Fo2 speed run

Hi everyone! :D

Glad to see people enjoying the run. I just got my account here working, so I figured I'd drop by and answer a few questions:

First off, the dialogue is normal, I just memorized the dialogue choices that I needed to make beforehand. That way I minimized the time spent during those scenes. The choices are always in the same spot so this didn't take too much work. It's especially nice in situations like the end where I have to muscle the scientist into causing the meltdown; all of the dialogue options needed to do this are at the very top, so you can just click past it very rapidly.

As for wandering outside of San Francisco, someone else guessed correctly; it's to try and ensure that the shop owner had as many of the items I needed to complete this run the first time I went into town. The stock is randomized from a particular item set that the shop owner can possibly carry, and updates every so often (I think it's like every four days or something). Odds are not very good on getting all of those items to spawn on your very first trip, so I wait and kill time on the map to allow him time to gather more stock. This is just because, if I go in and he is missing something, I end up just wasting time running up to him and back again to the world map. You can see in that particular run he didn't even quite have everything the first time; it's a total crap shoot. BTW, the items needed to complete this particular route are as follows: (2) x Psycho, at least (5) x Super Stimpacks (as two can be acquired on my route on the Enclave), (4) x Plastique, and (1) x Power Armor.

The Psycho is, as someone else already figured out, to lower my INT so that AHS-9 will set up the tanker completely. If it weren't for the Temple of Trials, I could have also started with a low INT and used Mentats when I was on the Enclave, but it doesn't really matter because the store owner stocks Mentats and Psycho about equally. The Super Stimpacks were so that I could waste the President; if you're wondering why I used Super Stimpacks, it's because they have a 100% success rate. When you're doing a single-segment run like this, few things are as painful as getting that far and having something go wrong making you start all over again. The two Plastiques are pretty self-explainatory (make people go BOOM!) and the Power Armor is just plain required to walk around on the Enclave in the first place, otherwise the self-defense turrets turn you into tribal-flavored Jell-O. ;)

Someone also asked how many attempts this run took: my only answer is basically "a lot". Considering this is a single-segment speed run, when just about anything goes wrong you're only left with the option to start over again. You don't know how many times I got near San Francisco only to be snuffed out by a Press Gang or Enclave Patrol...

Please, feel free to post any more questions, or offer any feedback on my run. I am glad to see other Fallout enthusiasts enjoying it. :)
 
Some people on #fallout asked how can you get the tanker running without NavCom parts and FOB and no cheats.

Update:
Apparently people with INT<4 can bypass FOB and NavCom if they talk to Brotherhood officer or AHS-9 in SanFran.
 
By the way, found this on *shock* NMA's Walkthroughs list ( http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/fallout2.html )

How to finish the game in half an hour (if you hurry up)
Start a new character. Let's call him "Road Runner", 'cause this will be a fast one. Stats: good IN (but not 10), good AG and PE (for running from random encounters), not too lousy ST or CH, tag Speech, Steal and Barter. The rest doesn't matter. Run through the Temple of Trials as fast as you can, talk Cameron out of fighting. Leave Arroyo right away ("Meep meep!" Vrooom) and move due south-southeast. You should be able to run from anything you happen to encounter.

Once you arrive in San Fransisco at the bottom of the map, you must acquire some equipment: 10-17 Super Stimpaks, 2 Psycho and 1 Power Armor. To facilitate this, steal Gauss Rifles and H&K G11s from the guards in the shops and the punks on the tanker, also steal the money off the shopkeepers. You can steal Super Stimpaks from Dr Fung as well. The stores on the tanker have Super Stimpaks and Psycho. If the shops don't have what you want at first, rest 4 days then leave the map and return.

When you have the stuff go to the Steel Palace and kill Ken Lee using 10 Super Stimpaks. Go to the Hubologist base and the AHS-9. Now save, use the 2 Psycho (reloading if you get addicted), then talk to the AHS-9. Rest for six hours until your IN returns to normal and put a few of your many skill points into Speech. Go to the tanker and set off for the Enclave.

Take the stairs to the detention area (here you would be attacked if not for the Power Armor), go down again. Traverse the maze, going into the side room to the right for the G.E.C.K. and to the left for two Super Stimpaks if needed, then go down the stairs. Find the President, kill him with 7 Super Stimpaks (each of the guards nearby has one if you don't have enough), take the Presidential Access Key. Go to the stairs at the top of the map, go down, find the scientist at the bottom of this map, tell him to shut down the reactor, then go up, run to the newly opened emergency stairs, climb them, and leave the barracks to the west. Talk to Sergeant Granite until he agrees to take on Horrigan. Go west, keep to the bottom of the screen, use the computer and activate counter insurgency. Stand back and watch Horrigan get killed in a few turns by the turrets and soldiers. Open the door and step out. Finished!
Click to expand...
 
Per's method is the one I used somewhere last year, but it still took me more than an hour to finish the game. I had much more random encounters (probably because I used an older pc to play it) and I also had trouble finding enough Super Stimpacks in SF (which meant: leaving the map for the worldmap, a little running around and back, but several times).

The possibilty to do this roadrunner thing, does show a serious flaw in FO2, imo, but what the hell, eh...

I'm impressed, though, ID. However: you didn't find those extra special encounters, eh? :wink: Well, try again! :D

And while you're at it: try to do the same for Arcanum! :P
 
APTYP said:
By the way, found this on *shock* NMA's Walkthroughs list ( http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/fallout2.html )

How to finish the game in half an hour (if you hurry up)
Start a new character. Let's call him "Road Runner", 'cause this will be a fast one. Stats: good IN (but not 10), good AG and PE (for running from random encounters), not too lousy ST or CH, tag Speech, Steal and Barter. The rest doesn't matter. Run through the Temple of Trials as fast as you can, talk Cameron out of fighting. Leave Arroyo right away ("Meep meep!" Vrooom) and move due south-southeast. You should be able to run from anything you happen to encounter.

Once you arrive in San Fransisco at the bottom of the map, you must acquire some equipment: 10-17 Super Stimpaks, 2 Psycho and 1 Power Armor. To facilitate this, steal Gauss Rifles and H&K G11s from the guards in the shops and the punks on the tanker, also steal the money off the shopkeepers. You can steal Super Stimpaks from Dr Fung as well. The stores on the tanker have Super Stimpaks and Psycho. If the shops don't have what you want at first, rest 4 days then leave the map and return.

When you have the stuff go to the Steel Palace and kill Ken Lee using 10 Super Stimpaks. Go to the Hubologist base and the AHS-9. Now save, use the 2 Psycho (reloading if you get addicted), then talk to the AHS-9. Rest for six hours until your IN returns to normal and put a few of your many skill points into Speech. Go to the tanker and set off for the Enclave.

Take the stairs to the detention area (here you would be attacked if not for the Power Armor), go down again. Traverse the maze, going into the side room to the right for the G.E.C.K. and to the left for two Super Stimpaks if needed, then go down the stairs. Find the President, kill him with 7 Super Stimpaks (each of the guards nearby has one if you don't have enough), take the Presidential Access Key. Go to the stairs at the top of the map, go down, find the scientist at the bottom of this map, tell him to shut down the reactor, then go up, run to the newly opened emergency stairs, climb them, and leave the barracks to the west. Talk to Sergeant Granite until he agrees to take on Horrigan. Go west, keep to the bottom of the screen, use the computer and activate counter insurgency. Stand back and watch Horrigan get killed in a few turns by the turrets and soldiers. Open the door and step out. Finished!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Hmm... I have not seen this before. You can see that we have similar ideas; we obviously came to the same conclusion about setting up the tanker. I don't think there is any faster way to set the tanker up for the trip to the Enclave. However, his concept only makes sense to one who is willing to save repeatedly; he's willing to fail many steal checks to acquire the guns from the tanker punks, but not one to kill Ken Lee? That's probably why completing a run with this idea takes much longer.
 
I can't download the movie with my modem, but it sounds impressive. I should add it as a footnote in the guide. One comment, though: waiting outside SF doesn't do anything, since the stores update only when you actually enter the map.
 
That's why he first entered the city and then exited and walked around some more, I presume :)

Neat!
 
Per said:
I can't download the movie with my modem, but it sounds impressive. I should add it as a footnote in the guide. One comment, though: waiting outside SF doesn't do anything, since the stores update only when you actually enter the map.
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, though, what they update with is a function of the time spent. If I enter San Francisco immediately, he never has nearly as many items as if I enter at a delayed point. That was my experience, over the hundred or so times I was doing this run. I will look at it more, but in every test run before my recording attempts that was what presented itself.
 
I'm quite certain about the shop update thing. Quoting the essentials from the "raw" script that came with the F2 Mapper:

procedure map_enter_p_proc begin
if (local_var(LVAR_Restock_Time) < game_time) then begin
.
.
<restocking, restocking, dum di dum>
.
.
set_local_Var(LVAR_Restock_Time, game_time + (ONE_GAME_DAY * Random(2, 4)));
end
end

Restock_Time is always 0 when you first enter the map, which means the restocking procedure will be run once, no more, no less. It then sets a new restocking time. No matter how much time you spend away from this map, it only checks if enough time has passed when you come again, not how many the times the shop would have restocked if only you'd come to visit more often.

If I may ask for clarification on a couple of points:

1. The name of the movie implies your game time was 17 mins 51 secs, but someone on the list wrote 19 mins 30 secs. Is the first time correct?

2. Do you have a fast computer so you get the zip-across-world-map effect?

Now go and try to beat the record for the Fallout speed run as well. Good luck doing that without saving. ;)

Oh, and another thing: you mentioned running into Enclave patrols. If you veer slightly to the east from the beginning instead of moving due south from Arroyo you will avoid the Navarro encounter zone completely. I think there's more plain terrain there as well, which may or may not make a difference.
 
APTYP said:
What is the speed run record for FO1?
Click to expand...

Probably there isn't one. Whitechocobo wrote a speed walkthrough, but he only recorded the game time used, not the real time. My method is faster since I don't fight at the Military Base, but neither of them can really be done without saving and loading a lot.
 
Per said:
I'm quite certain about the shop update thing. Quoting the essentials from the "raw" script that came with the F2 Mapper:

procedure map_enter_p_proc begin
if (local_var(LVAR_Restock_Time) < game_time) then begin
.
.
<restocking, restocking, dum di dum>
.
.
set_local_Var(LVAR_Restock_Time, game_time + (ONE_GAME_DAY * Random(2, 4)));
end
end

Restock_Time is always 0 when you first enter the map, which means the restocking procedure will be run once, no more, no less. It then sets a new restocking time. No matter how much time you spend away from this map, it only checks if enough time has passed when you come again, not how many the times the shop would have restocked if only you'd come to visit more often.

If I may ask for clarification on a couple of points:

1. The name of the movie implies your game time was 17 mins 51 secs, but someone on the list wrote 19 mins 30 secs. Is the first time correct?

2. Do you have a fast computer so you get the zip-across-world-map effect?

Now go and try to beat the record for the Fallout speed run as well. Good luck doing that without saving. ;)

Oh, and another thing: you mentioned running into Enclave patrols. If you veer slightly to the east from the beginning instead of moving due south from Arroyo you will avoid the Navarro encounter zone completely. I think there's more plain terrain there as well, which may or may not make a difference.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I will have to remember that. I am planning on recording one more speed run along this route, just to eradicate some of the blatant goofs I made (like the enemy scripts totally screwing me in the Temple of Trials, or the bad random encounter with the Fire Gecokos).

As for your questions:

1) The time "17m51s" is the time as recorded by Radix on Speed Demos Archive. There is a certain set of rules as to how this time is calculated; it is only timed from the minute I gain control (after character creation, in this case) to the second I lose it (stepping on the exit grid after Horrigan). Also, all loading time is removed, in the interest of fairness as far as PC speed runs are concerned. If you just look at the total movie playing time, I step on the exit grid after dropping Horrigan at about 18:57.

2) This computer's processor is fairly fast; a 1.53Ghz Athlon XP. So, I am definitely moving across the world map faster than I did when this game first came out. I don't really know what to do about that, as there isn't really any "normal" speed. I could probably use a program to choke off my CPU... but how far? I thought about it for a while and decided it was better to just leave everything as it is. I want to go faster anyway. :wink:

I am looking at Fallout for a speed run, but I think doing it in a single segment like this one might be nigh impossible. Just the thought of trying to get through the military base at level 1 with a 10mm Pistol in one go makes me cringe... :?
 
Oh, and Per:

Do you think you could find for me the exact amount of game time needed for each restock check to be made? It will come in very handy when I update this run later. It would be much appreciated. :)
 
It's just like in the piece of script I quoted, 2, 3 or 4 days exactly, randomly determined each time. No way to find out which it is, I'm afraid.

You can look at my Fo1 guide if you want to know how to avoid setting off the alarm in the base. It requires you to make a very lucky critical, though. Also the random encounters around the base will probably prove instantly lethal, although with a fast computer you may be able to avoid them altogether.
 
Per said:
It's just like in the piece of script I quoted, 2, 3 or 4 days exactly, randomly determined each time. No way to find out which it is, I'm afraid.

You can look at my Fo1 guide if you want to know how to avoid setting off the alarm in the base. It requires you to make a very lucky critical, though. Also the random encounters around the base will probably prove instantly lethal, although with a fast computer you may be able to avoid them altogether.
Click to expand...

OK, so that means moving in 4-day increments. I'm sure it's right there in the code you showed me... but every time I look at code like that my eyes just kind of glaze over... :?

Also, what's funny is that Fallout's world map does not suffer from the same bug that Fallout 2's does; it goes the same speed regardless of the computer you're playing on. If I do a Fallout speed run (and I probably will at some point) it probably won't be for at least a few months, though.
 
Not to brag or anything, but I remember I tried to do a speed run through Fallout 1 back in 2001.... My friend and I wanted to see how fast we could do it, and I am sure it didn't took anymore than 20 - 30 mins.. You only have to do 2 things in that game:

Get water for your vault (Go to the Ghoul-city - can't remember what it's called, It's like 3 years since I played the game :D)

Destroy the military base (Selfdestruct the place... I was lucky, I admit, but it is still possible to do fast even at lvl 1... As far as I remember you don't have to encounter any enemys in the base - or am I all wrong? )

Those 2 'quests' doesn't take that long because the three places of interest are so close to eachother (high chance to avoid random encounters)

_________________
Mr. Fallout HIMSELF
 
krigger said:
Not to brag or anything, but I remember I tried to do a speed run through Fallout 1 back in 2001.... My friend and I wanted to see how fast we could do it, and I am sure it didn't took anymore than 20 - 30 mins..
Click to expand...

You dug up this thread to "brag" about taking more than twice as long as the current record?

krigger said:
You only have to do 2 things in that game:

Get water for your vault
Click to expand...

No.

krigger said:
Mr. Fallout HIMSELF
Click to expand...

Right.
 
This video has been sitting on my comp since 2004-06-06 so it's not too fresh of a news item (no offence, just info).

I have a video of Fallout speed run in 11 min 17 sec. AFAIK that's the only documented record.
 
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