Alien Atomizer (Mothership Zeta)

The  is an energy weapon of Alien origin which is added to Fallout 3 with the release of the Mothership Zeta add-on. It is a standard sidearm that is carried by many Aliens found throughout the ship.

Characteristics
The Atomizer is an Alien pistol that is very commonly used by Aliens onboard Mothership Zeta. It has an average rate of fire and does relatively high damage when compared to other sidearms found throughout the Capital Wasteland, second only to Scoped .44 Magnums and their unique versions. It is also dead-on accurate with a 0 spread rating, making shots fire exactly on the crosshair for a 100 Energy Weapons skill user. Like the Disintegrator, it has a very high item HP, so the weapon does not need to be repaired often. Note also that this weapon has an exceptionally high value-to-weight ratio (250 caps per pound at full repair), so scavenging the dozens of Atomizers found in the course of Mothership Zeta's main quests can be a very lucrative endeavor.

Variants

 * Atomic Pulverizer - Although only slightly more powerful than the Atomizer, the Pulverizer uses only 12 AP to fire a shot.
 * Captain's Sidearm - While identical in appearance to an Alien Blaster, the Captain's Sidearm is essentially an Atomizer. It fires a shotgun-esque volley of energy bolts, like Protectron's Gaze.

Bugs

 * The projectile for the Atomizer is extremely long. The actual projectile is located at the end of the "tail" created by the weapon's discharge. This makes it appear to go through walls and bodies before making impact. However, it is simply a visual glitch, and has no effect on gameplay. It is also possible that it is not a visual glitch but that the energy from the projectile before it is compacted is expelled before the projectile. It can be seen that the pojectile is an actual solid object in V.A.T.S. or upon examining the battle area where the atomizer was frequently used.

Appearances
The appears in the Mothership Zeta add-on for Fallout 3.