Fusion Rifle

[Seattleite]

There's a weapon type that is very unique, and it'd be nice to see in Fallout 4. That's the fusion rifle from Destiny.

For those Destiny who already know what a fusion rifle is, skip this paragraph. For those who'd rather watch a video of the weapon in action, click

,

or

for relevant gameplay footage. Basically, it's a burst-fire energy weapon with a charge-up time before the burst discharges. This discharge is a burst of energy projectiles that have moderate range but due to spread it's most effective up close.

The way I'd see it in Fallout 4 is basically, you charge it like a gauss rifle, about the same charge time too. Once it's charged, you get a burst of 7 of what are essentially plasma rifle shots and each of which is essentially a typical shot from a plasma rifle, in terms of range, spread (not counting the recoil experienced in the burst) and of course damage. This deals a very large amount of damage between the 7 projectiles, with recoil being a bigger factor than spread so you could potentially be pretty accurate at short-medium range if you aim low and to the side opposite the recoil, so it traces up a target. You'd upgrade it to increase the damage, increase the number of projectiles with a corresponding increase to overall damage (Destiny fusion rifles fire 7 projectiles, but nothing needs to be set in stone), make it more accurate, charge faster with less power/projectiles or charge slower for more damage/projectiles, maybe make a pistol version if you really want to, and best of all: Change the element to change its properties.

Fire by default, burn enemies over time in addition to your kinetic and energy damage. Change it to electric, no burn damage but bonus energy damage against robots and the like. Radiation, make it a burst-fire gamma gun with kinetic damage on the side. But why stop there? Cryo, less damage but it does crowd control. Poison, which doesn't stack I don't think so putting the poison damage nice and high makes it a nasty prick at a distance but means it gets less of a bonus up close. Maybe kinetic only, give it some flinch and/or knockdown but lose the energy damage entirely. Sky's the limit, the more elemental options you have the more fun the weapon becomes and you've got a lot of room to be creative.

 

But frankly, as long as there are fusion rifles, I'm happy. It's a fun weapon class. I don't care if it's lore friendly to Fallout 4, or if the fusion rifles are actually based on specific Destiny fusion rifles or their aesthetics are based on Destiny at all, so long as they function the way we know and love. I also don't care what ammo type they use, as long as it's something I can use relatively often. Fusion cells, plasma cartridges, whatever. I just want to blast robots, super mutants and deathclaws with a fusion rifle. That's it.

Edited July 19, 2019 by Seattleite