Fallout 3

[Quillan]

Originally posted by Grandpa Troll


So I could simply go out and collect stuff and kill things?

Also, is their any redeemable value in forks, plates,cofee cups and books or those are just crap?

Pretty much everything can be sold. Any merchant will buy any item, up to the limit of the money they have. However, some items have a much better value:weight ratio than others.

Further, some items are useful for making things. You can only find out what those are by getting the schematics, but you can make a railway rifle and sell it for more than you could get for the individual components that make it up. Once you figure out what you're going to be using, you might store those for later. I tend to horde the components for Bottlecap Mines, as an example.

Even further, there are a few minor quests scattered where a particular individual wants you to gather certain things, and will pay far more than the going rate for them. At least two people want scrap metal. One pays 10 caps for each, another will trade medical goods for 5 scrap metal. One person pays 100 caps for each pre-war book you bring. Another pays for locations uncovered.

[Standup]

3 crashes within 10 minutes so having a bit of a break.

Took a look at NMA and it's hard to imagine that its a real site sometimes such is the hostility to the new game. There's people being flamed for suggesting that merging first aid and doctor was a reasonable decision and my favourite is the defence of the Fallout 2 inventory against F3.

A couple of questions though.

How well does melee or unarmed combat work? In the original I quite often went for the ninja monk option as there were several skills/perks that encouraged this. Does this work as well in F3?

How much do your stats come into play? So far a high strength/perception etc doesn't seem to have as obvious impact as before.

How do you make weapons and/or use work benches? Found a few but is that what the schematics are for? Can I make ammo?

And is the levelling constant? Been to a few areas and got chased away (avoid Super Mutants for know). Will they always be challenging or are they a fixed level?

Also I've generally been following the main quest and just got to Dukov's (?) palace but been tough going with a lot of running away at level 4. Or am I just very bad at this game so far?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by Standup
Took a look at NMA and it's hard to imagine that its a real site sometimes such is the hostility to the new game.

I hear ya.

How well does melee or unarmed combat work? In the original I quite often went for the ninja monk option as there were several skills/perks that encouraged this. Does this work as well in F3?

It works about as well in the first as it does here. Which is to say it's definitely (IMO) a less-than-efficient form of combat, but it certainly works. The game makes you sneak if you're crouching, and as long as you keep your light off and stay out of your target's view, you can get quite close. The first hit you score from sneaking will always be a critical.

But there are some areas which are prohibitively difficult even with ranged weapons, simply because there are so many enemies ganging up on you at one time. Trying to ninja your way through those can be a very stiff challenge.

How much do your stats come into play? So far a high strength/perception etc doesn't seem to have as obvious impact as before.

Strength factors directly into your carrying amount and it also affects hand to hand damage, allegedly. Perception is a tricky one. In the original Fallout it affected your field of vision. In FO3 I believe it has no effect (since it's a first person game anyway) but it does affect how close or far from an enemy you must be for your PIP Boy compass to show them as a red enemy dot. That display has saved my life more than once to let me know there is an enemy around that boulder, so Perception is clearly not completely worthless. It also factors into ranged combat with conventional firearms. (Agility does not. Agility only factors into ranged combat with energy weapons.)

How do you make weapons and/or use work benches? Found a few but is that what the schematics are for? Can I make ammo?

You have the right idea. You pick up schematics and then "use" the work bench, which will show you a list of things you can make and the miscellaneous items you have to pick up to make them. I have not found any ammo schematics but that may be possible. So far most of the items I can make are actually weapons.

You can buy a workbench for your house in Megaton, but that's not a really good use of your money. Moira in the supply shop lets you use her workbench for free.

And is the levelling constant? Been to a few areas and got chased away (avoid Super Mutants for know). Will they always be challenging or are they a fixed level?

The enemies are generally a fixed difficulty level. I found that once I got past about level 7 or 8, most wandering encounters were pretty easy. I'm at level 19 right now and there's only one set battle that consistently kills me, and that's purely because there's a load of enemies ganging up on me rather than any one enemy being too powerful.

Also I've generally been following the main quest and just got to Dukov's (?) palace but been tough going with a lot of running away at level 4. Or am I just very bad at this game so far?

The main quest increases in difficulty a little faster than the player's stats increase, in my experience. I spent a lot of time exploring the wasteland and found that the XP I gained from that really made the main quest very easy when I got back to it. (Part of this was that I got to Rivet City at night and couldn't figure out how to get across the water... d'oh!)

So if you're getting your butt kicked, try out some of the side quests. They're rewarding both in terms of pure XP and also in terms of material gains like unique weapons and sidekicks. Normally I wouldn't recommend "levelling up" exercises by wandering around just to gain XP (as I think that's a sign of crap game design) but I'm willing to make an exception for FO3 because it does the whole "explore and do random side quests" theme so well.

I have never found out what I should do with Dukov. I mean, he gives you free beer, which automatically puts him in my good books, but I can't figure out what his plot purpose is apart from that.

He's also not nearly as good with a gun as his two ladyfriends suggest he is.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Quillan
Adagio, it could be because there's a quest to kill Tenpenny. I don't want to say more about it outside spoilers, but perhaps it's by design so you don't have to kill all the guards if you take it. He's always at the top of the tower and there's only one way down. Well, two ways down, but only one with a chance of surviving the trip.

That was the quest I was taking. Wouldn't the point of having guards being that they should protect the target and take out the attacker? Just seems kinda weird to just walk out the door with everybody being "happy to see me" after I killed the one who's hired them... who's paying the bills now?

[snoopy369]

I'd dearly love to be able to make ammo. That's the most annoying limitation, to be honest... it's too hard to find ammo to buy (even after finding Flak + Shrapnel's). I don't like having to restock every twenty minutes of gametime...

Spoiler:

also, my main ammo cache (Fort Independence) I found one day with the main guys slaughtered I suppose this is realistic but it was annoying as **** ...

[Quillan]

There's a side quest where someone wants you to kill Dukov.

[N35t0r]

This game is amazing.

With everything on it's lowest setting, I can play fullscreen with no problems (except the game CTDs after 3 to 4 hours of play, which I suppose is due to hardware overheating, but it's no big deal. I'm about to get an A/C for my room soonish anyways)

Man, I love this game.

I got killed 3 times already, and I'm only level 4.

I loved Vault 106!

Spoiler:

The hallucinations were really puzzling until I found out why they were happening.

I did find a locked door with a note on the floor from a guy locked inside with a 'password' for him to open it, but I couldn't find a way to say it or knock the door or anything. Is this supposed to be like this?

[Felch]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I'd dearly love to be able to make ammo. That's the most annoying limitation, to be honest... it's too hard to find ammo to buy (even after finding Flak + Shrapnel's). I don't like having to restock every twenty minutes of gametime...

Are you playing on hard mode? Are you using VATS?

Quillan's screen shots showed that he had more ammo than an 80s action hero. I'm not quite that well stocked, but I never run out. Remember that ammo is weightless, so no reason not to grab it whenever you see it. Also, be careful to keep an eye out. First time I ran through the beginning I wound up missing close to 200 rounds of 10mm. That hurt a lot.

Have you poured points into the relevant skills? Keeping your guns well repaired increases damage per bullet. Ditto for improving your small guns skill. Improving small guns has the added benefit of boosting accuracy. There are also several perks that increase damage and scavenged ammo you could look into.

I focused on repair and small guns, and managed to max them by level 8. That helped tremendously on making every bullet count. Also try to have a gun that uses every type of ammo. You should at a minimum have guns to fire 10mm, a shotgun, a .32, and a 5.56. That gives plenty of flexibility. And it shouldn't weigh more than 30 lbs.

[snoopy369]

I'm only level 12, and just finished Moira's quests, so maybe I'm just not in far enough. I do grab as much as possible and look around quite a bit ... I use VATS sometimes, not all the time. I don't like it, honestly (it gives a feeling of stopping that I'd rather not have, I guess I don't like TBRPG unless it's 100% TB). But I do use it most of the time probably... any time it's not an easy fight up close.

My small weapon skill is 75 and my repair skill is 100, so I'd guess I do okay there Most of my weapons are 100% repaired (or as far as I can get them).

I use Chinese Assault Rifle, Combat Shotgun, and Hunting Rifle primarily; Sniper occasionally (and would do so far more if I could); 10mm submachine gun when CAR is not usable. I don't much like having to have eighteen guns, though; I understand it's needed, but I'd rather be able to focus on a couple...

[N35t0r]

I've got a quite large collection of guns, most regular stuff mentioned here except non-auto rifles, which I've only got a hunting rifle, and a shotgun, as I haven't found any lying around yet.

I still mostly use the 10mm pistol and VATS extensively - I'm getting tired of blowing heads off neat though, it'd be nice to be able to speed up death anims. - and a chinese officer's sword against dogs and smaller (including radscorpions and moles), though I just swing like crazy sans-VATS, to try and save on amo since I was down to less than 100 rounds from over 200-250 after an encounter with some raiders and Mirelurks right after.

[Main_Brain]

Who needs Ammo with a PowerFist? =)

[Main_Brain]

Whoopsydaisy

[N35t0r]

My favourite FOT weapon was the Ripper.

[snoopy369]

Hmm, the Ripper looks like a lot of fun indeed ... but my melee skill is crap so I assume I'll suck with it?

[N35t0r]

I haven't found one yet.

I don't know how melee skill affects melee combat though.