the logic behind energy weapons. : Fallout Series Discussion

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:15 pm

I'd say that Turbo Plasma Rifle is better, since you can just about one shot everything, including deathclaws.

maybe ,,, depens on the play style...

The Lazer rifle was NOT the best gun in the game.... in fallout 2 is was near useless in the ending.. Advanced Power Armor was 90% resistant top lazers.... in both Fallout games the best weapon imo was the Turbo Charged Plasma Rifle with Bonus rate of fire...and fast shot.

yes but it didn't mater at that time/end part of the game, then you had the skill so you made crit hit evert time every time any way,,, kill blind in incap.... so you put them out off business anyway and you're 5 companions did the end job anyway.....

This aassumes that the only qualifier for an energy weapon being an energy weapon is that the projectile is made of energy. If you want to get technical, mass is condensed energy, but i digress.........
One could aslo concieve that what makes an energy weapon an energy weapon is the very means of propulsion!

Most small arms use the same method of propulsion. A pin that stikes a primer which causes gunpowerder to explode in a controlled manner, which forces a projectile. Of course there are compressed gas weapons, but they arent hardly as lethal and are mostly used as toys or for hunting small animals- those would be considered pneumatic weapons.. I am unsure if they just lump the BB Gun in with small arms in Fallout, but it would make sense, rather than make a whole weapons skill class.

A Gauss rifle/coil gun/ rail gun is different in that it uses energy to move the projectile. You do not need to know anyting about electicity in order to make a gun work, do you? But without electricity, yo would be hard pressed to find a nartual magnetic force strong enough to push a projectile to the point of it being dangerous to anyone. Thus it is an energy weapon. I think the rule of thumb here is that really anything that uses energy based on atomic or sub atomic particles for either propulsion or as the projectile is an energy weapon. I believe balliistics use molecular based energy, no? But that may even be slightly off.

naa the classification in based on 4 points, and its not the bolt that mack the difference, its whats propel the bolts whats decide the classification.

throwing
bow
explosive gas chamber
and energy

» Fri May 04, 2012 11:30 am

I like all of the energy weapons from the oringinals better except for the plasma rifle because the Fo1 and 2 plasma rifle isn't really a rifle it's a heavy energy weapon. I would relpace the current weapons for the older versions except the plasma rifle (Fo1) which I would change the name to the Plasma caster from NV and replace the rifle with the Plasma rifle from Fallout Tactics.

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:19 am

I'm going by the wiki here, but weren't they developed in the pre war area to such an extent that they were going to replace the 10mm as the standard sidearm of the army? explains how they were so common at least

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:19 pm

to me it just dosen't make any sense whatsoever, how can fragile weapons who require specialized care and maintenance still be so common 200 or more years after the complete collapse of civilisation? which is even more baffling considering that, according to the official lore, they were only issued to some specialised military units.

also, the design of laser pistols and rifles in F3 and FNV is horrible, they look very unwieldy and innacurate due to their shape and end up contradicting themselves as the concept behind real energy weapons is to have accuracy, long-range and lethality, all in the same weapon.

they just make no sense whatsoever... :wallbash:

cany any of you make sense of this and enlighten me?

I'm thinking new ones are introduced by the Gun Runners...whose to say they couldn't have gotten a hold of a few and tinkered with them to make their own schematics for them? Also, sisn't the Van Graff family just fall into that racket? They could have made their own as well off of previous tech. Lets not forget the military origin of the BoS. I'd bet those who die out in the field get stripped of their tech almost instantly. Since I hate guns and like energy and melee weapons, I tend to not think about it too much...even thought I feel a gun manufacturer shouldn't make katanas and any other melee weapons they sell...

» Fri May 04, 2012 11:53 am

Regarding the Gauss rifle, I always believed that classifying a weapon should be based on what it shoots, so to me a Gauss Rifle should not be an energy weapon, since it really is just like a high velocity projectile gun.
EW and Guns skills really only focus on how to use the weapon effectively in combat, you don't need knowledge of how it works, that can come down to repairs and other things. It is what determines your skill with a weapon, which has nothing to do with how the gun works on the inside, but rather how it handles and what it fires....essentially these skills are the skills you need for it to be effective in combat, that is what matters here I believe.

edit: and I honestly believe the only reason it was made an energy weapon is to balance EW out with guns....also what is actually being fired?, since we only need MF cells to make it work, there is no actual ammo loading so that's messed up too.

» Fri May 04, 2012 11:14 am

Yeah i got an answer, its called an anti material rifle up a deathclaws ass :lightbulb:

» Fri May 04, 2012 12:58 am

basicly, screw energy weapons

» Fri May 04, 2012 1:04 pm

well i'm not an war veteran my self but i do have some army training and to use a gun in combat its not just aim and shoot. you need to know just that spec gun by heart. not only how to reload it fast but what to do when it jam and so on.
to unjam a bolt-action or SMG you need to think more mechanic but whit a laser / plasma / Gauss / plasma you need to work by electronics to fix it..

» Fri May 04, 2012 5:43 am

well i'm not an war veteran my self but i do have some army training and to use a gun in combat its not just aim and shoot. you need to know just that spec gun by heart. not only how to reload it fast but what to do when it jam and so on.
to unjam a bolt-action or SMG you need to think more mechanic but whit a laser / plasma / Gauss / plasma you need to work by electronics to fix it..

that means that instead of "energy weapons" we need an "electronics" skill, which i already thought since i first played F3. "electronics" would be combined with "guns" to determine your skill with "energy weapons", by the same logic "explosives" and "traps" would behave in the same way (combine them with a main skill, like small guns or hand to hand, to determine the players total skill with "multi-skill weapons", like rocket launchers or mines.)

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:11 am

edit: and I honestly believe the only reason it was made an energy weapon is to balance EW out with guns....also what is actually being fired?, since we only need MF cells to make it work, there is no actual ammo loading so that's messed up too.

Well Depends on if your going by the the M72 that was in the originals or beths' hack version of it. In the originals version it shot 2mm EC It's a 2mm metal sliver with a Small energy cell attached. So it supplied the power for the shot and the ammo in a cartridge round like a bullet. Beth's hack job had the ammo in the clip in the form of the solid rounds but made you load the MF cells separately for each shot. (Basiclly it gave you "unlimited" solid rounds)

I hate beths version because it a huge step backwards in technology compared to what it was in the originals. It basically turned a high powered battle rifle into a single shot breach loading sniper rifle.

» Fri May 04, 2012 2:41 am

yes I was talking about Beth's version ofcourse, since the previous part of my post complains about it being an energy weapon as it is in the new games.
Every aspect of the gauss rifle in the new games is disappointing.

» Fri May 04, 2012 3:08 pm

Yes, complain about energy weapons when there are Super Mutants, Ghouls and Deathclaws wandering The Capital/Mojave Wasteland...
Oh, and of course there was this nuclear war that lasted two hours and destroyed everything. And then there is this giant robot in Pentag-
...The Citadel...
If you do not like energy weapons, do not use them. Grab a rifle and go shoot something. Problem solved. Peace out! :biggrin:

*shot*

» Fri May 04, 2012 5:38 am

Yes, complain about energy weapons when there are Super Mutants, Ghouls and Deathclaws wandering The Capital/Mojave Wasteland...
Oh, and of course there was this nuclear war that lasted two hours and destroyed everything. And then there is this giant robot in Pentag-
...The Citadel...

all of that is technically possible, just look how far scientists have gone in terms of playing God.

what is not possible, is a 1st world army using "laser boxes" you can't aim with in a global conflict.