Damage cap issue in Fallout 4

[happyninja42]

So I'm currently playing a survival mode run of FO 4, and I'm about level 63 last I checked. And I'm starting to run into the issue of the enemies they are tossing at me, have HP of amounts that I can no longer 1 shot them with my sniper rifles, unless I go for a head shot. Depending on the enemy of course. Most humans/ghouls I can still take down, unless they've got a lot of armor on. But I'm noticing a major spike in the frequency of people just eating my .50 sniper rifle round, and still standing up.

So apparently they just start tossing more HP on enemies as things go, which is fine, but...I can't improve my weapons any further. I've got the crafting skills maxed out, I've built them with all the damage increasing mods I can, and aside from a few ranks in Bloody Mess that I'm currently investing in as I level up, I have no more Perks that would increase my damage.

So, how is a person supposed to keep up with the health spike as they level indefinitely (or as close to indefinite as is realistic), when they can't continue to increase their damage output as well?

So far, I've always got my gauss rifle that is doing a base damage of 665 damage, with 4.4x sneak attack multiplier. So if I REALLY want them dead with one hit, I can use that one. But even if that becomes my standard sniper rifle, it's also maxed out damage wise. So eventually I'll hit the same problem.

Aside from finding some legendaries with damage friendly traits, like Instigating or similar, I'm at a loss on how to further improve damage, considering how long they say I can level up.

I mean, I hit this maximum damage output roughly in my 40's levelwise. And some people are level 400?! That's 90% of the level range, where my damage output is capped, but my enemy's HP isn't.

Any advice/thoughts? Or is it just a "get gud and snipe the head" kind of thing?

 

[Zombie Proof]

I'm level 94 on survival and haven't really had that problem. I use different weapons for different things. With maxed sneak and ninja, Deliverer is good for shooting weapons out of difficult enemies arms and busting up their legs to slow them down (high agility, perception, and reduced vats cost gear goes a looooong way with this technique). I then switch to something like a silenced 308. Overseer's guardian (purchasable from vault 81) and chew them up.

When I'm not doing that I go in with melee weapons. Either Pickman's blade with the extra sneak modifier or Rockville Slugger to keep hammering away. If you're gonna go melee, rooted and blitz are integral perks to have, especially on survival

Also, with a combination of leveled up Concentrated Fire and Gun Fu perks. you can really stack on the damage by plugging away on one part of an enemy and switching to the next and doing the same to the next one and beyond.

Using the techniques above, I haven't really had any issues with high hp enemies and when I do, the deliverer/high agility/vats reduction gear gives me the maneuverability to control the playing field.

Lastly, I assume you're investing in your rifleman, big leagues, heavy gunner, gunslinger, and commando perks or whichever correspond with what weapons you're using. If not, work on those. when you max them out, not only are the damage multipliers for each rediculous, they give bonuses like damaging limbs and disarming foes as well.

*edit*
I also stay away from ballistic weave. All of my armor is leveled up within the limits of the armorer perk so as not to destroy the balance of survival mode. Love it.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I just use a fully upgraded laser minigun with max heavy weapons and science and whatnot while wearing a fully upgraded power armor suit. I'm just a walking tank that can whittle down mirelurker queens or albino deathclaws in seconds.

 

[happyninja42]

Like I said, I've pretty much maxed out the damage related perks, except for Bloody Mess, which I'm currently buying into right now. 2 more ranks and it will be maxed. Concentrated Fire would be good, if I used VATS, which I don't, at least not for sniping, which is the issue.

Close combat isn't really the issue for me, as I've got several good close quarter weapons, and by that point, I'm not expecting to 1 shot anyone. Deliverer and a crazy autoshotgun that I found are working just fine for that. But that's when DANGER mode is in place. I'm talking specifically about sniping, as that is my primary form of combat. Shoot, fade away, come back and kill next target.

So we're talking about Alpha Strike damage, and in that regard, I have pretty much capped out any perks that would improve it.

Again, my gauss rifle is doing roughly 2900dmg with a sneak attack, so with THAT gun, it's not as much of an issue. Only the occasional Legendary Glowing Deathclaw Matriarch is able to eat a round like that and keep coming, but only just barely.

Was just curious if there was something else I wasn't considering, when it comes to sniping damage and the gear limit.

 

[Zombie Proof]

Hmmm...set that Overseers Guardian up with that .308 and have a party. That should give you the extra sniping punch you want.

 

[FalloutJack]

The reason your sniper rifle isn't insta-killing stronger raiders, for instance, is because they've heard about this wicked badass taking names and kicking ass. I've listened in on a few conversations and am convinced that the Raiders are scared shitless of me. As a result, they're doing more to pump themselves up because they don't wanna die. Now, not all of them do this. Only the ones that reach a higher status, like Raider Veteran. Most of the raiders will be lesser fools regardless, and you'll still come across Gunners who - while militant as hell and quite advanced - die rather easily, even in areas where they'll have heavy-duty Gunners.

I have different guns for different situations. I don't carry a sniper rifle simply because I want instant kills, even though good headshots WILL so do that (and even good other shots sometimes, even though it's a .308). I have it to wear down TOUGH opponents from a distance that I can get at with little risk because they'll be like Legendary Raider Veteran holding a FATMAN. Instant death is not as important to me as carefully handling the situation. I have my pistol as my quick and easy executioner for close range. I have my laser rifle (technically Paladin Danse's rifle) for pinpoint ranged attacks and setting things on fire. And my plasma rifle? Heavy-duty mid-range scattershot where the need is great and the aiming isn't.

I believe I'm around 69 or so. I encounter tough opponents all the time. It's never been a problem killing them as long as I have the ability to move around and heal while cutting things down with my weapons. I have a dozen Mirelurk Queens to my name or more, several Behemoth Mutants, a ton of various Legendaries, and even alot of Deathclaws, though I have not seen the worst of them yet. (Although, finding and killing a Legendary Matriarch Deathclaw is a pretty tall order.) The thing to remember is what you do with your character. You've put up your damage, crafted well, made yourself healthier... I've only recently really worked on Perk-related damage reduction, which SHOULD be important. And of course, there is the fact that if push really comes to shove, I have over a dozen powersuits to my name, easily.

The damage cap issue is not really that much of an issue when you consider that you might have 1329 plasma shots in your heavy-duty human-melter while he has 16.

 

[MHR]

What, you can't insta-kill them unless you take headshots?

Who snipes and doesn't go for headshots?

C'mon breh. Though I'm not that high a level yet, so maybe I dunno. I still have that problem of a .38 pipe sniper being my best weapon and having fewer bullets than super mutants I have to pop dead with it.

 

[IceForce]

If you're expecting to one-shot every enemy in the game, then I think you might be doing it wrong.

Because with the right weapon / legendary effect combinations, you don't even NEED to one-shot bullet-spongy enemies. Instead, it's absolutely possible to stun-lock powerful enemies so they can't even attack you, and then you just whittle their health away while they remain stun-locked.
But like I said, you need the right weapon / legendary effect combination for it to work well.

Here's a good example of what I mean:


Because the flamethrower "fires" so fast, and each time it "fires" there's a 20% chance to instantly cripple both of the target's legs, you'll find that you can effectively stun-lock enemies and make them helpless to your flamer attacks, until they die. And this affects all enemy types; no one is immune to this.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Sadly, every weapon does have an upper limit but enemies not so much. You have another 5-10% from Bloody Mess to come, don't know if that will help a lot, but even if it does it may not for long. Other things to consider:

- You probably already have but there may be some mods you overlooked that add damage at the expense of something else. You might be able to squeeze out some more with reduced range/accuracy, for example.
- Headshots/Sneak attacks.
- Legendary modifiers. Instigating gives 2x dmg against enemies with full HP, but obviously drops off after the alpha strike. Two Shot gives a hefty dmg bonus, but reduced accuracy (not sure how it affects scopes but it really messes with full auto and shotgun weapons). Mighty (I think) is straight up 15% or 25% dmg. Penetrating ignores a portion of enemies resistance.
- Another potential idea, if you have very high Int, is with legendary effect Irradiating. It adds 50 rad dmg to your shot which you can double with Nuclear Physicist R2. An extra 100 dmg before sneak/crit modifiers is great, but obviously this won't work on Deathclaws, Ghouls and other mutated things.
- You could consider investing in luck/crit build moving forward. If you store up several crits you can use them when you have those tougher enemies.
- It may be time to upgrade. Although most weapons are viable, the Gauss Rifle with silencer and modded up outdamages your sniper by a long way. I think it has the same scope options, or at least similar.

 

[Denamic]

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

 

[flying_whimsy]

Oh, this is very disappointing to hear. I guess Bethesda over did it when they were trying to compensate for how easily broken the damage system was (especially stealth) in the previous games. And I don't care if you're Deathclaw Jesus, there's nothing that should survive a 50 caliber sniper bullet or gauss rifle to the head.

Once I get the game (waiting for the inevitable GOTY with all dlc), I know what one of the first mods I'm putting in will be. I play to be the unstoppable nuclear badass, not perennial underdog.

 

[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.

 

[Denamic]

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.

 

[Gengisgame]

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.

That's not how Fallout 4 works and your incorrect on the your description of the hunting rifles power.

It's more like Darksouls where most weapons are suppose to be viable at end game, you just apply the tiered upgrades. Weapons are not suppose to be direct upgrades over another (at least that's not the intent) there will always be some advantage in some field.

A maxed hunting rifle is the best pers shot sniper that can be silenced.

I understand what the TC is getting at, Fallout 4 has a cap on potential damage sources, enemies will continue to scale up in stats but at some point your only option is to eventually take perks with no synergy

 

[Souplex]

Settle for multi-shotting.
Part of what makes Fallout fun is that enemies are sturdy enough to actually have proper fights instead of it just being a matter fo getting the drop on them.

 

[Denamic]

A maxed hunting rifle is the best pers shot sniper that can be silenced.

That's just objectively wrong. The gauss rifle outclasses a hunting rifle in every possible way.

 

[RedDeadFred]

There are going to be some enemies that if you really want to one-shot, you're going to need a powerful legendary weapon. For example, I have a two-shot gauss rifle. With the various sneak perks, I am still one-shotting almost every enemy in the game. I don't even have all the damage modifiers maxed either (still need Mr. Sandman). I'm high 80s in level. The toughest things I encounter are super mutant warlords, but I've used console commands to spawn an Ancient Behemoth and I one-shot both of these with sneak headshots.

Sneaking and sniping is completely broken in this game. Hell, even if you're not doing that, find an automatic weapon with either the bleeding or explosive prefix (this one wins out in the end if you invest perks into explosive damage), and you'll STILL melt even the toughest enemies in seconds. I have an explosive combat shotgun that annihilates entire camps of powerful enemies in minutes. I rarely ever use this or the two-shot gauss rifle though because it makes the game too easy.

Edit: So it does seem that eventually, you'll be underpowered, but that's probably a a few hundred levels in the future. For example, there's video of a guy running around at level 200 hundred, easily dispatching legendaries with the Alien Blaster. The Alien Blaster cannot have a legendary prefix without mods, so it's far from the strongest weapon the player could be using. I really wouldn't worry about this issue.

Edit 2: Looking at the amount of experience necessary to get to probably the 300s where you'd run into this issue, you will probably never reach it on any one character (unless you use console commands). Look at your play time on your current character and then multiply it by 30. That's probably how long it'll take before enemies stop being a complete cakewalk with broken guns.

 

[Gengisgame]

A maxed hunting rifle is the best pers shot sniper that can be silenced.

That's just objectively wrong. The gauss rifle outclasses a hunting rifle in every possible way.

A maxed hunting rifle is the best pers shot sniper that can be silenced.

That's just objectively wrong. The gauss rifle outclasses a hunting rifle in every possible way.

Except for the large difference in accuracy, the vat difference.

Don't get me wrong the Gauss rifle is overpowered, I was just pointing out your mistake of calling the hunting rifle a beginner weapon, it has advantages and disavantages with the other weapons normally used for snipe builds and is just as viable as all of them, pipe included.

The gauss rifle is it's own separate thing, if there was suppose to be some tier of rifles it would be everything >>>>>Gauss

 

[Denamic]

Except for the large difference in accuracy, the vat difference.

Don't get me wrong the Gauss rifle is overpowered, I was just pointing out your mistake of calling the hunting rifle a beginner weapon, it has advantages and disavantages with the other weapons normally used for snipe builds and is just as viable as all of them, pipe included.

The gauss rifle is it's own separate thing, if there was suppose to be some tier of rifles it would be everything >>>>>Gauss

This isn't Dark Souls. All weapons aren't made equal. The .50 cal isn't actually good. And pipe weapons DEFINITELY aren't up to snuff without a good legendary. And why is VATS an issue for sniper rifles? Do you actually use VATS without critical strikes to snipe?
And how is the gauss so separate that .50 cal is the best despite being objectively inferior?