Any hope for heavy guns?

[urielseptim]

In my second playthrough I've opted for gal which is proficient with bashing people to death with fist weapons and using heavy guns. Makes sense, I know.

 

Unfortunately I've discovered that beth was lazy to implement fist weapons into power armor, they were probably pressed by deadlines or something. It's a shame. Anyway thanks to console I've respecced my two points to melee weapons. For now I'm using melee weapons and game runs smoothly and nice. I'm already at level 30something, in late midgame you could say.

 

Now I was wandering how heavy weapons fare in this game, is it even possible to make a character relying purely on heavy weapons? Us older fossils remember old fallouts where you had weapons like M-60 or bozar which essentially were assault rifles on steroids and you can use them casually. In my experience big weapons in fallout are kinda limited or not that great.

 

Minigun is meh, good only very early, I still don't have gun nut 4 to improve it fully. Rocket launcher is very situational, and you can use bombs instead on shorter ranges. Similar can be said for fat man. Flamer seems ok..? Maybe, somewhat limited range though. Also not exceptionally great damage. Idk it seems we lack good all arounder big gun, these things are insanely heavy, hard to get, hard to keep ammo supplied, and have limited kill potential. Or I'm wrong perhaps? What are your experiences with these weapons?

[Mavkiel]

Not really. Laser gatling is great, but other then that the heavy weapons are awful. If you play on survival they are god awful. The weight alone is reason enough to avoid them.

[urielseptim]

I've expected this kind of answer, still, sometimes you don't want to build maximally effective character - instead of increasing difficulty I choose to play more fashion game, using armors I like rather then "best" (I've been doing this for head armor in fact even in my first game) and using big guns can be way of increasing difficulty /bringing role play aspect more when you know the game better and game seems easier.

[Mavkiel]

Heh, its not even about maximizing ones character. Those weapons, on any difficulty have to many drawbacks. Miniguns take time to spin up, and do lackluster damage once they do. Sure, if you are playing on reduced difficulty its not a problem, but you could use a poolstick to beat those critters to death just as easily.

 

You asked how those weapons fare. What criteria were you expecting people to use if not how useful they are? A great part of that usefulness depends on the difficulty level, and if you lower it enough, any weapon no matter how awful is viable. If you raise the difficulty, the situation deteriorates with weight and damage considerations.

 

I suppose I could mention the difficulty of supplying any heavy weapon other then the laser Gatling is problematic. However, that seems more like a side issue rather then a discussion on how well it performs.

[robhartman9]

3 out of 5 of my characters use the Gatling Laser exclusively. I was lucky enough to find a wounding GL for one character after that I used mods to make legendary weapons. My highest level character has a dual legendary (mod) two shot wounding overcharged GL. With the heavy gunner perk maxed out Leeloo can mow down anything in seconds. Head on charging mirelurk queens or Legendary fog crawlers no problem. Combined with a full set of dual legendary X-01 Mk. VI Shadowed (mod) Indestructible Titan armor there is really nothing that can touch Leeloo. This way OP character may not be for everyone but its fun for exploring because you can just run around with impunity.

[urielseptim]

You asked how those weapons fare. What criteria were you expecting people to use if not how useful they are?

Your answered was useful and I acknowledge it, my further comments were not to invalidate your statement, but to reflect on my current playthru, where my better knowledge of game mechanics make game easier for me. Not easy but not as challenging as before.

 

Healthy alternative to raising difficulty in any scenario can always be to pick gear more to your liking or more fitting to "role" of your character, then by sheer stats.

 

For example I often use postman /harbor captain hats for me and my followers (combat armor helmet is ugly as f.) and in my last playthru I've used T51 armor (old fallouts nostalgia) maximally upgraded in railroad colors, because I've played as railroad agent so it seemed fitting, and i really like the looks.

[Mavkiel]

Ah I get where you are coming from. I am pretty much stuck on survival, got tired of having to majorly gimp my character to have some difficulty. Like avoiding damage increasing perks, avoiding power armor, not getting x or y weapon.

 

Sadly, still not found the perfect balance. If I use power armor, I shred everything. If I use marine combat armor, I die in 2-3 hits in far harbor. Not yet had a chance to upgrade the armor though, so perhaps that will slightly increase my durability.

 

I am also a wee bit bitter over heavy weapons. I loved the way the minigun looked. However, when I first got it I was rather disgusted. To the point where I reloaded an old save and just killed the first deathclaw with a 10mm gun and found it easier. Survival just added insult to injury, find a stack of missiles? Tough, even with 11 str and strong back perks, I don't have enough extra capacity to carry them.

[zc123]

If your using mods you could do a playthrough with just heavy weapons

 

I would suggest http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4042/?

 

without mods and this mod in particular however your likely not going to enjoy it much.

[JackTrenton]

You need to find the 'explosive minigun' legendary weapon. It is devastating.

[TheGadget1945]

I am travelling with 3 human companions - Cait, Curie and Piper - and one robot, Ada modified to be an Assaultron. I have finished the main game twice and Far Harbor once. Curie and Piper have Focussed Overcharged Gatling Lasers and Cait has a specced Gauss Rifle. I normally use a The Last Minute Gauss Rifle for medium shots, Spray N' Pray for close up and Targeting Quad Missile Launcher for long distance.

The downside to the Gatling Laser was demonstrated today during a Gunner attack on Finch Farm - I was told "Curie and Piper are being sent to x settlement" as I think they accidentally vaporised that grey haired female caravan who seems to be everywhere at once.