Gauss rifle (Operation: Anchorage)

The Gauss rifle is an advanced sniper rifle included in the Fallout 3 add-on Operation: Anchorage.
==Characteristics==
The Gauss rifle is a single-shot energy weapon that fires a ferromagnetic projectile each time it is fired. Its scope enables it to be used as a long range gun. The Gauss rifle has the ability to knock down enemies on critical hits, although its buggy V.A.T.S. performance and single-shot capacity limits its usefulness in closer ranges.
===Durability===
The Gauss rifle can fire a total of about 375 shots from full condition before breaking.
==Variants==
* Sim version (Operation: Anchorage add-on) - A sim-only version of the weapon which differs only in health (essentially non-degrading).
* Gauss rifle - There is a beta version of the Gauss rifle that uses the model of a laser rifle and features a five-round magazine. It does only about 25% of the damage of the final version but has a 100% knockdown chance. It is only obtainable through console commands.
==Locations==
In the Capital Wasteland:
* One is located in the VSS Armory after completing the Anchorage Reclamation simulation, along with 300 microfusion cells.
In the Anchorage Reclamation simulation:
* During The Guns of Anchorage quest, a paratrooper gets shot down by Chinese soldiers and leaves behind a Gauss rifle. However, the gun will be removed from the inventory upon completing the quest.
* One can be obtained from the quartermaster at the U.S. Army field headquarters after successfully passing a Speech check (requires at least 50 Speech).
* One can also be found on an American power armored soldier during the fight with General Jingwei.
==Notes==
* The version acquired from the VSS Armory cannot be equipped by companions or any other non-player character, but the simulation version obtained through glitches or console commands can.
* With a 100 Energy Weapons skill, the scope does not sway, just as with other sniper rifles affected by the Small Guns skill.
* The Gauss rifle is one of the few Energy Weapons that does not disintegrate the target when they are killed with a critical hit.
* Even though it does have a very large 2mm round magazine located on the right of the gun, no matter how many shots are fired, it never needs to be replaced or reloaded. Only the microfusion cells used to charge the 2mm rounds need to be reloaded. This was done to avoid introducing a seperate ammo type and to provide Energy Weapons players with a sniper role weapon.Emil Pagliarulo in the Bethesda Game Studios forum - "The gun energizes and magnetizes a standard projectile round; those are already preloaded into the weapon, and are in that giant clip attached to the side of the weapon... We did it this way because we knew we wanted to have an energy weapon equivalent of the sniper rifle"
* Although this is quite a powerful ranged rifle, its firing and reload times are extremely long.
* This weapon can only be obtained once without glitches or console commands, so it can only be repaired with alien epoxy (a Mothership Zeta item) or by asking a vendor to repair it.
* With the Finesse perk, nearly every shot fired (V.A.T.S. or not) will score a critical. This is useful against tougher enemies such as super mutant overlords, feral ghoul reavers, Enclave Hellfire troopers, albino radscorpions, and aliens. This is also an ideal way to take out super mutant behemoths as the high damage combined with the knockdown effect makes it more useful than even the Victory rifle since the high damage means fewer shots are required to kill.
* If a target's weapon were to be shot and broken with a critical hit, the enemy will go flying several feet without taking any fall damage.
* Although Gauss rifles are seen on Chinese propaganda posters throughout the Anchorage simulation, none of the Chinese soldiers carry one.
* It is sometimes advantageous to switch to a melee weapon while the enemy is knocked down to finish them off. This is especially true due to the slow fire rate and reload speeds.
==Bugs==
* The scope on the Gauss rifle, like on the sniper rifle, is not perfectly zeroed. The shot will travel up and to the right of the target at extreme distances. 
* Occasionally, shots dealt from the Gauss rifle will not do damage, regardless of the type of hit it was (crippling hit, critical strike, sneak attack critical). However, it can still knock down enemies and cripple them. 
* This weapon does not deal proper damage when in V.A.T.S. Any hit will do exactly 95.244% of the maximum damage, regardless of enemy DR, critical hits, or sneak attacks. This means that, with 100 Energy Weapons, a Gauss rifle shot will do 95.244 points of damage with every V.A.T.S. shot. This is still lower than free aiming, and no bonuses are applied to headshots. 
* Being knocked down, either by a gas explosion or a frag grenade, the Gauss rifle may go flying. It will stay wherever it lands, and pulling the trigger will cause the rifle to fire from wherever it landed. This can also be achieved if the impact of the rifle's shots are too close and knock the weapon out of the character's hands. Holstering the weapon has no effect. Equipping another weapon will fix the issue. 
* Having any type of power armor equipped at the same time the rifle is equipped, the air tanks and valve on the armor will disappear. This is because it has the "hide backpack" flag marked, despite not having a backpack component like other weapons with this flag (minigun, Gatling laser, etc.). 
* Critical shots to the target's weapon will still knock them down. 
* Critical shots that do not kill will occasionally cause the target to fall through the map. 
* Sometimes in V.A.T.S when firing, there will be a slight delay for firing but the firing sound will be normal, like when reloading and the sound for it is already done. 
* Sometimes if the Gauss rifle is fired straight down when standing, the view will switch to third person and the rifle will be knocked out of one's hands until the reload animation finishes. It usually takes more than one shot since it does not always do damage. 
* During the Gauss rifle's jam animation, the crank handle on the right hand side of the gun remains static. This was fixed in Fallout: New Vegas.
==Sounds==
			
			
==Gallery==
FO3 sealed armory2.jpg|Location in the Outcast outpost's sealed armory
Gauss rifle Guide.jpg|The scope view and the required aim compensation for a head shot
==References==
Non-game
Category:Fallout 3 Energy Weapons skill weapons
Category:Operation: Anchorage weapons
Category:Fallout 3 unique weapons
es:Cañón Gauss (Operation: Anchorage)
de:Gaussgewehr (Fallout 3)
it:Fucile Gauss
nl:Scoped Gauss Rifle
pl:Karabin Gaussa (Fallout 3)
ru:Винтовка Гаусса (Fallout 3)
uk:Гвинтівка Гауса (Fallout 3)
zh:高斯步枪 (Fallout 3)