a prototype would work, they did it with the MIRV which probobly wouldnt be highly manufactured due to the fact that it wastes ammo very quickly (and a nuke that makes such a small explosion for its size must be expensive to manufacture, can only fire 8 shots at once and the shots are scattered making it a very risky weapon to use.

ideas for energy weapons
-in every game i have played that has a guass weapon in it(besides FO3) the shot usually shoots out a beam (like the way the lazer rifle shoots but blue-ish) that can go through multiple targets instead of a small projectile the size of a plasma rifle projectile that hits one target and has a small blast radius. it is also the first time i have seen the guass rifle as a sniper rifle. but i think the guass rifle should stay how it is and have another gun that fires like the guass weapons in other games (rail gun?)
-something that can knock someone out so you can take there stuff without killing them (for stealling from traders that you want alive)

That's true, I think a unique weapon would be a better path, schematics are gimicky at best, it just wouldn't feel like the achievement it deserves to be.

Well I don't know what game's you've played that represent Gauss as blue projectiles, except warzone2100 (which was a pretty sweet game story svcked though). Starcraft has Gauss but you wouldn't have known it, if my memory serves they were represented as generic automatic weapons. And I can't think of any other game that includes Gauss (except Fallout of course), let alone one that represents the projectile as a blue beam.