Al_Sleeper
First time out of the vault
Sniper perk works, but it requires hex editing your BOS.exe file; otherwise it is useless.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sniper
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sniper
First time out of the vault
All this i am writing here is intended especially for the 'tough guy' mode. It does offer more experience points but also requires more caution and tactical planning in missions because there's no possibility of saving/reloading every minute.
Also, if you think you can't allow yourself to play the game using some of game consumables (strength boosting ones) then you might as well play it without using stimpaks or using any squad other than the main character as that would mean resorting to 'external' help. What the heck, guns are for pussies, you should go unarmed, right?.
Divine favor works very well with all this in mind, for the Gifted sniper/EW characters with maxed Perception (increased to 11).
Even if that DF increase comes at level 15 you should count the +16% chance to hit from the +1 PE as being the equivalent of an increase into Small Guns or Energy weapons you would get by spending 48 skill points if that skill is greater than 200. High perception makes detecting and sneaking more efficient.
Mandy, Rage, Ice, Rebecca become available right after the first mission and you get to spend ALL their skill points and perks except for the prebuilt ones. The game has all the recruits lacking in terms of stats placement and perks; if the main character is a low charisma type then almost all of the recruits will be compromised by auto skill points and perk points spending.
Rank also counts in terms of available equipment.
If you like you can have the Leader perk boosting armor class for the rest of the squad and action points for some.
The BEST thing to do is to make sure to level up each recruit you plan to take into the squad at a later time (these are recommended to be leveled but having all the skill and perk points stored for later use: Mandy, Robin, Brian, Jax) by taking each recruit into the squad WITHOUT leaving the recruit master interface after every mission is completed. The TESTED procedure is: after EVERY mission take into the team slots 5 recruits from the recruit pool, don't exit, click on your character, click view, dump those 5 back, take next 5 recruits from the pool etc. This way they will all keep the experience and skill points and perk points earned after you visit the recruit master, after each mission.
You can have a team of super snipers (Rebecca, Ice, Stevie, Farsight, Rage) with really high small guns skill level - so that the main character is not much needed to shoot as it's more annoying positioning and coordinating a large squad in especially in tight spaces - and only when big guns are available and needed to some extent you get Brian, Stein and Mandy (tag!) spending ALL their skill points into big guns (do not spend any point on anything else until the big guns become available for them) and also their perk points wisely, when the big perks become available. For example save skill points for Bonus Ranged Damage or Gain Pe, In, Lk to be able to pick the really valuable perks.
As for energy weapons recruits i would recommend keeping at least Jax and Robin for that stuff only. And even have Mandy built for EW if you find Brian and Stein enough for big guns. After the mutants big guns shooters will not be that much needed except to put to good use heavy ammo such as rockets and .50 Cal. Be careful to space out the team members when facing enemies using burst weapons as although the targeted soldier can be missed the others next to it will take hits irrespective of the target's chance to be hit.
The main character can very well choose the energy weapons route with small guns raised to just 100% by spending only 27 skill points up to that and only then use guns and bullet books (higher efficiency for those first 3 of them you find, the rest of the books are found very much later when small guns are maxed on your snipers the books' usefulness will only be to raise small guns skill for some recruits in order to make them able to get the sniper perk: Jax and Robin).
after Newton mission both Dos and Clarisse are available and the squad could be:
-Dos(sniper with both long range sniper rifle and Energy Weapons)
-Clarisse(both Energy Weapons and Big Guns, can also throw grenades and has the Leader perk)
-Robin(Energy Weapons)
-Brian(Big Guns)
-Mandy(Energy Weapons/Big Guns)
or with Jax instead of Brian. i think Jax should be built towards the sniper perk so that the Gifted perk replacing kamikaze (vulnerability) is taken as late as possible. Brian and Jax can replace each other depending on the mission or personal preference.
So, my final sugestion for an Energy Weapons character would be:
St=3 Pe=10 En=6 Ch=8 In=6 Ag=8 Lk=6
(a variance would be with St=4 and Pe=9)
Traits: Gifted, Fast Shot
(Kamikaze is less safe, Finesse tends to be more tedious and requires higher weapons skill for the longest range)
Tagged Skills: EW, SG, Sneak
perks: Bonus Ranged Damage x2, Sharpshooter, Bonus Rate of Fire, Divine Favor(+1 Pe), Better Criticals, More Criticals x3, Sniper
Lk more than 6 does not really benefit much because the sniper perk is available really really late. Lk=6 is a prereq for some good perks;
Ag=8 means 9 action points which is plenty: 3 shots with energy weapons;
In=6 makes for a slow skill points gain but not very much is needed as 200+% Energy Weapons will be expected only when those weapons become available;
En=6 is nice because you'll be less likely to get crippled when shot (better En roll), have a higher maximum hit points - powerful energy weapons are not long range - and also you'll be able to take more than one drug. You'll be able to boost Strength from 3 to 5 by either consuming a buffout or by consuming two after burner gums. En=4 lets you take only one drug, has a lower En roll and higher chance to get crippled, lower maximum hit points.
The first mission is really short and can be done without using any drugs but rather saving them. The next missions, up to when the mutants show up can be done with a nice sniper team consisting mostly of Rage, Ice, Farsight, Stevie and Rebecca. Use Mandy only on the second mission and keep her from spending skill points into small guns. When Stumpy becomes available you can take him for some missions where you need his traps skill. Stumpy's a decent shooter too, only that he has very few action points. He has the crazy bomber perk making his every try using the traps skill safe.
You can go ahead and eat some buffout/afterburners to boost strength and use some better weapon than the beretta but try to save them for the difficult missions. Some missions are easy peasy for having tactical advantage with your 4-5 snipers from safe positions the others.
Two after burner gums work even better for raising Strength, they have an even longer effect and also raise Perception even more (i dunno if there's a limit >10):
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Tactics_consumables
As for carry weight: 50 fusion cells weigh 5lb, an energy rifle weighs 9-12lb. With St=3 you'll be able to keep about 850 rounds of ammo for that rifle.
After Great Bend/Cold Water power armor becomes immediately available as the rank of paladin is attained so that not only strength will be boosted by it but damage resistances will be boosted too.
Also, if you think you can't allow yourself to play the game using some of game consumables (strength boosting ones) then you might as well play it without using stimpaks or using any squad other than the main character as that would mean resorting to 'external' help. What the heck, guns are for pussies, you should go unarmed, right?.
Divine favor works very well with all this in mind, for the Gifted sniper/EW characters with maxed Perception (increased to 11).
Even if that DF increase comes at level 15 you should count the +16% chance to hit from the +1 PE as being the equivalent of an increase into Small Guns or Energy weapons you would get by spending 48 skill points if that skill is greater than 200. High perception makes detecting and sneaking more efficient.
Mandy, Rage, Ice, Rebecca become available right after the first mission and you get to spend ALL their skill points and perks except for the prebuilt ones. The game has all the recruits lacking in terms of stats placement and perks; if the main character is a low charisma type then almost all of the recruits will be compromised by auto skill points and perk points spending.
Rank also counts in terms of available equipment.
If you like you can have the Leader perk boosting armor class for the rest of the squad and action points for some.
The BEST thing to do is to make sure to level up each recruit you plan to take into the squad at a later time (these are recommended to be leveled but having all the skill and perk points stored for later use: Mandy, Robin, Brian, Jax) by taking each recruit into the squad WITHOUT leaving the recruit master interface after every mission is completed. The TESTED procedure is: after EVERY mission take into the team slots 5 recruits from the recruit pool, don't exit, click on your character, click view, dump those 5 back, take next 5 recruits from the pool etc. This way they will all keep the experience and skill points and perk points earned after you visit the recruit master, after each mission.
You can have a team of super snipers (Rebecca, Ice, Stevie, Farsight, Rage) with really high small guns skill level - so that the main character is not much needed to shoot as it's more annoying positioning and coordinating a large squad in especially in tight spaces - and only when big guns are available and needed to some extent you get Brian, Stein and Mandy (tag!) spending ALL their skill points into big guns (do not spend any point on anything else until the big guns become available for them) and also their perk points wisely, when the big perks become available. For example save skill points for Bonus Ranged Damage or Gain Pe, In, Lk to be able to pick the really valuable perks.
As for energy weapons recruits i would recommend keeping at least Jax and Robin for that stuff only. And even have Mandy built for EW if you find Brian and Stein enough for big guns. After the mutants big guns shooters will not be that much needed except to put to good use heavy ammo such as rockets and .50 Cal. Be careful to space out the team members when facing enemies using burst weapons as although the targeted soldier can be missed the others next to it will take hits irrespective of the target's chance to be hit.
The main character can very well choose the energy weapons route with small guns raised to just 100% by spending only 27 skill points up to that and only then use guns and bullet books (higher efficiency for those first 3 of them you find, the rest of the books are found very much later when small guns are maxed on your snipers the books' usefulness will only be to raise small guns skill for some recruits in order to make them able to get the sniper perk: Jax and Robin).
after Newton mission both Dos and Clarisse are available and the squad could be:
-Dos(sniper with both long range sniper rifle and Energy Weapons)
-Clarisse(both Energy Weapons and Big Guns, can also throw grenades and has the Leader perk)
-Robin(Energy Weapons)
-Brian(Big Guns)
-Mandy(Energy Weapons/Big Guns)
or with Jax instead of Brian. i think Jax should be built towards the sniper perk so that the Gifted perk replacing kamikaze (vulnerability) is taken as late as possible. Brian and Jax can replace each other depending on the mission or personal preference.
So, my final sugestion for an Energy Weapons character would be:
St=3 Pe=10 En=6 Ch=8 In=6 Ag=8 Lk=6
(a variance would be with St=4 and Pe=9)
Traits: Gifted, Fast Shot
(Kamikaze is less safe, Finesse tends to be more tedious and requires higher weapons skill for the longest range)
Tagged Skills: EW, SG, Sneak
perks: Bonus Ranged Damage x2, Sharpshooter, Bonus Rate of Fire, Divine Favor(+1 Pe), Better Criticals, More Criticals x3, Sniper
Lk more than 6 does not really benefit much because the sniper perk is available really really late. Lk=6 is a prereq for some good perks;
Ag=8 means 9 action points which is plenty: 3 shots with energy weapons;
In=6 makes for a slow skill points gain but not very much is needed as 200+% Energy Weapons will be expected only when those weapons become available;
En=6 is nice because you'll be less likely to get crippled when shot (better En roll), have a higher maximum hit points - powerful energy weapons are not long range - and also you'll be able to take more than one drug. You'll be able to boost Strength from 3 to 5 by either consuming a buffout or by consuming two after burner gums. En=4 lets you take only one drug, has a lower En roll and higher chance to get crippled, lower maximum hit points.
The first mission is really short and can be done without using any drugs but rather saving them. The next missions, up to when the mutants show up can be done with a nice sniper team consisting mostly of Rage, Ice, Farsight, Stevie and Rebecca. Use Mandy only on the second mission and keep her from spending skill points into small guns. When Stumpy becomes available you can take him for some missions where you need his traps skill. Stumpy's a decent shooter too, only that he has very few action points. He has the crazy bomber perk making his every try using the traps skill safe.
You can go ahead and eat some buffout/afterburners to boost strength and use some better weapon than the beretta but try to save them for the difficult missions. Some missions are easy peasy for having tactical advantage with your 4-5 snipers from safe positions the others.
Two after burner gums work even better for raising Strength, they have an even longer effect and also raise Perception even more (i dunno if there's a limit >10):
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Tactics_consumables
As for carry weight: 50 fusion cells weigh 5lb, an energy rifle weighs 9-12lb. With St=3 you'll be able to keep about 850 rounds of ammo for that rifle.
After Great Bend/Cold Water power armor becomes immediately available as the rank of paladin is attained so that not only strength will be boosted by it but damage resistances will be boosted too.
DarthVenis
First time out of the vault
It's all individual, of course. Never knew about benefits from Divine Intervention perk, so one day I'm gonna try it - thank you people! For now, I play with Strength 9 (so I could use Browning M2 once I find it, no super mutant or robot could stand against it!), Perception at 7, Endurance at 5 (quite enough), charisma at 2 (or even 1, didn't have much us for it), Intelligence no less than 7, for more skillpoints at levelup, Agility at 10 (this is my strongest side in all Fallout games, always set i to 10 to get maximum AP from the very start), and 5 of Luck was also enough for me, although it may be worth increasing to 7, but thus you sacrifice either Strength (give M2 to Stein and wait for energy weapons - harder, but not impossible), or Perception. And don't forget - nobody's perfect!
twillight
First time out of the vault
Let me share my experience:
Weapons:
The game mainly offers 2 choices:
either energy rifles which have plenty of ammo and do single shots from far away (don't bother with the gatling laser, it has neither distance nor damage),
or big guns from which only Browning and Rocket Launchers (mainly with Explosive Rockets) worth something, but has somewhat limited ammo (soloing you really should spare with the .50 cal and go with rockets whenever possible if you don't wanna run out of options). Ye, there's a gauss gatling, but that's only has ammo for the whole of the final mission (or maybe only the last two phase of it). There's ONE mission where the enemies are Reavers, and they are justregular humans, so the SAW works there, but that's really lame.
Melee weapons are not an optiion: they have the same damage as unarmed weaponry, but cost more AP, and the only interesting thing feeds on the small energy calls which are bloody scares (this also makes all energy pistoles useless). There is an advantage though: they have range, and some bots can stuck, so you can defeat them without risk.
Unarmed is the ultimate challenge for the lategame, but do not dismiss it, until the supermutants it is a hugh advantage to have one character with the skill, atleast if you play realtime.
Small guns are obsolate from the point supermutants arrive - all enemy will have simply too much armor.
Building a team: Really not worth going who-is-better. I say get some guys early, and make them good through perking them.
If you pick all-six, the best team is made from 2 big gunners, 3 energy weapon snipers, and 1 support character/optional another energy sniper.
Traits:
gifted and fast shot unless you're planing for a challenge. Aimed shots worth nothing.
Stats:
Strength: 6 is needed for every character to use the rifles. 9 is needed for the big gun users, but keep in mind all perks, drugs,and the very-lategame (advanced) power armor. For all sake never go under 5, because at the start you most used weapons will be AK47!
Perception: 6-7 for big gunners (six is enough), 8-9 for energy weapon users (from this point: snipers). If you have to choose between a hard point (gain perception) and +2 bonus (sharpshooter), choose the later! Theoretical melee fighters don't need this, but they might want the Better Critical perk which has the demand of 6 from this. Always plan ahead with your perks.
Endurance: You don't need to overdo. 4-6 is enough, keeping in mind perk requirements, and that you'll get a permanent boost from Gas Station Special Encounter. Also influences how much drug you can get, but even that is helped by drugs: buffout and mutie.
Charisma: useless. It simply does nothing. Divine Favour stinks, because it is practically a free statpoint for the price of spending 6-7, and delaying your perks a bit. In Tough Guy mode your end-clvl will be 25, without that only 23, so plan accordingly.
Intelligence: as your weapon skill will be needed 200% you need SOME. As most skills are usless or covered by books, or your party, ca. 6 under gifted can be enough. With the theoretical unarmed build your unarmed skill only need 130%.
Agility: Try to have 8 AP. That's cool. If you have the Fast Shot trait.
Luck: the basic 5 is the good one unless there is some perk thathas it as requirement. Sniper don't work, and Slayer don't use it. Do not go under 4 though, there'll be malfunctions with that (loss of ammo, jamming gun etc.).
Skills:
weapon skills: energy weapons/big guns. Small guns don't worth the investment above 80-120% tagged. Burst mode and stepping out of the corner with a shotgun compensates here. Unarmed can be secondary along small guns for the first parrt of the game.
skills-from-books: small guns have enough books for one character. First Aid is obsolate if you hold Stitch (he can be perked to an ok Big Gunner, works ok with shotguns, and gains record skillpoints, I always keep him), but you should have at least 75% anyway before trying to use it unless you really have supplies. Traps will be covered by books, but you need regular save&reload if you want to disarm mines with it - futile task in though guy mode, there you just shoot th mines to blow them up. The skill mostly prevents you activating traps on chests and finding mines. Pilot is entirely useless, its books are only jokes I assume. Science only works on the protagnoist, but has so many books in the game you'll max it out. Outdoorsman will be good after near 100% or above, not thatthe random encounters are dangerous, but they are annoying by numbers. Repair also have books, and above that tons of kits anyway.
usless skills: gamble does nothing, you either can win with 0% gamble too, or you can't win. Barter is made entirely obsolate by the Brahmin Poker Special Encounter and Bunker Gamma where the quartermaster gambles, and you can win - if you need anything from that point just go back to the bunker and gamble the entire BoS-shop inventory.
skills that need attention: someone needs to do the lockpick, but with kits helping and you controlling 6 characters, it is not a fuss. Sneak is mostly meh unless you have Silent Running,and even with that during the robot-missions it turns useless (some has infinite detection due to bad coding). Steal has some problems, mostly true that what you can't steal with 80% that is impossible to steal - and there are not that many items to steal, plus if you fail that's game over, making the option restricted to BoS-NPCs in bunkers forthough guy mode, if at all. And finally there's doctor - again you have a team, should not be that much of a problem.
Races:
It is more fun if you can. It is though mostly min-maxing, nothng really new.
Supermutants get a perk equialent of another Bonus Ranged Attack using bursting weapons, while ghouls make top-notch snipers ( <- energy weapons). Ghouls usually take the Fear the Reaper trait instead of Gifted.
Do NOT get deathclaws, they end up terrible even as recruits. Lategame armor is a MUST.
Perks NOT to take:
- some perks don't work at all. Check a guide.
- do NOT get anything like Living Anatomy. Lategame you won't see any living being.
- tryto get something more useful than an Action Boy please. Lower AP, higher damage, higher resistance are mostly the priorities.
Divine Favour comparsion:
w/o DF you'll get this many perks: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24
w DF you'll get this many perks: 3, 6, 9, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24
As you can see you only gain a single extra perk in a playthrough, and a single statpoint, shich'll likely be charisma which you don't need at all, because you get point to your highest stat, and the demand for DF is 8 on charisma. That skill ijust reeks Bad Idea all over.
-------------
New data means reevaluating things:
So, a "perfect character" can do its job through the game, on any difficulty. This means insane. This means ghouls are out, sorry.
A deathclaw is closest to perfection if can compete against supermutant crossfire. This means the following perks:
1 (lvl 4 -> 8) brutish hulk
2 (lvl 8 -> 10) hide of scars
3 (lvl12-> 15) bonus HtH attacks
4 (lvl 16) hit the deck
5 (lvl 20) better criticals
6 (lvl 24) slayer
Reliant on psycho + voodoo or higher. Some perks (hide of scars, better critical, maybe even hit the deck) seems optional.
Supermutant is obviously a big guns user with the perk Steady Arm and 6+ PE. If protagonist plays it, add Unarmed tag. Also must have enough EN to take enough drugs to have like 180% damage resistance to infiltrate the supermutant HQ right when you reach it.
Supermutants are cool, but very limited.
Robot is determined by its traits. Practically given no electric attack in the game (with very few electric grande maybe) EMP-shield is not required though, especially for its price. Sad part is, the 1 CH limit. Either way give it the repair tag, unarmed tag
Humans seem the most flexible, more close to perfection. Is the game racist? Given its setup, that can work within the frame of the story thogh.
S 6-9
P 6+ (Insane suggests you have 7)
E 6+. With dancing on the edge you might get away with 5.
C 4, unless you want to be the leader (but you should know better). That with 2 dose of Mentat gives access to all the cool recruits (see below)
I 6+ (this iis with gifted. W/O gifted you can get away with less. Also depends how much of the non-combat work you want to do yourself)
A 8 (maybe 9 if you'll have a Leader and can afford)
L 6 for all the cool perks. Minimum 5 to avoid bad stuff.
Tags are unarmed (minimal investment, much easier early game, unavoidable for Insane Brahmin Wood), big guns (unless you solve that problem with someone else; then energy weapons), doctor (for the extra medical bag) or repair (see below at recruits why).
CH 4 can be boosted to 6, and that means largest pool of early game. My Perfect Party consists these personal:
- Farsight. Her job is outdoorsman. Seems she eliminates most of the random encounters.
- PipBoy. His job is to be early big gunner. Also makes the gambling (can win all with 10 LK it seems)
- Rage. He steals stuff.
- Mandy. She does first aid and repair. Maybe lockpick too. She really has a ton of points to spend.
A variation here is if you repair (only need 60% instead of 100% as for doctor), and suffer 1 mission until she gains point fill in the doctor's role. Both method has advantage and disadvantage I think.
- an extra as long as the recruit can fight. I just throw in Billy Bob for the fun of it next time. He can throw stuff, and the Glowing One can be removed very soon.
Weapons:
The game mainly offers 2 choices:
either energy rifles which have plenty of ammo and do single shots from far away (don't bother with the gatling laser, it has neither distance nor damage),
or big guns from which only Browning and Rocket Launchers (mainly with Explosive Rockets) worth something, but has somewhat limited ammo (soloing you really should spare with the .50 cal and go with rockets whenever possible if you don't wanna run out of options). Ye, there's a gauss gatling, but that's only has ammo for the whole of the final mission (or maybe only the last two phase of it). There's ONE mission where the enemies are Reavers, and they are justregular humans, so the SAW works there, but that's really lame.
Melee weapons are not an optiion: they have the same damage as unarmed weaponry, but cost more AP, and the only interesting thing feeds on the small energy calls which are bloody scares (this also makes all energy pistoles useless). There is an advantage though: they have range, and some bots can stuck, so you can defeat them without risk.
Unarmed is the ultimate challenge for the lategame, but do not dismiss it, until the supermutants it is a hugh advantage to have one character with the skill, atleast if you play realtime.
Small guns are obsolate from the point supermutants arrive - all enemy will have simply too much armor.
Building a team: Really not worth going who-is-better. I say get some guys early, and make them good through perking them.
If you pick all-six, the best team is made from 2 big gunners, 3 energy weapon snipers, and 1 support character/optional another energy sniper.
Traits:
gifted and fast shot unless you're planing for a challenge. Aimed shots worth nothing.
Stats:
Strength: 6 is needed for every character to use the rifles. 9 is needed for the big gun users, but keep in mind all perks, drugs,and the very-lategame (advanced) power armor. For all sake never go under 5, because at the start you most used weapons will be AK47!
Perception: 6-7 for big gunners (six is enough), 8-9 for energy weapon users (from this point: snipers). If you have to choose between a hard point (gain perception) and +2 bonus (sharpshooter), choose the later! Theoretical melee fighters don't need this, but they might want the Better Critical perk which has the demand of 6 from this. Always plan ahead with your perks.
Endurance: You don't need to overdo. 4-6 is enough, keeping in mind perk requirements, and that you'll get a permanent boost from Gas Station Special Encounter. Also influences how much drug you can get, but even that is helped by drugs: buffout and mutie.
Charisma: useless. It simply does nothing. Divine Favour stinks, because it is practically a free statpoint for the price of spending 6-7, and delaying your perks a bit. In Tough Guy mode your end-clvl will be 25, without that only 23, so plan accordingly.
Intelligence: as your weapon skill will be needed 200% you need SOME. As most skills are usless or covered by books, or your party, ca. 6 under gifted can be enough. With the theoretical unarmed build your unarmed skill only need 130%.
Agility: Try to have 8 AP. That's cool. If you have the Fast Shot trait.
Luck: the basic 5 is the good one unless there is some perk thathas it as requirement. Sniper don't work, and Slayer don't use it. Do not go under 4 though, there'll be malfunctions with that (loss of ammo, jamming gun etc.).
Skills:
weapon skills: energy weapons/big guns. Small guns don't worth the investment above 80-120% tagged. Burst mode and stepping out of the corner with a shotgun compensates here. Unarmed can be secondary along small guns for the first parrt of the game.
skills-from-books: small guns have enough books for one character. First Aid is obsolate if you hold Stitch (he can be perked to an ok Big Gunner, works ok with shotguns, and gains record skillpoints, I always keep him), but you should have at least 75% anyway before trying to use it unless you really have supplies. Traps will be covered by books, but you need regular save&reload if you want to disarm mines with it - futile task in though guy mode, there you just shoot th mines to blow them up. The skill mostly prevents you activating traps on chests and finding mines. Pilot is entirely useless, its books are only jokes I assume. Science only works on the protagnoist, but has so many books in the game you'll max it out. Outdoorsman will be good after near 100% or above, not thatthe random encounters are dangerous, but they are annoying by numbers. Repair also have books, and above that tons of kits anyway.
usless skills: gamble does nothing, you either can win with 0% gamble too, or you can't win. Barter is made entirely obsolate by the Brahmin Poker Special Encounter and Bunker Gamma where the quartermaster gambles, and you can win - if you need anything from that point just go back to the bunker and gamble the entire BoS-shop inventory.
skills that need attention: someone needs to do the lockpick, but with kits helping and you controlling 6 characters, it is not a fuss. Sneak is mostly meh unless you have Silent Running,and even with that during the robot-missions it turns useless (some has infinite detection due to bad coding). Steal has some problems, mostly true that what you can't steal with 80% that is impossible to steal - and there are not that many items to steal, plus if you fail that's game over, making the option restricted to BoS-NPCs in bunkers forthough guy mode, if at all. And finally there's doctor - again you have a team, should not be that much of a problem.
Races:
It is more fun if you can. It is though mostly min-maxing, nothng really new.
Supermutants get a perk equialent of another Bonus Ranged Attack using bursting weapons, while ghouls make top-notch snipers ( <- energy weapons). Ghouls usually take the Fear the Reaper trait instead of Gifted.
Do NOT get deathclaws, they end up terrible even as recruits. Lategame armor is a MUST.
Perks NOT to take:
- some perks don't work at all. Check a guide.
- do NOT get anything like Living Anatomy. Lategame you won't see any living being.
- tryto get something more useful than an Action Boy please. Lower AP, higher damage, higher resistance are mostly the priorities.
Divine Favour comparsion:
w/o DF you'll get this many perks: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24
w DF you'll get this many perks: 3, 6, 9, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24
As you can see you only gain a single extra perk in a playthrough, and a single statpoint, shich'll likely be charisma which you don't need at all, because you get point to your highest stat, and the demand for DF is 8 on charisma. That skill ijust reeks Bad Idea all over.
-------------
New data means reevaluating things:
So, a "perfect character" can do its job through the game, on any difficulty. This means insane. This means ghouls are out, sorry.
A deathclaw is closest to perfection if can compete against supermutant crossfire. This means the following perks:
1 (lvl 4 -> 8) brutish hulk
2 (lvl 8 -> 10) hide of scars
3 (lvl12-> 15) bonus HtH attacks
4 (lvl 16) hit the deck
5 (lvl 20) better criticals
6 (lvl 24) slayer
Reliant on psycho + voodoo or higher. Some perks (hide of scars, better critical, maybe even hit the deck) seems optional.
Supermutant is obviously a big guns user with the perk Steady Arm and 6+ PE. If protagonist plays it, add Unarmed tag. Also must have enough EN to take enough drugs to have like 180% damage resistance to infiltrate the supermutant HQ right when you reach it.
Supermutants are cool, but very limited.
Robot is determined by its traits. Practically given no electric attack in the game (with very few electric grande maybe) EMP-shield is not required though, especially for its price. Sad part is, the 1 CH limit. Either way give it the repair tag, unarmed tag
Humans seem the most flexible, more close to perfection. Is the game racist? Given its setup, that can work within the frame of the story thogh.
S 6-9
P 6+ (Insane suggests you have 7)
E 6+. With dancing on the edge you might get away with 5.
C 4, unless you want to be the leader (but you should know better). That with 2 dose of Mentat gives access to all the cool recruits (see below)
I 6+ (this iis with gifted. W/O gifted you can get away with less. Also depends how much of the non-combat work you want to do yourself)
A 8 (maybe 9 if you'll have a Leader and can afford)
L 6 for all the cool perks. Minimum 5 to avoid bad stuff.
Tags are unarmed (minimal investment, much easier early game, unavoidable for Insane Brahmin Wood), big guns (unless you solve that problem with someone else; then energy weapons), doctor (for the extra medical bag) or repair (see below at recruits why).
CH 4 can be boosted to 6, and that means largest pool of early game. My Perfect Party consists these personal:
- Farsight. Her job is outdoorsman. Seems she eliminates most of the random encounters.
- PipBoy. His job is to be early big gunner. Also makes the gambling (can win all with 10 LK it seems)
- Rage. He steals stuff.
- Mandy. She does first aid and repair. Maybe lockpick too. She really has a ton of points to spend.
A variation here is if you repair (only need 60% instead of 100% as for doctor), and suffer 1 mission until she gains point fill in the doctor's role. Both method has advantage and disadvantage I think.
- an extra as long as the recruit can fight. I just throw in Billy Bob for the fun of it next time. He can throw stuff, and the Glowing One can be removed very soon.
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