Emil Pagliarulo on the Gauss rifle

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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Lead designer Emil Pagliarulo explains the reason the Gauss rifle is what it is, on the BGSF.<blockquote>It's an Energy Weapon. Sorry for any confusion there.

The gun energizes and magnetizes a standard projectile round; those are already pre-loaded into the weapon, and are in that giant clip attached to the side of the weapon. The player loads in the Micro Fusion Cells needed to energize/magnetize each round.

We did it this way because we knew we wanted to have an Energy Weapon equivalent of the Sniper Rifle, but also have it be consistent with other fictional versions of the Gauss Rifle, including the one known in the Fallout universe. We also knew it had to use and existing ammo type, since the player was going to get access to the Gauss Rifle in the Wasteland, and would need to be able to find ammo for it. It didn't feel right using the Sniper Rifle ammo (we had considered it), and instead opted to "power" the weapon with the Micro Fusion Cell, but (fictionally) have it fire a standard slug, which is already pre-loaded into the weapon.

Hope that clears the air a bit!
(...)
you could have added 2mm EC to vendors or put them in lockers at the forts or where ever you chose.

Actually, we couldn't have, for various technical reasons (nope, I can't give a more detailed answer than that).

Oh yeah, the rounds contained in that attached clip are indeed meant to be the classic 2mm slugs.</blockquote>Long story short: it makes no sense, but hey, technical limitations!

Thanks Ausir.
 
Well, it does make sense that a Gauss Rifle would need both energy cells to power the weapon, and projectiles to shoot with. FO2 included only one, FO3 included only the other. Ideally, it should require both.
 
Ausir said:
Well, it does make sense that a Gauss Rifle would need both energy cells to power the weapon, and projectiles to shoot with. FO2 included only one
Click to expand...

Not really. Since apparently the Fallout universe does have power cells that can keep a suit of power armor running for a century, I fail to see why a Gauss Rifle would necessitate being fed energy cells.
 
Well, it doesn't have power cells that keep a laser rifle or plasma rifle running for a century, and the power armor fusion pack is too big to fit on a gun.
 
Ausir said:
Well, it doesn't have power cells that keep a laser rifle or plasma rifle running for a century, and the power armor fusion pack is too big to fit on a gun.
Click to expand...

1. Plasma and laser are like pure energy conversions. Power armors are just pneumatics, while as far as I know coilguns do not have a huge energy consumption.

2. How do you know how big the armor fusion pack is?

3. How do you know a smaller one doesn't exist?

The original gauss guns only needed ammo. Ergo the logical conclusion is that they had their own internal energy source. No need to retcon it because Bethesda doesn't know how their game engine works.
 
I'd always assumed that tbe 2mm EC cartridge supplied enough power for the gun to fire that round, or maybe the magazine had a power cell with it. In any case the previous games had that and no need to change it.

His response to my suggestion that they just make 2mm EC and put it in the army depots and so on was a bit baffling though. Technical reasons ? heh. But instead we're left with a gun that needs power, and has infinite slugs to fire.
 
Brother None said:
Long story short: it makes no sense, but hey, technical limitations!
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wheeeee! i r bethesda devloper and fun for microsofts money and cool stuff 'sploshuns fallout! FALLOUT!


every time these guys offer an explanation it sounds more like an embarrassing excuse.
 
So Bethesda's Gauss Rifle has the ammo feed system built in the shape of a infinity symbol, that explains everything.

I have far fewer complaints if you actually had to scrounge for ammunition rather than power the weapon.

After all, you never have to fill the Railway Rifle with water to make sure it has enough steam to fire the spikes or batteries to power the Rock-It Launcher internal machinery.
 
I bet the "technical issue" was that they already had 32 types of ammo, and would overflow a register on a PS3 or something if they went to 33.
 
The "technical reasons" are probably a combination of the need to make a new model for the clip, and then add them to the leveled lists that the merchants use. Neither of those are *terribly* hard but the problem is likely that they don't want to get into changing leveled lists. Because of the way mods work (and this is essentially a mod), no two of them can change the same thing. The newer one's change takes precedence.

In Oblivion this limitation made it hard to change leveled lists because inevitably it would be incompatible with something else that was trying to do different things to the same list. So from Beth's perspective, if they kept making different DLCs that had to change the leveled lists, they would have to make use of a workaround to make sure they all applied.

All in all though, it's not *that* hard to work around with either scripts or merged leveled lists, which they no doubt could make. In the final summation it was no doubt the desire to save time and money that prevailed here, which is disappointing.
 
zenbitz said:
I bet the "technical issue" was that they already had 32 types of ammo, and would overflow a register on a PS3 or something if they went to 33.
Click to expand...

Like anyone gives a crap about the PS3 version anyway.
 
Perhaps the engine doesn't permit a weapon to consume two types of ammunition at once?

Seems like a poor excuse for not putting in another kind of ammo though...
 
Brother None said:
Lead designer Emil Pagliarulo
Hope that clears the air a bit!
(...)
you could have added 2mm EC to vendors or put them in lockers at the forts or where ever you chose.

Actually, we couldn't have, for various technical reasons (nope, I can't give a more detailed answer than that).

Oh yeah, the rounds contained in that attached clip are indeed meant to be the classic 2mm slugs.</blockquote>Long story short: it makes no sense, but hey, technical limitations!

Thanks Ausir.
Click to expand...
Sorry to say it that way. But absolutely bull ****.

It sounds to me like a lame excuse. Technical limitations ... of course. I guess it must be the same kind of "limitations" that prevetend them from making a good story and not simplifying combat and gameplay so much that its almost a shooter.
 
flapjackboy said:
Like anyone gives a crap about the PS3 version anyway.
Click to expand...

Well I actually cared. Till I played F3 for a day. Now I don't but it will still haunt me that they messed up one of my favorite Fallout2 weapons.
And I thought the DLC isn't coming to the PS3. But than I stopped caring, so I might be wrong.
 
flapjackboy said:
zenbitz said:
I bet the "technical issue" was that they already had 32 types of ammo, and would overflow a register on a PS3 or something if they went to 33.
Click to expand...
Like anyone gives a crap about the PS3 version anyway.
Click to expand...

I bet the PS3 version outsold the PC one. That said, no one cares about PS3 on this topic since PS3 is not getting this DLC (yet)
 
As I understand it current technology guass 'guns' require massive capacitors, which require lots of energy to fill them. So to me it would fit in line with laser and plasma weapon and energy needs. but unlimited ammo seems a bit far fetched, but then again 2mm is pretty small and you could hold a whole slew of them in a fairly small space...
 
Brother None said:
Actually, we couldn't have, for various technical reasons (nope, I can't give a more detailed answer than that).
Click to expand...
Well it could be like NWN and have a hard coded restriction on the number of different ammo types, if so then that would explain the problem, though it's entirely the result of crap programing/foresight. If that's not the case then I have no clue what the problem could be.

Brother None said:
Power armors are just pneumatics...
Click to expand...
I do believe it used hydrolics (liquid instead air [pneumatics], OCD about these small things always kicks me in the ass) and servos.
 
It sounds to me like a lame excuse. Technical limitations ... of course. I guess it must be the same kind of "limitations" that prevetend them from making a good story and not simplifying combat and gameplay so much that its almost a shooter.
Click to expand...

Of course. The same kind of tecknickal limi-tay-shuns that don't allow for proper dialogue trees. They would look awkward on dad's plasma TV.

I don't know, I find it pretty embarrassing how modders manage to include new weapon models and other good content, while the developing team has 'technical limitations' with adding an additional type of ammunition.
 
Emil Pagliarulo said:
Actually, we couldn't have, for various technical reasons (nope, I can't give a more detailed answer than that).
Click to expand...
I must be imagining that .50 Action Express for my character's Desert Eagle....

So, this technical reason is either "We don't know how to use our own CS" or "Our Xbox360/PS3 version of Fallout 3 is fucked somehow." And if the reason really is leveled lists, then how about Bethsoft develops their own level list merger for a change? Ya know, rather than leaving that to the modders (*cough*Morrowind*cough*Oblivion*cough*).
 
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