Description:

This is a very simple mod that just replaces the Minigun you get on the Museum of Freedom rooftop (Concord) for a Broken Minigun that has lower stats and is not upgradable. This is sort of a companion mod to Broken T-45 on Concord Museum Rooftop mod, I liked the idea of not getting Power Armor and a Minigun in top condition right at the beginning of the game so I decided to make this one to address the minigun specifically.

The story here is that Sturges told you to rip off the Minigun from the Vertibird and by doing so the weapon became damaged beyond repair. It will still work, but it will be less efficient than an undamaged Minigun, encouraging you to eventually swap it for a fully functional one. As of v1.2 you'll get a notification when you rip it off telling you the weapon has received severe damage.


Broken Minigun stats:

• Base damage: 5 (vanilla is 8)
• Capacity: 300 rounds (vanilla is 500 rounds)
• AP Cost: 35 (vanilla is 30)
• Speed: 2.0 (vanilla is 3.0)
• Reload Speed: 0.6 (vanilla is 1.0)
• DPS: 67 (vanilla is 184, this value is calculated automatically by the game so I didn't change it directly)
• Weight: 16 (vanilla is 18), something broke in weapon so now it's a bit lighter
  

Additional changes:

• Weapon is no longer upgradable, can't switch paints/materials and no legendary slot either.
• It will still benefit from Heavy Gunner perk if you have ranks in it.
• ESP flagged as ESL (won't count towards your maximum ESP limit).
  

A word on ammo:

I initially intended to just reduce the amount of 5mm ammo you get but for some reason the changes I was making to the ammoCount variable would refuse to work. Eventually I gave up and decided to change the minigun for a crappier version, since the DPS is much lower now, the additional ammo you get kind of makes sense now as you will need it for the weapon to perform closer to a fully operational Minigun.

Compatibility:

This mod doesn't change quests or uses scripts, it just edits the activator for the Minigun located inside the Vertibird on that rooftop, so it should be compatible with almost anything as long as they don't edit that same activator.

Check 'Recommended' below for a few other mods that help improve early game progression if you like this type of approach, you can read 'Why I made this mod' if you want to know why this bothered me so much that I decided to make a mod just to change this specific weapon that you get so early into the game and nerf it.


How I recommend you use this mod:

I recommend using these mods together to smooth the early game gear and encounter progression:

• Minigun: use this mod. :)
  

• Power Armor: you have a few options if you don't want to remove the Power Armor entirely, I dislike the idea of removing the Power Armor or the minigun completely as it would make Sturges voiced dialogue inaccurate (he does mention "a full suit of cherry T-45 Power Armor" and says that the vertibird has "a minigun, and it seems to be intact"), so I prefer to use mods that limit their functionality rather than remove them entirely. You can still have your cool moment dropping from the roof wearing an early Power Armor and minigun without having to ruin your early game power level experience after that encounter.
  

- Broken T-45 on Concord Museum Rooftop: this mod replaces the T-45 Power Armor with a broken version that is beyond repair (cannot be repaired, cannot be upgraded, cannot be painted), once it's fully damaged you get to keep its Frame, but the other armor pieces you'll have to scrap (drop them on the ground and scrap them in workshop mode).

- No Free Power Armor in Concord: this mod will make the free Power Armor you get at the rooftop of the Museum a single-use by making it explode after the Concord encounter is over due to some technical defect (unstable fusion core maybe). After the fight is over you will be given a countdown notification and you will be forced out of the Power Armor in order to run away. Once the timer reaches zero a mini nuke will detonate, destroying both the Power Armor suit and its frame.

- Concord Power Armor Replacer: this mod will replace the Power Armor with a different model, I would suggest going with just the 'Naked Frame' version as the other models make Sturges' dialogue feel inaccurate. If you really want a different model and you don't care about what Sturges says (perhaps he got the model number wrong) then I would highly suggest you go with the Raider Power Armor version, this model is actually the worst one in the game, and it will make any other Power Armor model you find a better choice, so as a starter version it's a good option (it would also explain why the raiders are attacking the people at the Museum, perhaps they want to get to that Power Armor at the top).

• Deathclaw: use my other mod Concord - Supermutant Boss Instead of Deathclaw.
  

• Early 10mm Pistol: use Vault 111 10mm Pistol Lockep Up mod to force yourself to use Pipe pistols and rifles at the beginning of the game instead of the 10mm pistol. Reason? Check out this video.
  

• XP (optional): use XP-GEM to reduce the amount of XP you gain and level up slower, there's plenty of XP in the game to go around.
  

• Economy (optional): use Harder Barter - Expensive Prices to increase vendors prices and reduce the amount of caps they pay you for your stuff.
  

Why I made this mod:

Ever since Fallout 4 came out I've had this annoying issue with the way the game progresses throughout the first quests: Out of Time -> When Freedom Calls.

It has always bothered me that you get early access to a fully functional Power Armor, a minigun, and of all things they put a Deathclaw for you to face, but they had to nerf it in order for the damn thing not to kill you because if they put a real one you would be dead in 2 seconds. While I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed the quick adrenaline rush of having that type of fight and gear early on, in my case it really felt like the game was giving me too much and not letting me earn it by exploring the world.

In previous Fallout games Deathclaws and Power Armors (and to a lesser extend Miniguns as well) usually were mid to late game gear/encounters, and miniguns didn't suck as they do in FO4 (I feel they basically had to nerf all miniguns in order for them to give you one so early into the game). What's more, Power Armor used to require 'Power Armor Training', you didn't just automatically knew how to equip or use one, but that's a topic for a different discussion.

Another reason the whole Concord encounter felt weird to me is because you just came out of Vault 111, you were fighting roaches there and in Sanctuary, then you go to Red Rocket and you fight some molerats and a couple of bloodbugs on the way to Concord, where you face some low level raiders terrorizing some poor people bunkered inside an old museum. All of a sudden you are given Power Armor, a minigun and you kill a Deathclaw... and then you go back to killing roaches and dogs and low level raiders all over again. The huge spike in gear and enemy type feels out of place and odd to me, little did I know other people felt the exact same way and some even made entire videos about this.

There are some mods that attempt to change these issues by removing the Deathclaw (although they seem a bit intrusive with their approach as they touch quests and scripts), or removing the power armor and minigun, but I didn't like them because:
- on the one hand, I don't like just not facing any enemy at all
- on the other hand, Sturges says there's a T-45 on the roof, as well as a minigun

So I decided to replace the Deathclaw with a Supermutant in the mod I recommend above, and I decided to change the Minigun with a broken version in this one.


Installation:

- Install using your mod manager of choice.
- ESP flagged as ESL.
- Load order shouldn't really matter, but since the content of the mod only really matters at the beginning of the game I would say put it early in your load order.


Check out my other mods:

- Blue Duct Tape
- Bottle Labels Overhaul - Dirty Water Mesh Replacer
- Carry More with Power Armor REDUX
- Concord - Broken Minigun on Rooftop
- Concord - Supermutant Boss Instead of Deathclaw
- Crippled Limbs - Delayed Regeneration
- Dogmeat's Backpacks of the Commonwealth
- Guard More Posts
- Harder Barter - Expensive Prices
- Power Armor HUD - Left and Right Indicators
- Unique - Quest Items Are Not Junk
- VAFS Redux - Awareness perk fixes
- Wedding Rings XP
- XP - GEM (Global Experience Multiplier)