The Official Fallout 3 thread of post-apocalyptic proportions!

The invisible walls in this game are at times maddening.

I also wish the combat was a bit better, considering how core to the entire experience it is. It's a vast, vast improvement over Oblivion's "mash your melee/magic attacks until you or the thing you're attacking are dead" setup, but it's still not that engaging, especially after going back and forth between this and Far Cry 2. I still wish VATS worked more like Valkyria Chronicles - a true turn based AP system - rather than the Bullet Time Based On Stats that it is. It would have been neat to genuinely be able to have combat be either a turn-based, stat-based tactical strategy game or an all-out action shooter. Unfortunately we have sort of a middling crossbreed, where the stats serve to detract from the action and the action sometimes nullifies the stats.

That said, I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. Aside from the leveling system and key parts of combat, it's fundamentally still Oblivion and that's not necessarily a bad thing. At least they got rid of the horrible abortion that was Oblivion's social interaction system.

Zeliard said:
Also, where's Elder Lyons at, the Brotherhood member who's supposed to train you in Power Armor? Is he at the GNR headquarters? Because I didn't see him there.

He's at the Citadel, the Brotherhood of Steel's stronghold in DC. Though, if you haven't been to Rivet City yet I don't know if you can get in to the Citadel.
 
Zeliard said:
Anyone know where to get some decent armor? That's been my only real issue so far. Since I started I've probably only worn like 3 different pieces of armor, not including the specialized +5 barter, +5 medicine, etc ones that I only wear for a few minutes at a time.

Having said that, I haven't been to Rivet City yet. I assume there are higher level vendors there.

Also, where's Elder Lyons at, the Brotherhood member who's supposed to train you in Power Armor? Is he at the GNR headquarters? Because I didn't see him there.
A. Early, just pick some up off the raiders. Or, I think you buy Combat Armor in Megaton.
B. You get Power Armor training at the Citadel. You can't get there until quite a ways into the story.
 
Zeliard said:
Also, where's Elder Lyons at, the Brotherhood member who's supposed to train you in Power Armor? Is he at the GNR headquarters? Because I didn't see him there.
He's not at their GNR outpost, you'll find him elsewhere. Not sure if you can get trained in it without working on the main quest though.
 
TuxBobble said:
Hey, quick question--for the skills like "Small Arms", what effect does it actually have on your small arms? Is it just accuracy, or damage also, or what?

It's a little of everything. I'm a small guns nut (going with the perk too), and by the time you hit level 10 or 11, your accuracy and damage (provided the guns are in decent condition) are improved ten-fold.

Also, I'm with Che on this one. This game is literally everything I look for in an RPG, and it's quickly becoming my fave of all time.
 
TuxBobble said:
Hey, quick question--for the skills like "Small Arms", what effect does it actually have on your small arms? Is it just accuracy, or damage also, or what?

Small Guns increases your accuracy and damage of all 1handed and 2handed guns that aren't in the Big or Energy category. Big Guns are just things like missle launchers and miniguns and flame throwers. Energy should be obvious, the laser/plasma weapons. It helps in both real-time and VATS combat.
 
FUCK THIS GAME IS GOOD.

In the span of 2 days, I've already banked 9 hours into this game. For me this is a huge increase over my average (probably an hour a day).

This game has me by the balls and the only reason I'm not playing right now is that I feel bad for my wife that I haven't really hung out with her at all today.

I'm playing the game completely as if it were me in the game:

  • Very perceptive
  • Charismatic
  • Terrible endurance
  • Average strength
  • Amazing luck

While it's extremely annoying that I can't hold as much as I'd like (I've since added a point into STR to help me out a bit there), I find it fun being able to do interesting things in dialogue trees and cause all sorts of verbal terrorism (
Run away from home little boy from Rivet City...mommy doesn't love you! MUHAHAH...oh shit you took the little girl with you...@#%#
).

I'm looking for upgraded energy weapons, right now I just have a pistol I'm using. It's good, but I'm hoping to find an energy rifle and a plasma rifle. Not sure where I can get these things.

This game...is so...fucking...good.
 
Wow, total end of HL2 vibe
in the Enclave HQ going to meet the prez. Also, :lol at Nathan from Megaton being captured there, thats what the preachy old fucker deserves!
 
finally popped it back in and finished the Head of State and Reilys Rangers quests, and got all 3 level 20 achievements. I am seriously lacking in Nuka Cola Quantum though, that quest is going to be torture.
 
Rodeo Clown said:
A. Early, just pick some up off the raiders. Or, I think you buy Combat Armor in Megaton.
B. You get Power Armor training at the Citadel. You can't get there until quite a ways into the story.

Combat Armor is the exact armor I have on right now (I got two, actually, so I gave one to Jericho and he's now splendidly wearing it). Just figured there was a better in-between when it came to that and the actual Power Armor, but I guess not.

disappeared said:
It's a little of everything. I'm a small guns nut (going with the perk too), and by the time you hit level 10 or 11, your accuracy and damage (provided the guns are in decent condition) are improved ten-fold.

Also, I'm with Che on this one. This game is literally everything I look for in an RPG, and it's quickly becoming my fave of all time.

Zzoram said:
Small Guns increases your accuracy and damage of all 1handed and 2handed guns that aren't in the Big or Energy category. Big Guns are just things like missle launchers and miniguns and flame throwers. Energy should be obvious, the laser/plasma weapons. It helps in both real-time and VATS combat.

Great perks if you have a high small arms ratings are Gunslinger (greatly increases accuracy in VATS with one-handed guns like pistols) and Commando (greatly increases accuracy in VATS with two-handed guns like rifles).

I got Gunslinger earlier, and I still have and very often use the 10mm pistol you originally get in the vault (it's possibly my most-used weapon). It's very effective at crippling limbs with that perk + a high small arms rating, despite its low damage output, since you can get quite a few shots off with it in VATS.

Btw, to people who have had big trouble with the fire ants: did you guys try shooting the antennas? If there are even just two in a group, make one go into frenzy and they'll just start fighting and burning each other up, leaving the last one weakened for you to pick off. Or you can not wait and just throw a grenade into the mix. ;)
 
disappeared said:
Also, I love the repair system. scrounging dead raiders for their weapons to fix up my own is an amazing little feature.
Holy fuck I haven't even tried repairing shit yet...I just leveled that skill up so I could
fix the pipes in Megaton for the water supply dude
:lol

So you basically find items that are the same as the one you want to repair in order to do the repair function?

FUCK WHAT ELSE HAVE I BEEN MISSING?!
 
disappeared said:
Also, I love the repair system. scrounging dead raiders for their weapons to fix up my own is an amazing little feature.

The best thing about repair is that it's very meaningful and important, which only makes the skills system deeper since you have to decide where to sink your points into. You can have the greatest piece of armor or weapon, but if the durability on it is very low, the damage output will be minimal unless you repair it (or have it repaired, which can be at a huge price). This can have big impact with weapons like the minigun. You can repair that weapon and see yourself getting a boost of +10 damage from it.
 
RubxQub said:
Holy fuck I haven't even tried repairing shit yet...I just leveled that skill up so I could
fix the pipes in Megaton for the water supply dude
:lol

So you basically find items that are the same as the one you want to repair in order to do the repair function?

FUCK WHAT ELSE HAVE I BEEN MISSING?!

Most likely a huge amount of other things. This game is huge and awesome. Loving it so far.
 
Has anyone else got the shit scared out of them?

One point I'm just walking around the next theres a radiating feral ghoul attacking me out of nowhere.

The ruined vaults are pretty freaky too, dunno why.
 
RubxQub said:
Holy fuck I haven't even tried repairing shit yet...I just leveled that skill up so I could
fix the pipes in Megaton for the water supply dude
:lol

So you basically find items that are the same as the one you want to repair in order to do the repair function?

FUCK WHAT ELSE HAVE I BEEN MISSING?!

Holy shit, dude. How many caps have you wasted on weapons and repair?

Definitely repair them yourself. It's great for several things: increase the damage output/damage rating on your weapons/armor, combining two or more weapons/armor into one to save inventory space, and selling certain weapons/armor at a higher value (the more damaged a weapon/armor is, the less it sells for).

xxjuicesxx said:
Has anyone else got the shit scared out of them?

One point I'm just walking around the next theres a radiating feral ghoul attacking me out of nowhere.

The ruined vaults are pretty freaky too, dunno why.

I've definitely jumped a couple of times. The sound design is excellent and the world is realized so well that I just get sucked into it.
 
Holy shit, I just did the Galaxy News Radio mission, and all I can say is the area right outside of the Museum of Technology is FUCKING CRAZY. I was pinned down by about 12 Super Mutants with guns up the asshole. Then I took out the Fat Man I got from a dead BoS guy and unleashed hell on them. I took out most of them in a series of massive explosions :lol I can tell the trench warfare shit in that part of the city will be so epic once I'm strong enough to go in there for real.

I was level 8 at the time, if that means anything. Anyway, I'm not even going to TRY to get to
Rivet City
for a while. Time to do some sidequests and exploring :D

One more thing: How do I get Negative Karma? Not just one point or something, but enough to make me "evil"? I really want to recruit
Jericho
but he basically calls me a pansy everytime I ask him. I've stolen countless items and recently I just wiped out the settlement of
Arefu after doing the Blood Ties quest. Killed everyone in the town and took the bobblehead from Davis' home :D
.
 
Zeliard said:
Combat Armor is the exact armor I have on right now (I got two, actually, so I gave one to Jericho and he's now splendidly wearing it). Just figured there was a better in-between when it came to that and the actual Power Armor, but I guess not.

I found metal armor recently, better DR than combat but decreases agility.
 
xxjuicesxx said:
Has anyone else got the shit scared out of them?

One point I'm just walking around the next theres a radiating feral ghoul attacking me out of nowhere.

The ruined vaults are pretty freaky too, dunno why.

I get scared all the time in games, but I never had the fear with Fallout, however I had a constant sense of unease because of the setting.
 
RubxQub said:
Holy fuck I haven't even tried repairing shit yet...I just leveled that skill up so I could
fix the pipes in Megaton for the water supply dude
:lol

So you basically find items that are the same as the one you want to repair in order to do the repair function?


FUCK WHAT ELSE HAVE I BEEN MISSING?!

Yes. It's a very useful feature and there's always a reason to repair. I have been having WAY too much fun with this game. Mercenary duster with criss-crossing machine gun bullets and pre-war hat, full survivalist beard and sunglasses = BADASSEry of all kinds. Taking down super mutants and watching them scream "IMPOSS...UGH" post-VATS is so hilarious I can't contain myself...

"IT'S GO TIME!"
 
Zeliard said:
The best thing about repair is that it's very meaningful and important, which only makes the skills system deeper since you have to decide where to sink your points into. You can have the greatest piece of armor or weapon, but if the durability on it is very low, the damage output will be minimal unless you repair it (or have it repaired, which can be at a huge price). This can have big impact with weapons like the minigun. You can repair that weapon and see yourself getting a boost of +10 damage from it.

yeah, it's so fucking cool that way. I didn't start the game with a high repair skill but I've been leveling it all the time.
 
Zeliard said:
Holy shit, dude. How many caps have you wasted on weapons and repair?

Definitely repair them yourself. It's great for several things: increase the damage output/damage rating on your weapons/armor, combining two or more weapons/armor into one to save inventory space, and selling certain weapons/armor at a higher value (the more damaged a weapon/armor is, the less it sells for).
Waaaaaaaaaaay more than I'd care to admit. My energy pistol alone usually costs about 200+ caps to repair up to half.

Now I get how the hell I'm supposed to afford those house improvements. The most cap I've ever had at one time was about 600. I felt like a god. Then I had to repair shite and gg cap.

G'damnit! I feel like this is grounds enough for me to restart or something :lol
 
Hootie said:
Holy shit, I just did the Galaxy News Radio mission, and all I can say is the area right outside of the Museum of Technology is FUCKING CRAZY. I was pinned down by about 12 Super Mutants with guns up the asshole. Then I took out the Fat Man I got from a dead BoS guy and unleashed hell on them. I took out most of them in a series of massive explosions :lol I can tell the trench warfare shit in that part of the city will be so epic once I'm strong enough to go in there for real.

I was level 8 at the time, if that means anything. Anyway, I'm not even going to TRY to get to
Rivet City
for a while. Time to do some sidequests and exploring :D

One more thing: How do I get Negative Karma? Not just one point or something, but enough to make me "evil"? I really want to recruit
Jericho
but he basically calls me a pansy everytime I ask him. I've stolen countless items and recently I just wiped out the settlement of
Arefu after doing the Blood Ties quest. Killed everyone in the town and took the bobblehead from Davis' home :D
.
Kill a lot of NPCs,
blow up megaton
and steal a lot, it's all about pissing people off!
 
Just so I know, how far am I onto the story?
I just finished the three dog quest to fix the broken dish
. I hear the main story is short so I was curious to know.
 
Darklord said:
Just so I know, how far am I onto the story?
I just finished the three dog quest to fix the broken dish
. I hear the main story is short so I was curious to know.
You are roughly 35% of the way there.




Ok guys...what type of armor do I use to repair the T-51b armor with? I can repair regular power armor with it. But I can't repair it with regular power armor. WTF? Is that a glitch?
 
INDIGO_CYCLOPS said:
Kill a lot of NPCs,
blow up megaton
and steal a lot, it's all about pissing people off!

Too late, I already
disarmed the bomb. Megaton is too important to me to blow it up. Quests, a home, ammo, etc.
 
MindWash said:
I found metal armor recently, better DR than combat but decreases agility.

Wait, which one's the armor with the spikes? That's the one I gave Jericho.

34zefbo.jpg
 
Hootie said:
Too late, I already
disarmed the bomb. Megaton is too important to me to blow it up. Quests, a home, ammo, etc.

Understood, go around Megaton and steal, you will get docked Karma points, just don't get caught or they'll start firing on your ass.
 
Hootie said:
Holy shit, I just did the Galaxy News Radio mission, and all I can say is the area right outside of the Museum of Technology is FUCKING CRAZY. I was pinned down by about 12 Super Mutants with guns up the asshole. Then I took out the Fat Man I got from a dead BoS guy and unleashed hell on them. I took out most of them in a series of massive explosions :lol I can tell the trench warfare shit in that part of the city will be so epic once I'm strong enough to go in there for real.

I was level 8 at the time, if that means anything. Anyway, I'm not even going to TRY to get to
Rivet City
for a while. Time to do some sidequests and exploring :D

One more thing: How do I get Negative Karma? Not just one point or something, but enough to make me "evil"? I really want to recruit
Jericho
but he basically calls me a pansy everytime I ask him. I've stolen countless items and recently I just wiped out the settlement of
Arefu after doing the Blood Ties quest. Killed everyone in the town and took the bobblehead from Davis' home :D
.

I think I was in the same area but I was faced with a lot of raiders. I also witnessed a chain reaction of nuclear cars blowing up. It killed most of the raiders. Someone should have told them that it's not a good idea to shoot mini nukes around a lot full of cars.
 
Revelations said:
You are roughly 35% of the way there.

Cool. Thanks.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, who will follow me seeing as I'm going good? Jericho is the only person I've met who'd follow me...if my karma was darker.
 
Zeliard said:
Definitely repair them yourself. It's great for several things: increase the damage output/damage rating on your weapons/armor, combining two or more weapons/armor into one to save inventory space, and selling certain weapons/armor at a higher value (the more damaged a weapon/armor is, the less it sells for).

No doubt. My 2 highest skills are small guns and repair. So useful. I can almost fully fix weapons now which is great and I'm so freaking accurate with my rifle.
 
Ploid 3.0 said:
I think I was in the same area but I was faced with a lot of raiders. I also witnessed a chain reaction of nuclear cars blowing up. It killed most of the raiders. Someone should have told them that it's not a good idea to shoot mini nukes around a lot full of cars.

It was during the GNR mission right when you exit the metro tunnels that are directly next to the entrance to the museum. The Washington Monument in just a short walk away, too.
 
So, last night, being the min/maxer that I am, I decided I would head off and get the Intelligence Bobblehead in Rivet City so I could max it out and end up with the optimal amount of skill points. (keep in mind I'm fresh out of the Vault and, like, level 3 or 4)

I knew the map location thanks to the help of one of the citizens in that place on the freeway you have to go to for Blood Ties, (forgot the name) so I started heading that way from Megaton. Everything went pretty smooth till I started nearing DC proper and I ran into an intersection patrolled by raiders and guarded by turrets. I snuck around (my character build is heavily focused on stealth and speech) and picked off one only to find that she had a flamer on her. (My only weapons up till this point were the 10mm, some odd melee weapons, and a highly damaged assault rifle with very little ammunition) I took it and proceeded to wipe out the whole camp which, it turned out, was highly stocked with other weapons, ammunition, materials, (got the motorcycle tank and handle for my Shishkabob there) and even a bed, which I rested in just long enough to heal up. Among the weapons I found a case with 4 Pulse Grenades, so I took them and wiped out the turret on the bridge, allowing me to pass on through where I found more supplies including an awesome aid/material/something called a Stealth Boy. (+100 sneak and an extension of your stealth range) Figuring it might be useful the farther into DC I went, I saved it and continued onward. (Side note- are these things random drops or are they scarce? They're pretty awesome for the former if that's what they are)

Before I could make it to the river seperating the inner city from the outer rim, there was one more group of raiders I had to pass through. At first, I considered going in guns blazing, but after watching them for a while, I saw some sort of bazooka on one of them, a high powered rifle on another one, some sort of security bot, and a turret, not to mention the numerous other dudes just lying around, so I figured taking the left side around past the outpost was the better course of action. I just about used the Stealth Boy then to guarantee safe passage but I had a hunch that it wasn't going to be the worst situation I'd have to pass through, so I played it slow and went unaided.

I made it past the camp successfully and arrived at the shores of the Potomac, as far south as I could be. (I figured the further in I was, the more heavily guarded it would be, so I wanted to stay as much on the edges as possible) The shores were patrolled by Mirelurks, so I found the most isolated one near a dock and took it out, popped a rad resist, and jumped straight on in. I ended up at the Jefferson Memorial where I ran into the first super mutants I had seen yet. There was only 2 that I could see and they had their backs turned, so I pulled out the hunting rifle I had nabbed off the raiders from the camp I had ransacked earlier and took 'em out no problem, to my surprise. The path to the bridge was clear, so I took it and found the bridge unpatrolled.

The waypoint for Rivet City was really close at this point and it seemed the final stretch was totally empty so long as I kept close to the shore. I rounded a block only to find my initial impression totally wrong when a camp filled with super mutants, including a brute armed with a minigun overseeing the whole place, appeared before me. I immediately knew that this was the place I had saved the Stealth Boy for. Popping it, I found myself free to move invisibly about the camp, so I planted Frag Grenades retrieved from the raiders' camp in every single one of the Mutant's pockets and killed them all as I made my way towards the contraption on which the Brute stood. I was 10 feet away from him when, all of a sudden, the stealth boy faded and I was left totally exposed in front of him. He spun immediately and began to fire. I pulled out the Flamer and unloaded at point blank range. It ran out of ammo just 1 second after the Brute fell and I was left standing at 14 hp.

I freed a nearby prisoner that the mutants had evidently been keeping for meat, gathered stimpaks from around the camp, healed up, and made it round the corner only to find the sign advertising Rivet City just a stretch of road away from me. The journey was over. I climbed up the metal structure, crossed the bridge into the city, rested, and found my bobblehead in the lab on board the ship. Mission accomplished.

Honestly, Bethesda couldn't have scripted a more engaging, suspenseful, and dramatic trip for me. This non-quest, motivated only by my OCD, was the single best gameplay experience I've had this whole year.
 
I need some help with THOSE! quest. I found
the dead father and proceeded to talk to his child, and then I told him I would clear out the ant family, except I can't find it. Is there a special building I have to enter?
 
Where is the Bobblehead in Lucas Simm's house? I've looked everywhere it seems but I dont see it, closest I found was a Toy car on his table..
 
Zzoram said:
Small Guns increases your accuracy and damage of all 1handed and 2handed guns that aren't in the Big or Energy category. Big Guns are just things like missle launchers and miniguns and flame throwers. Energy should be obvious, the laser/plasma weapons. It helps in both real-time and VATS combat.

So, that would include all the rifles as well? Assault, Sniper, Hunting, etc.?

I'm debating at this point which I want to prioritize--energy, big, or small. I'd probably pick energy if I knew there was an energy sniper rifle, but since I'm not sure, all 3 skills are pretty low right now. Anyone got any advice on that?
 
Zeliard said:
Anyone know where to get some decent armor? That's been my only real issue so far. Since I started I've probably only worn like 3 different pieces of armor, not including the specialized +5 barter, +5 medicine, etc ones that I only wear for a few minutes at a time.
If you are going to take my advice about Rivet City
breaking into the armory you will find a couple combat armors and a couple combat helmets.

After I repaired them, the combat armor had a DR of 25 and the Combat Helmet had a DR of 5. So pretty much the best armor I have found.

My repair was around 50 at the time tho, so YMMV. :)
 
burgerdog said:
I need some help with THOSE! quest. I found
the dead father and proceeded to talk to his child, and then I told him I would clear out the ant family, except I can't find it. Is there a special building I have to enter?

You find a key in the Wilks' home to a shack, which is right next door to it. Go into the shack and you'll find clues that lead you to the ants. Tell me if you want the specifics.
 
Is there anything in the capitol building besides the behemoth and a shitload of weapons to pick up? I'm going through there trying to get to the ranger compound and I've just been killing mutants and mercs non-stop but there doesn't seem to be anything else going on there.
 
Koomaster said:
If you are going to take my advice about Rivet City
breaking into the armory you will find a couple combat armors and a couple combat helmets.

After I repaired them, the combat armor had a DR of 25 and the Combat Helmet had a DR of 5. So pretty much the best armor I have found.

My repair was around 50 at the time tho, so YMMV. :)

Good to know. I'm delaying my arrival to Rivet City as much as possible. :lol

Though I really do want to get there before even finishing with Megaton so that I can pick up the
Rock-It Launcher
sooner rather than later.

Btw, there's no
robot guard
in the Rivet City armory, is there? Because there was one in the Megaton armory (which I entered after defusing the bomb in a previous save that got screwed up), and a Stealth Boy wasn't too effective on him for very long. He ended up spotting me anyway.
 
Zeliard said:
You find a key in the Wilks' home to a shack, which is right next door to it. Go into the shack and you'll find clues that lead you to the ants. Tell me if you want the specifics.

That's good enough, thanks.
 
Zeliard said:
Though I really do want to get there before even finishing with Megaton so that I can pick up the
Rock-It Launcher
sooner rather than later.

I just built one of those while playing today, though what am I supposed to use as ammo?
 
Hootie said:
I just built one of those while playing today, though what am I supposed to use as ammo?

Virtually everything. :lol

Literally, I think, if I understand it correctly. All of those junk parts you pick up, etc.

I've been storing away stuff like lawnmower blades and pool balls specifically for it.
 
Hootie said:
I just built one of those while playing today, though what am I supposed to use as ammo?

Ammo for that comes from your Misc. stockpile. I built one and while it's cool that you can use it to launch cigarettes and toasters at people, it's kind of annoying because some of those things could be sold for caps.

With that said, after FIRING it, you can pick up what you shot out as it bounces off the enemy and lands somewhere on the ground. Tracking it all down isn't always easy but it seems like it's at least possible.

Does that weapon
(Rock-IT Launcher)
count as a big weapon, or what, by the way?
 
I was greeted by a Super Mutant with a missle launcher when I rounded the corner of a destroyed house last night. had to stop for a good few seconds to think of what the fuck I was going to do. I survived, but my collection of stimpacks didn't.
 
Hootie said:
I just built one of those while playing today, though what am I supposed to use as ammo?
Everything.







seriously, pick up as much junk as possible, equip gun, "reload" it and stock it with whatever you want. Will take some experimenting to get the best ammo and the arcing right.
 
TuxBobble said:
Does that weapon
(Rock-IT Launcher)
count as a big weapon, or what, by the way?

I'd say it's very likely big guns. That's the one thing I'm worried about since my big guns skill is low.
 
Just bought this instead of Fable 2 to tide me over until Gears 2 comes out. Hope I made the right choice. Game was sold out in many places I looked today and in the end I had to get the collectors edition. Damn nice CE though!
 
disappeared said:
I was greeted by a Super Mutant with a missle launcher when I rounded the corner of a destroyed house last night. had to stop for a good few seconds to think of what the fuck I was going to do. I survived, but my collection of stimpacks didn't.

Yeah when I was in the Museum of Technology frigging dogmeat was getting f'ed up by the super mutants and used up nearly all of my stimpaks. Once I get Jericho, Dogmeat is DEAD.
 
Ok guys...what type of armor do I use to repair the T-51b armor with? I can repair regular power armor with it. But I can't repair it with regular power armor. WTF? Is that a glitch?
 
Top Bottom