Forum:Impact of Guns skill on accuracy

I've read that the Guns skill does not affect damage (at least not directly) but instead affects accuracy. Each weapon now also has a Guns skill requirement. I've heard that if your Guns skill is below a weapon's skill requirement, it will be less accurate.

My question is 'Does a Guns skill that is ABOVE the weapon's requirement affect accuracy?'.

Put another way, if a gun has a Guns skill requirement of 50, will a Guns skill of 60 make any difference over a skill of 50?

Or yet another way, is there any advantage of having a Guns skill higher than what the gun requires?

This is important because, if there is no advantage to having a higher Guns skill than a weapon requires, the skill basically becomes like Lockpick and Science, in that it's only useful at the 25, 50, 75, or 100 levels, and everything between doesn't really matter. In that scenario, if I chose to never use a gun that required 100 Guns, I could save myself 25 points and put them into other skills that DO grant a bonus to points between those levels (like Barter, Repair, etc.).

Lastly, I'm assuming the accuracy penalty is active outside of VATS, in that it negatively affects a weapon's Spread variable as well as the sway you see when you look down the iron sights. Is that true? And does it also affect the VATS chance to hit?

Servius 22:45, November 18, 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure a weapon's STR requirement is what affects accuracy, and guns/energy weapons/etc... Effects damage, which maxes out for that weapon when you reach that requirement. 23:30, November 18, 2010 (UTC)

Guns/Energy Weapons/Explosives skill will still increase damage if you go above what the gun requires. It only effects the accuracy you have with it. A pistol at 0 and 100 guns has the same damage difference as an Anti-Materiel rifle at 0 and 100. You can easily test this yourself with console commands. The 'recommended' Strength and Skill requirements will only give you the weapons base accuracy (spread) numbers I believe. Going above the skill requirement will reduce it a bit like in fo3. Strength requirement gives a negative impact on accuracy when not met but I have no idea by how much. For melee/unarmed meeting the required skill and strength requirement doesn't increase accuracy but how fast you can hit with it on top of damage. Melee/Unarmed has no accuracy, it hits where you aim anyways. --PvtNiss 00:04, November 19, 2010 (UTC)
 * This makes no sense. First you say it affects damage, then you say it only affects accuracy.  I know better accuracy = more damage.  Is that what you mean, that by increasing the accuracy it increases the damage, or does it actually affect damage directly, instead of just indirectly?  Has anyone posted the DAM and Spread calcs?  Servius 00:33, November 19, 2010 (UTC)


 * May not have been too clear. I said the skill will effect damage all the way up to 100, it will still increase if you go above the requirement. Damage has nothing to do with the "requirement" of skill on a weapon. Only your skill amount and the weapon type with it's condition/ammo changes dmg. (Just like fo3)
 * The requirement thing like 0/25/50/75/100 shows when you get most of the weapons accuracy. Like I said a pistol and an Anti-Materiel at 0 and 100 skill have the same damage increase both doing only roughly 60% of the weapons full damage with 0 Guns and 100% with 100 Guns. But the pistol will be as accurate as the GECK says and as accurate as it would be in FO3 while the anti-materiel gets additional penalty at 0 skill. The only thing requirements do is apply accuracy penalties when not met, nothing more. New Vegas has 2 additional Accuracy Checks which can only nerf, never improve. --PvtNiss 07:33, November 19, 2010 (UTC)