My character for Fallout 2 was:
S - 6
P - 7
E - 6
C - 2
I - 9
A - 9
L - 8

Traits: Finesse, and Skilled

Aimed shots is the best way to play F2, due to the hardness. Managing to land a critical hit into your foes eyes is the fastest, and most damaging attack. (Rats automatically die if hit with a critical into their eyes, no matter what damage.)

I loved how in the first game I could sometimes get two Mutants with one shot with the chain gun. They would often line up one behind the other, and seeing them stagger back as they were being torn apart was just amazing!

As for critical hits, I'm getting a few here and there, but I was wondering about my luck stat. I picked seven for luck. Is this enough to get a decent amount of criticals? I hope so, as I'm doing quite well at the mo, and have even managed to get hold of some guns!
I've had one head shot kill so far, but the rest just seemed to take a few hit points from the enemy, but not kill them.

With these head shots were you using small guns like rifles, pistols etc...? Also, what was your small guns skills at? I have mine above 100% now, but maybe I need to get it higher to get some better shots in. Cheers.

After a bit of experimenting I went with the following in the end:

S - 10
P - 7
E - 4
C - 4
I - 5
A - 10
L - 7

Traits: Gifted, and Good Natured

I decided to go with Good Natured cause it improves First Aid and Doctor skills. It seems to be paying of, too, as I'm sometimes able to heal ten hit points with the Doctor skill. Not bad.

I'll have to try a few eye shots when I next play. It makes a lot of sense, actually - if they can't see me then they can't shoot me in the face!

I always found it a waste to level up more than 1 weapon type, and for me the end-all-be-all of weapon types for Fallout 1+2 are always the energy weapons. I usually suffer through horrible misses and hard battles for a bit until I get the first energy weapon, and then I would switch to head shots, and I always use bloody mess and high luck, and would pretty much destroy from then on with head shots.

Mainly rifles - especially the scoped ones. Pistols don't have the accuracy usually.

When I go for a sniper character I end up with small guns around 150, which should allow eye shots with high accuracy from decent range.

If you do that, it's definitely worth getting some of the sniper-related perks. Stuff like better criticals is useful, and there's one that iirc increases your chance to crit significantly. With a few of those, I find most eye shots tend to be critical - if not lethal then at least blinding.

It's possible to go small guns throughout the whole game. There are some "small guns" available that give the best energy weapons a run for their money, especially with sniper-related perks. That said, I usually invest in energy weapons at some point since they're just good fun. It's actually not that hard to have most useful skills at decent levels by the end of the game though, even without grinding encounters.

The doctor skill is MUCH more useful in Fallout 2 than Fallout, since if it's high enough it allows access to some interesting things that you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

Ah, yes, the energy weapons, now you're talking! I had the Plasma Rifle in the first game and it served me well. I even found the Alien Blaster, but hardly I used it. I really need to work on my energy weapon skills, they're criminally low cause I chose Good Natured as a trait which lowers all the weapon skills.

I can see the reasoning behind focusing on one weapon type, but the other weapons are so much fun, I don't think I could do it!

For first aid, there are skill books (just like for F1), so I wouldn't raise it with skill points. Doctor doesn't have a skill book and as mentioned has other uses (apart from being used to heal), so it's worth getting that to a reasonable level. (I can't remember what that level should be, except that it wasn't anywhere near maxed out).

I got into the habit during both F1 and F2 to use those skills whenever I could (and was injured, or had injured buddies). By the time I was at the end of F2 I had a ridiculous amount of stimpacks which had accumulated from loot.

The hunting rifle will probably carry you a fair way through the game - imo I'd rather jam a scope on a hunting rifle than use the "sniper rifle" most of the time, (since the latter takes an extra AP to fire for some reason), and instead just hold out till the ultimate ranged small gun falls into my hands.

There is a limit to how good pistols can get though - I either switch to one of the late-game SMGs and use burst mode for close-range targets, or use one of the auto-shotguns for that purpose. That said, I think the magnum was my sidearm for a good chunk of the game (it also has one of the most useful upgrades).

During the first game, I didn't realise at first that the books could be used, I thought that they could maybe be traded, or something. Then, for some reason, I tried using the guns book and it gave me a 10% increase in my small guns skills. That's a pretty decent increase, maybe the same as when levelling up, so, yeah, I'm definitely going to be on the look-out for those!

Talking of injured buddies, I've recruited Cassidy into my gang, who has a heart problem. I wondering if I've done the right thing, as he's already asking for stimpaks. I hope I don't have to use the first aid and doctor skills on him too much. He's going to have to raise his game if he's going to be as good as my other recruit, Sulik!

I just did the caravan run from Redding to Vault City and managed to grab a ton of new weapons from the raider gangs. Some good stuff has turned up like the FN FAL, Needler Pistol, Super Sledge, Power Fist and, my personal favourite, the Sledgehammer Shotgun. Not a bad little haul. I'll be giving the Super Sledge to Sulik, and I'm expecting him to do some serious damage with it!

Cassidy will only be negatively affected (i.e. die) if you use drugs on him. Stimpacks don't count as drugs and are perfectly fine (I wondered about this too, like most people).

IIRC you can actually cure his condition if you're playing the RP. Not that it's necessary unless you want to feed him psycho or something.

He quickly becomes one of the better characters once he levels up a bit - I usually give him one of the auto-shotguns or a rifle.

The sledgehammer is easily one of the best weapons. I usually give one to Cassidy, but tend to favour the rifles myself since I usually like to snipe from range. Sledgehammers are a lot of fun at close range in burst mode... ;)

The FN FAL isn't too bad - with the RP and one of the alternate weapon mods installed (forget which one, but I think it's one of the RP options) it's better than the assault rifle - again most fun in burst mode, though you can snipe with it to some extent.

One thing that's always bothered me about the Fallout games is that for some reason, a single shot from an assault rifle (or FN FAL) does less damage than a shot from a pistol - so assault rifle type weapons tend to be less impressive than they should be.

YO!

Big Gun user can get access to Flamer right at the Redding mine, hunting the last criminal of three brothers, which is the place after Modoc or The Den if you just talked to some addicts in the Den. Otherwise it's the Broken Hill patrol encounter and/or shop, I guess.

After talking to Cassidy, he said he's good with shotguns, rifles, pistols and knuckle dusters, so I've kitted him out with some decent gear. So far, he's doing a great job with the H&K CAWS, although, he's getting through ammo a little to quickly for my liking. I'll have to look at the combat options, maybe there's a way to stop him firing in burst mode all the time!

Actually, I made a mistake, It's the Pancor Jackhammer Shotgun that I'm wielding at the mo. Anyway, whatever it's called, I'm liking it a lot. I've been getting some 20+ HP shots with it. It seems to do a decent amount of damage without even aiming, so I can get two shots per turn with it. This, of course, is extremely bad news for whoever I'm aiming it at!

I've been using the FN FAL to clear out the Wanamingo Mine, and it's been great for disabling the enemies' legs. I'm finding that if I cripple their tentacles, after that they want no part of me and run away. Then it's just a case of crippling the legs with the rifle, cornering them, and hammering them with a melee weapon to save ammo. The FN FAL has been great for slowing them down, cause it's really annoying having to chase them all the time!

I'll definitely be picking that one up when I find It! I like a bit of flamethrower action, I must admit, but I seriously need to work on my Big Guns skills before I'll be able to do any damage with it.

I just bought the Wanamingo Mine, so I'll keep an eye out for the Flamer as I work my way through. I expect it'd be a great weapon to use in that location, as I'm having to hammer the hell out of the Wanamingos with small guns. I keep thinking I'm going to run out of ammo at some point, which would be annoying as hell, as I'm hell bent on removing those squatters out of my place!

The biggest downside to big guns has always been ammo. It's hard enough trying to find enough ammo to make the weapon worth the weight, then you burn through all you ammo too quickly. This kinda goes back to your original question about the Fast Shot trait. If you are going to make the most of your chosen weapons then you need the right build. Single shot weapons become more powerful with targeted shots while burst weapons become more useful with Fast Shot. That's not to say that you can't have both, it just takes a bit more work.

Personally I like to have one fast weapon and one slow weapon equipped to help maximize my action points. My favorite is the .44 magnum and the bozar. They use 4 and 6 AP respectively without getting Fast Shot. The magnum is a small gun while the bozar uses the big gun skill, so you really need both skills but the payoff is worth it. If you have not found the bozar yet, imagine a sniper rifle that's fully automatic. The bozar only fires 15 round bursts of .223 ammo. Wanamingos just crumble before this thing.

Go for eye shots (or whatever they are) on wanamingos - if the shot doesn't kill them, it blinds them and they run away from you! It's also sometimes worth it to shoot them in their legs, as this slows them down (plus they also run away - or try to anyway!).

Definitely one of the toughest foes with small guns, unless you snipe, since they're skin is highly resistant. If using the RP (or an ammo mod) make sure to use AP ammo so you can pierce them easier.

Also if you're high enough level, take the jobs from the sherriff in Redding (since you're there already). The final mission he gives you puts you up against some tough enemies, but from memory they have some really good (small guns) weaponry.