This is a guide for any new players who want to know the Pros and the Cons of each weapon type.

Guns-

Perks Associated with Guns

-Rapid Reload (30 Guns) , All your weapon reloads are 25% faster
-Run n Gun (45 Guns), Reduces accuracy penalties with one-handed ranged weapons while walking or running.
-Shotgun Surgeon (45 Guns), When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's damage threshold.
-Cowboy (45 Guns AND 45 Melee), Increases damage done by dynamite, hatchets, knives, revolvers, and lever-action guns.
-Center of Mass (70 Guns), In VATS., you do an additional 15% damage when targeting the torso.
-Concentrated Fire (60 Guns AND 60 Energy Weapons), More accuracy in V.A.T.S. with every attack on a given body part queued.

Pros
- Very easy to find weapons categorized in Guns, however some are harder to find than others. Such as the Marksman Carbine.
- Ammo is easy to find for most shops will sell ammo for Guns.
- Large variety of weapons in the Guns Category. These range from the Small but effective 9mm Pistol to the devastating Minigun.
- Very useful for Sneak characters because a large majority of the guns have silencers.
- A good amount mods available.
-Light Weight
-Good for long range engagements (Sniper Rifle, 50. Cal, Marksman Carbine)

Cons
- Some weapons can be expensive
- Many of the weapons have low damage when compared to energy weapons
- Recycling ammo requires more materials than when Recycling energy weapon ammo.


Energy Weapons

Perks associated with Energy Weapons

-Run n Gun (45 Energy Weapons), Reduces accuracy penalties with one-handed ranged weapons while walking or running.
-Plasma Spaz ( 70 Energy Weapons), AP costs for all plasma weapons are reduced by 10%.
-Meltdown (90 Energy Weapons), Foes killed by your Energy Weapons emit a corona of harmful energy.
-Concentrated Fire (60 Guns AND 60 Energy Weapons), More accuracy in V.A.T.S. with every attack on a given body part queued.
-Set Lasers for Fun (64 Critical Hits with Lasers), All laser weapons gain an extra 2% chance to get a critical hit.
-Pyromaniac (60 Explosives, needs conformation please), +50% damage with fire-based weapons

Pros
-Ammo can be converted to different types of ammo. Example- Converting Micro-fusion Cell to Energy Charge Pack
-Ammo can be easily recycled.
-Weapons can do massive amounts of damage
-Can choose between Laser or Plasma types of weapons.
-Recharge guns allow for infinite amounts of ammo.
-Large amount of Heavy weapons, When compared to Guns.

Cons
- Very hard to find the good weapons early in the game. You will be stuck with a laser pistol for a large amount of time at the start. Unless you get lucky and find a store owner selling a laser rifle or find it in a crate.
- Ammo is scarce. It is recommend that you acquire Veronica as a Companion and become friendly with the BoS. Look up on fallout wiki if you wish to see why, Possible spoilers
- Weapons are scarce. Many enemies will not be carrying around Gauss Rifles and Gatling Lasers. Expect trips to the Repair shop to be frequent.
- More expensive than guns in many cases
- While there is a good amount of mods available, when compared to Guns it has less.
- Not a lot of scoped Weapons. A laser rifle scope is available, or you can use the Gauss Rifle.



If i have missed anything or failed to mention a key point, please reply below and i will change it ASAP. Thank you

A balanced list, one point no spoilers but at the Yangze memorial and NCR prison you gain access to plasma weapons with luck / skill respectively.
That and the two early merchants often spawn plasma weapons as well with luck / waiting a few days.

It's foolish to use energy weapons in NV, because they can't pierce DT. Sorry guys, you should use guns due to AP Ammo.

...lol.

I love EW, but guns are just so rediculously overpowered when compared to lasers and plasma.

Hand Loader & Vigilant Recycler were missed for relevant perks. Hand Loader is one of many reasons why guns > pew.

Energy weapons are terribly useless in New Vegas unmodded.

EW would be more in need of a guide.

Use gun first and switch to EW later just doesn't cut it.

Guns:

Pros: They're just better.

End guide.

:(

There are some good energy weps though.

OK guns all the way. there is nothing any energy weapon (except the guass rifle but that uses too much ammo) that a gun can't do better.

Guns are easier to find,
ammo is easy to find,
easier to repair,
take less ammo,
ammo cost less,
more accurate than plasma,
shoots faster than plasma,
does more damage than lazer,
have armor piercing rounds,
extra damage ammo is easier to make,
better in vats

Probably more but that's all I'm going to list. This game makes guns too good an everything else not good enough. Fallout 3 was much more balanced between energy weps and guns, but I still like this game better.

sorry about double post.

Guns all the way. Nothing beats the light machine gun in terms of badassery.

I also want to note that Ammo have a better recycle ratio compare to Energy Cell, up to 14 times against Max Charge........

You forgot Pyromaniac perk for Energy Weapons.

Energy weapons + the perk that causes target to explode = mass extinction for any enemy pack. It's risky at close range, but ultra-good at mid+ range. Most of the game i've used the gauss and sniper. Sniper in general and gauss for the tougher stuff.
Overall I do prefer energy weapons, but there's nothing compared to the sniper sound.

fixed, thanks

you forgot the fact that energy weapons use mor ethan one ammo per shot. (some do)

Ammo has no recycle ratio. You have to buy everything but cases.

You're thinking of conversion.

Is this serious?

I myself love guns, for there is nothing more American than those beuatiful pops and cracks down at the range :hehe:

Im unable to edit it now, i assume there is a time limit in which you can edit. So please scroll through the comments, they posted some really useful information.

For me this game has a wild west type of feel (we each get to perceive the game the way we want, which is one if the things that makes it so cool).

For my personal experience and characters, energy weapons and power armor just don't fit the mood/atmosphere (Heck, add a light saber and I'd feel like going off to fight the Empire. ).

And that's leaving out that the damn things are nerfed out of usefulness anyway.

If it were anymore serious it'd be a heart-attack.

Some unique EW have good damage, although the one I found uses a lot of SEC. Killing Fiends will get you ammo and weapons.

I've always been an EW fan, but they're totally useless in this game. No DT penetration = fail.