Fallout 3 questions

[CyberAkuma]

The first time I played Fallout 3, I instantly didn't like it.
The game was slow-paced, unforgiving, very difficult and buggy.
The buggy part really bothered me because it broke every sense of immersion.

Now, a long time later the Game of the Year edition is out and I picked it up.
It includes all the DLC and all the patches and updates and I am giving the game a new chance and I have to admit that I like the game very much.

I have a couple of questions that are unanswered by any FAQ or in-game.
I'm at level 5 this far.

* Where there hell do I sleep?
The only bed I know of that I can sleep in is when I pay 120 bottle caps in the saloon in Megaton.
120 caps is A LOT of money and I can barely even afford that.
I know there is an empty house in Megaton but I get in there.
Neither can I sleep in the "Common House" in Megaton. There is no bed there that I own.

* How do I heal myself?
Stimpacks are really expensive. I only use them when I'm crippled.
I tried drinking water from rivers but in caves water is scarce and stimpacks are rare to find.
Food doesn't heal squat and its radioactive on top of that.
How the heck do I keep myself from not dying?

* Always lacking ammo
Where do I find ammo? I am always running out of ammo. I am currently stacking 5 different weapons because I cannot find enough ammo for ONE good weapon. Shops sell very little ammo and its expensive. Supermutants require A LOT of ammo to kill. precious ammo that I cannot afford to waste. Frag-grenades are my only option when I meet 2 or more enemies at the same time.


Thanks in advance

 

[Rednog]

Sleep: Inside the saloon a guy will approach you to either blow up Megaton or you can try and defuse the bomb. Either decision gives you a home which you can sleep in. You can also sleep on random mattresses found in the world (in buildings) after the enemies have been cleared out.

Healing: Water is usually the best source of healing, just sit there and spam drink for a couple of seconds, food is decent but not great. Radiation sickness takes a while to get and eventually you will be swimming in tons of Rad Away. Heck I don't think radiation sickness maybe became an issues once or twice throughout my entire play through. Sleeping also heals.
Also you eventually gather tons and tons of caps so that you can pretty much buy the out the entire world of their stimpacks. Caves are pretty much the only place you're sole healing will be from stimpacks, though I remember some caves having pools of water somewhere in them. But pretty much anywhere else you either find stagnant water or a water fountain/sink.

Ammo is usually a pain in the beginning of the game, but eventually when you're slaughtering raiders/mutants/etc left and right you'll have a decent supply of ammo. If you're really really starved for ammo there are perks that help you find more. But imo as you get stronger you will eventually use less and less ammo on enemies and get more ammo off their bodies than you spent. Also in the beginning I would take a shot or two at an enemy to lower their health and then swing like mad with a melee weapon to conserve ammo. The effectiveness of something like this really depends on your character, though, I rolled a sniper/sneaker and the melee wasn't that great, but vats helps get in a few quick hits with a knife.

 

[Meggiepants]

One thing to add on the ammo front. If you use primarily the V.A.T.S system in the beginning, I found my ammo shortage was no longer a problem.

I also made sure I had a melee weapon to use against the weaker enemies to conserve ammo.

 

[UnravThreads]

Now, a long time later the Game of the Year edition is out and I picked it up.
It includes all the DLC and all the patches and updates and I am giving the game a new chance and I have to admit that I like the game very much.

Sounds like me and Mass Effect.

* Where there hell do I sleep?
The only bed I know of that I can sleep in is when I pay 120 bottle caps in the saloon in Megaton.
120 caps is A LOT of money and I can barely even afford that.
I know there is an empty house in Megaton but I get in there.
Neither can I sleep in the "Common House" in Megaton. There is no bed there that I own.

Right, I'll try not to spoil too much. If you're playing a good/neutral character, talk to Lucas Simms (make sure you have some Mentats on you). Talk to him about the bomb.

* How do I heal myself?
Stimpacks are really expensive. I only use them when I'm crippled.
I tried drinking water from rivers but in caves water is scarce and stimpacks are rare to find.
Food doesn't heal squat and its radioactive on top of that.
How the heck do I keep myself from not dying?

Purified water and Stimpaks, basically. For a short while (until you're sent to Rivet City), just do quests. Don't explore, just quest. Moira Brown's quest line (She's in the Craterside Supply) is a brilliant one for getting you started - The optional objectives aren't hard, you get good rewards, it comes with at least one perk, and most importantly, you get caps.

* Always lacking ammo
Where do I find ammo? I am always running out of ammo. I am currently stacking 5 different weapons because I cannot find enough ammo for ONE good weapon. Shops sell very little ammo and its expensive. Supermutants require A LOT of ammo to kill. precious ammo that I cannot afford to waste. Frag-grenades are my only option when I meet 2 or more enemies at the same time.

Are you using the right weapons for your spec? You want to be putting points into Small Guns for the most part; they're common and it covers non-energy weapons from pistols to assault rifles, even shotguns. The Hunting Rifle or 10mm pistol will generally be your main weapons for a few levels; they're common as muck and they've got an abundance of ammo.

It might be worth turning the difficulty to its lowest for a brief period, just so you can get your footing. My advice is to always go to Megaton straight away, do Moriaty's quest to find out about your father (killing Silver causes you to lose karma, but if you're good/neutral it's easily regainable, and she's got a good amount of caps on her), and do Moira's quests. Once you've done Moriaty's quest, go and do the GNR quest you're put on, and basically it falls into place from there.

What you'll find is that at first you're constantly running out of Stimpaks and Ammo, but once you get towards maybe level 7-8 everything just begins to click. I have a character who's about level 29 and I'm drowning in ammo and stimpaks.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Dude, the charm about the game is finding out things for yourself.

In my opinion, you're not doing yourself justice. You're supposed to go out and discover, not ask for help on how to play it. Part of the fun is learning it yourself.

 

[MisterShine]

* Always lacking ammo
Where do I find ammo? I am always running out of ammo. I am currently stacking 5 different weapons because I cannot find enough ammo for ONE good weapon. Shops sell very little ammo and its expensive. Supermutants require A LOT of ammo to kill. precious ammo that I cannot afford to waste. Frag-grenades are my only option when I meet 2 or more enemies at the same time.


Thanks in advance

A lot of good info earlier in this thread, so I'll take this one. What you'll have to do with your weapon type of choice is have 3 or so weapons of that type that you will switch between depending on the type of enemy you're fighting, and as ammo begins to run low. The best place I found to buy ammo was Tenpenny Tower, the main guard guy (he is usually chilling at the desk when you first walk in. If he isn't there, go outside, wait 8 hours, and come back in) has a lot of bullets, and he restocks pretty quickly. Him along with Moira supplied pretty much all the ammo I need.

Some general tips about money: Even if you're a good guy, STEAL. Find little, expensive stuff (anything worth more than 15-20 caps when you're around level 5) and take it to sell sell sell. Also, don't worry about spending 90% of your money on stimpacks and ammo, and you'll be a badass.

hope this helps.

 

[Henrik Persson]

Once you get a home a lot of problems are solved. Get the medical thingie quickly, it will allow you to completely purge your system of radiation, which means that you can safely drink from water fountains and sinks when adventuring, as long as you purge yourself whenever you're in your home. Nuka-Cola is also a good source of health, but I suggest saving any you find until you can get the Nuka-Cola machine.

Ammo can be bought in stores, if you find the selection lacking you haven't found the right stores yet. Find Rivet City, there's a weapons merchant there that's very well stocked. As for affording it, make sure you loot everything you find. When you can't carry anymore, use any duplicate weapons to repair (assuming they're damaged enough). If that's not an option, drop whatever has the lowest price/weight ratio.

There shouldn't be a problem making a profit in the wastelands.

 

[CloggedDonkey]

you can do the "the power of the Atom" quest to get a bed to sleep in. besides that, there are always abandon houses you can try.

water is a good source os health, and don't use stimpacks early on, they will add up and before you know it you have a few hundred.

and ammo was a ***** to find early on, but I would suggest looting every body and picking up every gun. you could also try getting into the armory in megaton if you have a way to get good karma(or if you are going bad) and if your lock picking skill is good enough.

 

[Malyc]

First time i played, i tried being a good character. I was always running low on stimpacks, drugs, ammo, and anything else that comes in handy. The mothership Zeta quest actually fd me up so bad that i restarted the game.
Now im about as evil as you can get, and im swimming in all the stuff that i was lacking when i was a nice guy. Moral of story is: Nice guys finish last.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

For ammo you will have to rely on your gamers OCD, pick up every bit of shit anywhere that is worth more than 5 caps and sell it for ammo, look in every container, get lock picking up so you can pick any door, simply exploreing the wastelands and killing random raiders will give you plenty of ammo and guns.

 

[Malyc]

you could also try getting into the armory in megaton if you have a way to get good karma(or if you are going bad) and if your lock picking skill is good enough.

I blew up the armory without looting it... proly cause when i did loot it i couldnt make it out of town b4 i was ruthlessly murdered by the citizens.

 

[Riobux]

My advise about healing and sleeping is get a house. Either help the guy in the bar or help Lucas Simms about the bomb. Once you have one, you'll be able to heal health and sleep, although you'll be unable to help any limbs you break. My advise for that problem is, when you've saved up over 1,000 caps (it sounds like a lot, but as you progress you find a lot of ways to make some good and easy caps, usually by killing and selling everything they owned; just make sure who you sell it to has the caps to pay for it or it'll be a waste of time) to buy a medic station for your home (forgot the exact name). This will allow you to get rid of all radiation and to fix any broken limbs.

If you need to heal while out in the field, just drink any water you come across. As long you're not drinking toilet water, you'll be fine when it comes to radiation, at least until you get back to your home.

Ammo, well, that's really something that's hard to fix personally. Even at level 14 I'm unable to keep much more than two clips for my assault rifle and two clips for my shotgun. It's well advised to keep a melee weapon on you just in case.

At first, your melee weapon will suck unless you threw some points into melee. However, one of the add-ons gives you a great chance to pick up an excellent melee weapon without doing too much work and without being a high level.

Spoiler

Just complete the Anchorage add-on by helping the outcasts unlock a door via completing a simulation. I'd advise doing it when you're about a level 5 at least with enough points in combat related things. Don't worry about equipment for the first half since it's pretty much supplied. Afterwards, you will be attacked by the rebels so you can either get very well prepared or you can quickly pick up some things from the store-room and fight back with that.

In the store-room will be the sword the boss of the add-on uses. For a melee weapon, it's pretty powerful especially considering it's weight and offers a little electric zap to hit a bit harder. Also, try to pick up all the intel, it'll then let you have a perk which increases everything by 1. May not sound like much, until you consider it may include your original Strength, Luck, Endurance, etc stats. Although don't quote me on that. The armory will also allow you to grab a serious amount of items which can then be sold for a lot. Although I'd recommend storing all the items into a near-by container just outside it so you can go back and forwards since you wouldn't be able to carry it all.


Also, the only two people who help you fight off the Outcasts may steal some of the stuff, unless you trigger the betrayal and grab all the stuff first. However, as long you grab the sword, the rifle and the two sets of armour, you wouldn't lose anything you can't find later.

.


If you need any more help with tips, feel free to ask though. Hopefully using the house tip and the water tip, you'll be swimming in Stimpaks like I am.

 

[CyberAkuma]

UNfortunetly the Sheriff of Megaton got shot when I squeeled about the bomb so I cannto buy the house in Megaton at all.
Everyone says that Mortary (saloon owner) runs teh town but I still cannot buy the emtpy house on Megaton.

So where teh hell can I sleep?

 

[Drakmeire]

after you reach level 10 the game gets much easier and stimpacks just fall from the sky, get in the habit of saving often and do as many quests as possible, beds are easy to come by during quests or by visiting several different towns, if you save and explore a lot you should do fine just talk up people around town for quests and if you become stuck just go online and find a walkthrough.

 

[lacktheknack]

It's like this on purpose, trying to suck you into the feeling that this is a VERY tough world to live in.

It gets much easier later on, though. If you have 25 or more in explosive skill, disarm the megaton bomb and talk to Sheriff Simms to get a house. Instant bed.

Tough out the first few levels to suddenly get the game much easier. Instant survival.

Loot bodies, loot bodies, loot bodies. Instant ammo.

 

[lacktheknack]

First time i played, i tried being a good character. I was always running low on stimpacks, drugs, ammo, and anything else that comes in handy. The mothership Zeta quest actually fd me up so bad that i restarted the game.
Now im about as evil as you can get, and im swimming in all the stuff that i was lacking when i was a nice guy. Moral of story is: Nice guys finish last.

O RLY?

For me, it's exactly opposite. Weird luck, I guess.

 

[jubosu]

Sleep:Kill someone sleep in their house or just outside,or cheat.
Healing: Kill someone take their things,or cheat.
Ammo: Kill a whole hell of a lot of someones and take theirs,or as I said before cheat.

For me Cheating seemed to add more fun to the game having already run through it once.

 

[Mekado]

UNfortunetly the Sheriff of Megaton got shot when I squeeled about the bomb so I cannto buy the house in Megaton at all.
Everyone says that Mortary (saloon owner) runs teh town but I still cannot buy the emtpy house on Megaton.

So where teh hell can I sleep?

If the sheriff is dead, talk to his son, he'll give you the house (harden simms)

The advice to use VATS, at least at the start of the game is a very good one, killing a mob with 2 bullets instead of 5 saves a lot of ammo.

The other points have been pretty well covered i think, at level 30 (about 75% explored) i'm up to 7000+ 5.56 rounds 1500+ microfusion cells 1000+ .44 ammo and 350+ stimpacks...it's ridiculous how high it can get (little trick, the outcasts at fort independance pays really well for tech (laser/plasma/power armor) in 5.56 or stimpacks, use them!)

Edit: and as someone said, when you're exploring/wandering around, check every single desk/file cabinet/etc, being a scrounger is what makes the game easier

 

[Georgie_Leech]

In the early part of the game, I talked to the sheriff in Megaton, difuesed the bomb, and immediately got myself a place to sleep. Also a robot that has quickly become one of my favourite characters.

For Healing, I used water most of the time, and kept enough rad-away/rad-x that the radiation wasn't too much of an issue. Of course, I wandered around a lot of the time half-dead, because I spent most of my points on lockpicking and science, at first, then medicine, repair, and speech. Incidentally, you could also chat with Lucy West for a quest that, if you manage to find a peaceful solution for all involved, gives you a perk that makes on of the more useless items in the game much more effective.

I stuck with melee for the first while, relying on unarmed at first, then on an odd sword-thing, then I was lucky enough to find a ripper (possibly the most unfair sneak-attack ever). Eventually, Raiders will start falling over in combat, you'll find some mercenaries that drop a lot of ammo, and Super mutants always carry a bunch.

EDIT: the sword was a chinese officers sword I found on a raider.

 

[steevee]

What everyone else has said +1

Also, if you come across a Scavenger, kill them and take all their stuff. If you don't mind a weeny bit of bad Karma.
It's an easy way to get money, as there's usually no one else around, so it's a victim less crime. Well except........ you get the picture