Fallout 2 Tips?

[YellowNuka-Cola]

I've beaten Fallout one a couple hundred times without cheating, but Fallout 2, I've beaten it twice, and I have found that I had to cheat (use a trainer) to get through the Enclave Oil Rig. Before school starts up again I would like to beat it once without cheating, any tips? And I've just started up Tactics today, and was curious if it is really worth playing?

 

[Ohaimerk]

You could finish up every quest on the mainland you can find and try to get 5 or 10 extra levels from random encounters before heading off. Also, if you don't mind the karma, my favorite thing to do before heading out is destroy every person in every town except new reno and vault city before going to the oil rig, a good way to get a few extra levels and tons of items from shop keepers. Don't do new reno or vault city because they have extra content after you beat the enclave.

Also, don't know if you're doing this but you can run around the enclave unbothered if you wear power armor of some sort.

Tactics is pretty cool if you don't expect too much. More like a post apocalyptic Commandos than a fallout rpg.

 

[WelcomeToNewReno]

If you get the vertibird plans for the BOS in San Francisco, they'll give you access to their bunker which has a pulse rifle in one of the lockers.

 

[Ohaimerk]

If you get the vertibird plans for the BOS in San Francisco, they'll give you access to their bunker which has a pulse rifle in one of the lockers.

You can also somehow convince the gas station attendant that you are a new recruit and they will pretty much march you straight into the equipment storage room themselves. You still need to get out of the base with it though...

 

[Atomkilla]

You still need to get out of the base with it though...

Which isn't really hard.

Yellow Nuka, if you still have problems, you can go to the Vault, there are some nice walkthroughs there.

 

[Black Feather]

You should try a sniper with a gauss rifle and perks that improve both your critical damage and rating. You will pwn anyone and anything.

 

[valcik]

.. perks that improve both your critical damage and rating.

I can subscribe this opinion.
Check the game manual and try to focus at perks as More Criticals, Better Criticals, Bonus rate of fire. (look at the SPECIAL stat requirements carefuly)
Even an energy weapons are great choice against the Enclave troops, due to their low resistance against an electric type of damage. Pulse rifle rocks very hard, let them sparkle!

 

[YellowNuka-Cola]

Thank you everyone for the tips. I knew about the Vertibird plans mission and have accomplished that one. I also got the extra gear. Pretty much when I get to the point where I need to shut down/destroy the reactor, I find my charisma isn't high enough to talk the scientists into shutting it down, so I have to drop the dynamite, which is where Fallout 2 begins to destroy what imo is an awesome character. I tried cheating around that just to get off the floor, and even with the Presidents key card, I can't get the turrets to attack Frank unless I go back and change my character's Special. Generally when I play Fallout 1 or 2 I usually build my character as (S - 5, P-10, E-5, C-4, I-5, A - 10, L-1 with the Gifted and Bloody Mess Perks, with Small Guns, Lockpick, and Steal as my tag skills.) I may be off a bit with my exact point distribution, but Perception and Agility is always my highest, with Luck my lowest. Is this character just bad for a Fallotu 2 run?

 

[Courier]

If you make sure to get the advanced power armor from Navarro and leave all your companions on the ship, then you can get through the entire oil rig without firing a single shot until you get to President Richardson. That's how I always do it.

Edit: It's a lot easier if you can convince one of the scientists to destroy the facility, after that just kill Richardson and pulse rifle any soldiers that come after you in the eyes and get to the room where you meet Horrigan.

 

[Ohaimerk]

You know you can temporarily raise your stats with drugs to do quests you aren't qualified for, right? Sounds like all you really needed in that case was a few mentats.

 

[YellowNuka-Cola]

Yeah, I know I can use drugs, but earlier in the game I got addicted to Jet, and due to having average intelligence, I couldn't get Myron to make the cure. So by the time I got to the Rig I just wasn't trusting drugs anymore due to the withdraw symptoms, but now that you mention it, I should've used Mentats. I completely forgot about that, haha. Thanks for the reminder. Well, Later this week I plan on restarting Fallout 2, so maybe with all your tips I can finally rip the enclave up without cheats, thank you everybody.

 

[Courier]

The oil rig is the final part of the game, why do you care about getting addicted?

Usually by that point in the game I'm hooked on so many drugs that all my SPECIAL stats are at 10.

 

[Ohaimerk]

Remember, addiction is pretty much random in the game so if you save before taking a drug, if you become addicted when you take it you can just load the game and try again, repeat until you don't get addicted.

S - 5, P-10, E-5, C-4, I-5, A - 10, L-1 with the Gifted and Bloody Mess Perks, with Small Guns, Lockpick, and Steal as my tag skills.

First off, how did you manage 1 luck with gifted? With that aside, here's some tips on making a perfect character (one that can do the most quests and kick the most ass as possible)

Spoilers below...
[spoiler:690f8b59ad]

Alright, keep in mind that I haven't played the game in any significant way for about six months so some of this might be inaccurate, use it as guidelines instead of trying to copy them exactly.

Good on you with the small guns and lockpick, but steal is a pretty useless skill to boost, I believe Per experimented with it and found that a low steal skill steals with the same percentage rate of success as a 100% level. I'd substitute it with Speech to help with quests.

As for your special stats... When you start a new game, keep in mind that endurance is mainly just for hit points and isn't really all that important unless you're playing a melee or unarmed character. And starting with 10 in anything is a waste as you can boost most of them during the game with quests and perks. And don't skimp on your intelligence, that's pretty important when determining what dialog options are available to you. I'd start out with:

S - 5
You can boost this significantly with armor and other ways on top of that. 5 is plenty, and you really wouldn't have any problem with 4 except through the first 15% of the game, before you get the car and a few companions.

P-8
A high perception is good for accuracy with small guns, and a couple of dialog options/quests. 8 should be plenty for the majority of the game, and can be boosted with a chip and a perk.

E-2
You will have a low hitpoint count through most of the game but with good armor and weapons and a couple companions that shouldn't be an issue. Best to spend points elsewhere.

C-4
All charisma is good for is a couple dialog situations and getting companions. Since it can be boosted with drugs for those few occasions you shouldn't need more than this.

I-9
One of the most important stats, this determines what dialog options you get, which means more quests and quest options.

A - 10
More agility means more action points, you can't go wrong here.

L-2
Luck is pretty insignificant in the game, mainly used for critical chance, which can be boosted and enhanced by several perks.

Gifted is a great choice, but bloody mess is a waste. I'd choose Finess. Better criticals outweighs the damage reduction by a long shot.

When you come across a potential companion and he refuses to join your party because you are "full" try boosting your charisma by two points with drugs and try again.

Lastly, save before EVERYTHING. Before a fight, before talking to someone, before leaving a town into the worldmap, before trading for something, before everything. If something didn't go how you like it, load and try again. If something goes wrong and you end up poor/naked/dead, load and try again. And keep at least three save slots and use them all, you never know when, somewhere down the line, a choice you made 45 minutes ago ends up killing you or blowing up in your face

AND NO CHEATING EVER ARGH![/spoiler:690f8b59ad]

 

[.Pixote.]

(S - 5, P-10, E-5, C-4, I-5, A - 10, L-1 with the Gifted and Bloody Mess Perks, with Small Guns, Lockpick, and Steal as my tag skills.)

Don't underestimate luck - it makes a big difference in combat - especially the lack of luck...I always aim for a luck of 8 at the start, and boost it to 10 at NCR. With a luck of 1 you will experience a lot more misses and critical failures, but this is just based on gameplay, I don't have the figures to back it up.

Also forget Bloody Mess, it just an unnecessary perk...with that high luck you'll be ripping their guts out on a regular basis. Fast shot or small frame work better. Remember 10 in agility is a waste of precious points, 8 is enough, it gives you 9 AP, when combined with fast shot allows 2 attacks per round, 3 for pistols. Charisma 2 allows 2 NPC to join up (I think), which is perfect...now use those extra points in intelligence and endurance. Endurance is the slow winner - it doesn't seem to make much difference, but trust me at level 20 you will have a lot more health than someone with EN - 5, also the Lifegiver perk (Additional 4 Hit Points on level-up) taken multiple times will make you into a tank.

Don't tag steal - just reload if you screw up, grab speech - it will allow your character more choices in the game. But for a more up close and personal form of combat, tag unarmed...with the Mega Power fist you will become a killing machine (but you will need the Slayer perk - All HtH attacks are critical hits).

Though the game grab the Toughness perk (+10% to damage resistance), combined with all the rest you will be unstoppable, that's until you take a critical to the eyes by an Enclave patrol with gauss pistols, but that's life.

So my character would look like -

(S - 6, P - 8, E - 8, C - 2, I - 7, A - 8, L - 8 with the Gifted and Fast Shot Perks, with Small Guns, Unarmed, and Speech as my tag skills.)

I'm going to start a new game right now and test this character.

 

[ramessesjones]

Of the drugs in Fallout 2, Psycho is really good (+50 Damage Resistance!). They made it lame in the newer games.

Also remember to hide around corners and doorways and pop out to shoot then move back into cover during the same turn, and to go into your inventory to spam healing items when you're critically hurt. Also save a lot, random armor ignoring criticals can ruin a day big time.

 

[Alphadrop]

it gives you 9 AP, when combined with fast shot allows 2 attacks per round, 3 for pistols.

Mmmmm, this build + bonus rate of fire with a speed loaded 44 magnum. 4 attacks per turn and the remaining action point on the reaload.

 

[Chromevod]

The Oil rig? Well for one leave any companions behind unless you want to bring 5-9 or something. They won't shoot you with him around. Also make sure you're wearing advanced power armor for a disguise. Also you can convince the scientists to kill all the civilians via FEV. Then if you don't let on that you're a tribal you can get right up to Richardson and reverse pickpocket an active explosive onto him if you're steal skill is high enough. After that if you at least get a couple of rooms away before he blows up you can retrieve his key without having the base turn against you. I managed to get through the rig without anyone turning hostile. Ever. Well, except Horrigan. But then I just used the turrets to kill him. :/

 

[.Pixote.]

The Oil rig?

This can be easy or difficult, depending on your approach. The wise way is to blend in with the rest of the crew and force the nuke countdown - then convince the enclave soldiers to help kill Frank...but without the turrets it can be a bit tricky. Or go crazy and kill everybody on the rig, thats more challenging, because those enclave guards pack a real wallop. The second method would be almost impossible playing the game in iron-man mode (can not save).

 

[Black Feather]

Slaughtering everything that crawls on the rig is much more fun, and if you're decently skilled by then it shouldn't be a problem. IIRC it hurts your karma though.

 

[Gaspard]

During my first play-throughs I always stole a Bozar from the gun store's guards at the NCR entrance. Hoarding ammo for it throughout the game and then stocking up on some more at San Fran.
Wear your personal favourite choice of Powered Armor (although I love running around in tesla armor - I like it how it looks like the rugged metal armor - PA is a bit too bulky-looking for my tastes).

At one point I found doing the Enclave the hard way had become tedious rather than fun for me - so now I wear the PA and fly through it - then get off the ship again at San Fran, dump the Power Armor and don my heavy leather jacket and cruise off to Reno to Cat's Paw - never finish a game elsewere !