Sonic emitter (weapon)

The sonic emitter (or sonic sound wave projecto-emitter to the Think Tank) is a weapon in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.

Background
The sonic emitter is a pulse vertebrae desensitizer researched and developed at the Big Mountain Research and Development Center. Though originally meant for medical applications, including spine anesthesia, it performs admirably as a general purpose weapon. Due to its reliance on sonic waves, different frequencies can be loaded into the emitter to obtain different effects. One of the more spectacular modifications is a pulse wave that can disrupt and deactivate repulsion fields, which was designed by the X-13 research facility.

Characteristics
The pistol's chassis is composed of a grey metallic tube outfitted with four vacuum tubes, a housing for a small energy cell, a conical muzzle, and a rear-mounted oscilloscope, all attached to a pistol grip. It shares some visual features with other pistol-grip energy weapons, such as the pulse gun, Euclid's C-Finder, and the recharger pistol. Reprogramming the sonic emitter changes the color of the oscilloscope and energy rings, as well as introducing unique effects when the weapon scores a critical hit.

All variants are considered improved holdout weapons and are affected by the Professional perk. They can be repaired with any other variant of the sonic emitter, and any energy pistol with the Jury Rigging perk.

Sonic emitter - Revelation


This is an Energy Weapons pistol and is the default frequency given to the Courier. It does bonus damage against robots and power armor wearers, and has a unique "critical strike paralysis" effect, temporarily knocking down most enemies.

Sonic emitter - opera singer


This is an Energy Weapons pistol that has been programmed with the glass shattering frequency of an opera singer. It does bonus damage against robots and power armor wearers, as well as a unique "critical strike dismemberment" effect, crippling the target's limbs.

Sonic emitter - Gabriel's bark


This is an Energy Weapons pistol that has been programmed with the frequency of Gabriel's bark. It does bonus damage against robots and power armor wearers, as well as a unique "critical strike knockback" effect, knocking enemies down on critical strikes.

Sonic emitter - robo-scorpion


This is an Energy Weapons pistol programmed to occasionally resonate violently with anything the soundwave touches. It does bonus damage against robots and power armor wearers, and has a unique "critical strike explosion" effect.

Sonic emitter - tarantula


This is an Energy Weapons pistol programmed to cause a target to spontaneously combust. It does bonus damage against robots and power armor wearers, as well as a unique "critical strike incendiary" effect which ignites the target on a critical hit.

Related quests

 * Welcome to the Big Empty
 * Sonic Emitter Upgrade
 * X-8: High School Horror!

Bugs

 * Each variant of the sonic emitter has a listed condition that deals an extra 50 points of damage to every type of robot, but it is improperly set up. As a result, the EMP effect only damages the robots of Big MT, and even then just for 20 points of damage.