Tips For Newbies From a Former Newbie

[DwayneGAnd]

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 four characters: Sniper, Burst Fire, Hand to Hand, and Jinxed.

There are only two types of effectively built 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, Jinxed, 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. Jinxed provides a new experience where everyone around you has more critical failures, including npcs and party members, so they need to go solo. Hand to hand weapons have less chance of worse critical failures than ranged weapons.

All four 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.

 

[Greybleidd]

So, Swift Learner and Educated are actually underwhelming perks, right?
Also, do you think it's viable to not get an extra tag skill? I thought of starting with Unarmed, which is great for early and mid game (and even unlocks specific content such as boxing matches and the Shi tournament), Big Guns, Speech and then sink points on overall useful skills such as Barter and Lockpicking.

 

[The_Proletarian]

Impressive! I'm going to look into this when I continue the progression in Fallout 22 and play Resurrection and Fallout 2 next.

I'm currently playing Fallout 1 and I'm sort of thinking the same as you. However I took the comprehension perk as my first and then went straight for the Hub library and got all the books to raise my skills in small guns, outdoorsman, repair, science and first aid. That's probably not optimal. Comprehension might not be needed for that but at the same time Fallout 1 is so easy that you don't need to optimise much. I've tagged energy weapons so I'm going to proceed with that after small guns.

 

[DwayneGAnd]

Remember these tips (which I learned based on my own experience and research):

-If you take Gifted, very high Intelligence is required to make up for the lowered skill points. 9 is recommended, no less. Be sure to get the implant. Don't take Gifted if being stupid. Don't take both Gifted and Good Natured because they both reduce your skills and you'll only gain 5 points to Speech, Barter, First Aid, and Doctor.
-Higher Perception is more important if you focus on targeted shots and use rifles, but that's what Mentats are for as you'll need stat points elsewhere. Perception doesn't need to be as high if you are making a melee character.
-Higher Endurance is more useful for characters who go solo in the second game or fight in melee in both games.
-Luck needs to be maxed by endgame if you plan to take sniper or make a Jinxed character
-Rifles are better for longer-ranged combat due to having perks that increase their accuracy by either applying a bonus of 20% or doubling the range until ranged modifier penalties are applied. Pistols are better for mid to closer range. If your pistol doesn't give you a high enough chance to hit, switch to a rifle.
-Don't invest in Steal as even with a very high investment, you'll get caught a lot, so don't bother. Traps also aren't very plentiful or all that likely to kill, so ignore this skill as well. In the second game, traps are much more plentiful. You can raise it if you want. 76% is needed to rig Mr. Bishop's safe and kill him without turning the Bishops hostile.
-Sneak is very effective for assassinations if you don't want to alert others. It's even better if you are going hand-to-hand.
-Only raise your stats to what you need to qualify for perks. An exception is for Agility, Intelligence (unless Stupid), and Luck (if ranged).
-Don't carry so much ammo for your weapons at once as doing so eats up your carry weight. Let the car or your followers carry some of it and save up carry weight.
-Don't give any of your followers weapons with burst fire mode or grenades, unless they can't use them as they will tell you when you ask them about their combat skills.
-Small Frame is not recommended if you are using heavy weaponry due to the lower carry weight you'll have and you need as much as you can get to carry your equipment.
-Raise Science, First Aid, Repair, and Outdoorsmanship with books, don't spend a single skill point on them. Raise the difficulty to Hard before reading them. Keep doing this until you hit 101% on Normal difficulty with each of them. Small Guns can be raised with books as well, though it may be a better idea to use skill points to level it up, depending on skill books to raise it to 91% will hamper your combat effectiveness. If you do find some books early in the game, use them, as they are best used when your skill is still at a low level. In the first game, Vree can also give you a computer course which raises Science by 15%.
-Many skills aren't worth levelling up past 100%. An exception is for combat skills (much more investment is needed for targeted hits or hitting your target at maximum range in dark areas), Sneak in both games to 120% or more, and Speech, which can be raised up to 120% in the first game and 175% in the second game to pass the toughest speech checks in one try. Use lockpicks and electronic lockpicks to complement your lockpick skill, as some locks are difficult to unlock on the first try, even with 100% in the skill.
-Range, armor class of your enemies, darkness, and other factors can affect your combat effectiveness, whether or not you are using targeted shots. Burst fire attacks are best used at a closer range for maximum damage. If you are using targeted shots, you can stop investing once you are hitting your enemies in the eyes at the maximum range at night.
-Try hitting your enemies in the head if you don't have max chance to hit them in the eyes. The head gives you the highest chance of knocking your enemy down, which makes them even more vulnerable and raises your chance to hit all targets, including the eyes.
-Throwing is only useful for hand-to-hand characters as it allows them to have some range. Grenades work best, Pulse grenades are the best weapons for handling robots.
-Loot everything you can and use your npcs as mules. Trade all that loot for items and equipment. Don't invest in Barter as reputation and Charisma are better for reducing prices. You can also lower the difficulty to Easy for a bonus to Barter so that you can get cheaper prices, thus saving on skill points.
-Small Guns are very powerful and useful early in the beginning, but by late game, you'll want to switch to either Big Guns or Energy Weapons as even the most powerful Small Guns pale in comparison against the toughest enemies. Most late-game enemies are more resistant to physical damage inflicted by most guns, which can decrease the damage done by Small Guns and certain big guns, but critical hits can bypass resistances, though resistances can still reduce damage. In the end, Small Guns are useful for ammo conservation purposes against weaker opposition or finishing off weakened enemies. Small Guns do have longer ranges than Energy Weapons or Big Guns, thus you can use a Small Gun for long-range sniping, such as the Sniper Rifle and .223 Pistol in Fallout 1, or either Gauss weapon in Fallout 2. The .223 Pistol is also a good choice. Big Guns and Energy Weapons are used primarily against tougher enemies. If you use targeted shots as a ranged character, use Energy Weapons. If you are using a Burst Fire character, choose Big Guns. A pistol from Small Guns is your best choice for ammo conservation as using a Minigun on a rat would be overkill and a waste of ammo.
-Unarmed is much stronger and more effective than Melee Weapons by the end of the game due to not having that annoying knockback effect. But due to the reduced range of both, you'll need to lure your gun-toting enemies towards you. Take advantage of cover when you can. Certain enemies and encounters are much more difficult when going hand-to-hand, especially when there is no cover in sight so you'll need to choose your battles wisely.
-The best skills to tag are Small Guns, Speech, and either Sneak or Lockpick. If you are not Stupid, tag Speech. In the second game, the Tag perk can be used to tag your second combat skill due to the higher cap rate and thus the fact that you have more perk slots. It is better to use the perk than to tag a skill at the start if weapons for that skill aren't available right away in the second game. Remember that in Fallout 2, you can raise Unarmed to about 100% without investment, so you may want to wait until after you get all bonuses from training before raising it with skill points. The best use for the Tag perk, however, is to Tag a skill that you have already pumped many skills into, using the perk on this skill will double the number of points you have added to it, barring any points put there by perks, this can be a great way to get the skill to near max levels, especially if using targeted shots with the Pulse Rifle due to its lack of range modifying perks, or Unarmed to take advantage of the bonus from Hth Evade. Tagging a second combat skill at the start is only a good idea if you are playing a stupid character, though this is better in the first game.
-Raise Sneak to 120%, Lockpick to about 80% in the first game and 120% in the second game, Speech to 120% in the first game or 175% in the second game (these values allow you to pass the hardest speech checks on the first try), Doctor to 80% in the second game (through investment, Living Anatomy, and Vault City Training if possible, 65% with Living Anatomy and Vault City Training) and Combat skills to about 150% if using targeted shots.
-In Fallout 2, raise the difficulty to Hard before raising any non-combat skills over 100% to exploit the lower cost of skill points to raise them.
-Always carry a one-handed backup weapon in case one arm gets crippled. A pistol is great for ammo conservation if using Burst Fire weapons such as the Minigun.
-In the second game, carry in your endgame arsenal at least one weapon that can reasonably damage Frank Horrigan. Electrical damage weapons such as the Pulse Rifle, Alien Blaster, and Super Cattle Prod work best, though the Bozar, which chambers armor penetration bullets is also a great choice for characters who use Big Guns.
-If playing solo in the second game, use cover and let your enemies come to you.
-Charisma is much more important and useful in Fallout 2. Dump it in Fallout 1.
-Psycho is the only drug worth using as it provides a damage resistance bonus. Mentats are very useful for dimwits, especially if they want to gain access to the Brotherhood, get rewarded for rescuing in the initiate, gain access to the car, etc. Mentats are also useful for maxing Perception if using aimed shots for better accuracy. This is best done when tackling the final enemy bases.
-Use multiple save slots in case your files are corrupted or you need to go back earlier in the game after messing up. Start a new slot whenever you enter a new screen for the first time after spending a lot of time and achieving much in a previous screen or are starting a new quest, and keep one slot as a quicksave for your character. When you run out of save slots, just overwrite them. This way, in case something goes wrong, you won't have to replay a lot of the earlier game.
-In the first game, your companions are more useful in early to mid-game and as pack mules. By the time you're ready to tackle the Cathedral and the Military Base, your companions will have served their purpose. In those two final areas of the game, they'll just tend to get in your way a lot, especially if you enlist the aid of the Followers in the Cathedral, and the farthest you can take your allies in the Military Base is the elevator chamber of level 3 where they'll block your progress, being unable to move. You are not meant to keep them alive throughout the whole game. In the second game, companions are much stronger and more useful even to the endgame. You can leave your companions in the entrance of the Oil Rig with all those turrets in the alcove off to the side near the northern door. This is recommended as then you won't alert the Enclave. Cassidy, Sulik, and Vic are the three best companions in the game.
-If following the evil route in a game, hold off on collecting large amounts of bad karma until much later on in the game because certain tasks can only be done if you have neutral or better, and some people will refuse to speak to you if you have evil karma. Having evil karma can also make getting into Vault 13 more difficult at lower levels. Joining the Slavers will lock out certain quests as well, so you might want to postpone doing that too.
-In the second game, if starting with 1 Charisma and not using Gifted, you will need to take the Gain Charisma perk to get both implant enhancements without dying from radiation sickness, even if you only have enough to feel nauseous.

 

[DwayneGAnd]

Trait Combos

Sniper/Hand-To-Hand: Small Frame and Good Natured
Burst Fire: Fast Shot and Good Natured
Jinxed: Jinxed and Small Frame

Gifted Variants

Sniper/Hand To Hand: Gifted and Small Frame
Burst Fire: Gifted and Fast Shot
Jinxed: Gifted and Jinxed.

Increased stats are more important than increased skills at the start since you can always increase your skills, but stats are harder to raise.

 

[DwayneGAnd]

If you build your character well, he or she will gain many skill points, have reasonable health to survive most encounters, qualify for perks with all the permanent bonus, (even if you have to rely on chems if necessary), have very high carry weight outside of bonuses from perks, and have reasonable critical chance by endgame.

If you are neither Gifted nor Stupid, you'll have less stat points to distribute than if you were Gifted or Stupid. Here's how to set your stats if you do not take Gifted or have low Intelligence:

Strength - You can max it in the first game by starting with 6, and then getting both the Implant and Power Armor. To max it in the second game, start with 5, and then get both the module and Advanced Power Armor. Power Armor gives you three points, Advanced Power Armor gives you four points. Characters need high strength to wield the majority of their weapons. Any character can benefit from increased carry weight, especially those who take Small Frame as Power Armor is very heavy, much more so in the first game. An endgame value of 9 with Power Armor is good. If going hand-to-hand, you'll need to have it maxed by the end of the game for more damage, so start with 6 in the first game or 5 in the second.

Perception - 7 is needed to qualify for Sniper with the implant. 6 is needed for Better Criticals, which is a useful perk for any combat build. Lowering it to qualify for perks with chems is not recommended due to reduced accuracy, requiring more investment into your combat skills in order to make up for the lower chance to hit, and there are other skills that you will need to invest in, and with all those extra points you would need to invest in combat skills, they will be less effective. Snipers using rifles can get the most benefit out of very high Perception because rifles have special perks that increase their accuracy or reduce ranged penalties. Snipers using these weapons and aimed shots can benefit the most from maxed Perception, though it's better to use Mentats to max Perception as you'll need the points elsewhere. Melee characters don't need as much Perception, they only need 6 for Better criticals, so start with 5.

Endurance - Every even value increases the number of hit points you gain per level by one. You can get an operation to increase Endurance in the first game, or with a perk in the second, but said perk is useless. For this reason, you need an even value in the second game. If possible after setting your other stats, you can start with an odd value in the first game and get the Brotherhood implant. If you start with an even value in the first game, don't get the Brotherhood Implant, as it would be a waste of caps; you'll get no bonus to your hit points per level up, and all you'll gain is two points, which is the same amount you would have gotten if you started with that value in the first place. Health is important for anyone and can help you survive tougher battles, but it won't help much if someone with a machine gun inflicts an unlucky critical hit against you, so this stat isn't as important as many others because the difference in final total health points is minuscule between even values. The lowest odd value you should go is 3, if you do, get the Brotherhood Implant as soon as possible for reasonable health by the end of the game. The lowest even value you should set it to is 4. Don't set it lower than 3 in the first game or lower than 4 in the second game or you'll be too fragile by the end of the game. If going melee, you'll need a higher value.

Charisma - Dump it in the first game as it has no impact on combat. In the second game, it is more important as it determines how many followers you can have. You can have another follower every even value. In the first game, you can increase it by singing with the wandering Celtic tinkerer. In the second game, you can increase it with the module, a perk, or wearing Mirrored Shades. Magnetic Personality is also good for allowing you to have one more follower, get it only if your value is even. Dump it if going solo so you'll have more points to spend elsewhere. 4 is what you need to have two companions, 6 for three, and so on. You can get an additional two points to Charisma by installing the module and wearing Mirrored Shades. Don't get the enhanced combat implants if having followers as they reduce your Charisma and might impact your ability to recruit more npcs. If going solo, feel free to get them. If you set it at an even value, get both the module installed and wear the Mirrored Shades. If you set it to an odd value, get either the module or wear the shades, not both, or you'll end up with an odd value and you won't get the benefit of an extra companion.

Intelligence - 6 is the minimum value needed to unlock intelligent speech check dialogues, though it's better to set it to 7 for better dialogue options by endgame and more skill points. While Intelligence is a very important stat for any character, don't bother raising higher than 7 at the start because you're already gaining more points per level up than if you took Gifted, plus you'll need the points elsewhere. Increase this with an implant in the first game or the module in the second game. The Zeta scan in San Francisco increases it by one, but by then it's already so late in the game that it won't be very useful. You can only get one zeta scan however, you can't take this one if you've already taken the one from NCR. Many agree that the NCR scan is the superior choice since you can get it much earlier.

Agility - The most important stat since you'll want as many action points as necessary to improve your ability to attack more often in combat. You get a bonus point here if you use Small Frame, so start with 8 and then take Small Frame. If not taking Small Frame, start with 9. If you have the Restoration Project, you can get a point of Agility at the EPA. While there is a perk that can increase your Agility, it's better to get the bonus from the EPA than to choose the perk if you are using the Restoration Project.

Luck - After Agility and Intelligence, this is another important stat for characters as it increases the effectiveness of Sniper. For this reason, they should try to have it maxed. Having all your shots converted into critical hits equals more damage, enough to punch through even the heaviest enemy defenses. You can increase by one from Chuck in Adytum (the glitch which allowed you to get two points from him has been fixed). In the second game, you can increase it by two from a zeta scan in NCR, or by another zeta scan in San Francisco which also increases Intelligence, but you can only have one. Get the NCR scan as it is better than the San Francisco scan. Don't forget to save your game before getting the zeta scan because there's a chance that it will lower your Luck instead. Hand-to-hand characters only need 6 for Better criticals, so start with 5 in the first game or 4 in the second, unless they are Jinxed, in which case start with 9 in the first game or 8 in the second game.

Here's how to set your stats if Gifted:

Strength - Same as above. With all those extra skill points, Strength can be maxed by the end of the game if you are ranged. You can go up to 6 in the second game as long as you don't plan to get the module if you don't have any other place to put a spare point if you have all other stats set to their maximum recommended value.

Perception - Same. Even with those extra stat points, you don't need to start with more than 7 if ranged and you want to get max Perception with the implant and Mentats. Those points can be better spent somewhere else.

Endurance - Same. If you've already set Intelligence, Agility, Luck, and in certain cases either Perception or Strength, to be maxed by endgame, this is the best place to put extra points in the first game, or the second game if going solo. Just make sure you end up with an even number in the second game.

Charisma - Same, though because of Gifted, the lowest it can go, like all other stats, is 2. So if going solo in the second game, dump it. Again, don't get the implant enhancements if getting followers. You can go up to 8, using Mirrored Shades and the module to max it. Put more points into this stat over Endurance if playing with followers.

Intelligence - Since you get 5 less skill points with the trait than you would without it, set it to 9.

Agility - Same as with Normal Intelligence above.

Luck - Same. Hand-to-hand characters going solo may want to put their leftover points here to have an easier time of finding special encounters and if their Endurance is already maxed.

Here's how to set your stats for a Stupid Character:

Strength: Same as Gifted.

Perception: Same.

Endurance: Same.

Charisma: While it is possible to gain companions in the second game as a dimwit, you won't be able to talk with any of them, save for Goris and the dogs. Sulik and Vic are the only other companions you can get. Again, it's your call whether or not to have followers or go solo. Dump it in the first game.

Intelligence: Set it to 3 as you'll need all the skill points you can get. Don't get any intelligence upgrades. In the first game, you'll need to use Mentats before you talk to the Brotherhood doctor for each implant, and to Chuck to get the Luck upgrade.

Agility: Same.

Luck: Same

The best place to reach the level cap of 21 in Fallout 1 is at the Deathclaw Warehouse. Those Deathclaws give 1000 XP each! Rest for an hour after killing them all and they respawn. Until you destroy the Mother Deathclaw and the eggs of course. The best weapons to use in level grinding are the Alien Blaster and the Super Sledge. The Alien Blaster is acquired from a special encounter and it can be used quite effectively in close encounters with no skill investments due to a special perk that gives it increased accuracy.

In Fallout 2, you can level grind north of San Francisco from Floaters, Deathclaws, and Centaurs as they give the best XP. Killing them becomes easier once you get Sniper or Slayer, as well as the best weapons and armor for your character. Keep level grinding until you get all the perks you need.

For the best Fallout 1 experience, install both semi-official patches from TeamX 1.2 and 1.3.5. You can download them both from the download section on this forum or you can go to Welcome to Fallout Database (mediafire.com). From this site, I recommend Lenore's Script Fix, Nimrod's Dialogue Fix, Restored Endings, and Sfall 1.18e which is the latest official version of Sfall. Don't install the Restoration Mod because there is some bugged dialogue that can cause the game to crash, and if a town gets invaded, you'll miss out on everything that you haven't gotten yet in that settlement. Don't install any other mod that restores cut content because they are buggy and can cause the game to crash. The Restored Endings allows you to get a good ending for the Hub and Adytum, as long as you can beat the game before March 3 for Adytum and April 24 for the Hub. If you don't think you can do this, you can postpone the invasions by modifying your vault13.gam file in your data folder. How long you postpone them depends on whether you're the kind of player who level grinds the deathclaws at Adytum or reads enough skill books to get 91% in First Aid, Science, Repair, and Outdoorsmanship. You can also postpone the mutant invasion for Necropolis this way. Also, if your copy of the game was purchased from a digital store, you'll need to download and install a censorship patch if you want to restore children and certain trait images. Download the patch at Fallout 1.2 Censorship Fix (Eng) file - ModDB.

Don't download Fixt as it is bugged, hasn't been maintained for years, and introduces new problems and new additions that may not appeal to you if you are a purist. Et Tu changes the overall game experience by converting the game to the Fallout 2 engine, so it may not appeal to purists who want the true Fallout 1 feel. It is still being maintained and regularly updated though.

For the best Fallout 2 experience, download and install the latest version of the Restoration Mod which adds back in all the cut content, making the game feel more finished.

For both games, be sure to tweak the F1_res.ini and ddraw.ini files to your liking before you play.

Doing this will allow you to get the best-polished vanilla experience for both games. This guide applies only to the games, not total conversions such as Nevada or Olympus.

 

[DwayneGAnd]

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed this guide and can now make good characters confidently. Have fun!

For those of you who noticed I've been making changes to the previous entries, I've been testing my ideas and keeping written down those that work. Since I've been restarting the game many times since trying out new things, I've decided to stick to what I know from earlier as that seems to work best for me, though I've learned a couple of new things that I am now confident enough to try myself on future characters.

 

[Ransurian]

Bit of a necro thread at this point I guess, but the rocket launcher is actually a fantastic late-game weapon with a solid niche as a long-range tool for Big Guns users. It has exceptional range and solid damage, and since it's not a burst weapon, you don't have to worry about hitting companions and allies that are standing directly in front of you. With the Sniper perk, it can be used to effortlessly take out tough enemies like Enclave troopers from greater range than any other big gun, making it a very effective sniping weapon. The splash damage is also manageable at close range if you know exactly what the blast radius is, and this knowledge comes easily with practice. In addition -- and this is overlooked -- most enemies have very little explosive resistance.

The only real issue is acquiring rockets. The only vendors that sell them regularly are in San Francisco, and they're rather expensive... although you can simply steal copious amounts of rockets from Unity patrols near Broken Hills. They also have a hilarious habit of blowing themselves up fighting wolves, so this doubles as a good method of obtaining the rocket launcher itself as well.