Fallout: New Vegas developer statements - Weapons

Fallout: New Vegas Developer Statements
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Developer Statement
Weapons
Information
Group	Developer Statements
Related	Fallout: New Vegas

Statements regarding weapons made by the developers of Fallout: New Vegas are compiled and archived below.

.308 weapons

Joshua Sawyer: .30-30 and diverse ammo types, 2014 Nov 23

	Information	Image
Date	2014 Nov 23
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Tumblr
Prompt	Was it planned for New Vegas to have more diverse ammo types than it already had in the base game? I only ask this because I found an unused icon for an ammo type called .30-.30 soft rounds in FNV's files. If so, were specific ammo types not implemented due to time or some other reason?"
Answer	"There may have been one or two more base types, but some had very narrow use. I think the rule I set for myself is that each base type for guns and EWs needed to be used in at least two weapons to be viable on its own. .30-30 was in for a while but it had too much overlap with .308."
Link	Tumblr -Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: This Machine inspiration, 2011 June 11

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Date	2011 June 11
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the rifle This Machine based off of the M1 Garand or one of its variants?"
Answer	"Yes, but it is not an exact reproduction."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

.357 weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Cowboy Repeater inspiration, 2011 August 24

	Information	Image
Date	2011 August 24
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"what is the Cowboy repeaters real world inspiration."
Answer	"The Winchester Model 1892, though only loosely."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: Police Pistol inspiration, 2011 August 7

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Date	2011 Aug 7
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Since I have a feeling you were involved, I love that Police Pistol from Dead Money, it's sound, it's kick when it fires, and it's texture. So much beauty. Can you tell me the IRL model for it?"
Answer	"It was loosely based on the Colt Police Positive."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Police Pistol single-action, 2011 August 7

	Information	Image
Date	2011 Aug 7
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"The Police pistol was based on the Colt Police Positive, I presume. Is there any particular reason why it operates in single-action?"
Answer	"I thought it fit the weapon better, especially given its accuracy despite having a short barrel."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Police Pistol and Automatic Rifle - Bonnie and Clyde, 2020 August 29

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Date	2020 Aug 29
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Tumblr
Prompt	"Hello Josh, I am currently replaying Fallout New Vegas and I am enjoying it very much. I decide to start my new game straight with the Dead Money DLC. I noticed that the first two firearms you get in the villa are the Police Pistol and the Automatic rifle. By the look of the weapons they seem to be based on the the same guns that Bonnie and Clyde used. Was this an intentional reference."
Answer	"I’m glad you’re enjoying your replay, but no, those weren’t the inspirations. Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the reference films Avellone used, so I took the Colt Official Police and turned it into the Police Pistol. I don’t remember if I took the BAR from some other reference Avellone used or if I just thought it would make a good addition. We didn’t have any automatic, slow RoF, moderately accurate .308 guns, so the BAR worked well. It’s not exactly the same as a BAR, so we made the necessary modifications to work with animation and called it the Automatic Rifle."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: La Longue Carabine, 2011 Sep 5

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Date	2011 Sep 5
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"I just wanted you to know, La Longue Carabine is the most beautiful gun I've ever seen in a video game."
Answer	"Thanks, though all credit belongs to Paul Fish, who did the modeling and texturing. The offset scope was based on one we saw in a Clint Eastwood film (not the Sharps in Josey Wales -- another one I can't remember right now)."
Link	Archived 1

.45 weapons

Joshua Sawyer: .45 balancing, 2013 February 7

	Information	Image
Date	2013 Feb 7
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	SomethingAwful
Prompt	"The Devs in New Vegas actually tried to balance weapons based on the power of their real-world calibers, which is why they buffed 10mm, added 9mm as a replacement low-tier ammo, and got rid of .32 entirely (Because it was completely ludicrous)."
Answer	"The exception to this was .45 Auto (ACP). To make it appealing as a mid-tier semi-auto caliber between 10mm and 12.7mm with a 7 round magazine, I had to give it TRUE TALES OF THE 1911 stats. I still feel slightly bad about it, but people like Last Man Standing-style .45s that throw guys 20' through the air, so..."
Link	Forum link - Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: .45 SMG inspiration, 2011 June 11

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Date	2011 June 11
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the .45 submachine gun from the Honest Hearts add-on based off of the Thompson submachine gun?"
Answer	"Yes, but it is not an exact reproduction."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: A Light Shining in Darkness inspiration, 2011 May 31

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Date	2011 May 31
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the Light in Darkness based on any real version of the M1911?"
Answer	"It's loosely based on various "Officer"-sized compact M1911s, though a compact M1911 like that should probably have a reversed recoil plug."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: A Light Shining in Darkness Colt New Agent, 2012 Apr 15

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Date	2012 Apr 15
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"When designing A Light Shining In Darkness, what model was is based off? The closest thing I can see is Colts New Agent series and looking at getting another 1911. I'd really like to recreate this weapon. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!"
Answer	"The Colt New Agent is the closest equivalent, yes. One detail we did not reproduce in-game is the reversed recoil plug (found on many, if not all, Officer-length M1911s)."
Link	Archived 1

.45-70 Gov't weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Hunting Revolver and Ranger Sequoia inspiration, 2013 January 29

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Date	2013 Jan 29
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspringe.me (defunct)
Prompt	"I have another Fallout: New Vegas weapon question for you, what gun, if any, is the Hunting revolver and Ranger Sequoia based on?"
Answer	"They're based on the Magnum Research BFR with a little bit of the short-lived Bison Bull."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: Brush Gun inspiration, 2011 May 14

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Date	2011 May 14
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Bethesda forums (defunct)
Prompt	"The Brush Gun actually looks more like a Winchester Model 71. After ignorantly playing through thinking all the lever-actions were just generalized designs, Josh's post got me looking on google images and opened my eyes. BTW, the Automatic Rifle will always be the BAR in my eyes."
Answer	"The standard Brush Gun is more Marlin 1895ish, but with the upgraded receiver (which is essentially the whole 'gun' part to make any sense out of the mod), it looks more Winchester 1886ish. e: but of all the guns, the lever-actions (and Light Machine Gun) are the most mish-mashy."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: Brush Gun Real Life Weapon, 2011 May 08

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Date	2011 May 08
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"What real-life weapon is the Brush Gun based on?"
Answer	"Not one gun specifically, but guns like the Winchester 1886 and Marlin Guide Gun."
Link	Archived 1

12.7mm Weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Survivalist Rifle Beowulf Comparison 2011 Oct 11

	Information	Image
Date	2011 Oct 11
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Was the Survivalist's Rifle based off anything in particular? Like the M4 .50 Beowulf?"
Answer	"Yes, it was loosely based off of the .50 Beowulf AR-15 platform conversion."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Survivalist Rifle Bent Sights, 2011 May 18

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Date	2011 May 18
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"will the bug with the survivalist rifles iron sights not being aligned be fixed and how could such happen?"
Answer	"It's not a bug. The Survivalist's Rifle was used by the Survivalist for decades and shows signs of improvised repair (the clamps on the foregrip wood, the mismatched wood furniture, etc.). The bent front sight is damage that the Survivalist couldn't or didn't repair and just adapted to using as-is. If you aim at the right front post, that's where the bullets are going."
Link	Archived 1

5mm weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Assault Carbine and Marksman Rifle Appearance, 2019 January 7

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Date	2019 Jan 7
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Tumblr
Prompt	"A lot of players of New Vegas, myself included, found the appearance of the Marksman Rifle and Assault Carbine to be a bit too incongruent with the general aesthetic of New Vegas/Fallout. If you had the chance to re-do those "new pre-war airborne/special forces" weapons, would you keep it the same, or change to a new model (like the British EM-2), or add some aesthetic flavour like Bakelite furniture/mags, non-Picatinny rails? "
Answer	Nah, I’m satisfied with them. Fallout 1 and 2 delved into 90s weapons designs (e.g. the P90c) and the mid-90s is when the M4/Picatinny rails entered the scene. There are a lot of rifles in F:NV and I think the more modern appearance of the marksman carbine and assault carbine help visually distinguish them from the rest of the lineup in a good way."
Link	Tumblr linkArchived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: Assault Carbine Boomer use, 2012 June 7

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Date	2012 Jun 7
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"FO3 establishes that the R91 Assault Rifle was the standard issue armament for the National Guard. Why then is it not included in FNV? I understand the lack of Chinese ARs, but it seems like the R91 would have been a better fit than the assault carbine."
Answer	"The Assault Carbine is not standard issue. They are intended to be paratrooper weapons, which is why Boomers have so many of them."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: Assault Carbine inspiration, 2011 July 21

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Date	2011 Jul 21
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the Marksman Carbine loosely based on the POF Short Barreled Rifle?"
Answer	"No. It's loosely based on some paratrooper-oriented marksman rifles I saw online. It and the Assault Carbine are present in part due to New Vegas' proximity to Nellis AFB."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: CZ57 Avenger Fallout 2, 2011 April 10

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Date	2011 Apr 10
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the CZ57 Avenger supposed to be the Avenger minigun from Fallout 2? They look quite different."
Answer	"Yes. They look different because the CZ57 Avenger in F:NV has to work with existing F3/F:NV grip, firing, and reload animations."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

5.56mm weapons

Joshua Sawyer: All-American Marksman Carbine, 2011 May 8

	Information	Image
Date	2011 May 8
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Who came up with the Idea of the All-American Marksman Carbine?"
Answer	"I did."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: All-American 82nd patch, 2012 June 12

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Date	2012 Jun 12
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Why does the All-American have an 82nd patch on it?"
Answer	"The 82nd Airborne Division's nickname is "All-American"."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Light Machine Gun, 2011 July 27

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Date	2011 Jul 27
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Was the Light Machine Gun from New Vegas based on any one weapon in particular?"
Answer	"It's a mishmash of M60 and M249 SAW parts."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Service Rifles AR-15 and AR-10, 2011 October 13

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Date	2011 Oct 13
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the service rifle a mish-mash of an AR-15 and an original AR-10?"
Answer	"Yeah sorta."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: That Gun, 2017 August 31

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Date	2017 Aug 31
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Twitter
Prompt	"Why was it called "That Gun" anyway? always wondered"
Answer	"because it's That Gun From Fallout/Fallout 2/Blade Runner. also we didn't have .223 as a primary ammo type."
Link	Archived 1

9mm weapons

Joshua Sawyer: 9mm ammo inspiration, 2011 July 14

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Date	2011 Jul 14
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Is the 9mm Caliber in Fallout NV 9mm Luger (9x19mm) or a more exotic type of 9mm?"
Answer	"It's supposed to be 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum/NATO."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

.22LR weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Varmint Rifle .22LR caliber, 2011 November 8

	Information	Image
Date	2011 Nov 8
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"It seems from leftover content that the Varmint rifle was originally intended to use .22 ammo (which makes more sense), but then switched over to 5.56. Do you know/remember why?"
Answer	"The .22LR variant did such pathetic damage that no one wanted to use it. .223 Rem. is a popular varmint caliber. Making the Varmint Rifle use 5.56mm/.223 was mostly for convenience."
Link	Archived 1 -

Joshua Sawyer: .22LR caliber casings, 2015 January 10

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Date	2015 Jan 10
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Tumblr
Prompt	"Hey Josh, love your work (and I've sent msgs to that effect before ;)), but I have a question for you regarding Fallout: New Vegas. In that game, every ammo type can leave behind a shell casing or such, except for .22s. Did Fallout tech diverge to where caseless .22s became popular for silencers (which is exclusively what .22s are used for in NV)? Or are they simply "semi-caseless" and ya'll didn't want to fret over that? In-universe I could see lack-of-resource reasons to develop such a shot.."
Answer	".22 Long Rifle comes in rimfire cartridges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimfire_ammunition Most firearm ammunition is what’s called centerfire. The rear of the brass case holds a primer. When the firing pin strikes the primer, the primer ignites the powder in the case and propels the bullet down the barrel. When the case is ejected, the primer has been detonated but the surrounding brass is (usually) intact and can be re-used. During the reloading process, a new primer is fitted into the back of the case. In rimfire ammunition, the rim of the case itself acts as the primer, but is destroyed in the process. This makes reloading rimfire cases difficult and usually not worth the effort. For that reason, our .22LR ammo in F:NV did not yield .22LR cases."
Link	TumblrArchived 1 -

Anti-Materiel Rifle

Joshua Sawyer: AMR inspiration, 2011 Jul 27

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Date	2011 Jul 27
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"I have read your comment at the Bozar - regardless if it was just a joke or not - the antimaterial rifle always reminded me of the Bozar from the first Trailer I saw - was the design of it inspired by the Bozar?"
Answer	"The design of the AMR was inspired by the PGM Hécate II."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Energy weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Energy weapons, 2012 February 16

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Date	2012 Feb 16
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"OK, so I get it, about the Energy Weapons. But, if you would have us believe that EW arent inherently superior to guns then why (in universe) were they developed in the first place? Also why would a group like the BoS have such a fetish for them?"
Answer	"We often develop technology not because it's great immediately, but because developing that technology helps us move toward its potential. We've had various forms of hybrid vehicles (gasoline combustion engine + ???) around for a long time. Most of them were pretty bad and impractical. We've had biofuels around for a while, but most of those are STILL bad and/or impractical. We saw tanks developed in WW1 that were absolute garbage. All of those things were kind of crummy for a while, but if we hadn't gone through the stage of 'Yeah... this is... okay, I guess,' we would never have reached the subsequent stages. Coil/rail gun technology used to be completely impractical. Now it's reached the stage where maybe/sorta we could mount an enormous one on a destroyer and blast through a bunker with a huge slug from miles away. We're probably not going to have Eraser- or Fallout-style Gauss rifles for a while, but we see the potential. In the Fallout universe, I think that the military appeal of weaponry that uses a small number of more-or-less universal ammunition types would be great. Today, we have NATO standards so that allies armies can share ammunition. But what if you could use the same ammunition type for powering a sniper rifle that you'd use for a devastating close-range weapon (e.g. a Microfusion Cell powering a Laser Rifle or a Plasma Rifle)? For a military force in the field, the flexibility of that would be immense. Anyway, I considered the EWs in F:NV to have reached the point where they were starting to replace conventional weapons, but had not yet completely eclipsed them -- sort of like the early days of firearms, when they were still being used concurrently with bows."
Link	Archived

Explosive weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Grenade Launcher and Rifle inspiration, 2011 October 11

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Date	2011 Oct 11
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"what weapon is the grenade launcher based off of?"
Answer	"The rifle is based off of the M79. The launcher is based off of the 'China Lake' prototype."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Melee weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Fist Weapon Ammo, 2011 August 12

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Date	2011 Aug 12
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Were the zap and displacer gloves originally meant to use ammunition (SEC)? If so why was this cut?"
Answer	"A lot of the "fist" ammo types were intended to use ammunition, but the engine doesn't support it and there wasn't time to implement it."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Love and Hate knuckles, 2011 October 23

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Date	2011 Oct 23
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Were the unique spiked knuckles, Love and Hate a reference to anything, like the movie "Do The Right Thing"?"
Answer	"Night of the Hunter and Do The Right Thing."
Link	Archived 1

Joshua Sawyer: Fist Weapon Ammo Redux, 2013 July 29

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Date	2013 July 29
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"Did you ever intend for the Ballistic Fist in Fallout: New Vegas to use ****gun shells as ammo?"
Answer	"I intended for several of the Unarmed weapons to use ammo, but we encountered some problems with implementing it. I would have liked to continue with it because I think ammo use/reloading could have helped distinguish those weapons in more interesting ways."
Link	Archived 1

Shotgun weapons

Joshua Sawyer: Lever-action shotgun inspiration, 2011 August 9

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Date	2011 Aug 9
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"i love the lever-action. what gun is it based off of."
Answer	"The Winchester 1887, though in 20 gauge and with other modifications."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Miscellaneous

Joshua Sawyer: FO3 vs. FNV guns, 2019 August 18

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Date	2019 Aug 18
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Tumblr
Prompt	"why do the guns new to New Vegas differ so remarkably in aesthetic + design from 3. I'm thinking the 9mm, was this something to do w/ the American southwest vs. the east coast, or what"
Answer	"I didn’t think of making the F:NV guns differ from F3 as much as I tried to return to what I believed was the spirit of Fallout 1 & 2 guns: a mix of common real-world guns, some real-world niche guns, and some completely fictional guns. I also felt like Fallout 1 (especially) had great gun progression. I really liked how even though the Desert Eagle .44 did more damage than the 10mm pistol, it had a lower ammo cap. Also, because the .44 Magnum ammo is relatively rare (IIRC) when you get the first DE from Garl, it promotes more deliberate, considered use of the weapon and suggests keeping the 10mm pistol around as backup. That sort of overlapping/orthogonal progression is great and I tried to achieve it in F:NV. I always tried to make the “upgrade” of a weapon have one thing that was obviously inferior to / different from the previous version. With the .357 Magnum Revolver and .44 Magnum Revolver, the .357 is slightly more accurate and can never suffer a malfunction/jam. F3 did some things with ammo types that I understand and appreciate from a game design perspective but I felt contrasted too much from real-world weapon/ammo design. The fact that a handgun and a rifle shared an ammo type is nice for gameplay, but .32 is an odd caliber to use for a number of reasons. One of the things that bothered me most was the use of a similar ammo type in a revolver (typically using rimmed cartridges) and a bolt-action rifle (typically using rimless cartridges and headspacing at the front of the cartridge). Because I liked a more (American) western aesthetic for F:NV, I decided to use rimmed “cowboy cartridges” for revolvers and lever-action rifles. This was extremely common back in the day and can still be done with modern revolvers and lever-actions in the same caliber. The hunting rifle (.32 in F3) went to .308, which we reserved for high-powered rifles and didn’t use in handguns. In general, when we used real-world weapons and ammo types, I tried to go with ones ordinary people (well, Americans, anyway) were familiar with: .22 LR 9mm, 10mm, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, 5.56mm, .308, .50 MG. The ones that were made up (12.7mm) or less familiar (.45-70 Gov’t) were generally reserved for later weapons. The real-world weapons were also sort of a “greatest hits” list: the 9mm based on the Browning Hi-Power, the .357 based on the Colt SAA, etc. - classic designs for people familiar with them that looked great for players who weren’t familiar with them. At times we had to adjust the design for animation/gameplay purposes, e.g. the Automatic Rifle in Dead Money is recognizable as some kind of BAR knockoff, but it differs in some significant ways. I based the anti-materiel rifle on the Hécate II because honestly I was/am sick of seeing Barretts in games and I think the Hécate II looks better."
Link	Tumblr link - Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: Weapon names, 2011 May 14

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Date	2011 May 14
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Bethesda forums (defunct)
Prompt	Thread titled "What does This Machine look like in real life?"
Answer	"In general, I prefer to give weapons functional names and avoid getting wrapped up in specific designations used by manufacturers or the military. Because our weapons must, for technical reasons, occasionally differ functionally from the weapons upon which they are based (different caliber, charging handle placement, receiver height, stock shape/length, etc.) giving them a more utilitarian name helps negate some of the potential pedantry over those deviations. There are no AR-15s, Colt Commandos, Browning Hi-Powers, BFRs, M1 Garands, Winchester 1886s, 1887s, or 1892s in Fallout: New Vegas -- just Service Rifles, Assault Carbines, 9mm Pistols, Hunting Revolvers, This Machine, Brush Guns, Lever-Action Shotguns, and Cowboy Repeaters. That's also why there are no M1911s or Thompsons in Honest Hearts, but you'll find plenty of .45 Auto Pistols and .45 Auto Submachine Guns."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

Joshua Sawyer: 12.7mm, 9mm pistol and specialty ammo, 2010 December 24

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Date	2010 Dec 24
Dev	Joshua Sawyer
Source	Formspring.me (defunct)
Prompt	"If 12.7mm is suppose to be like .50 A/E, than why not name it as such? Also, was the BHP chosen for the 9mm pistol out of personal preference or another reason? I gotta say it's nice seeing a dev. who's very knowledgeable about firearms and ammunition."
Answer	".50 AE is already a pretty niche cartridge and I didn't want non-gun people to be confused by .50 MG (essentially BMG) and another .50 round. It also keeps the "serious" handgun/SMG ammo in millimeters and the revolver/lever-action ammo in inches, which is nice for consistency. In my opinion, the BHP is a timeless design and its form is quite distinctive when compared to Fallout's 10mm pistols. Also, since I knew we weren't going to implement an M1911-style .45, the BHP-based 9mm design gives an extremely similar aesthetic (so similar that a lot of people assume it IS an M1911) while fitting into the 9mm/10mm/12.7mm semi-auto handgun progression in F:NV. RE: wildcat cartridges: I think F:NV already introduced enough niche/weird ammunition subtypes to keep the heads of non-gun people spinning for a full 100 hours of gameplay. I think wildcats go a big step beyond that. That said, Justin, Frank and I did engineer the ammo system to support a very large amount of specialty ammo types. I've seen people make 40mm buckshot and .50 MG Raufoss, so on the PC, it's very easy for modders to go nuts with .22 Cheetah or whatever other super niche stuff they want to do."
Link	Archived 1 - Archived 2

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Behind the scenes
Quote	Link
“Can I ask why you don't use the original weapons' actual names? Like why do you call the M16 a "Service Rifle"? Is it due to liscencing issues? Joshua Sawyer: It's partially for that and also because they aren't "really" those weapons. We take liberties for animation and aesthetic reasons. Rather than provoke players into debating how "legit" a weapon is, I'd rather just give weapons a functional name that gets the basic idea across and leave it at that.”	Link
“One of Obsidian's programmers was a tank driver in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany and later deployed to Iraq in the early 90s. His issued sidearm was a beat-to-hell Ithaca M1911. If you know your M1911 history, that should give you an idea of how old it was.”	Link
“The process was iterative and went through a lot of revisions. There were a few questions I asked for deciding what would get included and what would not: What are iconic Fallout weapons that should return? In my mind, the 10mm pistol and SMG had to return, as did the minigun, sawed-off shotgun, flamer, and a few other choice weapon. What are players’ role-playing expectations within this setting and what weapons will help the expression of those roles? We can’t account for every type of character a player might imagine, but we knew a lot of people would want to be a) Mad Max b) post-apocalyptic cowboy/cowgirl c) wacky bazinga science person d) agro military operator e) sneakthief stealth murderer. Supporting those concepts throughout the game necessitated an array of thematically appropriate equipment options that was available from the beginning and allowed for power growth through the end game. That’s why you can use revolvers and lever action rifles from the first two hours (.357 Revolver and Cowboy Repeater) through the Battle of Hoover Dam (Hunting Revolver and Brush Gun). What weapons share common ammunition types to avoid resource/loot problems? There are only a few weapons that use an ammo type that isn’t used elsewhere. Western-style weapons make some of that easy since a lot of revolvers and lever-action rifles used the same rimmed ammo types. Ammo types like .22 and .308, were also easy to use in multiple weapons. What are weapons with distinctive/iconic looks that can stand out from each other? Service and battle rifles are based on distinctive historical weapons, the slim 9mm pistol is easy to distinguish from the bulky 10mm, and even the lever-actions are relatively easy to distinguish from the bolt-action and sniper rifles. What are weapons that can be modified in distinctively different ways from each other to allow for orthogonal growth within a subtype of weapons (e.g. lever-action rifles). If all weapons of a certain type can be modified in the same way, upgrading those weapons becomes less interesting, especially since we expect players to stick with thematically consistent weapons (not always, of course, but…). This is why the cowboy repeater and brush gun feature top eject: it prohibits the use top-mounted scopes, allowing the trail carbine to be modified in a way that the other two lever-actions cannot. The unique cowboy repeater does have a scope, but it’s a side-mounted scope, like the one used by Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. What are different ammo subtypes that can be used that offer distinctly different properties from each other to allow for another axis of differentiation. Different ammo types have different variants. This is not only true within a category (e.g. revolver/lever-action rimmed rounds) but of course between categories. In F:NV, you can’t get armor-piercing rounds in a lever-action or a revolver – except for That Gun/the 5.56mm pistol. Weapons that fire .44 magnum can also fire .44 special. Similarly, .357 magnum weapons can fire .38 special, but .44 magnum also has a semi-wadcutter variant, while .357 magnum has a jacketed flat point variant. The differences are minor, but significant enough to make a difference to players who want to fiddle around with ammo subtypes.”	Link
“200 years old rifles? I know nothing of guns, but is this like, something that happens, or just stretching reality for the sake of the setting? Joshua Sawyer: Is this honestly the first time you've considered that many of the firearms in Fallout were made Pre-War? Come on. EDIT: Re-reading my response, it sounds rude. Apologies. I'm not sure if this is a genuine or disingenuous question, partially because the majority of questions are anonymous. The majority of firearms in use in the Fallout setting are likely Pre-War in manufacture. Things that would make conventional firearms stop working: rust (seizing), dry rot (anything wood or rubber), alkaline corrosion/buildup (anything with batteries). A lot of firearms (and other things, but especially firearms) put in long-term storage are coated in a substance called cosmoline that can prevent rust (and other processes) for a long time. It's unlikely that all of the weapons in Fallout were coated for storage, so it's just a hand-wave of the setting.”	Link
“Who made up all of the energy weapons? Joshua Sawyer: I tuned all of the EW stats (too low for a lot of them, unfortunately), but the EWs were modeled and textured mostly by Mitch Ahlswede, Paul Fish, and Aaron Brown.”	Link
“Why do the energy weapons in the Fallout series tend to fire like conventional automatic weapons rather than ever using a continuous beam? I'm thinking specifically of guns like the gatling laser, that fires a series of beams rather than one unbroken one. Joshua Sawyer: I think continuous beam weapons are cool. We actually tried implementing a continuous beam weapon in F:NV and it was a colossal mess. We put a fair amount of time into it, but it was causing tremendous problems, so we pulled it out.”	Link
“Why don't laser wepons in NV use iron sights? Joshua Sawyer: There were a variety of animation and model issues with the laser weapons that delayed any attempts to add iron sights prior to implementing "true" iron sights. Once that system was in place, we realized that we would need to do a certain amount of work well into beta to make true iron sights work for laser weapons. Because the weapon artists were already heavily tasked and the QA staff had a huge amount of content to go through, I decided that it was too late to implement the required content. On their own, the weapons don't actually require that much work to modify for iron sights. The timing was just really bad.”	Link
“I decided very early on that unique weapons should at least have unique textures and sometimes have unique models. By accounting for this early in development, production was able to incorporate it into the schedule. Most unique variants were textured/modeled around the same time as the base weapon, IIRC. Deciding what weapons would get unique variants was a little more difficult. The first consideration was to make sure the uniques weren’t all bunched up in one type of weapon, so there should be unique weapons more or less equally spread across different categories. After that, it was more arbitrary and based on feeling/inspiration than anything practical. I always figured people would want to see the return of the .223 pistol, a unique 9mm pistol and sniper rifle seemed obvious, and when we made Honest Hearts, not including a unique .45 would have been a high crime. Over time, there were also gaps I saw that became opportunities for new uniques. The Survivalist’s Rifle was created to fill a gap between the sniper rifle and the service rifle and to get more use out of the 12.7mm round. When I started as a game designer at Black Isle, I worked on the original Icewind Dale. We used (a lot of) words to tell the story of a unique item. Fallout: New Vegas didn’t have text descriptions for items, so the story had to be told through the appearance of the weapon or armor itself. Details like the writing on A Light Shining in Darkness and the Survivalist’s Rifle or the bits and pieces of info that can be gleaned from the Desert Ranger Armor are all part of that. Many players never notice them, or if they do notice them, it’s just part of the aesthetic of the item, but for some players, those details tell the story of the item and fill in details about the world and its history.”	Link