Talk:Gauss rifle (Operation: Anchorage)

Repair?
Anyone know if it can be repaired with any other weapon? --Kr3wlife 02:47, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Only with other Gauss Rifles. // Porter21 U 15:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

To bad there arent anymore...or did they add some into the game?, as spider man would say, "Everybody get one."Lenov 20:31, 25 June 2009 (UTC) The best thing you can do, is to invest in Crazy Wolfgang 700 caps, then reverse-pickpocket him for Workman's Coveralls from Point Lookout. After this we will be able to repair stuff up to 91%. Dumbassador 12:43, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

If you have Point Lookout, than just do the Haley's Hardware glitch to get his skill to 100% and have him repair it. -Bakon

Or you could always use the glitch to bring the Sim version of the Gauss Rifle out into the Wasteland, in which case you'll never have to worry about repairs because durability will always be 100% (or so close you can't tell the difference). Some Sort 07:10, 26 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Alien Epoxy also works, don't forget about that godsend.--KnightNapier 04:08, November 27, 2009 (UTC)

Chinese?
I don't think so. How does the U.S. have it available in the sim? Why do Chinese troops never use one against you? Why is the first one you pick up in the caves from a recently killed American soldier (those two Chinese soldiers wouldn't kill their own)? Besides, in the game the rifle is just a "Gauss Rifle," not a "Scoped Gauss Rifle" or a "Chinese Gauss Rifle." At least "Scoped Gauss Rifle" was a more accurate descriptor, saying the rifle is Chinese implies that the Chinese also have it and use it against you. Would anyone mind moving the article back to Scoped Gauss Rifle and deleting the Chinese Gauss Rifle title? -- 74.215.110.151 18:29, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It's featured on a Chinese propaganda poster: Image:Chinese Propaganda Poster.png. Still, I prefer the more generic "Scoped Gauss Rifle", since while it being used on a poster doesn't mean it's necessarily of Chinese origin, could be produced by another country and used by both Chinese and Americans. As for it being at "Scoped Gauss Rifle" and not at just "Gauss Rifle", it's to disambiguate it from the M72 Gauss Rifle from Fallout 2. And it's an unreliable simulation, so I wouldn't use anything from it as 100% factual, it being scoped is more certain than it being Chinese. Ausir 18:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It's featured on the Chinese posters, alongside their own rifle. Remember, the simulation was rewritten by techs at Chase's behest repeatedly, so it might just be a (beneficial) software bug. Anyways, let's vote:
 * That it's featured on a Chinese poster doesn't necessarily mean it's of Chinese origin. It simply means the Chinese used this weapon. So either Scoped Gauss Rifle, Gauss Rifle or Gauss Rifle (Fallout 3) for me. // Porter21 U 19:17, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Guys where did you get the reference that the original gauss rifle is of german origin? I remember in fallout 2 there was a holodisc explaining the Chinese came up with the Gauss rifle in response to the power armour by the US. You might be confusing the Gauss rifle in other games with the Gauss rifle in the fallout universe. -- Aegis
 * It says the M72 is of German design in the item description in FO2. -- Porter21 (talk) 23:51, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

I assume the chinese copied the german Gauss Rifle - like they do with... well, other stuff. Kamuikaze 21:01, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

The propaganda posters are just that, propaganda. To encourage Chinese soldiers: having a gauss rifle in the hand of a Chinese soldier means an American soldier had to die first. To discourage American soldiers: same reason, but with the added effect of a Chinese soldier having a powerful weapon as well. To further counter the idea of Chinese fabrication, only US soldiers seem to use it. If Chinese soldiers had it they would equipe their Crimson Guard with it. Last but not least, it uses Microfusion Cells. Throughout the simulation Chinese camps have very low supplies of these items and make it more probable that they have been captured for future study or use when an American energy weapon drops. It is also never mentioned that China could produce these forms of ammunition. The Scoped Gauss Rifle is probably a reverse-engineered piece of tech from the M72 Gauss Rifle, now to use American Microfusion Cells. Downside? It consumes all of the energy. The Chinese Gauss MiniGun still uses 2mmEC, in tradition of the German M72. This would suggest that China most definitely had Gauss tech, but used the original form of ammo, which would be because they did not have Microfusion Cells. Regards, Radnus...

Maybe its just a cheap Knock-off of a real Gauss Rifle?Lenov 20:33, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Chinese vs. Scoped
Please vote below which adjective should be used:
 * Chinese Shaur M. S. Grizlin 18:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Well considering the information, I vote Chinese M10 101 19:02, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I prefer the more generic Scoped Gauss Rifle article name. Ausir 19:05, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I have an Idea, why don't we merge this article with the FO2 Gauss Rifle, but do mention the differences. M10 101 19:07, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * They're definitely different models lore-wise, so I'd prefer to keep them separate, just like with other such items (e.g. Colt 6520 10mm Pistol and N99 10mm Pistol, or Wattz 2000 Laser Rifle and AER9 Laser Rifle. Ausir 19:09, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Ok, you win. M10 101 19:12, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, i prefer the Scoped. Many countries have the AK-47 on their flags, but that doesn't mean they made it.BSMaker 19:20, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

If it's a vote, then I reaffirm my support for Scoped Gauss Rifle. While it does appear in the propaganda poster, that's no confirmation that it was created by the Chinese (who could have stolen U.S. designs, or both the U.S. and China could have purchased their rifles from a third party/country). The point is that the game itself doesn't refer to the weapon as Chinese, so we should keep the article title as neutral and generic as possible instead of jumping to conclusions. As an alternative, would Gauss Rifle (Fallout 3) be an acceptable title if no one can decide between the first two? -- 74.215.110.151 19:34, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

...the game calls it 'Gauss Rifle'. If I pick one up in the game and head to the wiki to read up, I'm not going to search for EITHER 'scoped gauss rifle' OR 'chinese gauss rifle'. Definitely go with 'Gauss Rifle' or 'Gauss Rifle (scoped)'. Chinese seems the most obscure though - the only evidence is one poster, while most players will assume that it's American given how it is obtained in the simulation. Coelomate 20:19, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't think the assumptions of the majority are an argument. Not to mention that the Gauss Rifle page is a disambig, so your point loses substance. Shaur M. S. Grizlin 20:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * All Fallout 3-related pages link to Scoped Gauss Rifle with the "Gauss Rifle" link text, and if you simply search for "Gauss Rifle", you get the disambiguation page that will direct you to either this version or the Fallout 2 one, just like it would if the page was called Gauss rifle (Operation: Anchorage). It's easy to search for regardless of how it's named in the wiki article. Ausir 20:23, 28 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I'd say 'Gauss Rifle (Fallout 3)' or, like other creatures/weapons/armor present in more than one game, just a 'Gauss Rifle' page with the M72 and earlier Fallout info first and info about this one last. That would be consistent with the canonical name from the game and would follow models I prefer for covering all the games (viz. Centaur or Leather Armor. I find splitting Laser Pistol AEP7 Laser Pistol, and Wattz 1000 Laser Pistol, and looking for Plasma Rifle under Enclave Plasma Rifle kind of unnatural. If I don't know much about the Laser Pistol and want to look it up, I'm hardly going to look for AEP7. Disambiguation is fine, but it seems that usually there isn't so much info that combining with sections would be crazy, and looking up by the game name is the most natural thing in the world for folks to do. Just my two or three cents... DoubleGrande 05:29, 29 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I generally prefer to split the pages if the weapons are clearly different models lore-wise. In the case of Leather Armor, it's not as clear, since they're simply different realizations of a very broad and general category, as most leather armors were simply made out of brahmin hides after the Great War. Ausir 11:44, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I doubt it is Chinese, and I have proof. The micro-fusion Cell was created by the Americans, and this was during the tension before the war. So it seems like unless the Chinese had the way to create them (the MF cells) then its pointless. Though maybe this is why the MF cells are rare, they are captured from America. JETTY78.150.76.226 12:33, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

I believe with any weapon the chinese have, it is probably a knockoff design, such as the chinese assault rifle, created as a mutated version of the AK-47. Which would make a bit of sense, seeing as the AK-47 was designed before 1950 when the timeline diverges, as well as the chinese pistol essentially a type 17 with 10mm rounds instead of .45. What could be a case if the in-simulation posters are to be believed is that china had acquired designs for the sGR and planned to implement them but production proved to costly, or reverse engineering the gun so they could use it with their own technological capability took to long or also proved to costly. But as a plan to keep chinese spirits up was to put the unmodified image of the sGR on the posters as they tried to work towards building their own.

I have a theory. What if the Americans were the first to build Scoped Gauss Rifles but the Chinese had stolen the plans and had only just begun to manufacture their own? It would explain the presence (although small) of MF cells in the Chinese base and the propaganda posters with the Chinese soldier wielding a Gauss Rifle. All this is entirely speculation and the presence of MF cells in the base might be explained by the programers just trying to keep the soldier in the simulation from running out of ammo in the middle of the enemy base.86.146.157.212 13:52, July 21, 2010 (UTC)

the ammo plus
this weapon uses MC. they can be found/bought everywhere(i got over 2000 MC). and it has 100+ damage. i think this weapon is diffidently one of the best weapon considering its ammo, damage and range. the only fault is that it can only be repaired with other Gauss rifles and VATS thing. other than that i really like this weapon and people should give it a chance.--That70sdude 01:56, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Diffidently? I think you meant definitely... ya i know, i should put sorry for my grammar but i click the closest word on spell check. --That70sdude 01:56, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I think the Tesla cannon is FAR superior. It uses EC packs, which, because they are gatling lazer ammo, are incredibly easy to find/ cheap to buy. It also does more base damage, plus the armor-ignoring 40 shock damage.

About Emil
Nice to see that the developers are 'alive'. This raises my hopes of seeing a patch fixing this weapon.BSMaker 20:00, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Side Ammunition
I think it would be better for you having to not only have Microfusion Cells as the ammunition but also you should need to find scrap metal for the actual projectile, (filling in the mystery projectile that goes on the opposite side of the MCs) making it not as easy to get ammo for this very powerful weapon, because it would require you to get not only MCs and scrap metal..... Anyone agree this would be a cool idea? Britton 22:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

isnt that a little too much you are asking for?--That70sdude 01:57, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

how so, it's extremely common ammo, and scrap metal is still common, but you would need to actually use it this way. you could make multiple shots with one piece of scrap metal, but it would defiantly explain the actual ammo, magnetizing the metal and propelling it using the long barrel with many more magnets, much like a rail gun. As far as i know this makes the most sense.. Britton 20:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

i see your point but you got to think in the developers and gamer heads. "you're going through the whole simulation and wishing it to end soon so you get your big reward. you finally finished and want your big reward. you get this awesome weapon but bummer, you need scrap metal for projectile and an inexperienced player may not know what to do with the whole projectile thing or getting scrap metal because that can be a pain in the ass since no one sells and there is possibility that the scrap cant be found anymore since it you can find every one." you can see why this such disappointment for the "normal player". we can understand how this game works and how guns works, but they cant.--That70sdude 22:07, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

eh ok i guess that makes sense.. but i still wonder what the mystery material could be...?? Britton 18:51, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The material is 2MM rounds, plain and simple. Those are probably restored upon repair.BSMaker 00:54, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Gauss cannons/guns, in real life are known to use really tiny projectiles, I suppose it's a reflection how how powerful the ammo is despite its abundance.

From what i know there isnt a lot of scrap metal in the game i mean unless its all hidden away?, plus why not do a lil ammo press to make said 2MM rounds.Lenov 20:36, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

It would be impossible to create a projectile for a Gauss Weapon using nothing more than mere scrap metal, even a high quality steel projectile would be unlikely to survive the extreme stresses of being fired out of the barrel of a weapon at hypersonic speeds (would likely fall apart in mid air) and for a Gauss weapon to work it requires a ferromagnetic projectile made from a very dense materiel like Tungsten or Depleted Uranium (something that would be extremely hard to come by in a post-apocalyptic environment) for more information on this see the Gauss Gun (or Coil gun) article on Wikipedia.org.--BattleBen 06:42, October 27, 2009 (UTC)


 * Depleted Uranium for the win!!! 68.192.9.90 23:54, November 10, 2009 (UTC)

I'm not too wise on the subject of radioactive material, but what if the projectiles were made of live uranium set in a casing that would prevent the weapon holder from receiving radiation(like lead or something) but giving the enemy the full brunt of it? JerichoRCDF 16:56, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

This has nothing to do with Radiation, which Depleted Uranium emits only very low levels of; In fact DU (Short for Depleted Uranium) is used for radiation shielding because of how dense it is (see the Wikipedia article on Depleted Uranium) What i was trying to say and i'll say again: a Gauss weapon would require a projectile made out of very high quality materials (preferably very dense too) that you would not be able to find the materials lying on the ground and even if you found some (say at an abandoned Nuclear Powerplant) you would require special machinery to cast the raw materials into a projectile and the only place i can think of outside an Enclave Base that you could find these machines would be the Pitt and even that's doubtful. (Tungsten is also extremely rare in North America and be even more difficult to find)--BattleBen 01:28, January 6, 2010 (UTC)

I dunno. I think that there should be a lot of weapons that should use multiple things for ammo (dart gun), but none do, because Bethesda made it that way for whatever reason. Not that it matters, though. Actually, I thought that it took the 2mm round from inside the MF cell for some reason, and that's why it had to replace it every shot unlike other weapons who only have to replace the physical cell every 24 shots or whatever, even though it still uses one cell per shot —Macgeek112

I think it used electromagnetically accelerated explosive ammo(like a rail gun) from the present day Vulcan M61A1A explosive ammunition... Who knows the scientists of the pre-war government in the Fallout universe could have perfected the ammo before people in our universe did. The microfusion cells are probably being used to power the generator that acclerates the bullet 10:37, August 28, 2010 (UTC)DemolitionGuy

Fair for Taking Down Behemoths
I gave this a test run with the Behemoth near Jury Street, and with the knock down it's usually sufficient to kill a Behemoth. I had Charon with me pumping in regular shotgun blasts, but I tried it 5 or 6 times, and only lost Charon once, and never died myself. The knock down generally lasts long enough for you to close distance while reloading and get off another head shot. It seems like only 2 out of every 3 shots or so get the full knock down, but most of the time you can get it on the ground again before it can get off an attack. So, the slow reload is bad for close range groups, but it's a viable Fat Man replacement for going after Behemoths. DoubleGrande 05:35, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the Gauss Rifle is insane for taking down behemoths. When the VATS glitch is patched(maybe in a hundred years or so) using it in close range will be viable. One hit kills everything, and then the GRS recharges...
 * Would you say this weapon is better or worse than the Victory Rifle for taking out a Behemoth? I tried the Victory Rifle against the same Behemoth (Jury Street) and it was stupidly easy to keep the Behemoth at bay permanently. I pushed it so far back that it was outside of scope range for a bit. I guess having a 5-round clip magazine sort of helps with that, even if the critical hit chance in realtime using the Victory Rifle never gets better than 54%.76.123.119.26 19:25, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes. Shooting at the head of a Behemoth with a gauss rifle will make him flip in the air. Very cool stuff.BSMaker 21:55, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Well that's the thing, the Victory Rifle can (and does) the same thing . . . just 54% of the time instead of 90% of the time, without any bugs and a much higher rate of fire. In fact, the Victory Rifle even has a higher dps and, presumably, a higher mdps. It does wear out faster, though, and it uses ammo that is scarce compared to microfusion cell.76.123.119.26 05:33, 30 January 2009 (UTC)


 * As far as i know, the knockdown effect of the Victory Rifle is much weaker than the one in the Gauss Rifle.

on normal it takes under 10 rounds with the victory rifle to kill a behomith```

The knock-down effect is much more powerful than the one made by the Victory Rifle.


 * Can someone clarify this statement? As far as I know, the knockdown effects are the same, but with the Gauss Rifle having a greater chance of doing so.
 * I used both the gauss and the victory rifle on some mutants the other day, and as far as I can tell, the gauss has virtually the same knockback effect as the victory rifle but it has a higher chance of getting the knockback (Xbox 360) Mr Uchiha 02:48, December 6, 2009 (UTC)

More than one?
I finished the Operation: Anchorage add-on, and I grabbed most the stuff in the armory. Is it possible to get more than one Gauss Rifle? Is it available for one's inventory anywhere but at the end of the simulation? --Sp3lly 01:27, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Aside from mods and cheats, there's only one. Ausir 01:38, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * No it's actually possible to get two. See Operation: Anchorage Glitch. Reflect 15:47, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

technically, you can get as many as you can carry. just shoot them out of american hands when you are fighting Jingwei.JerichoRCDF 16:59, December 21, 2009 (UTC)

I have spent two hours trying to shoot a gauss rifle out of a soldier's hand utilizing VATS and without it. Unless anyone has successfully done this I would say it is impossible to obtain more than two without console commands.

I have left with 4 before, but thats because the chinese were helping. I got some gauss rifles by pickpocketing them and some were droped by the soldiers while fighting the chinese, but I did successfully shoot a gauss rifle out of a soldiers hands, but I did it a split second before a chinese soldier killed him. I barely got the rifle before the guy disappeared. Sorry for the confusion I caused. I doubt this can be easily replicated because of all the times i've tried repeating it, i've only managed it twice. (I think the chinese soldiers have to kill the american guy at the same time you shoot the rifle, and I always use a combat shotgun, so it is very difficult). Again, I appologize for any and all confusion I caused. JerichoRCDF 13:50, July 7, 2010 (UTC)

Ok this is the method im going to test on the American PA Units, Im going to use the same exploit used to get other weapons from the SIM, like the Chinese Assualt Rifle and Pistol, and yes you can get a Chinese Pistol in the SIM. Im going to try and shoot the Soldier in the gun with my own Gauss Rifle, rush up search him, take his ammo, give him some 10mm and one of the 10mm pistols I got handy. Hopefully he'll switch weapons for me and I can repeat the knockdown and take the Gauss Rifle, if this doesnt work then I can try to just shoot it out of his hand Ol' Western Style. Forerunner 19:04, 8/16/10

Unfortunatly after many attempts I was unable to get another gauss rifle, I was however able to get a Super Sledge, Jingwei's Shocksword, and was almost able to get a Laser Rifle all at 100% health and the standard High Durability from the SIM. Forerunner 20:19 8/16/10

Glitch explanation
http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=949258

Works with (out of sim) NPCs
If you did the glitch above, the Guass Rifle you acquire from the sim can be equipped on NPCs, but the one from the VSS armory cannot - Teh Krush 20:48, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I think you are talking about the simulation items glitch(located on operation anchorage page), not the one above. Reflect 13:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

the name
The name may have come from the Gauss RifleMarines used in the 1996 Starcraft game for the PC, a story about humans and aliens(like Halo)

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coil_gun

Yeah but the gauss rifles in that game are battle rifles, which use explosively propelled rounds, and internal capacitors and coils, which allowed for them to be burstfire. But those guns had a small probably around 3 stage coils right after the fire chamber. so the "spikes" were already being propelled at 800 mph then corrected and sped even faster by the coils. the barrel is really long though.

followers
does the gauss rifle also bug or glitch when equipped by followers?
 * The Devs forgot to make it equippable by followers.

VATS/Sneak Problems
This is bugged when in VATS. It deals FAR less damage. Example: Shooting a Deathclaw in the head with this weapon, sneak attack critical, VATS. The deathclaw barely lost any HP. Reload, this time i used the (awesome)scope to headshot the thing. It's head popped and was thrown several feet back(i love this). Probably overkill. Also, one-shotting Super Mutant Masters with a sneak attack critical in the torso outside VATS, barely hurting them with a VATS sneak critical headshot.

I guess it will be fixed on the next patch. Along with the ultra-resistant T51-b armor and the stacking Chinese headgear.BSMaker 01:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Looking into why it might do less damage in VATS. Both files (wasteland and original) appear to be identical and without obvious flaw in the GECK... maybe it has to do with the effect? Coelomate 02:32, 28 January 2009 (UTC)coelomate
 * In-game DAM = 105. I strongly believe the 'bullet' acts like a grenade. When a grenade hits the target it deals 1 damage(that's why the explosion deals 100 damage, yet the in-game DAM says it deals 101 damage) my thoughts are that the actual bullet deals 5 damage, but the 'explosion'(the blue flame thing, responsible for making you take damage from shooting at your feet) deals 100. Somehow this damage isn't taken into consideration when in VATS. BSMaker 02:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Strange. I tended to have the opposite effect: I'd do plenty of damage in VATS (aiming for head, at least) but sometimes couldn't seem to do any damage outside of VATS.--Niksilp 04:41, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Could it be that it was intended to do far less damage in VATS? It is a highly overpowered weapon and if you use VATS it makes a lot of 1 to 2 shot kills. Maybe they wanted the player to use it in real time so that they do not totally overpower npcs and can take more damage because they are not in VATS. Reflect 15:57, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

From Wiki:"If the player aims straight at the ground while in 1st person mode and fires, it is possible to damage yourself but also causes your character to be disarmed and drop the rifle. In 3rd person mode, the rifle will be frozen in place and fire from that position, but will disappear in 1st person mode. Unequipping and re-equipping seems to solve this, but may leave lingering bugs with the sound. " -Did this but the rifle was still equipped, invisible in any view, and fired in seemingly random directions (i.e. above and behind me) while shooting in free aim mode. Fixed by equipping a different weapon and switching back to the gauss.

I've found this gun to be absolutely useless as a weapon except for knocking over enemies, the scope is nice because the wazer wifle has no spread but no scope as well. But in terms of in vats damage, I shot a raider in the head from a sneak attack with 100 energy weapons skill and all it did was knock the raider into a wall and take out barely a third of his health. As I play on very hard mode, inside and outside of vats this weapon is useless against any form of super mutant except for the weakest regular super mutant which you almost never encounter. it's an almost decent weapon in normal mode but nothing else. outside of VATS I could take out a death-claw in 3-5 and sometimes 6-7 shots on very hard, and a couple of shots on normal mode. In terms of actual in vats power every form of conventional sniper rifle has it beat. And in terms of energy weapons A3-21's plasma rifle is a far better weapon in volume of fire in just a few seconds. ````

I only ever use it to blow up cars. It's quite proficient at that. Warped Mind 15:43, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Sniper Idle/Sway?
What skill determines this scopes idle/sway? For example, the regular sniper rifle and scoped .44 magnums required 100 small guns for no sway, does this require 100 energy weapons for no sway?

Yes it does, my character "The Engineer", currently my only good character sense xbox live killed my file with 156 hours of game play, has 100 energy weapons skill and it lacks any form of sway.

Revise FG42 references in Appearances
The comparison to the FG42 Paratrooper Rifle is admirable, but also irrelevant and erroneous.

First off, the model looks closer to a Browning M1919 air-cooled machine gun, due to the riveted rectangular reciever, and the perforated barrel jacket. Both are side-loaded weapons. And as other rifles and machine guns have scopes and pistol grips, the comparison cannot be limited to an FG42.

Second, the FG42 is not an "assault rifle" in the military sense. Caliber-wise, it is a "battle rifle" firing the full-powered 7.92mm Mauser--not an "intermediate cartridge" as stated in the article. Operationally, the FG42 was equiped with a bipod and treated as a light machine gun. Its original purpose was to provide "hit-the-ground" machine gun fire until the paratroop company could recover its heavier weapons from the drop. Later, the Germans tried to turn it into a multi-purpose weapon with the scoped Type II. But unlike a true assault rifle, the FG42 was not designed for general issue production, and was never available in enough numbers to replace the pistols, submachine guns, and bolt-action rifles issued to paratroopers.

Which leads to point Three: the Scoped Gauss Rifle is unlike any of these weapons: being a single-shot, electrically-powered sniper rifle. All that stuff about the FG42 scope and the dovetail and what-not is just showing off. It isn't relevant to the article.

I suggest a revision, stating that the Gauss Rifle model includes generic firearm components with a World War II style, mentioning the Browning and the FG42 as possible, but not definitive sources. These components are further combined with the sci-fi coil gun elements of the classic M72. --Brian ranzoni 05:04, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Highest DPS?
Someone has written a note stating that "At a high Energy Weapons skill it can rival even the Terrible Shotgun in damage-per-second, making it one of the strongest weapons in the Fallout 3." This is a real stretch. While it probably has one of the highest if not highest single shot damage in the game, the single round capacity, long reload time and high AP cost make for a mediocre DPS. In other words, I hope you only have one or two targets and a good shot, because you sure as hell won't be spraying bullets everywhere with this thing.--Tonicboy 17:35, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Actually, the Tesla cannon is better, even without the shock effect. 40 for the hit, 80 for the explosion, and then (armor ignoring, it seems) 40 shock damage.

This thing beats the terrible shotgun hands down for vats kills once you have grim reapers spirit, but before then no chance.. I also think its terrible for getting consistent free aim kills since its so glitchy.--Greig91 18:40, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It may have good damage per shot, but it's DPS is terrible. Aside from it's high reload time, it lack of multple projectiles can also make hitting a distant, moving target tougher without vats, and with vats, the damage estimate is glitched. Plus like all ranger weapons, it's shots can pass thorguh enemies harnmlessly DragonJTS 18:49, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

"Plus like all ranger weapons, it's shots can pass thorguh enemies harnmlessly"

Thats a myth, read the bugs section bellow that explains it pretty well.--92.9.32.94 18:24, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Bugs Section
"The weapons seems to place the path of the projectile up and to the right of where the center of the sight is aimed."

This isn't a bug with the weapon, so its not likely to be fixed at any point. Anyone who frequently uses the sniper rifles will know that its just the way the scopes work in this game.

The scoped weapons actualy recoil before the round leaves the barrel for some reason, and they all recoil the same way. So whenever you take a shot the round is always going to hit NE of your target. The further away the target is, the more noticable the bug is.

If you're taking a shot at a humanoid target who is right at the edge of your max range, as far away as they can be whilst being within range, you'll have to aim level with the neck and about one foot or so to the left to score a headshot. Otherwise the round will just go straight past their head and alert them.--Greig91 18:59, 28 April 2009 (UTC) The gun is a bit different for me, it fires high, but to the left, not the right. I just aim for their clavicle and can usually give them a good punch to the face. Though I've yet to one shot kill anyone with this gun. ````

I'm trying to make a workaround for the main glitches regarding this rifle (the no-damage bug and the VATS damage bug). Does anyone have any experience with this, or know if this is fixed in a fan patch? I plan to alter the projectile and the impact data set and will report back as to results.64.53.236.108 20:18, March 26, 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't call it a bug with the ingame sniperrifles. Thats exactly how a rotating bullet moves. well... before it goes down cause of the gravitation. 78.54.2.170 13:20, June 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * The 2mm slug isn't rotating, though. Nitty Tok. 13:25, June 8, 2010 (UTC)
 * ok, point taken 78.54.2.170 16:05, June 8, 2010 (UTC)

Dunno exactly where to put this, but bugs sounds good. The problem with the gauss rifles damage lies in the fact that its damage lies in the bullet 100, and then it delivers an explosion, the explosion will usually take the place of the bullet itselves damage. Meaning that the target will only take the 40 damage from the very small explosion, instead of the bullet in many cases. I've experimented with this using the geck in NV, by taking away the explosion the weapon will do its inteanded damage, but with an explosion, even if it does no damage and has no radius, will take the place of the slug's damage.

Also, the slug may be rotating, indicated by the fact that the weapon is called a Gauss Rifle not a Gauss Gun. But that could entirely be an oversight, as most Guass guns don't have a rifled barrel, though it is possible it would exert to much drag on the projectile making it even harder to power the Lorentz force propelling the projectile. (Bad spelling, using internet exploder instead of Safari) Aryeonos What!? 20:05, March 17, 2011 (UTC)

Sim Version
does someone know how much gauss rifle sim version have HP?

The sim version seems not to degrade at all. I've fired at least 500 shots with it without a decrease in value.

The simulation items all have at least ten thousand hp, some as much as a million and the power armor ten million. The Simulation of the Gauss rifle probable has a obscene amount of hit points and ten or a hundred times that of the cache version. The probable only effective way to check its hp would be to let an enemy pick it up and try blasting it repeatedly with the alien blaster.

Reference To Syndicate
Anyone remember the old classic game "syndicate" by bullfrog back in the days? Well there was a "gauss gun" there which was one of the most powerful weapons you could get. I was wondering if anyone thinks the gauss rifle is a nod to the syndicate game.

well, i mean of course, it could be like saying that a shotgun in fallout 3 would be a nod to every other game using shotguns, but the difference here is that i can't come up with any other games who've named their weapon after a mathematician, and with the same principle of physics behind its mechanics. the most similar weapons in other games would be railguns, which are somewhat different from a gauss gun, but thats pedantry in terms of games, i think.

Anyway, if so, then that should also be included in cultural references.
 * Well there is a gauss rifle and a railgun in red faction, so unless it looks exactly like the one from the syndicate then I don't think it is a reference. Reflect 22:14, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Gauss technology (perhaps better defined as Coil Gun) and Railgun Technology are both two different means to the same end; a weapon that fires extremely high velocity projectiles by using electromagnetic fields. Both concepts have their advantages and weaknesses over each other but they will still remain prototype weapons until some significant scientific breakthroughs are made. Such weapons are much closer to practical battlefield weapons than lasers are; so we should expect to see them sooner not to mention they are more or less an extension of projectile weapon technology and may represent the ultimate form of projectile weaponry. For more information on these subjects; look them up on Wikipedia.org. --BattleBen 06:56, October 27, 2009 (UTC)

Beta Gauss rifle
Can someone tell me the base ID of the Beta version of this weapon?

XX001616. XX is the load order number The Pastmaster 15:14, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Glitch or a feature?
I had two raiders, one standing still (facing me but i was far away in sneak mode with Chinese Stealth armor) and another raider approaching the raider from behind. I took a shot at the one in front and both of them died.Are Scoped Gauss Rifle projectiles supposed to fly through the dead target and hit anything behind? --NukaLurk 21:24, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Maybe the force of the first Raider hitting the second Raider was enough to kill him? --Trawgdor 01:51, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

In the G.E.C.K. one of the properties of the Gauss Rifle (or it's projectile? can't exactly remember) says "penetrating" or something or "pass through". I guess it's supposed to pass thru enemies, when I shoot RadScorpions I often see dirt kicking up when I hit their bodies, so I guess it's some AP round.

Flying corpse?
here's the (possible) glitch after i got it from the armory, outcasts going hostile i crit'd one, thought it just fell, i shot it (non-vats) he flew around for an eternity, gave me a laugh. Anyone else had it?

No knock-back on abominations?
While playing Mothership Zeta, I failed to get the knock-back effect on any abominations, even though I got critical hits. Has this happened to other people? 70.67.27.132 04:38, 11 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Happened to me (PS3) 68.192.9.90 04:08, November 13, 2009 (UTC)


 * Works fine for me. It knocks them back the same way as mireluks/mireluk hunters. WRFan 00:52, December 16, 2009 (UTC)
 * Abominations cannot be knocked back. eg "Abominations cannot be knocked down with the use of weapons such as the Gauss Rifle or Electro-Suppressor."
 * Abominations cannot be knocked back. eg "Abominations cannot be knocked down with the use of weapons such as the Gauss Rifle or Electro-Suppressor."


 * Let's try and keep all accounts true ladies and gentleman. Looking at you WRFan.Blestb 15:30, June 6, 2010 (UTC)

Strategies
Feel free to edit this list as you would the Main article as it compiles strategic observations made by others.--Ehplee 19:52, October 24, 2009 (UTC)


 * The knock-down effect is much more powerful than the one made by the Victory Rifle.
 * The knock-down effect is just as effective on Super Mutant Behemoths as on any other creature.
 * While in V.A.T.S., shots made to the legs of opponents will do much higher damage and have a greater knock-back effect than shots made to the head due to a glitch.
 * At a high Energy Weapons skill, it can rival even The Terrible Shotgun in damage per shot.
 * Targeting the enemies' weapons in V.A.T.S. will often destroy their weapons and knock them down at the same time, effectively disabling them before and after they recover from the knockdown. This tactic is particularly useful against Super Mutant Overlords with Tri-Beam Laser Rifles.
 * Having an 18% base critical chance allows the Gauss Rifle to have a 90% chance to score a critical and knockdown the target outside of V.A.T.S. In V.A.T.S., it is guaranteed a knock down as long as your character has at least 17% base critical chance, due to the 15% bonus in V.A.T.S. Since the weapon does much less damage in V.A.T.S., it is preferable to use it to disable enemies rather than do direct damage, firing no more than a single shot per target.
 * Because of its common ammunition and high damage, it has one of the highest damage-resource ratios in the game, only being beaten by the Tesla Cannon in Broken Steel.
 * Without Alien Epoxy, this weapon can only be repaired by an NPC, which prevents field maintenance and limits its maximum possible damage.
 * Within the Anchorage Reclamation simulation, ammunition is far more limited and can only be found laying free on counters, often near Ammo Dispensers. Even with this limitation, the Gauss Rifle makes the sniper loadout (with its .308 Sniper Rifle and 19 rounds of ammo) mostly redundant.
 * Unlike all the other energy weapons, it cannot ignite flammable gas clouds on contact.
 * Shots fired while using the scope will impact increasingly higher above the center of the scope as the distance between the user and the target increases. The aim will also noticeably drift to the right after the fire button is pressed and before the shot is actually fired. Because of these factors, it is necessary to aim lower and several pixels to the left of the intended point of impact for long range shooting.
 * If you use the Gary 23 glitch to acquire a simulation version of the Gauss Rifle, it will never have to be repaired.
 * For getting unique items off of NPCs without killing them, use the Gauss Rifle to knock them down. While they are down, pickpocket the NPCs and their inventories will show up, allowing you to steal the desired items with guaranteed success. The same applies to the Victory Rifle or the Electro-Suppressor.

yeah
Following the rules my friend. What kind of admin would I be if I did not set an example?--Kingclyde 03:37, October 21, 2009 (UTC)

True, but you have to understand what a signature means. By putting a signature at the end of the Strategies list, it looks like all the ideas are yours, especially if a new person comes along and sees it. I would like to see the list as a clean compilation of all strategies people have come up with, so it ought to be freely edited in the event a new strategy is developed or an incorrect or misleading strategy is found and should be fixed. I'll post a message at the top of the list to clarify it.--Ehplee 19:45, October 24, 2009 (UTC)

Unusual behaviour from the Gauss Rifle
I have 100 Energy Weapons skill, yet sometimes when I fire the Gauss Rifle, the shot is nowhere near where I'm aiming. This can occur scoped or unscoped. It's random, but I can normally count on at least 5% of my shots missing their target by a much larger margin than is normal for even low skill weapon spread. Anyone else seeing this problem? 67.193.109.219 09:19, October 24, 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I'm having this problem when in VATS mode. I'll be right next to an enemy, with 95% chance to hit, and when I fire I'll be 30/45 degrees off. PS3 GotY version. -Airos 69.207.126.120 09:57, November 23, 2009 (UTC)

Predator
This is completely random but does anyone else get think of the Predator when they are using Chinese Stealth Armor and the Gauss Rifle? The Chinese Stealth Armor allows you to sneak around in near invisiblility (as long as you have a high Sneak Skill) and the Gauss Rifle is a devastating energy weapon that fires a blue projectile, not unlike the Predator's plasma cannon. Add in the Bloody Mess Perk and you've got the carnage created by the Predator's stealthy attacks. Sadly, there aren't any trees (alive) that you can climb up and wait for your prey. As I said, it's random but partially worth noting.--KnightNapier 20:20, October 24, 2009 (UTC)

I feel more like a Predator when I use the Chinese Stealth Armor and Deathclaw Gauntlet. Sneaking up on a raider, taking his head off, and screaming afterward feels like getting a trophy!--Ehplee 01:47, October 25, 2009 (UTC)


 * Maybe so but the Predator feel, to me, is when you blast someone from behind and they go to pieces from the shot. I have fun now hunting Muties and Raiders with these two and I'm not really worried about degen thanks to the 23 glitch. With that, this is easily one of the best weapons in the game. I'm not accurate due to my low character level (I think I'm at 8 or 9 for this character) but even at moderate distances this weapon is awesome. Too bad you can't claim an enemy's skull, would be cool for decorating.--KnightNapier 02:14, October 25, 2009 (UTC)

I I want to be a Predator, I pick up either of the AvP games. http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/thumb/4/4a/Naglowaa_se.gif/11px-Naglowaa_se.gif Tagaziel (call!) 09:17, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Rate of Fire
According to the weapon table, the rate of fire is exactly the same as the Sniper Rifle. But in-game, the Gauss Rifle fires much slower because of reloading. With God Mode, however, it seems accurate because there is no reloading. Does anyone know what the actual rate of fire is, taking reloading into account?--Ehplee 21:11, October 25, 2009 (UTC)


 * The problem here is that you can't really extract duration of reloading from the GECK. There is such value there, but it is unused by the game. So no way to properly calculate rate of fire with reloads, without stopwatch or something. P22 21:37, October 25, 2009 (UTC)

Knockdown duration?
The main page says the weapon knocks down targets for 4 sec. Well, the duration actually varies from my experience. It's strange, really. Sometimes you knockdown an enemy and they get up right away and sometimes they stay on the ground for a pretty long time. It can be a problem with Mutant Overlords, if they get up too quickly all the time, you may not be able to recover AP quickly enough, unless you have the Nerves of Steel perk (fixed version). WRFan 00:57, December 16, 2009 (UTC)

Cause of Kickback?
On the page it says that the kickback is caused by the pulling of the trigger. I have no idea why anyone would think that, unless there is some source that I am clearly missing. Pulling on the trigger of almost any weapon won't alter your aim that much, especially not if you are proficient enough not to have any sway when aiming long distances through a scope. It says this on the pages for almost all the scoped weapons. —Macgeek112 10:18, January 13, 2010 (UTC)

Ammo 2mm?
Anyone noticed that the slug it fires is rather bigger then 2mm.--Frank Horrigan 13:35, March 20, 2010 (UTC)
 * Electrical discharge. Case closed. Nitty Tok. 00:53, April 25, 2010 (UTC)

I didn't say anything about Electircal discharge, i'm talking about the projectile, the slug in the middle of the, so called "Discharge"...Frank Horrigan 09:01, April 25, 2010 (UTC)

Haha discharge, haha this is so inappropriate you guys grow up! Forerunner 18:59 8/16/10/

Simulation HP
Can someone look into the G.E.C.K and check the health on the simulation for me? I only have the xbox version, but I'm planning on doing the Gary 23 glitch and bringing it out with me. I want to know whether, like most things in the simulation, if it's (pratically) invincible

Yes, it's practically invisible. About 10 million HP IIRC. 206.253.62.148 01:08, October 12, 2010 (UTC)

Gauss Rifle does not degrade
Has anyone else had this happen? My gauss rifle will not wear out (stays at the same condition rating all the time). This is also true of the winterized armor I got when I finished the simulation, they never go down in condition. I checked what the Gary 23 glitch is, and I didn't do that. I wasn't even aware this wasn't normal until I used the alien epoxide to repair the rifle to 100%, and now it does degrade, so I checked online to see if it would go under the condition it stayed at before. 147.134.57.185 02:01, October 20, 2010 (UTC)

Power armor + Gauss Rifle= upside down gun
ive noticed that whenever i use the gauss rifle that when i holster it when wearing any form of power armor (in 3rd person) my character puts it on his back upside down with the barrel going up and looking weird with a barrel going a few feet above my head. Whenever i wear a different type of clothing, like regulator dusters or the outcast scribe robe, the barrel is pointing down to where its not above my head. Has anyone else noticed this? im on Xbox 360Chart7 23:13, February 2, 2011 (UTC)


 * That's supposed to happen, it makes unholstering the weapon easier for a person in power armor- you may have noticed that power armor isn't very svelte. In terms of gameplay, it keeps the third- person model from clipping too severely when reaching for the weapon. Hal10k(Leonard Bernstein!) 23:25, February 2, 2011 (UTC)

In addition to this /\ almost all the power armors have large shoulder plates, so it's generally simplier on the game engine and your character's shoulder muscle to pull it down from his waist. icommandoxx

Handle
What is the little handle on the side for? Looks like it could wind up something. Almost like a jack-in-the-box handle.--HelpMeRhonda213 02:35, March 29, 2011 (UTC)

If it gets degraded then you wind the handle like it gets jammed --92.28.200.123 20:55, April 2, 2011 (UTC)

Is it true that at long distances the guass rifle won't reveal your position while sneaking?
I read this in the gamefaqs stealth guide and didn't see it mentioned here. If it's true, it would be worth adding
 * I think that's true for basically every weapon in this game. If you're suitably hidden and far away no one can really notice you.--Never Rub Another Man&#39;s Rubarb 20:07, August 10, 2011 (UTC)

shots till it breaks
How many shots can the Gauss Rifle fire (from a durability of 100) until it breaks? I can't see it on the page. (The Iron Turtle 12:57, 8 April 2012 (UTC))
 * 375 shots, see here for details on how it is worked out. User avatar tag.gifUser Avatar talk.png 14:24, 8 April 2012 (UTC)