How to effectively engage enemies at medium to long range?
I have a level 10 character with high small arms and energy weapons skills, which is very effective in dealing with enemies in close to medium range - with assault rifles, laser rifle, combat shotgun or machine pistol.
However, I find myself having trouble with enemies in longer ranges. The weapons I have which are supposedly appropriate for these ranges - hunting rifle, sniper rifle and scoped magnum - are just not accurate enough, either with or without VATS, and I end up wasting a lot of ammo and sacrificing a lot of health in those situations.
Right now my tactic is to try and close the distance as quickly as possible, but it's not always easy. How else can I effectively deal with enemies at these ranges?
VATS considers distance in its hit chance and will frequently miss. Long range combat should be done without VATS.
Each weapon has a Spread rating. Spread is a measure of how far the bullets will deviate from the cross hairs. 0 Spread means that it shoots exactly where you point when shooting outside of VATS. Firearms skill affects damage done on hit, but does not affect spread.
| Spread | Weapon |
|---|---|
| 0.0 | Named hunting rifles (best choice if you find one) |
| 0.0 | Sniper rifle |
| 0.0 | Laser rifle |
| 0.0 | Laser pistol |
| 0.3 | Hunting rifle |
| 0.3 | Scoped Magnum |
| 0.2 | Plasma rifle (slow projectiles = bad for long range) |
| 1.5 | Assault rifle |
| 2.0 | Minigun |
Laser rifle is the goto weapon for accurate long range combat. Its main problem is low damage (slightly lower than a hunting rifle). Named hunting rifles are completely accurate and high damage. If you want to engage at long range, go get one!
It's my experience that shooting at long range is ineffective even when you have quite high firearms related skills.
As you say, the solution therefore is to close range. There are several tactics for doing this, including increasing your Stealth skill and crouching to approach (i.e. sneaking up on the enemies), Stealth Boys (expensive but effective), and use of terrain to remain in cover while advancing.
The "Gunslinger" (1 handed) and "Commando" (2 handed) perks will improve your VATS accuracy. "Sniper" (at level 12) will improve your accuracy with VATS headshots. These will push up your chances of hitting at long range.
Unlike some answers above stated, there is no bullet drop in fallout 3, or New Vegas. However the game does have issues with scopes being misaligned, which means at longer ranges, the centre of the scope may not be where the reticule is actually pointing
The Big Guns, and Small Guns skills, do actually affect both Accuracy (Spread), and Damage for guns effected by them. Energy weapons skill only increases Damage.
If you want a exhaustive list of all weapons, and there stats, including spread, click this link
Crouching also reduces spread, as does aiming down sight with the weapon. See this for more info.
The "accuracy related perks", only affect weapon accuracy in vats, and are multiplicative based on the number they state.
VATS should be avoided for long range combat, as distance reduces accuracy,meaning at any meaningful distance, your accuracy, even with VATS accuracy perks, will likely be very low. However, with certain guns, such as the alien atomizer (which has a very low vats shot cost) from Mothership Zeta, certain builds allow 10+ shots in vats with it, which with combined with the Concentrate fire perk, can raise your chance to hit by over 50%! Of note is the fact that the alien atomizer also has 0 spread outside of vats also.
The best advice I can give you, is to get a Sniper Rifle, or a Hunting Rifle (The Unique Ol' Painless is easy to acquire hunting rifle wise, boasting no spread!!!).
My favorite for medium to long range is the Gauss Rifle. It's a reward from Operation: Anchorage, which should be done towards the beginning of the game because you also the Power Armor perk, virtually unbreakable Power Armor, Chinese Stealth Armor, and the most powerful sword in the game.