Lore:
The BAL7, developed by General Atomics, was the publicly available alternative of the military AER9 laser. Originally marketed as a varmint rifle for rodents and small game with the gimmick of 'instant and clean vaporization', the BAL7 was popular among tinkerers who figured out ways to dramatically increase it's power output. It's simple design and durable parts made it ideal for both personal customization and a wide range of game hunting...as long as power conservation wasn't an issue.

Balance:
The Break Action Laser is meant to fill a powergap that was frustratingly missing from standard laser weapons. Laser scatter weapons are nearly useless outside of a near melee range (and totally unsatisfying to use), and semi-auto lasers lack the power output to be useful late-game weapons. The BAL fills that early gap by providing an upgradable shotgun that has a moderate range.

Later on, with higher levels of Science and GunNut, the BAL can fill other roles in your arsenal (and give you a worthwhile way to burn off fusion cells). The Lobber Muzzle turns the weapon into a grenade launcher, lobbing fast medium range explosives. The Discharger Muzzle offers the longest possible range with an accurate and powerful singleshot blast that can rival the resistance penetration of the most powerful ballistic weapons.

Notes:
All configurations of the BAL use standard fusion cells to work, this is to avoid tedious chemlab ammo conversions. That's not to say you'll be doing Gauss rifle levels of damage for a single fusion cell, additional ammo is removed from your bag with each shot.

Custom sounds give each Muzzle option an appropriately satisfying punch rather than the standard laser 'pew'.

Fully compatible with CROSS Crit Gore Overhaul without a patch.

Patch for Fustion Cells Are Batteries here.

Xbox Link (finally lol): https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/4114754







-The BAL is added to various leveled lists in the world via a script, no vanilla records are edited.
-Most enemies that can have lasers by default have a chance to carry one, with gunners being the most likely.
-Most gun vendors can spawn them in their shops as well.
-Legendary spawns are also enabled, they begin showing up at level 15+
-You can craft the BAL at a chemlab (or Cybernetics Lab if you use CROSS_Cybernetics).
-Console search "Break action Laser" to get the loadorder unique ID, use the ID ending in 0017F9.

Legendary Locations:
-Institute:
-Default:



Grip: Short / None / Long
--Short Grip offers a balance between weight and stability.
--None option is lightweight but reduces accuracy significantly.
--Long Stock grants high aimed stability at the cost of weight.

Muzzle: Scatter Arc / Fusion Lobber / Discharger
--Scatter Arc fills the role of shotgun. It fires 8 bolts of energy in a tight arc with moderate range. Magsize of 3, with 5 total cells per shot.
--Fusion Lobber is like a grenade launcher. Uses the EXPLOSIVES perk (does not benefit from rifleman at all). The ball of energy it fires explodes on impact and deals bonus damage for direct hits. The damage display in-menus is BEFORE the added perk damage. Magsize of 1, 15 total cells per shot.
--Discharger is a more traditional hitscan laser. This laser scales far better into the late game than standard lasers, with its extreme damage per shot it is able to penetrate energy resistance more effectively. Magsize of 2, 8 total cells per shot.

Core:
--Core tiers follow progression similar to standard weapons, they add no new functionality but provide damage progression while you level up.

Sights: Iron / Holo: reflex / Holo: Lobber / Scope: Combat / Scope: Long range
--Standard iron sights.
--Holo: Reflex. Short range sights with a wide field of view, ideal for the scatter muzzle.
--Holo: Lobber. Raised tiered grenade sights for lining up the arcing projectile of the Fusion Lobber.
--Scope: Combat. Mid range scope that uses a fully see-though scope with custom reticle.
--Scope: Long range. Long range scope for extreme distances (uses standard scope sights).

Skin: Classic Laser(default) / Institute(legendary) / Brotherhood / Camo / Red Army / Wooden Furniture / Fully Wooden Frame
--Skins provide no functionality or bonuses, they are purely cosmetic.
--Classic Laser(default) and Institute(legendary) skins are full resolution with the Nexus download.
--The free Skin pack from Gumroad enables full resolution for all skins. (more on that below)
--Institute skin is only available to the unique Legendary hand-placed in the world.
---This skin can be unlocked on all BAL7s when you find and equip it once.
---Institute skin enables alternate muzzle options for blue lasers.
---All BAL7s can equip blue laser muzzles with the Institute skin active, the skin can be switched to any other after a blue muzzle is attached.


This mod is feature complete from the Nexus download, it's mechanics are fully functional. However I have also made available a 'skin pack' through Gumroad for free.

-Every part of the mod is completely free
-The Nexus download is fully functional with full resolution for the Default and Institute skins.
-The Cosmetic skins in the Nexus download have low-res placeholders so if you don't care about the skin pack you won't have those ugly pink
textures anywhere.
-The Gumroad download is "pay what you want", with a minimum of 0.00 USD.
-Meaning that every part of this mod is still free. No charges are required anywhere, and if you do choose to pay it is still considered a donation.
-You can follow my Gumroad with an email (no account required) to get notified if I post more free stuff or updates on there.





Q: Is this paid mods?
A: No, every part of the mod is still free. The fully functional mod is free right here on the Nexus, just like mods have always been. Gumroad considers anything with a zero minimum price a donation, which means even if you choose to pay for the pack you are still just donating.

Q: What is in the download at Gumroad?
A: Texture files, install instructions, and nothing else. You will still need the Nexus Download. All content within the Gumroad archive is generated from scratch by myself without any content provided or made available by Bethesda/ZeniMax.

Q: Do I need a Gumroad account?
A: Nope, Gumroad remembers what you've downloaded based on your email. If you want to download something again later but don't remember the link you can make an account with the same email and it will show up at gumroad.com/library.

Q: Why do this if everything to do with the mod is free anyway?
A: Several reasons: This helps me build a following outside of the Nexus. This makes it easier to gauge what people actually want by seeing if they'll jump through an extra link to get optional stuff(IE: If nobody downloads the skin pack then I won't spend as much time on textures for the next project). This avoids the annoying "donation beg" pop-up that is built into the Nexus. This also keeps the filesize down so people who don't care about the extra skins don't have to download an extra ~250 MB.

Q: Why not do a Patreon?
A: I might finally do that since the Nexus seems okay with Patreon links now, but not right now. Using Gumroad means everyone has access to the same amount of content, and I like that idea more.


Version notes:
v0.91a
-This update requires a clean install! Disable the mod, create a save game, then re-enable the mod or strange things may happen!
-Rolled the Enclave skin into the main file.
-Updated the Gumroad files to take advantage of Ba2 archives.
--This should smooth out the texture loading.
-Removed the BAL from Super Mutant spawns.
-Removed edits to the General Atomics Factory.
--Moved the Prototype Legendary to the General Atomics Galleria.

v0.90c
-Fixed a bad object template that was causing a ctd on startup

v0.90b
-Fixed an issue with where normal enemies could spawn with the unique legendaries.

v0.90
-Release


Manual Installation:
1. Download the Main Nexus archive
2. Unpack all files within the Nexus archive to *Steam*/Fallout4/Data
3. Download a skinpack off gumroad.
4. Place the " - Textures.ba2" file in *Steam*/Fallout4/Data
6. Activate the mod with your mod manager of choice, or use the in-game mod list