The Terrible Shotgun

The Terrible Shotgun is a weapon that only appears in Fallout 3. It can be found in the possession of Smiling Jack at the Bazaar in Evergreen Mills.

Characteristics

 * The Terrible Shotgun is a unique variant of the Combat Shotgun and has the second highest damage of all weapons in the Small Guns category.


 * The weapon has a far larger spread than normal shotguns, and full damage is only done if all pellets hit, making it most effective in close-quarters.


 * The weapon deteriorates at a rather rapid pace, giving you 146 discharged rounds before it breaks, even so the weapon will not jam until 120 rounds are fired. Given that you do not reload until the current magazine is expired you will have 10 reloads before the gun begins to jam, but the gun will only have two chances to jam before it breaks.
 * A single shot will explode an abandoned vehicle so be careful.


 * Critical hit damage with this weapon is actually applied individually on each pellet the weapon fires in a shot outside of V.A.T.S.. If all nine pellets critical hit at the same time (such as in a point-blank sneak attack critical attack), the weapon's total critical damage is 9 x 40 = 360! And with the Better Criticals perk, it can go up to 540. Add in the base 80 power of the weapon, and then double the whole thing because of the sneak attack bonus, and the weapon's total damage turns 1240, quite close to that of the Fat Man itself! In fact, if the damage is increased further with a head shot, this weapon's destructive power against a single target becomes even greater than the Fat Man, being able to kill even a Super Mutant Behemoth with a single sneak attack critical head shot!

Obtaining the gun from Smiling Jack

 * You can kill him (no Karma effect) and get not only his gun but all his inventory, in which case you should buy as much of his repairable inventory as you can afford, have him repair everything you can afford to, then kill him to get back your caps as well as the remainder of his inventory (which will be located in his locker, for which he has the key).


 * You can engage him in combat, the goal being not to kill him, and just shoot it out of his hand, and picking it up before he does. Leave the Bazaar and come back after a minimum of 72 hours. This is the time it takes for an NPC or group of them to "forget" about the trouble a player might have caused. Return, and you still have a valuable business partner.


 * Its also possible to break the Terrible Shotgun with an aimed-shot, then put your weapon away to end the fight, at this point you've forced the gun into Jack's inventory. You can now trade for the item at no cost and have him repair it.


 * Possibly the most effective and quickest way of obtaining the shotgun (without killing Smiling Jack), pickpocket his shotgun ammunition, leave the Bazaar, save the game then reload and re-enter the Bazaar. The gun will then be an available item in his inventory and can now be pickpocketed (confirmed).


 * Similar to the previous option, steal Smiling Jack's ammunition using the Sneak skill. Then place a melee weapon on his person (there are multiple baseball bats and knives in the bazaar). Provoke him with one punch and then put away your hands. He will become non-hostile once more, with the shotgun no longer equipped. The shotgun can then be stolen from his inventory.


 * Sometimes The Terrible Shotgun will be by Smiling Jack on a shelf, and can be easily taken by carrying it (via the hold button) over to a place where Jack can't see you, then "stealing" it. This results in a small karma loss for stealing.

Bugs

 * When you drop the shotgun, it may disappear from the game. (Confirmed on PS3)

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