Fallout

Well, as I've mentioned before, I bought both 1 & 2. Enjoying it so far. However, it is a bitch trying to figure out a game when you have no manual. (I bought them in the jewel case) I thought I read in the Fallout Readme that there is an online manual. Where's it at, Milo? If that's no help, where can I go that will give me some info on general stuff.

Also, is there no journal? How am I supposed to keep track of quests?

 

The manual(s) are on the CDs in PDF format. I have my Fallout CDs right here, so I can check the paths real quick...

OK, on the Fallout 2 cd, it's in the "MANUAL" directory at the root of the CD. Duh. It should be about the same for the first Fallout, too.

Regarding the journal; The PipBoy handles those. Go into your PipBoy by pressing "P" (I think), and click through the tabs. One of them lists your quests for each city that you visited. It automatically crosses out quests that you've completed. Most of the time that is.

 

Damn Milo. Disappear for days, but speak his name, and POOF he appears.

Thanks. I didn't check the Fallout 2 cd yet, but on the first cd, the pdf file is just a buncha disclaimer shite and some fixes from the previous release. I'll check it when I get home.

Damn. Do I smell a bug already?[/i]

 

Drat! I was going to answer your question!

 

Well, answer this one for me then. What are some of the best skills to increase and tag, and which do you consider useless?

 

Depends. On Fallout 1, guns kick butt! Big time! Increase in big guns and energy weapons for sure! When you meet the super mutants, they all carry long-range energy weapons and miniguns. Big help if you can use them.

For Fallout 2, advance in small guns, maybe some melee or unarmed, and something else. Save the big guns and energy weapon skills for when you really need them. You don't find any good energy weapons/big guns until you find the super mutant town, and then it is hard to get them without getting on someone's bad side.

I consider speachcraft and most healing and stealth skills useless. They don't seem to help much.

TIP: If you use guns, you can steal guns and ammo very easy. You don't even need skill! Just walk behind the target's back (or try to keep them for looking directly at you), and save. Then, use the steal skill on them. It almost always works, without any special skill! I do it all the time, and haven't put any skill to it yet. If the see you, then load, wait a few seconds, or walk away and walk back, and try again. Only pick out one thing at a time, and save it immediatly afterward. If you have pickpocketed them once, after saving (without moving), you should be able to do it until you have everything you want. Oh, yes, it works if you aren't advanced in guns too, but it is most usefull for stealing ammo and guns that are not equiped. You can NOT steal equiped stuff while the target is alive.

Make as many friends as possible, and try out every quest possible. Steal a bunch of garbage and sell it for lotsa bottle caps or other stuff you want/need.

 

Riddle me this, then:

When I sell an object, am I paid in bottle caps? Cause I coulda sworn that my bottle caps didn't increase when I sold a bunch of junk I had.

 

I don't want to ruin the game by telling you what is best, and i don't recomend you to read any other advise on what to do since it totally ruins the games, STAY AWAY FROM WALKTROUGHS they totally ruin the game. Don't ask how to do things since it is so much better to find it out yourself. Stay away from walktroughs that is the best advise when playing fallout, and don't ask ANYONE how to do the game or what skills are the best, make your own character and try for yourself. When you have completed the games a few times you can try a walktrough, but NOT before.

 

Fallout 1 uses bottle caps for money. Fallout 2 uses regular "bag of coins" that all games use.

For Fallout 2 skills, I'd tag Small Arms first and foremost. This one you can use through the whole game. Then I'd tag Unarmed because there are some times when this can be useful. Plus it's just fun beating on people. Then depending on how bad you want to break the game, I'd tag Gambling. The problem with the game is that once you get ~120% in Gambling, you have unlimited money. You just go to a casino, play craps, and hold the "5" key down and watch your money pile up. This is something that I'd do on replays of the game, but not the first time through. Having unlimited money takes a lot out of the experience.

If you don't go the Gambling route, get Speech or Stealing. Both are useful.

 

Ouch! That must have sucked!

Fallout 1 & 2's trade system doesn't automatically put coins in your pocket. It is a barter system. You have to put out what you want to sell, check out the price, and even it out with something you want to buy. If you sell something without putting enough to even it out, the store-keeper will accept it, but if you over-do your side, then they won't accept it.

Example: You want to sell a sucky gun. You click and drag it onto the barter table. The counter below says it is worth $123. You then drag something that is worth a little less or the same from the store-keeper's inventory into their side of the table. If it is uneven, then you fill up the money gaps with bottle caps, from either side, OR just trade it for bottle caps, and don't get anything else at all. Same if you want to buy; you can drag what you want to buy on, and put on enough bottle caps, items, or both, to equalize the price as much as possible.

I stole a bunch of junk and sold it, and I now have over 7000 bottle caps, now to mention my inventory is full of junk that I still need to sell. If you dont keep the shop-keepers/barterers on their toes, then they will rip you off.

 

Oh, I get it. That explains it perfectly, thanks Nick.

 

No problem! Happy to help!

BTW, I have always spelled it Nic... never Nick.

 

How many perks do ya get? And what's the level cap? Speakin' of perks, how often do you get them?

 

Hmmm... I have heard that there is no level cap. I think you can level up to at least 100. A long ways.

With the perks, I think you get one after 2-3 levels. If you used the perk skilled, though, you only get one every 4 level-ups. I really haven't tried it without the Skilled trait/perk, but if the perk every 4 levels is a minus for it, I would say you get a perk every 2 levels, but it may be 3. Just guess you will get one every 2 levels. :grin:

 

It's a perk every 3 levels, 4 if you take the Skilled trait (not worth it, IMO).

I'm not aware of any level cap, but if there is one, you will not hit it unless you are a psycho power gamer. Getting to mid 20s - low 30s is more than enough to get the most powerful perks and beat the game easily. The Fallouts are really those type of games where you can get insanely powerful if you powergame it. It's a lot more fun and challenging if you roleplay it.

 

Skilled trait not worth it, you mean? I think what I selected was skilled and gifted... You think it's not worth it because of the extended wait for perks, or what?

 

I did that too. It was a good thing for me!

 

Of course, these are all my own preferences. I preferred Gifted and Small Frame to Gifted and Skilled. The Skilled trait does offset the skill penalty that you get from taking Gifted, but the perk penalty is just too much to justify it.

Since my characters almost always had a high intelligence, I wasn't really hurting for skill points even with the Gifted trait. So even with the penalty, I never felt seriously underskilled in anything. Perks, on the other hand are fucking uber in this game. So much so, that in the latter half of the game, I was playing solely for perks and not for any other level up bonuses. Having a couple extra action points or being able to fire your weapon faster (and later with almost 100% criticals), is worth far more than a few extra skill points.

A perk every four levels rather than three might not seem so bad in the beginning, but later it will. Level 21 is like the pinnacle for characters because that's when you can get the Sniper or Slayer perk. With a perk every 3 levels, you can get this at level 21. With the Skilled trait, you'll have to wait until level 28, I think, and this is later in the game when it's a pain in the ass to level up that high.

 

You guys hear that? That's the sound of woody knocking the underside of my computer desk. I hear what you're saying, Milo. Makes sense.

One more thing that I've never been really clear about in RPG, and concerning ranged weapons. (I always played mages, so I never used ranged weapons) What constitutes range? For instance, the 10mm pistol has a range of 25. 25 what? And how do you determine if the baddie is 25 whatever from you? All I know is that right now, the baddies have to be right beside me in order for me to hit. If they are 3-5 action-point moves away, I may have a 10-15 percent chance of hitting them.

 

Damn, you must have a really shitty Small Arms skill and/or a very low Perception. You really should be getting higher than a 10%-15% chance to hit from 5 tiles away. That is unless your view is partially blocked or it's dark or something. Or maybe you're targeting your shots. You shouldn't do this until you get your skill pretty high in whatever weapon you're using. Once you hit 130% in Small Arms, you can pretty much shoot the eyes out of anything with a Sniper Rifle or better with a high chance to hit.

Distance is the number or tiles. For instance, if it would take you 25 APs to walk to the enemy, then as far as range is concerned, it's 25. 10=10, 5=5, and so on.