I have been playing fallout for almost 2 weeks now after my girlfriend got me hooked on it lol. My first and farthest character I have found has a lot of flaws due to me not quite knowing how everything worked, and what to expect.

I have used a lot of small guns, and some energy weapons as well. I also pack a minigun in my main profile for when i get pissed off lol. I was thinking of making a character that uses big guns as his main weapon type. I'm thinking one that has high strength and endurance and uses the thickest and strongest armor around.

I have tried the sneak and snipe method of combat and have found it to be rather boring and tedious. Also, a lot of the time you end up in a close range firefight anyway.

I have found that running in guns blazing is more my style. I know that big guns are more scarce to begin with, but I can get by.

I have read on the fallout wiki about the effects of different special skills. I was thinking maybe something like

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
8 6 9 1 9 1 6

I feel that charisma is pointless, and agility only gives 2 AP points per 1 agility points so I only lose 8 AP points, and V.A.T.S. is pretty much useless for big guns, and pretty useless over all without being within like 10 yards from my experience. Strength would be for a little extra carrying capacity so I can haul around a minigun, a missle launcher, and other goodies as well as use heavier armor. Endurance because each point of endurance equals 20 health. Some people may make a point for luck being good, but in reality most big guns have a critical multiplier of 0. when something is multiplied by 0 you get 0 which means no criticals with the mini gun and a few others. I have actually thought about bringing it lower, but i might need it for some perks.

I would like any advice and recommendations I can get. Different Special layouts, recommended perks to take, and any other advice you think of. Also, if there are any important perks my special layout would miss let me know.

High Endurance, since that directly affects Big Guns. High Intelligence, so that his/her skill points will rise faster. I'd recommend also tagging Unarmed (also runs off Endurence) and relying on a weapon like Deathclaw Gauntlet or Fisto! for up-close work; Big guns' chief weakness is that they run out of ammo a lot. Also, a good Repair skill will allow your character to fix up sellable weapons and sell them high; big guns (except for the Rock-it Launcher) are expensive to feed. You'll also want a STR of at least 6, so you can get the Strong Back perk; big guns are heavy.

A Big Gun-enthausiast should visit the Bethesda Ruins from time to time (every three in-game days). I will not say why, because this is not the spoilerforum, but you′ll figure it out I'm sure...

I will do that. Also, being that I have the GOTY edition with Broken Steel will I be alright to take a few intense training perks or would I miss out on some good perks. I typically take it for the first 2 level ups as the other perks are lame, and lady killer just doesn't seem good enough being that most enemies are male, or genderless, and it is only a 10% boost. I think I will go with the setup I listed. I also plan to take a swim down the pontimac river to rivet city to get the intelligence bobblehead before I reach level 3 lol. Since I do the radiation quest for moira right after I do that I'm not worried about the radiation. Swimming is the safest, quickest, and easiest way know to get there. Nothing can fight in water at swimming depth, not even a mirelurk lol. also it is a lot easier than navigating the city ruins with all the super mutants in it as well.

Is the Rock-It-Launcher a decent weapon, or more of a joke? I was thinking of getting it early on while big guns and their ammo are scarce.



I know what you speak of, and I heard they fixed that in GOTY edition

Ive been playing for 3 months with close to 750-800 hrs. Big guns is fun, you can get Eugene, Burnmaster, and if your slick Vengeance early on.

I'm currently rolling with a Big Guns, Unarmed, Explosives guy. I'm playing with some restrictions, but my Endurance is only 6. And I'm still kicking serious butt. It's great fun. I wouldn't worry so much about Endurance as I would about Strength, but I see you have covered that.

There was a time when I was into the Rockit Launcher, but meh. It was funny for awhile to kill people with wads of money, or plates (which veer annoyingly, best to stick with roundish ammo like coffee cups; compact things). My first gun was a minigun when I went to the Mall.

Some tips I've found:
Tap your trigger constantly when using a minigun, without firing it. It reduces the start-up spin time dramatically.
Use one VATS shot in the beginning when using a Heavy Incinerator. It helps you establish range. Then I just free-hand "walk" the fire into my targets.
If you love the Flamer, there are a couple of unique ones out there. Be sure to take the Pyromaniac perk.
I never take the perk that adds points to your Big Guns skill, can't remember what it's called.

Minigun, Missile Launcher, and Fatman indeed can't cause critical hits. But Gatling Laser, Flamer, and Rock-It Launcher can, though looking at it in the GECK the critical damage bonus for the Flamer is only 1 point of extra damage.

I haven't used the Rock-It Launcher (as I haven't palyed a big guns character yet) but looking at it in the GECK my impression is that it's a reasonable weapon for the early levels. The impact does 50 damage and ammo is plentiful and available for free (the downside being that it has weight). However, I'm not sure if the schematic is worth it's price. Caps aren't plentiful during the first 5 levels when you'd need it the most.

Your stat distribution seems more or less optimal. A Big Gun user actually only needs Strength, Endurance, and Intellgience and you are poised to max them all out with bobbleheads and Ant Might. So I don't really see much point in getting Intense Training at levels 2 and 3. What are you going to put the points in anyway? Charisma and Agility are completly useless, Perception will only increase the range at which threats appear (great for stealthy snipers, less useful for big guns) and Luck will only improve critical chance (which doesn't do you much good) and give a +1 bonus to all skills (which with 10 INT you won't need). I'd just grab Lady Killer more for the extra dialogue option (which can be fun) than for anything else. And at level 3 just take whatever. Hell, maybe even go for Intense Trainign after all and put the point in Perception.

For perks I'd suggest:

2: Lady Killer
3: whatever
4: Comprehension
5: Entomologist
6: Toughness
7: Bloody Mess or Demolition Expert (requires 50% Explosives)
8: Strong Back
9: whatever (maybe Scrounger because Big Guns ammo is less common than Small Guns ammo)
10 & 11: whatever (maybe max out Demolition Expert)
12: Pyromaniac (if you use a Flamer) or Life Giver
13: Life Giver
14: Cyborg (requires 60% Medicine & Science)
15: Life Giver
16 & 17: if you took Pyromaniac take the last rank of Life Giver, otherwise just pick whatever
18: Paralyzing Palm, just for the fun of it
19: whatever
20: Solar Powered or Explorer
21: Explorer or Solar Powered
22: Quantum Chemist (for infinite Nuka Grenades)
23-30: whatever

Flamers are awesome and my primary weapons for Big Guns except Vengeance. Althought Burnmaster isn't effected by Pyromaniac. I think the Best Flamer is the Rapid-Torch Flamer since it wont waiste ammo like the Slo-Burn Flamer. Also there is some good Big Guns armor out there as well as a few masks. I must say if you get Vegeance the Wasteland will have no choice but to bow down to you.

I took luck with intense training for the first 2 levels. Lady killer svcks in my opinion, and even though big guns don't crit as well, the best one (the gatling laser) can crit pretty decently. sure the multiplier is low, but that is to balance the sheer number of shots you put out. More importantly I also have to think about the fact that I have unarmed as a back up and criticals can be useful there, especially with the death claw gauntlet having a 5 for a crit multiplier. I am also wondering whether I should go for the +6% damage resistance or the +3% crit bonus. From what I understand the damage resistance would be pointless as later on you reach the damage resistance cap anyway making it useless where crit bonuses do not max out. If someone thinks otherwise I would like to hear their side.


So should I spend my caps on the rock-it-launcher schematics or go into dc to try and find and kill a brute wielding a mini gun? I got the 500 caps for disarming the bomb, a few hundred from tutorial loot, and 200 for fixing the pipes so I got 1210 in caps at level 3. I think I will make a save and give the rock-it-launcher a go to try it out. The fallout wiki says that it has a higher DPS than the mini gun.

Update: I bought the plans, built it and have tested it a bit and will do some more. Aiming is a little erratic but that is pretty much the only difficulty I have. I did manage to kill an enclave soldier with my first 2 shots taken at him with it. I wonder why there is one lone soldier by the cabin by super-duper mart? I am going to go try to clear out super-duper mart with this thing now. Will post results.

Update: The Rock-It-Launcher has turned out to be mainly just a novelty. the erratic flight of projectiles and the difficult aiming that results have made it impractical for use as a serious weapon. I went back to before I bought the schematics and now need to figure out where to go to find a brute to kill for his mini gun and figure out how I can kill one with my poor armaments. Maybe I should invest in a missle launcher? I wonder if I could take one in unarmed combat lol.

Update: At first I was joking, but I tried it and it worked lol. At level 3 I beat the super mutants to death that are near rivet city including the brute and took his minigun which is in about 40-45% condition! lol. I came out with half my health intact. It helps that when trading with crow the traveling merchant a combat armor I bought from him somehow went from badly damaged when I bought it to 100% condition when I went to repair it with other combat armors lol. So I had 35 DR when I was being hammered point blank by a mini gun which helped lol, as well as the brute being horrible at aiming.

edit

There's an appliance shop (naturally abandoned) near a metro entrance in the general vicinity of Arefu where some raiders are. One of them seems to always have a missile launcher. Be warned, you need to sprint past the first raider, open the mesh door, and get into the back to shoot that guy in the head with something fast, or gut him with a knife. Otherwise, he's gonna shoot it through the mesh and blow you up in a tightly enclosed space. But it's a reliable place to get a missile launcher.

I agree, Lady Killer is pretty lousy. I do use Black Widow when playing as a female, though.

The Rock-It launcher is an excellent weapon, actually. It does heavy damage, and runs on garbage. You can even load it with the contents of super mutant gore bags. Only downside is that its ammo has weight. Consideer loading it with silverware if you can find it, that way each shot weighs half a pound instead of a full pound.

In my humble opinion, Eugene is a nice supplement to the Rock-It. Between the two, you're equipped for nearly anything.

update: I have gotten the first chapter of the survival guide done and planted the observer in a mirelurk nest. Now I am clearing out tepid sewers now that I got 10 rat kills. I have a flamer in poor condition with only 25 fuel, a missle launcher, and a mini gun that I just can't seem to find enough ammo for. I have heard that I can get eugene early on, but that doesn't sound right after I read up on how to get it. It is made out to be too hard for a low level like me. Fallout wiki says to wait till like level 15. I am level 5 at the moment. I wish I could get more flamer fuel but the shops just don't really carry it. I did however have some fun with mines and the raiders in tepid sewers. Gotta love luring them to their doom one at a time to see them fly through the doorway into the subway tunnel dead lol. I mined the corridor to their hideout after you fight rocksalt fyi. Maybe I will try the rock-it-launcher again as more of a specialty weapon like the missle launcher rather than trying to use it as my primary. Come to think of it it could be a decent longer range weapon when my mini gun can't reach and I don't want to use an expensive missle. I really need to sleep though after being up for 18 hours and working an 8 hour day so I will resume tomorrow. and no, that doesn't equal 10 hours of fallout lol.

QUOTE: Now I am clearing out tepid sewers now that I got 10 rat kills.
Awww... those poor little mole ratties!

QUOTE: I must say if you get Vegeance the Wasteland will have no choice but to bow down to you.
Until you run out of those EC packs, that is.

QUOTE: The Rock-It-Launcher has turned out to be mainly just a novelty. the erratic flight of projectiles and the difficult aiming that results have made it impractical for use as a serious weapon.
Lots of big guns are less than accurate, I think. Rock-it is best used up close anyway, since it uses so much VATS per shot. It does less damage than the Flamer, but ammo is unlimited. It remains one of my two favorite Big Guns.

Also, you get to hunt down the pieces and build it on your own which is pretty awesome

I got the second chapter done, and the rivet city history as well as the replicated man while I was at it. I am now debating whether I should go through some of the main quest to get power armor training, or whether doing operation anchorage would be easier and quicker. Is operation anchorage rather long?

oh, and I also got a deathclaw gauntlet schematic from a "certain quest" in rivet city. Now the issue is finding a deathclaw and actually being able to kill it lol.

• If you are planning to max your big gun skill only, use the Minigun or Eugene as your primary, since 5mm rounds are fairly abundant and if you have access to the PITT ammo press you will always have a positive conversion ration for any ammo to 5mm.
  
  
• Save the EC packs with Vengance or the Precision Gatling if you have Broken Steel for the "endgame" type quests, since EC ammo is a bit more sparse.
  
  
• I'm not really a fan of the flamethrowers, but a Heavy Incinerator from Broken Steel is a good alternative to use up that Flamer Fuel ammo.
  
  
• Although you will probably never run out of ammo with the above weapons, you can keep a Rock-It launcher as backup just in case and just load it with low weight or 0 weight "junk" such as prewar money.
  
  
• As for Missile Launchers and Fat Men, just be careful with the splash damage in closed quarters, use the missiles for lesser enemies like raiders and the mini nukes for the bullet sponges like the Albinos/Reavers/Overlords from Broken Steel.

How to kill a Deathclaw:

Needed:
2 Bottlecap Mines
OR
1 Bottlecap Mine and a decent gun
OR
1 Dart Gun and a decent gun

Go to a place where you know there's a deathclaw (Old Olney or the campground north of Dunwich).

Place a bottlecap mine between you and it. Back off when it sees you. It will travel over the mine and detonate it.

If you don't have a second mine to finish the kill (or want to have a bit of fun at it), open fire on the crippled deathclaw. Shoot it in the head until it dies.

If using a dart gun, hit the deathclaw with it. Once it's crippled, shoot it until it dies.

Harvest it for its hand. No problemo.

First Max your Endurance at 10 before you leave the vault. This is the only way to get max HP
Use Minigun/Eugine as your workhorse, Gattling Laser/Vengence as your powerhouse, flamer works well for CQB. Fat Man as doomsday weapon
Use fully repaired power armor.
Noteable perks: toughness, cyborg, guru (tough), goul ecology, defender, bloody mess, pyromaniac, strong back, life giver, fast metabolism, pit fighter

you will be badder than rambo.

I take 9 because I will get the endurance bobble head. sure, it is in a "nasty place" but I will get it.


In other news I beat the simulation, saved olin and mcgraw and scored some new tech, power armor training, lots of ammo for my mini gun and some more mini guns for repairs! I am level 8 now by the way.

One thing about the Rock-it-Launcher: since it can fire almost anything (except, oddly, rocks...) and there is a superabundance of useless crap such as bent tin cans in every interior, you do not need to keep it loaded and can instead pick up a few objects when you first enter a given location and load them in on the spot. As you go further into the location, grab more crap and toss it in as needed. This has the added bonus of conserving more expensive ammo such as missiles and mini-nukes, which allows you to use them a bit more liberally against harder targets.

As for the start-up cost: while roughly 1100 caps is fairly steep in the early levels, the fact you do not need to buy ammo means it's actually readily affordable. If in addition you loot Rivet City of everything you can without stealing, even the crap only worth 1 cap each, and sell that too you can afford a second schematic and still have some left over to buy parts from Moira, Wolfgang (if he has any, which is not reliable until you invest in his shop), and/or Seagrave with which to build one or two. Be prepared to rotate their stock a few times to get all the parts you need.

If you are on a PC I highly recommend adding the parts to the repair list, since that way you no longer need to build a second one in order to repair the one you're using.

I think I will start doing some of the main quest now. That way I can find the mall with it's abundance of mini-gun wielding brutes, underworld so I have a third shop to get ammo at, and also I can pick up the rangers distress signal around there so I can get Eugene. I know there are other places to pick up that signal, but this location will be right were I already am going. oh, and also I can then loot some dead brotherhood of steel guys for their armor and get a free fat man.

I am thinking about starting another character on the side. Maybe a small guns user or an energy weapons user. I said previously that I had tired both, but that was before I knew what I was doing and had made some dumb choices. The same goes for a sneaky build. I will still use this file as my main, but may have a new one on the side. Now the question is whether to go for small guns, or energy weapons and whether I want to snipe or not. With energy weapons I would need the gauss rifle to snipe well. I must also add that I thoroughly enjoy laying mine traps for enemies and then luring them to their death lol.

I honestly recommend not sniping.

Why? Sniping can remove all challenge from the game, especially if one uses VATS and has Grim Reaper's Sprint. My characters who do snipe do so in real time, so if I miss they come looking for me, and without the assistance of VATS I do miss every so often.

You don't need to start the main quest to find the Mall, if you go to Rivet City you can enter the nearby Anacostia metro station, take the metro tunnel up to Museum Station (you'll need to do some fighting), and go out to the mall from there. Regardless of which exit you use (I highly recommend the History Museum exit), be careful when going up the escalator as there may be Super Mutants right near the top.

I don't really like VATS for sniping myself. I can never get a good enough hit chance at a far enough range to do so. And I would probably do a combo of sniping and close quarters as you don't always have a lot of room for a long shot. I guess I am simply growing weary of constantly worrying about using my mini-gun too much so it takes most of the fun out of it. I think I will take a break from this file for a while. Now I just need to decide whether to go small guns, or energy weapons. Small guns are more plentyful and more powerful early on. Energy weapons are generally more accurate, wear out slower, more powerful later, and you get the gauss rifle.


Update: made a small guns and an energy weapons character. Got bored and missed my big guns so back to my main profile. I am level 9 at the moment and have gotten to GNR studios. Prepping for the trip to and through the museum of technology. I have 2300 5mm rounds, 40 missiles, 100 flamer fuel which means not enough to use my flamer yet. I am doing a little foraging of previously cleared areas to get some Rock-it-Launcher parts I passed up previously. Going to get one in good condition and have it loaded with 10 forks lol. I will probably visit ghoul city before I go in, and maybe do reilly's rangers to get Eugene before I go into the museum. Is level 9 a good enough level to do the quest for Eugene?

Make a save and give it a try. Basically you'll be fighting loads of muties.