Weapons Degrade WAY Too Fast

[danconnors]

I'm glad they did away with this nonsense in Fallout 4. You take a combat shotgun and fire it 10 times, and it loses 10 of its damage points to wear and tear. Guns do deteriorate, but at nowhere near that speed. Maybe if you fired a real shotgun 500 times without giving it a good cleaning, it would deteriorate that much, but not after 10 or 15 shots.

You need to bring at least two of a weapon out with you every time you leave Megaton. Fire one till it's down to three quarters full value. Then fire the second down to 75 percent. Then use one to u[grade the remaining one to full power.

Ridiculous. Ditto for the armor.

[120 BPM]

- mods

[danconnors]

You shouldn't need mods. This was just a basic failure of Fallout 3. In Fallout New Vegas they sort of made up for it by allowing you to create "repair kits". Then, in the DLC "Dead Money" you got access to an infinite supply of repair kits. In Fallout 3 you have to complete Mother Ship Zrta to get hold of gun repair units.

It's like, you shoot the gun, and, in addition to the gunsmoke you see a cloud of flying gun parts spewing out of the barrel.

[120 BPM]

this game was released in 2008 ( or 7? ) literally noone cares about those types of rants. Just go to nexus instead of complaining for the sake of complaining

[ChewMunchy]

Yeah i agree the combat shotgun degrades fast, though i just level up repairs and whatever weapon skills i need. It is only a pain when you are starting the game but later it gets easier and doesnt really become a problem(at least for me). Its best to have 2-4 weapons as backup. I scavenge and repair weapons i don't use then sell it at stores and try to buy low/medium conditioned combat shotgun/*weapon* for repairs. As for the armor....i just ended up using the winterized power armor....i forgot where i got that from because I play this once in awhile but it does not seem to wear out.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by danconnors:

You shouldn't need mods. This was just a basic failure of Fallout 3. In Fallout New Vegas they sort of made up for it by allowing you to create "repair kits". Then, in the DLC "Dead Money" you got access to an infinite supply of repair kits. In Fallout 3 you have to complete Mother Ship Zrta to get hold of gun repair units.

It's like, you shoot the gun, and, in addition to the gunsmoke you see a cloud of flying gun parts spewing out of the barrel.

It's actually worse in NV since there is a larger variety of guns meaning it's harder to find more of the same gun to repair with.

[CursedPanther]

Originally posted by Sovereign:

Originally posted by danconnors:

You shouldn't need mods. This was just a basic failure of Fallout 3. In Fallout New Vegas they sort of made up for it by allowing you to create "repair kits". Then, in the DLC "Dead Money" you got access to an infinite supply of repair kits. In Fallout 3 you have to complete Mother Ship Zrta to get hold of gun repair units.

It's like, you shoot the gun, and, in addition to the gunsmoke you see a cloud of flying gun parts spewing out of the barrel.

It's actually worse in NV since there is a larger variety of guns meaning it's harder to find more of the same gun to repair with.

I think it allows you to repair with weapons of the same category though doesn't it? I admit it can be quite strict still at times.

[JtDarth]

I'ma copy paste from an answer to the same question which I gave only a few days ago:




You've clearly never put a couple hundred rounds through a civilian firearm in one sitting. I've done so with a couple different guns, and the only ones that werent repeatedly misfiring by the end were a bolt-action rifle and a revolver. Even they misfired a few times and had very noticeable decrease in accuracy. Aside from actual damage to the firearm, gunpowder leaves residue, which can cake the chamber, barrel, firing pin, and any moving parts that aren't completely isolated from the chamber and barrel. It will cause misfeeds, misfires, and other failures. You have to clean your guns pretty often otherwise you will have major issues.

Even military weapons don't tend to handle going through hundreds of rounds in quick succession well. SAWs and Lmgs are about the only ones that you can lay on the trigger without worrying too much, but even they require time for the barrel to cool after a couple hundred rounds (so that it doesn't warp, keep in mind these weaapons are designed for sustained fire, too), which is why even for those weapons soldiers are taught to fire in bursts. Assault rifles you cannot just empty 10+ mags on full auto, it will heat the barrel a little much and can foul the chamber.

TL;DR?
The guns in fallout really aren't that far off from real durability, especially given the environments they are being used in. Keep in wind the LW and Courier never stop to actually clean their guns, they just replace parts wholesale, and travel in very dirty, dusty environments, as well as do stupid ♥♥♥♥ like cowboy their revolvers (the .44 magnum for example).
I will admit that the combat shotgun breaks down ridiculously quick, but that is a balance function due to the raw power of the combat shotgun.

[danconnors]

The T-51 power armor is our prize for completing the Anchorage DLC. It doesn't wear out. The "Waser Wifle" that you get in the kids' cave doesn't degrade. Everything else degrades like there's no tommorrow. I just came back to play this game for a bit of nostalgia.

After playing it for less than 100 hours I'm amazed that Fallout 4 gets so much hate mail, and that so many people compare Fallout 3 favorably to Fallout 4. There's no comparison. Fallout 4 is head, shoulders, and chest over this game.

[JtDarth]

Originally posted by danconnors:

The T-51 power armor is our prize for completing the Anchorage DLC. It doesn't wear out. The "Waser Wifle" that you get in the kids' cave doesn't degrade. Everything else degrades like there's no tommorrow. I just came back to play this game for a bit of nostalgia.

After playing it for less than 100 hours I'm amazed that Fallout 4 gets so much hate mail, and that so many people compare Fallout 3 favorably to Fallout 4. There's no comparison. Fallout 4 is head, shoulders, and chest over this game.

*sighs*. Why must people spread misinformation? The wazer wifle does degrade, it just has a frankly insane amount of item HP for a energy weapon (the highest of all energy weapons, iirc).

[danconnors]

I also own firearms. My favorite is a Glock .45ACP. I have fired it literally hundreds of times in one visit to a firing range. It has never jammed. NEVER.. I fire it semi auto I can fire off a 13 shot clip in just a few seconds with no problems. Of course when I'm done shooting I clean it, but it doesn't really get that dirty while I'm firing it.

I don't use military rounds for it. Most military ammo is very dirty burning, imo. I use clean burning factory ammo. For the Glock I use clean burning hollow points with no reloaded ammo or lead bullets. Lead bullets can crud up a barrel very quickly.

If my weapons deteriorated like those in Fallout 3 I'd need to bring 2 Glocks to the range every time I shot. And I'd end up cannibalizing one of them for parts.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by CursedPanther:

Originally posted by Sovereign:

It's actually worse in NV since there is a larger variety of guns meaning it's harder to find more of the same gun to repair with.

I think it allows you to repair with weapons of the same category though doesn't it? I admit it can be quite strict still at times.

Nope, there is a perk called jury rigging that let's you do that but you need to be at least level 14 and have 90 in repair, combine that with NV's only allowing you 1 perk every 2 levels and it's overall a tricky perk to get. I didn't really mind weapon deg in FO3 but in NV it gets on my wick.

[JtDarth]

Originally posted by danconnors:

I also own firearms. My favorite is a Glock .45ACP. I have fired it literally hundreds of times in one visit to a firing range. It has never jammed. NEVER.. I fire it semi auto I can fire off a 13 shot clip in just a few seconds with no problems. Of course when I'm done shooting I clean it, but it doesn't really get that dirty while I'm firing it.

I don't use military rounds for it. Most military ammo is very dirty burning, imo. I use clean burning factory ammo. For the Glock I use clean burning hollow points with no reloaded ammo or lead bullets. Lead bullets can crud up a barrel very quickly.

If my weapons deteriorated like those in Fallout 3 I'd need to bring 2 Glocks to the range every time I shot. And I'd end up cannibalizing one of them for parts.

Jamming is not the issue in fallout 3. Most the guns don't start jamming until you reach 25% or so condition. The issue is more with accuracy and damage in fallout 3, which is quite reasonable. The ammunition in fallout 3 is also unlikely to be pristine factory ammo. The majority of it is gonna be military surplus. Therefore your experience in perfect conditions is not really relevant. Especially considering you mention a firing range explicitly. I fire them in a dry, dirty area, and using whatever ammo is cheapest (hence I am somewhat obsessive about cleaning them after every use) and can tell you that pumping 250 rounds through an AR-15 via mag dumping and then immediately reloading with full mags has a noticeable effect on accuracy and causes a multitude of misfeeds due to chamber fouling.
That aside, using the standard assault rifle as an example, from 100% condition, it can fire 1250 rounds before breaking. While as an overall, compared to real life modern weapons, that is low, it's actually a very reasonable amount for a gun in a video game, and semi realistic given that the characters don't clean their weapons and use whatever ammo they can find, be it handloaded, surplus, reloaded, or factory. In any case, it's far better than, say, Far Cry 2, where you would be lucky to get 200 out of an AR-15.

[danconnors]

I also own a Chinese SKS assault rifle, which I got dirt cheap (!50 bucks for the rifle and 600 rounds of ammo). It has an internal clip, loaded with 10 shot stripper clips. It, also, has never jammed. My brother got one at the same time I did. He modded his to take an external 30 shot clip, and his jams just about every time He fires it.

It might be something to do with clip size. I once owned a replica Thompson submachinegun with a 32 shot clip. It jammed every time I shot it. My Glock with a 13 shot clip and my SKS with a 10 shot clip never jam. So, maybe going above 15 shots in a clip makes it prone to jamming.

I've never noticed any change in the accuracy of a weapon I'm using. I'm not that great a shot anyway. If the shots impact anywhere in the "lethal zone" I'm happy. The muzzle velocity of the bullets can't deteriorate very much. If it did the gun barrel would heat up to the point of being useless in just a few rounds. All that lost muzzle energy would be deposited in the barrel.

[JtDarth]

Originally posted by danconnors:

I also own a Chinese SKS assault rifle, which I got dirt cheap (!50 bucks for the rifle and 600 rounds of ammo). It has an internal clip, loaded with 10 shot stripper clips. It, also, has never jammed. My brother got one at the same time I did. He modded his to take an external 30 shot clip, and his jams just about every time He fires it.

It might be something to do with clip size. I once owned a replica Thompson submachinegun with a 32 shot clip. It jammed every time I shot it. My Glock with a 13 shot clip and my SKS with a 10 shot clip never jam. So, maybe going above 15 shots in a clip makes it prone to jamming.

I've never noticed any change in the accuracy of a weapon I'm using. I'm not that great a shot anyway. If the shots impact anywhere in the "lethal zone" I'm happy. The muzzle velocity of the bullets can't deteriorate very much. If it did the gun barrel would heat up to the point of being useless in just a few rounds. All that lost muzzle energy would be deposited in the barrel.

As I said, you mention a firing range, and using ammo that is both non-lead and with clean burning powder. That means you are going to have less issues.
As far as accuracy degredation, I noticed it when firing about 50m from the revolver, and from about 75m with the AR-15 and Mosin.

[danconnors]

Well, that explains that. I fire my Glock .45 from a range of 20 feet, 30 feet if I'm feeling reckless. I wouldn't expect to hit anything but the side of a barn with a pistol 50 meters away. As for the SKS it came with the 600 rounds of military ammo, and I've fired it outside while it was raining, without it ever jamming. But it has the internal clip, and it seems to be a very well made weapon. The folding, attached bayonet is a very nice feature.

The shotgun is my main objection. I have a pump riot gun that I load with #4 buckshot, high brass, 3 inch magnum shells. It fires 41 each .23 caliber pellets per blast (2 full ounces of lead). The only cleaning it gets when I fire it is a clean, oiled swab down the barrel after firing. It's in as good a shape as the day I bought it 30 years or more ago. Powerful as it is it has a low muzzle velocity compared to any rifle. I would expect it to last longerr than any rifle or pistol because of its rugged simplicity.

I would also expect that it could cut a man in half at 15 yards range. I fired it one time once, at a man sized silhouette 25 meters away. It put 23 holes in the target, from head to toe.