Hi all, I'm not sure about this and was hoping someone could shed light on the subject...do monsters in Fallout 3 have any specific vulnerabilities based on damage resistances against normal, laser, explosive, etc. damage? Or is everything based on the same value of damage resistance?

Thanks
Elektra

I cant confirm this 100% but it felt like mechanic targets receiving more damage from projectiles and hard skinned targets (scorpions and those big crab things) getting more from energy weapons ,ofcourse any kind of pulse weaponry is lethal against mechanics also.

Sadly, I don't think so. Damage is damage, and the weapon categories are only for purposes of the skills.

I somehow feel the same way. In FO1 and 2 energy weapons and big guns really did more overall damage than small guns, because damage was based on the weapon and used ammo. In FO3 damage is calculated only partly by weapon, but since my character has 100% small guns skill and 45 energy weapons skill, my laser rifle does less damage than my hunting rifle. Not only does that seem strange, I personally find this rediculous

In fallout games there are 2 stats- damage absorbtion and damage resistance...these stats are hidden in FO3 (besides a very generic DR). I noticed quite well that some weapons do far better verse some mobs that others. So there must be some sort of damage absorbtion stat hidden. You can see it best with miniguns-- if there was no damage absorbtion per bullet then this weapon would be king of all- yet i find it to be one of the weakest weapons in game mostly i figure cause most of the low/bullet damage is negated and it takes over a hundred rounds to kill a tough skinned foe-- meanwhile a high damage per shot weapon rips right through them. Even the Ultra SMG works very well because of the high per bullet damage

My answer is purely anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt. Mechanical opponents are resistant to ballistic
attacks, and keel over readily with pulse weapon attacks. Energy weapons seem to slice through damage
resistance and heavy armor than weapons that throw bullets.

As a rule of thumb -

Bullets for softer targets.

Energy Weapons for armored targets.

Pulse weapons for mechanical targets.

Regards

if you read on how good a weapon is it is based on your own skill level and if you keep firing on the same area it'll eventually do more DAM to the creature/machine.