Alright, after completing the game all four times with a Guns character, I decided to go for Energy Weapons. The problem is, in Fallout 3 it seemed so easy; you had access to 29 perks and lots and lots of skill points. In New Vegas, however, that's not the case. I feel like I'm having a hard time deciding on my SPECIAL, major skills to increase, and which perks to choose.
It feels like the game is very short on EW's at the beginning of the game, so I don't know if it would be a good idea to have a higher Agility and Guns skill.
Agility is needed for VATS too, but if EW's use less AP than Guns then there might be no problem.
It also feels like I have to raise a lot of skills for it to work. Repair for the repairs plus Science for ammo "crafting"; though I don't know how useful crafting EW ammo is.
Next is the perks... There seem to be a lot of EW related perks, which leaves me with questions about which ones are most useful in both short and long terms.

I would very much like your feedback on a setup I had in mind.

Here's what I had in mind for SPECIAL:
S - 6
P - 7
E - 5
C - 1
I - 8
A - 7
L - 6

Tagged skills would be EW, Science, and Medicine. The latter because I find Stimpaks to be expensive and much needed. After that maybe run with melee weapons until I get my hands on a decent EW. Melee and Unarmed both seem very useful to me.

Finally, it's the perks. Educated, definitely. Maybe also Comprehension; 1 skill point per book doesn't seem like a lot to me, but I don't know how useful it will show to be later on. A Math Wrath/Plasma Spaz combo is tempting, but I could possibly miss out on two more useful perks that way. Besides, I'm not sure whether to go for laser or plasma weapons yet. Vigilant Recycler would probably be a good choice, but I'm not sure. I was also thinking about taking Pyromaniac. I have enjoyed the Flamer and Incinerator a lot in both New Vegas and Fallout 3. Meltdown seems like an awesome perk to me, but the splash damage worries me. Laser Commander is an awesome perk it seems, and it makes me want to go for laser weapons even more.

I'd really appreciate your help on this one. Thanks in advance,
- TBD

The laser pistol is a pretty solid weapon, in reality. Very competitive with other starter weapons. If you can find a Recharger Rifle, that's even better since you can spam it at enemies that aren't worth spending ammo on.



Extremely. There's only 3 types of power packs (energy cells, multifusion cells, and electron charge packs), and you can freely convert between them if you have enough science. This is a huge advantage, since it means that every scrap of energy ammo you find you can use. Also, the overcharge/maxcharge ammo (with the latest patch) can turn select energy weapons into reasonably scary BFGs.



A large part of the power of energy weapons comes from critical hits. It's really worth pumping Luck if at all possible.

* "Maybe also Comprehension; 1 skill point per book doesn't seem like a lot to me, but I don't know how useful it will show to be later on."
The extra skillpoint isn't what you want, it's the double bonus from reading magazines. With Comprehension you can basically leave a skill down at 80 and get all the way to 100 for the toughest checks by reading a magazine.
* "Vigilant Recycler would probably be a good choice, but I'm not sure."
Energy weapon ammo is expensive and less common than Guns ammo... I think this perk is worth it, personally.
* "I was also thinking about taking Pyromaniac. I have enjoyed the Flamer and Incinerator a lot in both New Vegas and Fallout 3."
The Incinerator is a tremendously powerful weapon if you have Pyro. Also a very cost effective weapon to use since flamer fuel only costs 1 cap per unit. Highly recommended. The Flamer is of course much more powerful up close, but it gobbles fuel at an absurd rate and I can't really recommend it very highly.

Hey thanks for the reply, Momaw! Tremendously helpful, I must say. I'll see if I can pump my luck up some more, maybe a couple of points from Agility, Intelligence or Strength, but I don't know.

Again, thanks for the reply. Helped a lot.

Drop perception to 5 you can get an implant later to raise it to 6 and thats all you should need with mentats around.

drop agility to 4 or so it realy doesnt help energy weapons as much as it does guns and if you raise endurance a bit you can afford to get alot of implants and thus raise it back to 5.

Dont settle for less then 9 luck.

yes energy weapons bullds are skill intensive but with 7-9 intel you wont have a problem as long as you wait a few extra levels before doing much of the main quest.
This was my energy build...

Wayland Storm

s p e c i a l
3 5 9 1 9 4 9


traits good natured built to destroy

tagged science energy w repair
also train barter survival


perks

lvl

2 intense train strength
4 educated
6 toughness
8 toughness
10 finesse
12 strong back
14 packrat
16 meltdown
18 jury rigging
20 adamantium skeleton
22 laser commander
24 better criticals
26
28
30


It worked rather well. Yes ammo was a poo weighing so much but the extra stat points from ending up with 5 str made up for it in the end.

Comprehension's strength lies in magazine; for me it is a must have unless I am running out perks

Mine before patch, hardcoe normal.

Str 3.
Per 7.
End 5.
Cha 8.
Ag 5 / 6 with small framed.
Int 7.
Luck 5.

Speech, science, EW's, not one death, killed deathclaws instantly in all mass D areas.

Traits small framed and good natured.

Here's an EW build I posted earlier in a similiar thread:

**************************************************************

This is a character build that I call a "BoS Templar"

His/her main combat skill is EW, specifically laser weapons. The secondary skill is melee weapons, which is handy in tight-quarters fighting and in those situations where you need to conserve ammo.

Initial SPECIAL stats: S=7, P=6, E=6, C=1, I=7, A=5, L=8

Augmented SPECIAL stats: S=7, P=7 (implant), E=7 (implant), C=1, I=8 (implant), A=6 (implant), L=10 (2 X Intense Training) + Dermal Implant (DT +4) + Regenerative Implant (personal preference)

And here are the perks, in order of achievement:

Intense Training (+1 Luck)
Education
Vigilant Recycler
Intense Training (+1 Luck)
Finesse
Super Slam
Jury Rig
Better Criticals
Silent Running
Meltdown
Laser Commander
Piercing Strike
Unstoppable Force
Radiation Absorbtion

At level 30, this character had 80 Speech and 75 Medicine, but only a 50 in Lockpick. Then again, 100 in Science got him past many locked doors anyway.

There is a multitude of +1 PER hats so with a hat and Mentats, you can use a point from that SPECIAL for something else.

Strength 5, with and implant and weapon handling perk you can use all EW without strength penalty.
Perception 5-6, The added point is useful for an initial skill boost. Though it can be sacrificed for other stats.
Endurance 5, mostly for the implants.
Charisma, this is a dump stat, especially if you're not roleplaying your stats.
Intelligence 7-8, An important stat because of science, repair and skillpoints.
Agility 5-6, If you use VATS. EW have generally a lower AP Cost so a few extra points might help. Otherwise it can be set a bit lower.
Luck 6-7 or 8-9, This is an important stat if you are going to utilize your crititcals. 8-9 is for a true powerbuild and should be boosted with an implant and intense training (if you got 8). Otherwise you can safe yourself some points and just use 6-7.

Laser pistol works pretty well, though try to get a recharger rifle since EW ammo is a lot scarcer than that of guns.
Laser commander is a must, though you get it a bit late. Plasma spazz isn't all that great and might be forgone in favor of something you feel helps the build/character.
Intense Training might be used to augment or replace an implant.
As for implants, Luck is a must as is Strength in my build. Sub-dermal is always handy. The remaining two work best with Intelligence and Perception (for the skill bonuses).

I don't think Vigilant Recycler is all that necessary if you know where to buy ammo. If the perk helped in converting ammo it be fine. But just for recovering a few extra cells? nah. Van Graff's, Great Khans armorer [yeah that surprised me to], and the Hooverdamn quarter master are all huge suppliers of energy weapon ammo.
There is also a place with dead ghouls in robes[you know the place]. They carry good energy weapons RCW, Plasma Defender and even recharger pistols.[which are more powerful then the rifle versions] Also just because you can use max charge doesn't mean you should.



He needs perception of six for the better criticals perk, so it can't be sacrificed for other stats.

Actually it apparently decreases the cost of recharging energy cells.


You are right, if he plans to use it, he has to have perception of six.

It doubles the chance of recovering "drained" cells, and makes ammo recycling 33% efficient instead of 25% efficient (3 drained = 1 full, instead of 4 drained normally)

The effect is subtle but over the course of a whole game quite significant.

Not good enough, I haven't had any problem staying well stocked in energy cells


And as criticals are one of the great strengths of energy weapons especially lasers, you'll want to maximize that effort.


I'll sit on my huge stockpile of energy ammo and save myself the perk personally. I know where all the vendors who stock large energy ammo in mass Quantities. A 70 Science is a hefty investment to acquire early on as the five science kill books[not counting DLC] are scattered across the map. In my mind by the time the perk starts to really "pay off" I'll already have a huge stockpile of ammo to begin with.

I am currently on my first energy weapons run through, this is what I went with and what I plan to get them to:

S 5 (6 with implant)
P 8 (10 with implant and hat)
E 6 (7 with implant)
C 1
I 7 (8 with implant)
A 6 (7 with implant)
L 7 (8 with implant) (9 for gambling purposes with Naughty Nightwear)

Traits: Good Natured and Wild Wasteland.

Currently I'm level 12 and the perks I've taken so far are:

Lady Killer
Comprehension
Run 'n' Gun
Gunslinger
Vilgilant Recycler
Plasma Spaz

These are working out rather well, was using a bog standard laser pistol to start with, to good effect early game. Got hold of a plasma pistol and a laser rifle, upgraded the rifle with the scope and it is fantastic at taking out ghoul roamers etc from afar.

Just finished Come Fly With Me and have gotten hold of some Plasma Defenders and they are pretty good

Level 14 will definitely be Jury Rigging. I'm thinking of holding off on getting Meltdown until I've got Spray and Pray at level 22. Contemplating Math Wrath and/or Commando in the mix too.

Next stop is

Just for fullness, level 12: Barter 17, Energy Weapons 62(+), Explosives 23(+), Guns 20(+), Lockpick 80(+), Medicine 31, Melee 13, Repair 58, Science 74, Sneak 26, Speech 17, Unarmed 17, the +'s are from Boones beret. Also gotten the agility, intelligence, luck and strength implants so far, will just wing the rest but likely to include perception and endurance and I will not be taking charisma.

If I'm honest this build is probably more fun than my usual sneaky sniper type, I'm an Energy Weapons convert

Don't make the mistake I did of discounting the Laser RCW. I tried that gun on a few Fiends, thought it useless and sold all that I found. Only towards the end of the game did I discover that it is absolutely devastating against unarmoured enemies like cazadors.

Load it with MC ECPs and it's devastating against almost anything. I end up using the Gatling Laser instead once I get the CF Frame mod, but then I bumped the GL's base damage up a few points to make it actually superior to the RCW like it's supposed* to be.





*In the vanilla game, even if you have both mods installed the GL just matches the RCW for damage while being 2WGT heavier and wearing out significantly faster, albeit having a far larger magazine. It's supposedly the next tier up but doesn't actually come out that way, so I altered it accordingly.

Why such a high perception?

It is the "SPECIAL" that relates directly to the Energy Weapons skill, as well as Lockpick and Explosives.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_primary_statistics

So it meant I didn't get as big a hit taking the Good Natured trait