Fallout 3 Help

[indiana_104]

Hi guys and gals,

I'm gonna pick up Fallout 3 tomorrow, and I'd really appreciate some advice as to what sort of character to create,etc etc.I'd also like some advice on what important decisions to make like the whole blowing up Megaton thing. My playing style or preference doesn't really matter and any suggestion will be taken as long as its, you know, good.

I do hope this topic hasn't been done before.

 

[Mr. Grey]

Well... what kind of character do you usually feel comfortable playing?

 

[cordeos]

i suggest these skills to work on initially: Small guns or energy weapons, science, lock picking, repair. as for important decisions, you should probably just plan on playing the game twice once as good, once as evil.

 

[Valkyira]

Repair is one of the most important skills in FO3. Always tag it regardless of what type of character you're going for.

 

[Catchy Slogan]

Make sure you have high Speech. That always comes in handy.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Personally, I've always found that Science, Medicine, and Repair are the best skills to have in any of the Fallout games. Science gives you access to pre-war technology, medicine ensures you get the maximum benefit from stimpacks, and repair means you'll never be fighting with a damaged weapon. Take care of these three skills first, and develop Small Guns as and when you can spare the skill points.

 

[Zetsubou-Sama]

Bad Karma based characters- Higher risks bigger reward, but you'll be losing a lot of quests, and have to venture deeper into the wastes to get some people to give you new ones.

Good Karma- Easier with nice rewards you also get some of my favourite missions in the game like Big Trouble in Big Town.

Choose the Child at Heart Perk, it'll come in handy. Get a lot of points into small guns, speech, and medicine at the start.

 

[Pandalisk]

Working Locks is essential, and the use of the Hunting rifle and assault rifle and then once you get the Plasma and Laser Rifles later, will be all you use, so dump points accordingly, i just dumped points into Energy weapons, and it worked out fine for me.

When it comes to Megaton, my consiousness couldn't let me destroy it, i had set up shop in Megaton and i liked it.
Though i hear the blast is Brillant

OH!, when purchasing Fallout 3 get the Game of the Year edition as it has all the DLC (If it is the GOTY edition then it will list the DLC it has on the back, if not find the Game version that does have all the DLC) which are brilliant and it is more Cost effective for you to buy it with them all already on the Disc.

 

[MiloP]

Small Guns, Lockpick, Sneak, Repair, and you should be alright. And I blew up Megaton, but I'm always an evil bastard in games whenever I have the choice.

Basically, blowing up Megaton comes down to this: do you want to own a crappy shack with a robot butler, or a penthouse suite with a robot butler? Its an easy choice.

 

[Layz92]

Lockpick, repair and smallarms are probably your best bet for a first playthrough. The wasteland survival guide is a good set of quests to start with (minefield part is best imo), be warned minefield has a sniper in a taller building so keep an eye out for him (you can snipe him before he has a go at you). The Megaton nuke is essentially to get a flat in a tower and be evil or a house in Megaton itself and be nice (play your cards right and you can get a chinese assault rifle and silenced 9mm from the nuke mission from people who die).

I find explosives useful too for dissarming traps and mines etc (including the Megaton nuke). Not the most important however. Science is also a secondary useful one, generally not all that important though. Explosives is good for a bonus point dump.

The school outside the vault is a great place to grab some gear and experience. And dont forget to loot your own room and the rest of the vault when you leave at the start, some starting out cash is always a good idea (there is some liquor in butch's room and steel all the clothes etc etc)

 

[MercurySteam]

The diversity of choices let's you be whoever you want to be, so don't lets us tell you how to play. Here's some good tips:

Spoiler

Save you game whenever necessary and be mindful of the autosave

You teacher will let you cheat on the G.O.A.T. (the test that will determine your starting stats).

Before you leave the Vault you'll be asked if you want to change anything before you leave.

Hope this helps!

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I have over 300 hours on Fallout 3 and lots of good advice:

1. Get Broken Steel, and have it running during your game. It will enhance your experience a lot (raised level cap, new ending etc)

2. Most important skills for a well rounded character on first playthrough:

Small Guns
Lockpick
Repair

Take 'Comprehension' perk as soon as you can. It's invaluable as it lets you double skill points from books. Save any books until after you have this perk.

A lot of people are saying Science, but it is very rare to find a situation where Lockpick won't do the job instead. Unless you like hacking useless turrets, avoid Science until you have spare points, maybe as a fifth or sixth priority.

3. Pick up and repair every enemy weapon you find and sell it. Same goes for armour and bits and pieces. You will need to do a little grinding and selling cheap stuff in your first few hours.

4. When you have around 700 caps, go to Canterbury Commons (google for location) and speak with Uncle Roe. Invest in the trader named Lucky Harith. You will now always have a fresh supply of almost any weapon you need, including the all important Chinese Assault Rifles.

You can find Harith at Megaton, Arefu, Paradise Falls, Agatha's House, Rivet City or Canterbury Commons roundabout... just wait in two hour gaps until he spawns. Crow is also worth investing in.

5. Put at least 8 points into Intelligence, even 9. This will give you more skill points to spend each level. I usually sacrifice Charisma as it's pretty useless.
Agility is also very important if you're going for small guns.

6. Get out there and explore.... most of the fun to be had in F3 is discovering things for yourself.

7. Save all the time. Have at least 7 or 8 different save files in case of bugs, wrong choices or crashes.

 

[JWW]

Major skils ---> Small guns, Lockingpicking, Science.
Other skills ---> Medicine, Repair, Sneak is fun

 

[xdgt]

Small guns are the most important thing on early stages, other than that, I recommend going to VATS and headshooting a merchant or two...sure you might get bad rep at start but with the equipment and cash you get it's a giant boost. Either that or play goody goody and kill some raiders in the school outside the vault (should give you equipment to begin with)

 

[One Seven One]

For a fun little twist you can set the HUD opacity to zero.

Here and now is a useless perk.

There is almost always a good and bad way to finish a quest.

Spoiler: for example (probably a spoiler)

after helping Bryan Wilks you have a choice to find him a new home, I found out from a friend of mine that you can go to paradise falls and... well You'll find out if you don't know (talk to Eulogy Jones about it)

also, if you find any gun that has an odd name you need to keep it, then go to the wiki and find out what it can do.

and as a little tip, if you want an item you can't get, look directly at it, go in to third person, turn the camera (by holding down the third person button, and you should eventually get the option to pick it up.

Also, since you haven't picked up the game yet, get the Game of the year edition, it'll come with all the DLCs.

 

[Corpse XxX]

Lock picking and science.. Or else there will be many doors you cannot go into...

Also there is a skill you can pick up as you proceed through game that lets you get double XP for any books you read and such.. I strongly suggest you get that one also..

Don't blow up Megaton, so much to do there so i suggest keeping it..

There is also a "strong back" perk, that lets you carry more stuff.. Very usefull..

If you are gonna create weapons from blueprint, i would avoid getting the "rock it launcher".. Even though it is funny, it is very useless seing as you has to carry around lots of heavy crap as ammo..

Small arms and laser weapons skills, is good to have.. Later on in the game you will get loads of laser weapons that deal BIG damage.

EASTER EGG: If you put your finger on the middle of the map, move up a little, then go a wee bit to the right.. There is a UFO crash site there that has an amazingly good weapon

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Small guns are the most important thing on early stages, other than that, I recommend going to VATS and headshooting a merchant or two...sure you might get bad rep at start but with the equipment and cash you get it's a giant boost.

I would advise against this course of action.

Killing traders works to your disadvantage in the long run, as they are an infinite supply of essential items. The only ones you may never need again are random encounter traders.

 

[Sronpop]

You all forgot the most important tip, when you are doing your SPECIAL skills, never ever, under any circumstance put any of them at 10, put them an 9 tops. There are bobbleheads throughout the game that will raise it by 1 etc, and if its already at 10, you wont get the benefit from it.

 

[xdgt]

Small guns are the most important thing on early stages, other than that, I recommend going to VATS and headshooting a merchant or two...sure you might get bad rep at start but with the equipment and cash you get it's a giant boost.

I would advise against this course of action.

Killing traders works to your disadvantage in the long run, as they are an infinite supply of essential items. The only ones you may never need again are random encounter traders.

Hello, who do you think I was talking about? The city traders?

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Small guns are the most important thing on early stages, other than that, I recommend going to VATS and headshooting a merchant or two...sure you might get bad rep at start but with the equipment and cash you get it's a giant boost.

I would advise against this course of action.

Killing traders works to your disadvantage in the long run, as they are an infinite supply of essential items. The only ones you may never need again are random encounter traders.

Hello, who do you think I was talking about? The city traders?

You didn't specify, so a new player would take your advice and kill any merchant they see.