Fallout 3 Gameplay Discussion

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Just picked up Fallout 3 this afternoon. I hope it gets better now that I've escaped the vault, cause if not I can see this one getting put away until I finish Bioshock.

[bmike818]

^

it does ....this is actually the best part of the game, you don't have much and you have to go through the wastelands....Goodluck!

...best stat to improve is your intelligence....it adds more points to distribute when you level up

[MinisterofDOOM]

Just picked up Fallout 3 this afternoon. I hope it gets better now that I've escaped the vault

Um...really? The Vault is the tutorial. Of course it gets better.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Well for a tutorial it sucked. I just went through and killed everyone trying to escape, especially Butch, I help his mom who dies anyway and then he says something stupid so I killed him. Then I rescue Amera (or whatever her name is) and accidentally kill her father (or was it an accident). Then I get lost trying to find the exit. Either way I got out, but I think I should have went about it differently and have read everything on the computers. I did pick up everything I could get my hands on though.

[MinisterofDOOM]

It gets a lot better. Just keep in mind that killing some people cuts off possible beneficial avenues, so don't kill EVERYONE until you see if they can help you out.

I killed Amata's dad, too, and when she got mad I nearly killed her, too.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Finally found Megaton today was up to a level 3 searcher. Then I made the mistake of walking into the Armory and now everyone in the town is after me and i keep getting killed, so now I have to go and start at the save I made when I first escaped from vault 101. Damnit I had some good isht too.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Thanks for the tips MOD, got out of the city as fast as I could b/c I read on Gamefaqs that 3.5 game days equals a towns forgiveness, so I moved on and started a mini quest. I'm currently helping Brian find his dad and now I have to go get rid of the Fire Ants.

Of the rifles I have I can't tell which is better, the Chinese Assault Rifle or the hunting Rifle. The AK says it does 28 damage, but the .32 cal hunting rifle is more accurate and seems to kill faster.

Oh and I came across my first Radscorpion today and nearly s*** myself when I turn a corner and it's right there. Tough little bastards.

I need to get my hands on a strategy guide, b/c I'm going to get lost and miss out on a lot of stuff it I don't.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Weapon damage is affected by durability, so the worse shape it's in the lower the damage will be (and the stats shown for the weapon reflect this). Since especially early on ammo will be hard to find, don't EVER get rid of a weapon unless you absolutely have to. Duplicate weapons can be used to repair, so duplicates are generally not a waste of weight. Use whatever weapon is best at the time until you have enough resources to get picky. Also, your weapon specializations will affect damage, too (which won't show on the weapon stats). One of my most-used weapons is the Plasma pistol because I do crazy damage thanks to small guns and energy weapons and energy cells are very easy to come by (I generally have about 1500 rounds on me). So focus on using weapons in the category you're focusing on (if you're focusing on one). Don't mess with the minigun, rocket launcher, etc. unless you're going Big Guns. I do more damage with my plasma pistol than with the minigun.

Get used to who commonly carries the weapons you like and when you need ammo or durability (there's really no reason to pay to have most weapons repaired since they're easy enough to come by in duplicate) just go hunting the people that have it. Raiders are a great supply of assult rifles. Enclave will keep you stocked in energy weapons. Robots are great for hording energy weapon ammo. Head to the RobCo factory and you'll be set for energy weapon ammo for a while.

Go find the schematics for the dart gun. It is without a doubt the most useful gun in the game. It does damage over time that stacks, which is great for weaker enemies (shot them 2 or 3 times and just wait for them to die). But the real point of the weapon is that a single shot from it is guaranteed to cripple the target's legs. That means they can't run, so you can easily "kite" them. It also means the nastier enemies can't do their lunging/dashing/leaping/other leg based attacks which makes them far more manageable. Radscorpions are no problem when they can't even keep up with you as you back away and take pot-shots.

If you're in DIRE need of lots of damage, find the alien crash site. It has a very powerful pistol (105!) but there are only a few hundred rounds to be found in the game and that's if you're specced right and looking very hard. Save it for nasty bosses.

Most cars explode. Use it strategically. I've won plenty of fights easily as my enemies took cover behind a Corvega and I shot it a couple times. If you can corral a group of enemies into a parking lot, they're screwed. The cars are usually in range of each other which means LOTS of explosions. Have fun finding the corpses, though.

Don't bother with a strategy guide. The Vault is all you need. Download Xfire and it lets you browse the web in the game. You can pause, open The Vault, and check up on whatever you need. All free.

Take the Scrounger and Fortune Finder perks!!!!!!!! They are priceless. Get them as soon as possible and they'll pay off in droves. Another fantastically beneficial perk for me has been "Comprehension" which gives you 2 skill points per book read instead of 1. Once you start finding lots of books you'll really come to appreciate what a difference it makes.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I'm playing it on the Xbox 360, that's why I want to get a strategy guide. I realized just how massive this game really is. I got through the fire ant mission and now just have to find Rivet City so I can find a home for the boy. Completed up the Atom mission, even fixed the water pipes for the old man in the Water plant. Now I'm doing the mission for Lucy West and have stumbled into the Big City mission. But I think I'm going to come back to that after I finish the Galaxy Radio mission because from what I've read the Brotherhood of Steel armor seems to be the best bet and I think I'll get better weapons to fight the Super Mutants with in Big City. So i'm going to continue on to finish the Lucy West mission and deliver the message to her dad and then head back towards Galaxy Radio.

Just out of curiosity how many hours did it take for you to get through all the missions, and are there any drivable vehicles b/c walking everywhere takes for freaking ever.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Just out of curiosity how many hours did it take for you to get through all the missions, and are there any drivable vehicles b/c walking everywhere takes for freaking ever.

I still haven't done all the missions. I've done all the main story missions, but there are a LOT of side-missions. A word of advice: once you get done with the "The American Dream" quest, make a game save and DO NOT delete it. You'll want to hang onto that save if you want to continue building your character since Fallout 3 has an ending after which you can't play anymore, and the point after finishing the American Dream lets you get the most out of the story quests without ending the game. Still worth finishing the game to see the last quest and the ending, but then you can go back and reload your save before the end and keep playing.

You can take the story quests at any pace you choose. You can even completely ignore them. Just remember that since it's the Oblivion engine, the world levels around you. That means that for the most part, difficulty scales to your level. It's not directly levelled to you like in Oblivion (where all creatures that spawn are right at your level) but your level determines the level bracket (something like a range of 5 levels around yours) of monsters that spawn. So things can actually get TOUGHER at higher levels because of things like Super Mutant Overlords and Albino Giant Radscorpions (which have FOUR TIMES the health of normal giant radscorpions and are a pain to take down).

As for transportation, strangely there is none aside from your feet. I expected that there'd be something similar to Oblivion's horses. At least a Brahmin you can ride. But there's nothing. From the beginning I hoped you'd be able to repair motorcycles (especially with science and repair at 100!) but you can't. There IS a mod that allows you to buy animal mounts, but it's of course PC-only. You can snag it here. Copy the file to your fallout directory's data folder and activate the mod through the "data files" button on the Fallout launcher. It apparently adds a vendor in game who will sell the mounts.

You only ever have to walk the long way to any location once, though. Once you discover a location you can fast-travel back with the world map.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

MOD I need some help with Fallout, for one, I'm addicted to this game. No game has had me this addicted to it as I have become with Fallout 3 and I'm still on the game not even the DLC, not that you can help with that.

I have a couple of questions though:

1) I picked up some power armor and it let me wear it, but I went and got it repaired and now it's saying that I need training with it before I can wear it? What the hell is up with that? It's not even repaired all the way, the guy who repaired it for me only repaired it by like 10%.

2) How the hell do I become unaddicted to the chems? Preferably without spending my caps at the Megaton clinic.

3) where can I find more sniper rifles? The one I got off of Arkansas in Minefield broke and now it won't let me use it, I also have a rocket launcher I'd like to use.

Oh and the fat man is effing awesome, but I haven't gotten a hang of aiming it.

[MinisterofDOOM]

You shouldn't have been able to wear the power armor in the first place. Must have been a glitch with the durability. Later in the main quest the Brotherhood of Steel will give you power armor training, you just have to ask them after you've earned their respect. Or, alternatively, you can go through the Operation Anchorage DLC and get the power armor training as a reward for finishing it (you can still wear the Winterized armor before you get the training).

Once you meet up with the brotherhood, if your science is high enough you can repair their medical bot and he'll heal you for free. I'm not completely sure but he might cure addiction, too. Otherwise you either have to pay someone or buy your own laboratory for Moira for your house. It'll cure your addictions for free but is expensive to buy.

I'm not really sure where to go for sniper rifles. They're not particularly common and vendors don't usually sell them. Raider camps are a fairly good bet. Also, Mister Crowly in Underworld (in the mall near the Washington Monument) will give you a sniper rifle if you take his quest to assassinate a few people.

There's an even more awesome version of the Fat Man called the Experimental MIRV. It launches EIGHT mini nukes at once. Waste of mini-nukes but fun to play with, just save first. It's in the army depot and can only be accessed after finding a bunch of holotapes that reveal the code to the armory bunker where it's kept.

[bmike818]

http://www.gamefaqs.com for all the info you would need for Fallout 3.

now where is the BS in ths thread!!!

[alms24sebring]

I got this game along with a ps3 and still ahvent been able to play it because I wanted to play other games first. So I hear its an extremely in depth and difficult game as I have never palyed any of the previous ones. I did play it tho, I got out of the vault into the wastelands. there I found a couple random people that I almost died from. Then I found the old school and died plaenty of times in there with very limited ammo and weapons which didnt help. I think I just got pissed and played the others first. I think I might buy the strategy guide tomarow and start fcukin with it, I saw it, its like 500 pages lol must be worth it!!

[MinisterofDOOM]

http://www.gamefaqs.com for all the info you would need for Fallout 3.

now where is the BS in ths thread!!!

Oh, sweet Leto, don't get me started on how much GFAQs sucks.

Plus, the definitive source on Fallout 3 is The Vault.http://fallout.wikia.com

[bmike818]

you got me on the Vault. Gamfaqs has it's ups and downs. But you are right, the vault has everything that you could possibly want to find out in Fallout 3

Good news for PS3 owners, it seems the exclusivity deal with MS and Bethesda has ended. That means PS3 owners finally get to play the DLCs for Fallout 3....woot! for the PS3 peoples

[MinisterofDOOM]

Sweet. I wonder if that means the stupid Games For Windows Live integration will go out the window, too. I hope so. GFWL is HORRIBLE. The idea is okay, but the execution is really really poor and nothing actually works. GFWL is worse than steam on the day HL2 came out...only GFWL isn't brand new, it's two years old and still completely broken.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

I do like the Fallout wiki page, it's helped me learn alot, but I still want to get the strategy guide because I'm not really a RPG guy, I usually stick with the FPS and driving games, so I don't understand what AP or DR or any of that other stuff. I understand the basics and the principles behind this stuff, but at the end of the day I'm still lost. And I don't want to have to get up from my game and walk over to my pc just to try to figure out where something is or what the hell I'm up against is, or what armor is what.

I've been passing a bunch of stuff up because I just don't have the carrying capacity and I have like a bazillion weapons and no health, just chems, which I am addicted to all of them and they weigh nothing. I have a ton of stuff in my lockers in my house in Megaton, but hey don't do me any good. Is there a preferred load out of what to carry because as of right now I have like 3 people asking me to bring them stuff for caps and I can't because I'm always like 20 lbs from being over weight and that's after I repair stuff.

Oh and what's the max you can have with each stat, because I'm at like 66% repair and I still can only repair stuff only to a point.

[OriginalWheelman]

Get the "My First Lab" for your house and you can remove your chem addictions for free. I've downed so many chems in that game it's not funny.

100 is the max stat.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Stats all go up to 100. At 100 repair you'll be able to repair everything to 100%. Repair also affects the condition that weapons you construct begin in.Different NPCs have different repair skills. Most of them won't be as high as yours. Moira's is lower, for instance, but paying them still doesn't require a second weapon, so a little repair is better than nothing.

My loadout for my character consisted of:-1 pistol with lots of ammo to fall back on (I have like 2500 rounds for my plasma pistol, so I can always fall back on that if I run out of other ammo or break a better weapon).-1 assult rifle (I had a few good ones so whichever I had the most ammo for)-1 Plasma rifle (high damage but single-projectile so accuracy is good in and out of VATS)-1 Shotgun (Combat shotgun is preferrable). Close up crazy damage with spread, but no accuracy in VATS.-1 Sniper Rifle-10 Frag grenades and 5 plasma grenades with 5 frag mines and 5 plasma mines-My worn Winterized Power Armor (a "broken" item that has 10,000,000 health instead of 1500 like most armor which means it never loses durability, plus it has the 2nd highest DR in the game).-My Ghoul Mask (makes feral ghouls friendly, you get it from a quest)-No more than 10 stealth boys-All my weightless chems/stimpacks/consumables/etc.-All my ammo. Since ammo's weightless, keep it all on you.

You could make a lot of changes to my loadout depending on your character's specs, but the purposes remain the same: Swap the pistol for something lightweight that you have TONS of ammo for. Doesn't have to be a pistol.Swap the Plasma Rifle for something accurate but reasonably powerful. Firing rate isn't a huge priority since you have the assult rifle, too. I used a Hunting Rifle before Plasma Rifles became plentiful for me. The Plasma Rifle and Hunting rifle can replace the sniper rifle if you want to loose a little weight. Especially if you're specced like I was with small guns, sniper, and energy weapons spec, my plasma rifle was accurate and powerful...but still not quite up there with the sniper rifle, especially not the "Victory Rifle" unique sniper rifle I carry.

I make frequent fast-travel trips home to swap weapons in the cabinet and keep what I have on me fully repaired. I also drop off "misc" parts items (for creating weapons) regularly as they can add up fast.

Dropping off a bunch of crappy condition weapons at the house is worth the effort. You'll be able to come home later to repair, restock, and head back out. I have my item categories all sorted out into different containers so I can return home and make an armor and weapons stop to swap out and repair weapons and armor and then dump my consumables that have weight and my "misc" items. Buying the Nuka Cola machine lets you deposit your Nuka colas in it which not only gets their weight out of your inventory but also makes them "ice cold" which doubles the health they give you.

Focus on building your stock of weapons at home. It'll keep you "in the field" more, which will in turn help you build the stock better.

My loadout hovers around 120lb.

As for DR, go with the highest you can get unless you're a stealth character. Heavy armor makes you easier to detect (because you make more noise). There's a perk (forget what it's called, but I have it) that lets you avoid that and wear big armor without it harming your stealth...I think it's silent running. And watch the other bonuses on the armor. Some armor decreases your charisma, which can negatively impact conversations with NPCs. Some armor INCREASES it, too. Some increases or decreases agility, which affects AP and Small Guns. Most power armor increases your strength, which means you can carry more, which can help decide what to take with you if you're short on weight capacity.

[OriginalWheelman]

Where did you find that armor? I'm running around in my Riley's Rangers combat armor, with a Psycotic Helmet and a big bushy red beard. My AC is lower with the Psyco helmet, but i look so damned bad a**.

[MinisterofDOOM]

The Winterized Power armor (along with the Chinese Stealth armor) are unlocked for you after you finish the Operation Anchorage simulation. It's basically just specialized white T51-b armor.

[positron1]

I must own this game!!!

[Chaotic_Warlord]

Is it worth it to get the DLC if I haven't finished the main game? I'm starting to get to the point where I'm pretty much always around Super Mutants and my Metal Armor that I snagged off a slaver at the Lincoln Memorial. It's good, but it's heavy as hell and I lose AG points for having it on. I'm slowly making my way to the Citadel to get the power armor training so I can wear that, but I'm in the process of like 4 quests right now.

I just finished the Galaxy Radio quest and have moved on to the Reilly's Rangers quest, thankfully so, I needed stimpacks and medical supplies something fierce.

Oh and what purpose do the Brotherhood of Steel Holotags serve, I've collected a couple of them along with some other random stuff that I can't figure out what they do.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Is it worth it to get the DLC if I haven't finished the main game? I'm starting to get to the point where I'm pretty much always around Super Mutants and my Metal Armor that I snagged off a slaver at the Lincoln Memorial. It's good, but it's heavy as hell and I lose AG points for having it on. I'm slowly making my way to the Citadel to get the power armor training so I can wear that, but I'm in the process of like 4 quests right now.

I just finished the Galaxy Radio quest and have moved on to the Reilly's Rangers quest, thankfully so, I needed stimpacks and medical supplies something fierce.

Oh and what purpose do the Brotherhood of Steel Holotags serve, I've collected a couple of them along with some other random stuff that I can't figure out what they do.

ABSOLUTELY worth getting the DLC if you haven't finished the main game. In fact MORE worth it if you haven't, really. Because Operation Anchorage and The Pitt can't be played after the game ends, and the game ends when you finish the main quest (last quest of the game is "take it back"). Buying Broken Steel not only allows you to continue the game after Take it Back, but also allows you to continue playing after the last mission of Broken Steel as well, which means you can take ALL the quests including the story and the DLC at your own pace without having to worry about ending the game before you're ready.

I wouldn't worry too much about the AG hit. Surviving is worth the tradeoff, especially when you're short on healing supplies. I think I have 150 stimpacks on my level 30 character. I just don't use them except in fights where I'm HUGELY outnumbered by strong forces. The Power Armor is THAT good. Except against Deathclaws, which ignore DR (and also damage your armor very fast).

If you're low on supplies such as stimpacks, take a break from the questing and just explore. You might even want to print off a map (or buy a strategy guide as you've mentioned) and just head to various points of interest. You should find plenty of first aid kits full of water, rad-x, and stimpacks plus the odd bobby pin from time to time. A lot of places are really fun to go through for the backstory you can uncover, anyway, like the Covega factory, the Comic headquarters, etc. Also, you might want to head to Tenpenny Tower (far south western quadrant of the map) and do the ghoul quest. You can get the Ghoul Mask which helps in traversing the subway tunnels and also makes some of the ghoul-inhabited buildings cake to go through. You have to help Roy Phillips to get it, though (you MIGHT be able to get it by killing him). But if you haven't blown up Megaton, the Tower is not very useful to you anyway, so you might as well help him in exchange for the supremely useful mask.

Scribe Jameson will pay you for bringing her Holotags. She hangs out in the archives (in the A ring at the Citadel, down the hall from the big briefing room) and you need to approach her about it at which point she'll ask if you can help out by bringing her any you find. You get 100 caps per holotag. If you're with Brotherhood and they die don't forget to loot them as they'll all drop holotags (in addition to their generally worthwhile gear).

Another good source of income if you haven't gotten it already is the Lawbringer/Contract killer perk (one or the other). If you're a "good" character (or, really, just not really evil) you can make extra cash for your normal efforts in the game with Lawbringer. Evil npcs (human only) will drop fingers which can be traded for money from the Regulators. Or if you're evil with Contract Killer, good characters will drop ears which work like fingers. It's always nice to look in your inventory after you've been playing for a while and notice you've got several hundred caps worth of fingers/ears on you.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Can you post in here now?

Copied and pasted from the other thread:

Your magic mod powers have created a thread I can't post in and it's not locked so here's what I was trying to post in that thread, you can move it over if you want, but I really want to keep that thread going because you have some very helpful input in there that will help a lot of people.

Thanks for moving this to it's own thread, I was thinking of doing this myself, but I've been so into this game that I just haven't spared the time to create another thread. I think my being laid off + Fallout 3 is a bad thing, I'm beyond addicted to this game. I seriously had a dream about the game last night and I must have played like 9 hours yesterday.

I'm almost a level 13, and at this point I'm having a really hard time deciding which Perks to go for just because their are so many of them. Pretty much all my XP points are vested through out with the majority of everything being like 25 + with the exception of unarmed combat because I really try to go out of my way to not let the enemies get close enough to me to go unarmed, I really like the the Ripper when it comes to that. Right now I'm working my way to the Ranger HQ, but the Super Mutants and Talon mercenaries are starting to get thick.

Oh and who put out the hit on me because really it's annoying to come out of a bldg and have to fight off mercenaries, especially when I'm already weak and hurt.

Oh and I LOVE the Fat Man, the best weapon of the game hands down.

There are two sets of Talon Company mercs who can come after you. One set will come after you for having good karma. The other set is sent by Mr. Burke after you disarm the Megaton bomb. Even if you kill Burke or Tenpenny (who he was working for) his hitmen will keep coming.If you get bad karma, the Regulators will come for you instead of Talon Company (but that won't affect Burke's hitmen).

[BusyBadger]

Once you get access to The Citadel you can turn Brotherhood of Steel holotags in for a small reward (and karma bonus?). Later on you can do the same (no karma reward) with undamaged pre-war books.

It sounds like my gameplay style for Fallout puts me in the minority. I've made it through most of the game in the Ranger Battle Armour and never travel very heavy. I play my character as a scout, a couple of weapons and I even leave the dog at home. Very few grenades, but BUNDLES of mines - I sneak forward, lay a bunch of them and then retreat and use long ranged fire to lure opponents into the fun zone. My typical load when I leave Megaton is around 80.

I had a thing for sniper rifles in the beginning (since they fit the scout style of play) but they're so rare that it makes repairs a problem. Even though I've got the Reservist's Rifle (which is great) I almost exclusively use Lincoln's Repeater as you can repair it with hunting rifles which are everywhere. Ammo can be hard to come by since it uses .44 magnum shells, but it doesn't take a lot to take a target down. For sidearms I use the Ruger Blackhawk from the violin & sheet music quest and I keep a silenced 9mm to help pop rad roaches and whatnot on the quiet when I'm infiltrating a building filled with super mutants.

I'm really looking forward to the DLC once I make it through the rest of the game and get some of the achievements for being the bad guy.

[snwbrdr435]

There are two more dlc's coming out over the summer. An alien ship and then a swamp like forest coast beach town.

[Chaotic_Warlord]

So I just finished Reilly's Rangers and yet another chapter for the Survival Guide that Moira has me doing. This map is so big and complicated that I keep getting lost. I'm currently trying to get to Rivet city so that I can finish Those! and get it on my map. I got the Geo Mapper off of Reilly and then downloaded my map data and made 1500 caps. And I have a but load of medical supplies now too. I opted for the minigun as it's supposed to be more effective than the one I currently have. Once I find Rivet city I'm going to start working on the NW portion of the map as I now know where the alien gun is at, once I have it then I'm going to go get the special sniper rifle.

Where is the Lincoln Repeater, I scoured the entire area of the Lincoln Memorial and couldn't find it, but I do have an Abe Lincoln doll that I found somewhere.

Edit: I am using FireNICO and it wont let me post using the quick post box at the bottom so I have to post using the old fashioned method.

[bmike818]

Don't forget to collect your Bobble heads. I can't wait for the GOTY edition.

freakin Radscorpions!!!