Enemy AI is also kind of stupid and deaf for the most part. You can hide in the dark, empty an entire magazine into the black of some dude's head with an unsilenced barrel and his buddy standing a hundred feet away won't notice. Same goes for picking locks & hacking computers (now mini-games themselves).
Equipment isn't that deep, either. Adding the item generation system from Borderlands would be a huge plus. Craftables are limited, but a couple are insanely useful (bottlecap mines fucking rule).
Mines & grenades are a huge part of my combat strategy. Found it works to soften the enemies up with explosives & then headshot them. If things go bad, you can always stimpack back to full health instantaneously (fixed in New Vegas). Early going is a bitch if you ramp up the difficulty. Have to conserve ammo & tackle quests judiciously.
Fallout 3
Finally gotten to the point where I'm capable of dealing with pretty much any small group of critters that walks my way. Mines + sneak attach headshots + grenades = death. Got hundreds if not thousands of rounds of ammo and plenty of firearms in good repair. Even on very hard, killing is getting semi-easy (provided the explosives keep coming). Sneaking around trying not to get jumped by half a dozen super mutants is the only worry.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Waaaaaaaaaaay too many skill books in this game. Every skill has enough books lying around to net you 50 points each in that skill. Highest possible score in any is 100. Makes the INT attribute less valuable.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Finally at the point where the game doesn't have many surprises for me (except a shitload more content). But it's all academic.
A few observations...
A) Very Hard mode isn't. Ammo and cash goddamn near rain from the sky after a certain mission regardless of your level.
B) Without the add'l content in the GotY edition (read as "a particular breed of super mutant that soaks up damage like Aerosmith did cocaine"), even minus the +10 to the level cap the add'l content enables, I would have been steamrolling every critter I came across, easy. Fuck explosives, fuck missiles, I could do it with small guns and unarmed alone. The add'l content also gives you the means (weapons and armor) to deal with the bitch-ass super mutants (and radscorpions, although they're really avoidable).
C) I'll say it again ... WAAAAAAAAAAAY too goddamn many skill books that permaboost your skills. It makes the intelligence stat about as useful as charisma.
D) It's possible to solve almost every major puzzle in the game by laying waste to all who oppose your will. As noted above, you've got the stats, skills, equipment, and firepower to do so. And there's pretty much always a convenient chokepoint to herd critters to.
E) The dart gun is your best friend. It is by far the most fearsome weapon in the game, bar none, period. Having one takes you from being dangerous to being a god.
F) Originally, the level cap was 20. With the new content, it's jacked up to 30. You can easily hit that second limit doing sidequests and never touch the plot until you're maxed. And that's the standard Fallout 3 plot missions. That's not counting the 5 bits of additional content.
A few observations...
A) Very Hard mode isn't. Ammo and cash goddamn near rain from the sky after a certain mission regardless of your level.
B) Without the add'l content in the GotY edition (read as "a particular breed of super mutant that soaks up damage like Aerosmith did cocaine"), even minus the +10 to the level cap the add'l content enables, I would have been steamrolling every critter I came across, easy. Fuck explosives, fuck missiles, I could do it with small guns and unarmed alone. The add'l content also gives you the means (weapons and armor) to deal with the bitch-ass super mutants (and radscorpions, although they're really avoidable).
C) I'll say it again ... WAAAAAAAAAAAY too goddamn many skill books that permaboost your skills. It makes the intelligence stat about as useful as charisma.
D) It's possible to solve almost every major puzzle in the game by laying waste to all who oppose your will. As noted above, you've got the stats, skills, equipment, and firepower to do so. And there's pretty much always a convenient chokepoint to herd critters to.
E) The dart gun is your best friend. It is by far the most fearsome weapon in the game, bar none, period. Having one takes you from being dangerous to being a god.
F) Originally, the level cap was 20. With the new content, it's jacked up to 30. You can easily hit that second limit doing sidequests and never touch the plot until you're maxed. And that's the standard Fallout 3 plot missions. That's not counting the 5 bits of additional content.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
E) The dart gun is your best friend. It is by far the most fearsome weapon in the game, bar none, period. Having one takes you from being dangerous to being a god.
Say what now?
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
Haven't gotten one yet?Leisher wrote:Say what now?E) The dart gun is your best friend. It is by far the most fearsome weapon in the game, bar none, period. Having one takes you from being dangerous to being a god.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Darts don't outright kill things. They make it millions of times easier to kill things. The dart gun strategy I employ ...Leisher wrote:I have one but it took about 20 shots to kill a small radscorpion
0) Optionally, lay down some mines and try to maneuver the critter(s) over them for extra death.
1) Dart gun fires one dart that, with pretty much any successful hit, will cripple any opponent EXCEPT robots and radscorpions. Crippled opponents move slower than Paris Hilton's brain after a night of binge drinking and huffing paint. VATS the mofos or (preferably) take the shot yourself. The spread is nil, so the accuracy is based entirely on your aim.
2) At this point, numerous options are open. If the enemy is particularly bitchy, you can lob grenades.
3) Default behaviour is equipping long-range rifle (hunting/sniper rifle) and sniping the slow-ass enemies while they run over mines. You can circle strafe anything that's susceptible to the darts.
4) If, by some small chance, it's not enough and the bastards make it up close and personal, whip out a heavy-hitter (big guns\combat shotgun\Lincoln's Repeater), relax and take their crippled asses out.
There's a number of critters that are exceptionally painful 1v1 (deathclaws, ghoul reavers, super mutant overlords, albino radscorpions, to name a few), especially if you've got Broken Steel installed. The dart gun is what lets you kill them 1v1 with a 99.99999% success rate. It's also what makes it possible to take on groups of them with decent success. To boot, you can buy a schematic of it very early on for ~800 caps. Darts are plentiful and you're only using about one per critter, so the ammo lasts.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Interesting. You love it, yet so far I find it to be worthless.
It takes far too long to swap weapons for it to be valuable to me. In that time I could put 4 or more blasts from my shotgun into them, and that's usually enough to kill most beasties.
Although, maybe my tactics will change when I see more Deathclaws or some of the creatures you named that I haven't seen like the ghoul reaver.
On a different note, I can't express how disappointed I am that simply by wandering, I've found Vault 112. This is prior to me ever making it to Rivet City or even returning the GNR radio after installing the dish.
This highlights the game's biggest flaw: They want you to play through the storyline first, then spend time going through the side missions. I, and I imagine most others, play the exact opposite way. We want to have power, and getting power in games means leveling. Leveling means getting experience. You do that via side missions.
Moving on, I have a very strong desire to simply kill everyone in Paradise Falls. Will that prevent me from doing something cool later in the game (like killing that guy in the bar prevents you from blowing up Megaton)? Should I do the 20 Chinese Rifles thing with the merchant there first?
It takes far too long to swap weapons for it to be valuable to me. In that time I could put 4 or more blasts from my shotgun into them, and that's usually enough to kill most beasties.
Although, maybe my tactics will change when I see more Deathclaws or some of the creatures you named that I haven't seen like the ghoul reaver.
On a different note, I can't express how disappointed I am that simply by wandering, I've found Vault 112. This is prior to me ever making it to Rivet City or even returning the GNR radio after installing the dish.
This highlights the game's biggest flaw: They want you to play through the storyline first, then spend time going through the side missions. I, and I imagine most others, play the exact opposite way. We want to have power, and getting power in games means leveling. Leveling means getting experience. You do that via side missions.
Moving on, I have a very strong desire to simply kill everyone in Paradise Falls. Will that prevent me from doing something cool later in the game (like killing that guy in the bar prevents you from blowing up Megaton)? Should I do the 20 Chinese Rifles thing with the merchant there first?
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
On the weapons matter...Leisher wrote:Interesting. You love it, yet so far I find it to be worthless.
It takes far too long to swap weapons for it to be valuable to me. In that time I could put 4 or more blasts from my shotgun into them, and that's usually enough to kill most beasties.
Although, maybe my tactics will change when I see more Deathclaws or some of the creatures you named that I haven't seen like the ghoul reaver.
On a different note, I can't express how disappointed I am that simply by wandering, I've found Vault 112. This is prior to me ever making it to Rivet City or even returning the GNR radio after installing the dish.
This highlights the game's biggest flaw: They want you to play through the storyline first, then spend time going through the side missions. I, and I imagine most others, play the exact opposite way. We want to have power, and getting power in games means leveling. Leveling means getting experience. You do that via side missions.
Moving on, I have a very strong desire to simply kill everyone in Paradise Falls. Will that prevent me from doing something cool later in the game (like killing that guy in the bar prevents you from blowing up Megaton)? Should I do the 20 Chinese Rifles thing with the merchant there first?
What difficulty level are you at? "Very hard" halves your damage and doubles it for all your enemies. Until you get the proper equipment, anything can clean your clock if you get careless.
Yeah, it takes a bit to switch guns, but you can usually get one weapon swap before it becomes dangerous to try it again if you engage at decent distance. You can dart/rail gun/grenade/missile something and switch back to a small gun. If your target's slowed by the dart poison, then you can swap all you want.
On why the shotgun (and small guns in general) isn't a panacea...
Super mutant overlords, mirelurks (at low levels), deathclaws, ghoul reavers. Dart the motherfuckers.
Overlords and reavers have obscenely high health. Fucking obscene, in their own league, not even close to on par with anything else (except maybe a behemoth). Even when I was tanked out at level 30 drilling them with sniper rifle/plasma rifle/missile launcher/heavy incinerator, it took a long-ass time (dozens of rounds, 35-50% crits). Softening them up with mines and grenades takes a good two or three of the most damaging variety. Only reliable way I've found to take them out without excessive explosives involves keeping lots of distance between you and them.
Deathclaws aren't the toughest critters and some shotgun headshots will take them down, but only at medium-to-close range where the spread's going into them at a higher percentage. They close distance very quickly. When they get next to you, they cut quick and often.
On the plot/side missions...
They let you go anywhere right out of the gate. Enemies, loot, shops, etc., all scale to your level. There's assloads of locations. You can get to level 30 before even starting the main quest. It'll just make the plot missions relatively harder than if you'd done them at level 5. After one particular plot mission, though, the ... landscape, I guess, will change noticeably and suddenly, so it sort of affects things in that way.
Most of the "good" loot breaks down to : (i) skill books, (ii) unique weapons/armor, (iii) schematics, (iv) bobbleheads. There's a few you can vulture for free and a few you can take with minimal trouble. Everything else is going to take some nontrivial fighting.
On when to do something in a given environment...
When you go hostile to a faction, it makes it pretty much impossible to trade with them or do any quests for them. So yeah, if you ice everyone in Paradise Falls, then Pronto isn't going to take the guns or trade anymore. There are other places where you can seriously and permanently affect the landscape/populous/goods available. Don't worry much about XP, there's plenty. It does kind of suck missing out on unique items if you perma-fuck a place before exploring it totally. It's theoretically possible that you perma-fuck yourself out of a couple bobbleheads.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
After one particular plot mission, though, the ... landscape, I guess, will change noticeably and suddenly, so it sort of affects things in that way.
It's my understanding that Vault 112 is the end of the main missions, is that correct? I was "plugged in", and reverted to an earlier save because I thought once I completed that, the game was over.
Is that what you're referring too?
If not, I'm having trouble finding missions. So far, I've been to Rivet City, Megaton, Paradise Falls, Big Town, Nuka-Cola, the robot factory, that Bell Towers place, Underworld, GNR radio, the National Archives, the library, Arlington Cemetery, Mama's food place (whatever), the place with the fire ants, Fort Banister, and a bunch of other places I'm not remembering. Currently, I'm in the Capitol building.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
That is how the previous games were setup too. There is nothing keeping you from the end game beyond the difficulty of the enemies and your skills and equipment.
Did you guys use any mods? Right now I am playing with Mart Mutant Mod, Fook2, and Fellout. I had the mod order mess up in the beginning and it was real unstable but since have fixed that and are not having very many issues. I still quicksave often.
Edited By WSGrundy on 1303231471
Did you guys use any mods? Right now I am playing with Mart Mutant Mod, Fook2, and Fellout. I had the mod order mess up in the beginning and it was real unstable but since have fixed that and are not having very many issues. I still quicksave often.
Edited By WSGrundy on 1303231471
I use zero mods. I thought about the flashlight mod, but figured a mod probably wasn't worth the trouble.
What do those other mods do?
Edited By Leisher on 1303232219
What do those other mods do?
Edited By Leisher on 1303232219
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
The ones I am using make the explosions from the energy weapons a bit more impressive, adds new tactics for the enemies, allows the enemies to use more/better weapons, fix some bugs, adds mutants from the older games that aren't in the vanilla version, removes the green overcast and makes the world a bit more colorful, adds new weapons and armor, and lots of other stuff.
Also AI controlled creatures/people will also fight each other know. So as you wander the map you will come up on raiders battling super mutants instead of just standing next to one another waiting for you.
I have the game of the year edition and this goes on for me without any mods.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
It's my understanding that Vault 112 is the end of the main missions, is that correct?
Nope, that's a different Vault. 112 is more like the halfway mark. The game world will change very shortly after that. Galaxy News and Enclave Radio will significantly change their broadcasts. It is kind of annoying that you can wander onto critical locales randomly. A larger world would've been nice.
So far, I've been to Rivet City, Megaton, Paradise Falls, Big Town, Nuka-Cola, the robot factory, that Bell Towers place, Underworld, GNR radio, the National Archives, the library, Arlington Cemetery, Mama's food place (whatever)
There's not a hell of a lot of official "missions" so to speak. Most of you getting XP/gear is going to come from sheer traveling/exploration. There's more than a few unnamed quests that you have to stumble into, sometimes in certain circumstances. There's also lots of random encounters that may or may not happen when you hit particular hotspots on the map. The longest running gig is the Megaton Wasteland Survivor Guide. Arlington House can be used as player housing (safe to store possessions there and there's only one, maybe two unique, nonrepeatable enemy encounters in the area). Find the Museum of History. It ought to be near the Archives. Check out the lower halls, a sweet .44 rifle lives there. Also one (eventually two) solid ammo merchants. If you locate Tenpenny Tower, there's another one there. Once you find enough ammo, life becomes immensely easier.
Did you guys use any mods?
The normal, GotY, non-mod version I run freezes often enough that I'm loathe to add anything with a hint of more instability. Maybe later.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
To a certain extent, yeah, but only if the creature spawn points are within a certain proximity. There's lots of times when things are just walking around doing nothing. Out in the wastes, I can sort of see that. In D.C., it ought to be a fucking war zone damn near everywhere, but it ain't.Leisher wrote:I have the game of the year edition and this goes on for me without any mods.Also AI controlled creatures/people will also fight each other know. So as you wander the map you will come up on raiders battling super mutants instead of just standing next to one another waiting for you.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
The normal, GotY, non-mod version I run freezes often enough that I'm loathe to add anything with a hint of more instability. Maybe later.
Mine crashes at least once a night as well.
The longest running gig is the Megaton Wasteland Survivor Guide.
I finished that off last night. Although I'd argue that Reilly gives you a longer task, mapping the Wasteland. Of course, I finished that off with a single perk.
Find the Museum of History.
I think I cleaned that place out already. Don't remember a .44 rifle. Maybe I missed that building? Is that where Underworld is or is that where the space artifacts are (the rocket, the lunar lander, the star show, etc.
Nope, that's a different Vault. 112 is more like the halfway mark. The game world will change very shortly after that. Galaxy News and Enclave Radio will significantly change their broadcasts.
Good to know, and interesting. I'm looking forward to the change. Should I complete anything before hand? I mean, will any towns or people be leaving for good?
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
I think I cleaned that place out already. Don't remember a .44 rifle. Maybe I missed that building? Is that where Underworld is or is that where the space artifacts are (the rocket, the lunar lander, the star show, etc.
Museum of Tech has the lunar lander. Museum of History has Underworld dead ahead, but if you gallop through the doors on the left, there's explorable area with hostiles and loot.
Although I'd argue that Reilly gives you a longer task, mapping the Wasteland. Of course, I finished that off with a single perk.
That quest is the fucking cash cow.
Should I complete anything before hand? I mean, will any towns or people be leaving for good?
Towns, no? Grab whatever bobbleheads you want as walking around the Wastes and D.C. will become a bit more dangerous. In addition, sometime after that huge change, wander around your original vault from time to time and scan the radio frequencies... Also, post-change, look for a place called "Deathclaw Sanctuary" in the west-central portion of the map. It's got a bobblehead, a brutal unique melee weapon, and the most fucking rocking unique automatic weapon I've found in game. The DPS is impressive, but it eats ammo like it's sugar-coated crack.
Can't wait until all the DLC for New Vegas gets available so I can get that in one shot instead of hunting down individual add-ons.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."