Gauss Rifle (Fallout 3)

The Gauss Rifle is an advanced sniper rifle included in the Fallout 3 add-on, Operation: Anchorage. The rifle uses a series of electromagnetic fields to propel 2mm rounds at tremendous speed. It has a knockdown effect that will knock enemies off their feet following a critical hit.

Unlike the German M72 Gauss Rifle, which uses 2mm EC magazines containing both batteries and ammunition, this gun requires the user to load in the Microfusion Cells needed to magnetize each preloaded 2mm round contained in the magazine attached to the side of the weapon.

Location
In the Capital Wasteland:
 * One is located in the VSS Armory after completing the Anchorage Reclamation simulation.

In the Anchorage Reclamation simulation:
 * During The Guns of Anchorage quest, there will be a deceased paratrooper with a Gauss Rifle.
 * One can be obtained from the Quartermaster at the U.S. Army Field Headquarters after successfully passing a speech check.
 * One can also be found on an American Trooper just before the end of the simulation.

Comparison
The following table compares the stats of the various sniper rifles.

The Gauss Rifle has greater reliability per shot than the Victory Rifle for knocking down enemies, even more so in V.A.T.S. considering both weapons use the same number of action points. Which sniper rifle is preferable to use is dependent on the character build and the player's employed tactics.

Behind the scenes

 * Gauss weapons are so named because of Carl Friedrich Gauss' contributions to the mathematics of electromagnetic fields.

Bugs

 * Sometimes (especially outside of V.A.T.S.) the Gauss Rifle's projectile will travel straight through your foe or even directly hitting them, doing no damage and alerting him and his companions to your presence. This is more likely to happen in close range. (Xbox 360 and PC)
 * This weapon does not deal proper damage when in V.A.T.S., and only seems to cause normal damage even with critical strikes in V.A.T.S. When targeting an enemy, their health bar will still display the full potential damage. This is related to the small "explosion" effect disrupting standard VATS formula calculations. The knock-down effect is still there, though less powerful. Hotfixes and plugins that remove the explosion effect seem to fix the issue.
 * While wearing power armor with an equipped Gauss Rifle, in third person view the power pack on the back of the armor disappears (most obvious when wearing Tesla Power Armor). This may be because the Gauss Rifle may have been intended to be a heavy weapon which would have used an ammo pack replacing the power pack.
 * When holding the weapon in third-person, it will sometimes fly off the player character's back when holstered. It may also "freeze" in place when drawing it in third-person or when switching from first to third-person. When drawn and shot, it fires from the position it is frozen in and shoots way off of where it was being aimed. Despite being frozen, the trajectory may change depending on the where it is aimed. Also, the player character appears to be holding an invisible gun. This is fixed by going back to first-person.
 * When using V.A.T.S., the player character may seemingly disappear during the V.A.T.S. scene, although this has no effect on the player character.
 * Certain instances of when a player is holding a Gauss Rifle after picking up the Alien Blaster has made a glitch where it shows in the Pip Boy as equipped despite you choosing another weapon to equip. The Gauss Rifle then appears invisible but your hands are positioned as if they are holding it with a grenade on the left hand, but still fully functional. When the Shishkebab is equipped (theoretically in junction with the Gauss), the player will instead be holding the Gauss Rifle at the end and move it the same angle as the Shishkebab when zooming in, yet can still damage enemies with it. It appears as though the player character is whipping an opponent with the Gauss Rifle and setting the target on fire. The glitch can be removed by simply deselecting the Gauss Rifle in the PIP Boy. (1 Case Confirmed for Xbox 360, also observed with Star Paladin Cross on the 360)
 * When firing the Gauss Rifle at the player character's feet, the game will zoom out into third person and show it fly out of his/her hands. The game will then zoom back into first person and it can be fired normally from first person. However, when seen in third person view, the Gauss Rifle will be on the floor. When it is fired, it will shoot from where the gun is on the floor. Switching weapons will put the gun back into the player character's hands in third person. It can also freeze in place where the player character can, in third person, walk in front of the gun, fire it, reload, and continue until he/she has essentially committed suicide with the rifle. (Confirmed on Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
 * The Gauss Rifle has been known to pin some NPCs who lean against walls to the walls, not just the head or arm, but the whole body.
 * The knockdown effect has the chance of glitching some NPCs in place once they return to their feet.
 * If you score a critical hit on an opponent at the same time they are hit by another NPC (an ally, for example), the knockdown may not occur.
 * It is possible to obtain an extra Gauss Rifle via the Gary 23 glitch.
 * Like with all scoped weapons, holding the aim button before drawing the rifle then drawing it will show the end of the barrel in the scope view (Xbox 360)
 * When aimed from ledge at target directly below in first person and zoomed, shot hits ledge at players feet and Instead of similar above glitch a splat sound was heard and players characters body is permanently invisible in 3rd person (not stealth boy invisible, actually gone). Characters 3rd person body possibly destroyed, indicated by splat? (Unconfirmed once on PS3

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