First time playing fallout 2/Help with combat and speech.

lac

First time out of the vault
I am playing my first game of fallout2 right now. So far I have only seen my home village, klamath, the den, redding, modoc, and a tiny bit of the vault. I am playing a character with str 5, per 8, end 4, cha 2, int 10, ag 10, luck 8, traits gifted, finesse.

There are undoubtably ways to increase stats in this game, and all of you who know what and where they are will no doubt shudder at this allocation because I've not optimised my stats for those encounters later. (But then, gifted, is all about having more stats than you know what to do with, and for a first time around, I want to concentrate on sniping and exploring, so ...)

I am using killap's unofficial fallout2 patch -- the one I got here
http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=file&file_id=704 so I am posting this question to this forum
even though I do not think that either of my questions are related to this patch. I would like to take this opportunity to thank killap for his work on this.

However, I have 2 unrelated questions. First, is there a table somewhere which lists how charisma, speech and intelligence interact in order to get all the dialog options? I'm wondering, specifically, how much speech do I need to offset my terrible charisma (but heroic intelligence)? I'd like to know when I can stop stuffing points in there, and decide that my up to now completely bad experience with Lynette in the Vault is either a) inevitable or b) my bad game play, but not c) with the way you look you need speech over 100, baby. :wink:

The second question is more complicated. My initial plan was to play my first time through as a soloist, but since I have no idea what things to keep around and what things to toss, I find that I need another person with me just to carry things. So far I have had the experience of Sulik, Vic, Cassidy, and somebody whose name I forgot in Modoc. That Modoc person was useless
at anything. Sulik seems rather good with the sledgehammer, but when I gave him a SMG he went through ammo like crazy, and wasted it on things with only 2hp, and shot me a lot ...

So it may be that the rule of 'never give a burst weapon to a NPC ' (rule made by me in playing the original Fallout) holds here as well. Some day I will want to play a pure hth game, and Sulik will be great company in that.

Vic seems to know how to use small arms, but not all that well.

Cassidy, on the other hand, started doing very well once I equipped him with a hunting rifle and not the sawed off shotgun he comes with. Except that I have this one, extremely frustrating problem. The man has no patience whatsoever. :D
He's obviously never hunted from a hunting blind before. Every time we hit a cave full of geckos, he keeps racing in and stirring them all up. It's getting to the point where I am thinking that my first plan of business should be to cripple his legs

Is there some combination of fighting custom options that will correct this? One that works out as 'shoot the gecko with your rife, and next use all your remaining action points to back away from the creature, who is going to rush you anyway' would be perfect, but I would settle for 'don't rush in to the cave to find more things to kill, you fool' if I could get it.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read this absurdly long note.

Grävling the frustrated :evil:
 
Per's guide is really good. It has a lot of information on character creation and development, so you may find what you need there regarding skill levels and the requirements for a lot of quests.
 
lac said:
I am playing my first game of fallout2 right now. So far I have only seen my home village, klamath, the den, redding, modoc, and a tiny bit of the vault. I am playing a character with str 5, per 8, end 4, cha 2, int 10, ag 10, luck 8, traits gifted, finesse.

Low charisma is the reason people don't want to talk to you.
[spoiler:d58955532f]You can raise your Charisma with a perk at level 12 (gain Charisma), and later in SF at the Brotherhood of Steel.[/spoiler:d58955532f]

First, is there a table somewhere which lists how charisma, speech and intelligence interact in order to get all the dialog options? I'm wondering, specifically, how much speech do I need to offset my terrible charisma (but heroic intelligence)?

It's here (to some extent):

[spoiler:d58955532f]
Code:
#define GetReaction                     if (local_var(LVAR_got_reaction) == 0) then begin                                       \
                                            set_local_var(LVAR_got_reaction,1);                                                 \
                                            set_local_var(LVAR_base_reaction,REACTION_BONUS_CHARISMA);                          \
                                            debug_msg("Base Reaction == "+local_var(LVAR_base_reaction));                       \
                                        end                                                                                     \
                                        Static_Reaction:=0;                                                                     \
                                        set_local_var(LVAR_reaction,0);                                                         \
                                        debug_msg("Start Reaction == "+local_var(LVAR_reaction));                               \
                                        if (REACTION_BONUS_KARMA >= 0) then                                                     \
                                            reaction_bonus_karma:=(REACTION_BONUS_KARMA/KARMA_MODIFIER);                        \
                                        else                                                                                    \
                                            reaction_bonus_karma:=-1*(-1*REACTION_BONUS_KARMA/KARMA_MODIFIER);                  \
                                        if (TOWN_REPUTATION >= 0) then                                                          \
                                            reaction_bonus_town_rep:=(TOWN_REPUTATION/TOWN_REP_MODIFIER);                       \
                                        else                                                                                    \
                                            reaction_bonus_town_rep:=-1*(-1*TOWN_REPUTATION/TOWN_REP_MODIFIER);                 \
                                        if (has_sex_appeal) then begin                                                          \
                                            if (get_critter_stat(dude_obj,STAT_gender) == get_critter_stat(self_obj,STAT_gender)) then    \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + SAME_SEX_APPEAL;                             \
                                            else                                                                                \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + OPPOSITE_SEX_APPEAL;                         \
                                            debug_msg("Sex Appeal Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                                  \
                                        end                                                                                     \
                                        else                                                                                    \
                                            debug_msg("Sex Appeal Bonus == 0");                                                 \
                                        if (Evil_Critter == 1) then begin                                                       \
                                            Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - reaction_bonus_karma;                            \
                                            debug_msg("Karma Reaction Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                              \
                                            Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - reaction_bonus_town_rep;                         \
                                            debug_msg("Town Rep Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                                    \
                                            CheckKarma;                                                                         \
                                            if (has_rep_holy_warrior) then                                                      \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_HOLY;                         \
                                            else if (has_rep_guardian) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_GUARDIAN;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_shield) then                                                       \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_SHIELD;                       \
                                            else if (has_rep_defender) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_DEFENDER;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_wanderer) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_WANDERER;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_betrayer) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_BETRAYER;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_sword) then                                                        \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_SWORD;                        \
                                            else if (has_rep_scourge) then                                                      \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_SCOURGE;                      \
                                            else                                                                                \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_DEMON;                        \
                                            debug_msg("Bad Person Reaction Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                         \
                                        end                                                                                     \
                                        else begin                                                                              \
                                            Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + reaction_bonus_karma;                            \
                                            debug_msg("Karma Reaction Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                              \
                                            Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + reaction_bonus_town_rep;                         \
                                            debug_msg("Town Rep Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                                    \
                                            CheckKarma;                                                                         \
                                            if (has_rep_holy_warrior) then                                                      \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_HOLY;                         \
                                            else if (has_rep_guardian) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_GUARDIAN;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_shield) then                                                       \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_SHIELD;                       \
                                            else if (has_rep_defender) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_DEFENDER;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_wanderer) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_WANDERER;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_betrayer) then                                                     \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_BETRAYER;                     \
                                            else if (has_rep_sword) then                                                        \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_SWORD;                        \
                                            else if (has_rep_scourge) then                                                      \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_SCOURGE;                      \
                                            else                                                                                \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_DEMON;                        \
                                            debug_msg("Good Person Reaction Bonus == "+Static_Reaction);                        \
                                        end                                                                                     \
                                        if (Slavery_Tolerant == SLAVE_VERY_INTOLERANT) then begin                               \
                                            if (has_rep_slaver) then                                                            \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + (2*REACTION_BONUS_SLAVER);                   \
                                        end                                                                                     \
                                        else if (Slavery_Tolerant == SLAVE_INTOLERANT) then begin                               \
                                            if (has_rep_slaver) then                                                            \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_SLAVER;                       \
                                        end                                                                                     \
                                        else if (Slavery_Tolerant == SLAVE_PROUD) then begin                                    \
                                             if (has_rep_slaver) then                                                           \
                                                Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction - REACTION_BONUS_SLAVER;                       \
                                       end                                                                                      \
                                       debug_msg("Slaver + Aligned Reaction == "+Static_Reaction);                              \
                                       Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_PRESENCE;                              \
                                       debug_msg("Presence Reaction == "+Static_Reaction);                                      \
                                       if (has_rep_childkiller) then                                                            \
                                            Static_Reaction:=Static_Reaction + REACTION_BONUS_CHILDKILLER;                      \
                                       debug_msg("Childkiller Reaction == "+Static_Reaction);                                   \
                                       set_local_var(LVAR_reaction,(local_var(LVAR_base_reaction) + Static_Reaction));          \
                                       debug_msg("Initial Reaction == "+local_var(LVAR_reaction))
[/spoiler:d58955532f]

I fact, Intelligence affects the available responses. Charisma affects initial reaction. Charisma below 4 is bad. Speech only affects your success when convincing people to do things your way.

Is there some combination of fighting custom options that will correct this? One that works out as 'shoot the gecko with your rife, and next use all your remaining action points to back away from the creature, who is going to rush you anyway' would be perfect, but I would settle for 'don't rush in to the cave to find more things to kill, you fool' if I could get it.

I'd try "stay close to me" and "attack whomever is attacking me".
 
Thank you very much. 'Attack whoever is attacking me' seems
to make a big difference. Somehow I must have missed that one.
 
Replying to my own thread, how rude, but ...

Cassidy has a bug. He keeps reverting to his original settings.
I suspect that this is listed in the most popular walkthroughs,
but as a first time player, I haven't read them. So. The reason
that cassidy keeps walking himself into the lesser deathclaw
infested caves and getting himself mauled either to death or
close to, is that his default setting is 'on your own' and
sometimes, so far not sure when or where, he gets that
back.

Pure ornerey'ness??

posted here in case somebody searches for it later.

Graevling
 
This will be fixed in killap's next patch update which should be out any day (or week?) now.
 
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