Earliest energy weapon (not one from concord)

[chrisbors]

Anyone?

[casualsailor]

Not exactly sure what you are looking for. If you mean other than the laser musket then probably the laser sniper on the overhead freeway raider camp just south east of TenPines. Look for the Windmill generator. There are only 3 or 4 raiders + a turret. The gun is always there next to the bed on the upper level in the metal shack with the skull painted on it.

[Big Boom Boom]

Call to Arms, lots of Institute drop and Paladin Dante's reward.

[Ruin]

Righteous Authority can be obtained quite early, and has the added benefit of being a gauranteed reward...

You will also get a large number of Institute laser weapons, along with a significant number of energy cells as well...

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

They aren't that uncommon. They aren't that great either, until Plasma weapons, which require a certain level before you can buy them

[Big Boom Boom]

6 crank laser musket is good for sniping. Laser Gatling gun is OP.

[Ruin]

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

They aren't that uncommon. They aren't that great either, until Plasma weapons, which require a certain level before you can buy them

I disagree on them not being all that great... A properly upgraded laser rifle, along with the proper perks, can be quite potent, not to mention energy cells are quite common, unlike Plasma cartridges...

Laser weapons are also quite alot lighter than more "traditional" firearms, which is also another plus for Survival playthroughs...

[casualsailor]

Here is where you get that Laser Sniper. But once you get to DC get the Old Faithful and covert it to a rifle. It does 50% more damage on the first shot.

https://youtu.be/yKSyJfijB38?list=PLWfn8XPMjoaPL1e4lZgOhKdu0ZJ33dh_Y&t=905

Edit: He put a splitter on and then changed it to a beam focuser in the next vid. And that's the mod you want.

[casualsailor]

Originally posted by Ruin:

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

They aren't that uncommon. They aren't that great either, until Plasma weapons, which require a certain level before you can buy them

I disagree on them not being all that great... A properly upgraded laser rifle, along with the proper perks, can be quite potent, not to mention energy cells are quite common, unlike Plasma cartridges...

Laser weapons are also quite alot lighter than more "traditional" firearms, which is also another plus for Survival playthroughs...

Me too. A 6 crank musket is an awesome weapon, I use it a lot mid game to take the first shot then switch to another weapon.

[chrisbors]

Thanks! Any recommended perks for wanting to mainly focus on energy weapons?

[Ruin]

Originally posted by casualsailor:

Originally posted by Ruin:

I disagree on them not being all that great... A properly upgraded laser rifle, along with the proper perks, can be quite potent, not to mention energy cells are quite common, unlike Plasma cartridges...

Laser weapons are also quite alot lighter than more "traditional" firearms, which is also another plus for Survival playthroughs...

Me too. A 6 crank musket is an awesome weapon, I use it a lot mid game to take the first shot then switch to another weapon.

Yeah, it's one of the most potent sniper weapons you can get...

Originally posted by chrisbors:

Thanks! Any recommended perks for wanting to mainly focus on energy weapons?

Go the Rifleman perks (over Commando) IMO... It gives some really nice bonuses that affect both sniper setups, as well as semi-auto setups for closer range...

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

Originally posted by Ruin:

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

They aren't that uncommon. They aren't that great either, until Plasma weapons, which require a certain level before you can buy them

I disagree on them not being all that great... A properly upgraded laser rifle, along with the proper perks, can be quite potent, not to mention energy cells are quite common, unlike Plasma cartridges...

Laser weapons are also quite alot lighter than more "traditional" firearms, which is also another plus for Survival playthroughs...

I might be spoiled when it comes to weapons, since I use a lot of weapon mods from the Nexus, so power creep has jaded my opinions on vanilla weapons. Getting Plasma cartridges is easy if you can just figure out a good way to make caps, but you're absolutely right about the weight.

Originally posted by casualsailor:

Originally posted by Ruin:

I disagree on them not being all that great... A properly upgraded laser rifle, along with the proper perks, can be quite potent, not to mention energy cells are quite common, unlike Plasma cartridges...

Laser weapons are also quite alot lighter than more "traditional" firearms, which is also another plus for Survival playthroughs...

Me too. A 6 crank musket is an awesome weapon, I use it a lot mid game to take the first shot then switch to another weapon.

I wasn't including the musket since OP disregarded it. On my first few playthroughs back during launch I used the musket almost exclusively

Originally posted by chrisbors:

Thanks! Any recommended perks for wanting to mainly focus on energy weapons?

Science, and Nuclear Physicist for Gatling Laser. Science and Gun Nut are absolute must get perks

[Ruin]

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

so power creep has jaded my opinions on vanilla weapons.

Which is exactly why I've limited the number of weapon mods I'm using... Too many are just insanely OP and completely game-breaking IMO... Not to mention most are by no means lore-friendly...

Only ones I am using are the M2216 and the Chinese Assault Rifle, along with the Plasma Arsenal mod - though I'm likely to remove this and go back to stand alone mods if I see the plasma grenade launcher upgrade spawning on NPC's..

Tried the R91 mod, but the leveled list never seemed to function properly (think it was conflicting with either the M2216 or Chinese Assault Rifle), and would never drop... I figure the existing Combat Rifle (with the shorter barrel) is close enough to FO3's Assault Rifle, anyway...

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

Getting Plasma cartridges is easy if you can just figure out a good way to make caps,

Early game this is not really viable, nor do many vendors even offer Plasma Catridges until later in the game anyway...

[casualsailor]

Once you get the gun, go to weapons bench and look at the mods that increase damage and you'll see what perks you need. Basically Science and Gun Nut.

But do that for all perks. If you're doing power armor then try to mod it and look at the perks you need and the results you get.

Likewise if you are using silenced weapons then look at the damage bonuses from things like Sandman, Sneak and Ninja.

In otherwords figuring out perks is not really hard.

[Beautiful Ham Sandwich]

Originally posted by Ruin:

Which is exactly why I've limited the number of weapon mods I'm using... Too many are just insanely OP and completely game-breaking IMO... Not to mention most are by no means lore-friendly...

Only ones I am using are the M2216 and the Chinese Assault Rifle, along with the Plasma Arsenal mod - though I'm likely to remove this and go back to stand alone mods if I see the plasma grenade launcher upgrade spawning on NPC's..

I stay away from the ones I know are too strong, and will ruin my game. Either that, or I nerf them myself by either limiting modifications on it, or using FO4Edit. They aren't strong enough that I consider them gamebreaking, but some are definitely strong enough to outclass vanilla weapons.

Originally posted by Ruin:

Early game this is not really viable, nor do many vendors even offer Plasma Catridges until later in the game anyway...

I forgot we're on the topic of early game. If we're talking about early game then I definitely agree that Laser > Plasma