Weapon balance has many problems but I think this is the most noticeable.

Combat Rifle and Shotgun both have a dramatic advantage in mag size/fire rate over the Double Barrel and Hunting Rifle, while having nearly as much damage.

They have common ammunition types, and Combat Rifles can be modified up or down to even using .38.

Both can equip suppressors(unlike all of this useless energy weaponry), for stealth and benefit from Mr. Sandman bonus damage.

You can simply buy a powerful Legendary version of either at static vendors, allowing you to not worry much about Legendary loot luck/item scaling for a long while.

They take up little first person screen space relative to the godawful assault rifle.

I've got a character at level 60 that still uses only these two weapons, although I actually have 3 different combat rifles by now just using up the different ammunition types depending on enemies - a wounding .38, double shot .45, .308 with penetrating.

I haven't found any good reason to use anything else aside from aesthetic preferences.

had a double barrel shotgun legendary drop yesterday with an extra projectile it's kind of awesome, so it's a triple really, huge damage, more than combat shotgun

Assault Rifle > Combat Rifle

.44 Revolver > Combat Shotgun

don't think there is a balance problem just preferences

That a semiautomatic rifle is superior to a bolt action and a semiautomatic shotgun to a two-barreled is not so weird. Weird is that the base damage of the two-barreled is lower than that of the combat shotgun. But ok. I see hunting rifle and two-barreled as kind of starter weapons. I've modded the two-barreled to much higher damage btw.

.44 revolver doesn't have spread for close range(bugs), only applies legendary effects for 1 bullet as opposed to several pellets, and 44 ammo isn't very common. Plus, it's a pistol, and doesn't get the armor ignore benefits of rifleman.

Assault Rifle is statistically better DPS, but Combat Rifles are just more practical to use and are more common meaning you'll be more likely to gave a legendary one. And as I noted, the combat rifle gives you better visibility while the assault rifle is a bulky screen space hog.

I think there is a balance problem, which is that hunting shotgun / rifle become obsolete very quickly. Also, Pipe Weaponry should be made more competitive via perks. The pipe revolver especially just has no purpose whatsoever.

That would all be fine if they game had lots of weapon options and it was more acceptable to have junky weapons for low levels/weak NPCs, but right now the base weapon list is so limited it boils down to only a few decent options and the combat rifle and shotgun just happen to be far and away the obvious choice for most of the game.

Actually, I prefer the 10mm Pistol. The damage and speed of reload making it, to all intents and purposes automatic, suppressed as well, a beautiful weapon, but yes the Combat Rifle is a also a great weapon, I would add good Sniper Rifle to my list though.

I'm trying to do a heavy weapons/power armor play through.

Yeah, I know the mini-gun svcks as it is, but the fact that I can't find ammo for it ANYWHERE (including on weapon vendors) even with the Scrounger perk has relegated me to using crappy, non-perked weapons. Basically, heavy weapons are terrible unless you cheat to give yourself enough ammo for them. And it's not like the mini-gun kills any quicker than my old character's semi-auto pistol did due to the way damage reduction works in the game.

Debating whether or not I should just restart and go with Commando or Rifleman instead. I'm sure it'll get better late game, but early game has been extraordinarily painful. And I don't want to use any of the weapon rebalance mods out there because from what I've seen, they all seem to go too far in the opposite direction, making all guns kill in 2 seconds.

yeah I agree on the hunting rifle... even as a .50 cal, it seems to do barely any damage for its firerate

but I still was able to use throughout all the game, without any problems on survival ^^ it still deels enough damage, as long as you're hidden

the Gauss Rifle seems to take over as a sniper in the late game though

and I also think that despite the low variety on weapons, those that are in the game are still mostly good enough to be taken with you

I really can't decide what to leave behind :/

.44 for close tough enemies, the assault and the combat rifle are both great for mid-range, the gauss for long-rage, the spray n' pray for bugs and ghouls... and even then you still want to take the plasma and the laser rifle with you, because they're fun

my inventory is totally filled with weapons and I don't want to leave any of them behind :/

so I think they did a good job on making many different weapons useful... it's not the same as it was in Fallout 3 where you could use your plasma rifle for everything in the end game ^^ there's finally some variety

a bit disappointed about the pipe weapons though... their main ammo (.38) is totally useless, even early in the game

there is barely any reason to ever use them.

they were replaced by a legendary 10mm pistol and the .45 combat rifle very quickly in my playthrough

best i came across, not even having to e legendary in any way, is a hair trigger assault rifle, with max mag and silencer.

with all the perks, it does about 120 per hit, and can unload a lot for quite a bit. plus 5.56 ammo is very easy to find.

before using this weapon, it was a combat shotgun. range svcks on this gun, which is one major disadvantage.

I have three main weapons, the Overseer's sniper rifle, a combat shotgun, and a 10mm pistol that is silenced. All do lots of damage because I have taken all perks related to their use. I think (haven't played in a few days) that both long guns are doing almost 200 damage, and the 10mm is doing 170ish. Have a .44 as back up that I took off of a particular bad guy that I added a scope to.

Ammo dictated what weapons I use, I have 1400 rounds of 308, and can trade/buy for the other ammo types easily.

No, Deathclaw Gauntlet > everything

Melee always has the weakness of not being able to collect free XP from enemies at a distance you don't care about looting. Plus, melee is just higher risk for no real reward aside not requiring ammo. Its damage is pretty high early on, but eventually guns catch up.

Game is easy enough to make anything work if you number crunch right, but melee isn't that great in FO4.

Deathclaw Gauntlet isn't even the best, a Wounding Ripper or a Wounding Machete with Sacrificial Blade is. Or Pickman's for sneak attackers. Or an Instigating big weapon like sledges.

Problem with unarmed in general is that melee has more options and better access to good options from early in the game.

I don't think it's unbelievable that ballistic weapons are the most well-balanced and most able to be modified. By Fallout time, we're talking about a VERY mature technology with almost 400 years refinement, just going back to smokeless powder, and twice that if you consider traditional gunpowder in the equation. Compare that to relative newcomers like laser weapons or outright experimental tech like plasma and gauss. People have had a LONG time to figure out how to optimize guns.

I haven't found any weapon that can outdo the gauss rifle. Was able to find a legendary one that was Violent so it's all the more powerful. I haven't even put a suppressor on the thing yet because it just looks hideous with it, but I'd imagine nothing would ever survive it suppressed with a sneak crit + Ninja + Sandman.

you can take out far away enemies, just run up to them lol. Super sledge takes too long, Pickman's blade is too short, same as the ripper, and the sacrificial blade would be nice if I did not want to look like a raptor

So, picked up a combat rifle. Without any perks in Commando, it was killing faster than my perked mini gun. Once I got a mod to increase mini-gun damage, they kill at about the same rate. Just scares me that even with perks, mini guns are subpar unless you're lucky enough to find one with a good legendary mod.

About ammo: the more you use of a certain type, the more often the game loads it into corpses and containers for you to loot. And while you might not get as much, you dont need that much because of different playstyles.


I will take a modified hunting rifle with a long scope over a combat rifle any day for long distance. Fewer shots means less detection chance from enemies and greater chance to get a one-shotter. I use a combat rifle for closer and more active engagements. I use the hunting rifle (actually a full blown .50 cal sniper rifle now) to essentially end those engagements before they even begin.


It all depends on your playstyle and your focus for combat. I will say though I use a sniper rifle and combat shotgun setup for power and distance, and a combat rifle for mid range active battles, and a 10mm silenced for the up close and personal stuff.



I think the big imbalance in weapons is traditional vs energy weapons. Just seems like most enemies are setup to be weak against energy weapons and on top of that they typically have higher damage, higher dps, and about half the weight. Kind of makes traditonal weapons pointless. In previous games, they were seperated with the skills and perks.

*looks at 1260 dmg furious ripper doing 10.6x crits*


ummm

Yea, in previous games was actually easier and better to manage your weapon pick through the skill system AND perks.

Energy / bullets weapons being two different considerations to put on end of your choice.

Yet we still somewhat lack a more weapons options, expecially when it comes about automatics, while rifles are reasonably easier to manage and overall have a better efficiency.

Oh, and this train wack of .38 ammo's, for how many i'd sell i ALWAYS end up having a ton laying in my inventory , felt like being continuosly trolled by the game, shoting .45 and receiving .38, by then no sane merchant would make up a trade for any better than a 1:5 ratio, in early game phase its hurting.

I mean, full auto 18-A is simply as great but doesn't exactly fit into "cheap" usage.

Maybe not beautifully looking, but if i compare it with an assault rifle, for ex, it wins any hour of the day.

My best aestethic pick would always be the machinegun or the assault carbine modded auto +long barrel but it gets outdamaged pretty early around 35-40 levels, and mutants or yaoguai's sponges would dry through my ammo's more than i'm willing to feel.

Then it comes into considering that having fully perked commando my choices are down to 2-3 options minus the awful assault rifle.

Fine, but still, feels like automatic weapons are very under-valuated and its quite sad.

Combat rifle is better for semi automatic mostly because of the .308 upgrade, assault rifle is better on full auto mostly as it has larger magazine, it also look like an machinegun.

I still use overseer guardian as my main weapon at level 62, also carry a gaus rifle and a exploding minigun but the guardian does most of the work.

I actually used to console to remove my 2 ranks Heavy Gunner Perk and give myself 2 ranks of Commando instead and then went and got the Overseer's Guardian. I was tired of gimping myself. I figure I'll pick up Heavy Gunner again and Demolition Expert later in the game after I get the rest of my essential perks and Gatling Laser become available. Don't need any of the sneak stuff or Luck perks really because I'm basically just running around in power armor anyway and not using VATS so I'll have some extra perks anyway.

Nice but difficult to use when 5 supermutants are shooting at you in the open with miniguns and modded assault rifles.

Correct...and by far. The .50 is pure rubbish by comparison. No need for my PC to carry any other weapon than a fully modded Gauss (and maybe a missile launcher for long range splash DAM), unless I just want to goof off.

I have so many issues with ballistic weapons in FO4 that I'm almost tired of talking about it, and gave up on them -- from the plethora weapons they opted out of; to the loss of variety and specialization; to a combat rifle chambered in a pistol round; to the loss of ammunition types, hand loads, and meaningful mods, (so that we now have to rely on magical items [Legendaries]); to an underpowered .50 [unless it's some sort of AE hybrid [which makes a strange rifle round]; to a ridiculous 25 pound "assault" rifle --- (like I said except for goofing off and breaking up the monotony of one-shotting almost everything with a Gauss).

I will wait for the modders, the toolkit so I can edit weapons, or Bethesda to get their heads out of their fourth points of contact regarding ballistic weapons, in upcoming DLCs...I won't hold my breath on the last one.

i use a legendary 44 Revolver with double shot and for me it's definetly the greatest weapon in game.

I play on survival and all legendary enemies get killed soooooooo fast. and i dont mean gunners etc, i talk about scorpions and deathsclaw's etc