So I've never played the Fallout series before, but will definitely be picking 4 up. I'm looking to focus more on non-VATS combat but am not familiar with how the series differentiates the firearm types and how much they vary. In past FPS games I typically like slower aim intensive weapons, but not so much to be a sniper. More mid-range deliberate individual shots from weapons IE...

-Non-scoped/quicker reloading rifles. Paratrooper rifle in Return to Castle Wolfenstein for example. (It was scoped, but works as described)

-Very slow high caliber revolvers. Borderlands definitely offered this.

-Or slower low recoil semi-auto SMGs with less spray and pray style shooting.

-Even a shotgun with less spread could be fairly viable here.

Not being familiar with this series would any of these weapon types specifically jump out to you as being most appropriate to focus on? I know we can modify weapons so could all of these potentially work? Obviously we can't be 100% until we play FO4, but I'm just looking for a general direction to be pointed in. Thank you!

If past games are any indication there will be plenty of revolvers, rifles that aren't scoped, and shotguns with various ammo like slugs. Not sure about a semi-auto smg though. Not sure if we'll be able to select fire rate.

You'll also have to be aware that this isn't an FPS, it's an RPG. Your skill and damage with firearms will be determined by the perks and abilities you take in the game. In the beginning of the game, no matter your real world ability to aim and fire.. You'll still svck and cause less damage with any weapon you choose. As for what weapon to focus on? This won't really matter in the beginning either since it'll take you some time to find enough weapons and ammo to be choosy. We also don't know what all the perks will do yet so deciding on what to focus on or how much focus you'll need is a guessing game at the moment.

Additionally, it's hard for us to say, even based on our experience with FO3/FO:NV... because they brought in guys from Bungie & id to help them "improve" the shooting mechanics. So it's not going to be exactly like in the previous games.

That's true.. it will be interesting to see how much real world skill plays a part in many aspects of the game. That must just be the hardest thing to balance in an rpg that's supposed to be about character development but looks like it should act like an FPS. If you naturally do not have good FPS skills and you're more likely to shoot a cloud than what you are aiming at but you've built your character to be a sniping god, does that mean your character will still svck and can't hit the side of a barn or does that character get magic bullets that bend through space and time and find their target? Hard to balance...

That's funny, you and I both have the same taste in guns. The FPS mechanics in the last two games are less than thrilling, but some of the best guns are certainly right up your alley.

To answer your question, it does look like there will be lots of distinction between different firearms, even moreso than the last games. It's still an RPG, so that means you'll be choosing your perks based on what you like to shoot. Looks like the weapon-use perks are Gunslinger (1 Agility) for pistols, Commando for automatic weapons (2 Agility), Rifleman for non-automatic rifles (2 Perception), Big Guns at 5 Strength, aaand unarmed/melee at 1 & 2 Strength respectively. These perks will boost the damage and add new effects to each weapon type; so by focusing on Gunslinger and Rifleman we'll be able to really excel with our favorite guns.

double post, disregard

You guys realize that having a real first person shooter vibe would go over very well for this game right?

Cause really there is still Vats, roleplay, crafting, survival elements, and house-community building...

Going back to play Fallout 3 and FNV its a lot harder than say going back and playing prior Elder Scrolls games, for that matter though Skyrim has been a number one go to game for how long... So Fallout 4 should be really good

I'm looking forward to a total divorcing of Skill small guns having any effect on actually hitting stuff in the next game. I'd also like to not have to use several rockets or fatman bombs to kill off Albino Radscorpions.

I feel like the ranked perks are going to be a really solid way of merging RPG stat-crunch with FPS gameplay. I'm mostly guessing based on what we've seen of the perks, but it seems like each rank adds 20% damage and one additional effect on top of that after the first rank; they described how extra ranks of Gunslinger will increase pistol range, add a chance to disarm enemies, and even instant limb crippling shots, or how Paralyzing Palm is the last rank of the Iron Fist perk for Unarmed. And if there's +20% damage with each rank, too, that's double damage after the five ranks - which is a lot, but within the realm of balance for a shooter. And we can't forget other perks like Gun Fu, Rapid Reload, or the S7 perk (which I'm guessing reduces the recoil from all firearms).

I wonder what the extra ranks for Rifleman and Commando will do.

I'm thinking they'll do basically the same thing as gunslinger but for whatever weapons fall under their category. .. Of course which weapons will fall under what category is the bigger mystery. Commando used to deal with rifles, submachine guns, shotguns and some energy weapons. But rifleman will obviously be dealing with some of those now. Maybe all the gun perks will intermingle a bit and some guns will fall under multiple categories... so if you say had an energy based sniper rifle.. perhaps having science, rifleman and sniper would all be helpful towards using that weapon.

I'm not so sure. Some of the things they described for Gunslinger like instant limb crippling shots or disarming make less sense with automatic weapons covered by Commando, and it seems like the point is to have greater differences between the weapon types. It's admittedly wishful thinking on my part, but I do think it's more likely they're different. So maybe Commando has perks that narrow the spread of automatic weapons, or increase the fire rate. And ranks of Rifleman could add armor piercing or increased staggering.

What's more, I think Energy Weapons are actually covered by all of these perks too. If you know how to shoot a 10mm Pistol, you probably know how to shoot a Laser Pistol just as well; although the knowledge for modifying them is obviously different (and covered, by Gun Nut and Science!). It actually doesn't look like there are any "skill" perks like Commando or Rifleman for Energy Weapons, just the Science! perk for crafting. Although I9 or P7 might be for Energy Weapons; wouldn't mind seeing Laser Commander, Plasma Spaz, or Meltdown make a return.

Moreover, is Demolition Expert a skill perk for Explosives, or is it a crafting perk? Is Sniper a skill perk for Sniper rifles, or do they fall under Rifleman with an extra bonus from Sniper? Are Shotguns covered by Rifleman, or do they have their own thing at S8? I can't wait for the game to just come out already.

The iconic Fallout 3 weapon is the hunting rifle, which is bolt-action and has no scope. It also has many other different types of weapons in the same vein as you described.

Thing is, FO4 has weapon crafting (reminds me a lot of the Loadout system, if you've ever played that game), which allows you to craft a weapon that can suit you like a glove. Want a high-damage, single-shot rifle with ironsights or reflex sights? Not a problem. Want a laser version of that weapon? Not a problem.

I know what you mean.. I sit around designing characters in my head and then think, "well, I really wont' know if that'll work until the game comes out." I got wasteland 2 on ps4 hoping to tide me over.. of course it's full of bugs. So I went ahead and pre ordered divinity original sin on my ps4 but still have to wait 4 days for that. It's like I"m looking for anything to tide me over and keep me preoccupied but nothing is working.

High caliber revolvers and I'm good. Ranger Sequoia! Other than that, it seems there will be weapons to my liking. I need:
1. Long range scoped rifle (gauss rifle is awesome)
2. HC revolver as backup and mid-range
3. Bladed melee weapon (Chinese officer sword, or a cleaver). One handed.
4. Explosives.

Huh, I haven't found that at all. I enjoy going back to play FO3, and never had a real problem with the gunplay. I've played more FO3 characters than Skyrim, but probably less than Oblivion. Although that's likely also a side-effect of how many games I now have in my library/backlog. So many games, so little time.

(disclaimer - I play with the FOOK2 weapon mod, which adds dozens of weapon types; and WMK, which lets me mod many of those weapons.)