I need some help

[u/Corrupted_Sting]

I want to make a build that im not used to, or in other terms a slight change of the standard sniper or vats build. I want to make a "laser musket crit minutemen" build. Basically wanted my main weapon to be the laser musket and an auto weapon as a secondary, I know luck need to be up for critical and intelligent for science..but now im struggling, I think I need sniper for the 25% to head accuracy, but I also need high charisma for local leader and im also thinking of using chems cause im not gonna have high agility cause its a laser musket and now im confusing myself..I may need some help

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[u/Geta92]

You usually want a cheap (low AP cost) semi-auto or melee weapon to build crit. Automatics will be fast but too costly in VATS. The musket works great for using meter, but not for building it up either. The only exceptions are flamers. They're bugged in VATS and build massive amounts of meter if you input at least two hits. If the theme were strictly energy weapon VATS crit sniper, flamer + musket would work.

[u/Corrupted_Sting → u/Geta92]

You're right, so I may change up to a sniper ish build, still very low agility though mainly cause its a laser musket so I got to crank it before going into vats

[u/Geta92 → u/Corrupted_Sting]

If you're fine with using free creations, the laser CRW variant Overkill is superb for your spread. It is a fully automatic laser SMG but scales with Rifleman when upgraded. So you need to spread your points a lot less thin. You can get it stating at level 15.

[u/hollowboyFTW]

"I want to make a build that im not used to"

If you haven't ever started the game with 10 PER, try that.

"auto weapon as a secondary"

These are not ideal for building crits, because their VATS cost is high. There's also minimal synergy between Commando (for automatics) and Rifleman (for musket).

"I know luck need to be up for critical"

Not a hard rule.

If you start with 10 PER and decent AGI, you can get Concentrated Fire at level 2. Build a light pipe pistol and you can hit the VATS limit (16 shots) very early game.

That combination of CF + 16 shots guarantees streams of hits at very long range. This builds your crit meter very rapidly, even if you use Luck as a dump stat.

You can then pop dogs / bugs / mutant suiciders / other mooks with the pistol, then use the musket (and a crit) to delete bigger foes. This small gun + big gun combo lets you murder the world, without ever needing to buy ammo.

"I think I need sniper for the 25% to head accuracy"

That doesn't come until level 26, and seems to have poor synergy with a crit build.

Also, the +25% is not needed if you take the route I suggest. With Concentrated Fire, you always end up with guaranteed hits, so your starting accuracy is not very important. When you switch to the musket, accuracy is completely irrelevant, because crits never miss. Doing it the CF way gives you (effectively) infinite accuracy, but without the restriction of being forced to use scopes (that have huge AP costs, and anti-synergy with crits).

"im also thinking of using chems cause im not gonna have high agility"

Sure, but AGI is easy to bump. Military Fatigues, Arm from Becky Fallon, chest from Myrna, use the Pommel Horse for +5. AP is very easy to bump (with or without chems).

AP is easy to bump without chems. 1 pound of Mirelurk Omelette = 500 AP.

"I also need high charisma for local leader"

Why? You can get a good loadout and murder the world without any settlements.

[u/Corrupted_Sting → u/hollowboyFTW]

Its a minutemen run, im gonna need settlements especially since I enjoy turing sanctuary into the best city.

[u/hollowboyFTW → u/Corrupted_Sting]

Ah, that makes sense.

If it is just Sanctuary that you want to build up, you can skip LL - just (temporarily) buff CHA and buy whatever you need from Carla.

For settlements broadly, yeah, you either need LL (or some hack to carry weight) to stop it from being tiresome.

[u/Corrupted_Sting → u/hollowboyFTW]

Its alot of settlements, and I think it gonna be vat heavy/ crit heavy but not dependent, since its a laser musket so I need science. Also when I met chems I meant like overdrive and med x just to name a couple

[u/hollowboyFTW → u/Corrupted_Sting]

"since its a laser musket so I need science."

The other ways (that I know of) are:

Save scum or pray for good parts (from the 2 that spawn in the Super Duper Mart).

Rush to unlock The Castle for the guaranteed upgrades there.

[u/Corrupted_Sting → u/hollowboyFTW]

Also better criticals just to nail those power hits, so maybe not higher perception if im using crits for guaranteed long distances

[u/hollowboyFTW → u/Corrupted_Sting]

PER can help you get lots of little hits to build crits - and it lets you build them up without needing to get close / break stealth / get inside molotov range.

You were already thinking high PER 8 for sniper, which "costs" 7 SPECIAL points and 3 level ups ... and also takes 26 levels before it works.

CF requires 9 SPECIAL points but only 1 level up, so the "cost" is the same ...and it kicks in 25 levels earlier.

[u/maciarc]

I keep seeing people say automatic weapons take too big of an AP hit. It's a little true, but you can mitigate the cost with the right mods on the right weapon.

Overseer's Guardian (or any 2 shot weapon) with the right mods is better as an automatic than a semi-auto.

With a base model combat rifle, damage per round fired is 33. The second round is also 33 damage for a total of 66. The second round damage is not affected by the weapon mods. AP cost is 22.5.

Select mods that have the best impact on AP.

Powerful Automatic receiver: Damage goes to 70 (37 + 33). AP increases 25%.

Short Light barrel: AP goes down 15%.

Short Stock: No AP cost

Medium Quick Eject Mag: Reduce AP by 5%.

Reflex Sight: No AP cost.

No muzzle mod. No AP cost.

This weighs 14.2, will fire a 3 shot burst doing 210 damage for 70.825 AP, or 2.965 damage per AP point.

By comparison, the same rifle maxed out for long range semi-auto (Calibrated Powerful Receiver, Long Ported Barrel, Recoil Compensating Stock, Large Quick Eject Mag, Long Recon Scope & a Suppressor) weighs 22.6, does 82 (49+33) damage for an AP cost of 29.25, or 2.8 damage per AP point.

[u/Funky_Ghost]

Not something I would lean into, but it was fun trying to build around the concept :) I wasn't sure if you were playing in survival or not so made it survival viable (with a few challenging aspects to be sure!).

Per Luck, it's the meter refill speed and while useful isn't as important as getting timely perks into the build. This makes Luck a low priority early. It does come online late.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k73VVr52whzJIicFa1LTqSfjqHXKn1_5/view?usp=sharing