Which is better: Spray n Pray, or Kiloton?

[The Living Glitch]

TL;DR AT BOTTOM

I've been playing through Far Harbor and just made it to the Nucleus, completed the sidequests, and bought the Kiloton Radium Rifle. Problem is; it's super similar to the gun I've had since very early on; the Spray n Pray from Cricket. Now I play this game like a Loot Goblin, grabbing everything in sight (even WITH maxing out Strong Back), as such; I've only decided to boil down my weapon selection to a small few amount of guns and a failsafe melee.

I've fully upgraded the Kiloton as best I could with the weapons workbench, and SnP already comes super riced out from purchase. I tested both out (with maxed Commando) on various super powerful enemy spawns via the console (Nukalurk Queens, Venomous Anglers, Mythic Deathclaws, etc) and they seem to kill each creature at more-or-less the same time. From what I've gathered, SnP's strengths lie in the sheer rate of fire and Large Quick Eject Drum mag to minimize reload times. Whereas the Kiloton has shots that are more powerful due to the aforementioned upgrades and the extra boost of rad damage.

I'd like input on which gun works as the better option going forward only picking one to save on weight. On one hand, SnP provides better ammo capacity to reduce load times. On the other, Kiloton hits harder. Below is a Google Drive folder that has screencaps of all the stats of both guns. I've been so thorough, that ammo and caps are non-issues for me, so that gets rid of that problem. I'd VERY MUCH appreciate quick responses if possible; I'd like as much info as I can get here.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LU16rjXNhx2zEPNMnK11t_6o8YOvTfP9?usp=share_link

TLDR VERSION: I can't decide against Spam vs Punch, and I'm outsourcing opinions.

[PerLindstrom]

Originally posted by The Living Glitch:

TL;DR AT BOTTOM

I've been playing through Far Harbor and just made it to the Nucleus, completed the sidequests, and bought the Kiloton Radium Rifle. Problem is; it's super similar to the gun I've had since very early on; the Spray n Pray from Cricket. Now I play this game like a Loot Goblin, grabbing everything in sight (even WITH maxing out Strong Back), as such; I've only decided to boil down my weapon selection to a small few amount of guns and a failsafe melee.

I've fully upgraded the Kiloton as best I could with the weapons workbench, and SnP already comes super riced out from purchase. I tested both out (with maxed Commando) on various super powerful enemy spawns via the console (Nukalurk Queens, Venomous Anglers, Mythic Deathclaws, etc) and they seem to kill each creature at more-or-less the same time. From what I've gathered, SnP's strengths lie in the sheer rate of fire and Large Quick Eject Drum mag to minimize reload times. Whereas the Kiloton has shots that are more powerful due to the aforementioned upgrades and the extra boost of rad damage.

I'd like input on which gun works as the better option going forward only picking one to save on weight. On one hand, SnP provides better ammo capacity to reduce load times. On the other, Kiloton hits harder. Below is a Google Drive folder that has screencaps of all the stats of both guns. I've been so thorough, that ammo and caps are non-issues for me, so that gets rid of that problem. I'd VERY MUCH appreciate quick responses if possible; I'd like as much info as I can get here.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LU16rjXNhx2zEPNMnK11t_6o8YOvTfP9?usp=share_link

TLDR VERSION: I can't decide against Spam vs Punch, and I'm outsourcing opinions.

Kiloton have a firerate of 90, S&P 129, that's about 40% faster.
But Kiloton have more damage 122 vs 68 , thats 70% better damage, and it has 100 rad damage on top of that, splash is 15 for both of them. splash damage are equal.
Soo a big boost in damage for the kiloton, and a slight in splash damage for S&P.
I would chose Kiloton.
The rad damage shines against monster with huge healthpoints and low rad resist, each shot removes 10% of their maximum healtpoints.

[RedShocktrooper]

They both use .45 ammo, and Kiloton can be speced to benefit from Rifleman and Astoundingly Awesome Issue #11. I'd take Kiloton personally because it's more ammo efficient (Rifleman-perk receivers have higher base damage and can be spam fired). S'n'P's higher ammo capacity is offset by the fact that it's statistically identical to if you found an Explosive Pipe Rifle off a Legendary enemy, while Kiloton simply has the better base gun.

[Zotliatlicor]

Kiloton is the better. There are just so many human factions to battle with. (you might plan to take on Nuka world with it)

[Chaosium]

Kiloton because you don't need 80 bullets to kill 1 guy unlike waste & pray

[DouglasGrave]

Are we including the Demolition Expert perk in this? Adding that to boost explosive damage should generally favour the more rapid explosion delivery of Spray n' Pray versus the better base weapon damage of the Kiloton Radium Rifle.

[The Living Glitch]

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

Are we including the Demolition Expert perk in this? Adding that to boost explosive damage should generally favour the more rapid explosion delivery of Spray n' Pray versus the better base weapon damage of the Kiloton Radium Rifle.

Yes, DemoExp is also maxed.

[PerLindstrom]

I still vote for Kiloton, that extra Rad damage is sweet, and you got better direct damage to.
You still got Splash damage, about 70% of S&P.

[The Living Glitch]

Originally posted by PerLindstrom:

I still vote for Kiloton, that extra Rad damage is sweet, and you got better direct damage to.
You still got Splash damage, about 70% of S&P.

Yeah but the main deal breaker for me is the clip size. Even with a Large Quick Eject Mag, it still only holds 40 rounds as opposed to SnP's 100 from the QE Drum. That's why I'm hesitant.

Plus from what I've tested via console, the fire rate is inconsistent. Sometimes it's 300, sometimes 90, depending on seemingly whenever it feels like each time I load a quicksave. Apparently this can be exploited, but for the sake of argument and practicality, I wanna keep it at the intended 90 RoF.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/4kgldq/spoilerradium_riflespoiler_300_fire_rate_glitch/

[Zes]

I lastly played far harbor with overseer guardian but in auto mode. I didn't have much of a history with auto weapons for obvious reasons like ammo weight and price but i invested some strategic perks and made it happen.

It was very fun to spam .45 bullets all around the targets.. and satisfying too.

[Zotliatlicor]

If we add the Demolition Expert into the mix for the Spray&Pray it would be unjust to not include the Nuclear Phycisist for the Kiloton Rifle. It doubles up on the extra Rad Damage.

[PerLindstrom]

About Radiation damage.

"Irradiated
The Irradiated mod is potentially very powerful, scaling extremely well with higher difficulties and higher levels.
When combined with the Nuclear Physicist perk, Irradiated weapons do 100 points of radiation damage (10% of max health).
At lower levels and difficulties, the normal damage of the weapon may dwarf the 10% max health reduction (due to how radiation damage in Fallout 4 works).
Indeed, even at high levels, properly upgraded and geared weapons may also do much better against many enemies.
However, high-level human enemies may have over 1,000 health and, due to radiation damage ignoring player damage penalties in higher difficulties, a single irradiated shot could be worth hundreds of damage, highly effective on automatic weapons (even a low-level auto pipe pistol).
Irradiated Gamma guns and Radium rifles are even more extreme.
The Irradiated mod is also very effective against legendary enemies, as it reduces the maximum health points of the target, preventing the healing effect of the mutation."

https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout_4_legendary_weapon_effects#Irradiated

[Sephrajin]

Idk Kiloton, but by the sounds here, i guess its a singleshot weapon.

With that in mind, i'd take the SnP for hordes, aka groups of enemies, as the aoe per shot only benefits from groups, aka 80 bullets x 15 extra damage, per nearby enemy is quite a bit.

Still would use the Kiloton for stanalone (or just 2) enemies.
But then... irradiated.. vs. FH enemies is not as effective, because most animals there are born with that.

[TemplarGR]

Radiation is more potent but it doesn't work vs all enemies, there are many resistant to it. It is a weapon mainly used vs humans not in power armor.

Explosive damage isn't as impressive but works vs everything.

In the end, as the game progresses, you are going to find that you may keep Kiloton vs human enemies as a dedicated secondary weapons, and use something else as your main gun.

In my opinion, in FO4's combat system Bethesda dropped the ball in 3 things:

1) Damage resistance scaling making auto weapons useless vs harder hitting semiauto weapons. I think Damage Threshold in New Vegas was a better idea.

2) Due to 1, making plasma weapons split their damage in half ballistic and half energy, thus making them bad vs most enemies who tend to have around equal levels of both resistances

3) Auto receivers doing less damage per bullet than semiauto. I never understood why they did this. Automatic weapons fire the same bullets at the same power. If you fire in auto mode, you just get much more recoil and heat in real life. There is no reason to make auto receivers do less damage per bullet, and thus making them more susceptible to damage resistance.

I hope they fix these things in FO5. These factors are what make Spray n Pray a bad weapon to get. The submachingun is one of the most useless weapons in the game.

[PerLindstrom]

Originally posted by The Living Glitch:

Originally posted by PerLindstrom:

I still vote for Kiloton, that extra Rad damage is sweet, and you got better direct damage to.
You still got Splash damage, about 70% of S&P.

Yeah but the main deal breaker for me is the clip size. Even with a Large Quick Eject Mag, it still only holds 40 rounds as opposed to SnP's 100 from the QE Drum. That's why I'm hesitant.

Plus from what I've tested via console, the fire rate is inconsistent. Sometimes it's 300, sometimes 90, depending on seemingly whenever it feels like each time I load a quicksave. Apparently this can be exploited, but for the sake of argument and practicality, I wanna keep it at the intended 90 RoF.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/4kgldq/spoilerradium_riflespoiler_300_fire_rate_glitch/

It sounds to me that you prefer S&P, go for it!
But keep Kiloton in a safe storage, in case you change you mind.

[The Living Glitch]

Originally posted by PerLindstrom:

Originally posted by The Living Glitch:

Yeah but the main deal breaker for me is the clip size. Even with a Large Quick Eject Mag, it still only holds 40 rounds as opposed to SnP's 100 from the QE Drum. That's why I'm hesitant.

Plus from what I've tested via console, the fire rate is inconsistent. Sometimes it's 300, sometimes 90, depending on seemingly whenever it feels like each time I load a quicksave. Apparently this can be exploited, but for the sake of argument and practicality, I wanna keep it at the intended 90 RoF.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo4/comments/4kgldq/spoilerradium_riflespoiler_300_fire_rate_glitch/

It sounds to me that you prefer S&P, go for it!
But keep Kiloton in a safe storage, in case you change you mind.

I feel like the Kiloton may be my go-to weapon for Nuka World, at least. Lots of human raiders there.