Damage cap issue in Fallout 4

[Zombie Proof]

Wow, still playing a character at level 63. I have 2 retired characters neither of which got much past level 40. Once I finish the main quest, the faction quests, a bunch of side quests, make some settlements, maybe do a DLC... I'm pretty much done with one character and ready to make another to do a different faction with a different character build. I never really saw the point of trying to make a character with all the levels and all the perks. That's why I liked how Skyrim severely punished people trying to go for mega levels and all perk builds. I'd have laughed if a similar system existed in Fallout 4. But I guess it kind of does, no max level for enemy leveling but weapon damage caps... doesn't sound like a mistake to me. Sounds like a punishment. Sounds like encouragement "Hey, more power to ya for grinding more levels out for 'Max Power: Possessor of all teh stuffz' but maybe you might like to try a different character build."

Because trying a different character build is fun. Grinding out levels with your maxed skills until you max out a different skill and now having another maxed skill to use... is grind. That's why I preferred Skyrim's leveling system. You couldn't just shoot more bandits until "BING" you suddenly get better at lock picking. You have to use a skill (that "gasp" you might not be 'teh bestz' at) to GET BETTER AT THAT SKILL. It made sense, and it made you BUILD a character... not just fill in the blanks on a character sheet.

My survival mode character just hit lv 98 last night and I think you're overlooking one key point in how fallout 4's level system rewards the long grind.

The perks, in tandem with the level system are designed in a way that you can "evolve" your character if you so choose. My Survival dude, Frank Castle (heh, Codsworth recognizes the name too ) started off on some sneak tip, one shot stealthy action. It was the safest way to play at early survival and the ninja skills just kept getting better.

This was my third character though and as you could imagine, being the one hit killer got a little boring after a while. I then decided to go for the fully leveled pain train perk so that I can mow people down in my power armor and then the quest for that began. At some point along the way I wanted to play a mix of stealth and strength in which I would ninja outside the power armor and tank while inside so then the quests for the heavy guns and gunslinger so that I could use a minigun while in the armor and the deliverer when im not. I began to realize that I didn't have to start a fourth and fifth character to play differently. It was much more fun to evolve my character with the gameplay options I'd unlocked along the way and the beauty of survival mode is that it stays challenging (as long as you forego ballistic weave, yuck) and the weight restrictions keep you from being all things at all times so all of a sudden I had to strategize load out and play style.

Where I'm sitting at now is an awesome amalgamation of game play abilities that make up a truly unique character who's adventures show no sign of ending. I do think playing on survival contributes to Frank's longevity as well. The balance of instant gratification in the normal game play balance would have induced boredom at this point but the fact that no game play element gets taken for granted in survival keeps the adventure compelling.

 

[happyninja42]

So, your issue is that you can't one-shot everything with an early game weapon any more?

Where did I say early game weapon? I described the fully tricked out weapons that I'm using. There isn't anywhere further up to go. This isn't "starting weaponry", this is the peak of firepower that is possible in the game, aside from possibly finding a legendary with a perk that would benefit sniping, like Instigator.

The hunting rifle is an early game weapon. In terms of rifles, only pipe weapons are weaker.

And at NO point in my post did I mention a hunting rifle, at all. Quite the opposite. I mentioned using the .50 sniper rifle, and also the Gauss rifle, fully tricked out. I have max crafting perks, so I have access to the top tier mods possible in the game (not counting anything from Far Harbor, don't have that DLC, so I can't count it). There is no way to make these guns anymore powerful directly. All I can do at this point, is invest in a few more perks that will increase my damage percentages, and I'm quickly running out of such perks, having already maxed most of them out.

My point, and my entire issue, is that you can get the absolute best weapons, and have them modded to produce the absolute maximum amount of damage, at a level that is roughly only 1/10 of the level cap. I've heard people are level 400 in that game, I don't know if that's the actual cap or not, but if that's possible, then I have 90% potential level progression in the game...without any comparative damage increase. While at the same time, the enemies are consistently increasing in health up that entire level scale.

Now I have no intention of playing to that high of a level with this character, but I'm asking simply to see if there is some way to continue increasing damage stats as you level. Because I can see that becoming an issue. I mean sure, if you don't care about staying in theme of your character concept of the "One Shot One Kill" sniper theme, then disregard this entire thread. I'm not talking about "It's taking tons of tons of bullets to blast people down with my machine gun!" That's to be expected, those weapons are meant to be used in a multi-fire way. I'm talking about the "I'm built to capitalize on sneak attack multipliers and drop my enemies from afar" concept.

Again, right now, it's not a big issue, as I can use my Gauss rifle and still 1 shot most things, even Glowing Legendary Deathclaw Matriarchs. But if I miss, and not get a headshot on her, I am noticing that they will sometimes survive it.

Which means I basically have to mothball every other gun at this point? Which I find kind of sad. I like the .50 rifle, and other traditional ballistic guns. I mean I like the gauss too, it's fun to blast people with it, but it just seems odd to allow the enemy health to progress so freely, while damage output is so quickly maxed out.

Wow, still playing a character at level 63. I have 2 retired characters neither of which got much past level 40. Once I finish the main quest, the faction quests, a bunch of side quests, make some settlements, maybe do a DLC... I'm pretty much done with one character and ready to make another to do a different faction with a different character build. I never really saw the point of trying to make a character with all the levels and all the perks. That's why I liked how Skyrim severely punished people trying to go for mega levels and all perk builds. I'd have laughed if a similar system existed in Fallout 4. But I guess it kind of does, no max level for enemy leveling but weapon damage caps... doesn't sound like a mistake to me. Sounds like a punishment. Sounds like encouragement "Hey, more power to ya for grinding more levels out for 'Max Power: Possessor of all teh stuffz' but maybe you might like to try a different character build."

Because trying a different character build is fun. Grinding out levels with your maxed skills until you max out a different skill and now having another maxed skill to use... is grind. That's why I preferred Skyrim's leveling system. You couldn't just shoot more bandits until "BING" you suddenly get better at lock picking. You have to use a skill (that "gasp" you might not be 'teh bestz' at) to GET BETTER AT THAT SKILL. It made sense, and it made you BUILD a character... not just fill in the blanks on a character sheet.

I'm not maxing out everything. I'm maxing out the stuff for a sniper build. At no time did I say I was maxing out every perk tree. I've bought the ones directly related to the build type I've got. That's hardly everything in the game.

 

[Denamic]

And at NO point in my post did I mention a hunting rifle, at all. Quite the opposite. I mentioned using the .50 sniper rifle,

Except the .50 cal sniper rifle is a hunting rifle with a .50 cal receiver and a scope. Literally the second weakest tier of semi-auto rifles in the game. Well, third if you differentiate revolvers and bolt action pipe weapons.

 

[DefunctTheory]

And at NO point in my post did I mention a hunting rifle, at all. Quite the opposite. I mentioned using the .50 sniper rifle,

Except the .50 cal sniper rifle is a hunting rifle with a .50 cal receiver and a scope. Literally the second weakest tier of semi-auto rifles in the game. Well, third if you differentiate revolvers and bolt action pipe weapons.

Um... if I recall, the .50 cal hunting rifle is one of the most powerful, non-unqiue, single hit, non-explosive weapons in the game. The only things I can recall straight up beating it is the 6-Crank Laser Musket (Which takes forever to load and is an ammo hog) and the Gauss Rifle (Which, like most 'release to fire' weapons, can be annoying to use).

 

[Denamic]

And at NO point in my post did I mention a hunting rifle, at all. Quite the opposite. I mentioned using the .50 sniper rifle,

Except the .50 cal sniper rifle is a hunting rifle with a .50 cal receiver and a scope. Literally the second weakest tier of semi-auto rifles in the game. Well, third if you differentiate revolvers and bolt action pipe weapons.

Um... if I recall, the .50 cal hunting rifle is one of the most powerful, non-unqiue, single hit, non-explosive weapons in the game. The only things I can recall straight up beating it is the 6-Crank Laser Musket (Which takes forever to load and is an ammo hog) and the Gauss Rifle (Which, like most 'release to fire' weapons, can be annoying to use).

The railway rifle also handily beats it in damage. Don't get me wrong, the .50 cal isn't bad. I use a two-shot .50 cal and it's really powerful, but it's not the best in any way. Even in its very specific niche, it gets outclassed by every other gun of its type, save for pipe weapons. It's not even that much more powerful than a semi-auto assault rifle per shot, and the assault rifle has a vastly superior rate of fire.

 

[FalloutJack]

Sniping

Citation needed. Sniper rifles are, to my experience, way more useful for the sniping situation.

Railway Rifle is FUN, but there are some drawbacks when I gave it a whirl. The RR has funny delay in impact to a far away target (sniping distance), due to its firing a pressure-driven spike, not a sniper bullet. The accuracy, for this reason and for reasons of not being exceptioanlly moddable, is not as great in practice, even if your numbers say otherwise. I have VERY good aim, able to hit a distant target on the fringe of the character's perception level, in and out of scope. (I've done this to kill a man at a high vantage point with a Fatman, for instance, where that would be important.) Like I said, the RR's fun, not efficient.

In my fights, I have searched for the best of every sort of thing that I need. Upon my realization that pipe weapons were absolute shit, I found components to create my sniper rifle, making careful comparisons of several rifle weapons. I haven't bothered to go .50 yet, but I could and it would do more damage than the one I've got. It would be about the distance I could make it, but I've got a couple thousand of those bullets I haven't even used yet, 'cause I'm a wild wasteland ass-kicker. I have thrown myself into the crafting system to kill better and faster, enough so that I know the path the OP's walking quite well. It does not remain a hunting rifle after you change out the parts for more advanced pieces.

Snip

Hey, how often do you get criticals? Setting up to get those more often and do more per is another option, if you haven't done it.