I cringe at the people who over-compare rw stuff to in-game items, but even so, as a 'gun guy' .... there really should be a .308 receiver mod for the assault rifle. More power, reduced rate of fire... all that. Would scale nicely comparable to other weapons with similar mods and it is a rw thing too.

They are both so close in power it doesn't really matter. They use different ammo so why not just use both?

For my commando playthrough I have the assault rifle modded for short to mid-range with a reflex sight and the combat rifle modded to long range with a longer scope.

IMO assault would be better at shorter ranges because of it's increased ammo capacity as you are much more likely to spray at close range.

how do you all use the Gauss Rifle?

it has such a bad fire rate, because of the charging you have to do

I do like it as a sniper weapon, but I still haven't figured out why it might be useful in mid-range combat.

It's fire rate is even slower than the one from the .44 revolver

at level 60, I still keep using my Combat and my Assault Rifle as my main weapons

The Gauss for long-rage, the .44 revolver for very tough close-range enemies.

Plasma projectiles on the other hand are a bit too slow, so it's also used more like a shotgun.

4-combat knife when doubble shot Gauss rifle no longer kills in 1 hit in stealth

Reading through this thread I think I've seen every weapon type (maybe except pipe rifles) described as THE most OP weapon in the game, combined with the right perks. At this point I think it's safe to assume that Beth has made sure we can't lose at Fallout4. Literally every weapon has the capability to take you from A-Z in the most leisurely manner. A nut-less monkey could dominate at Fallout4. No, really, at nut-less monkey.

Perk it up enough and it will one-shot BOS Knights even from VATS (which I assume isn't fully charged).

it does one shot everything, yeah but it still takes time to charge

and I think VATS uses the full charge

basically every game ever made

especially RPGs are built a way, so that you can't lose with any built and any weapon

it would be actually a big flaw in the game, if you couldn't use your favourite weapon after using the perks for it and reaching a high enough level to max it out

the pipe weapons are already weak enough... we don't need more of that ^^

Its an sniper rifle only so fire rate is not so important, more of an issue is the hold down fire button while aiming and waiting for enemy to show or stop.

Still its amazing, I get surprised every time something survives one hit, mostly high level supermutants.

is there actually any way to 'unload' the charge, when you lost your enemy?

I keep losing ammo by shooting a random wall, when this happens

Just like accidentally pulling a grenade pin...

Hit escape to bring up the save menu, let go the mouse/bash button while escaped, and then go back into the game.

The Gauss on vats fires fully charged.

Maybe at survival difficulty, but playing at normal, I'm still OP at level 54 with either of the two combat rifles I picked up 30 levels ago.

i use the assualt rifle as semi auto and it works good, you have to make sure the barrel is short and upgrade the weapon, i like it

There are a few meaningful differences,

Assault rifle - Higher RoF, better recoil control, much larger mag size, somewhat rare ammo without scrounger

Combat rifle - Lighter, lower AP cost, slightly higher damage, very common ammo types

But there's no clear winner.

I prefer the assault rifle personally, but both are great general purpose weapons.

Would a laser rifle fit well in comparison with these two?

Was using an irradiated assault rifle for the longest time, until I found an explosive combat rifle, now I use that [censored] on everything.

The full auto combat rifle reminded me of the MP5 from Half Life 1. The recoil on the thing would do a weird see saw motion that just sprayed bullets everywhere.

Im using a gatling laser with those charging barrels right now, and with a 10mm machine pistol sidearm I think ive nailed down the armoury of my character. The charging barrels stuff makes the gatling laser feel more like a .50 cal machinegun, and like every good game when you've got 100 hours in it the economy gets completely broken and ive got more fusion cores than I know what to do with.

You can't truly appreciate the Assault Rifle until you have level 3 and 4 of Gun Nut. It works really well as a semi auto Marksman Rifle with a short scope and all the Sniper perks. The fire rate is fantastic compared to the Sniper Rifle. Of course the Sniper Rifle does more damage, but you can fire off 2 or 3 shots compared to one from the Sniper Rifle. Plus your Assault Rifle can hold 80 rounds in a clip. With the right attachments and perks from Rifleman and Sniper, a Semi Auto Assault Rifle is a fantastic weapon. Just svcks it takes so long level wise, to make it beautiful.

An Automatic Assault Rifle can't be appreciated until level 3 or 4 of Gun Nut as well. Ammo for this gun is not so rare at the higher levels either.

The Combat Rifle is a nice auto weapon too with the right mods, and it seems to take one less Gun Nut level, for the same mods an Assault Rifle uses. So you can use the Combat Rifle until you have your Assault Rifle fully modded to your liking, and build up a good ammo supply.

Both are excellent weapons, and will have you owning all the enemies by the higher levels.

+1