrough I plan on using melee weapons and boosting my sneak skill to 100 early on.

Actually, I prefer to make my own ammo. Saves caps, and you can make a profit by selling ammo that you make. I was able to buy and scavenge enough Energy Cells to make 1000+ MF cells. Took a while, but it was worth it. I would've spent THOUSANDS of caps purchasing all of that ammo.

Those recharger pistols and rifles made me start a whole new character JUST to take advantage of them... With a couple of companions in tow I don't think I'll be needing any other weapons... And since the guns and ammo are SO prevalent, I've made a fortune selling the endless collections of Caravan Shotguns, Service Rifles, and the thousands of rounds of ammo...

The Anti-Materiel Rifle isn't French. It's based on the M82 Barrett .50BMG Anti-Materiel Rifle. Barrett is an American company. Materiel is an English word, too, by the way.

Anyways, Guns do much more damage than Energy weapons except for the Gauss Rifle, which does a bit more damage than the Anti-Materiel Rifle and for less weight, but with crappy magazine size.

Problem is, full repaired Recharger Rifle is weaker than a broken laser pistol. Energy Weapons do seemw eak, they never do nearly as much damage as the VATS prediciton indicates. Still i prefer shooting plasma bolts and laser beams at enemies rather than using a gun to throw projectiles really fast at them. SCIENCE FTW!

Nope its actually based on a French .50 Cal weapon and not the Barrett, common misconception...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM_Hecate_II

The FNV AMR looks nothing like the Barrett, sorry.

i really dont like energy weapons, every time i shoot one it makes nikola tesla turn in his grave, only energy weapon i could find thats worth shooting is the guass rifle and... well 5 microfusion cells per shot is a bit expensive. i mean seriously look at this

guass rifle, 5 MC per shot, needs high energy, and i think it may need high strength, and sometimes just gos through your enemy (i dunno why but every time i shoot a guass rifle it does 0 damage alot)

anti material rifle, needs high strength, needs high guns, and needs to lighten up on the recoil.

gatling laser: say bye bye to your EC packs.

assault carbon: say bye bye to your 5mm.

What did you expect? A .50 caliber rifle that shoots like a .22?

Dude, its totally a french design http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM_Hecate_II

I never did like Energy Weapons, I'm an oldschool lead and brass man. Sure Energy Weapons are flashy and somewhat effective but they've always given off a childish vibe to me.

Energy Weapons, nerfed.

I just didn't like playing an EW character this time.
The weapons felt like complete crap because of their low damage and enemies high DT.
The only weapon good on high DT enemies was the Gauss Rifle, but that one isn't really a good option when a Deathclaw is 2 feet away from you considering it's awful reloading time.
So overall the energy arsenal just felt nerfed and I did not have a lot of fun playing it, and I loved playing EW characters in all other Fallout's.

I haven't tried Guns yet, in fact, it will be the last combat skill I will try. (Not cause I don't like it but because the other combat skills are just so cool.)

Energy weapons are no longer the hard to find superweapons. Now they're everywhere and weakened. I think Obsidian forgot the appeal of the old energy weapons...

Yeah I go guns for sure.

I am using energy weps on my current char and they rock. Ammo is easy to get. Most people do not know about the quartermaster at hoover dam. He sells TONS of energy ammo. The guass gun can 1 hit fully grown death claws. I don't need much more power than that. With the laser RCW I can just gun down anything since I have like 4000 ammo for it. Those cazador everyone complains about jsut die instantly, and with my meltdown perk, I can kill tons of them at once. I really wish they would make you immune to your own meltdown, though... That crap hurts at close range.

But for the strongest weapon, ima have to say unarmed... Ballistic fist with only like 50 unarmed skill just rips through anything. I have no idea what chaos it can unleash with 100 skill and perks helping it out.