I've only played FNV with a few characters, and I always end up piling on a ton of gear. Despite my best intentions of sticking to, say, one rifle and 2 sidearms plus a melee weapon, I run out of hotkey slots way too fast. It's probably because I keep finding stuff I want to use for later, but don't have enough ammo for it now, so I have to keep the stuff I have currently for awhile, etc. etc.

I'd like to commit to one or just a couple weapons. This most recent time I thought I'd try sticking with the sturdy Caravan Shotgun I start the game with (bought the game via Steam with all the DLCs).

However, it quickly becomes apparent that I need something to supplement a shotgun. Ineffective at range, frequent reloading. Basically if I can't get a point-blank shot and drop something with 1-2 shots to the face, I feel like it's just much better to go with almost any other weapon.

So, this is a 2-part post:

1. How do you build a shotgun-focused character? My best guess would be to go Sneak to get into range, but that's not the route I'd like to go.

2. Is it feasible to stick to 1 or 2 weapons for the whole game, or is that just a pipe dream? If it's possible, what do you recommend?

Thanks!

I do limited weapon carry with all of my characters, and I find that rifle-type guns tend to be the best all rounders. If you want to stick to a shotgun, I can recommend the Hunting Shotgun as being a great choice when you load it with all kinds of shells. Slugs for long range, pulse slugs for robots, etc. Shotgun Surgeon and the Stay Back! perks are essential for this.

Before I started using my current modded R91 rifle, I was using the Survivalist Rifle from Honest Hearts. If you can get the aiming with the crooked sights down it will see you through almost anything. Another good choice would be the Marksman Carbine, although for some enemies it can be a bit underpowered. For a pistol I also really love the .45 Auto Pistol, load that thing with your handloaded .45 supers and it makes a great backup to whatever rifle you have, often times doing a lot more single shot damage.

Wait till you get bigger shotgun, though single shot with slugs will kill just fine at longer ranges. Once you get ahold of bigger shotguns you will be in love, multiple ammo types easy to find reloads, pretty low reapir skillto make the ammo as well. Once you get shotgun surgeon and "and stay back' you will wonder why you ever used any other weapon lol

enjoy!!

I have to admit I'm not great at managing the ammo types. Switching ammo is something I'll have to get used to, then.

I'll keep an eye out for the Hunting Shotgun and others.

It would seem that in fights with a lot of foes a shotgun would be difficult to use on account of the frequent reloads, leaving you vulnerable (at least that's been my experience). How do you counter that issue?

Thanks!

The hunting shotgun is very slow to reload, and I would suggest using your pistol to fight your way into some breathing space to reload your main weapon. I would suggest (if you're on PC) to get the manual reloads mod. When you don't automatically reload after emptying your gun it makes things a lot more tactical. If you bring along a revolver or other small weapon for more shots you should have enough fire power to handle most situations. You could also look into carrying the lever-action shotgun since it is very short and doesnt look like it'd be too hard to carry.

The Riot Shotgun is great for the close-range, high rate of fire encounters.

That and the Hunting Shotgun cover just about everything, except very long range sniping.