Plot-Spoilerless Fallout Gameplay Discussion

[Surlyboi]

Min/maxing is for lifeless douches.

You're confused.

Gun A hits for 6 points.  Gun B hits for 20 points, looks way cooler and has flashing lights and calls you sugar when you kill someone with it.  You take gun B, right?

Stat 1 has an unnoticeable change on the way you play the game.  Stat 2, once you reach the threshold, makes people heads explode when you squish them between your fingers.  You take stat two, right?

So, are you a min-maxxer or are you just playing the game and going by the obvious clues and progression path put there by the designers for you to enjoy?

The real issue isn't making characters that are competent because the corollary is that you would have to play incompetently to play correctly.

Negatory. I just don't feel the need to squeeze the life out of every game I play. I play them for fun, not to beat them with extreme fucking prejudice. I get the flashy gun? Cool. I don't and I have to find another way to skin that cat? That's cool too. There's eight million ways to play this game. I don't have to have the perfect character to get to the end of it.

[Sky]

If a game cannot handle a player min/maxing it, it is simple a bad game. 

I'd say if a game can't handle a character not min/maxing, it's a bad game. Also, it's SO easy to see the new WAR kids in a crowd.

[Surlyboi]

Of course, now I kinda wanna play Oblivion again.

This time with Tesla armor and a plasma rifle.

[Kitsune]

I learned last night that I completely adore plasma weapons.  I'd been stashing them away unused, but once I'd gotten enough to have a good supply of spare parts for repair, I whipped out the plasma pistol and started popping people in the face.  Holy shit, if I'd known that plasma weapons make peoples' heads fly off while their bodies dissolve into a puddle of glowing green ooze, I'd've been using them from the very first second. 

An alien blaster pistol fell (literally) out of the sky in front of me too.  I have yet to use it, as the ammo is super-super scarce, but I'm just itching to shoot something in the head with that and see what happens.  I had the alien blaster in Fallout 1, and it was the best thing ever.

Small arms are reliable and plentiful, but damn if the energy weapons aren't way more fun.

[Lantyssa]

I found the Firelance in my first play-through but never used it due to a lack of ammo.  If I get one this go 'round I might cheat just to be able to fire it more than once.

I love my plasma rifle.  Green goo for everyone! <zot> <zot> <zot>

[shiznitz]

In which case, don't read a book until you get the '2 skill points per book' perk, then never raise a skill above 40. You can max everything! 

I don't have 9 INT but I took the skill points perk so I get 20 per level. 14 more levels = 280 skillpoints coming my way. Small guns is already 80. No way I need all those so why worry about the book bonus? I don't have the patience for Sneaking so that's out. Barter is pointless. Stimpacks are everywhere so don't need Medicine. Unarmed and melee are not for this character (4 ST). All I really need is Speech (55 already), Big Guns and Energy Weapons. Lockpick and Science are dump skills.

[Ingmar]

In which case, don't read a book until you get the '2 skill points per book' perk, then never raise a skill above 40. You can max everything! 

I don't have 9 INT but I took the skill points perk so I get 20 per level. 14 more levels = 280 skillpoints coming my way. Small guns is already 80. No way I need all those so why worry about the book bonus? I don't have the patience for Sneaking so that's out. Barter is pointless. Stimpacks are everywhere so don't need Medicine. Unarmed and melee are not for this character (4 ST). All I really need is Speech (55 already), Big Guns and Energy Weapons. Lockpick and Science are dump skills.

One possible miscalculation is big guns are pretty heavy, so if you want to carry a few different ones, spares for repair, etc., that carrying capacity will limit you. There are ways to boost strength, though.

[Yegolev]

My guy has 5 Str and I could do Big Guns if I had focused on it, since I seem to have seven small guns on me at any given time.  I could make do with the Rock-It, Missile Launcher and Minigun, assuming I could find enough 5mm rounds... but I guess that's why you have the Rock-It Launcher.

[Miasma]

I played and loved Oblivion but fuck it's retarded levelling mechanic so I know how to play Fallout 3.

Tilde motherfuckers, tilde.

T
G
M

[FatuousTwat]

I hated bloody mess after a while, the 5% wasn't worth the constantly exploding bodies for me.

Sure it was cool the first few times I saw it, but I prefered the random severing without it.

[schild]

That 5% is pretty great actually....

[Yegolev]

I hated bloody mess after a while, the 5% wasn't worth the constantly exploding bodies for me.

Sure it was cool the first few times I saw it, but I prefered the random severing without it.

lol wut

You don't like Bloody Mess?

[Miasma]

I temporally disliked it as I watched a well armored enemy blow up and thought to myself "fuck, now I can't steal his armour, that's going to cost me damage and caps".  But then I found out you can just search one of the hunks of meat and still get everything.

[rk47]

wish they fixed melee somehow. it was just not worth it.

[Lantyssa]

I don't have 9 INT but I took the skill points perk so I get 20 per level. 14 more levels = 280 skillpoints coming my way. Small guns is already 80. No way I need all those so why worry about the book bonus? I don't have the patience for Sneaking so that's out. Barter is pointless. Stimpacks are everywhere so don't need Medicine. Unarmed and melee are not for this character (4 ST). All I really need is Speech (55 already), Big Guns and Energy Weapons. Lockpick and Science are dump skills.

Higher skills often give you options in the game world, not just their primary effects.  If there's nothing you specifically need, you might as well put points into them anyways.

[Yoru]

I temporally disliked it as I watched a well armored enemy blow up and thought to myself "fuck, now I can't steal his armour, that's going to cost me damage and caps".  But then I found out you can just search one of the hunks of meat and still get everything.

It can get annoying when you blow up multiple dudes in a small area. "Which one of these hunks is a raider I haven't searched yet?" 

[ashrik]

I'm really just tired of bloody mess. I miss how people would die before I had the perk.

You can only watch someone's arms and legs flying off from a headshot so many times <--- never thought I'd say that one

[Yoru]

Now that I'm in the upper teen levels, MF and Energy cells are way more common, so I've switched over to using a named Laser Pistol and a generic Laser Rifle for most combat, with a Chinese Assault Rifle or Combat Shotgun in reserve in case things get up-close-and-personal. Once you start using Lasers, no more body parts everywhere - just little piles of ash. 

I haven't used the plasma rifle much, as I've only found two so far, but once I get that thing repaired up, I'll see about turning dudes into goo. I have to say I like the rapid firing and zero travel time of the laser weapons though. I gotta get me a named laser rifle...

[CmdrSlack]

Now that I'm in the upper teen levels, MF and Energy cells are way more common, so I've switched over to using a named Laser Pistol and a generic Laser Rifle for most combat, with a Chinese Assault Rifle or Combat Shotgun in reserve in case things get up-close-and-personal. Once you start using Lasers, no more body parts everywhere - just little piles of ash. 

I haven't used the plasma rifle much, as I've only found two so far, but once I get that thing repaired up, I'll see about turning dudes into goo. I have to say I like the rapid firing and zero travel time of the laser weapons though. I gotta get me a named laser rifle...

Or just find the named plasma. It is the sex.

[squirrel]

Yeah I have bloody mess and am now raising EW as my Small Arms is 100...Plasma is ewey gooey goodness.

[Yoru]

Now that I'm in the upper teen levels, MF and Energy cells are way more common, so I've switched over to using a named Laser Pistol and a generic Laser Rifle for most combat, with a Chinese Assault Rifle or Combat Shotgun in reserve in case things get up-close-and-personal. Once you start using Lasers, no more body parts everywhere - just little piles of ash. 

I haven't used the plasma rifle much, as I've only found two so far, but once I get that thing repaired up, I'll see about turning dudes into goo. I have to say I like the rapid firing and zero travel time of the laser weapons though. I gotta get me a named laser rifle...

Or just find the named plasma. It is the sex.

I kinda screwed the pooch on that one. Can't get that weapon any more. But meh, what I got instead is useful when enemies get close and I have to drop into VATS.

[CmdrSlack]

Now that I'm in the upper teen levels, MF and Energy cells are way more common, so I've switched over to using a named Laser Pistol and a generic Laser Rifle for most combat, with a Chinese Assault Rifle or Combat Shotgun in reserve in case things get up-close-and-personal. Once you start using Lasers, no more body parts everywhere - just little piles of ash. 

I haven't used the plasma rifle much, as I've only found two so far, but once I get that thing repaired up, I'll see about turning dudes into goo. I have to say I like the rapid firing and zero travel time of the laser weapons though. I gotta get me a named laser rifle...

Or just find the named plasma. It is the sex.

I kinda screwed the pooch on that one. Can't get that weapon any more. But meh, what I got instead is useful when enemies get close and I have to drop into VATS.

Not sure if that needed spoilers, it does reflect on the gameplay a bit since the path to that item is pretty squishy as far as karma is concerned.

[Rishathra]

As to the named Laser Rifle...


The damage seems low until you realize that that is per shot, and the laser rifle fires nice and fast.  I actually prefer it to the plasma.  Once I had the caps and the ammo rolling in, I pretty much just used that until the final mission, where I pulled out the Alien Blaster because I knew the game would be over anyways.  Blue piles of ash ftw!

[Yoru]

Yes, unfortunately the save where I could've gotten the named plasma rifle is like 15 hours earlier now - around level 6 or so. Not worth reloading and replaying 10 levels of adventuring.

That said, I'm slowly working my way towards the named laser rifle, I just need to stop going "ooh, point of interest over there..."

[FatuousTwat]

I was retarded and accidentally repaired a normal laser rifle with the named one when I was clearing inventory. :(

I've managed to avoid that with all the other ones.

[Yoru]

They really need to put a confirmation dialog on that shit.

"YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING ASTOUNDINGLY DUMB. DO YOU WANT TO PROCEED? [Y] [N]"

[FatuousTwat]

I think that could work well pretty much anywhere.

[lac]

That's why they added the handy cheat system

[shiznitz]

I was pleasantly surprised (because I have no self control sometimes with cheats) that one cannot cheat unlock some things. I actually have to put points in locklpicking.

[Bunk]

Just got my power armor training, and at this point any of the power armor I've seen is worse than the Riley's Ranger armor I'm wearing. What use is +2 str when the armor weighs 45 lbs, if you don't do melee? I'm assuming I'll find better power armor eventually.

As to uniques - so far I've found the plasma rifle and a sawed off. Best thing about the plasma was that it started 100% repaired.

[Ard]

Just got my power armor training, and at this point any of the power armor I've seen is worse than the Riley's Ranger armor I'm wearing. What use is +2 str when the armor weighs 45 lbs, if you don't do melee? I'm assuming I'll find better power armor eventually.

This is more or less the situation I was in when I got it, but I was carrying around an Enclave Power Armor set.  The normal and Outcast versions of the power armor suck compared to Riley's armor, but the Enclave set has a significant amount more DR than Riley's.  It was a tough choice for me, and I'm still not sure I chose right with the power armor.

[Rasix]

Tesla armor is nice, but there's no strength to help offset the weight.  If I were to author a mod to fix some of the design oddities, I'd likely make power armor have 0 weight when worn.  Power armor, unlike in Fallout 1 or 2, doesn't seem to make a massive difference due to the lack of high damage resistance v. certain types of damage.   Stuff made you basically immune to most physical damage in the previous titles.

[Rishathra]

I haven't found much use for armor period, let alone power armor.  I ended up playing the majority of the game, including the ending, in a duster and a fedora.  I didn't miss the armor at all.  I was mainly a sneaky, snipey kind of player, but even during that final bit where you fight a good chunk of Enclave soldiers at once, it didn't pose much of a challenge.  Although a series of one-shots with the alien blaster combined with the Reaper's Sprint might have had something to do with it.  Granted, this was on hard, maybe on very hard you need that extra damage absorption. 

Pro tip: the laser rifle makes a better sniper rifle than the sniper rifle.

[schild]

Protip - The Lincoln Repeater is the best "sniper" rifle in the game.

[Rishathra]

Yeah, that's a goodun.  I just love making piles of ash too much.  The reload animation for the repeater is lovely too.