Just to verify, weapon perks like gun nut, commando, gunslinger, and etc. affect both energy and guns in this game?

[A]

I just played for a bit to give it a try but not invest too much since i need to sleep and I have work. I did a quick search trying to figure out the perks and came across someone saying that the aforementioned perks affect both guns and energy weapons. Is that the case?

Is that better from Fallout 3 or NV? I liked the difference between the two weapon types as it gave you a sort of build to follow. So it's like fallout 3's setup then? heavy weapons are classed together such as gatling lasers and miniguns while plasmas and regular guns are clustered together? Meaning I can just use whatever regular weapons I find without fear of being slightly weaker?

[steventirey]

Yes, the perks affect both ballistic and energy weapons. The only difference between ballistic and energy weapons is the armor ratings - some armor protects better against one of them. But as far as perks are concerned, there is no difference.

[tbloyzz]

Gun Nut does only affect ballistic weapons, ammo production and turret building

[tbloyzz]

You can simply go with the best weapon in your respective class (rifle, commando, gunslinger, heavies) until you find another weapon of that class that is better. Energy or ballistic does not matter. There are few restrictions for energy weapons that you might want to keep in mind though. They cannot be silenced (and hence do not benefit from such perks) and you will not be able to find one with a legendary explosive perk.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by tbloyzz:

Gun Nut does only affect ballistic weapons, ammo production and turret building

True. I was only thinking of the combat perks. For the crafting perks, there is a difference. Gun Nut for ballistics, Science for energy.

[The Inept European]

While the same combat perks benefit ballistic and energy weapons, energy weapons do not get the full benefits of the perks. That doesn't mean you should not get the perks, but it's a reason to favour ballistic (or plasma) weapons, particularly later when you gain more perks - not so much early on.

[The Inept European]

Basically weapons are grouped as pistol, rifle/shotgun, auto, or heavy weapon. For skill purposes, what comes out of the barrel doesn't matter.

Its also easy to change a rifle to a pistol to an auto. So you can find weapons and mod them to match your strongest skills (perks).

The combat perk for rifles is called Rifleman. Gun Nut is a perk for modding ballistic weapons.