The Official Fallout 3 Thread.

[DirkGently]

Yup I agree. I found 80 stimpaks close towards the beginning of the game thanks to doc hoff and the other doc at the clinic. I first killed the clinic doctor in Megaton for his stimpaks via stealth and a baseball bat, then the guy with the eyepatch in megaton for his .44 and then easily took out doc hoff with my new scoped .44, plus the 20 you start with at the beginning thanks to some searching around in the vault. I did not have to worry about dying for a long, long time.

Eh, I don't even need to do the Outcast tech quest to get a big pile of stimpacks. Playing on very hard they practically rain from the sky. Hardly an issue at all. Never mind the bullets and guns. My best character actually has around 300 stimpacks on him.

I just play through it on normal, and fine a decent supply when not doing that quest. Although, with Clover and Jericho on my evil file I could boot it up to hard seeing as the three of us rape and pillage anything and everything. How many more stimpacks on average do you find on harder difficulties?

Same as ever. Difficulty affects combat and how much EXP you get. I've been playing on Very Hard for a good few or four characters without being aware of it. It's bit sharp at first, but then it picks up and you just go on through after you hit a few levels. The biggest thing is being used to just shooting things. The only thing you'll be killing in a single round is a feral ghoul or a few townspeople via sneak attack, but shortly you'll be good at quickly putting a mag from your 10mm in somebody and it's no big deal.

 

[Atvomat_Nikonov]

Same as ever. Difficulty affects combat and how much EXP you get. I've been playing on Very Hard for a good few or four characters without being aware of it. It's bit sharp at first, but then it picks up and you just go on through after you hit a few levels. The biggest thing is being used to just shooting things. The only thing you'll be killing in a single round is a feral ghoul or a few townspeople via sneak attack, but shortly you'll be good at quickly putting a mag from your 10mm in somebody and it's no big deal.

When my xbox is fixed, I think I'll switch it to hard. I'm level 7 with a chinese assault rifle and a hunting rifle as my two main weapons. Jericho has his default weapons with combat armor and Clover has a hunting rifle along with her sawn off, officers sword and some combat armor.
Super Mutants will be my big issue, how much harder are they?

 

[DirkGently]

Same as ever. Difficulty affects combat and how much EXP you get. I've been playing on Very Hard for a good few or four characters without being aware of it. It's bit sharp at first, but then it picks up and you just go on through after you hit a few levels. The biggest thing is being used to just shooting things. The only thing you'll be killing in a single round is a feral ghoul or a few townspeople via sneak attack, but shortly you'll be good at quickly putting a mag from your 10mm in somebody and it's no big deal.

When my xbox is fixed, I think I'll switch it to hard. I'm level 7 with a chinese assault rifle and a hunting rifle as my two main weapons. Jericho has his default weapons with combat armor and Clover has a hunting rifle along with her sawn off, officers sword and some combat armor.
Super Mutants will be my big issue, how much harder are they?

Avoid them at first. Wait until you've got a nice collection of .32 ammo or 5.56, and at first, try to pick your fights. Fighting off a regular Super Mutant is one thing, doing or three is something else. You'll probably end up using a mag for your hunting rifle or two depending on your stats. I typically play the Lucky Perceptive Sniper, able to hit from far away and get a critical hit often. A combat shotgun can do some good, but I tend to avoid using it due to it's deterioration rate.

EDIT: missed the beginning of your post. I'm not familiar with them on Hard, but I'm sure you'll do fine with two followers.

 

[Atvomat_Nikonov]

Avoid them at first. Wait until you've got a nice collection of .32 ammo or 5.56, and at first, try to pick your fights. Fighting off a regular Super Mutant is one thing, doing or three is something else. You'll probably end up using a mag for your hunting rifle or two depending on your stats. I typically play the Lucky Perceptive Sniper, able to hit from far away and get a critical hit often. A combat shotgun can do some good, but I tend to avoid using it due to it's deterioration rate.

EDIT: missed the beginning of your post. I'm not familiar with them on Hard, but I'm sure you'll do fine with two followers.

Yeah, Clover and Jericho act as my 'armor' since I refuse to wear it(Bar the merc outfits and leather). They soak up a good amount of damage, whilst I flank and engage those who they aren't fighting. I use mostly my hunting rifle against the 'muties', going mainly for headshots. I have around 70 rounds, which I think should be enough for hard mode against muties.
Are there any huge tactic changes in the harder modes? I sneak around alot, and try to get sneak criticals. I run and gun with sparce use of VATS, in urban areas and use stealth in metro tunnels and buildings.

 

[DirkGently]

Avoid them at first. Wait until you've got a nice collection of .32 ammo or 5.56, and at first, try to pick your fights. Fighting off a regular Super Mutant is one thing, doing or three is something else. You'll probably end up using a mag for your hunting rifle or two depending on your stats. I typically play the Lucky Perceptive Sniper, able to hit from far away and get a critical hit often. A combat shotgun can do some good, but I tend to avoid using it due to it's deterioration rate.

EDIT: missed the beginning of your post. I'm not familiar with them on Hard, but I'm sure you'll do fine with two followers.

Yeah, Clover and Jericho act as my 'armor' since I refuse to wear it(Bar the merc outfits and leather). They soak up a good amount of damage, whilst I flank and engage those who they aren't fighting. I use mostly my hunting rifle against the 'muties', going mainly for headshots. I have around 70 rounds, which I think should be enough for hard mode against muties.
Are there any huge tactic changes in the harder modes? I sneak around alot, and try to get sneak criticals. I run and gun with sparce use of VATS, in urban areas and use stealth in metro tunnels and buildings.

Dunno, really, I'm not a stealth type person. Ask around. Enemies have a lot more health and do more damage, so I don't know if you'll be able to sneak kill things as easily.

 

[Atvomat_Nikonov]

Dunno, really, I'm not a stealth type person. Ask around. Enemies have a lot more health and do more damage, so I don't know if you'll be able to sneak kill things as easily.

Hmmm, my sneak attacks aren't brilliant anyway. I'll have to start boosting sneak more, and cut down on small guns/energy weapons. What I meant though, is it wise to run head first into enemies, or is it better to pick your fights to your ability.

 

[DirkGently]

Dunno, really, I'm not a stealth type person. Ask around. Enemies have a lot more health and do more damage, so I don't know if you'll be able to sneak kill things as easily.

Hmmm, my sneak attacks aren't brilliant anyway. I'll have to start boosting sneak more, and cut down on small guns/energy weapons. What I meant though, is it wise to run head first into enemies, or is it better to pick your fights to your ability.

On very hard, I avoid conflict whenever possible, but that's just the way I play. Honestly, Very Hard isn't that hard, you've just got to be smart about how you play.

 

[Atvomat_Nikonov]

On very hard, I avoid conflict whenever possible, but that's just the way I play. Honestly, Very Hard isn't that hard, you've just got to be smart about how you play.

Well cheers for the advice and the like. I'm going to check out hard/very hard mode next time I can play Fallout 3.

 

[Slayer_2]

Too bad the Fat Man is pretty much a rocket launcher and the MIRV has no practical use. What I did was got a mod that multiplied the nuclear explosions in Fallout 3 by 5. 5 times bigger mushroom cloud, 5 times more damage, 5 times the radius, 5 times the radiation, you get the idea. However, it's a little too powerful sometimes

 

[waffletaco]

Dunno, really, I'm not a stealth type person. Ask around. Enemies have a lot more health and do more damage, so I don't know if you'll be able to sneak kill things as easily.

Hmmm, my sneak attacks aren't brilliant anyway. I'll have to start boosting sneak more, and cut down on small guns/energy weapons. What I meant though, is it wise to run head first into enemies, or is it better to pick your fights to your ability.

On very hard, I avoid conflict whenever possible, but that's just the way I play. Honestly, Very Hard isn't that hard, you've just got to be smart about how you play.

I played very hard on my second character. My first character I only played like 8 hours too. I'll admit having 8 hours of learning the ropes is quite a bit, but "very hard" used to mean something, not just more hp. The game actually gets easier because you get more stuff and xp.

 

[Syntax Error]

Yesterday, I subjected myself to a 4 and a half hour binge. This was after I restarted my character because of some build errors I made. I am now a goody-two-shoes wastelander and mercs are after my arse (even got a note from one of their corpses saying about the 1000 cap bounty on my head).

I went out of the Vault (I started there to reset my S.P.E.C.I.A.L. [1 Charisma] and tagged skills). I am now a melee monster who uses guns for some of the more difficult group encounters. I managed to finish 2/3 of the Wasteland Survival quest, the quest in Bigtown, did not blow up Megaton, find the leaks and I now have the Hematophage perk. Currently traversing the tunnels (again) to get to the GNR building. Managed to find one Bobblehead (the one in Lucas Simms' house). Also two ingredients shy of making a Shishkebab.

I have a few questions though: Is there any way to get the "unique" weapons (like the Power Fist) to full CND? My character is not a min/maxed character and as such, I will only be able to max my 3 of my skills (not counting Bobbleheads). As it is, I think I'll max out Melee, Unarmed and Lockpick/Science. Can you suggest the other skills that have to be high in my list?

 

[Kermi]

Lockpick and Science are the ones that absolutely have to be maxed out. I tend to ignore stealth and barter (caps are too plentiful to quibble about saving a few bucks when buying stimpacks) but I still get them into the thirties thanks to the Chinese Spec. Ops training manuals and Junkytown Vendor books lying around the wasteland.
I tend to put a lot of points into speech early on because speech challenges are a good source of caps and quick solutions, but I haven't gotten speech past the 60's and that seems sufficient.

The only way you're going to get a power fist to full CND is to build up your repair skill and have a constant supply of the damn things, but I don't think it actually needs to be at 100 to max out the condition. I was fully repairing weapons on my first playthrough and I'm sure my repair skill was only in the 70's.

Beyond that, just focus your points on whatever skill helps you best in combat. Medicine isn't a bad one to have to get the most out of your stimpacks, but I personally think strong combat skills more than offsets the need to maximise your healing ability.

 

[Alex_P]

I have a few questions though: Is there any way to get the "unique" weapons (like the Power Fist) to full CND?

There are several things you can do:
- You can find multiple copies of the plans as you explore. These alter the default condition of unique items you produce. I think this default state is also based on your Repair skill level. (For consumables like grenades, you will instead get 2 or 3 of an item every time you create one.)
- You can make multiple copies of an item and then use Repair to turn them into an item in good condition. There are plenty of spare parts around.
- You can take your unique weapons to a trader and pay to have them repaired. Different ones have different repair skills, so some will be able to improve it more than others. Uncle Roe in Canterbury Commons is a pretty good repairman. The traveling armor salesman is also very good.

-- Alex

 

[Syntax Error]

There are several things you can do:
- You can find multiple copies of the plans as you explore. These alter the default condition of unique items you produce. I think this default state is also based on your Repair skill level. (For consumables like grenades, you will instead get 2 or 3 of an item every time you create one.)
- You can make multiple copies of an item and then use Repair to turn them into an item in good condition. There are plenty of spare parts around.
- You can take your unique weapons to a trader and pay to have them repaired. Different ones have different repair skills, so some will be able to improve it more than others. Uncle Roe in Canterbury Commons is a pretty good repairman. The traveling armor salesman is also very good.

-- Alex

Hey thanks! I have spare parts to make three more Shishkebabs, I'll try repairing when I get my repair skill on the 60's or 70's. I have no medicine skill, but a high perception (weird for a melee build, I know)... Gonna try to explode some pants next.

EDIT:
I recently found out that Gametap offered the original for free. Then more recently I found out that Gametap is removing it as a free offer to encourage people to use their paid service. Upon hearing this, I went over to Gametap to make an account. Alas, it's not offered in my country. Maybe it's not meant to be *fights urge to look for other means*.

 

[Video Gone]

There are several things you can do:
- You can find multiple copies of the plans as you explore. These alter the default condition of unique items you produce. I think this default state is also based on your Repair skill level. (For consumables like grenades, you will instead get 2 or 3 of an item every time you create one.)
- You can make multiple copies of an item and then use Repair to turn them into an item in good condition. There are plenty of spare parts around.
- You can take your unique weapons to a trader and pay to have them repaired. Different ones have different repair skills, so some will be able to improve it more than others. Uncle Roe in Canterbury Commons is a pretty good repairman. The traveling armor salesman is also very good.

-- Alex

Hey thanks! I have spare parts to make three more Shishkebabs, I'll try repairing when I get my repair skill on the 60's or 70's. I have no medicine skill, but a high perception (weird for a melee build, I know)... Gonna try to explode some pants next.

EDIT:
I recently found out that Gametap offered the original for free. Then more recently I found out that Gametap is removing it as a free offer to encourage people to use their paid service. Upon hearing this, I went over to Gametap to make an account. Alas, it's not offered in my country. Maybe it's not meant to be *fights urge to look for other means*.

I know what you're thinking,but don't do it.

 

[Kleinrock]

i really enjoy this game even though i havent played the others

 

[ThaBenMan]

Playing with Big Guns maxed out, the Pyromaniac perk and dosed up on Psycho is so much fun. The flamer's base damage was ~140.

I actually ignored all the drugs on my first two playthroughs but now I'm effectively drip-feeding myself Med-X and Psycho.

You only come to realise how boring Small Guns is when you've experimented with the other weapon types.

Yeah, the drugs are great, but getting addicted is a pain. You never got addicted to Protection from Evil or Haste or anything in Baldur's Gate >

 

[Axolotl]

You only come to realise how boring Small Guns is when you've experimented with the other weapon types.

Didn't they add in the gauss gun in the DLC? That should make Small Guns on par with the other 2.

 

[Syntax Error]

Fully Repaired Deathclaw Gauntlet + Ninja + Sneak = 1 hit kill, even against guys in Power Armor. Time to scale up the difficulty. I was too late to realize that the armor you wear has a direct effect on your movement speed. I'm gonna ditch the Ranger Combat Armor for the Modified Vault Suit, to keep my mobility high and Luck Maxed.

 

[AeroZeppelinSevenfold]

I just rented this game today....and played it for 3 hours straight. Its amazing. One of the greatest games of all time.

The only problem I had was that it was hard to tell what to do next, and it was incredibly large, which is kinda of good and bad in my opinion. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I would like things to be a little more simple.

But those are just nitpicks. Great game. I may not buy it, but I will try to beat it. Truly a work of art.