Weapons Overview Weapon mods are a game mechanic in the Fallout Series.
Background[edit]
Weapon mods appeared first in Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout 3. They appear as an active feature for the first time in Fallout: New Vegas. New mods were introduced with the new crafting system in Fallout 4. Fallout 76 has a similar system of weapon modding except one needs to scrap weapons to learn the mods and it decreases max weapon durability.
Fallout[edit]
Only Smitty can perform modifications in Fallout, and the only weapon he can upgrade is the Plasma Rifle into a Turbo Plasma Rifle.
Fallout 2[edit]
In Fallout 2, one can pay a mechanic to upgrade certain weapons for them.
Available weapons[edit]
- Desert Eagle .44 → Desert Eagle (Exp. Mag.)
- .44 Magnum Revolver → .44 Magnum (Speed Load)
- Assault Rifle → Assault Rifle (Exp. Mag.)
- Hunting Rifle → Scoped hunting rifle
- FN FAL → FN FAL (Night Sight)
- Wattz 1000 laser pistol → Magneto-Laser Pistol
- Wattz 2000 Laser Rifle → Laser Rifle (Ext. Cap.)
- Plasma Pistol → Plasma Pistol (Ext. Cap.)
- Plasma Rifle → Turbo Plasma Rifle
- Flamer → Improved Flamer
- "Big Frigger" power fist → Mega Power Fist
- Cattle Prod → Super Cattle Prod
Merchants[edit]
- Valerie, in Vault City
- Skeeter, in Gecko
- Eldridge, in New Reno
- Algernon, in the basement of New Reno Arms. Works for free.
Fallout 3[edit]
The only upgrades seen in Fallout 3 are scopes, the occasional use of silencers and the use of extended magazines. Other differences between unique weapons do not technically count as weapon mods, seeing as there is only one of each unique weapon.
Fallout: New Vegas[edit]
One of the features added to Fallout: New Vegas is the ability to custom modify certain base weapons. While in Fallout 3 this was limited to the creation of custom weapons, Fallout: New Vegas takes this a step further by allowing the creation of weapon variants based on basic weapons by adding weapon mods.
Unique weapons cannot be equipped with weapon mods, with the exception of the Weathered 10mm Pistol, the Mercenary's Grenade Rifle and the Holorifle. While unique guns usually have better base stats, Obsidian Entertainment introduced this inherent drawback of unique weapons to balance out unique and normal weapons and make the choice less of an obvious decision and more of a preference. However, some unique variants have both mods and better base stats. Such is the case of the Varmint Rifle's unique variant, the Ratslayer, which has all of the mods the Varmint Rifle can be equipped with.
By themselves, the weapon mods are weightless and serve no function but, once attached to their specified weapon, will change the characteristics, look and/or function to create a distinct variant. The weapon mods range from scopes and silencers to extended mags and several in-between. In the case of the Varmint Rifle and other such weapons there exists more than one different type of modification. While the player is not limited in the amount of total mods they can apply to a single weapon, they are limited to one of each type of mod per single weapon and therefore are not able to stack attributes like increased rate of fire.
Once a weapon mod is attached to a weapon it cannot be removed and remains a permanent feature of that weapon, along with its added attribute. However, this might not always be a good thing. For example, extended magazines are almost always beneficial, unless the magazine must be reloaded on a shell by shell basis (ex: Cowboy Repeater), forcing a longer reload (not necessarily forcing the reload to be longer, since pressing the fire button stops the reload); scopes also have pros and cons, as they may increase maximum range, but make the gun harder to use in close combat situations.
The addition of a mod to a weapon will permanently increase the overall monetary value of that weapon by the value of the mod, even if the weapon is completely broken at the time it is applied.
Fallout 4[edit]
Weapon mods can be built from raw materials and attached to weapons at Weapons Workbenches. There are over 700 mods[1], including scopes, barrels, stocks and more. For guns the Gun Nut perk is required, while Science! is required to modify energy weapons and advanced modifications for guns and Blacksmith is required for most melee weapons mods.
Most pistols, rifles and shotguns offer the option to customize grips/stocks, receivers and sights, changing which perks affect the weapon.
- Any weapon with an automatic receiver gets bonuses from the Commando perk.
- Pistols with non-automatic receivers get bonuses from the Gunslinger perk.
- Rifles and shotguns with non-automatic receivers get bonuses from the Rifleman perk.
- The Sniper perk only works on non-automatic rifles with scopes which use the "hold breath" mechanic.
Grip mods create pistol weapons, while stock mods create rifle weapons. This allows for almost any ranged weapon to be customized to fit the player character's build.
Fallout 76[edit]
In Fallout 76, weapon mods are done similarly to Fallout 4 with the main differences being one has to learn the mod by scrapping weapons and it reduces max condition.
Appearances[edit]
Weapon mods appear in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76.
