Fallout2 Perks - Week by week additions

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wakrather

First time out of the vault
I have played this game for years off and on.

I have to say that the perk guides are really biased and not exactly correct. They are geared towards strictly winning in a normal path and offer only tiny tips for various builds and considerations. So, I will add a perk I have used or tested on various builds slowly over course of this year. I hope to have others who are interested in the game or various builds be informed and not shy away from various perks.

1. Night Vision

Reality: You fight 50% of your fights at night bc that is how day/night work on earth. Consider killing in caves on random encounters for high experience boosts? You are again in dark.

What others say about it:
"With the Night Vision perk, you can see in the dark better. This will reduce the overall darkness level by 20%." It isn't that often that you fight at night, but if you fight at night a lot for some reason, then this is ok. There are a lot better perks available though."

Why it is a decent Perk: Without it at 122% hth at level 6, at night on Den fights = ~60% chance to hit eyes, 70% head, at best. Often lower. This is because it is at night that fight. The game is not all played at high level. In fact, majority of the FUN of the game is at all the levels. Chance to hit is increased greatly for making key shots if you have this skill. 200% skills, maybe not, but then youre basically done with game at that point, so bad advice about night vision being not very useful. Also note how early this perk exists. It will certainly instantly become useful.

2. Awareness: Personally, I do not see real need for this. It does not help you kill easier or talk better. It does make the game more about numbers and less about immersive role play. Dice rollers will like seeing the points. But I noticed how high this is on perk lists. This is an opinion perk and not much else. Take it or leave it. You'll have more fun probably with a perk that is "useless" than this one. This is too my opinion, a counter to 'guides' that are more opinion than factual.
 
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Opinions are always welcome here. I've always thought the Night Vision perk was a little undervalued, myself, though its usefulness is sharply mitigated by the fact that you usually have final say in when the fights take place thanks to the alarm clock on your Pipboy.

Awareness probably wouldn't rate so highly on so many people's lists if there were many other perks available when you get access to it, but there aren't, and among low-level perk it's arguably the most versatile. More than metagaming, I see it as a means of increasing your character's... well, situational awareness, giving you the information you'd need to make decisions as an informed and alert character. Should I start this fight? Should I sneak around? Which of these mooks should I target first? Is it going to be a better idea to empty my clip this round or shoot once and reload? Does the quality or type of that guy's armaments suggest that he's going to have anything I need, or should I not waste time pickpocketing him? Tactically, it can be a very useful perk, and I think it plays pretty well into a lot of different RP styles without feeling too metagamey.

It's been awhile since we've had a good roundtable forum on perks. I'm looking forward to future installments of this.
 
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I dig this!

I have NEVER used nightvision, nor night vision scopes (I think the FN FAL has this mod in FO2). I usually just work around the nigh if I can help it, or run from night time encounters if the situation gets a little too heated.

Awareness on the other hand is a MUST for me. I personally think it's an overpowered perk considering the level and the requirements. It makes the decision to fight or flight that more direct. Oh, these guys are just in leather jackets, they can't be that bad. Oh wait, they have snipers and Jackhammers? Let's sneak out and live to fight another day Vic/Sulik/Cassidy/whoever. I love Awareness and always pick it as my first perk.

I'd love to hear other's opinions on the perks mentioned.
 
I thought I was the only one!

I thought I was the only one who preferred Night Vision to Awareness.

I make Night Vision my first perk. I may never get around to taking Awareness. The first two hard fights in the game are you, alone, with a 10mm, underground -- against the Rat God in Trapper Town, and against the Golden Geckos in the Toxic Caves. Choosing a daytime fight in the tunnels doesn't help. Later, I can make night attacks on Metzger and the Slaver camp, and gain a dark-tunnel advantage over the Vault 15 #Slags# Khans, dangit! and the Raiders.

To substitute for Awareness: Is he lying in a blood pool? If not, shoot him some more.

(My preferred character build is based on Annie Oakley: ST5, PE8, EN5, CH7, IN8, AG8, LK7, Small Frame, Gifted, tag Small Guns, Lockpick or Doctor, and Speech, gunfighter's perks.)
 
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I'm a cheapskate. Instead of buying Sulik's freedom, I rescue Smiley from the Toxic Caves, so that Mrs. Bruckner in gratitude releases Sulik. To get through the Toxic Caves, I need the gun that's next to the Rat God. Once all that's done, Sulik and I go gecko-skinning around Whiskey Bob's still. I sell the hides to get table stakes for Becky's craps table in the Den. A few hours of save-scumming at craps, and money isn't a problem from then on.


(And of course, in my previous post, I meant the Vault 15 Khans, not Slags.)
 
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