Am I missing something? The Institute is supposed to be this super tech organization but the lasers they use are weaker than ones I find on random raiders etc. Do they have an added effect that I am just not aware of. At first I thought they were similar to the Pulse gun in FNV which did more damage to robots but in my admittedly very limited testing the normal run of the mill lasers did more damage. It just seems odd that they would equip their armies with such [censored] gear.

mass production with limited resource and also they are not military focused faction.

They aren't bad with modifications. I'm not sure what level you are, but the base institute weapons are rather bare.

I pimped both of them out with identical parts. Improved sniper barrel, overcharged thingy and whatnot and the primitive screw head wasteland laser is still better than the mythical Institute's laser.

I am thinking there has to be some hidden benefit like maybe better criticals or as I thought it does more damage to a particular enemy type similar to how the radiation gun supposedly only damages humans. I would like to use them as they look cool but I can't justify hamstringing my guy just for some fancy beams.

I think the base idea was that they were faster fireing but lower damage.

They have lower damage and only slightly higher rate of fire. I tested an Institute Pistol against Old Faithful, they both got me 6 shots in VATS. In the end, the Institute weapons are just weaker overall. They're the pipe weapons of energy weapons. Good beginner weapon until you find something better.

Which is not that hard unless you expressly refuse to mod weapons (or loot people all the time for their weapons).

I was carrying around a huge array of weaponry including lasers and .50 cal Sniper Rifles, yet what gun do I use the most? a certain silenced handgun you can get from a Faction quest. It looks a wimpy little james bond type but it absolutely destroys. I ended up dumping most of the guns and keeping a couple of long range rifles, but that little pistol is lethal.

their use is for collecting the components with the scrapper perks

Think I've seen that weapon on a loading screen. Looks like a Walther PPK with a suppressor on it. Looks nice. Hopefully I'll run into the quest (or even the faction) to get it soon enough.

It's called the Deliverer. Of the (2) weapons that use 10mm ammo, it's the strongest. It also comes stock with the silencer mod. Drawback is that the weapon isn't as customizable as the basic 10mm.

As for finding it, I don't want to spoil it, but I do want to point you towards it, so I'll just say this: Freedom Trail. Nothing more.

That`s the one. The Deliverer is a nasty little 10mm that can be upgraded via a certain person in the Faction. Also has a nifty improved vats hit chance and 25% action point reduction. Well worth getting

I've got the thing fully modded out. You're saying it can get better? Or are you just saying that someone sells mods for it? Because that I knew.

Yeah it`s via the mod upgrades that certain person gives you.

what do you expect from weapons made from plastic? and yes most of their tech is made from plastic (probably because its easy to obtain ect)their synths are plastic their weapons are plastic. what do you expect?

10mm? I imagined it was a more powerful pistol using .45, that could be upgraded to .50

And seeing how fusion cells do not exist even with two levels in Scrounger, low damage and high fire rate is the last thing you want. Fusion cores however are so common that i wish i could use them as ammo

Sounds like you need a Gatling Laser, my friend.

Institute guns are the ugliest things i have ever seen in my life and there weak I only get excited about fighting synths because they usaully have fusion cells to collect.

Is there a way to get one at level 18?

And i have 5 Fusion Cells, and 26 Fusion Cores Hell, i found 6 as random loot in the National Guard Training Ground

Doubtful. Proctor Teagan might have it available in his shop, and you might get lucky and find it on some Brotherhood Knights, but even then the levelled loot lists might make it impossible.

The game is just is just trolling me at this point, i have several hundred .50s, but fusion cells are more rare than invisible unicorns

Yeah, those are super svcky.

I generally refuse to use laser weapons cause they all look crappy. I like scrappy weapons for wasteland action and the pipe guns aren't too bad when fully modded. I'm only lvl 13, but I've run into a few Super Mutants and my automatic sniper pipe rifle did the job. That .38 ammo is so plentiful I don't mind wasting some on having fun =P

From my experience, Institute weapons are rather common. More so than the Gunners who are the main source of laser weapons that i've seen. the damage on them was about on par with other weapons, just a few points lower than a laser weapon or a ballistic weapon... until i took rifleman, now the difference is much more noticeable. i did mod out and play with an institute rifle and it seems like it has a point where it pulls ahead, the science rank 2 or 3 perk allows it to have an equal or better damage than the same rank of laser i think. it also fires as fast as i hit the trigger with very low recoil and great accuracy. it worked great as a close to mid range weapon until rifleman and a combat rifle started to really outclass it.

From a setting perspective the Synths normally encountered are perhaps meant to be somewhat disposable and knowing that their weapons will end up in the hands of enemies the institute does not wish to let their best tech fall into the hands of others? also as said, mass production and such. perhaps there was a lot of ground to make up when switching over to primarily plastic based components?

Otherwise i like look of the weapon and the blue beams much more than traditional laser weapons.

Huh. when i finished the introductory mission for the BoS i had something like 1,100 fusion cells just from the Arcjet building. hard to compare that against the number of invisible unicorn encounters so far what with their being invisible though...

Either that or a Makarov. Does look more PPK though.