I don't know if removing Big Guns was due to some leftover idea from the Van Buren game, but I think it svcks, it just add less variety and the Fallout games were always about variety (albeit biased toward some builds).
Honestly, I don't buy the fact that the gun skill allows you to choose between one handed pistols or the huge, heavely weighted minigun, I think this is a flaw in the gameplay mechanics.

That's why I would like to suggest to Obsidian/Bethesda to introduce something that would improve and add more variety into the skills/builds: specializations.
Ture there are some perks that enhance some weapons (like the Shotguns,Laser weapons or Fire based weapons) but that just about it...wouldn't be nice to have some possibility to heavely focus on any sort of weapon type?

example

Specialization: Plasma (adds some bonuses for that kind of weapons)
/
Energy Weapons < - Specialization: Laser
\
Specialization: Pulse (from F2)




or





Spezialisation: Pistols (adds dual wield for example)
/
Guns < - Spezialisation: Shotguns
\
Spezialisation: Rifles


Like I said there is already some perks that somewhat do the job for SOME weapons/ammo but there's just not enough to allow more variety..

Anyway, this was just a suggestion not some sort of ten mandatory commandments

There are already some perks which affect plasma weapons, others which affect laser weapons, another which affects shotguns, some which affect a range of varying weapon types.

The main problem with Dual wielding is that it is a flashy gimmick which if implemented properly would waste ammo due to the accuracy being absolutely abysmal, plus it's overused in action/fps games not to mention action movies. Adding something because it's a cool idea to some does not mean that it is a good idea to add it.
The main criteria I think should be does it fit in the game's universe, and dual wielding does not fit in with the central theme of Fallout.

true but some of which are more effective than others and others being just a gimmick (i.e plasma)

Honestly? Here's what I'd like
Guns
Ballistic Shotguns
Ballistic Rifles
Ballistic Revolvers and Pistols
Energy Weapons
Plasma Weapons
Laser Weapons
Flame Weapons
Explosives (Grenades, grenade launcher, GMG etc)
Big Guns
Side-arms (all pistols (explo/ew/guns), all one handed smg's and the sawed of shotgun.)
Rifles (Laser, Plasma, Trail Carbine, Grenade Launcher etc)
Throwing (Hatcher, knifes, grenades etc)
Chemistry (Acid/poison vials, knockout/paralyzing gas vials) (They get more deadly the more skill points you have)
Melee
Unarmed

I know it might seem like it's "too much".
But I honestly don't think so.
It would allow for an even greater specialization for your characters.
Are you going to be an all around EW user?
Or are you going to be an exclusively laser expert.

The specialization skills would allow for a lot more perks and greater benefit for them while picking an all around skill like EW would mean you are proficient with all weapons in that area but the laser weapons won't be as good as if you'd taken the laser skill and it's perks)
So if I pick Guns I might only get 4 perks.
While if I pick Ballistic Shotguns I will get the option to choose between 8 perks or choose them all and be a true specialist in my area.

If you get the specialization skill to 100 you would also get a small bonus to all weapons in that class which you would not get if going for the all around skill.

So, are you going to go for a greater variety in weapons character?
Or are you going to focus on a smaller group of weapons to be really great at?
Quantity or quality.

Of course, it'd be hell to balance these skills out so that if you pick one you're going to be happy with your choice and have a great availability and practicality with the weapons it affects.

Perhaps there should have been traits for something like this. I could see this being fit into future Fallout games or DLCs.

I on the other hand quite like that the Big Guns are now divided to other weapons skills, Gatling Laser and flame weapons for my EW character, Anti-Materiel Rifle for my Assassin, and my Tank gets to keep the Minigun and Missile Launcher.

Maybe they needed to remove a skill to allow adding Survival skill :shrug:

Hold on let me check....


Minigun...Check
Flamer...Check
Incinerator...Check
Gatling Laser...Check
Missle Launcher...check

Nope. I would seem that they didn't remove a single "unnamed" big gun from what I can remember. They removed the "Big Guns" skill. Seeing as there were only a tiny handfull of them in FO3 I think that removing the skill was very justified. In fact they ADDED a new Big Gun. Might be more than one I can't remember.

Plasma Caster

Six Big Guns doesn't justify a whole skill to spend points on. Even ten Big Guns doesn't justify a skill. There are how many rifles and handguns? All in all nothing was lost at all. Realistic or not...and I agree that learning to use a "small gun" isn't the same as learning a "big gun" in real life. But learning Rifles is totally different from learning Semiauto Handguns is totally different from learning Revolvers is totally different from learning ANYTHING fully automatic...you get the idea. Would the game really be better by separating them all? Maybe they should make it so that when you reach 50 in "guns" you are given a choice to "specialize" in a given type...then for every point you put into "Guns" you automatically get 2 points in your "specialty". That way by the time you get to 100 in "Guns" you have 100 in what ever you like the most.

Light Machine Gun
Grenade Machine Gun
Minigun
Gatling Laser
Plasma Caster
Missile Launcher
Flamer
Incinerator
Fatman
Tesla Cannon
Anti-Materiel Rifle
11 big guns.

But maybe Anti-Materiel Rifle shouldn't count as one, it's str req is 8 but it isn't particularly "big".

they should've made the strength requirement more crucial for the heavy weapons. a 5 str character should have a hell of a time trying to use a minigun despite 100 skill. hell, even a 7 str character should find it difficult.

as for the big guns skill, glad they removed it. many rpgs are notorious for having poorly thought out skills where you end up with a system where a player can wield a sword like an expert yet can't manage to figure out how to use a mace at all (or even worse were they specialize with a katana yet can't use a simple longsword for the life to them).

perhaps more perks are needed for those that like to 'specialize'. but leave actual base skills alone as general knowledge in that particular field. perks (and SPECIAL) are better to seperate the masters from the jack of all trades.

Honestly, they may as well have left Big Guns in, Survival is useless beyond roleplay, the only thing I do on NV with survival is use it for Animal Friend, beyond that, I use it as a dump stat.

true, survival had so much potential. while more useful on hardcoe, survival should've made much more difference in which characters can fare well outside of civilization.

I seem to recall survival being overhyped pre-release as this big new inovation, but it's a novelty feature for all intents and purposes.

Big Guns and Small Guns should have been left. More variety and it also defines your character more. As in, it's more RPG.

10, 11, 12...still doesn't justify a whole skill in a game with a few dozen slug thrower firearms. I did indeed forget a few of the old ones and new ones didn't I. I don't know if I would classify the AMR as a "Big Gun" or not. Yeah it IS pretty big...but it is just a large rifle. Hmmm. Also in FO3 the Big Energy Guns I think were covered by the "Energy Weapons" skill but I might be wrong about that. If so that would be a total of 7 "Big Guns" to justify an entire point sink. All in all I think all that is needed is a "Guns" skill and a "Energy Weapons" skill....like we have now.

Hmmm, http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_weapons#Energy_weapons, seven.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_2_weapons#Energy_Weapons, nine. (13 if we count modded one's like Turbo Plasma and others.)
10 weapons don't justify as their own skill?

[edit!!!!!]
Omygosh, this is even far better.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_weapons#Unarmed, three!! xD
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_2_weapons#Unarmed, six! :rofl:
10 weapons don't justify as their own skill now?

Don't forget about the unique versions.

Or what we could also make is weapons that requires 2 skills to be able to use them:

For example, the Plasma Caster, it's a big weapon but also an energy weapon so it should use the Big Guns & Enegy Weapons skills to be able to properly use it.
Or for the minigun: Big Guns + guns skill

Also the other weapons that would require only one skill (pistol,shotguns,rifles) would not have the same huge destructive power as those that also requires Big Gun

There could also be specific Big Guns weapons that don't need any other skill, those weapons would be in-between the 2 skills weapons and other 1 skill weapons in terms of damage (something like the Rock-it-Launcher, a weapon that doesn't belong either in Guns or Energy Weapons).

But I'm totally against putting into ONLY Big Weapons any weapon that is linked to regular ammo or energy ammo, it's just...contradictory.

Anyway, it's just my 2 cents intro trying to improve the gameplay mechanics.

This was actually covered. No weapon was removed...more weapons were added. All that was removed was the unjustified point sink.

In Vanilla FO3 Energy Weapons had 4 weapons in total. All big energy weapons were Big Guns. Yet EW was still a seperate weapon skill.

By the way they wouldn't need to "remove" Gatling Laser from EW or Missile Launcher from Explosives just cause Big Guns is in.
The weapons could be supported by either skill. (But getting 100 in Explo and 100 in Big Guns does not mean you get double the effect with a Missile Launcher)

More weapons doesn't define the character really. It just gives you...more weapons. More skills for weapons means more balance. Now since small and big guns were combined I could just throw every point into Guns and that skill would be overpowered. Being overpowered is not what an RPG is about or is it?

*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

They weren't... Merged...
Big Guns was dissected into every ranged combat skill.
In fact, Guns got the least, they only got the minigun IIRC while EW got four and Explosives got two.

Hmm, if we have to say two skills were combined it'd be Big Guns and EW since EW got 125% more weapons than the other two skills.

Like others say, Big Guns is dissolve amount other weapons; explosive and EW get hold the most of them.

Either way, it is awesome, since there is always no Big Guns to speak of early-mid game.

Incinerator. :whistling:

:thumbsdown: Greatly disagree here. Its one thing to make broad assumptions about knowing one pistol ~knowing all pistols, but its quite another to jump to Knowing all pistols (and even rifles) ~and thus knowing the non-intuitive ins & outs of high-end military weapon systems; its just nuts that they did this.

Big guns should have their own skill (at a minimum); but they should really have their own skill for each one individually! The commitment to learning that skill gives your PC competency in the weapon; and should take a heavy bite out of the PC's skill base for the esoteric training that allows them the use of ultra powerful weaponry (and by design, this would have meant that most PC's would not specialize in two, and that they suffer the drawbacks of their specialization ~it makes it mean something; it means little or nothing without cost.)

Seriously! A man skilled with a pistol, could easily break his jaw, and/or hurt his team by using a rocket launcher untrained.