Fallout 3

[snoopy369]

I assume it affects the chance-to-hit in VATS, and the damage done, just like anything else...

Spoiler:

I found them on folks inside Fort Independence... I don't recommend you piss them off until you have to, though, they're a great cache of ammunition until you do.

[Quillan]

You may not like VATS, but you really should use it, ESPECIALLY when it's up close and personal. Many times you can finish off an opponent with 1-3 shots/bursts if you use VATS where just fighting will take a lot more. They said this isn't a shooter, and they're right. I tend to manually shoot at a distance, but for up close I'm all VATS.

There are perks that help: at level 6 you can take Gunslinger, which increases your accuracy with 1-handed ranged weapons like pistols and SMGs. At level 8 you can take Commando which does the same thing for 2-handed guns. At level 12 there is Sniper, which increases your chance to hit the target's head with any weapon. Stack those and it's really nice. I usually get 95% head shot accuracy.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I kinda screwed up with Moira's quest. After Chapter 1, I used my Speech and convinced her that going through would be a bad idea... oh well, there is always the second playthrough .

Oh, and I also hate the ammo limitations.

[EPW]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I kinda screwed up with Moira's quest. After Chapter 1, I used my Speech and convinced her that going through would be a bad idea... oh well, there is always the second playthrough .

I've read that doing that gives you one of the best traits in the game.

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by Quillan
You may not like VATS, but you really should use it, ESPECIALLY when it's up close and personal. Many times you can finish off an opponent with 1-3 shots/bursts if you use VATS where just fighting will take a lot more. They said this isn't a shooter, and they're right. I tend to manually shoot at a distance, but for up close I'm all VATS.

I do it the other way round, I always use VATS mid-range, aiming for the head, as soon as I get decent chance to hit, and try to keep my distance, but if it gets up close then it means I can't keep my distance and by that time I'm usually out of AP as well, so it's just shoot it til it dies.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by N35t0r
I'm about to get an A/C for my room soonish anyways

Hang on, let me get my things together first.

[Quillan]

I keep finding more cool stuff, and I think I figured out the deal with those radio towers:

Spoiler:

Every time I've found a tower that has the switch you can use to activate it, there's a "drainage chamber" nearby with stuff in it. Wander around looking for it, and use the local map if you can't find it. I've found several skill books and even one bobblehead doing this.

Anyone done the Reilly's Rangers side quest? When talking to Reilly, she said the team medic (Butcher) has this theory that there's something in Vernon Square the super mutants want; he's trying to explain why there are so many there. I've done some investigating, and there's a crater just out front of the Statesman Hotel that has an unexploded ICBM in it. Very high radiation, too. There's a sewer entrance there (also irradiated) but it doesn't contain anything significant.

Then there's the sewer someplace where I found a named ghoul in a party hat, who was apparently as much a Nuka-Cola addict as Severina over in Girdershade.

Then there was the armory down in the missile silo. It's another highly irradiated area.

I absolutely love the look of the game. I was sneaking around through the ruins of DC staring at the rubble-filled streets thinking "this is what the aftermath of a nuclear attack would look like".

And if you really want to see a serious in-game explosion, blow up a ruined bus. Shoot the front end a couple of times until it catches fire, then run like hell. It's on the same scale as a mini-nuke.

[N35t0r]

And I have a house

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia


Hang on, let me get my things together first.

[Alinestra Covelia]

The VATS system appears to have some targeting problems if you're really close. Sometimes if your gun barrel actually extends into the body object of the enemy, VATS marks it as a 0% chance of hitting, so you're unable to even try to shoot it. (Compare against shooting in real time mode, which in that situation would probably be a guaranteed hit.)

Also I've noticed that if somebody's head is near a doorway, you have line of sight to the head in realtime but not in VATS. I've targeted and shot in VATS several times only to see the bullets hit the doorway instead.


I don't think VATS is all that good for missile launchers either. It seems that realtime shooting eliminates a lot of the inaccuracy that VATS hardwires into your shots.


I have never successfully used the Fat Man and Mini-Nukes either. Each time I've tried, I end up dead. There may be some object lesson here, possibly tied to the backstory of Fallout which may have some tangential relevance to nuclear weapons, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.

[N35t0r]

The point of rocket launches is not having to aim

When dealing with cover and VATS, I generally try to avoid it, or at most shoot single shots at a time, since if the target gets completely covered, then subsequent shots hit the cover and you waste both them and the AP.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I saw some Red Chinese soldiers for the first time. They appear to have Soviet style uniforms. They were part of a virtual simulation and they had only a single line to say.

They were pretty friendly towards me though.

[N35t0r]

Yeah, I was wondering, with all those chinese weapons and I've got an officer's sword as well, they must have invaded...

still, no spoiling that please!

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Also I've noticed that if somebody's head is near a doorway, you have line of sight to the head in realtime but not in VATS. I've targeted and shot in VATS several times only to see the bullets hit the doorway instead.

VATS is not good at calculating chance of hitting when there's anything in the way. A few days ago I was standing behind a car, VATS told me there was a 95% chance of hitting the enemy. After three shots I haven't hit the enemy once... all shots went into the car... CABOOOOM!!!

[Quillan]

Originally posted by Adagio


VATS is not good at calculating chance of hitting when there's anything in the way. A few days ago I was standing behind a car, VATS told me there was a 95% chance of hitting the enemy. After three shots I haven't hit the enemy once... all shots went into the car... CABOOOOM!!!

Heh. I had that happen once. I'm very careful not to fight around wrecked vehicles. Not only do I have to not hit them myself, they are often hit by enemy fire.