u/EggrFegegr

And it's because other enemies are killing the boss. I'll do my best to explain

There's different types of infestations, right? Sometimes they're super mutants, sometimes robots, sometimes blood eagles... and the boss matches the enemy type of the infestation, right? If there's super mutants the boss will also be a super mutant, robots follow an assaultron, blood eagles a blood eagle, and so on. You're following me so far, right?

That's the theory, but it's already happened twice that the final boss didn't match the enemy type. On both ocassions the boss was some random weak-ass ghoul

The first time I saw this happen there were super mutants. I was a bit surprised to see that the boss was just some ghoul (which literally died in one shot), but I didn't think much of it at the time. But it just happened again

The place was filled with robots when I started hearing gunfire. Robots were attacking something, but it wasn't me (and I'm the only one there). The boss’s health bar appears at the bottom of the screen, I can read his name. It was another ghoul. And then poof, the boss's health bar disappears and the infestation completes. They killed him instantly, just like last time, but this time I didn't even get the chance to see him

My theory: for some reason infestations are spawning ghouls, which are super weak (maybe even just regular ghouls, judging by how quickly they die), as bosses, instead of the proper ones. The mobs/followers don’t recognize them as allies or their ‘boss’ because they are a completely different type of enemy, so they attack them (similar to how super mutants sometimes attack their own doggos if they are scorched) and are immediately killed because they are much weaker than the infestation mobs

1. I'll start with short barrels, there's currently no reason to use them. Take the sawed-off double-barrel shotgun, for example. I’d love to run that thing, but what’s the benefit (looking cool isn't enough lol)? Lower AP usage? That actually makes me deal less damage because of Number Cruncher

Shorter barrels should increase the damage, by a ton. Is it realistic? Not in the slightest, but it would give people a reason to, at least, consider using them. Do you want more damage? You gotta deal with the shit range. That'd be a fair trade-off

2. Semi-auto versions of weapons like the combat rifle or the handmade rifle should also deal (way) more damage than their full-auto counterparts. They already tried to address this in the past (full-auto receivers reduce the crit damage for example), but it still isn't enough

When I played Starfield when it launched I was surprised by how well they handled this in that game: semi-auto receivers dealt almost twice the damage, as they should. Maybe doubling the damage is a bit too much, but something like a 50% increase shouldn’t be too unreasonable to expect, right?

3. Maybe this isn't exactly an issue and it's more of a me problem, but every time I try to run a rifle build I end up going stealth. 100% of the time. Maybe there actually is an issue lol. When pretty much everyone using those weapons ends up running a stealth build, maybe there is actually a problem

There’s simply no reason not to take advantage of sneak damage when it’s so easy to get. As I said, maybe there's no issue here at all, but I genuinely feel forced to use stealth when running these weapons, and it shouldn't? Idk

I honestly don't know what the "fix" for this would be either. Maybe a perk that converts part of the sneak damage multiplier into regular damage, and maybe limit it to small guns only (so big guns don't get a free damage perk)?