homepage Forums Land & Armor Combat Tactical Simulations - General Re: Fallout 4 (now with extra New Vegas!...and a dash of 76)

I don't remember that, it must be a 76 thing.

One thing you could do is store a shotgun and ammo on Dogmeat until you need it.

Shotguns in Fallout 4 aren't as versatile as they were in previous Fallouts IMO, as their effective range is so short that they're almost like a extended range melee weapon. But they're still useful in certain situations, and they get the most out of certain legendary effects since they apply them up to 8x per trigger pull, depending on how many pellets hit.

The range thing is a great point. I picked up a really nice shottie yesterday but the range is listed as 29 and that's way too short. A few days earlier I was out on patrol and equipped a shotgun. From first person view the combat shotgun and the short combat rifle look very similar, and I forgot I was holding the shotgun. A raider appeared above me on the second floor landing of a fire escape and I opened fire but seemed like I was not hitting him at all. Then I realized I held a shotgun. That's pretty close and the weapon was completely ineffective. It's best to carry when moving around indoors, but outdoors it's pretty useless in FO4,

Hit level 34.

Level 31 -- Rifleman 4. +80% damage and ignores 30% armor with semi-auto long arms.

Level 32 -- Spent one point training Luck to 6.

Level 33 -- Used that Luck increase to get Better Criticals

Level 34 -- Gunslinger 4. Deliverer now hits for close to 90 depending on Adrenaline. If and when I get Sandman it will be even higher. And then sneak attack bonuses on top of it all and it's pretty lethal.

I did the level 4 ballistic weave to my newsboy cap and that's another 90/90. So just between the fatigues and the cap that's 180/180 which seems OP. Add the armor pieces over it and I'm like 250/250 and feeling properly protected Mostly wearing lightweight shadowed combat armor at this point.

I finally got another legendary sniper rifle to drop. I'm still ticked off about losing that Lucky one, and this one is Assassin's. Not bad, it deals +50% damage to humans which is strong. But humans are already pretty vulnerable to headshots so in reality it's not that strong, but humans are also the most common enemy so it works. I think the Instigating prefix is the one I need to be on the lookout for. It deals double damage to enemies with full health. But I'd love another Lucky one too with double crit damage. Come on you ghouls, get dropping!

The slow respawn frequency on Survival must make it difficult to find decent legendaries?

Even on normal difficulty, the repopulation rate is low enough that you begin to run short of enemies to fight after a certain point.

Have you begun to arm your settlers?

Even early on, I'll try to give a minigun and decent armor to the settlers assigned to a guard post at least. Most of the remainder I'll give some kind of automatic weapons as I find they're most effective with those.

Massed automatic fire seems to confuse and suppress enemy AI and using automatic weapons seems to make friendly AI more aggressive..

Eventually everyone gets good armor and ballistic weave clothing.

I'll also issue grenades if the settlement layout is such that I don't really have to worry about settlers killing other settlers or provisioners with them, or wrecking equipment.

As mentioned I'm nearly level 35 in Survival mode, and I want to hit on a few points having put this much time in to it.

I can't see ever playing vanilla Fallout 4 again. It's perfectly fine, and I had a lot of fun playing it. In my Normal run I also reached level 35 so it's a good time for side by side comparison. Survival mode's rules have a sweeping effect on my approach, mindset and long-term engagement, as the combat especially remains challenging even at this level, where in normal I was feeling too powerful at the same stage.

When I began playing Survival I was focused on the well, actual survival elements. Hunger, thirst, radiation. And probably the two biggest challenges in this mode, no fast travel and no saves aside from sleeping. And all of those things are indeed an issue early on. But over time it becomes less and less so. The side effects of those maladies and statuses are minor. You can't let it spiral out of control, these must be dealt with eventually. But rolling for a few hours with radiation poisoning and parasites isn't that big of a deal. Get to a doctor before you start stacking more of these, but not something you need to deal with right now, either.

Water and food were certainly in short supply early on. But over time keeping stocked with purified water and cooked food becomes second nature. I had debated taking the Lead Belly perk early on but kept holding off and now I'm happy I did. It really isn't needed, but also not useless. Some players will find it a QoL improvement. But for me it's a sunk point. Life Giver is the same, though I put a point in to it. Matter of fact it is the only point I've spent that could be considered regrettable. Then again, those extra 20 health points probably did prevent several deaths (and subsequent reloads). Early on those 20 points represented 20% of my total health. But now it's about 6% and dropping every level. I would have been smart by spending that point elsewhere, but in the end it's not a big deal.

I started with just 2 points in Endurance, which is the health and survival tree, and then spent the You're Special book to boost it to 3. And even in this mode that turned out not to be a problem. If FO4 used the Endurance attribute as a resistance modifier to status effects or similar then I'd probably reconsider. I sort of rolled the dice here with the END points, and it turned out fine.

So the traditional 'survival' elements have proven to be important, but not the biggest challenge in Survival mode. That is reserved for combat. The combat is a massive shift from normal. And for me this is a big part of why this mode is so much fun. I really do have to be careful. The way the map is done is that it is divided in to regions, each with a range of possible enemy levels. The northwest is the easiest, the southeast the most difficult. If you venture down there before you are ready for it, it is is very difficult indeed. You can still do it, but one mistake is lethal and back to bed. Last night I left Vault 81 and decided to explore to the SE. Spent 45 minutes methodically moving through the area, picking off enemies at range. Dog and I came to a gunner bunker and I sniped one through the opening. Another came out and I started lighting him up but he was soaking up my OG rounds, and before he dropped another came around behind me and lights out. Lost nearly an hour of splendid play by allowing myself to get boxed in. Lost a level, lost a great weapon and lots of XP and other stuff.

But you know, this is part of why it is so appealing. Every action feels weighted, each decision feels important. I can't just walk around wrecking things like in Normal. I can't just F5 before I do anything and everything. If I had found that Lucky sniper rifle I keep crying about in Normal I would have quick saved before going to check the ghoul's inventory. I would have probably died to the same grenade. But then a quick reload and now that rifle is mine. So that death had real consequences, that actually hurt. And that makes the game more engaging and fun. For me anyway.

I can feel it when on patrol or a mission. Like if I am on a suspended walkway far above the ground, I get a little queasy in the gut if I suddenly come close to falling, simply because that fall would lose a lot of play time and gains. A setback that isn't likely when quick save is a thing.

And finally, fast travel and saving. Fast travel is so convenient, and not having it is indeed a big change. But man does it add to the experience. I'm no longer just teleporting all over, but actually getting down there in the weeds, learning all the dips and folds in the terrain and interesting and dangerous places to discover. Planning routes, and kitting out for it. Avoiding and evading, or just taking it head on. It forces a complete shift in how the player approaches the game play and I've really taken to it.

Saving. Well, this one is tough. The relief though when I lay my head down is real. Glad I got that saved. But I have also lost gobs of time, items, XP and more. It's the consequence of this restriction that puts so much finality on player actions, and in turn gives these the weighted feel they have in Survival mode.

I get the same sense when playing permadeath, but without the time consuming inconveniences of Survival.

The stakes are high when you have to go all the way back to the bathroom mirror if you die!

I draw the line at deaths to bugs though, like when I died after touching a wrecked car due to a physics glitch, or when I was killed when a big group of Super Mutant Masters spawned out of thin air right on top of me.

Yeah, it's 30 days I think. At first I thought that was crazy, but when you factor in you are sleeping 1/3 of the time, that in effect becomes like 10 days and is fine. I want to benefit from having cleared an area or route for a while, and not just find it repopulated next time though. It actually feels just right, for example Corvega is populated again, but I was able to pass by there for a while while it had been cleared. This does affect drops of course, you are right, but in practice this rate feels good.



Armed yes, but not armor. Honestly I'm mostly ignoring the settlement side to the game. I put up a few tactical walls, water, beds and turrets and call it a day. I'm usually all-in with games that allow building -- and FO4 is deep here -- but so far it's failed to take root. Even Hangman's Alley, which seemed at first perfect for me, is now an afterthought. I've really gone all-in with the loner, stealth sniper vibe, and settlements don't dovetail with the roleplay. My favorite place to get down for the night is on the roof of the Red Rocket close to the BoS HQ/ Police Station. Perfect spot for my character.




Good grief that is a lot of ballistic fiber. Well done to you for taking that task on!



Nope

There's a lot to be said for concentrating your resources on developing a limited number of settlements, until resources are plentiful and you can establish supply lines.

As a long term goal I would have liked to assign at least one combat robot to guard each settlement, and replace all the human provisioners with robots, but that's a stretch even when you're at a high level and I was losing interest in the game at that point.

It's interesting to read your comments about that side of the game, the settlement side. I see the appeal, and the options are extensive. Maybe I'll get more in to it later on. Without LL it feels less advantageous to build them up.

I hit level 35 but I don't think I spent that point yet.

So there I was, I had only just left Sanctuary, having returned to clear my rads, dump some of the gear I'd collected and restock my water. After rising before dawn I set off toward Cambridge with the dog. As we moved in to the city at first light I could hear distant gunfire, to which I am attracted like a moth to flame. We moved down a street, the gun fire getting closer, now just around the corner. Rounding it, my view was a narrow opening between two houses, which beyond opened up in to the town square. I could see a couple of gunners taking cover and firing at unseen targets with their backs to me. Taking advantage of their diverted attention I put a couple silenced 10mm rounds in to the nearest one, who dropped.

Just then a gaggle of ghouls appeared, spotted the dog and went after him. I switched targets and dropped two ghouls, about 20 feet in front of me, in that space between the houses. At this instant a deathclaw leaped out from behind the house on the right and just wrecked those ghouls in a single strike. In a blink I was sprinting for safety, back up the street we had just come down, I made a hard left, then dodged to the right, and went behind a ruined house, surrounded by a broken picket fence. I crouched and listened. The dog had followed me, and the deathclaw followed him. I heard the dog whimper as the deathclaw took him out. I dropped a bottlecap mine on the north side of the house, then retreated behind it, and then dropped one on the south side.

I knew it was close by. I could hear it breathing out by the street. Can it smell me? Can it feel my heartbeat? Boom! The bottlecap mine on the north side went off. I went around to the south side, frantically pivoting my view to each corner of the house to see him when he came to find me. In the street he appeared, just a few feet away. I moved around behind the house. Boom! The other mine went off and the deathclaw lay dead in the street, blown back thirty feet by the explosion. I healed the dog and took some deathclaw steaks to fry up later.

How far along in the main quest are you?

Still have to find Nick. I've been off doing other stuff

Actually over the past 20 or 30 hours I've mostly just been patrolling, out looking for trouble and trinkets. According to the stats I am on day 68 in the wastes.

Hit level 38. I had three points unspent and decided to go all-in on Agility. I knew where the Agility bobblehead is from the first run and decided to go get it. It is in the extreme SE part of the map, on a beached ship, and it was a journey fraught with peril. Had an especially intense firefight and defense in the town of Quincy against a horde of gunners. After the dog got taken out I retreated to a half-destroyed house and held off the assault with a combination of luck and landmines.

I finally managed to reach the ship, then spent 30 minutes methodically sniping the residents from the pilothouse, waiting for [Undetected] after each shot. After clearing it I grabbed the bobblehead on the bow and gratefully slept in the bed there. Whew!

I spent two points raising Agility to 9, the bobblehead made it 10, and I spent the last point on Gun-Fu, the first level of which grants +25% damage to a second VATS target.

Stopped off in Diamond City on the way there and a guard said Merry Christmas and I looked around to see Christmas trees everywhere. A neat touch. It's amazing to me now, but the first run I completely failed to notice I was in Fenway Park. How I missed this I'll never know. But the whole vibe is pretty cool.

I switched sniper rifles again. Found a fully-modified .50, with low recoil and a quick eject mag. It came with a night vision scope so I swapped it out for a medium scope. It's no heavier than the Assassin's sniper I had been rolling with, but hits much harder, aside from maybe humans since the other rifle had +50% damage against those enemies.

So at the moment here's how I'm kitted out

Newsboy cap with level 4 ballistic weave
Army Fatigues also with level 4 ballistic weave
Full set of lightweight shadowed combat armor
Eyeglasses for the +1 Perception

Deliverer with powerful receiver and glow sights
Overseer's Guardian, with hardened .45 receiver and dot reflex sight
.50 cal sniper rifle
All explosives, but especially mines

The armor rating is about 260/270. Each piece of lightweight armor grants +2 AP. I am going to modify all of it for ultra lightweight, which makes it all much lighter and each piece will grant +10 AP! VATS will seem endless. Just need to gather the mats to make this modification.

Actually I bet only the chest piece is +10 AP. The arms and legs probably half that per piece.

I had some issues on my first playthrough when I switched from .308 to .50 since ammo for the latter was rare for some time.

.308 was getting to be marginal at that point so I had no choice but to step up.

No such issues on my second playthrough, not only did I find plenty of .50 but I was able to stop using a bolt action sniper rifle fairly early on...

As far as other gear went, at roughly the level you are at now I believe I was using 4 pieces of matching combat armor with the Sprinter effect, granting a 40% faster movement speed, a certain legendary combat knife, and an explosive SMG for when I had to resort to pitched combat.

On my first playthrough I think I'd beaten the main quest at that point, but none of the DLCs were out yet.

The DLCs contain some overpowered gear but you really have to work for them at times.

I have yet to find an explosive firearm, or if I have I failed to notice. Except Spray and Pray that Cricket sells.

Hit level 41.

Level 39 -- Demolitions Expert 3. More and wider boom. Hemming myself in with mines is a core tactic for me for any significant engagement or set piece. At DE3 bottle cap mines go off for nearly 600 damage.

Level 40 -- Lone Wanderer 3. Another flat 25% bonus to all weapon damage. That's a big jump at this stage and OG hits for 200 a shot.

Level 41 -- Sneak 5. Maxxed this perk. Distant enemies lose the player when going in to crouch. Combined with lightweight shadowed armor, 5 levels of the Covert Ops magazines, and Agility 10 my stealth ability is very high. Outside of sunlight enemies can run right in to me without seeing me.

I found enough mats to convert the chest piece to ultralight. And yes, that is +10AP while the other pieces would be +5 AP. At this stage I have 200+ AP, and there are a few perks I'll be taking soon that boost that farther. Once I get ultralight on the rest of my armor that will be another 15. I also want to convert OG to .308 but either need to find a .308 combat rifle or spend more points in Gun Nut. Even at this stage there are so many perks I still want.

I like mine warfare so much I'd even place them in Raider beds and other likely spots so that I can enjoy a little effortless EXP the next time I enter that area.

Yes sir. If you drop a mine and a NPC steps on it a couple days later when you are in a different part of the map does it count for XP? Seems every now and then I see some XP flash up when nothing's going on so I assume it is that.

I finally got around to doing the Skinny Malone and Kellogg missions, so bumped the main quest forward a bit, plus the second one brought the Prydwen so now have Vertibird travel.

Hit level 43

Level 42- Gunslinger 5. Maxxed out for more damage plus disarm and cripple chance

Level 43 -- Gun Fu 2 -- +50% damage to third VATS target. Gun Fu is a great perk for VATS, making it much more effective against mobs, which is when you need it most.

I like the weapon and armor modification systems in Fallout 4. I've dropped four points in to Armorer because I cannot get high Ballistic Weave in another way. But I've only dropped one point in to Gun Nut. Since you can strip modded weapons and attach that mod to a different gun I've held off dropping points here. The downside is you need to actually find the right mod on a weapon in the wild.

Yesterday I wanted to give Overseer's Guardian a boost, so went looking for a combat rifle chambered in .308. Found one finally in Diamond City, sold by Arturo for almost 800 caps (my low Charisma). As a bonus it also had a Long Light Barrel and a Quick Eject mag. I stripped all of these and put them on OG. These three mods were ones I really wanted and otherwise would need to wait until dropping more points in to Gun Nut. The light barrel offset the heavier receiver and the magazine is a nice boost in combat with the fast reload. Damage with zero levels of Adrenaline is 202. At level 46 I can take Rifleman 5 and boost it even more.

So far between my two runs, normal and survival, I've gone about 75 levels combined and still have not gotten a sniff of the DLC. But now I think I want to. Which one between Nuka World and Far Harbor should I do first? How much of a pain is travel in Survival to and from these places?

In Nuka World do I become a raider? Whats the general vibe of this? I don't want to become a raider, but I am happy to perforate them. Do the quests involve a lot of traveling between the DLC region and the main region? There seems to be many unique items and weapons in the DLC, and I'd like to check these out.

The DLC's have totally unrelated storylines so it doesn't matter which one you play first. In Nuka World you do not become a raider. You are an outsider who happens to discover an isolated area with its own rules. No spoilers but I will say that the Nuka World DLC is especially fun if you enjoy crafting.

And I do! Thanks PM, Nuka World it shall be.

What if...




























































there was a place with all the zip of Nuka-Cola?

Wouldn't that be the cheer-cheer-cheeriest place in all the world!

Where the river's made of Quantum, and the mountaintops are fizz.

With fun and games and rides for all the moms and pops and kids.

Well it turns out there's a place with all the zip of Nuka-Cola.

Come on down to Nuka-World and see it for yourself.

Kiddie Kingdom's lots of fun for tots like you and me.

And Safari Adventure's full of animals to see.

Blast off to Galactic Zone for otherworldly thrills.

Down in Dry Rock Gulch there's cola up in them thar hills.

The World of Refreshment's the most wonderful place.

The friendly streets of Nuka-Town put a smile on your face.

Now you know there's a place that's just as great as Nuka-Cola.

Come on down to Nuka-World and see it for yourself.

A vacation that refreshes, a trip you won't forget.

A park with every minimum acceptable safety standard met.

Quench your thirst for adventure at Nuka-World!

Sorry, I had to.

There's also Automatron, which is shorter than Nuka World or Far Harbor yet I found it more challenging on my first playthrough.

In order of release, Automatron came first, then Far Harbor then Nuka World.

That's the order I played them in, but I probably would have started with Nuka World if it had been available at the time.