Don't tag both Guns and EW. I mean, you can, but there's really no need to. In fact, I wouldn't tag either of them. I found their effects to be marginal, especially in the early parts of the game.

I'll miss out on the +15 skill points though.

For a Gunslinger I'd pick Lockpick, just because of Lucky. That gun is reason enough to have high Lockpick in my opinion.

I would also suggest just tagging one weapon skill and focus on that one at the beginning. You could boost both Guns and EW at the same time, but by the time you start encountering bandits you'll have two low level weapon skills instead of one mid level. Plus EW are more scarce at the beginning of the game.

There's a perk that will let you tag another skill for 15 points. You get it at level 16 so you can focus on guns at early levels and once you need it you can get EW later. Though it's probably better to only choose one type of projectile and then go with melee or unarmed.

That's not a very worthwhile perk, IMHO. With one level, you can increase a skill for 11-16-or-so points.

True. It was more useful when the game's max level was 30. Now that it's 50 you will be close to having most of your skills at around 100 by the time you get to that level.

You can get a laser pistol from Doc Mitchell's house at the start of the game.

How many skill points do you get per level with the Ultimate Edition?

Skill points depend on your Intelligence and certain perks that increase skill points. But you have 50 levels to earn skill points so it shouldn't matter.

True, but then you have to feed it and keep it maintained which can be very difficult early on. Its just much easier to start with Guns on your first playthrough.

if you have the dlc's and a 50 level cap, with any kind of decent intelligence you will max all your skills in the 40 range. it's been many playthroughs since i tagged a weapon skill. i usually tag repair, medicine, and science, sometimes barter instead of science. tagged skills do not define a character, your actions do.

after patches, EW is a very viable and powerful playthrough. but it is expensive. the GRA plasma pistol and laser pistol with mods are weapons you can use for many levels and they are both available with their respective mods in goodsprings. in general, EW have low hit points and the ammo is costly. but the main drawback for me and why i rarely go EW is those ash and goo piles that will not go away. meltdown is a really fun perk though.

early game, it is far more efficient to melee creatures, and use the 9mm or 10mm pistol on humans.

Agreed low science is more challenging. I made a character with INT 1 and it was damn near impossible to finish some quests that relied on hacking or common sense lol I just pictured my couier walking around drooling.

So maybe i'll tag Repair, Medicine, and Speech and focus on raising Intelligence, Luck, and Strength since i'llhave be able to max out the Gun skills then?

I'm just a well-rounded shooter, and I still go for Lucky. Even over ALSID. Lucky with JFP rounds and a high critical chance is [censored] fantastic.

ALSID?

A light shining in darkness. It's an unique .45 pistol.

A Light Shining in Darkness.

The highest DPS pistol in the game.

It has a terrible ironsight, and burns through .45 ammo very quickly, so I don't use it.

Is it a DLC weapon?

yup, its in hh. Probably my favorite sidearm, just because of the previous owner

You get it after you complete Honest Hearts.

Lobo! You're sending me into a nerd rage! D=<

Not really, but I will point out this. The baddies in the beginning are so easy that you don't really need a high guns skill to kill them. That said, you will likely be using guns due to the availability of guns and ammo for energy weapons in the very beginning, but I want to stress "very beginning". FNV gives you a bevvy of resources as an EW specialist if you know where to look. Coyote cave next to goodsprings, Nipton, both REPCONN centers are goldmines, and by that time, you'll be set before you even hit Freeside. Not to mention, making Weapon Repair Kits are super easy in this game.

The key phrase here is "if you know where to look". If you're on your first playthrough then unless you have been poring over the wiki for a few hours then you won't know where to find anything early on.

That's what's great about FONV. Tough choices, no perfect build.

I do regret putting all those points into Sneaking, totally useless now. Science is tough, I like it for the dialog choices it offers when you need them, but I really don't like the terminal mini game at all.

Repair has always treated me right, lockpicking is nice because the mini game is so quick and easy.

Energy Weapons, once you get GRA you don't need the tag.

Speech has never let me down.

Medicine seems nice, and I used it for quests but if I had to do it again... IDK.

Again, tough choices, IMO it's all about which skill checks for which quests you want to pass. For instance, I wanted ED-E

if you want a smooth talking gunslinger I would choose traits with +20% to aim with Guns/Energy Weapons plus Good Natured (+5 Speech, Science, Barter, basically all non-combat skills).

S.P.E.C.I.A.L - Charisma 9 + Luck 9, you can later add 1 point to both but I don't want to spoil anything to you and leave the rest to your liking.
With perks go with Gunslinger, all special speech perks, more crafting with guns perks, less weight with items under 1/2 weight (or something like that) + strong back, later on add more criticals or something + Mysterious Stranger and this second perk with this amazon lol ?

Of course I think I don't have to mention perks which allow you to distribute more skill points or gain additional +1 from skill books etc.

Weapon skills doesn't matter at the very beginning because you can have a pretty high speech/barter etc so you can talk your way through many situations, plus it would be a good idea to recruit some companions.

Besides don't waste your perks on things like Bloody Mess etc, it's pointless and it doesn't make a big difference with one shot high damage build like your gunslinger.

I've played with a build like that and it's amazingly fun, try it

I have a similar build, although I wasted too many points into things like Agility/Perception. Next build I'm going with INT and less Luck/Per so I can get more skill points.

Right now with high Agil and Perks I have fast regen Action Points and I really don't need it.