Smash or Dash?

[Jaedar]

I usually take sniper because you get it scoped(the one on the map requires you buy a scope for it).

I am 99.8% sure that's wrong. The sniper rifle in Deus Ex has a scope built into it, and never comes without a scope. Since you can't change any weapon properties when you put them in an NPC's inventory, you'd have to create a whole new sniper rifle class just to give that guy an unscoped rifle. And no such class exists in Deus Ex. So actually more like 99.9%.

I'm pretty sure the standard rifle comes without the scope augmentation. But hey, I might be wrong.

And yes, I also recall the gep in one of the air field towers.

[DDL]

Well, there is definitely no unscoped sniper rifle, in the game, ever. So Jonas is bang on the money about that one.

Regarding the GEP in the airfield, I don't have it in my game, apparently (or at least, enthusiastic searching of the maps reveals nothing, and adding a GEP in Ued, right clicking it, and choosing 'select all weapongepgun actors' produces...one gep, the one I just added).

So while I appear to be wrong by consensus anyway, at least I know I'm not actually going mad.

[bobby 55]

Protip:the GEP can be used on people.

In fact, the GEP is vastly better when used on people than it is on bots (see milbot vs low heavy weap skill, above).

Loaded with WP you can wipe out a room full pretty efficiently. See secret lab in TNM.

Yeah the GEP is in the tower that's kinda behind the the elevator exit. IIRC Gunther is heading in it's direction after you've spoken to Lebedev.

[nerdenstein]

From what I can remember, the GEP Gun in Lebedev's airfield is in a crate...

[gamer0004]

That's what my memory tells me as well. Perhaps that's why it doesn't show to DDL?

I don't have DX installed on my laptop, so I can't check it out.

As to the unscoped rifle (and perhaps the GEP gun on the airfield): perhaps this is caused by mods like Shifter?

[Hassat Hunter]

Could be one of the differences between the GOTY maps and the 1112 maps?

After all, there are a few items different, like the baton on the mission 1 docks missing in GOTY...

[fantsu]

In goty there is GEP-gun at the airport.
In PS2, there is not.
Other PC versions I don't know.

What comes to the question, I have probably took all three gun evenly, maybe GEP gun 40% of time, and others 30% (60% combined).

It really depends from your playing style. And that is why I love the choice. It would have been better if there would have been one more option to take nothing, or maybe just one extra clip for the prod or pepper spray.

If you want to make the game easier, GEP-gun is surely your choice. Destroying stuff helps a lot and LAMs are hard to come by in the beginning.
Sniper ammo is rare too. Sure, you can find the rifle soon, but ammo you won't, and when you want to spam with sniper this is so good.
Crossbow can be OP too, and the only non lethal choice, so why not?

[ggrotz]

Protip:the GEP can be used on people.

On this note, one of my fun-time quick activities if I want like 15-30 minutes of DX time is to get the GEP at the beginning, load it up with some good mods, including scope, load myself up with ammo, give myself master skill in heavy weapons and just ghost my way to the top of the statue. Then I just stay there and start blowing away targets as I see them (and you see a lot of them). The fun part, along with seeing how the AI reacts (they forget/why is everyone spontaneously detonating?), is the long wait time to target and watching through the scope as the GEP round nears the target. Does the NSF guy notice? Usually not, but sometimes they do and it's a little too late. Can't run from a GEP round locked on you!

Yeah, I have a little too much fun doing that.

[gamer0004]

Lol nice I should try that one time

[Morpheus]

I'm pretty sure the standard rifle comes without the scope augmentation. But hey, I might be wrong.

You could be thinking of a pistol or stealth pistol, as Kaplin does say "Just attach this baby to your pistol and your in business" when you get the scope from him in the first mission.

[OneLastBattleFGJ]

GEP. I personally get the GEP gun and hold onto it for the entire game, since it makes dealing with milbots much, much easier. Plus, a crossbow is infinitely easier to get early on (the sniper can also be gained early, and Paul says mean things if you pick it)

[Paul1290]

I tend to only get the GEP gun if I want to use it for that playthrough, otherwise I usually pick up the sniper rifle.

On most playthroughs I rarely if ever use the GEP gun at all. I kind of don't like the idea of carrying anything heavier than a sniper rifle with me and I tend to use grenades for most of my explosive needs.

Part of this is that when I intend to kill lots of people Deus Ex I leave open a significant space in my inventory for "disposable weapons", with the sniper rifle, pistol, crossbow, and grenades being some of the few weapons that I keep permanently.

I sneak into a room with three guys, shoot the guy carrying the shotgun in the head with a crossbow bolt, run in and empty a can of pepper spray at the other two while passing them, toss the pepper spray, pick up the shotgun from the dead guy, then use it to blow away the remaining two.
The next room I'll come in with the shotgun already out, blow away one guy with what is left in the shotgun, then rather than reload I'll toss it then grab the dead guy's assault rifle.

It's really fun because you often end up killing more stylishly and with a wider array of weapons than you'd normally carry with you.

[bobby 55]

I sneak into a room with three guys, shoot the guy carrying the shotgun in the head with a crossbow bolt, run in and empty a can of pepper spray at the other two while passing them, toss the pepper spray, pick up the shotgun from the dead guy, then use it to blow away the remaining two.
The next room I'll come in with the shotgun already out, blow away one guy with what is left in the shotgun, then rather than reload I'll toss it then grab the dead guy's assault rifle.

It's really fun because you often end up killing more stylishly and with a wider array of weapons than you'd normally carry with you.

Ooooh! That's what my next playthrough will be kinda based on then. Kill a guy and use his dropped weapon to kill the next guy and so on. It mighy get tricky if all the killed guy drops is a knife and the next to be killed is a commando.

Improvising may have to play a part too.

[Cybernetic pig]

I always grab the gep and use it for the first mission or two. Blast the bot and locked stuff. Save up on grenades and lockpicks that way, soon as its run out of ammo (not long) it gets discarded never to be used again.
Fuck carrying that thing around the whole game, at least in the PC version anyway because of the amount of space it takes, when it is essentially 1SK on everything, which ruins challenge.
The choice at the start is a bit of a no-brainer though really since you can get both the other guns on the island, not to mention blasting the cargo crate open with the medbots in it as soon as you come off the dock.

The Gep at the airport is in the final building that connects with the hangar with the 747. The secret roomis opened by interacting with a brick to open the door underneath the stairs (NOT to be confused with the place with the NSF commander/accountant in mole tunnels). I didn't find that one until my third or so playthrough, brick is sticking out of the same wall as the dart board with the darts in it that you can pull out.

[gamer0004]

I think the GEP gun is not in the secret room. There is a LAW there, IIRC.
The GEP gun is in one of the "towers" at the corners of the airfield.