I named her "Motoko" in honor of Major Motoko Kusanagi (turn on subtitles by "CC" button there, if you're going to watch this one).
This took me couple days to figure out, but finally i am quite sure about every last detail. So i share it here - 1st the build itself; 2nd reasoning for each bit of it, including certain important Restoration Project specifics; and 3rd, certain considerations about how different aspects of the build and game interact, explaining why chosen values and selections are optimal.
Please do point out any mistakes or oversights - if you spot any. Hope is, there are none.
1. The build
Traits: Gifted + Fast Shot
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
5 8 4 6 9 8 7
tagged skills: Melee Weapons, Lockpick, Speech
cosmetics: name - Motoko; gender - female; age - 26; style - default.
Sidenote. Interestingly, as much as i know Motojo Kusanagi's personality from the manga and the original 1995's anime - she's indeed one very gifted person; she's definitely fast shot; she's indeed moderately strong (for a cyborg, that is); actually very perceptive; about moderately durable (with Batou being such a stonewall in contrast); has some "femme" charm but not exceptional amount of it; is exceptionally intelligent; highly agile; and quite very lucky. In other words, this build is quite a good Fallout-universe replica of the personality! Even "default" style (Restoration Project character creation option) has her hair being quite similar to the original in both color and shape, as you can see through the link above. Talk about coincedences, eh. %)
2. Reasons
The build is "generalist", because it can do anything in the game, and do it well, if the player knows what he's doing. The build is "perfectionist", because it allows to (practically - not numerically!) perfect every aspect of the game, if played by a perfectionist. In particular:
2.1. Gifted trait: another name for "Generalist" idea. Simply required.
2.2. "Fast Shot" trait allows, in almost all combat situations, to have both highest tactical flexibility and highest DPS possible, by allowing up to 6 shots a turn from any weapon which has base AP cost = 4. Furthermore, this build can enjoy 100% critical hits chance for each of those shots, landed with 100% chance for each crit to ignore enemy armor, too (see 3.1 below for details about it).
2.3. Strength 5: allows perfect 10 later in the game (surgery +1, advanced power armor +4). More importantly, it's not 4 (which is a staple for so many similar builds), because a) it allows to have greater temporary Strength penalties for boosting skills for less points (see 3.2 below), and b) it allows +25% increase to starting carrying capacity and this extra Strength point is not quite "needed" anywhere else.
2.4. Perception 8: allows perfect 10 later in the game (surgery +1, perk +1). While doable with as low as 6 starting perception, i deem it important to allow potential for maximum obtainable Sequence and Range, both of which are important bits for gun fights. Also useful in some quests, iirc.
2.5. Endurance 4: i find this optimal value for several reasons: 1st, certain useful perks require 6, and being initial 4 means you're single buffout away from any such perk; 2nd, Lifegiver perk increases your HP gained per level by 4 (doubling it), which is the equivalent of getting +8 Endurance for getting more HP per level, that is - yet Lifegiver itself requires Endurance = 4; 3rd, you'd die way too easily to certain "withdrawal" drug effects with any less endurance; 4th, going with lower endurance early-game makes the character a bit way too fragile for many players; 5th, New Reno's movie industry Endurance check (8 points needed) is still doable by double Buffout dose - it wouldn't be doable i think with Endurance = 2, since withdrawal from double buffout would set you to 0 in this stat, which should kill you; so minimum of 3 is needed for this one, but then 3 is odd and thus does the same for your HP per level as having 2 - thus undesirable too;
2.6. Charisma 6: no, this is not only to be able to have up to 5 followers in the game in the same time (+1 surgery, +1 shades, and having Magnetic Personality perk or using Mentats). Note that Restoration Project adds few new recruitable ones in the EPA, and Restoration Project fixes companions so that they can improve to Stage 6 instead of being capped to Stage 5, making them more powerful end-game.
But Cha 6 at the start is also for those hidden sex stats - Charisma is the main SPECIAL stat for it, and you can obtain _every_ sex-related dialog and reputation in the game if you take "Kama Sutra" early, which this build can get right after getting level 3 (single dose of Buffout to raise Endurance to get this perk will be needed). Then this is also for certain quests in the game (sometimes you'll need to gulp single Mentats on top of Shades and Surgery to get 9 Charisma) - for example, you get extra Guns and Bullets from Metzger in the Den early in the game if you're female and have 6 Charisma, from a bookshelf in his room after having sex (this also halves Vic's release cost from 1000 to 500). Then this is also helpful for early-game barter (i think). Last but not least, Restoration Project restored functionality of certain Charisma-based perks, and you can eventually get all of them if that's your fancy - even the one requiring 10 Charisma, - when you start at 6.
2.7. Intelligence 9: perfect 10 after surgery. Also, it's good to counter -5 per level from Gifted; good for some few quests / speech checks (Vault City comes to mind); and also good for Intelligence-based skills (First Aid, Doctor, Science, Repair, Outdoorsman) if using lower-stat method described in 3.2 of this post (also works wonders with corresponding books; and double doze of Mentats offers 3 days of -4 Intelligence for withdrawal period, which coupled with Mentats addiction already drops Int by -7, and the addiction to Psycho makes this -9, and if you need -8, then substitude Mentats addiction by 600+ Rem of radiaction, which should still not kill you (1000 Rem will)).
2.8. Agility = 8. Perfect permanent 10 is doable in Restoration Project by taking two of the following: +1 item in EPA; +1 from certain date (only possible if the girl agreed to the date before the end of the main story, however the date itself can only happen after the end of the main storyline); +1 from perk. Both 1st and 2nd things are only available in Restoration Project. Obviously, starting with 10 would allow 1 extra AP from the start, but Fast Shot makes it not that much important, and even the starting Spear is 4 AP weapon, means it's good enough for 2 hits a turn if you'd want. Also, taking 10 from the start means you'll never be able to get +1 permanent from neither EPA nor the perk, wasting good bit of "generalist" nature of this build, as points would be taken from some other stat.
2.9. Luck = 7. Perfect 10 is doable with +2 from Zeta Scan and +1 from perk. The latter can quite conviniently be taken at level 21, right before taking Sniper at level 24 (Sniper + Luck 10 makes every shot critical, simple as that). Now, Restoration Project mentions "fixing" Pariah Dog encounter in terms of making character's Luck back to what it was before meeting the dog, but i don't know what exactly the fix is and if it always work. Rumor is, some folks managed to walk away after killing this dog with more luck than they had before getting involved with this unfortunate dog. In case it still happens in Restoration Project in some games, - the Luck is 7: if by the time you're level 23 you've managed to pull this "dog trick" and your Luck increased - you'd obviously wouldn't need to spend a perk for it. But if your Luck is 8 from the start, then you wouldn't even have a chance at it, as the Scan would already put you to 10 anyhow.
2.10. Tagged Melee Weapons. This is because every other combat skill has reasons not to be tagged from the start. Namely: Small Guns can be raised to ~130% using books and books only and then spending some 10...15 skill points during the last Guns'n'Bullets reading "session" (see 3.2 for details); Energy Weapons and Big Gins are both hardly available early-game, and by the time you get those and their ammo aplenty, most likely you're already quite good with Small Guns from reading books; Unarmed gets increased in several locations without spending a single skill point - IF it remains low enough, that is, so raising it early in the game kills those opportunities; and Throwing is just not good enough to use as a main combat skill.
2.11. Tagged Lockpick. This is because the skill is useful both early in and throughout the whole game; also because there are certain locks which are hard enough even with any sort of lockpicks; but mainly, because there is not quite something else more useful to pick:
- Sneak? Sure good for certain things, but all those things can be done late enough in game you'd have more than enough skill points to raise Sneak to some 150 if you'd want;
- Doctor? Sure has certain some few times when high enough, but again, totally doable to raise it enough without having it tagged, and early in the game, i feel one benefits from Lockpick more;
- Traps - just silly;
- Steal - well "may be" if you're into stealing, but personally, i just don't steal in the game at all (because it's one skill i consider way too OP and broken, and i'm sure it kills much of the game's enjoyment if practiced at high skill value left and right);
- Barter - i'm sure it can wait to be raised non-tagged because it only allows to buy cheaper, while you sell for same value regardless, and early-game and even mid-game, that's good enough;
- Gambling - even if it'd be significant, which it's hardly, the Restoration Project has certain restored perk which iirc allows to rob slot machines clean;
- And all the "book" skills - shouldn't be tagged, given how many books there are in the game to raise them (which is even more as Restoration Project adds some more in restored locations).
2.12. Tagged Speech. This is like oh so important for all the great quests this build can take and do non-violently because of 9 Int (and at times, high enough Charisma, too, as it affects people's starting reactions to the player character) - but wouldn't be able to do if Speech is not high enough.
3. Considerations
3.1. DPS of ranged attacks in a typical combat situation: Aimed shots vs Fast Shots. This assumes multiple targets present and standard set of end-game ranged perks and stats, namely strictly required Luck 10 plus Sniper and Better Criticals perks; and possibly Living Anatomy and both ranks of Bonus Ranged Damage perks on top of that, which is +9 damage "optional" increase per each shot.
My conclusion is, in vast majority of fights, Fast Shots will allow much higher total damage done per turn, due to the combination of the following facts interacting with each other:
- both approaches will allow to have each hit being critical which ignores enemy armor, but Aimed criticals (assuming hitting eyes and comparably weak parts) will deal, on average, nearly triple damage, while Fast Shot criticals will deal, on average, nearly double damage - per shot. However, assuming using something like Gauss Pistol end-game weapon, we talk two Fast Shot hits for each signle Aimed hit. Therefore, spending 4 AP will allow dealing "triple weapon damage" with Aimed shot, yet "quadruple weapon damage" with two Fast Shot shots. No-brainer, isn't it;
- more shots per turn allows to exterminate more weak targets than possible with less (but more damaging) shots per turn;
- Fast Shot way allows to reduce portions of your damage which are wasted to "overkill";
- Fast Shot does not suffer big accuracy penalties which are applied whenever aiming at "hard to hit" parts during Aimed shots, such as eyes, sensors, heads. Depending on distance to the targets, this may trouble Aimed shots even at very high skill values;
- Fast Shot is a pure benefit to burst weapons, and those are highest single-target DPS weaponry in the game (and by far);
- One of most massive benefits of Fast Shot, when using above mentioned Luck 10 and perks, is the fact that each shot has 20% chance to be instant death - to any target. This is why end-game pistol-class weapons (with base AP cost = 4) shine so much in this setup: 5 to 6 shots a turn each having 20% chance to instantly kill the target no matter what - distance, health amount, damage resistances - is something very nasty. Wanna kill end-game boss in 1 turn using BB gun? Chances are, this build can do it;
- Yet another thing is predictability. Mid-game, with aimed shots, you're taking chances very often: will the shot hit is often much more a gamble than any Fast Shot (which has no penalty to hit chance, since it's a torso shot), and then you also gamble about how damaging your "eye crits" will be - their damage tend to vary much more than damage of torso shots. So, with Fast Shots and some experience, you will know if you're able to drop an enemy or not much more often in compare to any Aimed shot build - and such knowledge is very helpful tactically;
- Fast Shot tactical disadvantage is that it can't cripple specific body parts. However, this is not needed if your target is dead, and in case you _really_ need to cripple some body part of a target - you can still do it using melee weapons;
- Fast Shot economical disadvantage is higher ammo spend if using the same weapon. It can be countered somewhat by using rifle-class weaponry instead of pistol-class weapons, as rifles have higher base damage per shot (though of course pistols typically allow 1.5 times more shots per turn than rifles when being Fast Shot, which is very valuable). In any case, single-fire weapons will still be times less ammo burners than any good burst weapons, so it's one minor disadvantage in me book;
- And as pointed out by Burn, you can do aimed shots much earlier in the game to great effect: Sniper is level 24 perk, so ~half of the game, it's not possible to have 100% Fast Shot crits. However, even without crits, Fast Shot plus a decent burst weapon (including SMGs) will be very formidable, so i don't deem this a major drawback of Fast Shot neither.
So from all the above, the choice is already very clear - Fast Shot wins. But there is one more thing - one certain weapon, only availabe in Restoration Project, and only after completing main story of the game (specifically - after leaving San Francisco for the 1st time after completing the story). I won't spoil everything, but just be sure to have Energy Weapons above 101% by the end of the main story to get this one. It has 3 AP base cost, which should make it 1 AP per shot with Fast Shot and Bonus Rate of Fire perk. Means, up to 12 critical ignored-armor shots per turn. The gun does 30-40 damage per shot, has 40 small energy cells in its clip, and its range is 24. Dig?
3.2. Lowering SPECIAL stats temporarily to get higher skills.
Ok, the basics are simple: you do something which lowers your SPECIAL stat(s) temporarily; this lowers related skills; then you spend skill points into those "lowered for now" skills; then you pass time, SPECIAL values return to normal, skills become correspondedly higher. Thing is, if some skill was lowered to "cheaper range", you spent less skill points to raise it.
Example: your Small Guns are 125%, so you'd spend 3 skill points per each increase normally - but then you get irradiated for -5 agility, so Small Guns drop by 5x4 = 20%, to 105%; then you spend 40 skill points to raise it to 125% _while_ your agility is lowered by 5 points, so it gets to 125%; then you pass time, agility gets back to normal, thus Small Guns "get back" 20%, and so now you're at 145% Small Guns. You'd spend 60 skill points if you'd be doing it "normally", so you just saved yourself 20 skill points outta 60. This works with every skill as soon as you go over 100%.
Things which lower SPECIAL stats - are various drug effects (including certain addictions which are easy to get rid of, in practice), and radiation. The latter is great for the method, and you can combine both drugs and radiation (i believe) to achieve optimal results. However, having less than 4 Endurance will kill you way too often and too much when you'd be trying to lower your SPECIAL stats by significant amounts. This is one more reason this build maintains 4 Endurance.
3.3. Melee Weapons - is not just for Arroyo times. Quite some early-game locations and encounters allow you to do well enough if you're good with Melee Weapons, and there are also some NPCs who improve the skill very early in the game.
Furthermore, the skill remains useful through the game, even end-game after getting your hands on super-sledge, as it allows to knock-back for several tiles whatever "melee attack" creature gets too close to your liking - and then resume shooting it using your favorite pistol / SMG (Fast Shot build prefers those usually), if it's not dead yet.
Another thing yet is one certain melee weapon obtainable in New Reno - so possibly early-game, and easily mid-game, - which does 12-30 base damage with 3 AP base cost, and produces big-time knockback effect (which is great for crowd control and avoiding taking damage, with appropriate positioning and mobility). This weapon can easily save the player many hundreds bullets when dealing with the early-game and mid-game animals, melee-armed humans and such. But only if one can hit reliably, which means good enough Melee Weapons skill is needed.
This is how tagging Melee Weapons skill (which otherwise would most likely remain too low to use in practice) can help with this build Fast Shot's tendency to consume more ammo than any Aimed shot capable build would. This may be most important mid-game, when Small Guns are already developed good enough to use it often (primarily via books), but Barter is still low and money reserves are not that high yet, so buying ammo in large amounts is not yet readily available. See, it's all related.
3.4. Perks to get during levelling up. This is the best part of this build: you can go any kind of character with this build, and you'd still end up doing whatever role you decided to do practically perfectly. Namely:
- grow up most capable sniper out of this starting build, taking appropriate perks (as named in 3.1 above);
- but you can also end up being perfect Unarmed fighter, if you go for that kind of perks "instead" (few of those perks will require gulping a Buffout to meet the stat requirements, but it's easily doable by the time you'll need to get those);
- concentrate on Charisma-based perks instead, playing "non-combat" character and relying on your party members to take out bad guys when need be;
- tag Big Guns after getting it to ~150 non-tagged, which will make it 300 instantly, and coupled with 9 or 10 Perception and Fast Shot, become as deadly and precise as good old T-850.
Etc. Or, you can do it all if you get busy getting enough levels to get all those perks, too. And you can do it all perfectly, without being hindered by certain "wrong" choice of Special stat and/or trait at the start.
P.S. Or, of course, you can pick up that funny book from that funny chapel in New Reno after completing main quest line, but hey, isn't it cheap. You know.
This took me couple days to figure out, but finally i am quite sure about every last detail. So i share it here - 1st the build itself; 2nd reasoning for each bit of it, including certain important Restoration Project specifics; and 3rd, certain considerations about how different aspects of the build and game interact, explaining why chosen values and selections are optimal.
Please do point out any mistakes or oversights - if you spot any. Hope is, there are none.
1. The build
Traits: Gifted + Fast Shot
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
5 8 4 6 9 8 7
tagged skills: Melee Weapons, Lockpick, Speech
cosmetics: name - Motoko; gender - female; age - 26; style - default.
Sidenote. Interestingly, as much as i know Motojo Kusanagi's personality from the manga and the original 1995's anime - she's indeed one very gifted person; she's definitely fast shot; she's indeed moderately strong (for a cyborg, that is); actually very perceptive; about moderately durable (with Batou being such a stonewall in contrast); has some "femme" charm but not exceptional amount of it; is exceptionally intelligent; highly agile; and quite very lucky. In other words, this build is quite a good Fallout-universe replica of the personality! Even "default" style (Restoration Project character creation option) has her hair being quite similar to the original in both color and shape, as you can see through the link above. Talk about coincedences, eh. %)
2. Reasons
The build is "generalist", because it can do anything in the game, and do it well, if the player knows what he's doing. The build is "perfectionist", because it allows to (practically - not numerically!) perfect every aspect of the game, if played by a perfectionist. In particular:
2.1. Gifted trait: another name for "Generalist" idea. Simply required.
2.2. "Fast Shot" trait allows, in almost all combat situations, to have both highest tactical flexibility and highest DPS possible, by allowing up to 6 shots a turn from any weapon which has base AP cost = 4. Furthermore, this build can enjoy 100% critical hits chance for each of those shots, landed with 100% chance for each crit to ignore enemy armor, too (see 3.1 below for details about it).
2.3. Strength 5: allows perfect 10 later in the game (surgery +1, advanced power armor +4). More importantly, it's not 4 (which is a staple for so many similar builds), because a) it allows to have greater temporary Strength penalties for boosting skills for less points (see 3.2 below), and b) it allows +25% increase to starting carrying capacity and this extra Strength point is not quite "needed" anywhere else.
2.4. Perception 8: allows perfect 10 later in the game (surgery +1, perk +1). While doable with as low as 6 starting perception, i deem it important to allow potential for maximum obtainable Sequence and Range, both of which are important bits for gun fights. Also useful in some quests, iirc.
2.5. Endurance 4: i find this optimal value for several reasons: 1st, certain useful perks require 6, and being initial 4 means you're single buffout away from any such perk; 2nd, Lifegiver perk increases your HP gained per level by 4 (doubling it), which is the equivalent of getting +8 Endurance for getting more HP per level, that is - yet Lifegiver itself requires Endurance = 4; 3rd, you'd die way too easily to certain "withdrawal" drug effects with any less endurance; 4th, going with lower endurance early-game makes the character a bit way too fragile for many players; 5th, New Reno's movie industry Endurance check (8 points needed) is still doable by double Buffout dose - it wouldn't be doable i think with Endurance = 2, since withdrawal from double buffout would set you to 0 in this stat, which should kill you; so minimum of 3 is needed for this one, but then 3 is odd and thus does the same for your HP per level as having 2 - thus undesirable too;
2.6. Charisma 6: no, this is not only to be able to have up to 5 followers in the game in the same time (+1 surgery, +1 shades, and having Magnetic Personality perk or using Mentats). Note that Restoration Project adds few new recruitable ones in the EPA, and Restoration Project fixes companions so that they can improve to Stage 6 instead of being capped to Stage 5, making them more powerful end-game.
But Cha 6 at the start is also for those hidden sex stats - Charisma is the main SPECIAL stat for it, and you can obtain _every_ sex-related dialog and reputation in the game if you take "Kama Sutra" early, which this build can get right after getting level 3 (single dose of Buffout to raise Endurance to get this perk will be needed). Then this is also for certain quests in the game (sometimes you'll need to gulp single Mentats on top of Shades and Surgery to get 9 Charisma) - for example, you get extra Guns and Bullets from Metzger in the Den early in the game if you're female and have 6 Charisma, from a bookshelf in his room after having sex (this also halves Vic's release cost from 1000 to 500). Then this is also helpful for early-game barter (i think). Last but not least, Restoration Project restored functionality of certain Charisma-based perks, and you can eventually get all of them if that's your fancy - even the one requiring 10 Charisma, - when you start at 6.
2.7. Intelligence 9: perfect 10 after surgery. Also, it's good to counter -5 per level from Gifted; good for some few quests / speech checks (Vault City comes to mind); and also good for Intelligence-based skills (First Aid, Doctor, Science, Repair, Outdoorsman) if using lower-stat method described in 3.2 of this post (also works wonders with corresponding books; and double doze of Mentats offers 3 days of -4 Intelligence for withdrawal period, which coupled with Mentats addiction already drops Int by -7, and the addiction to Psycho makes this -9, and if you need -8, then substitude Mentats addiction by 600+ Rem of radiaction, which should still not kill you (1000 Rem will)).
2.8. Agility = 8. Perfect permanent 10 is doable in Restoration Project by taking two of the following: +1 item in EPA; +1 from certain date (only possible if the girl agreed to the date before the end of the main story, however the date itself can only happen after the end of the main storyline); +1 from perk. Both 1st and 2nd things are only available in Restoration Project. Obviously, starting with 10 would allow 1 extra AP from the start, but Fast Shot makes it not that much important, and even the starting Spear is 4 AP weapon, means it's good enough for 2 hits a turn if you'd want. Also, taking 10 from the start means you'll never be able to get +1 permanent from neither EPA nor the perk, wasting good bit of "generalist" nature of this build, as points would be taken from some other stat.
2.9. Luck = 7. Perfect 10 is doable with +2 from Zeta Scan and +1 from perk. The latter can quite conviniently be taken at level 21, right before taking Sniper at level 24 (Sniper + Luck 10 makes every shot critical, simple as that). Now, Restoration Project mentions "fixing" Pariah Dog encounter in terms of making character's Luck back to what it was before meeting the dog, but i don't know what exactly the fix is and if it always work. Rumor is, some folks managed to walk away after killing this dog with more luck than they had before getting involved with this unfortunate dog. In case it still happens in Restoration Project in some games, - the Luck is 7: if by the time you're level 23 you've managed to pull this "dog trick" and your Luck increased - you'd obviously wouldn't need to spend a perk for it. But if your Luck is 8 from the start, then you wouldn't even have a chance at it, as the Scan would already put you to 10 anyhow.
2.10. Tagged Melee Weapons. This is because every other combat skill has reasons not to be tagged from the start. Namely: Small Guns can be raised to ~130% using books and books only and then spending some 10...15 skill points during the last Guns'n'Bullets reading "session" (see 3.2 for details); Energy Weapons and Big Gins are both hardly available early-game, and by the time you get those and their ammo aplenty, most likely you're already quite good with Small Guns from reading books; Unarmed gets increased in several locations without spending a single skill point - IF it remains low enough, that is, so raising it early in the game kills those opportunities; and Throwing is just not good enough to use as a main combat skill.
2.11. Tagged Lockpick. This is because the skill is useful both early in and throughout the whole game; also because there are certain locks which are hard enough even with any sort of lockpicks; but mainly, because there is not quite something else more useful to pick:
- Sneak? Sure good for certain things, but all those things can be done late enough in game you'd have more than enough skill points to raise Sneak to some 150 if you'd want;
- Doctor? Sure has certain some few times when high enough, but again, totally doable to raise it enough without having it tagged, and early in the game, i feel one benefits from Lockpick more;
- Traps - just silly;
- Steal - well "may be" if you're into stealing, but personally, i just don't steal in the game at all (because it's one skill i consider way too OP and broken, and i'm sure it kills much of the game's enjoyment if practiced at high skill value left and right);
- Barter - i'm sure it can wait to be raised non-tagged because it only allows to buy cheaper, while you sell for same value regardless, and early-game and even mid-game, that's good enough;
- Gambling - even if it'd be significant, which it's hardly, the Restoration Project has certain restored perk which iirc allows to rob slot machines clean;
- And all the "book" skills - shouldn't be tagged, given how many books there are in the game to raise them (which is even more as Restoration Project adds some more in restored locations).
2.12. Tagged Speech. This is like oh so important for all the great quests this build can take and do non-violently because of 9 Int (and at times, high enough Charisma, too, as it affects people's starting reactions to the player character) - but wouldn't be able to do if Speech is not high enough.
3. Considerations
3.1. DPS of ranged attacks in a typical combat situation: Aimed shots vs Fast Shots. This assumes multiple targets present and standard set of end-game ranged perks and stats, namely strictly required Luck 10 plus Sniper and Better Criticals perks; and possibly Living Anatomy and both ranks of Bonus Ranged Damage perks on top of that, which is +9 damage "optional" increase per each shot.
My conclusion is, in vast majority of fights, Fast Shots will allow much higher total damage done per turn, due to the combination of the following facts interacting with each other:
- both approaches will allow to have each hit being critical which ignores enemy armor, but Aimed criticals (assuming hitting eyes and comparably weak parts) will deal, on average, nearly triple damage, while Fast Shot criticals will deal, on average, nearly double damage - per shot. However, assuming using something like Gauss Pistol end-game weapon, we talk two Fast Shot hits for each signle Aimed hit. Therefore, spending 4 AP will allow dealing "triple weapon damage" with Aimed shot, yet "quadruple weapon damage" with two Fast Shot shots. No-brainer, isn't it;
- more shots per turn allows to exterminate more weak targets than possible with less (but more damaging) shots per turn;
- Fast Shot way allows to reduce portions of your damage which are wasted to "overkill";
- Fast Shot does not suffer big accuracy penalties which are applied whenever aiming at "hard to hit" parts during Aimed shots, such as eyes, sensors, heads. Depending on distance to the targets, this may trouble Aimed shots even at very high skill values;
- Fast Shot is a pure benefit to burst weapons, and those are highest single-target DPS weaponry in the game (and by far);
- One of most massive benefits of Fast Shot, when using above mentioned Luck 10 and perks, is the fact that each shot has 20% chance to be instant death - to any target. This is why end-game pistol-class weapons (with base AP cost = 4) shine so much in this setup: 5 to 6 shots a turn each having 20% chance to instantly kill the target no matter what - distance, health amount, damage resistances - is something very nasty. Wanna kill end-game boss in 1 turn using BB gun? Chances are, this build can do it;
- Yet another thing is predictability. Mid-game, with aimed shots, you're taking chances very often: will the shot hit is often much more a gamble than any Fast Shot (which has no penalty to hit chance, since it's a torso shot), and then you also gamble about how damaging your "eye crits" will be - their damage tend to vary much more than damage of torso shots. So, with Fast Shots and some experience, you will know if you're able to drop an enemy or not much more often in compare to any Aimed shot build - and such knowledge is very helpful tactically;
- Fast Shot tactical disadvantage is that it can't cripple specific body parts. However, this is not needed if your target is dead, and in case you _really_ need to cripple some body part of a target - you can still do it using melee weapons;
- Fast Shot economical disadvantage is higher ammo spend if using the same weapon. It can be countered somewhat by using rifle-class weaponry instead of pistol-class weapons, as rifles have higher base damage per shot (though of course pistols typically allow 1.5 times more shots per turn than rifles when being Fast Shot, which is very valuable). In any case, single-fire weapons will still be times less ammo burners than any good burst weapons, so it's one minor disadvantage in me book;
- And as pointed out by Burn, you can do aimed shots much earlier in the game to great effect: Sniper is level 24 perk, so ~half of the game, it's not possible to have 100% Fast Shot crits. However, even without crits, Fast Shot plus a decent burst weapon (including SMGs) will be very formidable, so i don't deem this a major drawback of Fast Shot neither.
So from all the above, the choice is already very clear - Fast Shot wins. But there is one more thing - one certain weapon, only availabe in Restoration Project, and only after completing main story of the game (specifically - after leaving San Francisco for the 1st time after completing the story). I won't spoil everything, but just be sure to have Energy Weapons above 101% by the end of the main story to get this one. It has 3 AP base cost, which should make it 1 AP per shot with Fast Shot and Bonus Rate of Fire perk. Means, up to 12 critical ignored-armor shots per turn. The gun does 30-40 damage per shot, has 40 small energy cells in its clip, and its range is 24. Dig?
3.2. Lowering SPECIAL stats temporarily to get higher skills.
Ok, the basics are simple: you do something which lowers your SPECIAL stat(s) temporarily; this lowers related skills; then you spend skill points into those "lowered for now" skills; then you pass time, SPECIAL values return to normal, skills become correspondedly higher. Thing is, if some skill was lowered to "cheaper range", you spent less skill points to raise it.
Example: your Small Guns are 125%, so you'd spend 3 skill points per each increase normally - but then you get irradiated for -5 agility, so Small Guns drop by 5x4 = 20%, to 105%; then you spend 40 skill points to raise it to 125% _while_ your agility is lowered by 5 points, so it gets to 125%; then you pass time, agility gets back to normal, thus Small Guns "get back" 20%, and so now you're at 145% Small Guns. You'd spend 60 skill points if you'd be doing it "normally", so you just saved yourself 20 skill points outta 60. This works with every skill as soon as you go over 100%.
Things which lower SPECIAL stats - are various drug effects (including certain addictions which are easy to get rid of, in practice), and radiation. The latter is great for the method, and you can combine both drugs and radiation (i believe) to achieve optimal results. However, having less than 4 Endurance will kill you way too often and too much when you'd be trying to lower your SPECIAL stats by significant amounts. This is one more reason this build maintains 4 Endurance.
3.3. Melee Weapons - is not just for Arroyo times. Quite some early-game locations and encounters allow you to do well enough if you're good with Melee Weapons, and there are also some NPCs who improve the skill very early in the game.
Furthermore, the skill remains useful through the game, even end-game after getting your hands on super-sledge, as it allows to knock-back for several tiles whatever "melee attack" creature gets too close to your liking - and then resume shooting it using your favorite pistol / SMG (Fast Shot build prefers those usually), if it's not dead yet.
Another thing yet is one certain melee weapon obtainable in New Reno - so possibly early-game, and easily mid-game, - which does 12-30 base damage with 3 AP base cost, and produces big-time knockback effect (which is great for crowd control and avoiding taking damage, with appropriate positioning and mobility). This weapon can easily save the player many hundreds bullets when dealing with the early-game and mid-game animals, melee-armed humans and such. But only if one can hit reliably, which means good enough Melee Weapons skill is needed.
This is how tagging Melee Weapons skill (which otherwise would most likely remain too low to use in practice) can help with this build Fast Shot's tendency to consume more ammo than any Aimed shot capable build would. This may be most important mid-game, when Small Guns are already developed good enough to use it often (primarily via books), but Barter is still low and money reserves are not that high yet, so buying ammo in large amounts is not yet readily available. See, it's all related.
3.4. Perks to get during levelling up. This is the best part of this build: you can go any kind of character with this build, and you'd still end up doing whatever role you decided to do practically perfectly. Namely:
- grow up most capable sniper out of this starting build, taking appropriate perks (as named in 3.1 above);
- but you can also end up being perfect Unarmed fighter, if you go for that kind of perks "instead" (few of those perks will require gulping a Buffout to meet the stat requirements, but it's easily doable by the time you'll need to get those);
- concentrate on Charisma-based perks instead, playing "non-combat" character and relying on your party members to take out bad guys when need be;
- tag Big Guns after getting it to ~150 non-tagged, which will make it 300 instantly, and coupled with 9 or 10 Perception and Fast Shot, become as deadly and precise as good old T-850.
Etc. Or, you can do it all if you get busy getting enough levels to get all those perks, too. And you can do it all perfectly, without being hindered by certain "wrong" choice of Special stat and/or trait at the start.
P.S. Or, of course, you can pick up that funny book from that funny chapel in New Reno after completing main quest line, but hey, isn't it cheap. You know.
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And the 3rd difference, happening whenever you're doing this 9 to 10 surgery, is corresponding increase in all skills which are calculated from INT. Between 6 of those, all of them quite useful in their ways, that's noticeable bonus right off the bat.
