DwayneGAnd
Look, Ma! Two Heads!
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Now that I feel like I have mastered the first two Fallout Games, I'd like to share some tips for newbies. I was just like you, not knowing how to truly play the game like a pro. But thanks to the advice I got from my "I Have Questions About Fallout 1 and 2" thread, I now feel that I have mastered the game. From testing certain builds, I have discovered that some are much more powerful and viable than others. I have some notes in a booklet that I made for all the builds I have planned for the Fallout games I have on my computer. (I don't meet the requirements for Fallout 4)
After several tests, I found that it is best to focus on one combat style rather than go hybrid, otherwise, you'll never reach maximum effectiveness taking into account the other skills you'll be investing in.
There are only three types of characters: those that use targeted shots with either ranged or melee attacks and those that do not. Burst Fire builds do not use targeted shots due to the Fast Shot trait and they focus on firing multiple rounds at once to inflict as much damage as possible, resulting in damage that can reach even greater heights than the targeted shot build, also known as the sniper, can dream of.
The only traits worth taking are Gifted, Good Natured, Small Frame, and Fast Shot. Gifted is good for increased stats at the cost of reduced skills and skill point allocation at level-ups. Good Natured is good for characters that do not take Gifted. Burst Fire characters take Fast Shot. Since burst shots cannot be aimed, the penalty of Fast Shot can be ignored. Small Frame increases agility by one at the cost of carry weight and is best used by characters using targeted shots.
All three builds have the variants of Gifted, Normal, and Stupid. Stupid has an Intelligence of less than four and can result in a humourous game experience. Dimwits shouldn't take Gifted because it reduces the skill points you get from leveling up and you get less skill points per level due to low intelligence.
The best combat skill to tag at the beginning is Small Guns, unless you are making a hand-to-hand character, in which case the best combat skill to tag is Melee Weapons. This is due to the fact that these weapons are more abundant in the early and mid stages of the game, much more than the others. Energy Weapons and Big Guns don't start coming until later in the game. The only unarmed weapon worth using is the Power Fist. In Fallout 2, Unarmed also has the Mega Power Fist. The best non-combat skill to tag is Speech which is very useful in many situations. Unless of course, you are a dimwit, so instead you should tag another skill, such as yet another combat skill. Other than your primary combat skill and Speech, the best skills to tag are either Sneak or Lockpick.
Like many other RPGs, you should use the most powerful armor for the best protection to help you survive and the most powerful weapon to deal with the opposition easily. Since the most powerful Small Guns don't deal enough damage against the toughest enemies, I recommend you switch to a more powerful weapon skill later on in the game. For melee builds, Unarmed is better endgame because it doesn't have knockback. But you should only tag your secondary combat skill if you are playing a stupid character. You can also use the Tag perk in the second game which doubles all skill points invested in a skill. Snipers and Burst Fire characters should tag Small Guns at the start and melee characters should tag melee weapons at the start. Snipers should also tag Energy Weapons and burst fire characters tag Big Guns. Mele characters use Unarmed primarily at the end.
The most powerful guns that allow targeted shots are in the energy weapons category. Big Guns are better for burst fire shots due to small guns with burst fire modes not dealing enough damage or firing off enough rounds per shot, and the Gatling Laser from energy weapons has its damage reduced by armor, even if critical hits are dealt. The best big guns are the machine guns due to firing off a lot of rounds per attack, making them much more powerful when combined with bonus ranged damage. Rocket Launchers have too much collateral damage potential to yourself, your allies, and neutral npcs, plus they need to be reloaded after every shot, so it is not a practical weapon. Neither is the flamer which has a very short range and the ammo is too heavy to carry in large amounts, even with max strength and perks that increase carry weight. Plasma energy weapons are better for the sniper because their damage is not as resisted as much by armor as lasers are.
While you can make a sniper that uses only small guns, burst fire characters using only small guns, or even switch to energy weapons, they will never be as effective as if you use big guns for burst fire or energy weapons for snipers, such as against the tougher foes in both games, such as robots, deathclaws, enclave soldiers, or the final boss of Fallout 2. What I suggest above are the most effective ways to build each type of character and what combat skills are best suited for them for maximum damage effectiveness.
Even when you make the switch to a more powerful weapon skill, you can still use your original combat skill in some situations. For example, snipers can still use a sniper rifle for its extremely long range to pick off foes from a great distance. And burst fire characters should use a pistol for ammo conservation purposes because using a minigun to kill a rat would be overkill (and a waste of ammo). Melee characters can use a weapon that does not require ammo in order to
Use books to raise First Aid, Repair, Science, and Outdoorsman. You can also use books to raise your Small Guns skill, but spending skill points is better than waiting until you reach 91% with books because then you'll be less reliable in combat for much of the game if you did, forcing yourself to rely on companions. Lockpick and Doctor are also good skills to raise, though Doctor is much more important in Fallout 2 if you want to get the combat implants. Speech is also very important in both games unless you are a dimwit. Raise Doctor to 65% in the second game and then use the bonus from Living Anatomy to allow you to get the combat implants.
Gambling and Barter aren't really worth investing in as you can actually set the difficulty to easy to exploit the extra 20 points added to your skills and use that to gamble and buy items at lower prices. This is especially true in Fallout 1 where you can gamble at the roulette tables to earn fast money and then spend it on buying equipment, repeating as necessary.
The only perks worth taking are Action Boy, Sniper, Slayer, Bonus Move, Awareness, Bonus Rate of Fire, Bonus Hth Attacks, Bonus Ranged Damage, Quick Pockets, Tag, and Living Anatomy. Bonus Rate of Fire and Sniper are for long-range attackers while Slayer and Bonus Hth Attacks improve melee fighting ability. Bonus Move is good for extra movement. Bonus Ranged Damage is more useful for burst fire characters because the extra damage is applied to each individual attack, so a minigun firing 40 rounds would deal an additional 160 points of damage. In Fallout 2, you can get Living Anatomy which increases your damage by 5, Quick Pockets which reduces the AP cost of opening your inventory in combat, and Pack Rat which gives a further bonus to carry weight. In both games, if playing a dimwit, you will need two mentats to get Bonus Rate of Fire. Due to the lower level cap in Fallout 1, you won't be able to take both ranks of Bonus Move or Bonus Ranged Damage due to taking other perks you need. In Fallout 2, you have a higher-level cap so you can get more perks.
Read on further for more information on stats and other tips.
After several tests, I found that it is best to focus on one combat style rather than go hybrid, otherwise, you'll never reach maximum effectiveness taking into account the other skills you'll be investing in.
There are only three types of characters: those that use targeted shots with either ranged or melee attacks and those that do not. Burst Fire builds do not use targeted shots due to the Fast Shot trait and they focus on firing multiple rounds at once to inflict as much damage as possible, resulting in damage that can reach even greater heights than the targeted shot build, also known as the sniper, can dream of.
The only traits worth taking are Gifted, Good Natured, Small Frame, and Fast Shot. Gifted is good for increased stats at the cost of reduced skills and skill point allocation at level-ups. Good Natured is good for characters that do not take Gifted. Burst Fire characters take Fast Shot. Since burst shots cannot be aimed, the penalty of Fast Shot can be ignored. Small Frame increases agility by one at the cost of carry weight and is best used by characters using targeted shots.
All three builds have the variants of Gifted, Normal, and Stupid. Stupid has an Intelligence of less than four and can result in a humourous game experience. Dimwits shouldn't take Gifted because it reduces the skill points you get from leveling up and you get less skill points per level due to low intelligence.
The best combat skill to tag at the beginning is Small Guns, unless you are making a hand-to-hand character, in which case the best combat skill to tag is Melee Weapons. This is due to the fact that these weapons are more abundant in the early and mid stages of the game, much more than the others. Energy Weapons and Big Guns don't start coming until later in the game. The only unarmed weapon worth using is the Power Fist. In Fallout 2, Unarmed also has the Mega Power Fist. The best non-combat skill to tag is Speech which is very useful in many situations. Unless of course, you are a dimwit, so instead you should tag another skill, such as yet another combat skill. Other than your primary combat skill and Speech, the best skills to tag are either Sneak or Lockpick.
Like many other RPGs, you should use the most powerful armor for the best protection to help you survive and the most powerful weapon to deal with the opposition easily. Since the most powerful Small Guns don't deal enough damage against the toughest enemies, I recommend you switch to a more powerful weapon skill later on in the game. For melee builds, Unarmed is better endgame because it doesn't have knockback. But you should only tag your secondary combat skill if you are playing a stupid character. You can also use the Tag perk in the second game which doubles all skill points invested in a skill. Snipers and Burst Fire characters should tag Small Guns at the start and melee characters should tag melee weapons at the start. Snipers should also tag Energy Weapons and burst fire characters tag Big Guns. Mele characters use Unarmed primarily at the end.
The most powerful guns that allow targeted shots are in the energy weapons category. Big Guns are better for burst fire shots due to small guns with burst fire modes not dealing enough damage or firing off enough rounds per shot, and the Gatling Laser from energy weapons has its damage reduced by armor, even if critical hits are dealt. The best big guns are the machine guns due to firing off a lot of rounds per attack, making them much more powerful when combined with bonus ranged damage. Rocket Launchers have too much collateral damage potential to yourself, your allies, and neutral npcs, plus they need to be reloaded after every shot, so it is not a practical weapon. Neither is the flamer which has a very short range and the ammo is too heavy to carry in large amounts, even with max strength and perks that increase carry weight. Plasma energy weapons are better for the sniper because their damage is not as resisted as much by armor as lasers are.
While you can make a sniper that uses only small guns, burst fire characters using only small guns, or even switch to energy weapons, they will never be as effective as if you use big guns for burst fire or energy weapons for snipers, such as against the tougher foes in both games, such as robots, deathclaws, enclave soldiers, or the final boss of Fallout 2. What I suggest above are the most effective ways to build each type of character and what combat skills are best suited for them for maximum damage effectiveness.
Even when you make the switch to a more powerful weapon skill, you can still use your original combat skill in some situations. For example, snipers can still use a sniper rifle for its extremely long range to pick off foes from a great distance. And burst fire characters should use a pistol for ammo conservation purposes because using a minigun to kill a rat would be overkill (and a waste of ammo). Melee characters can use a weapon that does not require ammo in order to
Use books to raise First Aid, Repair, Science, and Outdoorsman. You can also use books to raise your Small Guns skill, but spending skill points is better than waiting until you reach 91% with books because then you'll be less reliable in combat for much of the game if you did, forcing yourself to rely on companions. Lockpick and Doctor are also good skills to raise, though Doctor is much more important in Fallout 2 if you want to get the combat implants. Speech is also very important in both games unless you are a dimwit. Raise Doctor to 65% in the second game and then use the bonus from Living Anatomy to allow you to get the combat implants.
Gambling and Barter aren't really worth investing in as you can actually set the difficulty to easy to exploit the extra 20 points added to your skills and use that to gamble and buy items at lower prices. This is especially true in Fallout 1 where you can gamble at the roulette tables to earn fast money and then spend it on buying equipment, repeating as necessary.
The only perks worth taking are Action Boy, Sniper, Slayer, Bonus Move, Awareness, Bonus Rate of Fire, Bonus Hth Attacks, Bonus Ranged Damage, Quick Pockets, Tag, and Living Anatomy. Bonus Rate of Fire and Sniper are for long-range attackers while Slayer and Bonus Hth Attacks improve melee fighting ability. Bonus Move is good for extra movement. Bonus Ranged Damage is more useful for burst fire characters because the extra damage is applied to each individual attack, so a minigun firing 40 rounds would deal an additional 160 points of damage. In Fallout 2, you can get Living Anatomy which increases your damage by 5, Quick Pockets which reduces the AP cost of opening your inventory in combat, and Pack Rat which gives a further bonus to carry weight. In both games, if playing a dimwit, you will need two mentats to get Bonus Rate of Fire. Due to the lower level cap in Fallout 1, you won't be able to take both ranks of Bonus Move or Bonus Ranged Damage due to taking other perks you need. In Fallout 2, you have a higher-level cap so you can get more perks.
Read on further for more information on stats and other tips.
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