Taking the plunge

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There now you're making absolutes ... have you tried the stealth/pickpocket/lockpick route? Have you tried a high charisma character? Powergaming is fun and all but making Garl believe you're his long lost daddy was an awesome twist.

The Boneyard became so easy with stealth and steal -- I literally took most of the weapons from the enemies in the Boneyard (and the Hub for that matter) and then sold or traded them for better stuff. Stealing was the most consistent method to get ammunition. There was a huge difference between low steal and high steal percentages.

I made money buying and selling in the Hub -- I sold items to the merchants and bought them at a lower price only to do it all over again. Upon leaving the hub I had the best equipment available ... and then did the same thing with the gun runners.

With good outdoorsman skill you will find the alien blaster. Pick finesse and one-handed and the appropriate critical feats -- that makes for a pretty potent combination. I had three hand guns ... alien blaster, plasma pistol, and .223 pistol.

More a rifle person? You'll also find the Red Rider LE BB gun with good outdoorsman skill ... a sniper's dream weapon (until you get the turbo plasma rifle) ... name your vault dweller Ralphie for fun. Finesse is good with this guy as well.

Big guns is actually a pretty awesome skill (it gets even better in Fallout 2 with the Bozar). Flame throwers ... rocket launchers ... miniguns ... makes for a great time if you can carry enough ammo.

There is no best way. Some vault dweller builds are easier than others but it's all fun (I didn't see much need for traps either, though).

 

Definitely going to do this for my next play-through then.

Got the Water Chip. Went back to Adytum and decided to help the Blades contact the Runners. The Alien Blaster made it possible for my 5th level character to kill the deathclaws, but the mother deathclaw spanks me every time I go down the stairs. Ian died a sad death but no reloads for me. Guess i'll have to explore some more and see what else needs doing.

My only regret is not getting this game sooner.

 

Iirc, the garl's dad option is based on the luck score, not cha - but i might be wrong.
And yeah, i've played most types of characters throughout all the playthroughs of fallout i've done over the years.

Now i'm not saying you can't pick sneak/steal and pickpocket as your tag skills and play as some ninja thief character, but for a first playthrough like OP is doing, a generalized build is going to allow you to experience more/the most the game has to offer.
A char with a mediocre steal score is still going to get the use out of it because of the way it functions, while keeping a lot of points to spend in other skills.
Sure, you can max steal to 200 and fail at stealing less often, but you're basically not going to be able to do many other things really well, and it's not going to add a lot of value to your character story-wise.
And even with a maxed out steal score you're going to fail at it at least a few times durigng a playthhrough, so a high score stil doesn't eliminate the risk of getting caught/the need for saving before stealing.

and yeah, outdoorsman is good for avoiding random encounters - still, i'd get it to 91% with the skill books before actually putting any points in it. i personally never felt the need to put in more, but that's just my opinion - i'm not stopping you from raising it to whatever you want. however, getting the skill as high as you can for 'free' is just the smart thing to do.

Alien blaster however, has noting to do with your outdoorsman skill - it's not a random encounter, but a special encounter, finding it or not is based upon your luck score.
Same thing for the Red Ryder LE BB gun, again - bob's car mart is also a special encounter - my latest char with only 1% in outdoorsman (because of the gifted trait) but with 9 luck found it right out of the gate leaving vault 13, on his way to shady sands.

And yes, big guns are viable - but available much later then small gun/energy weapons. like i said before, i'm not saying none of this is viable - if you want to you can go this route. but if you compare skills you're bound to find one is better then the other, depending on what you are looking for - even if it's just from a powergaming perspective.

 

I ran into Bob's Car Mart, but I didn't get anything or see any significant event there. I'm assuming I missed something?

 

For Garl's speech option you apparently need at least INT 6 and you need to pass a speech or CHA check.

According to the same guide, the alien blaster encounter is indeed based on Luck, or if you have the Explorer perk.

I think Bob sells the gun? Not entirely sure.

 

nah, you need to lockpick his shack - the normal red ryder bb gun (1-3 dmg) is in the trunk to the left top end of the shack along with bb pellet ammo, the LE version (25-25 dmg!) is in a crate next to the bookshelf in the topright of the shack (not locked)

Like i said, i found the special encounter right out of the gate, but with the lockpicks you start with and having lockpick as a tagged skill, i managed to pick the lock to his shack nad the trunk just fine. even though my char was a brawler, i've been using the LE BB gun to breeze through vault 15 and the scorpion den.

going to rush to the boneyard to get the +1 luck there, so i have the most chance at finding all the special encounters and get the most caps i can from the nuka cola truck one (barring the fortune finder perk, wich doubles the amount again.)

 

Katja + Ripper and Vault Guy + alien blaster/Power Fist = Domination. Except for the mutants. I encountered them a couple times traveling west of my vault and they destroy me everytime. Enjoyed the inclusion of Chris Avellone as well.

Does the Power Fist stack with unarmed damage perks? I'm currently level 8 and don't want to waste a precious perk.

I went to the Cathedral, talked to everyone, but could not find Nightkin or the Master even though I was prompted to meet them.

Likewise I've been to the boneyard but can not find the +1 conversation.

I love the "tell-me-about" feature. There is so much extra dialogue if you ask the right questions.

I'm starting to get this game enough that i'm planning my fallout 2 character. Are repair and science worthwhile skills in either game? I have yet to use them.

 

Yes, the powerfist counts as an unarmed weapon - perks affecting unarmed will work with it.

There's a secret staircase in the cathedral, either get laura to open it for you or pickpocket the key from the monks that are standing around.
use it to get all the way to the top of the cathedral, along the way you'll find the Nightkin and specifially Morpheus - kill him or pickpocket him to get the black COC badge, which will open the passage to the basement of the cathedral back on the ground floor (in the room behind the monitor that says "unity"). That's where you'll find the master.

For the +1 luck, you need to find Chuck in adytum (the area where you enter the boneyard) he's the black guy with orange shirt in the tent on the right side of the area. Do NOT make fun of him, or you can't get the +1 to luck. instead, ask him to read his tarot cards for you - if you're lucky the fool card will come up which will gain you the +1 luck. if it doesn't the 1st time just keep asking him for readings until it does.

And yeah, the tell me about function is cool, you can even use it to solve some 'quests'/go down conversation paths you normally cant because you lack the stat score/failed a speech check.
for example, the farmer in shady sands - you can tell him about crop rotation if your int is high enough, but the option won't come up if it isn't. you cn still use tell me about and say "crop rotation" though, and the game will act as if you told him about it and award you the 500 exp for it.

As for fallout 2 :
both repair and science are seful, but both can be raised with books again, to a high enough level that you really don't need to spend any more points on them yourself.
Lockpick and speech are again the 2 most important skills, both worth tagging imho.
Tag either small guns, melee weapons or unarmed, energy weapons and big guns arn't available/affordable quick enough to amake it worth it tagging them.
if you liked unarmed+power fist in fallout 1, you will be able to get the upgraded version, the Mega Power Fist. Get a regular power fist first, then go to New reno west side, and find the basement to the arms dealer to find algernon who can upgrade it.

 

What traits do you have?

Better Criticals (you should already have More Criticals) to use with targeted shots will help -- this is especially true if you took Finesse as a trait.

Bonus Rate of Fire is good if you took Fast Shot as an initial trait (more shots per round with the alien blaster is a good thing and it stacks with Fast Shot).

Awareness is good to have if you didn't select it already.

Bonus Hand to Hand only gives +2 damage ... not very much. Bonus Hand to Hand Attacks gives you more attacks.

At eighth level you are not even close to being able to survive the Cathedral. Mutants will be wiping the floor with you. You need to get more experience; there are a lot of things to do in the Hub for experience. There you will get information about the Brotherhood, the Glow, Necropolis, etc..

Katja does fine with a pistol ... she's rather weak for melee combat. Give her the .223 pistol and she does fine (so does Ian ... it's the best pistol in the game ... you get it by helping Irwin in the Hub).

In the Boneyard you need to talk to Chuck for the +1 Luck.

Fallout 2 uses skills a lot more. Doctor, Science, and Repair are all good but you have NPCs that can help in those areas. A fun thing to do is name your female character Buffy. Someone was a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fan on the programming team -- you get a stash of stuff left by "Angel" early in the game. Fallout 2 also has the best big gun weapon in both games -- the Bozar; a .223 caliber machine gun. It. Kills. Everything.

 

Fallout 2 also makes it much more possible to get the best perks: Sniper and Slayer. Sniper gives a very good chance of critting things with ranged weapons, Slayer gives a crit on every HtH attack. But you need to be lvl 18 and 21, respectively, I believe.

It's awesome.

Also, the best small gun in Fallout 2 is definitely the gauss gun. It is critical hit heaven.

Science and repair are useful in Fallout 2, as they should have been in Fallout. Though never necessary to progress, I believe.

With high enough skills (I believe speech and/or science, though I'd need to look it up to be sure), you can definitely get the master at very low levels as well. It's entirely possible to get to him without even needing to fire a single shot.

 

you can totally kill the master at lvl 8 - just wear a set of purple robes, go into the cathedral basement, use traps on the bookcase to open the secret door, speech check bluff the nightkin guarding the entrance to the vault and make your way to basement lvl 4, then use the key from mariposa or science on the console to arm the nuke. you only need medium levels of traps/speech here (anywhere from 50 to 100) and a high score in science. unlikely that OP raised science enough though - so he'd need the key from the mariposa base instead.
Still, it's also posible to do the entire mariposa base without fighting even once, again using the COC robes so it's still possible for a level 8 char that way, though you'd also need a decent sneak skill to get to the locker containing the key. (50-100% should be enough, especially if you have a stealth boy)

 

Kill the master at low levels on the first run through? Seriously? How would he know exactly where to go and what to do? First runs are about killing everything that moves ... not slinking away from all enemies to get to a boss early.

 

I took both unarmed damage perks and now I regret not taking the one that makes those attacks use less AP.

I don't have the more criticals perk. I don't remember it being an option to take. Are there certain prerequisites?


That sounds like a lot of things I need to do to get to the master and kill him. If the military base is the place where the mutants take you when you talk to that one close to where the water chip is, I haven't found it and I doubt I could get to it. I do have a stealth boy, but practically no stealth skill as all of my skill points have went into my tag skills and lockpick.

Ah, man. I should have used the unarmed build in 2 then

Right now i'm going to travel back to the Hub, find some quests to complete, and come back when i'm a higher level. I kind of did a near circle around the whole map (with the exception of the far west where mutants keep killing me) just exploring and finding what's out there. Hopefully I have enough time to complete the game still. I haven't even talked to the Overseer yet to start the next quest after I gave him the chip.

My rep is now 14 and I realized I got the Champion title. Any benefits to this or a high/low reputation in general? All i've seen so far is one person giving me a generic "your reputation precedes you"

 

Once you have the waterchip, there is no more time limit (though if you are quick enough, it may affect some of the endings).

I'm pretty sure Karma does next to nothing in Fallout. A bit more in Fallout 2, but still not a lot, as far as I'm aware.

And I'm also pretty sure there are requirements for certain perks, at least a perk like Awareness needs a PE of 5 or higher and I think you there are certain perks that require other perks to be able to get them, but I can't find the info at the moment.

 

I'm not saying you should do it to get the most enjoyment out of the game -just that it *is* possible to survive the cathedral, even at that level.

 

Unless your last game was THIEF: The dark project

 

i really loved the original thief games, i even warmed to Deadly Shadows even though a lot of the fans thought that that game deviated too much from the gameplay of 1 and 2 (still, it had a great storyline)

I just can't get into the new rebooted THIEF game though - it feels like they removed everything that made thief unique, and made it into another generic rogue stealth game.

Still, you've got to admire fallout 1 for actually giving you the option to go the sneaky pacifist route - i don't think there's any enemies you actually 'have' to kill to progress, as long as you have the correct skills to go down the alternative routes.