Possible reasons why people think Energy Weapons are worse than Guns:

1). Largely underpowered unless you can easily get Critical Hits, which may force a player who wants to run-and-gun to instead be sneaky

2). HUGE lack of mods (not to be confused with the PC modding community), and out of the six weapons that have them only two can get more than one modification

3). For the more sneak-based players, no Energy Weapon can (for obvious reasons) use a silencer/suppressor

4). While they do have very varied effects, there isn't as much variety (as said in an often-occurring load screen), which can turn away those who get bored easily with each individual weapon and thusly crave many different weapons to use

5). Funding the use and repair of said weapons can be costly, especially for the hoarding types (I'm included in this little sub-group :disguise:)

6). In later levels, there are few EWs that can compare to the devastation of heavy-hitting Guns like the .50 cal. and Grenade MG

7). Ammunition is less common, and there is no AP ammunition

8). Said weapons are hard to find in the game world, as not many enemies use them (the ones that do are often NOT to be trifled with) which, again, is a down side for hoarders

9). I could go on, and on...and ooooooon, but I'm tired of typing

NOTE: As I've noticed in this thread, I'm not the only one with these opinions. However, I am not biased towards EWs in any way (I LOVE the Laser RCW and the Gauss Rifle), but I am not without disgruntled complaints.

You obviously haven't tried guns. Thats ironic, considering you were commenting on people who havent tried EWs.

I see you have ran out of steam, but I'll answer anyway since this has nothing to do at this point with what the OP has asked, and already has been covered. I have no idea what you mean about "haven't tried guns", since you didn't elaborate where I'm misleading folks. This thread is about energy weapons, and I have 100 in energy weapons see http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p72/Chad_Ghostal/ScreenShot0-1.jpg, so I know what I'm talking about. You may or may not have 100 in energy weapons, which would be ironic if you didn't and you're offering advice. If I'm telling folks guns svck in a guns thread, then ironic would work.

You were saying how Fiends make EW ammo abundant. I explained to you that most Fiends actually don't drop any EW ammo, so if they were abundant to you, you probably farmed them.
So now we come to the end where you claim .308 is scarce, despite the fact they can be as "abundant" as MFC ammo if you farmed them like you did with MFC ammo.
...do you realize the contradiction you're making?

And despite never having tried guns, you assume gun users would need to carry AP rounds, despite me already telling you beforehand that you only need to carry .308 JSP rounds.(side note: its a 1.5:1 conversion ratio, too. Better than the conversion ratios for maxed charge shots. Another downside for EW highlighted right there)

And the only reason I appear to be running out of steam is because the only arguments you have left are hypocritical and contradictory.

Wow, the topic is asking if EW are underpowered in NV and if the ammo is scarce...

It wasn't asking if Guns or EW were better....

I'm really not a big fan of energy weapons in New Vegas. I usually sell the stuff to make caps. Also there isn't enough ammo

Energy weapons were ultra-Nerfed in FONV. The only two I liked were Pew Pew and the Gauss Rifle.

Since they tried to balance it along side with Guns it's only fair to compare the two skills since they are the only combat skills really similar to one another.

EW are completely viable on hardcoe/very hard. The only think is you need to get YCS/186 or Plasma Caster as soon as you can.


Ammo is easy due to the ability to easily convert every type.

You didn't read what I wrote, since you're going off on another different point. Your round you keep mentioning requires a perk to use, not everyone will take it, and every weapon has to be farmed to some degree, but I don't see many with 12.7mm running around. Brotherhood of Steel gives you a chest full of energy ammo every time you set foot inside the bunker if you side with them, Silver Rush sells you empty energy cells for free. Fiends drop ECW, and Micro, and whatever drops you can convert. Not very hard to acquire ammo. You keep going, but you keep saying the same things, guns are better energy weapons, yeah everyone agrees. What else is there left for you to say, I'm offering ways to make energy weapons viable, you're just saying guns are better we get it you like guns.



I agree, folks tend to interpret things differently it seems.

I don't think irony means what you think it means. A fire extinguisher being the cause of a fire is ironic, telling folks in a gun thread that guns svck is just trolling.


Energy weapons are just as viable as guns, and ammo should never be a concern for EW's as it is incredibly easy to convert 1 type to another.

Almost every single fiend I've encountered in my game uses energy weapons.

Also, I don't think energy weapons have been "nerfed" in new vegas. They aren't as overpowered as they were in fo3, but that's perfectly fine, and they're more balanced now.

They serve the same role they did in the first two games; that of a highly specialized, rare end-game treat.
They are SUPPOSED to be relatively uncommon, and initially so weak as to be almost unusable.
They don't compare with guns unless you have them at optimal condition, with max charge ammo, and a lot of EW related perks.
But if you meet those conditions, they are just as viable as guns, and cool as [censored] to boot. Which is what they're supposed to be.

Yeah you're correct, it is the wrong usage.

Not to mention the Tri beam and the Multiplas seem to be bugged, doing almost no damage for me. Its showing that my hits should be taking a third or fourth of their life away, then it only takes a few bars off.

I don't like Energy Weapons at all. I never liked them in Fallout 3 either. In my opinion, they are weaker and less "stylish" as guns.

In my experience in the game, they are expensive to maintain, few mods available for them, and their ammunition isn't as abundant as ammunition for guns. At higher levels, in my opinion at least, they are useless to use against most armored enemies.

Too many times I unloaded an entire clip from my plasma rifle into a bad guy and they were still standing even tho they clearly didnt have enough hps to have done so. And no I didnt miss.

And remember the ammo for every shot of the stupidest rifle ever built in any game ever.. takes .2 lb of ammo.

what about pew pew? i heard that was good.

I think pack rat perk is pretty damn handy for all ranged weapon users if you are attempting hardcoe mode. Having high barter means you can repair at vendors easier instead of lugging around parts too.

I have this problem with regular shotguns as well.
I think it's because VATS doesn't handle spread-accuracy very well.

I find shotguns to be lacking unless you are facing a tightly packed group of enemies... then they rock.

By the way, does anyone actually use recharger weapons? If so, in what capacity?
I'm about to start my Energy-Weapons character, and I'm wondering about the utility of recharger weapons...

Energy ammo IS heavy and expensive, so maybe they'd be good to keep around just for dealing with pests?

From what I heard the recharger gun is pretty awful, but the best thing to do is buy it and try it out, but don't save your game.

I got a recharger off the merchant in goodsprings at level 1 and it was a great starter weapon. It really svcks against enemies who have any armor though so it will be replaced rather quickly.

I find to miss more outside of VATS with Multiplas and Tri-beam than I do with VATS, but with VATS is lower critical score when using shotguns.

Where did you get the ammo? I carried it (actually, Ed-E carried it!) for 12 levels and never found any for it. What'd I miss?