Suitable weapon progression for the DC wasteland?

[ankel]

I usually play a gun character, and I found that there's a stark contrast between the base FNV and TTW in term of weapon progression.  

FNV has a fairly smooth transition from early 9mm/10mm pistol or 5.56 varmint rifle which are both cheap to repair and restock, and their basic ammo are good against unarmored enemies. Then most people will go South and found the Lucky (or its basic variant) and cowboy repeater in Prim area - both have low Gun requirement (25 IIRC) and good damage per shot but slow RoF, excellent against armored enemies, and these will serve well until Mutant/Deathclaw/Powered armor start to be more common. With the more exotic crafted ammo, they can be useful all game if I really feel like role-playing.   

Starting from the DC wasteland I found myself in a lot more trouble because of the much more widespread super mutants and they are too well-armored for 9mm/10mm/5.56mm basic rounds. The .357 caliber revolver and cowboy repeater are basically non existent, even in the Flak & Shrapnel shop. AP or P+ rounds for smaller calibers are rare to come by, and the new .22LR revolver isn't enough to cover that gap either.

However .44 revolvers and hunting rifles are available at a really early stage. So what I usually do is to power level my character through a combination of high starting INT and exploration exp to get to Gun 50 so that I can start using hunting rifle (Yes, I know I can use them before I reach their required skill but I prefer not to for role-playing reason, also it sways really badly if you don't have the required skill reached).  

A few times I tried to go to the Mojave desert to grab some weapons and I was quickly discouraged from it because there's a Super Mutant Master with a Missle Launcher guarding the train station. 

I feel like FO3 doesn't have this gap because of the DR system, in FNV it's much harder to punch through DT with basic ammunition. Do you run into the same problem? How do you usually start off your playthrough?

[Puppettron]

There's an assault rifle in the basement of springwood elementary, and you should be able to Lou at least one .357 of the raisers on your way there.

[Lyndi]

There are a couple easy to get Sniper Rifles early on as well. Theres one inside a rock outside of Megaton and another on Arkansas as part of the Survival Guide quest that's easy to get. They require a high guns skill so I don't know if they would be useful for your playstyle but I always find them useful. The .308 also isn't always that easy to find which is another drawback.

As Puppettron said Springvale School is also one of the first places I go for weaponry when I leave the vault. The DC wastes have always been pretty unforgiving compared to the Mojave.

[RoyBatty]

There's a hunting rifle outside springvale school in the back in a fenced off area.

There's the sniper rifle in the rock too.

In FO3 you can wander off anywhere, you don't have to follow the story progression at all.

 

[paragonskeep]

The safe in Springvale will also have a weapon depending on your tag skills.

I've pulled (without mods) Chinese pistol, 10mm, 44, laser pistol, brass knuckles (unarmed tag) from it on various playthroughs. The 44 was a "cheat" game that I pushed my small guns to 100 before exit.  

There is also a 44 near Tenpenny by Willy's grocery in the destroyed building upstairs by skeleton. 

And all the above. 

[Risewild]

If you roleplay a thief there is also a hunting rifle in Lucas Simms house.

Letting Mr Burke kill Lucas nets you a Chinese Assault Rifle and if you kill Mr Burke you get a 10mm with a silencer to attach.

I can't really say much about guns since I rarely use guns oriented characters and my memory is awful so I forget which and where we can find guns early on.

 

[Puppettron]

Most of the ammo progression in the CW is "graduate to 10mm, hoard 5.56, collect .308"

[paragonskeep]

And 10 mm becomes awesome after Point Lookout or bringing the note to Sydney and getting her gun. 

[Lyndi]

[quote=paragonskeep]

 

And 10 mm becomes awesome after Point Lookout or bringing the note to Sydney and getting her gun. 

[/quote]

That Backwater Rifle is pretty sweet and much easier to feed than Lincoln's Repeater. It has slightly less damage and doesn't have zero spread like Lincoln's Repeater but the 10mm ammo is all over the dang place.

[Puppettron]

Tier 3&4 you can do pretty well for yourself with an assault carbine, since so much 5mm is dropped with the miniguns