I got the urge to fire this up again, but I'm having trouble getting started, can't decide on my setup. So a few questions:

1)Energy weapons or small guns? I completed the main quest ages ago with an energy weapons character, so I'm considering giving small guns a try, but I do love those energy weapons. On the other hand; scoped .44 magnum and sniper rifle I do like sniping.

2)Supplementary to question 1 really; is the Broken Steel expansion any good? If it is I'll likely run the MQ again, which would mean energy weapons again. But I've heard some pretty negative things about it, and I'd hate to have to go through the plot just to get to it and find it svcks.

3)I've got all of the expansions except Mothership Zeta (or whatever it's called) but I've only completed Operation Anchorage previously. I did take my energy weapons character to Point Lookout, and got my ass handed to me, repeatedly. Should that be put off to a certain level? Or are energy weapons just not very effective there?

It's been far too long since I played this game.

I think the consensus around these parts is that energy weapons are underwhelming. Myself, I'm a Small Guns player all the way, with some melee thrown in. I love rifles and handguns...and Jingwei's Shocksword. I rarely ever equip energy weapons. I mostly sell them. So my opinion, naturally, is that Small Guns is a very fun way to play. You should give it a try.

Broken Steel is my favorite Fallout 3 DLC. I'm a sandbox, open-world gamer at heart, so being able to continue my adventures after the main quest is very important to me. There will most likely be people posting later about how Broken Steel ruined the game. But that's not my opinion. I liked it a lot. I enjoyed playing Broken Steel more than any of the other DLCs.

I should state, though, that I never played the original pre-DLC game. I have no clear sense of what the game felt like when it ended the way it originally ended. All I know is how the game feels now with Broken Steel. I think it fits in nicely. When I first played this game I wasn't even aware that the original game had ended and the DLC had begun. It was a seamless segue. But every player has their own opinion. And my opinion is that Broken Steel is a great DLC. If I could only install one DLC it would be Broken Steel.

The DLC I liked least was Operation Anchorage. That DLC didn't even feel like a roleplaying DLC. To me Operation Anchorage just felt like a first-person shooter. The only reason I play it is to get that shocksword, which I love.

If you've never done a small guns playthrough, why not try it. You might like it.

Broken Steel in and of itself isn't really all that bad. It's problem lies in the fact that it basically breaks the rest of the game's whole purpose in the fact that Fallout ends, Broken Steel broke this. Hopefully Beth never repeats the mistake of a Fallout that never ends.

Trust me, you're not missing out on much by not having Mothership Zeta...in fact, I wish I could unremember it.

IIRC Point Lookout's enemies are some real bullet sponges. I think it was always meant to be one of those dlc's that's meant for higher level characters I remember taking my small guns characters there and doing reasonably well, although I may have been very near the level cap at the time.

i agree strongly with this i just done this Dlc about 5 hours ago and I was like... what the heck am i doing? at least i gained the Gauss Rifle and the Shocksword but meh it′s probably the worst Bethesda Dlc so far... even the Horse Armor is better

then this

It's really all subjective, but I honestly think that Title goes to Mothership Zeta. At least OA had a story behind it, even if it was a bit thin. It's definitely not their best work, but far from the worst.

...and yes, Horse Armor really was that bad.

*smacks forehead* I completely forgot about Mothership Zeta when I wrote my post. That is the one DLC I have not played yet, so I need to revise what I wrote: OA is my least favorite out of the four DLC I have played so far.

I have heard such consistently negative things about every aspect of Mothership Zeta - many from people whose opinions I trust - that I'm more than willing to believe it may really be the worst of the bunch.

Not only are they bullet sponges, the swampfolk and tribals have an enchantment that automatically adds 35 damage to every weapon they use. It's definitely a good idea to wait until you're fairly high level before playing PL.

Speaking about enemies, Zeta is more bearable if you do it relatively early. The enemies are level-scaled, and if you're above Level 19 or so, a lot of them have energy shields, a ton of DR and HP, and are a real tedious grind to deal with.