Scots Taffer on 24/8/2008 at 10:48
Okay, so I've decided to give this game a shot - I'm not terribly into this kind of turn-based isometric type gaming so I'll probably start off doing a lot of things wrong and decided that rather than bogging down other threads, I'd just start one and ask some questions in here. God knows there's a lot of Fallout fans so I doubt I'll struggle for responses.
So far after about an hour or two of play I decided to scrap the bruiser start-up character and create my own which I think is probably a hybrid between the lawyer and bruiser - I built up a solid base of strength and intelligence, followed that up with gifted and speech boosts (as well as the obligatory small arms and medkit skills).
I picked up Ian in a bar and we went off to wipe out the radscorp caves and then onto Vault 15 (avoiding that fucking raiders camp for a while after multiple fruitless attempts) where I guess there isn't a water chip, gee wouldn't that have been nice... oh wait, what's the point of the game? Anyway, so I'm travelling to junktown when I get set upon by five radscorps at the one time and old mate Ian cops the worst of it and dies.
I was already attached to the poor bastard, is this wise? Should I reload to a save game where I have a buddy? He's been pretty indispensible so far in fire fights and I'd struggle without him... Thoughts?
Koki on 24/8/2008 at 10:55
Such is the life of a mercenary.
[Edit]You'll be getting Dogmeat in Junktown probably anyway.
Scots Taffer on 24/8/2008 at 11:13
As it turns out, I wandered ahead a bit on my own and ended getting killed anyway so the prior save I had was with him in the Vault. Jeez, I'm going to have to remember to save this often... used to autosaves etc. :p
Ulukai on 24/8/2008 at 12:14
Ian is a bit wet, TBH. Grieve and move on.
june gloom on 24/8/2008 at 15:56
It's good to have an extra gun, he makes a few fights in and around the Hub that much easier. Same for the Boneyard. I'd keep him alive at least until the last two sections of the game, where I usually leave him outside anyway (and pick him up when I come running back like a bat out of hell.) He's definitely a lot more useless-looking in the face of Tycho, though.
As to your character build, if you're going for diplomacy+hand to hand you can't go wrong with the Bonus HtH perk when you can get it, though your first perk should be Awareness. Bonus move is also pretty useful, because you'll be slamming people around and you'll want to get in close and start kicking their ass again.
Here's how I'd do it:
ST 5 PE 8 EN 06 CH 07 IN 08 AG 08 LK 05
Traits: Gifted and Finesse.
Tag Small Guns, Speech, and some other skill like Lockpick (useful), Science (also useful, but you can boost it later with books, up to you), or Doctor. Pour all your initial points into these skills- don't start with less than 50% Small Guns, though you can get away with <50% Speech at the beginning if you work on it.
This is basically the classic, overpowered diplosniper build- I'd recommend this for anyone first starting the game as it makes the game a lot easier while still learning how to play it and there is still some semblance of a challenge, especially against bigger enemies.
PE, IN and AG are all extremely important and should be left well enough alone, but you can redistribute the other points around as you like. Perception is the most important here, if you're going for someone who can shoot (and it also affects other stuff, like seeing details about people and things), IN is needed for a lot of things such as dialogue choices and how many skill points you get per level, and AG gives you a whopping 9 AP- with the Bonus Rate of Fire perk you'll be glad you took it. This is after you add the gifted trait, by the way- extremely important and useful.
This build takes advantage of using NPCs as packmules to make up for a somewhat low strength (5, though you may want to start higher) for the first 2/3rds of the game. Low strength only becomes a problem once you start trying to use the plasma rifle, which requires a strength of 6- heavy weapons are useless in the face of a turbo plasma rifle. Laughing maniacally as you brutally slaughter at least two enemies per turn makes the endgame a lot more fun. However, there are some things you can do and get at the Brotherhood (you'll see it) that increase your strength, so it's up to you whether or not you want to start at 5 or at 6.
Endurance doesn't really mean much when you can have 200 stimpacks by the end of the game, and in the early part of the game unless there's a lot of lead flying in your direction you won't have too much trouble. Charisma helps with dialogue choices, and while LK does play a small factor, you can get away with anything >4 for the most part.
Gifted is super-important and everyone should take it (a high IN counteracts the skill penalties), but you don't necessarily have to use a second trait. I like Finesse, but you may like Good Natured (bad with IN<4 btw). Avoid Skilled like the plague- it's broken.
When it comes to levelling up, I usually put at least 10% into my tagged skills, then spend time rounding some of the other skills to the nearest 5, though I never touch Big Guns, Unarmed, Melee Weapons or Throwing as I don't find them necessary for the kind of character I'm building- everything else is useful at some point. Once you get your Small Guns to 95% or higher, start pouring points into Energy Weapons (if you pick the Tag! perk at this point, this is made easier, though it's not necessary.)
As to perks, you'll want to get Awareness as soon as you can get it (it's probably going to be your 2nd) as well as Bonus Rate of Fire. You'll also eventually have a choice between Better Criticals versus More Criticals- I usually pick Better Criticals because by the time you get the opportunity to give More Criticals an extra level the game's nearly over- this also makes perks like Sniper kind of useless because you don't actually get it until level 18.
If you don't have any better choices for perks, Dodger and Quick Pockets are good choices. You may want to take Earlier Sequence if you can't get anything else.
To summarize- you'll be spending a lot of time shooting in this game- that much is unavoidable- but this makes it nearly painless. For the first 2/3rds of the game you'll be relying on a good bullet weapon (such as the SMG until you get a better weapon like the .223 pistol and the the sniper rifle when you can afford it), then towards the end you'll be using a plasma rifle (everything else is kinda meh except the Alien Pistol, and you shouldn't be relying on that one because it's an extremely rare encounter.) The Plasma Rifle, once you get it turbo'd in Adytum, becomes one of the nastiest weapons in the game. And when you're not shooting, you'll have plenty of dialogue options to choose from, which is always a good thing, and in fact it helps you circumvent what amounts to a very difficult final boss fight- I never actually fight the Master because it's always easier to convince him to kill himself than it is to fight a flood of big, angry enemies coming in 12 at a time behind me while trying to kill the main bad guy. You'll want to talk to Vree and get a holodisc out of her if you decide to take the Hannibal Lecter route.
a flower in hell on 24/8/2008 at 23:55
I usually go with the traits Gifted and Small Frame.
Stats are usually:
Strength 4
Perception 8
Endurance 6
Charisma 7
Intelligence 6
Agility 10
Luck 7
Tag skills are almost always Small Guns, Speech and one other tag skill. In Fallout 1 I generally tag Energy Weapons, in Fallout 2 I go with Melee Weapons, since you're stuck with one for a fairly good portion of the beginning, and the Gauss weapons are FAR more powerful than energy weapons for the endgame, and are considered Small Guns.
Agility of 10 is absolute win, especially if you take the same path as I do--become a master pistol/SMG marksman, taking all the great ranged perks like increased ranged damage, better criticals, the awesome Sniper perk, and the perks that allow you to use one less action point per action. With certain weapons (such as the P90c SMG, my favorite close-range gun) you can fire two Burst per combat round AND still have 2 AP left over to reload!
My main weapons in FO1 usually starts with the first SMG you find in Vault 15; I use it both Aimed and Burst mode, until I get my hands on a .223 pistol, which becomes my long-range weapon while the SMG goes to close-in work duty only. FO2 is rather similar; I get an SMG as quickly as I can (generally by killing someone in first town you come to) and use it for both aimed and burst until I lay hands on either a 14mm pistol (ammo is a bit scarce though) or the .223 pistol. Later on my weapon setup usually ends up with the P90c for close range and the Gauss Pistol for long range.
The Gauss Pistol is ridiculously overpowered and, especially if you have the Sniper perk, will routinely critical for 200+ if you hit someone in the eyes. The downside is ammo is extremely scarce; you have to pick it up off Enclave troops or from the vendor outside of the NCR. I save 2mm EC for bosses and generally go with the .223 for everything else.
It's immensely satisfying to kill two super mutants per turn with a critical to the eyes, using aimed shots with the .223 pistol and the Sniper perk.
Scots Taffer on 25/8/2008 at 00:25
Shit. I only had fair perception and avg agility.
Back to the drawing board! I guess I'll do that tonight.
Also, wandering around junktown I must confess to not really knowing what the fuck to do:
- General store guy wasn't any help
- Water merchants want me to buy water for 2000 bucks or whatever
- Zuh?
Gotta say I love the capacity for character development in this, I'll be completely charming and friendly and honest at times (like working my way into junktown at night) and then blow everyone away and be a complete asshole in another town. It's fun!
aguywhoplaysthief on 25/8/2008 at 01:17
Basically, you like to be able to accidently steal a piece of bread in one town, and not have the entire town guard in a village three miles away immediately treat you like a child rapist.
Because, you see, that's what I always felt was lacking from the Fallout series.
ZylonBane on 25/8/2008 at 01:26
Never, ever give your party members burst-capable weapons. They WILL end up blowing your torso off.
Also, don't max anything out to 10 at character creation. Most of the important stats can be raised a point via various side quests.
Scots Taffer on 25/8/2008 at 01:45
A question on group dynamics: should I be keeping track of my fighter's inventories? Should I give them bullets/medkits etc if I have a lot to spare?
