Plot-Spoilerless Fallout Gameplay Discussion

[schild]

I swear I had an npc in-game tell me that at some point, I was sort of surprised.

Thought it was a loading screen.

[Litigator]

Minmaxing is the enemy of Roleplaying. If you minmax you will always have it easier, but you can't balance a game around that. I will go farther than that and say you shouldn't. Go die in a Mmogfire until you learn to play games properly again.


I agree on the loot thing, though. It gets tedious until you have enough money to just ignore the junk.

I am sorry. Making up a story for why I chose something not-good instead of something good does not make a choice between good and not-good interesting.  An interesting choice is an interesting choice.  

Speccing into Barter because I imagine my character as a wheeler-dealer is unattractive if Barter is a shitty skill.  

[Tebonas]

Yeah, but choosing between a meek Science geek, a stealthy ninja, a dumb brawler or a special forces sharpshooter must be possible. And you must be able to win fights either way. Therefore the optimal build must be overpowered by virtue of the weak builds not being unplayable and discarded after half a game (*cough* Arcanum *cough*)

[Taonas]

Wrong thread.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, if you're down to one guess left on a hack attempt, just hit the power button to exit out and start fresh.  There's really no excuse for failing on a hack attempt.

What ?

....


Fuck.

[kildorn]

Hacking is easy even if they are very hard. They give you how many you got right and you know they're in the same position as well.

So, let's use this example. 5 letter words.

Brick
Brack
Trick
Cream
Steam
Shaft
Stick
Stack

So you choose brick. You get 3/5 right. So, you narrow it down. At first glance you probably think "it could be brack or maybe truck or maybe stick or maybe stack." Let's look at them. You have 4 in common with brack, so that can't be it. You have 2 in common with stack so that's not it. This leave trick or stick. If it was trick you would have 4 in common so it can't be trick. The correct word is stick.

Using this methodology I was able to hack most computers with only two or three guesses. It's very important to look at not only what you got right but also to look at words that you would have had more matches with if it was that word like my trick and brick example above. Even if you get only 1 out of how ever many letters right you can eliminate possibilities this way by looking at words that your guess had more than 1 letter in common with. I once guessed it on my second try becuase my first choice had zero matching letters in it.

Due to the small limit of selections, the game is stupid. Because the entire minigame is based around getting a solid guess right off (either 0/5 or 3/5) anything else devolves into dumb luck, followed by powering off the terminal and going back in.

For added hilarity: Lockpicking has a "force" option where you can try to skip it with a set success percentage. Hacking has no such thing to avoid the fucking thing.

Lockpicking also lets you keep trying as long as you have pins. Hacking's methodology would be a lot better if you needed cables or some shit that burnt out on failures. Something less "first click of minesweeper" style stupidly random.

[Hindenburg]

Due to the small limit of selections, the game is stupid. Because the entire minigame is based around getting a solid guess right off (either 0/5 or 3/5) anything else devolves into dumb luck, followed by powering off the terminal and going back in.

Actually, by the end of the game i was good enough at hacking to be able to complete most hacks in the first 3 tries. Getting, say, 1/12 correct is quite helpful. There really isn't a lot of luck.

You do kinda go wonky-eyed from all the looking up and down to compare letters.

Also, lockpicking pins tend to break only after the third try on a general direction, so the exit-reenter trick also works with them.

[Riggswolfe]

Actually, by the end of the game i was good enough at hacking to be able to complete most hacks in the first 3 tries. Getting, say, 1/12 correct is quite helpful. There really isn't a lot of luck.

You do kinda go wonky-eyed from all the looking up and down to compare letters.

Exactly. My worst enemy when hacking was my eyes getting tired. It really is just a matter of being patient and comparing all of the words.

[Xerapis]

I love the hacking. And the lockpicking. They both just took some work to get used to.

Things that annoy me: darkness, no energy assault weapons, having to be right-handed.

Somebody needs to mod that pip-boy with a frikkin spotlight or something. And I'm really hoping for some new weapons.

And in a continuing reason why I hate most FPS. I'm left-handed. It totally kills my immersion for my character to be right-handed. It's not so bad in fantasy settings because it's so far from reality. But I was in the Army for 8 years. Using the Fallout 3 assault rifle feels familiar. Yet not. Because the gun is on the wrong fucking side.

Oh, and make it so we can add scopes to more weapons. I'm addicted to the sniper rifle because of this, but it doesn't have an in-close burst capability ~sigh~

Personally weird annoying thing that probably doesn't bother anybody else: none of these building have emergency exit diagrams. I want to find them, scan them into my handy pip-boy, and have an insta-map. Especially for the fucking metro.

Yes, I know I'm weird.

[rattran]

You don't worry about things like emergency exit diagrams when you face Communism! The USSA seems to have not had any societal progress past the '50s, so no OSHA mandated emergency exit signs or ADA ramps for you.

[Samprimary]

The only real controversy in stat-building, for me, is whether or not to start the game with 9 or 10 intelligence.

With 10, you get more skill points total, but you effectively lose one stat point because the INT bobblehead provides no bonus.

However I suppose it is technically possible to make a rush for the int bobblehead. the loss of a couple of skill points is worth a bonus additional stat point in total.

Perks have not been designed well! The problem is that there are perks which are incredibly better than other ones and that takes a lot of the fun out of picking them.

What they probably should have done is divide the perks into classes and you have to pick from a different subset at different levels (i.e., every third level you get a pick from the 'meh' pool, the next level is a pick from the 'average' pool, next level is a pick from the 'good' pool) otherwise you're just ticking off the good ones and ignoring the ones with marginal benefit in favor of .. more stats.

An even better idea would have been to have you pick a 'major' perk and a couple of 'minor' perks each level. Stuff like Commando, Silent Running or Intense Training count as major perks. Stuff like Light Step, Lead Belly, or the +5 to two skills perks are definitely minor.

They should also make it so that perk bonuses and item bonuses allow for skills to go above the normal 100 limit.

[Lantyssa]

Somebody needs to mod that pip-boy with a frikkin spotlight or something. And I'm really hoping for some new weapons.

Hold down tab for several seconds.

The only real controversy in stat-building, for me, is whether or not to start the game with 9 or 10 intelligence.

With 10, you get more skill points total, but you effectively lose one stat point because the INT bobblehead provides no bonus.

However I suppose it is technically possible to make a rush for the int bobblehead. the loss of a couple of skill points is worth a bonus additional stat point in total.

I made it to the place to grab the bobblehead by level 4.  That was with a few exploratory detours.  At a cost of only a couple skill points, I think it's worth putting that point in one of your other attributes instead of a 10 Int.

[CmdrSlack]

In addition to the Pip Boy flashlight, you can also adjust the brightness settings for darker areas.

It may be cheating, but even a slight shift makes a huge difference.

[Ironwood]

Thinking that the levels were infinite, like the other fallouts, I stuck 3 perks into the improved experience.  I now feel cheated as fuck.

 

[Lantyssa]

If they release a mod maker, I'm betting the level 20 cap will be one of the first things to disappear.

[Yegolev]

Instead, it essentially a restriction on how much junk you can mule around to sell to the vendor, without having to leave the dungeon, fast travel back to dump the crap, and then return to the dungeon to loot more stuff.  Essentially, you have to choose between letting loot rot and making annoying trips to town to sell junk. 
...
Money is very easy in this game, and big ticket items are affordable even without barter.

You can just leave the crap to rot if you are rich, yes?  I only carry spares to repair with, and even then it's not strictly necessary since I have at least five different guns on me at any time.  Really, just stop hauling every pack of cigs and spatula back to town.

I've been playing WoW for a while,

Looks like I've found your trouble.

[shiznitz]

I am playing with 4 STR and the carry limit is only slightly annoying (like when I grabbed the Fat Boy in GNR and couldn't run but who cares I had a Fat Boy!).

My sbeaking sucks but then I am run crouching...thanks to whomever pointed that out!

I find the game moderately challenging because I am spreading my skill points around liberally. I know from previous Fallouts this isn't the best practice but 80 in small guns at level 6 makes the game too easy. Speech rules.

[Ironwood]

Um, the one time you miss or come short with the fatboy, you'll really, really want that run ability.

[Morfiend]

Does anyone know if when a SPECIAL says for example "increases Small Guns" does that solely refer to the bonus points in that skill or does it have other invisible perks?

Say for example I wanted Energy Weapons, but didnt care about anything else Perception does for me. I would probably be better in the long run putting more points in to INT, am I correct?

[squirrel]

Does anyone know if when a SPECIAL says for example "increases Small Guns" does that solely refer to the bonus points in that skill or does it have other invisible perks?

Say for example I wanted Energy Weapons, but didnt care about anything else Perception does for me. I would probably be better in the long run putting more points in to INT, am I correct?

Yes. Provided you don't care about other skills P helps then you can skimp on it and use higher INT to dump skill points into Energy Weapons, I don't think there's any 'hidden' bonus or benefit. The wiki has the actual formula for SPECIAL contribution to skills.

[Yegolev]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

[Morfiend]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I was just using it as an example.

[CmdrSlack]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I was just using it as an example.

I'd have to load up my current game, but I went with small guns, sneak and repair as my tag skills. IIRC, I have Perception and Agility at 7 or so and Int at 7 as well. Pretty sure I tanked charisma and a bit of luck to do that. Needless to say, I think Agility, Perception and Int are the three most important stats in the game.

At any rate, once you get past lv 12, having gunslinger, commando, sniper and other perks has made my sneak and shoot build pretty badass. I also have about 17 stealth boys right now, so that helps as well.

I'm glad I bought the strat guide. I don't use it to find the optimal quest solutions (unless I get stuck), but it was nice to see how far I needed to progress the main quest to get power armor and also nifty for finding random locations I may have missed just traversing the wasteland.

[KallDrexx]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I think I"m cheating by using VATS to see if something is coming at me before I pick it up on my radar

[schild]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I think I"m cheating by using VATS to see if something is coming at me before I pick it up on my radar

Prototype armor.

[DeathInABottle]

I have an obscene amount of work to do in the next two weeks, so I gave the DVD to someone else.  Keep me from temptation and all that.  But man, I wish to God I hadn't made that decision.

[Yegolev]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I think I"m cheating by using VATS to see if something is coming at me before I pick it up on my radar

I do this as well, but it's because I have a 4 Per and when Dogmeat starts growling I start looking for enemies any way I can.  Enemies have to be some combination of close or noisy (super mutants) to show up on my radar.  I haven't decided for certain, but I suspect my low Per is why I have the hard time using a sniper rifle in VATS.  For "real" sniper distances I use the scope.  The only way to be sure is to recreate an old-style rifleman and see how it works out.

Disarming traps... is that based on Repair or is it foolproof?  Anyone ever disarm/activate a trap unsuccessfully?  I haven't, but I have a damn high Repair.  Same question for land mines, except I have like 17 Explosive skill and as long as I can hit the button before it explodes, I'm fine.

[Ingmar]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I think I"m cheating by using VATS to see if something is coming at me before I pick it up on my radar

I do this as well, but it's because I have a 4 Per and when Dogmeat starts growling I start looking for enemies any way I can.  Enemies have to be some combination of close or noisy (super mutants) to show up on my radar.  I haven't decided for certain, but I suspect my low Per is why I have the hard time using a sniper rifle in VATS.  For "real" sniper distances I use the scope.  The only way to be sure is to recreate an old-style rifleman and see how it works out.

Disarming traps... is that based on Repair or is it foolproof?  Anyone ever disarm/activate a trap unsuccessfully?  I haven't, but I have a damn high Repair.  Same question for land mines, except I have like 17 Explosive skill and as long as I can hit the button before it explodes, I'm fine.

I have been flat-out denied on terminal bombs because my explosive skill is under 45, but I haven't failed other than that.

[shiznitz]

I'm not on board with the trashing of Perception.  Unless you really don't care that shit can sneak up on you.

I think I"m cheating by using VATS to see if something is coming at me before I pick it up on my radar

I do this as well, but it's because I have a 4 Per and when Dogmeat starts growling I start looking for enemies any way I can.  Enemies have to be some combination of close or noisy (super mutants) to show up on my radar.  I haven't decided for certain, but I suspect my low Per is why I have the hard time using a sniper rifle in VATS.  For "real" sniper distances I use the scope.  The only way to be sure is to recreate an old-style rifleman and see how it works out.

Disarming traps... is that based on Repair or is it foolproof?  Anyone ever disarm/activate a trap unsuccessfully?  I haven't, but I have a damn high Repair.  Same question for land mines, except I have like 17 Explosive skill and as long as I can hit the button before it explodes, I'm fine.

Disarming a bear trap or tripwire shouldn't take any skill to do.

[Lantyssa]

I know baby carriges require a 60 demo skill.  Grenades, too, I think.

[Ironwood]

Am I reading it wrong or can you use the scope independant of VATS on the Sniper Rifle ?

How?

[schild]

Am I reading it wrong or can you use the scope independant of VATS on the Sniper Rifle ?

How?

Uhhhh. Seriously? Just aim, the scope zoomes in as if it were iron sights.

[lac]

Don't you have to right click to zoom?

[schild]

I think I have it set to V, that's why I didn't mention a key.

[Khaldun]

I've stuck with the default right click to zoom, but yeah, you can zoom without VATS and for distant shots, that's often the best, because I don't think your chances for hitting then depend so much on your skills allocation. It's much more first-person shootery: I've gotten one-shot kills on Super Mutants at level 4 with a sniper rifle that way, before my Small Guns is very high. If I go into VATS, the chance of the same shot working that well is much lower.