So me and my friend have been arguing over what's more effective in fallout 4, i find the projectile speed far more valuable and a superior combat choice to the plasma despite it's higher damage, but i was wondering if any one here had a counter argument as to why i should sacrifice speed for raw Damage, or prove me right so i can end this argument with my friend haha

I've always preferred ballistic myself, though the base game's guns are pretty lackluster.

I think before I got my mitts on the handmade rifle I was using the combat rifle from Far Harbor with the "M4 Carbine" legendary effect.

But now my FO4 is modded up the wazoo, and though I handmade rifle its been modded to look like a bunch of different AK variants.

@Dmitri2033 i've been using the .45 auto mod for fallout 4, best pistol in new vegas (personal opinion) as for rifle mods have you tried the CROSS_break action laser?

@Kaiser Atlas briefly, but in terms of energy weapon mods the one I use the mist has been the E-11 on Nexus cos I’m a huge star wars nerd.

Most of my weapon mods are still ballistic ones though, like the MP7 and UMP

@Dmitri2033 well then if you're pistol man like myself i HIGHLY recommend the .45 Auto pistol mod (there's alternate versions by other authors usually renamed like the colt M1911)

It really comes down to what type of playthrough I'm doing. Sometimes I want the wacky, zany Pulp Sci-Fi aesthetic going, thus I choose energy weapons. Other times, a want to go about as a hardened veteran who specialises in ballistics( maybe a sniper, other playthroughs it may be automatics). If I truly hate myself, I do a gritty survival( and I mean mods that decrease spawn rates of ammo and caps by a lot) where anything is of use if I have ammo for it.

That being said, there are so many cool and fun conventional ballistic weapon mods out there that typically don't do energy playthroughs that often.

With the cross-gore crit mod, I think plasma weapons become ... more fun. They "feel" more powerful, even if it's not that simple. I tend to like energy weapons because they're interesting-looking, even though I know I should probably not be thinking that way alone. Whichever weapon I choose, it's more than enough to disassemble the raiders even in a character with no weapon specializations. So yeah, I go for visuals.
That being said, it depends on your enemy and the distance. If the enemy is side-stepping your shots, you need something that shoots fast.

@Sirdanest it's why i love laser, especially converted into a sniper, the fast projectiles aer a must for me
but i also prefer ballistic to both, usually any high caliber pistol