I've noticed some new icons in NV that aren't in FO3 and was wondering if anyone knew what they meant. For example, on the inventory screen, if you hover on a gun, you will get a little bullet icon that pops up on the right with a number next to it. The number is 0 on most of my guns but it went up to 25 on my 10mm after i repaired it. It doesn't seem related to how much ammo i have and i'm not using any special ammo. The same icon pops up on your skills screen when you hover over different weapon skills.

Also, when entering or exiting vats, sometimes a red shield icon pops up near the bottom of the screen. Anyone have any idea what that is?

Alright, I'll run down the ones I know of.

On your Pip-Boy 3000, the little square that has a bullet or a bomb or what have you in it relays to you the type of weapon style it relates to (Melee, Unarmed, Energy, Explosive or Guns.)

When you're fighting, if the shield pops up next to your health bar, it means damage is being absorbed by your armor. If it appears next to an enemy health bar, it means the damage to THEM is being absorbed by their armor.

The shield is the Damage Threshold of that particular person (I think, someone else might explain this better). It indicates if the ammo you are using is inflicting less damage than might another weapon and its ammo.

Do you know what the number next to it means in the inventory screen? Most of my guns have the bullet icon and a 0, but my 10mm has a bullet icon with a 25. It must have something to do with skill, my Guns skill is 30-something, so maybe there are special perks you get at skill 25/50/75/100? But they only work if the gun is good enough?

AFAIK, it's the minimum skill level that you require to use the weapon without penalty. I don't know what it penalizes if you don't have that level.

That makes sense. But I think my 10mm was originally showing a zero, but it switched to 25 when I repaired it. Maybe you don't get the full benefit of a highly repaired weapon if your gun skill is too low? And I wish it said what happens when you don't meet that requirement... does the DAM/DPS change? Or maybe accuracy? They could definitely use some help text for the new features.