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Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:52 pm
by Wayne W
Energy weapons - and energy ammo - are expensive. That unfortunately is the price of a high-tech weapon is a post-apocalyptic world. And the reason why 90% of wasteland inhabitants use normal Guns.

However, if you are primarily an energy weaopns character, then you can sell all the guns and bullets that you come across and buy every ounce of energy ammo available.

I haven't played post-patch (just come back from abroad) but pre-patch I found it a struggle to have enough microfusion cells, but there was plenty of small energy cells. With the plasma pistol damage upped to 33 (making it powerful even if you use weak "bulk" ammo), and the plasma defender ammo usage lowered from 3 to 2 per shot, it should be perfectly viable to play mostly using energy pistols, and pull out a microfusion-powered rifle for when the going gets tough.


The problem with this is that the energy weapons that are paying 2-3 caps for a shot don't do 2-3x more damage per shot when compared to their Guns counterparts.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:17 am
by Ashley Hill
And you guys said EW should be expensive?

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:28 pm
by Carlos Rojas
I would have to say is that when you are starting for the first time you are going to go for the Guns because:
  • More gun to be seen
  • Have more ammo then the EW Cells
  • They are basically the main weapon everyone has
  • Easier to use and find.


I started with a Gun person and got the achievment for it and now I am going to do a EW person and then a Melee and then a Unarmed... :D
But yeah Guns is better for the nooby people. :fallout:


This is true... I started an energy wep person and I got upset really quick because when i was killing stuff with energy weps ... I was KILLING stuff, ya know... and when I I ran out of energy cells cause there weren't many around and I didnt know where to get them I was using my SUPER weak 9mm and my so-so Weathered 10mm cause I didn't put ANY points into my gun skill. so I started over and went for guns now I am enjoying the game WAY more. After this I will play a EW guy or a Sneaky Assassin guy.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:14 pm
by Ownie Zuliana
The other problem with energy weapons and explsosives too is to play those characters you have to metagame the game. guns it flows free from the enemies you fight but not energy weapons and 3 days between shop refills and chet often still only having 12 rounds of energy ammo early on.... and he often never gets a recharger rifle for sale until waay after thats a moot point.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:05 pm
by Tanika O'Connell
Since the patch a started a new character and grabbed the Q-35 early on.... it 1-3 shots everything I have fought so far, but the toughest stuff I have fought are ghoul reavers or glowing ones (1 shot kills). The extremely high crit rate and low ammo consumption make it super nice. PewPew also works pretty damn well, I use it as a hold-out weapon and have only shot bulk ammo with it....with bulk ammo it does more damage per shot than the Q-35 using max charge, but 15 cells per shot and only 2 shots per clip are brutal.

EDIT: got the YCS and it melts face.... low ammo consumption but also low clip size. I guess you can not have it all.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:09 pm
by Beulah Bell
You can get recharger rifle at the beginning now (post patch) without buying it from Chet.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 5:34 pm
by Juanita Hernandez
I like guns better for a couple reasons:

- Bloody mess goes better with guns than with energy weapons since energy weapons don't make a mess just a pile of goo/ash. So it is a gore thing, the more gore there is makes the world feel more hostile to me. I get more satisfaction from seeing an enemy just blowup into red bits than disentegration.

- I grab the hand loader perk everytime. I just like the immersion value I get from making my own ammo and buying casings, powder and primer. You can make EW ammo also but it's not really the same thing to me since EW ammo doesn't have sub-parts. By breaking down the guns ammo you don't use you will eventually gather up enough sub-parts to essentially "convert" ammo just like you can with EW.

- I really like the "true" iron sights they have added for guns. Not all EW have iron sights, they have a similar sighting to FO3. Also, I love scoped rifles and the there are only two EW that either have a scope or can attach a scope and the laser rifle, while nice at the start, got really old after having to repair it after every 3rd kill.


YCS is badass though, especially with meltdown. I accidently overwrote my EW build char who I got up to lvl 26 before the overwirte. I do miss being able to take out a squad of enemies with one shot ( I took out all of 1st Recon with one shot - I just wanted to take out Sterling but forgot I had meltdown, lol ). So eventually I will do another EW build but the YCS alone is not enough for me just yet.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:50 pm
by Eric Hayes
Unfortunately those ironsights are off for most of the weapons (including cowboy repeater and hunting rifle). You will be missing all the time if using them. Unless you fire point blank that is.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:46 pm
by GabiiE Liiziiouz
Opinion: Energy Weapons [censored]ing svck.
Opinion: Guns [censored]ing RULE.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:50 pm
by Sarah Evason
Unfortunately those ironsights are off for most of the weapons (including cowboy repeater and hunting rifle). You will be missing all the time if using them. Unless you fire point blank that is.



What, what, what??? That would explain a lot, especially with the Hunting Rifle - I can't hit the broad side of a barn at 10 feet without a scope. Cowboy gun doesn't seem as bad for me though.


Also, is it randomly off or is pip off by a set amount of pixels? I guess what I'm getting at is, is there a way to adjust for this offset?

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:09 pm
by kirsty williams
- Bloody mess goes better with guns than with energy weapons since energy weapons don't make a mess just a pile of goo/ash. So it is a gore thing, the more gore there is makes the world feel more hostile to me. I get more satisfaction from seeing an enemy just blowup into red bits than disentegration.

They should have multiple animation, like EVE did. I agree that in that regard the animations are a bit lackluster.

- I really like the "true" iron sights they have added for guns. Not all EW have iron sights, they have a similar sighting to FO3. Also, I love scoped rifles and the there are only two EW that either have a scope or can attach a scope and the laser rifle, while nice at the start, got really old after having to repair it after every 3rd kill.

It's quite the oversight to be honest. Though a lot of iron sights are a bit off, the fact that several EW lack them is rather odd.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 3:15 pm
by josie treuberg
Hey , im new at this game and i wanter to know your opinion about energy weapons and normal guns just thes pros and cons of each one, and your personal opinion too..


I no longer have the game so can only talk pre patch:

The game was as unbalanced as Gabriel has said. The guns were far superior. I guess I never cared since EW have too much of a Star Trek/Star Wars dorkish feel to them for my tastes.

Give me lead ripping flesh every time.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:35 am
by Felix Walde
It's quite the oversight to be honest. Though a lot of iron sights are a bit off, the fact that several EW lack them is rather odd.


I believe J.E. Sawyer said in some older thread that, due to time constraints and other problems, some of the energy weps lack iron sights. So I guess some enterprising modder can pick up the ball that the developers dropped.

Am I completely satisfied with EWs now? Mostly. My only major beef is energy consumption with some weapons. A Tesla Cannon scarfing up 45 ECPs a shot is a bit too rich for my blood. Sure it's got that AoE and residual electrical damage thing going for it, but it's not really worth the energy expended, imo. I can get a very similiar effect and at a greater distance with 1-3 shots from my Laser Rifle and Meltdown.

If you intend on creating an EW character, you're going to have to accept the fact that exclusively using EWs from levels 1-10 will not necessarily be very enjoyable. You will be able to get by with an Incinerator or Flamer until your character's up to speed. You're going to have to snag some EW-specific perks in order to optimize your gaming experience.

Nor is getting a secondary combat skill, like Melee or Unarmed a bad idea either. You don't need ammo to smack some of the lower tier enemies around.

According to lore, EWs should be relatively rare, somewhat delicate and tricky to maintain but potent instruments of destruction. In game it's a question of balance and giving players with different play-styles viable options. As a result, we have EWs that degrade faster, on average, than guns, have more expensive (and heavy) ammo, and are damage-output-wise on par with guns.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:18 am
by [ becca ]
I'm having a pretty good time with the laser and plasma rifles this time around, compared to pre-patch they didn't appear to have much of an effect.

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:13 pm
by Katie Louise Ingram
What, what, what??? That would explain a lot, especially with the Hunting Rifle - I can't hit the broad side of a barn at 10 feet without a scope. Cowboy gun doesn't seem as bad for me though.

To test it just make this: Go to 3rd person view. Press button to aim (get in to ironsights mode). If you on PC it is right mouse but. Without releasing aim, return in to 1th person. Crosshair should be visible and you can see how much off is your gun. Best done in crouch mode.

There is actually fix on nexus. It fixes some of the guns. Don't know however if it works with latest patch: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35161

Energy weapons vs Normal Guns

PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:29 am
by Abel Vazquez
To test it just make this: Go to 3rd person view. Press button to aim (get in to ironsights mode). If you on PC it is right mouse but. Without releasing aim, return in to 1th person. Crosshair should be visible and you can see how much off is your gun. Best done in crouch mode.

There is actually fix on nexus. It fixes some of the guns. Don't know however if it works with latest patch: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35161



Good advice, thanks. I'll give that a go and see just how bad it is.