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
Upon completion of the Anchorage Reclamation simulation you will gain access to the VSS Armory, which is located across the hallway from the simulation room. There you will find the Gauss Rifle.

In the simulation, you first obtain the Gauss Rifle from a dead U.S. Paratrooper in the Cave Outpost during The Guns of Anchorage.

When you are teleported to the U.S. Army Field Headquarters, you lose all previously obtained weapons, including the Gauss Rifle. However, you can obtain another one by passing a Speech check with the Quartermaster.

Repair
The Wasteland version and sim version can be repaired by the sim version of the Gauss Rifle. One copy of the sim rifle can be obtained in game by the Gary 23 glitch to repair the Wasteland version. The Gauss Rifle can be repaired once unless PC users use the console command to obtain more copies of the sim version. However all items obtained through the Gary 23 glitch are in perfect condition and will remain that way no matter how much you use them (just as they were in the simulation) Also it can be repaired using the Haleys Hardware glitch (Point Lookout). Haley can repair it to perfect condition.

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.
 * It is possible that the Gauss rifle was originally planned to be a shoulder-mounted "big gun". This would explain the disconnection between the coded projectile vector and the expressed projectile vector.

Bugs

 * Sometimes (especially outside of V.A.T.S.) the Gauss Rifle's projectile will travel straight through your foe, 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. Strangly, despite being frozen, the tragectory 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. (Confirmed on Xbox 360 & PC)

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.