Shotguns are really effective only at very close distances. Auto weapons can cower wider range of distances which you can moreover adjust with modding.
I would say auto weapons are better choice overall. However if you want to concentrate your skill/perk points, shotguns can work well with rifles as a backup for close fighting. They are both cowered by single perk.
Take both.
... No really, take both. Doesn't matter what perks you got, you'll be glad to have the right tool for the job. Shotguns really help around corners and full auto weapons help in most situations. One chews up ammo in most situations, the other uses only a bit of ammo and can be a good way to get weaker enemies to help save ammo.
Yeah my fortunes in this game turned around for the better the second i started using a double barrel shotgun. That thing saved my bacon a lot! I just upgraded to a combat shotgun last night though. got it nicely modded, can't wait to try it out when I get home from work
Can someone confirm if rifleman actually improves shotguns?
I personally do not recommend using assault rifles unless you have tons and tons of ammo for that weapon, and i mean like hundreds upon hundres of ammo. I have a hard time keeping my ammo in stock for my auto weapons.
Go shotties. Or rather, invest in the Rifleman instead of the Commando perk, which gives you all rifles but automatics.
Single shot rifles are kings in FO4, particularly if you are using VATS. Not only do they take less AP to fire, but they also have better perks attached to them. A Rifleman can use shotguns, can use sniper rifles AND can mod the assault rifles to single shot, which makes them rifles, not automatics, for the purposes of perks. Basically if it fires semiauto, it uses Rifleman, not Commando. The only Commando weapon you can't turn into a single shot is the submachine gun, and the assault rifles use the same bullets...
Now keep in mind that since you will eventually attach scopes to all your rifles with the modding bench, you can also use the Sniper perk for extra cheeze. +25% hit for headshots? Knockdown? Yes.
Now add luck perks for extra fun....
Pistols is a good combo with rifles, as it means you are basically using almost all ammo types. And some pistols are exceptional. Still, it's not absolutely necessary. With the mod system, you can turn a lot of guns into pistols, rifles or automatics at your whim.
If you do go for pistols, looking into the luck perks again. They work well with the low AP weapons.
For me there's no such thing as building a char to a certain class, I see some ppl saying "my char is a sniper", so you really gonna get f.ed up in close encounters pal. As you level up you gonna get the opportunity to raise them all