Should the Gauss Rifle really be an energy weapon?

[Aurum10000]

From my understanding they have ammo that's propelled at high speed through magnetic force much like the Gauss Rifle from 1 & 2. Making it more likely to be in the guns skill. Has anyone considered doing the same with the vanilla Gauss rifle? Just a thought.

[laclongquan]

I dont get why would anyone question this simple fact~ it use energy ammo. its structure should be full of electronic parts. Gunpowder knowledge (aka guns skill) is not going to help in using this gun.

[Aurum10000]

4 hours ago, laclongquan said:

I dont get why would anyone question this simple fact~ it use energy ammo. its structure should be full of electronic parts. Gunpowder knowledge (aka guns skill) is not going to help in using this gun.

But shouldn't it use 2mm EC? https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/2mm_EC_(Fallout_2) as opposed to MFC?

[laclongquan]

We are discussing this gauss rifle in Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, which come from East Coast, and possibly Sierra Madre or central states. 

The link above is about Gauss Rifles in West Coast, California, either Enclave, or San Francisco. If by way of Hub merchants (Gun Runners), possibly Los Angeles. Overall different region, possibly different design too. Which is why F2 Gauss weapons are small guns, but F3/FNV gauss rifle is energy

[Aurum10000]

10 hours ago, laclongquan said:

We are discussing this gauss rifle in Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, which come from East Coast, and possibly Sierra Madre or central states. 

The link above is about Gauss Rifles in West Coast, California, either Enclave, or San Francisco. If by way of Hub merchants (Gun Runners), possibly Los Angeles. Overall different region, possibly different design too. Which is why F2 Gauss weapons are small guns, but F3/FNV gauss rifle is energy

Even so if you skip to 3:46. Its not MFC he's holding.

 

[sullyvanj93]

58 minutes ago, Aurum10000 said:

Even so if you skip to 3:46. Its not MFC he's holding.

MFCs don't exist... Of course this gentleman is holding a different type of ammo than the fictional Fallout setting. If someone was recreating "power armor", they wouldn't be holding a fusion core, as they don't exist in this universe... They would try to recreate it as best they could with current-day materials.

Even in your example provided, there is no powder/primer/casing/projectile aspect to these rounds. It isn't a "rifle", or a "firearm", it's technically a cannon of sorts. An electrical cannon. It's using electronics or "energy" to project the slugs. While this is still different than firing plasma or laser beams... most folks would still probably lean to Energy Weapons over Guns for this weapon.

The main point being that it doesn't fit it with the lore that many of us connect to. If it does fit with yours, that's fine, but you'll find many modders won't agree with you and thus, won't want to create this mod. Modding is very time consuming and takes a lot of skill and effort. If this is something you feel strongly about, I think you may have more luck figuring out how to create the very mod you're seeking, rather than debate someone into agreeing with how you see the lore and convincing them to build it for you.

[Aurum10000]

11 hours ago, sullyvanj93 said:

MFCs don't exist... Of course this gentleman is holding a different type of ammo than the fictional Fallout setting. If someone was recreating "power armor", they wouldn't be holding a fusion core, as they don't exist in this universe... They would try to recreate it as best they could with current-day materials.

Even in your example provided, there is no powder/primer/casing/projectile aspect to these rounds. It isn't a "rifle", or a "firearm", it's technically a cannon of sorts. An electrical cannon. It's using electronics or "energy" to project the slugs. While this is still different than firing plasma or laser beams... most folks would still probably lean to Energy Weapons over Guns for this weapon.

The main point being that it doesn't fit it with the lore that many of us connect to. If it does fit with yours, that's fine, but you'll find many modders won't agree with you and thus, won't want to create this mod. Modding is very time consuming and takes a lot of skill and effort. If this is something you feel strongly about, I think you may have more luck figuring out how to create the very mod you're seeking, rather than debate someone into agreeing with how you see the lore and convincing them to build it for you.

But if it isn't firing laser, plasma or any traditional metal projectile then what is it firing exactly? Perhaps the MFC would make sense as a battery. But the best I can piece together as to what leaves the barrel is a ball of electricity making it a lightning rifle of sorts. Which isn't exactly the definition of gauss.

[sullyvanj93]

6 hours ago, Aurum10000 said:

But if it isn't firing laser, plasma or any traditional metal projectile then what is it firing exactly? Perhaps the MFC would make sense as a battery. But the best I can piece together as to what leaves the barrel is a ball of electricity making it a lightning rifle of sorts. Which isn't exactly the definition of gauss.

The projectile is likely something metallic. But it isn't really about the projectile itself that makes it a Guns or Energy based weapon, it's about the method of firing that projectile.

Guns use primer and powder to send the metal bullet flying. Energy weapons use a Sci-Fi energy source, such as the MFC. The MFC uses its energy to create a super electro-magnet that increases the speed of a projectile (likely some sort of metal slug, but it's never mentioned/reloaded/seen in game) through the barrel. No explosion or ignition, the energy needed being produced by however the MFC works (which I am unfamiliar with, as my Energy Weapons skill isn't high enough to know that).

[laclongquan]

Holy sheeesh! You are demanding people flesh out an imaginary weapon design and principle for you.

... I know we are hardcore, but that is not a level I want to reach.

Or at least, my interest doesnt allow me to reach~

One final argument for you: it's technology of 2077, of another universe completely different to ours. Universal laws are very likely different (gamma radiation, half time, human physiology etc...). They have cold fusion tech, FFS!

Edited May 21 by laclongquan

[madmongo]

A real world gauss rifle (yes, they exist, see the video above) uses energy to fire a metal projectile. It requires the same skills as a gunpowder-based weapon to aim and shoot it, and requires the same skills as a theoretical energy weapon like a laser to load the "batteries" and operate the electrical parts.

FNV's weapons system can't really handle that. It doesn't know what to do with weapons that require more than one thing for "ammo", so it can't handle a weapon that has a projectile but also requires a battery source. So the game just fudges it and makes the gauss rifle use microfusion cells.

Anyone who can handle a laser rifle should be able to figure out the electronic aspects of a gauss rifle. Someone who only has experience with gunpowder-based weapons wouldn't know how to operate the electronics of a gauss rifle or a laser rifle. So I can see why the devs made the gauss rifle require the energy weapon skill. Note that in the real world version in the video, they have to be "trained" on how to operate the electronics in order to use the weapon. It doesn't take much training in real life, but using the weapon isn't intuitively obvious to anyone who hasn't ever fired it.

Personally I think it would be better if the ammo was just steel slugs and the rifle required fission batteries or some special battery pack (maybe you could craft the battery pack out of fission cells), but the game engine can't handle that. FNV doesn't even have fusion cores or anything else along those lines.