Hey everybody, glad to be part of the community.

I'm level 30, just got Dead Money, so I'm anxious to get to 35 (hopefully they will keep raising it in future dlc) and I only get 2 more perks between now and the level cap. I use all sorts of weapons, even ones I'm not good with (explosives/unarmed). My aim when I started this character was to get as much of my skills as I could to a 100. Most of them are dead lock at 80 and now I'm just scouring the wastes for the books. I just started using energy weapons, the last perk I took was vigilant recycler, and so I was going to do Tag! and Laser Commander as the next two, but I also would like to maximize damage, so bloody mess is a runner up as well.

I'm not sure which one I should take, or if I should get something else entirely

Also does bloody mess result in more ash/goo animations if your using energy weapons?


(if anyone needs more information, just say so, and I'll post my stats)

Bloody Mess results in bloodier results.
Criticals result in ash/goo piles.

And I think you should ditch Bloody Mess.
It's +5% damage IIRC which is so little that it's pointless.
Take Solar Powered instead.

Solar Powered...I can't tell if that's sarcasm......

5% is still 5%. If you're using a high rate of fire weapon, say a fast firing laser weapons or some such, this can add up to a fair amout of additional damage. It does make it harder to find body parts to loot sometimes, but if you're trying to squeeze every last bit of DAM out of your weapons, this is one way.

The OP didn't say anything about his SCIENCE! skill. If he's invested in that, then he can make over and max charge ammo that would benifit him much more than Bloddy Moss, and use the perk on something else.

-gunny out.

What's so bad about Solar Powered?
I get +2 STR and regeneration.
Couple that with the Phoenix Implant and you get a nice little regen effect going.

I love it.

Because there are so many other perks more worthwhile than Solar Powered I don't know where to begin. And for someone looking to use an energy weapon, the extra strength is a negligible benefit. And you get much better health regen from Rad Child even at minor radiation levels.

I rather keep myself on dangerous amount of radiation.

First of all, you wasted a perk slot on Vigilant Recycler. You can buy plenty of EW ammo at Hoover Dam or if you're liked by the Brotherhood of Steel they give you free ammo every time you leave and enter the bunker. But it's your first run so no big deal. Laser Commander is far more effective than Bloody Mess if you're a Laser weapon user.

Tag is too good to pass up as it gives you an extra 15 skill points towards a skill that you could use.

Well I like it, and its not my first run, nor am I new to RPGs/the Fallout franchise, I'm just stingy with my ammo so of course I took it. Besides, EW ammo is much harder to come buy, even the vendors sell it in less quantities.

The Gun Runners vendortron sells around 600+/- 5mm rounds every 3 days, many of though supposed "EW vendors" I've found don't always carry large quantities of ECP (which is what I'm hoarding), and even with scrounger the most MFC or SEC I'll get from Hidden Valley is like 120

I think the Phoenix implant I have is pretty good, my strength is maxed out so when I was hoping to maximize DT and HP regeneration I ruled out Solar Powered and Nerd Rage because of all the negative reaction they seem to get. I almost went with Rad Absorbtion when I read how much it heals rads... Then I saw it said "Fallout 3" at the top lol (Vault Wiki)

Hey another thing, I recall if you don't meet a ranged weapon's strength requirement you'll be less accurate... What about if you lack its required skill? I'm using the Gatling Laser (lover it, super powerful) and it is terribly inaccurate, I definitely meet its strength requirement, (10>8) but I only have 27 in EW. Is that why it is in accurate? I was under the impression that not having the needed skill made it less powerful. I have plenty of ammo for it but ECP is hard to find, and many vendors I know don't carry it, so that makes me uber anol with the GL's ammo, so if there is a way to improve its accuracy let me know.

Oh and I'm not a fan of V.A.T.S

Hoover Dam vendor sells plenty. Buy it all up and then wait 72 hours for him to restock. Ive got over 5,000 Max Charge Microfusion Cells. Money shouldnt be a problem but you could just get all 37 gold bars from the Vault in Dead Money.

Both strength and skill requirement effect accuracy.

However with high ROF weapons it doesn't make much difference unless you use VATS.

When I get those I want to keep them

But I'll hit up that Hoover dam joint with all the Energy Weapon ammo.... Now remember I'm looking for ECP

got science? 1 MFC makes three ECPs, if i remember right.

Yeah I had at least 1200 MFC, brought it down to about 700, giving me a good number of ECP but that Gatling Laser eats ammo faster than a minigun, couple that with it's rarer ammo and... yeah

You can buy up to a thousand Electron Charge Packs each time Quartermaster Bardon restocks. All you need to do is pass a level 50 Speech challange or begin the quest 'For the Republic Part II.'

Yeah I found him, thanks, I do have For the Republic Part II but I'm not getting anything astronomical, I'll try talking to him to initiate that speech check you mentioned

I'm not getting 1000 ECP like you said, exhausted his dialogue options, no chance. I am getting 488 each time, still better than anyone else, but 1000 would be better

How about Confirmed Bachelor/ Black Widow? Oh, and here, have a http://images.uesp.net//c/c4/Fishystick.jpg!

I'm not gay


I'm joking because I wish I did take it, I hate having to pick pocket Major Knight for the money back, he rips me off with his prices

I might've estimated a little high but it's up there sometimes. You cant do the speech challange if you've already begun the quest. It doesnt matter. Either or.

It is not a big deal on second thought, he sells me MFC and SEC as well so I can just turned that into ECP plus the 450-480 I get from him. Thanks



This guy carries ridiculous amounts of Guns Ammo! 4000+ 5mm's? All this time I've been wasting my time buying from the Gun Runners

Now that my ammo crisis has been resolved (went from about 8000 ECPs to just a shade under 20k), I was planning on raising my Energy Weapons skill twice, 17 points x 2 = 34 + Tag! = 49 + 20 Nikola Tesla and You books, = 69, my energy weapons skill is currently at 27, giving me a grand total of 96! Freeing up some points for the final 3 levels


Any advice or input?

I really like solar powered too but would it work in the murky Dead Money world?

My advice is to check through the remaining unavailable perks and decide what you need to increase to make the ones you want available.

Get important things like science and lockpick to 90, then you boost to 100 with apparel and mentants.

As for specific perks, I like animal friend but that might be pointless in DM.