Now, here I have Ratslayer, and I have GRA.
I've replaced most of my 5.56 with match rounds, but kept HP rounds for those "I might need this" reasons.

But my head doesn't calculate damage/DT multiplication quick enough, not to mention that I can't exactly see the enemy's DT (Haven't got Living Anatomy yet).

Anyhoo, should I keep HP rounds? Or do normal rounds fare better than HP?

Dunno about 5.56mm Match, but with .308 JSPs I still kept some HPs around, but ditched the AP and ball. 1.75x damage is still far greater than 1.15x.

I did a number-crunch on the .308 JSP on the Hunting Rifle (the only weapon that can really shoot them for extended periods) one time and that it essentially managed to out-do AP rounds against armored targets in damage right up to the -15 point of AP. Beyond that... it's probably too big of a target to be taking it down with a .308 rifle anyway and I should switch to a big game gun. Considering that, it may be a good idea to pack a handful of 5.56mm APs still, on account of Match rounds having a 1.15x multiplier instead of a 1.3x like .308 JSP.

I keep AP rounds around because it helps against Legionnaires who tend to pack quite a DT, and against enemies with heavy armors.

I'm talking about Hollow Point rounds, though. 1x25 Damage, target DTx3. I use them against enemies with 0 DT (pretty much just the giant rats in Broc Flower Cave), but think that if I have to check enemy DT all the time, maybe I should just ditch the round and switch them to Match anyway.

If you have AWOP you definitely should. Most of the enemies have low DT, same with a lot of fiends and ghouls. So Ratslayer with HP rounds can destroy fiends if you take them out from afar.

I would recommend saving all hollow point and armor piercing bullets. It's good to have options open.

Ratslayer DAM = 23
Hollow Point does 1.75x Dam and gives 3x DT
Hand Load Ammo does 1.15x Dam.
Armor Piercing does 0.95x Dam and gives -15 DT

What are some tough enemies who have no armor?

Cazadores don't have armor.
Nightstalkers don't have armor.
Cyberdogs have 2 DT. (23 * 1.75) - 6 = 34.25. Hollow point still does a lot more damage than regular ammo (21) or armor piercing. (21.85)

Cazas are also zippy and hard to hit with a single-shot precision weapon outside of VATS. Rapid-fire or explosives from far freakin' away is the way to go against those scourges.

To that end, I recommend maybe packing a Service Rifle with the spring mod and load it with HP rounds should you really want to take on cazas with a 5.56mm weapon. I'd say Marksman Carbine or LMG, but those are both very late-game weapons.

Also most bandit types don't have that much DT as well so HP would take them down even more quickly.

Basically, HP is for targets without DT. Anything with DT has enough so that HP is a waste. There might be a couple of exceptions, but in those cases you're better off with match anyway.

(23-6)*1.75= 29.75 is what we are looking at.

But like MadCat, I would load HP on automatic weapons since those enemy are quite fast.

I like long-range sniping better. The closest I've gone is Cowboy Repeater. There's Sleepytime but I mostly use it in urban combat interiors.

How reliable is Service Rifle? I'm talking about its effective range. Thing is, I don't have Trigger Discipline, and to make matters worse I have Small Frame (and haven't taken Adamantium Skeleton yet). I can't afford close-range combat.

Yep. DT has a bite out of damage before multipliers are applied. That's one of the many reasons energy weapons svcked early on: they had absolutely zero means to reduce DT. Powering through DT that was too much for normal rate cells was impossible.


Not having Trigger Discipline is a good thing with the Service Rifle, as its advantage is in volume of fire. It's not gonna be shooting ticks off of brahmin asses at 100 paces, but it has a tight enough grouping if you are adequate in Guns skill. Volume of fire only becomes greater once you get the spring weapmod for it, and it'll handle wear and tear better with the receiver mod. It'll be a good weapon for when the brahmin pie hits the fan, precision is out of the question and you need to kill them with sheer volume of fire. If you have PC and WMX, you can stick an extra-length mag mod on there (26 vs 20 unmodded) as well.

IIRC, if you do a favor for some ranger at the Mojave Outpust all the way in the south (kill giant ants IIRC), you get a Service Rifle and a few mags' worth of AP ammo.

Always have options. My preferred play style is to snipe with a http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/images/43132-2-1312504522.jpg (the "POWWwwwww-ka-chink-chink" is much more satisfying to me than some silenced gun that goes *phoot*), but when the going gets tough, the tough bust out a http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/images/115378-1298506600.jpg and let the ozone smell waft over the scuffle.

Well, silenced weapons let me kill Legionnaires without much repercussion :}

I've looted a Sniper Rifle off Vault 34, and I've got its silencer (and Jury Rigging), so maybe I'll just switch. I'll give Service Rifle a try. If the brahmin pie hits the irradiated fan, it'll make a makeshift repair kit

Well if you got Jury Rigging, that means you're probably very far along and can likely find the Service Rifle's big brother, the Marksman Carbine. The unique marksman carbine, the All-American, is in the V34 armory. All marksman carbines have a Guns 100 requirement though, so it may not shoot as straight.

I'm level 16. Yeah, I've got All-American, but the Guns requirement is too high. My Guns is at 85, and I'm trying to improve my lockpick and science.

For some reason, I love the low-tier equipment. I guess it's the poor man's mentality cheap items are closer to the heart.

Sniper rifle is clearly superior, except that repair is slightly more challenging.caboose rifle with silencer and weight reduction kit is awesome.

I was using regular varmint rifle with night scope and silencer for a bit at level 30 and it was still remarkably effective and fun to use.