Weapon

Weapons are items used to attack a target and deliver damage.

Types
Weapons are divided to different types, each requiring a different skill:
 * Big Guns
 * Energy Weapons
 * Melee Weapons
 * Small Guns
 * Throwing
 * Unarmed

Fallout 3 retains all of these categories other than Throwing, discarding thrown knives and consolidating grenade use and Traps skill under the skill category of Explosives, allowing the player to use and disarm traps like Frag Mines.

Fallout: New Vegas goes a bit further and discards Big Guns, merging the different big guns into their respective damage types. Small Guns and bullet-based Big Guns has been generalized under Guns. Laser/plasma-based Big Guns, as well as the flamer, have been merged into Energy Weapons. Demolition-based Big Guns have been merged into Explosives. While the Throwing skill is still discarded, more thrown weapons are available in Fallout: New Vegas than what was in Fallout 3.