Fallout 3 Gameplay Discussion

[positron1]

I came across one of those Yao Gaui's today near the Super Dutch Mart, it wasn't hostile, just standing there doing it's thing. I also ran into my first BIG Supermutant in front of the GNR building, I thought we were gonners but I managed to pick up a rocket launcher off a fallen Brotherhood Of Steel, luckily I decided not to sell any of the rockets that I had accquired, and shoved a rocket up his @$$, two grenades from me and some shots from the remaining Brotherhood and down he went! I want a dog, when do you get a dog, I'm at level 10 but no go?

[MinisterofDOOM]

That Yao Guai is the trader's pet. If you attack him it'll rip you to shreds (since Yao Guais aren't supposed to start appearing as enemies for a while).

Did you loot all the weapons and dead Brotherhood outside GNR? There's a Fat Man with mini nukes there to make downing the Behemoth a bit less tedious.

You get Dogmeat by finding him, no bearing on level. You have to find the scrapyard and rescue him from some raiders.He can die...permamently, so be careful. Unless you're playing on PC, in which case a quick console command will alter him so he only becomes unconscious briefly before hopping back up with full health again. There's also a level 22 perk added with Broken Steel that provides you with a new dog after Dogmeant dies, but you have to go and retrieve it every time, and it's very easy for Dogmeat to die since he likes to draw attention from nasties off of the player.Fortunately, you can send him away (he goes back to Vault 101 to wait for you) any time things get hairy. But still, he's not all that useful unless you can do the hack and make him invulnerable.

[positron1]

I got the PC version.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Ahh, good. In that case, when you do find dogmeat, hit ~ to open the console and enter:setessential 6a772 1

You can use that command (setessential) on any NPC. It puts them in the game's "essential characters" list and treats them like critical story characters, which cannot be killed. the 6a772 is dogmeat's Base ID...replace that with any other base ID (can be learned by clicking on any npc with the console open) to change who it effects.

With that applied, the game will display a message saying "Dogmeat has become unconscious!" when he loses all his health. Then he'll pop back up a few seconds later.

Considering all the little tweaks (mostly graphical/appearance type tweaks) I've made to Fallout 3, I feel sorry for everyone stuck playing it on consoles.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Ahh, good. In that case, when you do find dogmeat, hit ~ to open the console and enter:setessential 6a772 1

You can use that command (setessential) on any NPC. It puts them in the game's "essential characters" list and treats them like critical story characters, which cannot be killed. the 6a772 is dogmeat's Base ID...replace that with any other base ID (can be learned by clicking on any npc with the console open) to change who it effects.

With that applied, the game will display a message saying "Dogmeat has become unconscious!" when he loses all his health. Then he'll pop back up a few seconds later.

Considering all the little tweaks (mostly graphical/appearance type tweaks) I've made to Fallout 3, I feel sorry for everyone stuck playing it on consoles.

You damn pc gamers, the version on 360 isn't bad. Positron, find as many of the Fatman and mini nukes as you can and store them away at your house. I have so much crap stored at my house that I make any armory look like closets. I have duplicates and some triplicates of practically every weapon in the game with 1000's of rounds of ammo for each and every one except the Fatman, there are only like 79 mini nukes so don't go wasting them. All my weapons are repaired to 100% to.

Speaking of weapons, if you come across a unique weapon (Lincoln Repeater, Victory Rifle ect...) and it can be repaired with other weapons, make sure you don't use it to repair another weapon by accident like I think I did with the unique chinese rifle. You will lose that weapon forever and even if you don't want it because it's crap (Board of Education) store it until you have it repaired to 100% and then sell it when you start to run low on caps.

I would highly suggest getting the strategy guide, while the WikiFallout page is awesome, the strategy guide is just as essential and will help you when you are lost or are trying to find specific items, like the Bobble Heads and unique weapons. Also if you plan on getting Broken Steel and using the Almost Perfect perk DO NOT PICK UP ANY BOBBLE HEADS, especially the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ones. The almost Perfect perk will take your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ranks all the way to 9 for all of them, the Bobble Heads will give you the last tick so you will be all 10's.

I'm debating if I want to get BS and PL as DLC or just wait until the middle of the month and get them on a disc for $20. Do you have to save them to the HD?

Oh and Positron be careful what perks you take when you rank up because now that you are a level 10 you're going to start ranking up fast, I made it from a level 10 to a level 19 in like 3 or 4 days.

[OriginalWheelman]

II also ran into my first BIG Supermutant in front of the GNR building, I thought we were gonners but I managed to pick up a rocket launcher off a fallen Brotherhood Of Steel, luckily I decided not to sell any of the rockets that I had accquired, and shoved a rocket up his @$$, two grenades from me and some shots from the remaining Brotherhood and down he went!

lol, on my second tiem throught he game I was wandering around the wastes without doing any of the main quest. As in, I still had not gone farther east than the Super Duper mart when I stumbled on Smith Casey's Garage. So I decided to pop in,and it took me on that quest as though I had already gone to Rivet City and been sent out there. I rescued him from Dr. Braun at level 2 or 3. Then, when went to go to GNR along the main quest line, the Brotherhood guards were at GNR, but NOT the Lyon's Pride. It took me almost half an hour to kill him with grenades and my Hunting Rifle from the second floor of the school. The advantage to this is that when I went to 3-dog he gave me the GNR mission but as a reward he gave me the key to a BIG weapons cache in Hamilton's Hideaway. My first time through I used my speech to convince him to tell me where my Dad was and then got the key as a reward for the satellite dish quest.

[positron1]

Ahh, good. In that case, when you do find dogmeat, hit ~ to open the console and enter:setessential 6a772 1

You can use that command (setessential) on any NPC. It puts them in the game's "essential characters" list and treats them like critical story characters, which cannot be killed. the 6a772 is dogmeat's Base ID...replace that with any other base ID (can be learned by clicking on any npc with the console open) to change who it effects.

With that applied, the game will display a message saying "Dogmeat has become unconscious!" when he loses all his health. Then he'll pop back up a few seconds later.

Considering all the little tweaks (mostly graphical/appearance type tweaks) I've made to Fallout 3, I feel sorry for everyone stuck playing it on consoles.

Cool thanks, I didn't know that you could use codes on this game! Even though I don't want to use any codes or check the guide on the first playthrough I do want to keep that dog when I find it. Thanks!

You damn pc gamers, the version on 360 isn't bad. Positron, find as many of the Fatman and mini nukes as you can and store them away at your house. I have so much crap stored at my house that I make any armory look like closets. I have duplicates and some triplicates of practically every weapon in the game with 1000's of rounds of ammo for each and every one except the Fatman, there are only like 79 mini nukes so don't go wasting them. All my weapons are repaired to 100% to.

Speaking of weapons, if you come across a unique weapon (Lincoln Repeater, Victory Rifle ect...) and it can be repaired with other weapons, make sure you don't use it to repair another weapon by accident like I think I did with the unique chinese rifle. You will lose that weapon forever and even if you don't want it because it's crap (Board of Education) store it until you have it repaired to 100% and then sell it when you start to run low on caps.

I would highly suggest getting the strategy guide, while the WikiFallout page is awesome, the strategy guide is just as essential and will help you when you are lost or are trying to find specific items, like the Bobble Heads and unique weapons. Also if you plan on getting Broken Steel and using the Almost Perfect perk DO NOT PICK UP ANY BOBBLE HEADS, especially the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ones. The almost Perfect perk will take your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ranks all the way to 9 for all of them, the Bobble Heads will give you the last tick so you will be all 10's.

I'm debating if I want to get BS and PL as DLC or just wait until the middle of the month and get them on a disc for $20. Do you have to save them to the HD?

Oh and Positron be careful what perks you take when you rank up because now that you are a level 10 you're going to start ranking up fast, I made it from a level 10 to a level 19 in like 3 or 4 days.

House...huh? You know I was wondering about that because there's a empty house that I ran across in Megaton and I can't pick the lock to get in it and there is apparently no way to rent or buy it and I really need somewhere to store stuff. My character can't carry very much and I'm always struggling to keep track of what I need and keep from getting unencombered and was wondering how and where I could store some vital stuff without someone taking it by the time I got back to it. I found Lincoln's repeater and some other cool stuff that I just do not want to sell but I have no idea what to do with it and carrying it around is not doing me any good with encomberance. As far as the bobbleheads go I do remember reading a review in a magazine about this game months ago that said that they are scattered all over the place and that there is like a bunch of them hidden so I've been checking everything whenever I'm moving around which is why it's taking me so long to play but that's not a problem with me because it's just such a beautiful and fully immersive playing environment...you almost feel like you're actually there! I want to read the strategy guide and info on Wiki but I'm fighting myself not to because I don't want to spoil some things the first time I play through even though I KNOW I'm going to miss a lot of stuff. I'm checking into how to get that DLC also. As far as leveling up, what's the deal with that? Sometimes I find myself in the middle of a battle when I level up, I hear the little level up music and see the level up on screen and the point screen does not appear and I start freaking out and reload the game...anyone know what I'm doing wrong there? Am I not waiting long enough, does it let you finish the battle before it goes to the level up screen or something?

lol, on my second tiem throught he game I was wandering around the wastes without doing any of the main quest. As in, I still had not gone farther east than the Super Duper mart when I stumbled on Smith Casey's Garage. So I decided to pop in,and it took me on that quest as though I had already gone to Rivet City and been sent out there. I rescued him from Dr. Braun at level 2 or 3. Then, when went to go to GNR along the main quest line, the Brotherhood guards were at GNR, but NOT the Lyon's Pride. It took me almost half an hour to kill him with grenades and my Hunting Rifle from the second floor of the school. The advantage to this is that when I went to 3-dog he gave me the GNR mission but as a reward he gave me the key to a BIG weapons cache in Hamilton's Hideaway. My first time through I used my speech to convince him to tell me where my Dad was and then got the key as a reward for the satellite dish quest.

Man I nearly freaked when that thing busted through there and I was like no way we can beat that but even though I was encombered I picked up that launcher and popped him and his hit points dropped so fast and he started limping and I was like "you're a busted B***H now!" that's when the Brotherhood tore into him Starship Troopers style! Thanks for the help everyone, I need to also go back and reread this thread too!

Modified by positron_ at 3:37 PM 7/22/2009

Modified by positron_ at 3:38 PM 7/22/2009
Modified by positron_ at 3:39 PM 7/22/2009

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Cool thanks, I didn't know that you could use codes on this game! Even though I don't want to use any codes or check the guide on the first playthrough I do want to keep that dog when I find it. Thanks!

House...huh? You know I was wondering about that because there's a empty house that I ran across in Megaton and I can't pick the lock to get in it and there is apparently no way to rent or buy it and I really need somewhere to store stuff. My character can't carry very much and I'm always struggling to keep track of what I need and keep from getting unencombered and was wondering how and where I could store some vital stuff without someone taking it by the time I got back to it. I found Lincoln's repeater and some other cool stuff that I just do not want to sell but I have no idea what to do with it and carrying it around is not doing me any good with encomberance. As far as the bobbleheads go I do remember reading a review in a magazine about this game months ago that said that they are scattered all over the place and that there is like a bunch of them hidden so I've been checking everything whenever I'm moving around which is why it's taking me so long to play but that's not a problem with me because it's just such a beautiful and fully immersive playing environment...you almost feel like you're actually there! I want to read the strategy guide and info on Wiki but I'm fighting myself not to because I don't want to spoil some things the first time I play through even though I KNOW I'm going to miss a lot of stuff. I'm checking into how to get that DLC also. As far as leveling up, what's the deal with that? Sometimes I find myself in the middle of a battle when I level up, I hear the little level up music and see the level up on screen and the point screen does not appear and I start freaking out and reload the game...anyone know what I'm doing wrong there? Am I not waiting long enough, does it let you finish the battle before it goes to the level up screen or something?

Ok you get the house one of 2 ways, either you can detonate the bomb in megaton as a mission in which you will get a suite in Tenpenny Towers, or you can defuse the bomb and then the sheriff will give you the key to the house in Megaton. You can also store your crap in any locker or box or desk or anything that you can open, no one will take it and it will stay there forever, just don't forget where you put your stuff. Also take note that you can carry an infinite number of meds, ammo, and certain other items. What will hurt you will be the weapons and armor. don't pick up armor unless you have a high enough repair skill to repair it or else you'll be stick carrying around several of the same armor.

Also don't worry about the strategy guide giving away spoilers, in the main quest walk through it gives a spoiler warning before each mission. It's definitely worth the money, I wouldn't have found nearly all the crap I have without it, the world is seriously that big. I've been playing for MONTHS and have just about found everything you can find, which is what I'm working on before I do the final mission.

This is definitely a good thread to read through, I asked a lot of the same questions you are asking. I just wish it would let me use the quick reply box.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Actually, NPCs CAN and will, if given opportunity, take items out of unlocked containers. If it doesn't belong to you, you can come back and find the stuff you stashed in it missing.

[positron1]

Been playing nonstop the last couple of days and I found Dogmeat yesterday at a scrapyard like you guys said, used the code you gave me Minister much thanks, and I was finally able to deactivate the nuke in Megaton after rasing my explosive skill to like 80 something and was rewarded with a house in Megaton, thanks Chaotic. Unfortunately Lucas Sims was killed the first day I started playing the game last Sunday shortly after I arrived in Megaton. I told him about Burke wanting to set off the nuke and he tried to arrest him and Burke shot him dead. Lucas's son gave me the deed and key to house. Before that though I had been using a suite in Tenpenny's building, I didn't get a key but I convinced his door gaurd to give me let me in the room and I was able to get into the suite from the outside balcony entrance.

Something happened in the game that really bothered me the other day, I was attacked by some mercs and they had a strange note about Tenpenny who only days before I had brokered a deal between him and some ghouls about them being able to live in his building. So I go by there and I don't see any unghoulifide people in the building and I'm thinking what's up with that? Turns out Roy Phillips had all those people killed and he pretty much tells me if I don't like it to piss off! I'm leaving the building and this is really bothering me so I go back up there and I blow his head off now and when I get back to Megaton everyone is walking around with knives and guns in hand. I figured that it had to do with the bad Karma that I got but up until that point I had never gotten any bad Karma only good, I never broke any laws or stole anything and was trying to stay righteous but the more I play the more I'm starting to see that everything is not so white and black but a shade of gray. It still bothers me that those people were killed because I chose to stick my nose in their business and "do the good thing"!

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Been playing nonstop the last couple of days and I found Dogmeat yesterday at a scrapyard like you guys said, used the code you gave me Minister much thanks, and I was finally able to deactivate the nuke in Megaton after rasing my explosive skill to like 80 something and was rewarded with a house in Megaton, thanks Chaotic. Unfortunately Lucas Sims was killed the first day I started playing the game last Sunday shortly after I arrived in Megaton. I told him about Burke wanting to set off the nuke and he tried to arrest him and Burke shot him dead. Lucas's son gave me the deed and key to house. Before that though I had been using a suite in Tenpenny's building, I didn't get a key but I convinced his door gaurd to give me let me in the room and I was able to get into the suite from the outside balcony entrance.

Something happened in the game that really bothered me the other day, I was attacked by some mercs and they had a strange note about Tenpenny who only days before I had brokered a deal between him and some ghouls about them being able to live in his building. So I go by there and I don't see any unghoulifide people in the building and I'm thinking what's up with that? Turns out Roy Phillips had all those people killed and he pretty much tells me if I don't like it to piss off! I'm leaving the building and this is really bothering me so I go back up there and I blow his head off now and when I get back to Megaton everyone is walking around with knives and guns in hand. I figured that it had to do with the bad Karma that I got but up until that point I had never gotten any bad Karma only good, I never broke any laws or stole anything and was trying to stay righteous but the more I play the more I'm starting to see that everything is not so white and black but a shade of gray. It still bothers me that those people were killed because I chose to stick my nose in their business and "do the good thing"!

Posi don't worry about the Tenpenny Towers thing, if you got the ghoul mask then don't sweat the fact the Roy Phillips killed off the residents of the towers. You probably missed a step in the process because if you had gotten Tenpenny to agree he wouldn't have killed anyone or you went around and unlocked the basement and the ferals just came in and killed everyone.

Dogmeat doesn't really do anything he might draw some fire away from you and alert you to enemies in the area but overall he's probably one of the worst followers you can have b/c you can't load him up w/ equipment. Now if you can get Fawkes as a follower, then you will have a monster. Dude can carry like 3x what you can and he carries a gatling laser which rips most enemies to shreds.

[Rlmoore88]

It's the best

[positron1]

Before I got Dogmeat I saved this initiate of the Brotherhood Of Steel who got trapped on a training mission. I happened to go back by that part of town and the "rookie" shows up and just keeps following me everywhere, I tried to drop him off at the GNR building with the other Steel people but he just kept following me until I got into a firefight with some Raiders and he just dissapeared, he didn't get killed because I searched for a body but couldn't find his. I actually like Dogmeat alerting me and drawing attention while I pop some guy.

[sil80_chris]

Before I got Dogmeat I saved this initiate of the Brotherhood Of Steel who got trapped on a training mission. I happened to go back by that part of town and the "rookie" shows up and just keeps following me everywhere, I tried to drop him off at the GNR building with the other Steel people but he just kept following me until I got into a firefight with some Raiders and he just dissapeared, he didn't get killed because I searched for a body but couldn't find his. I actually like Dogmeat alerting me and drawing attention while I pop some guy.

Wow i still haven't done that and i'm already a level 20...what you should do is use the wiki fallout page to find some of the unique weapons. And what you should really do is find the T-51b power armor in fort constantine a.s.a.p it will last you forever since it rarely gets damaged...and the alien blaster is a must find.

/End Rant.

[positron1]

Just left Little Lamplight...is it wrong of me to want to shoot a little kid? Some of the most obnoxious little snot-nosed brats you would ever!!!!

[sil80_chris]

I think they're hilarious... ...while you were ther did you get the Wazer rifle? it's like a regular laser rifle but a little better i think...

[MinisterofDOOM]

The Wazer Wifle is definitely worth getting. Easier to get with Child at Heart, but otherwise that perk's a waste.

[rc1honda]

I found this great glitch on the Vault website that really helped me through the game. Go to any merchant, Moria in Megaton is a good example. See that she has 2 of the same item. Most of the time one of her duplicates items will be worth less becuase it's damaged. Well i found out that you can buy the damaged one and when it gets in your inventory it will be back to 100% condition.

Now what you can is sell it back to her for more then what you bought it for. And then you can buy that same item back for the original price. You can keep doing that until you clean her out!! You can just keep buying low and selling high. It's a good way to get ammo and stim packs, and it works for any vendor not just Moria. Moria has all the good stuff for your house tho. Great game. And if you like this one you guys really should check out Oblivion. It's a lot like it but in medieval times.

[positron1]

Just beat the game earlier this evening and now I'm sad that it's over! Liberty Prime...f*****g awesome! I got that Wazer Wifle.

Modified by positron_ at 6:11 AM 8/2/2009
Modified by positron_ at 6:11 AM 8/2/2009

[OriginalWheelman]

Get the expansions. Very worth it.

[OriginalWheelman]

Mothership Zeta is out. 800 MS points. When you go to Recon Craft Theta you are beamed aboard the mothership. I haven't played through ti yet, as I was too tired to stay up all night playing Fallout, tonight however....

*If you want the alien blaster from the crash site get it before you install the expansion, you will not have time to pick it up before you are beamed up.

[positron1]

Stupid question but I beat the game and it ended but I saved before what I found out to be the final mission, so I go back to a earlier game to play the expansion paks?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yeah. You have to reload a save before the final mission to play the expansion packs. UNLESS you buy broken steel, which extends the story past the original ending, at which point you can still seek out the other expansions' content, too.

I'm looking forward to getting MZ. It'll have to wait a few days, though.

[positron1]

Thanks!

[OriginalWheelman]

Yeah. You have to reload a save before the final mission to play the expansion packs. UNLESS you buy broken steel, which extends the story past the original ending, at which point you can still seek out the other expansions' content, too.

I'm looking forward to getting MZ. It'll have to wait a few days, though.

It is VERY worth it. I played through it all yesterday. Went in at lvl 17, came out at 22. It's creepy. Don't listen to the voice recordings if you are easily disturbed. Your cellmate can repair items with a 100 rep skill.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Don't listen to the voice recordings if you are easily disturbed.

THAT's what I like to hear. Excellent. Creepy stuff rocks.

[OriginalWheelman]

Have you DL'd Mothership Zeta yet?

*Tips* *Warning* *Spoiler Content*

Make sure you take the time to fire off a few clips in the weapons testing lab. Also IIRC both named weapons are there.

There is a point where you go through the 3 main areas (Research, Hangar, and Drone Construction IIRC) and shut down the generators. You will not be allowed back in once you destroy the generator.

You will have access to the engineering core throughout / after the main story. It is best to dump loot here between the 3 areas if you want to get the most loot.

There is an achievement for finding all the recordings so search hard! I missed two and I can't get back into those 3 areas. I have thoroughly searched the rest of the ship and can't find them, so I have to assume they are there, and that I will have to play through again to get the achievement.

[positron1]

Didn't read the spoiler above but I haven't played Fallout since I beat it two Saturdays ago, had to fight myself not to play but I wanted to take on some of these other titles that I dropped when I started playing this game. When I do pick it back up I'm gonna try the first DLC and continue my exploration of the Wasteland...I want to kill some more slavers!

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Didn't read the spoiler above but I haven't played Fallout since I beat it two Saturdays ago, had to fight myself not to play but I wanted to take on some of these other titles that I dropped when I started playing this game. When I do pick it back up I'm gonna try the first DLC and continue my exploration of the Wasteland...I want to kill some more slavers!

I too have put it away for now, trying to get my COD skills back up to par with both MC and WAW. I've decided to just wait for Point Lookout and MZ to come out on a disk, I've run out of room on my HDD. BS and I the other 2 DLC are already out on a disc but I haven't gotten them yet. If I had known they were going to do this I would have saved my MS points and the HDD space and just get them.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I finished MSZ last weekend. I was really pissed off when I found out the ship closed down upon completion. "Congrats, you're the captain! Just don't try to go anywhere because you're locked out of everywhere." BS. There's a hack to reopen the doors, but all the corpses were empty when I went back.

I took special care to place weapons and ammo in containers and make sure I could easily return for stuff I couldn't carry, and I still got screwed. Very stupid decision on Bethsoft's part. Hopefully they get enough negative feedback to patch this and reopen the ship. I don't see ANY reason why it should have been locked down in the first place.