Assault Rifle designs.

Lone Cat

Lone Cat

It Wandered In From the Wastes
Assault Rifle, as seen in Fallout 4. is radically different to those of previous games. Instead of taking any usual forms of either Kalashinikov designs (F1, F2, and 3 .. all are 'Chinese' design), FN FAL (Fallout 3.. there are TWO different designs of Assault Rifles, both uses the same 5.56 mm ammo), or.. Gene Stoner's design (NCR Service Rifle in Fallout New Vegas). Assault Rifle seen in Fallout 4 are much.. much bulky (and looks too unwieldy compared to its actual performances... the weapon designs are very WW1 to me.--side mounted magazine, and water cooled! and uses 5.56 mm ammo (and 30 round mag)! That's a crossbreeding between Browning M1917 and Benet-Mercie 'feedstrips' machineguns (Manufactured by the French, Italians, and Japanese arsenals) (or maybe Lewis too!). What's reasons behind this bulky designs and the uses of water cooling systems? hadn't this design outdated by 2077? or did the US Army has a different idea of multi purpose infantry weapons that could fulfill both the functions of service rifles and Squad Automatic Weapons ??
 
Personal opinion ahead:

I just disregard any FO4 'design' concepts, to me, my head-cannon firmly places that the USA was using what we see now as current 'real' modern weapons there is no viable reason the technology of weapons design and manufacture should deviate too far into the Fallout timeline/universe. This is why I personally like where Fallout Tactics places the idea of pre-war technology although many might disagree on this.

(you can stop reading here, or continue for the 'full rant')

I could now spout a bunch of headcanon at you, but I'll just sum it up by saying this - FO4 aesthetics are garbage. The 50's thing being driven down your throat as though it is a FACT that America in 2077 had failed to make ANY technological progress in more than 90 years.

I realise that the FO timeline calls for a 'very late' progression to microchips, but it did happen, and so at best, modern technologies were stunted by about 30 or 40 years of growth and advancement. There is to me, absolutely no reason that in 2077 the world would be like Bethesda has chosen to portray it, they took all the kitch concept of fallout, but none of the cyberpunk or post-modern gothic influences.

Bethesda utterly disregards that (at least how I understand it) the 50's "thing" was used as a placating ploy by the government to ensure a populace that didn't outright explode into civil war. The twee and pleasing aesthetics backed by Bladerunner-esque 'hyper-technology' running behind a facade of old-timey goodness. Outside of the more affluent area's I imagine things to be more like modern day Detroit or Harlem of the 80's the buildings would look like 'normal' albeit run-down buildings that we see today, the civilian-owned tech inside them probably a heck of a lot like we had in the late 80's/early 90's.

Storyline aside, culture, design concept and growth of industry doesn't just 'stop' because of one insignificant detail. And this brings me back round to my final tirade aimed squarely at the question raised by OP:

Why does FO4 have 'old' style weapons? - Because Bethesda couldn't write their way out of a four-line soliloquy and lack the integrity (and probably the skillsets) to maintain a solid world-building lore & canon friendly game world which maintains clear suspension of disbelief.
 
Fallout 4's assaul rifle really dropped the ball. NV did it exactly right, good mix of older and more modern guns without getting too futuristic for the style.
 
The reason doesn't buy me either! The weapon was intended to be named 'Machine Gun' (And Beth still have a good reasons to keep the name by designing different upgrades and introduce either Chinese assautrifle or Service Rifle (in FNV add on, Honest Hearts, there's a weapon called 'Survivalist Rifle' which later revealed to be weapons used by American garrisons in Canada.. that was PREWAR design!! not what NCR (or Gunrunners) concieved in the first place.

latest

Adding bipod upgrade and it can safely be called Machinegun. Betty can do, but in the end. they DON'T!

Survivalist Rifle is what suggested that NCR Service Rifle was either a pre war weapon or its reproductions.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Survivalist's_rifle
 
The steampunk LMG redesign for the Assault Rifle is nowhere near as bad as what they did to the Gauss and Plasma rifles. They took the gauss rifle of all things and decided it needed to look like a jury-rigged piece of shit and then they had the nerve to castrate the plasma rifle and give me a fine selection of tripe to use as a prosthetic limb in place of an actual barrel. I can only really say the splitter option looked passable, but get out of here with the awful buckshot effect.

Eunuch Rifle
Castrated.png
Plasma Rifle
mybaby.jpg
You can kind of excuse the overblown 50's gimmick for the AR redesign but this is fucked.
 
There was nothing wrong with the F3 AR and CAR, IMO. Now, the Combat Shotgun....

F4 really drops the ball with weapons designs and they should had just maintained the 3 and NV weapons to some extent. The F4 Combat Rifle was a BAR, right? The Radium Rifle is a StG. Like...what the fuck. Did nothing happen between WW2 and 2077 but Lasers? NV falls into this sort of with their Garands and co.
 
Eshanas said:
There was nothing wrong with the F3 AR and CAR, IMO. Now, the Combat Shotgun....

F4 really drops the ball with weapons designs and they should had just maintained the 3 and NV weapons to some extent. The F4 Combat Rifle was a BAR, right? The Radium Rifle is a StG. Like...what the fuck. Did nothing happen between WW2 and 2077 but Lasers? NV falls into this sort of with their Garands and co.
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While F4 Combat Rifle looks like shortened BAR (unless it gets a long barrel but i'm not sure if it still has 19th century Carbine lenght). its might as well belongs to the same grade as David Williams designed M1 Carbine.
With combat rifle serves the functions of New Vegas service rifle. the AR should be reverted to MG.
 
cratchety ol joe said:
Personal opinion ahead:

I just disregard any FO4 'design' concepts, to me, my head-cannon firmly places that the USA was using what we see now as current 'real' modern weapons there is no viable reason the technology of weapons design and manufacture should deviate too far into the Fallout timeline/universe. This is why I personally like where Fallout Tactics places the idea of pre-war technology although many might disagree on this.

(you can stop reading here, or continue for the 'full rant')

I could now spout a bunch of headcanon at you, but I'll just sum it up by saying this - FO4 aesthetics are garbage. The 50's thing being driven down your throat as though it is a FACT that America in 2077 had failed to make ANY technological progress in more than 90 years.

I realise that the FO timeline calls for a 'very late' progression to microchips, but it did happen, and so at best, modern technologies were stunted by about 30 or 40 years of growth and advancement. There is to me, absolutely no reason that in 2077 the world would be like Bethesda has chosen to portray it, they took all the kitch concept of fallout, but none of the cyberpunk or post-modern gothic influences.

Bethesda utterly disregards that (at least how I understand it) the 50's "thing" was used as a placating ploy by the government to ensure a populace that didn't outright explode into civil war. The twee and pleasing aesthetics backed by Bladerunner-esque 'hyper-technology' running behind a facade of old-timey goodness. Outside of the more affluent area's I imagine things to be more like modern day Detroit or Harlem of the 80's the buildings would look like 'normal' albeit run-down buildings that we see today, the civilian-owned tech inside them probably a heck of a lot like we had in the late 80's/early 90's.

Storyline aside, culture, design concept and growth of industry doesn't just 'stop' because of one insignificant detail. And this brings me back round to my final tirade aimed squarely at the question raised by OP:

Why does FO4 have 'old' style weapons? - Because Bethesda couldn't write their way out of a four-line soliloquy and lack the integrity (and probably the skillsets) to maintain a solid world-building lore & canon friendly game world which maintains clear suspension of disbelief.
Click to expand...
I must disagree. While the FO4 aesthetic is not really logical, it is extremely pretty and creative, and uses vibrant colors mixed with steam punk designs to provide a really special look.
 
Lone Cat said:
Assault Rifle, as seen in Fallout 4. is radically different to those of previous games. Instead of taking any usual forms of either Kalashinikov designs (F1, F2, and 3 .. all are 'Chinese' design), FN FAL (Fallout 3.. there are TWO different designs of Assault Rifles, both uses the same 5.56 mm ammo), or.. Gene Stoner's design (NCR Service Rifle in Fallout New Vegas). Assault Rifle seen in Fallout 4 are much.. much bulky (and looks too unwieldy compared to its actual performances... the weapon designs are very WW1 to me.--side mounted magazine, and water cooled! and uses 5.56 mm ammo (and 30 round mag)! That's a crossbreeding between Browning M1917 and Benet-Mercie 'feedstrips' machineguns (Manufactured by the French, Italians, and Japanese arsenals) (or maybe Lewis too!). What's reasons behind this bulky designs and the uses of water cooling systems? hadn't this design outdated by 2077? or did the US Army has a different idea of multi purpose infantry weapons that could fulfill both the functions of service rifles and Squad Automatic Weapons ??
Click to expand...

Stop looking for logical consistency in Bethesda games please. I don't mean this sarcastically either.
 
It really looks a bipod mounted Machine Gun from WW1 era...

They also made them sound like pea shooters, though I suspect they made it like that to be more friendly to the ear.
 
CerberusGate said:
Ironically the so-called 'handmade' rifle actually looks like a proper assault rifle (or at least looks like the Chinese Assault Rifle) unlike 4's vanilla assault rifle - http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Handmade_rifle
latest
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It is Kalashinikov - style rifle. known to be easily replicable so being chosen as 'handmade rifle' is more or less practical. but. it SHOULD shown up in vanilla, also the 'water jacket' assault rifle should revert to its original name---machinegun

Another weapon... the Combat Rifle. began as a carbine that shoots .45 ACP can become either WW2 style SAW or early assault rifle... conversely i've heard that 'Laser Pistol' with certain upgrades, will no longer called 'pistol' but will officially be called 'laser rifle'. the vanilla combat rifle should be named Automatic Carbine :P is this weapon gets an inspiration from M1Carbine?
 
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I think they were going for a unique fresh design for the world of Fallout's weapons. They didn't want it to resemble typical guns we see in the real world and popular video game shooters as it what we're used to seeing. It's purely for world-building to their unique style point they're going for, to further distinguish the brand and give it the "oh, that's definitely from the Fallout game universe." style.
 
Recon said:
It's purely for world-building to their unique style point they're going for, to further distinguish the brand and give it the "oh, that's definitely from the Fallout game universe." style.
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That excuse may work if not for the fact that in 3, they did use realistic designs for their assault rifles.

HK_G3_Munster.jpg

$
While the Chinese assault rifle was already discussed earlier.

It looks to me that Bethesda wanted to utilize rule of cool for all of their stuff without considering the design flaws and the retcons needed to fit those in (on that front, I'd bring up the retcon of T-51b as the best Pre-War Power Armor with the T-61 that looks to have the same design flaws as the older T-45 but I'll be digressing so I'll stop there)
 
CerberusGate said:
That excuse may work if not for the fact that in 3, they did use realistic designs for their assault rifles.

HK_G3_Munster.jpg

$
While the Chinese assault rifle was already discussed earlier.

It looks to me that Bethesda wanted to utilize rule of cool for all of their stuff without considering the design flaws and the retcons needed to fit those in (on that front, I'd bring up the retcon of T-51b as the best Pre-War Power Armor with the T-61 that looks to have the same design flaws as the older T-45 but I'll be digressing so I'll stop there)
Click to expand...

But what’s cool about a water-cooled machine gun!? Maybe that was cool in 1917, not so much in a retro-future. I always thought the R91 looked nice. Referenced a popular Cold War rifle, the FN-FAL.
 
GestapoSantaClaus said:
But what’s cool about a water-cooled machine gun!? Maybe that was cool in 1917, not so much in a retro-future. I always thought the R91 looked nice. Referenced a popular Cold War rifle, the FN-FAL.
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Either R91 or what NCR Army uses suits Fallout 4 better :P
 
Eshanas said:
The Radium Rifle is a StG. Like...what the fuck.
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Even worse, the Radium Rifle is a VOLKSTURMGEHWER.

Which makes even less sense, as less were made.

Did the people in game scrounge up museum pieces to make their radiation rifles? (How does that even work anyway? Uranium bullets?)
 
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