Pretty muc this.

Gun weights are a matter of game balance issues. It'd be OP to have more realistic (which in the case for many guns, equates to lighter) gun weights because then we'd be carrying nearly every gun in the game so long as we have poweer armor because they'll be so light.

However, when bringing realism into the fight, we'd also have to realize the game balance would again be shifted hilariously against the player as ammo no longer stays "weightless."

Yes, in TES i find it fun that weapons and armor of more advanced materials are heavier.

In real world sword either got lighter or longer from bronze age to 1850 as materials got better.

In some (most?) RPGs, items are assigned a single value that represents both the weight and bulk of an item. The values are not tracked separately. Fully-inflated beach balls are very light, but you cannot carry around five of them easily.

you can carry 100 cans of gas, enough steel to build a wall around Diamond City, but you can't carry 2 fatman cos that's WAY too heavy (Bethesdalogic)

I hate playing Bethesda games without a Backpack mod, cos they put ridiculous limits/ratios on weight. Was the same with FO3/Vegas/Skyrim

I'm having a blast playing FO4, but this is my typical five-minutes:

1) shoot some raiders
2) grab their loot
3) YOU ARE CARRYING TOO MUCH
4) call companion, give them the loot
5) find a desk, pick up a fan
6) YOU ARE CARRYING TOO MUCH
7) call companion, give them the loot
8) NICK CAN'T CARRY ANYTHING ELSE
9) Fast-travel to Sanctuary
10) drop of my junk in Workbench
11) grab companion, get their junk
12) drop off their junk in workbench
13) Fast-travel back where I was, and go into the next building...
14) repeat ad-infinitum

(and yeah, I know Buffout, Ragstag steaks and alcohol. But that's AFTER taking all those lol)

It gets... boring... after a while.

If your world is full of actual warhammers and battleaxes, I can see why they keep their distance.

The only time I see such things they are in glass cases with the words "no photography please"

Be glad bullets do not have weight or those mini-nukes and 5000 .45 rounds would slow you to a crawl

Gun weights were probably balanced against their Cap value and scrap potential to make them not the always best choice over rare junk or other pieces you could pick up.

============

I understand the weapons having considerable weight. Did you ever pick up a machine gun or even a rifle?

( edited ) Well that's what I get for not reading the whole post before shooting off my mouth.

Ask a stupid question .. I did .. I did.

Oh well, I'm sure I'll do it again ... I don't seem to learn from my mistakes too well.

( end edit )

They are heavy.

What I DON'T understand is why all the ammunition WEIGHS NOTHING. ZERO.

Even the missiles and bombs and nuclear weapons ... the ammo weighs nothing.

Stupidest thing I think I've ever seen in a game.

That actually sounds way too familiar. Seems I spend 50% of my time regulating my junk in one way or another.

I mean the easy solution would be to make all loot weightless, but I do kind of want some realism in the game, and the being encumbered issue forces me to make choices as to what to pick up and what to leave behind. Which is more interesting than if I could just pick up everything and never have to think about it.

Again, they may have started out looking at real world values for some weights but i think it was all abandoned for game-isms. the odd thing to me is the plasma rifle, as bulky as it is the thing still only weighs 5.8 pounds with stock and barrel and all. otherwise the weight to value to scrap potential ratio makes sense to me as a balancing mechanic.

thanks for the replies, is great hearing other perspectives

sorry didnt want to quote all, so picked a couple first ones lol

actually yea i know which is why i stated that "these figures are empty add +1lbs for 20 round mag of 308" being the mag is already in the guns weight (about .5lb for 20 round) 20 rounds of 308 weighs about 1lb ok maybe 1.2lbs

yes carrying alot of spare ammo is considerably heavy but know unless its shotgun ammo or .50BMG ammo does not add that much to the overall weight of the weapon, 308 included (20 rounds of 308 = 1-1.2lbs)

so yes the combat rifle has a 40 round mag (mine does) so lets say if you slapped an (admittely doesnt exsist) 40 round mag into the fn fal you would add and extra 2.9lbs bringing the total weight of the worlds heaviest ever modern(ish) battle rifle to a mere 11.7lbs

the combat rifle i have in game weighs more than a damn BAR!

a tommy gun weighs about 11lbs with an empty 50 round drum, a fully loaded tommy gun with 50 round drum weighs about 15lbs, thats not similar to the 22ish lbs my game one weighed before i ditched it.

the AA-12 with a 32rnd drum mag weighs 16.1lbs, that is an unbelievably heavy beast yet not even close to the weight of ingame combat shotgun and (yes appearances can be deceiving) looks no where near the size of an AA-12

no, i was just wondering why they decided to make them so heavy when i honestly cannot think of a reason that they would weigh that much

despite the comparison to real life guns this is not a realism question just a more "why did they go this way" kinda question as in "being guns weigh this much in RL why did they decide to make them so much heavier in game?" rather than "this is [censored] its not real that a gun would weigh this much" not explaining well iguess but im more curious than anything

as for the 200lbs+ of weight well this is a looting game so need to be able to carry alot just purely for gameplay, and i actually like to think its the pip boy, like it deconstructs and compresses the mass and stores it inside then when you want the item it reconstructs it outside.

yep, but mods dont actually weigh much, as an example my river rock arms m4a4 weighs about 7.6 lbs, with a carry handle, quad rail, high spec laser sight, torch, foward grip, supressor, bipod, and spare batteries in both the pistol grip and vertical forward grip compartments it still comes in under 10lbs

no they dont,

no offense did you read my post? i stated right at the start some of the real life guns i actually own and the real accurate weight of them, not what they "feel like" but their actual weights as stated by manufacturer (some i had to convert as im from NZ and we use kgs)

my ingame 10mm pistol weighs as much as my colt M16 assault rifle and ruger mini 14 and more than my mossberg model 80 12 gauge shotgun!!! and only just weighs less than my zastava m2010 which is an AK47 in 308win!!

your .45 may have "heft" but do you really think it weighs as much as an assault or battle rifle? or more importantly should it?? your 1911 would weigh no more than 2.5lbs about 3lbs loaded and as far as steel framed pistols go the 1911s m92s etc considered heavey yet thats is less than half the weight of the 10mm

, if that tires your arm imagine if it weighed 7+lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my in game 10mm pistol is 7.2lbs, there is roughly 26 real world .40cal 180gr bullets in a pound, i think the large mag holds 24 rounds on the 10mm? i tried to look up but wiki doesnt have so unloaded thats 6.2ishlbs for the pistol

my real life M16A1 assault rifle weighs 6.5lbs! add a loaded 30 round mag and heavy sling to that and its about 7.9lbs

not a "realism" question more a "why?" question

the game is all about looting so as annoying as it is having to travel back and forth 3 times to clear a dungeon it would be simply unplayable if i had to make like 20+ trips because i could only carry what i could in real life, especially considering not just the weight but the size and difficulty of carrying items

well thats just it i really cant see why it would affect gameplay? i carry a combat rifle, hunting rifle, combat shotgun, 10mm pistol would i honestly be any more powerful if i also carried a couple of different pipe guns, tommy gun, assault rifle, 44 aswell? i mean i can only use one at a time and ammo is everywhere it does not make me more powerful in game the more guns i carry

they have given us this very high weight limit and then filled it up by making the guns so heavy, why?