Gauss Rifle (Fallout 3)

The Scoped Gauss Rifle is one of the deadliest rifles in the Fallout 3 add-on, Operation: Anchorage. The rifle uses a series of electromagnetic fields to propel rounds at tremendous speed. Its range, accuracy and stopping power are almost unparalleled. It has a knock-down 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 rounds, this gun requires the user to load in the Micro Fusion Cells needed to energize/magnetize each standard 2mm projectile round; those are already pre-loaded into the weapon, and are 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, there will be a deceased paratrooper with a Gauss Rifle
 * One can be obtained from the Quartermaster (Fallout 3) at the U.S. Army Field Headquarters after successfully passing a speech check.

Repair
The Wasteland version can be repaired by the Simulation version of the Gauss Rifle. One copy of the simulation rifle can be obtained in game by the Gary 23 glitch to repair the Wasteland version.

The Gauss Rifle can be repaired only through vendors, by obtaining the rifle through the simulation glitch, using the Haley's Hardware glitch (from the Point Lookout add-on) or by using console commands to obtain more rifles. With the Mothership Zeta add-on, the Gauss rifle can be repaired with the Alien Epoxy.

Trivia

 * The rifle is featured in one of two Chinese propaganda posters within the simulation, which means that it was either of Chinese origin, or was sold to China and possibly the U.S. by another country (Perhaps Germany, as the Germans are the developers of its predecessor, the M72 Gauss Rifle). It is also possible that the Chinese aquired and copied the technology.


 * The name Gauss most probably comes from the 18. - 19. century mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.

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. Until it has been patched, it is suggested that players limit their use of the Gauss Rifle in free-aim mode. (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 3rd 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 in third-person holding the weapon, it will sometimes fly off your back when holstered. It may also "freeze" in place when un-holstered in third-person, or when switching from first to third-person. When un-holstered, and shot, it fires from the position it's frozen in, going way off where it was being aimed. Strangely, despite being frozen, the trajectory may change depending on the where you aim it. 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, though 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.. Oddly, 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 is rather humorous to be whipping your opponent effectively with a Gauss rifle, and see them somehow catch on fire (since it is still using the Shishkebab's ability, think of it as a skin for the Shishkebab, being a Gauss Rifle.). The glitch can be removed by simply deselecting the Gauss Rifle in the PIP Boy. (1 Case Confirmed for Xbox 360)
 * While firing the Gauss Rifle at your feet, the game will zoom out into third person and show it fly out of your hands. It will then zoom back into first person. You can continue to fire normally from first person. However, when you zoom out into third person, the Gauss Rifle will be on the floor. When you try to fire it, it will shoot from where the gun is on the floor. Switching weapons will put the gun back into your hands in third person. Humorously, it can freeze in place where you can (in 3rd person,) walk in front of the gun, fire it, reload, and continue until you have essentially committed suicide with the rifle. (Confirmed on Xbox 360 & PC)
 * For getting unique items off of NPCs without killing them use the Gauss Rifle to knock them down and while they are down press "A" repeatedly and their inventory shows up to reverse pickpocket and subsequently pickpocket. The same applies to the "Victory Rifle"

Videos
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Appearances
While this Gauss Rifle model does not appear in the main Fallout 3 game, it makes an appearance in the Operation: Anchorage add-on pack, instead of the M72 Gauss Rifle from Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics. Upon completion of the Anchorage Reclamation simulation, an armory containing the Gauss Rifle is opened and the rifle is unlocked and able to be used in the main game. The Gauss Rifle has been reassigned to the Energy Weapons skill and uses Microfusion Cells for ammo.