On another note, is Nuka World worth the full price of admission? The wife is pressuring me to buy it, but I'm unsure, and I'm kind of a cheapskate, especially with these reviews, and the fact that I didn't pick up Far Harbor.
I'm personally a fan of it.... My current run through is just a hair over lvl 40, and Nuka-world actually provides challenging fights. Plus, as I think some have mentioned, there is the opportunity to become a Raider chief
Ensis Ferrae wrote: Plus, as I think some have mentioned, there is the opportunity to become a Raider chief
Is there an option to kill all the leaders at the end of the DLC, so you can experience the content first? Most characters I run wouldn't sign up to lead raiders without an option to turn them around, and I feel like that'd relegate me to being able to experience only a minimal amount of Nuka-World without making a character specifically to not give a crap.
Ensis Ferrae wrote: Plus, as I think some have mentioned, there is the opportunity to become a Raider chief
Is there an option to kill all the leaders at the end of the DLC, so you can experience the content first? Most characters I run wouldn't sign up to lead raiders without an option to turn them around, and I feel like that'd relegate me to being able to experience only a minimal amount of Nuka-World without making a character specifically to not give a crap.
Is there an option to kill all the leaders at the end of the DLC, so you can experience the content first? Most characters I run wouldn't sign up to lead raiders without an option to turn them around, and I feel like that'd relegate me to being able to experience only a minimal amount of Nuka-World without making a character specifically to not give a crap.
Not that I am aware of.
I cleared two sections of Nuka World and assigned them to two different Raider gangs. The side quests kept having me go into the Commonwealth and kill/enslave groups that would mess up my standing with allies. SoI had a change of heart and gunned down all of the gangs and "freed" the slaves and not much has changed. I finished clearing out Nuka World, restored the power, and the only difference is that now the slaves are happy, but they are still wearing their slave collars and the whole area just seems much less occupied.
I am kinda disappointed there isn't an "anti-Raider" story arc as I wasn't willing to trash my character's standing with various settlements in order to become King-of-the-Raiders so if you end up being a softy there doesn't seem to be much content to gain from that moral choice.
In your case if you go to the end and then kill the gang leaders I think you'll end up with the worst of both worlds: no raiders in Nuka World and a pissed off Commonwealth that you raided against.
Also, I can't seem to find a way to turn Nuka World into a settlement and clean it up. Is that not possible? I'd be fine with that, if Nuka World wasn't a settlement as long as the "slaves" in my game stopped dressing and acting like slaves.
Will the Brotherhood of Steel turn hostile if I raid settlements? The head canon I have for my current character (Brotherhood path) is that she goes mad with grief after losing Shaun for the final time and becomes a bit of a nihilist.
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Will the Brotherhood of Steel turn hostile if I raid settlements? The head canon I have for my current character (Brotherhood path) is that she goes mad with grief after losing Shaun for the final time and becomes a bit of a nihilist.
Sorry, can't say. I wiped the BoS out after siding with the Railroad. I wanted to see that airship burn.
From what I've read the Raider settlements are attacked by the BoS, but I think they're just spawned enemies, rather than the whole faction.
Oh, and there's a mod on the Nexus which allows you to skip the whole raid you own settlement phase of the DLC. I haven't played that far into the DLC, but I'm really not into that at all. I guess Bethesda wanted to do something different with the material this time around, and I'm fine with that, its just the section which has you go back to the base game and arbitrarily piss everyone off which I'm not into (aren't The Island and Nuka World hundreds of miles away from the Commonwealth anyway?). :/
Wyrmalla wrote: Oh, and there's a mod on the Nexus which allows you to skip the whole raid you own settlement phase of the DLC. I haven't played that far into the DLC, but I'm really not into that at all. I guess Bethesda wanted to do something different with the material this time around, and I'm fine with that, its just the section which has you go back to the base game and arbitrarily piss everyone off which I'm not into (aren't The Island and Nuka World hundreds of miles away from the Commonwealth anyway?). :/
Having just done these, The quest giver himself checks his "book" and warns you if you are attacking settlements that you have already brought under the MM protection scheme. I honestly have no idea if attacking unowned settlements pisses off Garvey less or not (I can't talk to him until I take the Castle), but I haven't actually diminished my actual settlements in anyway.
Ohh... and once you complete the Raider stuff, you can still do the "Open Season" quest
Ensis Ferrae wrote: Ohh... and once you complete the Raider stuff, you can still do the "Open Season" quest
While Open Season is a lot of fun (especially against the Pack) wouldn't that be overall detrimental to the game experience post quest? If you complete all the raider quests you've likely pissed off multiple Commonwealth settlements, and then you are left with a nearly empty Nuka World after you kill off the raider gangs inside.
I just don't know what the advantage would be. But I don't know how a fully operational Nuka World with raiders works since I did Open Season early on, so maybe it doesn't matter.
Spoiler:
Are the various gangs still pretty interactive once you assign them territory in Nuka World? If so losing that option seems like a big loss if you spent the time aligning with the raiders to complete their story arcs.
Wyrmalla wrote: From what I've read the Raider settlements are attacked by the BoS, but I think they're just spawned enemies, rather than the whole faction.
Oh, and there's a mod on the Nexus which allows you to skip the whole raid you own settlement phase of the DLC. I haven't played that far into the DLC, but I'm really not into that at all. I guess Bethesda wanted to do something different with the material this time around, and I'm fine with that, its just the section which has you go back to the base game and arbitrarily piss everyone off which I'm not into (aren't The Island and Nuka World hundreds of miles away from the Commonwealth anyway?). :/
Far Harbour is. Nuke World on the other hand is relatively close, just on the other side of a range of hills or mountains. Theres a monorail link between nuka world and the transit centre in the Commonwealth, so it can't be too far. And its close enough that the Nuke World raiders regularly talk about raiding the Commonwealth.
It might have been cool to have had repairing the monorail be the first mission of the Nuka World DLC. Sorta like building the transporter to get into the Institute.
I am sure others have pointed out how odd it is to have a functioning monorail zipping around 200 years after the bombs fell, even if it is a great homage to Disneyland.
DarkTraveler777 wrote: I am sure others have pointed out how odd it is to have a functioning monorail zipping around 200 years after the bombs fell, even if it is a great homage to Disneyland.
New Vegas' monorail works fine, and that was probably even closer to the bombs than Nuka World. So long as it's kept powered and the rails and shuttles are intact, it doesn't seem like too much of a leap to me to get it working.
DarkTraveler777 wrote: I am sure others have pointed out how odd it is to have a functioning monorail zipping around 200 years after the bombs fell, even if it is a great homage to Disneyland.
New Vegas' monorail works fine, and that was probably even closer to the bombs than Nuka World. So long as it's kept powered and the rails and shuttles are intact, it doesn't seem like too much of a leap to me to get it working.
No doubt, which is why I think it would have been cool to get the monorail working and then discover Nuka World.
More to my original point I just don't think the rails and shuttles would survive intact, bombs or not. Weather is a beast, especially the extreme weather the Commonwealth experiences.
Spoiler:
Then again, the Nuka staff were huddling in place, so maybe some folks kept the shuttles going?
Don't get me wrong, I know Fallout's whole world is built on fragile logic, and I am not trying to poke holes in that logic (too much anyway). I was just amused at how after wandering through a wasteland of broken crap, Nuka World's monorail is practically pristine. It is just funny to me (and kinda lazy writing-wise).
But there weren't enough spiked skull poles, and cadavers hanging off the trains...
Well, of course they wouldnt decorate it raider style. Its meant as a trap. Its supposed to look inviting. And its pretty obvious the raiders keep it in running order (or at least, they tell their slaves to do it): How would they get new victims for the Gauntlet otherwise? I mean, its pretty straightforward. Hell, they even planted a guy at the terminal to lure people in. They really thought this through. And the monorail is perfect for their purpose, because they can a) control the power, so people cant just turn the thing around, b) its high off of the ground, so getting off mid-journey is going to be difficult, and c) scavengers would see the intact monorail and think of all the other intact technology... or hell, they might even try scavenging stuff from the monorail itself.
One Survivor only, Level 99, 100% of all Achievements completed on XBone and all DLC completed. I can finally put Fallout 4 down....
...wait, some of these Mod quests are getting good reviews? But I was so close!
Anyway, for those wishing to get the most out of Nuka World: You can play up to and complete the The Grand Tour mission without ruining any allegiances to RR, BoS, Institute, or Minutemen. I would suggest making a hard save here and writing it down somewhere so you can go back if you want all achievements or want to change your mind at some point. Be advised that You will eventually have to split up territory unevenly between the gangs if you continue down the Home Sweet Home quest line, leading
Spoiler:
to whichever gang got the short end of the stick revolting and taking over the powerplant, resulting in the power-play quest line. Also noted that as soon as you start taking settlements for the raiders, Preston Garvey will hate you and the Minutemen will defend any settlement you attack. They are tough bastards too for the most part. You get some sweet permanent perks for siding with the raiders, but it wasn't worth it to me. YMMV
Personally, I went full raider after The Grand Tour and got all the achievements on that side. It was fun and a nice way to blow off some steam (and some settler heads ). Then I went back to my hard save and did Open Season, which was also fun, if short. Railgun FTW.
Also, if anyone is as foolish as myself to want the 'Eyes on the Prize' achievement, look into building your own Basketball game and re-mapping your crouch button
But there weren't enough spiked skull poles, and cadavers hanging off the trains...
Well, of course they wouldnt decorate it raider style. Its meant as a trap. Its supposed to look inviting. And its pretty obvious the raiders keep it in running order (or at least, they tell their slaves to do it): How would they get new victims for the Gauntlet otherwise? I mean, its pretty straightforward. Hell, they even planted a guy at the terminal to lure people in. They really thought this through. And the monorail is perfect for their purpose, because they can a) control the power, so people cant just turn the thing around, b) its high off of the ground, so getting off mid-journey is going to be difficult, and c) scavengers would see the intact monorail and think of all the other intact technology... or hell, they might even try scavenging stuff from the monorail itself.
Which all works via Fallout Logic, just not real world logic. Those trains wouldn't be running, slaves or otherwise. Parts of that track wouldn't still be standing, and any heavy industrial equipment likely isn't working to repair fallen sections of track. That monorail would be dead, dead, dead in the really-real world.
Anyway, as I originally said I am not trying to poke holes in the game. The monorail is an homage to Disneyland and is a cool one at that. I just think it could have been explained/implemented better without being such a "WTF" head scratcher. Then again, I launched a sailing ship crewed by robots through the air and wedged into a high rise building, so"rule of cool" is definitely at play in Fallout.
But there weren't enough spiked skull poles, and cadavers hanging off the trains...
Well, of course they wouldnt decorate it raider style. Its meant as a trap. Its supposed to look inviting. And its pretty obvious the raiders keep it in running order (or at least, they tell their slaves to do it): How would they get new victims for the Gauntlet otherwise? I mean, its pretty straightforward. Hell, they even planted a guy at the terminal to lure people in. They really thought this through. And the monorail is perfect for their purpose, because they can a) control the power, so people cant just turn the thing around, b) its high off of the ground, so getting off mid-journey is going to be difficult, and c) scavengers would see the intact monorail and think of all the other intact technology... or hell, they might even try scavenging stuff from the monorail itself.
Which all works via Fallout Logic, just not real world logic. Those trains wouldn't be running, slaves or otherwise. Parts of that track wouldn't still be standing, and any heavy industrial equipment likely isn't working to repair fallen sections of track. That monorail would be dead, dead, dead in the really-real world.
Anyway, as I originally said I am not trying to poke holes in the game. The monorail is an homage to Disneyland and is a cool one at that. I just think it could have been explained/implemented better without being such a "WTF" head scratcher. Then again, I launched a sailing ship crewed by robots through the air and wedged into a high rise building, so"rule of cool" is definitely at play in Fallout.
Eh... The monorail would be the least of your problems. After two hundred years, no maintenance, radioactive storm, combat... pretty much nothing prewar would still be standing. Youd get some chest-high walls at best. Plus, most of the monorail seems to be in a tunnel, so it should be relatively safe from the elements and easy to repair. The parts that arent... yeah.
Just out of curiousity... does anyone have a wiki link or something that gives a good fluff/history of how divergent America's path was from WW2 (where, IIRC, someone on these forums informed me is where the split in timelines happens between RL and FO life)
Ensis Ferrae wrote: Just out of curiousity... does anyone have a wiki link or something that gives a good fluff/history of how divergent America's path was from WW2 (where, IIRC, someone on these forums informed me is where the split in timelines happens between RL and FO life)
Ensis Ferrae wrote: Just out of curiousity... does anyone have a wiki link or something that gives a good fluff/history of how divergent America's path was from WW2 (where, IIRC, someone on these forums informed me is where the split in timelines happens between RL and FO life)
I recently disabled all my mods, and did a clean install of Fallout 4. After a couple weeks, I'm now seeing weird texture glitches. Has anyone ever experienced this, and know how to fix it?
Just named an explosive junk rifle Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Phew, glads that's over. Just finished a mammoth all day long session to wrap uomthe main quest of far harbour, from blowing up the nucleus to dima's trial to the mariners quest line. Got all the achievements.
All that's left to do is the vault. (this is my second playthrough ofnfar harbour anyway, which is why i left it to last).
So I think I have stumbled across a bug in my current playthrough and I am hoping it is a fluke but I have this bad feeling it is going to require me to scrap my level 60 character and start over.
I had gotten to lvl 60 and then I took a break and bought all of the dlc, this was my first time back after installing them all.
I explored an area I had never been before and every raider I came across was dead. I discovered a new area, everyone outside was already dead, I went inside and everyone was dead.
At first I thought maybe I had sniped everyone outside and wandered off being easily distracted by loot or things to kill but if I went in the building I should have an icon on my map.
Maybe this is just the fish plant but I am a bit concerned as I have not explored the whole map, finished the main story or even started the DLC.
Deathklaat wrote: So I think I have stumbled across a bug in my current playthrough and I am hoping it is a fluke but I have this bad feeling it is going to require me to scrap my level 60 character and start over.
I had gotten to lvl 60 and then I took a break and bought all of the dlc, this was my first time back after installing them all.
I explored an area I had never been before and every raider I came across was dead. I discovered a new area, everyone outside was already dead, I went inside and everyone was dead.
At first I thought maybe I had sniped everyone outside and wandered off being easily distracted by loot or things to kill but if I went in the building I should have an icon on my map.
Maybe this is just the fish plant but I am a bit concerned as I have not explored the whole map, finished the main story or even started the DLC.
Deathklaat wrote: So I think I have stumbled across a bug in my current playthrough and I am hoping it is a fluke but I have this bad feeling it is going to require me to scrap my level 60 character and start over.
I had gotten to lvl 60 and then I took a break and bought all of the dlc, this was my first time back after installing them all.
I explored an area I had never been before and every raider I came across was dead. I discovered a new area, everyone outside was already dead, I went inside and everyone was dead.
At first I thought maybe I had sniped everyone outside and wandered off being easily distracted by loot or things to kill but if I went in the building I should have an icon on my map.
Maybe this is just the fish plant but I am a bit concerned as I have not explored the whole map, finished the main story or even started the DLC.
I finally delved into The Automatron DLC and its robot creating thingy.
After focusing some points into the appropriate perks, I have made Codsworth an absolute killing machine. Dual rapid fire lasers seems to tear through almost everything on Survival Difficulty.
I'm hesitant to give him close combat weapons, as I don't want him to be amongst the enemies if he dies when we/he bites off more than can be chewed, which is pretty easy to do on Survival.
Its been cleared out by Synths. You'll find them in the building after you go down the elevator. It has nothing to do with DLC or game breaking bugs. Its been there since original release.
I remember my first time going down there and thinking it was a Deathclaw that did all the killing, and was disappointed it was synths.
Since hearing about the latest DLC being raider based, I thought it was a good time to start a new character and go for that.
Called "Dick", he was in the engineer corps whilst serving in the military, but was fed up with the way things were run. He knew that troops were being sent out with sub-standard equipment and developed the skills needed to modify them to make them more efficient for his friends.
Upon realising that he had been frozen twice, for a total of over 200 years, he realised that everyone he knew was dead. He had no idea how long he had been frozen for the second time, but even his son could be dead. He was all alone in a dead world.
Home had no meaning for him now, so he stripped Sanctuary hills of everything he could. No point being sentimental. He set up a temporary base in the Red Rocket filling station just outside of Sanctuary, and proceeded to strip that too.. The only things he left in those locations were the workbenches. They were too valuable to destroy.
Once set up, he started scouting around the area, eventually coming across an old, abandoned drive-in. Realising the potential this location had as a defendable, independent base, he started work at once. Firstly strip mining the area for valuable resources, and clearing the LZ.
He then used his combat engineering knowledge to start producing a level base on which to build. He built around the pond in the middle of what once had been the car park of the theatre so he had somewhere to put a couple of industrial pumps he had cobbled together and therefore have a decent supply of drinking water.
After finding some fertilizer bags on a trip out, he was able to make a start on some hydroponics units so he could grow food inside his base. Adding concrete walls which also enclosed the little shack with the workbench gave him security, and coupled with the electronic door ensured he was the only one who could get inside - or at least he would be, once he finishes the ground floor walls.
He will have to go out and scavenge some more, or wait until he can afford another trip to Diamond City to buy another consignment of concrete from that half demented Mr. Handy there.
Having finished the ground floor structure, he started on the second floor. The ground floor was to be a production area. After all, that was where the water supply was. As he had a little more generator capacity than he needed for the now 3 industrial water purifiers and to power the door, he set up the hydroponics area to grow the strange 'Tato' fruit he had collected by night from a nearby farm. Soon he would have to diversify his crops, but for now he could survive. He also had plans for a bar in the other corner, but would have to hunt up some special items for that. He had already spotted, and collected, some whisky and Vodka, but decent glassware was proving more difficult.
The second floor had overhangs on every corner, each with a single heavy machine gun turret, for defence. This would be the living area given enough time. He already had a male bathroom, and was working on a female one - but that shortage of concrete had once again scuppered his plans. There wasn't enough to put a wall between them, nor a wall between the ladies and the rest of the floor. "Oh well", he signed, "I guess we'll all have to suffer in silence for now, Hope I don't get company before I've finished."
BrookM wrote: Nels, you just spoiled an excellent moment in the game..
Apart from when I played it it was kind of sort of obvious it was Synths.
Being that it was my first time encountering them I wasn't aware that's what they sounded like. However, them walking about yapping constantly was a giveaway. :(
Damn I hate that. I've footsteps turned way down and I still hear enemies a mile away. ¬¬
BrookM wrote: Nels, you just spoiled an excellent moment in the game..
Really?
Seemed like a run of the mill encounter in a building unrelated to the main story, like most of the buildings in the Commonwealth. I had encountered Synths in quite a few places before that, some of those encounters with the same bespoke Raider corpses, so hearing them even before turning on the power in that building was no big deal to me. Kind of disappointing, actually.
Unless I'm not far enough along in the story (still have to find the scientist to get into the Institute) and that building ends up being central to the main plot, I don't see how that's much of a spoiler. Had I not just cleared that building on my way down from visiting Far Harbor, I'd say it was a fairly unremarkable encounter. Certainly didn't fall under the "excellent moment" for me, unless I missed something. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Only thing I liked was all the free loot that I scrapped at the nearby Coastal Cottage settlement.
I pressed further into the fish plant and found the synths, it was a bit of a letdown though, the point i am at in my current playthrough i just visited the institute so synths are not hostile at the moment. Even when i shot them multiple times they just stood there.
Journey to Ipswich
Tales for the Commonwealth
Butcher of ...somewhere?
Got a couple new radio transmission to look into, no idea which is related to which Mod. Ran into a raider gang at one of em, been doing a lot of stuff Curie doesn't like .
It's amazing what some of the modders have been able to accomplish.
Yeah, Tales From The Commonwealth is easily the best mod I've come across, easily worth the quarter of the total allotted mod space it takes up on Xbox. The 3 companions it adds are easily as good as (if not better than) the in-game ones, and the quests are nice and varied, there's not nearly as much 'go here, get this, kill them' as there is in the base game.
If you want a shortcut to a lot of the Tales quests, there's one you can do first which will then point you towards lots of others
Spoiler:
Go to the Nahant Post Office (north-west of Libertalia and Nahant Wharf) and do the quest 'You've Got Mail'. Without ruining it, that gives you something that will then feed you starting points for other quests
I liked the Skyrim Mod the Tales from the Wasteland guys made (but it certainly caused longer loading times). From what I've played, and being that I'm on my first playthrough of the vanilla game, I'm not exactly how many new NPCs I've met ...barring where the voice acting/ writing is obviously different from the base game.
I like the Ghoul companion's quest in that, though that house has two more levels than what you can see from the outside...
There's a companion in the Railroad HQ as well who I'm confused about, as she talks like she's from before the war, but I'm not sure if she's a synth with implanted memories or what exactly so far. The way she talks its like players are supposed to know who she is from another mod?
With what I'm playing myself I left Far Harbour for a spell back to the base game. Found the Railroad. They weren't happy when I said I hate synths. Let me join anyway. Pity you can't side with them if you do the Brotherhood quests (?), but I really don't like their leader anyway.
Eugh, but I'm having too many quests syndrome. When I started playing I'd search every town, now I'm running through them between map markers. That's a bad thing. At least I uninstalled the jet pack mod. It was fun to jump across the skyline and act like you were doing parkour, but it made combat a bit too dynamic (hops over wall out of gunfire).
I need a mod to complement Modern Firearms. That mod's decent, but I hate how often the stuff from that appears in leveled lists. The damage upgrade is fair, if all other guns and armours are also buffed, but oddly the mods for this game handle damage increases different than in previous games, so cause so many compatibility issues. At this stage I'm only sticking with that guns mod because it allows for removable attachments and you can have flashlights (other mods can do similar things, but they don't feel the same). Perhaps I'll need to edit the mod myself to get what I want. :/
There's a companion in the Railroad HQ as well who I'm confused about, as she talks like she's from before the war, but I'm not sure if she's a synth with implanted memories or what exactly so far. The way she talks its like players are supposed to know who she is from another mod?
She featured in the same team's Fallout 3 mod as I understand it, but her backstory is all in FO4, there's a few conversations about it and a pretty good quest that explains it all, you need to keep raising her affinity (mostly done through time spent with her). It's a fun mystery to work out and she's a good character to run with, so I recommend doing it that way, but if you want to know:
Spoiler:
she's a pre-war robot/synth developed by Vault Tec and the US military, basically an attempt at a 'super soldier' programme so she has existed since the war, but her pre-war memories are largely implanted as she was mind-wiped before being released.
I started my second playthrough a few days ago. I finished it the first time before the first DLC came out, and I've been waiting for all of it to come out before playing again. Got a bunch of mods installed. My primary weapon is now this baby:
Spoiler:
Which definitely feels very appropriate for replicant, i mean, synth hunting. The gun felt a little OP when I first found it around level 12, so I didn't use it right away, but now that I'm at 30, it's really just about right (and sometimes not enough, it's definitely balanced out with only 5 rounds and a long reload time). I'm using a mod that lets me break down legendary items to get parts to craft legendary abilities, so I gave it the improved VATS accuracy and lower AP cost effect. It's fun wading into a horde of enemies, go into VATs, queue up a bunch of headshots, and watch the results.
I haven't yet decided which faction I want to beat the game with this time. Last time was Railroad, but both the Institute and BoS are very hard for me to get behind (the Institute are a bunch of evil bastards, and the BoS are a bunch of arrogant bastards who have turned into the very thing they claim to oppose). At least I can get behind the Railroad's "synths are living beings" approach. I just don't care for the game's all-or-nothing ending. I shouldn't have to completely wipe out the factions I didn't side with. But, nope, Bethesda demands you massacre everyone else. I get there isn't always a fairy tale happy ending, but, as Admiral Kirk said "I like to think there always are ...possibilities."
Don't know whether other people would consider them "must haves" but ones which I really like are:
Legendary Modification, which allows you to put legendary mods onto your weapons and armour, reducing the need to farm until you find the weapon you want with the effect you want.
Craftable Armour Size, which allows you to change armour between its different variants (light, sturdy, heavy).
Everyones Best Friend, which allows you to have Dogmeat and another companion at the same time.
Unique Uniques, gives the unique named weapons actual unique abilities through the use of special modifications.
CROSS Pre-War Cybernetics, if only so I could have a synth hand (in game my character has slowly been acquiring more and more scars and becoming more muscular, which culminated in her losing her right hand, which was replaced by a synthetic one).
Build High, which raises the maximum height you can build to in your settlements.
Increased Build Limit Enhanced, to raise the maximum number of things you can build in a settlement.
+Old World Radio. (a great range of new radio stations. My favourite are the radio plays inspired by the Twilight Zone.
+Craft-able Armour Size (Ever find a nice Legendary item with the effect you wanted but wished it was the heavier variant? Now you can upgrade light armour to Sturdy to Heavy).
+Easy Hacking (Highlights the correct password when hacking Terminals. Its a nice minigame and all, but it gets old fast and I lack the patience. You still need the perks though, which is fair).
+Difficult XP Scaling (you get MORE XP for playing on harder Difficulties. You deserve an incentive for playing the game on the hardest difficulties, otherwise its just an exercise in masochism and time wasting. This is the only reason why I play on Very Hard).
+Full Dialogue Interface (Tells you EXACTLY what your character will say).
+Combat Helmet Illumination (adds a flashlight to the Combat Helmet. Awesome, gives me a reason to use it over the Mining Helmet).
+True Storms (improves the weather systems considerably and gives a better atmosphere).
+Vats over there? Increases the V.A.T.S. perception range. If you can see it, V.A.T.S. can lock onto it. Long distances are still very difficult shots, like 5% difficult. I like to use it to scan for distant enemies).
+Shaikujin's Better Warning for Settlement Attacks (creates a pop-up message that pauses the game and requires you to click OK, ensuring you never miss the warning message).
+Better Mod Descriptions (Item mods actually list the exact stats, instead of vague terminology like "Better recoil, superior recoil, exceptional recoil).
Personally I'd take Vivid Weathers over True Storms, but that's just down to preference and familiarity.
Tales From The Commonwealth is a must-have, it's basically a free DLC adding 3 new companions, 20+ quests (everything is fully, and well, voiced) and is frequently added to.
Armoursmith Extended is a nice package. The main draw is letting you wear most armour over most clothing (the base game is very restrictive about that), but it also adds in some new/edited clothing items, wearable weapons, many more slots for modifying armour and a bunch of small changes.
Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch is essential just for improving performance and clearing bugs.
And a few that are just fun to have:
MikeMoore's MCAM- Adds a whole bunch (about 30) melee weapons to the game, from frying pans to different kinds of knife to a gravity fist that sends people flying when you hit them.
Nitronizer's Proto-Vault Suit Retexture- if you're planning to play with the blue Vault Suit, this looks waaaay better than the in-game ones (which I think are ugly as sin)
Crude Blowback and Handmade Revolver- 2 high quality weapon mods with a rustic design that fits perfectly into the setting, good if you want to keep to the 'cobbled together' kind of weapons rather than upgrading to the shinier ones as you level.
Beast Master Creature Companion Overhaul- Does what it says on the tin, lets you have the various wasteland creatures as travelling companions! Nothing like rocking up to a gunfight with a Savage Deathclaw in tow! This one does need the Wasteland Workshop DLC.
Psienesis wrote: So, I just got the main game (for PC) for $20 on Amazon. Any mods/unofficial patches/add-ons that are considered "must haves"?
Easiest way is to go to the Nexus and just look at the most endorsed mods to find stuff that might suit your fancy. You'll need an account if you want to see the "adult" mods. Not all of the adult mods are nude/sex mods. Some just have questionable content that makes it an adult rating (gore, skimpy outfits, etc.). Or body mods that include a nude variant (for example, the #1 file on the Nexus is the CBBE body mod, but it does include a not-nude version).
Anyway, if you find your power armor appearance options on the bland side, check out Worsin's Power Armor Garage. LOTS of color options, and also separates the paint color from the effects. Want a chrome finish on your armor but also want the Vault-Tec paint bonus? You can get that.
For some high tech alternative armors, there's the X-92 Courser suit, the Nanosuit, the Sirius assault suit (needs Autometron DLC, but has a nifty animated helmet) and (if you like a high-tech bodysuit to replace the vault suit) there is a Kerrigan bodysuit. Personally, I like the N7 armor set. Basically just a reskin of the combat armor to make it black with the red stripe on the shoulder, but it's craftable and still looks cool (to me, anyway).
For weapons, there's a ridiculous number of real-world (and close-to-real-world) weapons for the game, so you can pick what you like from there. Not much in the way of energy weapons, though. But, I am enjoying my Bladerunner gun (linked in my previous post).
The Legendary Modification mod is a good one. Break down the legendary items you find to get "effect chips" to craft the legendary mods of your choice (which require a lot of chips for the good ones, so you're still having to farm for legendaries). Try to resist using the two-shot mod, sometimes turns the game into easy mode depending on the weapon you put it on.
And, of course, the Unofficial Patch is probably the one that is a "must have".
A Legendary two shot quad missile launcher with a lock on targeting computer and a mod that removes the AP cost for jet packs is incredibly fun. I completely wiped out the Gunners in Quincy without ever touching the ground.
In no particular order, but more useful ones first:
Unofficial fallout 4 patch - fixes many bugs you may or may not have noticed.
Vivid fallout landscapes - makes the ground look nicer (subjective) and uses less graphics resources (apparently).
There is also a Vivid trees mod, but I didn't like the look of the trees for it.
Improved maps with visible roads - does what it says on the tin. Don't like the pip-boy map? This may help, and has options for how it looks.
There are quite a few map mods out there, so have a look around and see what grabs you.
Armoursmith extended - allows you to use any armour with any clothing (some clipping will occur). Also contains a framework for many other mods to produce unique armour/clothing.
KeyNuker - puts all keys into a keyring so they don't clutter your Misc tab when you are trying to look for a note.
Don't call me settler - gives new settlers names, and some other benefits
Better Settlers - more variety in your settlers, faces and items
Ponytail hairstyles - because I wanted a longer ponytail. Many unique hairstyles.
Settlement building mods (if you get into that sort of thing):
Snap 'n' build - nice buildings for settlements that snap together.
Craftable glass stuff - for windows.
Rags of the old world - many flags, but I only got it for the Union Flag and St George's cross.
Craftable ramps and rails - for ramps.
Homemaker - Adds many many items to build.
OCDecorator - it lets you place all the little items that you can pick up and pins them in place like everything else in your settlement. No more finding things knocked over by Dogmeat or other settlers walking past.
1x1 craftable foundation pieces - like the usual concrete foundation, but 1/4 the size.
Craftable pillars and support braces - to support overhangs.
Craftable tall walls and spacers - to fill the gaps left when not using a floor between walls.
Window, floor and roof boards - odd scraps of wood and metal to cover over holes and to add scatter to the settlement.
Craftable floor patches - more scraps of wood and metal.
OSHA unapproved safety signage - more signs and safety posters.
Immersive vendors - makes the shops look like they have something to sell.
Business settlements - adds signs and posters
Where did I put that - adds labels to label things with.
Do it yourshelf - adds shelves and items that snap to those shelves.
Well I made it to the 111 hour mark before having to carry out my first complete reinstall.
Apparently reshade just doesn't want to work under my current system's specs. Its fine with other games, but crashes consistently with Fallout 4 for no apparent reason.
So I verified my game cache, one file missing. ...And that killed the game. Woo. Let's ignore those two hours of me reinstalling every available file from backups manually to no avail. Eugh...
Tsk, at least I can clear out my bloated data folder from unused mods. Fallout 4's a real storage pincher when you had the great idea to install it and your other games onto an SSD rather than the regular old HDD. :/
Edit:
Yeah, game's fethed yo.
Oddly a complete uninstall (plus peripheral files,) then a reinstall (+ verifying integrity of the game cache) hasn't resolved the crash at startup. Weird. Must be Windows keeping a hidden registry or something for it tucked away. I could nuke the drive, but CBA with that noise.
Might be a bit late to the party with this one but has anyone played Survivor mode?
Having so much fun with it, having to drink water, eat food, sleep to save (wow the beds and even a sleeping bag have never been so important).
I died from an infection from a mole rat bite last time I played , even power armour only offers limited protection. But it's great that the increased damage applies to enemies as well (no more shrugging off high-power sniper rounds to the chest, Mr. Raider!) and just generally that it really feels like a fight for survival.
Would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes the sound of the idea!
Tannhauser42 wrote: But, nope, Bethesda demands you massacre everyone else. I get there isn't always a fairy tale happy ending, but, as Admiral Kirk said "I like to think there always are ...possibilities."
I am starting to think I missed something. I sided with the Railroad and only had to take out the BoS ( ).
Does the Railroad also wipe out the Minutemen? If so I must have missed a quest. Currently level 100 and have the main quest long since completed (or do I?!).
Tannhauser42 wrote: But, nope, Bethesda demands you massacre everyone else. I get there isn't always a fairy tale happy ending, but, as Admiral Kirk said "I like to think there always are ...possibilities."
I am starting to think I missed something. I sided with the Railroad and only had to take out the BoS ( ).
Does the Railroad also wipe out the Minutemen? If so I must have missed a quest. Currently level 100 and have the main quest long since completed (or do I?!).
No. There is no quest to destroy the Minutemen (unfortunately). However, if you lead the Minutemen and somehow piss off the Brotherhood, theres a quest that involves...
Spoiler:
using artillery to blow up their airship the Prydwen and then defend The Castle against their counterattack. Pretty fun
No. There is no quest to destroy the Minutemen (unfortunately). However, if you lead the Minutemen and somehow piss off the Brotherhood, theres a quest that involves...
Spoiler:
using artillery to blow up their airship the Prydwen and then defend The Castle against their counterattack. Pretty fun
Oh that does sound fun. Might have to do that on my next play through!
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Siding with the Minutemen lets you maintain a delicate peace between the three factions.
Finished the game on PS4, had to to do all story routes for all the trophies, when i returned to normal play i continued the save with the minute men as the other factions are kind of dicks.
I had a bug that when i sided with the minute men i could not finish my brotherhood quests, no problem with the railroad ones. Will wait for the goty edition to play all the DLC quests.
Did not build any special weapon modifications, my build was completely sneaky and i 3.5 to 4 times the damage if i was not spotted.
In case anyone missed it, PS4 mods are back on... sort of! They're coming to Skyrim first on launch and then to FO4 somewhere down the line. The downside is that they are being limited to in-game assets, which means no custom weapons/armour/build items, no quest mods with original voice work ect, but at least you'll have access to things like build limit lifts, cheats/item-spawning and stuff like that.
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Siding with the Minutemen lets you maintain a delicate peace between the three factions.
Finished the game on PS4, had to to do all story routes for all the trophies, when i returned to normal play i continued the save with the minute men as the other factions are kind of dicks.
I had a bug that when i sided with the minute men i could not finish my brotherhood quests, no problem with the railroad ones. Will wait for the goty edition to play all the DLC quests.
Did not build any special weapon modifications, my build was completely sneaky and i 3.5 to 4 times the damage if i was not spotted.
Its not a bug. Siding with the Minutemen and using them to destroy the Institute locks you out of certain Brotherhood, Railroad and (naturally) Institute quests.
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Siding with the Minutemen lets you maintain a delicate peace between the three factions.
Finished the game on PS4, had to to do all story routes for all the trophies, when i returned to normal play i continued the save with the minute men as the other factions are kind of dicks.
I had a bug that when i sided with the minute men i could not finish my brotherhood quests, no problem with the railroad ones. Will wait for the goty edition to play all the DLC quests.
Did not build any special weapon modifications, my build was completely sneaky and i 3.5 to 4 times the damage if i was not spotted.
Its not a bug. Siding with the Minutemen and using them to destroy the Institute locks you out of certain Brotherhood, Railroad and (naturally) Institute quests.
That is stupid i am not an enemy of the brotherhood, but that is bethesda, they seem incapable of making notice of the choices i made, Joining the brotherhood, as a novice, i was the general of the minute men already. They use an old engine and the story/choice tree seems also like in Fall out 3 or New Vegas, i still enjoyed the game though, it had less bugs than F3 or FNV.
Nice, two-shot weapons are always good to find - I'm still hoping for a two-shot missile launcher, so I can go on a vertibird-themed duck shooting expedition
Why does it not surprise me that Bethesda can't do better than make Desdemona talk such trash when there are no less than 3 power armoured guys in the room?
There are definitely two other suits of power armour in that shot, and of course the one you are wearing. I just didn't think anyone would lug a full suit of armour to that location and leave it there empty.
There are definitely two other suits of power armour in that shot, and of course the one you are wearing. I just didn't think anyone would lug a full suit of armour to that location and leave it there empty.
There are definitely two other suits of power armour in that shot, and of course the one you are wearing. I just didn't think anyone would lug a full suit of armour to that location and leave it there empty.
Who was playing the game, you or me? I can tell you for a fact that the only characters in that room wearing power armour were me and Paladin Danse.
You're confused because I was third person view. The guy in power armour facing the camera is ME.
Ok, so there are not 3 guys, there's only two. Desdemona's life expectancy has just gone up by a half second.
She must still be seriously demented if she thinks she can say "Spread the word. The Brotherhood are our enemies. There's no possibility of peace." without Danse power-slapping her across the room and saying "Crazy B*tch!" before she gets turned into chunky salsa by at least one set of advanced or heavy weaponry.
But that's something that I don't like. Bethesda don't seem capable of having one NPC work out you have another from the population they are about to slag off standing right beside you when you are both dressed in gear bearing that groups logo.
Like everyone walks up to the big, skinheaded Milwall supporter and [offers to get him a Bovril*] tells him his team is rubbish. Anyone who does so is fully aware they'll get pounded flat in seconds.
Also
If you are in 3rd person, why the little figure showing the state of your armour when you can see the state of your armour, and the confusion with the compass is crazy. The HUD in 3rd person is just confusing, and terrible. There is an icon for a door just over your left shoulder. That door is behind you. But according to the compass in your HUD, it's in front of you.
This is why I spend almost all my time in-game in 1st person mode.
*[Joke for the English football fans who have seen Billy Connolly perform it!]
Yeah, Bethesda games have always ignored companions/followers during conversations.
How many times have you talked to an npc and have them refer to you and your companion(s) as being alone/single person?
In their defence it would mean doubling (at minimum) the number of recorded lines of dialogue for the majority of the game... and all for "...and your friend" to be added. Not to mention things like the above with factions involved.
As for the conversation about Legendary effects; my favourite is still Kneecapper (on an automatic weapon, a short burst is 100% crippling). Great for emergencies.
I think for my next play-through (although I'm paused mid-2nd play) I'll avoid the use of all legendaries and see how that goes.
Thanks to the Legendary Modifications mod my Minigun is now Two Shot. With an accelerated barrel it absolutely shreds anything, as long as you are close enough to account for the lower accuracy and range. But that's fine when you stick a Shredder on it and get point blank.
I have another mod which means that the Commando perks apply to the Minigun, which makes it actually usable as its low damage is boosted by both the Big Guns perks and the Commando perks.
I did for a little while have it as Explosive but with maxed out commando, big guns and explosives perks it killed everything way too fast and basically made the game easy mode, until something got up to you and then even having all of your power armour modded with explosive shielding couldn't save you
I don't know if anyone here is still playing Fallout 4 (a happy 1st birthday to you last month), but I have finally uploaded my first mod.
It's on Bethesda.net and the Nexus, and it's for PC, XBox and PS4.
It adds a cave system to Coastal Cottage.
There's Raiders, loot and surprises.
And I have a video up on YouTube showing my VATS Gunslinger character running through it:
Soon, I'll have my settlement build at the Coastal Cottage complete and I'll share that here if there's any interest (otherwise I'll let this thread die).
Good to hear Vik. It always starts with one mod, and that leads to another... and then you have 60+ like me and beyond that to the people that have hundreds.
Be sure to back up your saves before installing mods. Just to be safe.
Well, just for you two, here's the walkabout of the settlement I build at Coastal Cottage.
This is mostly build inside the creation kit with the finishing touches done in-game using my many other mods.
It's not perfect for settlement building compatibility, but I've learnt a lot about the creation kit and what to do differently... next time...
I think I may go and build at the Castle next. But I'll have to move all the companions out of there first as they all feel the need to comment on everything I do, all the time, all at once... I originally sent them all there to get them as far away from Sanctuary as possible while I built there.
And I've updated my mod list:
Textures:
- .44 Magnum Retexture - Exodus
- Assault Rifle Retexture AR-51 - Devious_Methods
- Better Ammo Boxes Overhaul - Devious_Methods
- CC's Improved Vanilla Holotapes - ClearanceClarence
- Enhanced Blood Textures - dDefinder
- EoW Pre-war books Retexture - Emissary of Wind
- exShinras Better Brick Textures - exShinra
- Eyewear and Mask retexture - Castell
- Fallout 4 HD Reworked Project - Halk_Hogan_PL
- Fallout Texture Overhaul PipBoy - Gorgulla
- Faraway Area Reform (LOD) - SparrowPrince
- Gauss Rifle Retexture - AlexScorpion
- High Resolution Texture Pack - Valius
- More Realistic Pipe Weapon Textures - AlexSlesh
- Optimised Vanilla Textures - Myst
- Retextured Chems - Ben Ephla
- Retextured First Aid Kits - Ben Ephla
- Scratchmade New Combat Shotgun and Rifle Textures - Millenia
- Scratchmade New Double Barrel Shotgun Textures - Millenia
- Sharp Shacks - Jah
- Tookie's Textures Grass and Plants - Tookie Jones
- Vivid Fallout Landscapes - Hein84
- Vivid Fallout Roads and Bridges - Hein84
- Wasteland Creatures Redone - DOOM
- WET - SparrowPrince
Crafting:
- 1x1 Craftable Foundation pieces - DDProductions83
- Better Stores - Blazeda59
- Business Settlements (standalone) - Tamayo831
- Craftable Floor Patches - Takeanumber
- Craftable Glass Stuff - DDProductions83
- Craftable Pillars and Support braces - DDProductions83
- Craftable Ramps and Rails - DDProductions83
- Craftable tall walls and Spacers - DDProductions83
- CWSS Redux v2 - steve40 and Flipdeezy
- Do it Yourshelf - dinozaurz
- Rags of the Old World - Zaldir
- Half Width shack walls - CitizenRandom
- Homemaker - Nova Coru
- Immersive Vendors - Xgrufijury
- Lore Friendly Posters - Dhegonus
- OCDecorator - McFace (Geoff Dow)
- OSHA Unapproved Safety Signage - BlandSauce
- Snap 'n Build - ad3d0
- Thematic and Practical - 5ike
- Where did I put that - OctaviusSentibar
- Window Floor and Roof Boards - Necrocytosis
Just started it, knew they weren't decontamination pods instantly. When they said to step into them I was like wait a minute, vaults don't have these they better not be cryo pods or something dumb like that.
I knew they weren't decontamination chambers from the moment I saw them, as the outside had a distinct "cryo-pod" look to them (what with the insulated pipes etc.), and inside they have that bed/chair; if you want to decontaminate someone, you want access to all sides/angles of them.
Although, alarm bells were ringing from the point you first run up to the guard and tell him you're on the list and instead of "and your name is?" he replies "Adult male, Adult female, infant, in you go...". I was instantly thinking "Why don't you care who I am?".
Well I already knew they were all social experiments which takes away some of the fun when you just have to figure out what test they've decided this vault is for. Apparently the real test was not giving them enough supplies from what I read in the overseer's log before I left.
Might explain why a malfunctioning pod would defrost and not just kill you I think.
The pod didn't malfunction. The Institute sent a team to Vault 111 to retrieve Shaun and kill off all other Vault Dwellers besides the 'backup' protagonist parent to tie off loose ends (the other parent holding Shaun was killed for not cooperating). When you wake up as Kellogg is kidnapping Shaun, you can see the other Vault Dwellers were also awake, and therefore would have been witnesses to the kidnapping.
Later, Shaun tampered with the Vault remotely to release his remaining parent.
If the Institute hadn't tampered with the Vault, its possible that all of the subjects might have survived to present day.
Although, alarm bells were ringing from the point you first run up to the guard and tell him you're on the list and instead of "and your name is?" he replies "Adult male, Adult female, infant, in you go...". I was instantly thinking "Why don't you care who I am?".
Yeah...I personally handwave this one away as something the designers/script writers couldn't find a better line of dialogue to let you know that "Vault Tec" (the dude) had taken your form up to the vault literally minutes before gak hit the fan.
Oh dear, I just picked up all the dlc in the steam sale... there goes more free time. Still, for 24 quid, that's not bad: more settlement items, more adventuring, more collecting, more settlement items, and most importantly more settlement items.
I was pleased (and relieved) to find all my mods played nicely, with no issues. Though I will have to update some mods to include dlc-related things, and then have a look at more dlc-related mods...
Decided that this time, I'm going to have a lift in my settlement. So I scoped out the foundation at the drive-in, set some water purifiers in the pond in the middle of the car park, filled the rest in so that I have the doorway to the workshop shack fit in as well as possible in the concrete walls I put around it, and left a space for the lift base.
Then I put in a 4 story lift, and filled in the floors for each level.
After much scavenging and horse trading, I now have concrete walls right up to the top but they DON'T FIT!
I didn't particularly notice until I went on to put in some 'internal' walls to separate the toilets from the pub, and found that either the walls stop about a foot from the ceiling, or don't start until a foot of the ground.
What Dweeb at Bethesda built a lift system that has the floor spacing different from that of the stairs and walls?
And why do the power conduits not lock to the same angle as the floors/walls/ceilings? Do they not realise how infuriating it is to get a conduit over half way along the length of a wall, only to have to store it again as the angle is slightly out and is now being blocked by a wall? Or do they expect us to put up with a 'Z' in it every so often just to keep it away from a wall every so often?
(Oh, and they do have a floor to ceiling conduit piece that works for the spacing between the floors on the lifts, so why no concrete walls?)
Decided that this time, I'm going to have a lift in my settlement. So I scoped out the foundation at the drive-in, set some water purifiers in the pond in the middle of the car park, filled the rest in so that I have the doorway to the workshop shack fit in as well as possible in the concrete walls I put around it, and left a space for the lift base.
Then I put in a 4 story lift, and filled in the floors for each level.
After much scavenging and horse trading, I now have concrete walls right up to the top but they DON'T FIT!
I didn't particularly notice until I went on to put in some 'internal' walls to separate the toilets from the pub, and found that either the walls stop about a foot from the ceiling, or don't start until a foot of the ground.
What Dweeb at Bethesda built a lift system that has the floor spacing different from that of the stairs and walls?
And why do the power conduits not lock to the same angle as the floors/walls/ceilings? Do they not realise how infuriating it is to get a conduit over half way along the length of a wall, only to have to store it again as the angle is slightly out and is now being blocked by a wall? Or do they expect us to put up with a 'Z' in it every so often just to keep it away from a wall every so often?
(Oh, and they do have a floor to ceiling conduit piece that works for the spacing between the floors on the lifts, so why no concrete walls?)
The lifts are sized to fit with the stuff in the Barn and Warehouse section, which has higher walls than the other building types and so the floors aren't aligned with the other stuff.
Thanks Malus, that might help. I only need to worry about the internal walls after al - the top floor is taller to take it up to the next standard wall section, but that's no problem. I'll take a look at it over the weekend.
Edithae, that won't work.
Floor 1 (Ground level) is flat with the floor.
Floor 2 is one 'step' lower than the lift.
Floor 3 is two 'steps' lower than the lift.
Floor 4 is three 'steps' lower than the lift and the ceiling of floor 4 is half way down the lift.
That is why I put the floors level with the lift floors in the first place.
Ground floor - suitable for all characters.
Floor 2 - not suitable for Strong or large robot companions.
Floor 3 - humans must stoop before entering.
Floor 4 - Stealth crouch only on entering/exiting the lift, or devote the whole floor to Dogmeat.
I never really liked dogmeat, codsworth was the most fun companion to take around everywhere. Although he likes to mention the enemy taking potshots at us when they actually only had melee weapons and I was making the potshots.
I've not had a play with the lifts yet, so can't comment.
Have they fixed the buttons on the 4 floor lift yet?
I'm currently experimenting with the conduits. Can give a neater look compared to wires everywhere, but needs some extra options (e.g. I can move left/right by a bit, but not up/down. Also angles other than 90deg would be nice. Oh, and attaching to walls rather than only floor or roof).
I've never liked using companions/followers. They annoy me very quickly; getting in the way mainly.
I have taken all the available companions out and maxed affinity with my first character (except for Danse as he got upset with something I did for the Railroad and won't talk to me anymore ).
I've recently tried out Ada (even more annoying than Dogmeat, constantly running into me) and Longfellow; Most companions complain when you pick up junk (and I pick up everything, all the time), but when I picked up a wooden spoon he said "I don't believe there is such a thing as junk, everything has a use", and I turned to him as said out loud "I love you Longfellow".
This is what I've done so far with the Starlight Drive In, apart from sticking as many water purifiers in the pond as possible and sticking some temporary shacks full of sleeping bags (you peasants can get proper beds when I feel like it!) around the place.
Spoiler:
The lifts are (in universe explanation) for transportation of artillery ammunition from the ground to the ammo storage at the top (the concrete building).
Will probably get around to doing something else with the concrete blocks on the corners at some point. Maybe. Probably not.
As for Sanctuary, it's coming along okay.
Got my fortress of solitude built:
Spoiler:
My robot workshop:
Spoiler:
Luxury shared accommodation for settlers:
Spoiler:
A vibrant market district:
Spoiler:
And why not sit down and relax with a nice drink at your local bar?
Spoiler:
And after all that, just have a nice quiet smoke:
Spoiler:
Just don't off the mayor or she'll introduce you to Lola. You won't like Lola:
You call that a bar? How do the patrons know what's available? Where do your bartenders get the drinks from? Do you do smokes and snacks? Meals?
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
[Sorry, that's quite an old picture, the stock levels have gone up considerably since then]
And upstairs, the sun deck.
Spoiler:
And how do you draw new customers to your bar, you advertise!
Spoiler:
This reminds me, I really ought to work a bit harder on my drive-in base in my new playthrough [Nuka-World], but as I said previously, I'm having a bit of trouble with the internal walls on that one. Got a nice set-up where I'm doing all the Nuka-World content BEFORE catching up with the remains of the Minutemen so that I can try to get to the top of the pole with the raiders, then get bored, wipe them all out, and start playing the main quest from there.
The Mrs.'s just bought me the season pass over the holidays. I started up a new character for this play through and so far im loving every bit of the mechanist dlc. ADA is probably my favorite follower now. I'm really looking forward to becoming a raider and taking over the commonwealth. Haven't done much with the other dlc's yet but I did manage to stumble across vault 88's location. What's everyone else's favorite dlc/expansion so far?
DLC's that add new lands to explore are always the best. My biggest disappointment with the DLC's is that there weren't more of them, like Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Have to agree. Far Harbour by quite a large margin.
Although I am ploughing through Nuka-world, I just don't get the same thrill as I did on that island. Life as a raider is just not giving me that thrill. I am glad that I will complete it before I actually get on with the main story in this run through.
But Far Harbour was a much better DLC for me. The thrill of discovery was there, this was a completely new place, a whole island to explore (Nuka world seems very small in comparison.) and there were some amazing stories going on, some wonderful creatures, great surprises, and not a few laughs to be had.
That's why I wish they had released that one last. End on a high note.
Toss up between Far Harbor and Nuka World for me. Both added new locations dripping with atmosphere. Far Harbor glitched and never let me attack the Synths alongside the Brotherhood so I was a bit disappointed there. I loved Nuka World's Raider settlement mechanic, so maybe that gets the edge. But Far Harbor had the Children of Atom. Too hard to decide!
Nostromodamus wrote: Toss up between Far Harbor and Nuka World for me. Both added new locations dripping with atmosphere. Far Harbor glitched and never let me attack the Synths alongside the Brotherhood so I was a bit disappointed there. I loved Nuka World's Raider settlement mechanic, so maybe that gets the edge. But Far Harbor had the Children of Atom. Too hard to decide!
Nuka World has a ride you can actually ride on. Nuka World wins.
I've not been to Nuka World yet, so can't comment.
However, while exploring Far Harbour I decided that my character needed a change in weapon loadout; mainly looking for an alternative to my various "panic weapons".
As my character is set up for sniping from the shadows and I've not taken any perks for VATS or added weapon damage (a personal limitation for this run through), she really struggles to kill things when they can see her. So she carries a few weapons to pull out when cornered, hence "panic".
Current weapons (all silenced where possible): Ripper: For when surrounded and not wanting to waste ammo.
Deliverer: For close quarters, human-sized targets.
.38 pipe auto-pistol (panic): With bleed damage for use on bugs and fast moving enemies; spray the general area. Fine, but I was burning through ammo with all the ghouls in Far Harbour.
Plasma flame-thrower (panic): Ultimate panic weapon. No issues here. Have replaced with a faster-fire-rate version recently.
.45 auto-combat rifle (panic): With armour piecing auto and explosive legendary. For grouped enemies. Not quite doing the job any more and can't be used when swarmed by close enemies.
5.56 auto-assault rifle (panic): Was trying out a cryo version, have reverted back to a stagger version. Would be nice to have something lighter, but the damage output is good on this.
Gauss rifle: My main weapon. Double damage on full health enemies. For the first shot from a shadow miles away. With all the sneaky multiplier perks that's on top of 4.7x damage.
Laser musket: In case enemy has low resistance to energy weapons. 6-crank with 25% more damage.
Auto laser pistol (panic): With kneecapper. For any large/fast enemies. Can't lunge at me if you can't walk...
One of the main issues I came across was that the kneecapper wasn't working on many enemies in Far Harbour, bug or not this meant I was burning through my 5.56mm ammo. But I wanted something to fit in or replace either the combat rifle or assault rifle.
Of the weapons I've come across, none really impressed. They were either slower firing or lower damage to either of those weapons...
...Until I noticed the auto mod for the radium rifle...
And then I completed the quest for Mai and received the ignore 30% armour version of the radium rifle... Nearly as good damage as the combat rifle, plus armour piercing equivalent, plus rad damage, plus ridiculous fire-rate (300 vs 90) meant, on paper, it had a far superior dps than anything else I have.
I thought I'd try it out. Modded it up in Sanctuary (my main base) and ran over to Concord to try it on some raiders quickly (there's always raiders in Concord). While tearing through the raiders some robots turn up... Fine, more testing... While tearing through the robots some BoS turn up (railroad character)... Fine, more testing...
It tore it's way through the BoS to earn a place in my load-out.
I then converted the combat rifle over to .308 so I don't have 2 weapons using the same ammo and it's now a high power semi-auto rifle.
Going to continue to test this load-out in Far Harbour and then pop over to Nuka World.
...Until I noticed the auto mod for the radium rifle...
And then I completed the quest for Mai and received the ignore 30% armour version of the radium rifle...
Nearly as good damage as the combat rifle, plus armour piercing equivalent, plus rad damage, plus ridiculous fire-rate (300 vs 90) meant, on paper, it had a far superior dps than anything else I have.
Thats nothing. Get the other Radium Rifle with the Explosive trait, then take the Demolitions, Nuclear Physicist and Commando perks.
Yeah, I nearly bought that one (and I don't tend to buy anything in these games). But I didn't want another explosive gun, I wanted it for close work. And I was given this one, for free.
I like the look of the Radium Rifle, but sadly (like a lot of vanilla guns) the view model's huge. :(
I wish Modern Firearms didn't spam the leveled lists with its gear/ add all that modern armour to the game, otherwise that'd be a decent mod. It'd be nice if someone'd add some post-apocalyptic textures to those guns too (as they're far too "modern"...). Right now I'm jumping between whatever weapons I can get the ammo for in Survival, but I've stuck myself with a G3 from another mod (Modern Firearms adds a Fn FAL IIRC which is quite nice, but I CBA running that mod without editing the leveled lists to make it less obtuse). The armoury at The Castle is wall to wall with guns which I've ran out of ammo for and had to switch out for something else (even running a 200 damage semi-auto gun I chew through ammo. I just spawned in 10,000 rounds and gave it to my companion for their AK though).
Is there something special that you need to do with this game to get ReShade to work? Across multiple installs I've found that the game either won't load, or crashes at the main menu with that thing running. ReShade works fine with other games, as can I run an ENB fine, but it just doesn't want to play ball with Fallout 4. :/
Please god let this be true...Obsidian has made three of my favourite role playing games ever. Kotor 2, Fallout New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. Would really love another Fallout game from them.
I'd play the hell out of another Obsidian Fallout game (the word Fallout there is optional). I thought Bethesda were outsourcing the game to another company though, at least when the notion of one existing was raised ages ago they didn't specify the developer. I guess Obsidian could fit as their schedule is almost cleared (at least with those titles its announced).
The South's a blank slate for the most part. Fallout: Tactics 2 would have had the area as a crocodile infested jungle (on behalf of a malfunctioning G.E.C.K.), but I kind of doubt that they'd take that. If the game does exist though, I really fething hope Bethesda doesn't screw Obsidian again with the lack of development time (New Vegas was supposed to be larger - i.e. the East bank of the Colorado - Caesar's territory - was going to be playable, as were the Shi to have a limited role) and arbitrary bonus payments (which Obsidian are rather bitter about as they had to lay off a load of good staff as a result).
But man, a Fallout 4 with some actual structure and decent writing (plus a shred of consideration for the canon)? Phew...
What I'd really like to see it a Fallout game that moves away from the USA entirely. Head to somewhere like Paris or London or Berlin (you could do some cool stuff with an alternate history East/West Berlin), or even to somewhere completely removed like Australia which presumably would've been affected very differently by the radiation as (so far as I know) it wasn't part of the nuclear exchange.
Paradigm wrote: What I'd really like to see it a Fallout game that moves away from the USA entirely. Head to somewhere like Paris or London or Berlin (you could do some cool stuff with an alternate history East/West Berlin), or even to somewhere completely removed like Australia which presumably would've been affected very differently by the radiation as (so far as I know) it wasn't part of the nuclear exchange.
You really want mutated Australian wildlife? Isn't it bad enough already?
Paradigm wrote: or even to somewhere completely removed like Australia which presumably would've been affected very differently by the radiation as (so far as I know) it wasn't part of the nuclear exchange.
I think its major cities would still have been on China's target list; chances are Australia would still have close ties to the West and America. I'd picture it a lot like the Mojave's landscape post war - not particularly affected directly by the Great War, but still affected.
Paradigm wrote: What I'd really like to see it a Fallout game that moves away from the USA entirely. Head to somewhere like Paris or London or Berlin (you could do some cool stuff with an alternate history East/West Berlin), or even to somewhere completely removed like Australia which presumably would've been affected very differently by the radiation as (so far as I know) it wasn't part of the nuclear exchange.
There was a Fallout game in the works by Josh Sawyer set in Europe. This was around the time Black Isle still had it in their gameplan to make Fallout 3, and had the plot of Fallout 4 written, along with Fallout Tactics II greenlit and an FPS being penned. The game would have been set Pre-War, and involved the character being a British special forces operative in Europe. Europe at the time had descended into warring states and sub-factions, so the player character would need to break through these, stealing vehicles along the way (abandoning each in turn as they broke down or ran out of fuel - fuel being what the whole war in Europe was over) until they eventually made it back to the UK.
Something Bethesda really, *really* downplays (but it is still quoted in their canon) is just how screwed up the world was. The America we see in the Fallout 4 opening scene is reflective of the ignorance the American people had been indoctrinated into, but the actual intro cutscene implies what the real America was like. Marshal law was declared months before the bombs fell. A third of the population were dead from an American created super plague (though they blamed it on the Chinese. F.E.V. was created to combat it, till the army found it could make super soldiers too. They wanted the Super Mutants to look like Captain America, but then the bombs dropped and radiation got into it). Its even implied that it was the US who shot first, having been losing the war (all the information we have about the rest of the world comes from US propaganda).
Main problem I still have with how Bethesda presents it all is we find these apocalyptic logs, skeletons, intact loot stashes and whatnot, even though it is 200+ years after the war. A lot of what they want to show off would work so much better if it was set a few decades after the war, instead of centuries.
I'd love to see a game set closer to post-war than these, feth I'd even settle for a remake of the first game, as stupid as that may be.
I also stand by an earlier statement that Bethesda has become the new id Software: they put out a game, it is okay (or just plain old mediocre) but works better as a demo of what you can do with their stuff, so other companies use it to make better games. Thankfully id has left this all behind with DOOM and the latest Wolfenstein game.
We could also do with more voice acting talent damn it! It's like the Elder Scrolls all over again, with a handful of voice actors doing all the voice lines, with not a lot of variety in delivery.
I don't think the world is ready for a version of America that managed to become such a massive, egotistical donkey-cave of a nation that it stands alone against the world. I mean, they annexed Canada forcefully, hoarded all resources for itself and yes, it is strongly implied that they launched first.
BrookM wrote: Main problem I still have with how Bethesda presents it all is we find these apocalyptic logs, skeletons, intact loot stashes and whatnot, even though it is 200+ years after the war. A lot of what they want to show off would work so much better if it was set a few decades after the war, instead of centuries.
I'd love to see a game set closer to post-war than these, feth I'd even settle for a remake of the first game, as stupid as that may be.
I think the 200+ year gap was to give them a lot of breathing space lore wise. They didn't want to be restricted by setting their games at the same time as past games.
Also, keep in mind that the very first game was set almost a century after the Great War, so your criticism of Bethesda must surely apply to Interplay too? I don't think its fair to blame this on Bethesda alone, this goes all the way back to the very start of the series. Fallout is a series that has ALWAYS required a great deal of suspension of disbelief. Its always been a bit wacky.
I also stand by an earlier statement that Bethesda has become the new id Software: they put out a game, it is okay (or just plain old mediocre) but works better as a demo of what you can do with their stuff, so other companies use it to make better games. Thankfully id has left this all behind with DOOM and the latest Wolfenstein game.
Can't argue with that. I think what Bethesda does well, is breaking new ground and developing new tech. As far as the Fallout series is concerned, I think it'll work well if Bethesda comes up with new engines and experiments with game mechanics (Fallout 4 engine, new perk system, settlements, dialogue system and the fully animated real time dialogue, voiced protagonist etc) then hands Fallout off to another developer like Obsidian to do a spin off game that refines and builds upon Bethesda's work.
We could also do with more voice acting talent damn it! It's like the Elder Scrolls all over again, with a handful of voice actors doing all the voice lines, with not a lot of variety in delivery
I quite like the voice acting, but more variety in voice actors is always good.
I wouldn't mind seeing a Ghoul or Android character turning up from Canada one day. It'd turn out that the British weren't too happy about the whole invasion thing and'd had been sabotaging the Americans as well.
Oh, and remember the US annexed Mexico as well.
As for the general lack of disrepair. Aye, mods tend to go in and remove all the random loot which is literally just lying out there (I was mildly pissed that one gun store in 4 has guns and ammo still on the counter. FFS at least have a locked armoury or something as the excuse why nobody's broken into the place). However the first two games weren't as bad for it, perhaps because of the lack of detail in the graphics. Though on that note, the West Coast setting is much more progressive than Bethesda's. Whilst the world is screwed, out there we still see plenty of trees and people were forming proper settlements rather quickly. Instead though Bethesda wanted a mass market appeal post-apocalyptic setting, so everything's stuck in a kind of limbo out on the East Coast for the most part oddly (I'd take their excuse of the Super Mutant Vault, had they actually bothered to give the Super Mutants any sort of development. That still doesn't explain what they're doing in Fallout 4 though).
Whilst Fallout 4's enjoyable enough, having the Black Isle/ Obsidian games out there tends to spoil it a bit for how low effort it comes across in comparison. The same goes comparing any of the recent Elder Scrolls games with the Witcher series. :/
I loved the gun store in New Reno(?) in Fallout 2, where the shopkeeper was smart enough to keep everything locked away, though he was also far off enough that you could kill him and rob his store with nobody noticing.
Fallout has gotten awfully generic though yes. It would probably greatly benefit from having someone in control of the fluff again, like a certain someone who wrote an extensive document on the whole thing..
I liked the settlement building, its a fantastic feature. They just focused far too much on it and tried to substitute it in place of doing more Quest content and well developed pre-existing settlements with named characters and actual scripted quest lines. The Commonwealth feels rather empty and lifeless to begin with, and yes, I get that rebuilding the Commonwealth is your job, but it ends up being very shallow. None of your settlers have personality, you can't have conversations with them.
i.e. More Cabot House style locations with in depth characters and quests would have been great.
I think having the settlement building having fewer places, but much more complicated would be great. I quite like the settlement building (at least in concept), but it's too shallow to support the entire game, IMO. And the lack of unique characters/settlements really hurts it.
If they did 20-40 years since the war, sure, but 200 is way too much. It was even worse with FO3 as well. But they were still stuck in the ES mindset, in which the 3rd era along was more than 400 years.
I think they only went with the 200 years thing to keep the setting similar yet disconnected to the originals. Though I haven't played them, just seemed lazy as well.
It's mostly so they can use the Brotherhood again. I'm surprised they managed to keep the Enclave out aside from a single cameo / reference (as far as I can tell).
Though they no doubt fear that a departure from the established factions (BoS, super mutants and raiders) and bits of fluff (blue jumpsuit and bulky wrist computer) will result in it not being Fallout enough.
Co'tor Shas wrote: I've never liked the wrist pip-boy. Give me a good old pip-boy 2000 any day.
No way. The newer models with the dials, buttons and knobs is much better, it can organize your inventory better and even comes with a built-in geiger counter. You'd be crazy to want a pipboy 2000. Did it even have a light?
Co'tor Shas wrote: I've never liked the wrist pip-boy. Give me a good old pip-boy 2000 any day.
No way. The newer models with the dials, buttons and knobs is much better, it can organize your inventory better and even comes with a built-in geiger counter. You'd be crazy to want a pipboy 2000. Did it even have a light?
Co'tor Shas wrote: Yeah, it's basically a tablet. The pip boy 2000 mod for F:NV is something I,always installed, as it removed the ugly thing from your wrist.
I am a dirty casual and only started playing the Fallout series with 3, but I like the clunky wrist model. Along with the blue suit it really does identify you as a vault dweller and I like that distinction. Especially how other characters in the various games recognize the Pipboy and treat you with either awe or disdain depending on their view on vault dwellers.
I just googled the 2000 model and it is pretty interesting looking, but since it wasn't my first Pipboy it doesn't hold as much appeal as the wrist version.
At least they got it right in Fallout 4 by putting the wheel and dials on the proper side of the device, unlike Fallout 3, which the devs thankfully acknowledged as a design oversight.
"It's only years later that I realized we should have put the knobs and control on the right side of the screen as opposed to the left, this would have been considerably more ergonomic. Oh well, ergonomics were never a priority in design for this era."
BrookM wrote: It's mostly so they can use the Brotherhood again. I'm surprised they managed to keep the Enclave out aside from a single cameo / reference (as far as I can tell).
Though they no doubt fear that a departure from the established factions (BoS, super mutants and raiders) and bits of fluff (blue jumpsuit and bulky wrist computer) will result in it not being Fallout enough.
"We want to make our game distinctive from the originals, see we've stuck it on the other side of the country" > makes a bastardised version of the originals which hits the same notes, but has none of the substance.
At least they remedied the Brotherhood's out of character goody two shoes attitude in 4, but there's still no reason why there's Super Mutants other than "because". Heh, aye at least they were original enough not to have the Enclave come back from the dead (again).
With the Brotherhood though, they're a bit odd, as Bethesda - as with many, many other points of the canon - is choosing to do their own thing. Obsidian reiterated the lore from Fallout 2 with New Vegas - that the Brotherhood had ceased to be an effective organisation. Queue Fallout 3 and 4 where they have hundreds of soldiers, and rule vast areas. Apparently Maxon was given the title of Elder of the East Coast Brotherhood by the West Coast Elders. Sure... ignoring that Obsidian implied that Hidden Valley was one of the few, if not the last, Brotherhood base on that coast (or maybe Maxon sent a message, the Hidden Valley Elder answered it and then bluffed his way through? ...Whilst missing out the part where he was like "wait, you have all those resources. Would you mind high tailing your ass back here with that airship to help us?".
I like Bethesda's games as a time sink, though they require you to disconnect your brain a lot of the time. Once you actually start thinking about their lore - even whilst ignoring its conflicts with established canon - they fall flat. Skyrim leaned *heavily* on playing the unreliable narrator / Dragon Break did it stuff, instead putting the time into bothering with consistency. "Why's this thing in the game" - because it seemed cool - "yeah, but why? You've not explained anything, its just there..."
I was playing Fallout 4 last night and came upon a guy impersonating Preston Garvey. I went through the dialogue and finished the encounter then though, "hang on, what if I had Preston here (I had previously bricked Preston into the walls of The Castle to stop his incessant blithering about those procedural generated quests)?". *spawns in Preston*. Neither character even acknowledged the situation, which was a massive let down, and just seemed so, so... lazy (what'd it take to code and record a single line of dialogue of Preston snorting or something as the guy ran away?). . :/
With the Brotherhood though, they're a bit odd, as Bethesda - as with many, many other points of the canon - is choosing to do their own thing. Obsidian reiterated the lore from Fallout 2 with New Vegas - that the Brotherhood had ceased to be an effective organisation. Queue Fallout 3 and 4 where they have hundreds of soldiers, and rule vast areas. Apparently Maxon was given the title of Elder of the East Coast Brotherhood by the West Coast Elders. Sure... ignoring that Obsidian implied that Hidden Valley was one of the few, if not the last, Brotherhood base on that coast (or maybe Maxon sent a message, the Hidden Valley Elder answered it and then bluffed his way through? ...Whilst missing out the part where he was like "wait, you have all those resources. Would you mind high tailing your ass back here with that airship to help us?".
This is overlooking the fact that by this point, in the New Vegas ending which is most likely to be Canon (NCR), the NCR and Brotherhood has negotiated a truce and are peacefully coexisting once again (with the NCR returning all captured power armour, and the Brotherhood helping to patrol I-15). So perhaps the reason why the West Coast Brotherhood choose not to summon Maxson and his Chapter back to the west coast is because they don't want to jeopardise that truce with the NCR.
Crossing the American continent isn't easy either, even for the Brotherhood. They took a fair amount of casualties and lot several airships (the Mid-West Chapter) on the original journey to the east coast. The Brotherhood might have concluded its not worth the resources. They can't match the NCR's vast reserves of manpower in a war of attrition, even if Maxson comes West. Its in their interests to establish a large Brotherhood of Steel state/territory on the East coast to recruit and gather tech to strengthen themselves over the long term.
Co'tor Shas wrote: Yeah, it's basically a tablet. The pip boy 2000 mod for F:NV is something I,always installed, as it removed the ugly thing from your wrist.
I am a dirty casual and only started playing the Fallout series with 3, but I like the clunky wrist model. Along with the blue suit it really does identify you as a vault dweller and I like that distinction. Especially how other characters in the various games recognize the Pipboy and treat you with either awe or disdain depending on their view on vault dwellers.
I just googled the 2000 model and it is pretty interesting looking, but since it wasn't my first Pipboy it doesn't hold as much appeal as the wrist version.
Well, my first game was was F:NV, I just don't like the ugly model ruining my character's getup.
If they did 20-40 years since the war, sure, but 200 is way too much. It was even worse with FO3 as well. But they were still stuck in the ES mindset, in which the 3rd era along was more than 400 years.
Yes, but 20-40 years after a Nuclear Holocaust is not going to be much fun either. 20 years and we'd be playing in the nuclear winter, not being able to see far enough for sniper tactics to work at all, and getting fatal radiation poisoning every half hour. Radiation half-life can be up to thousands of years [or as little as a few minutes].
OK, you are saying that there is a problem, but I don't believe reducing the time after the war will solve it.
Arguments for a shorter time include the abundance of cars. 200 years after a holocaust, there would not be any external steel or iron to be seen, never mind those vehicle shells that are really abundant. There would also be no Nuka-Cola left in existence. No company would ever produce a stockpile of goods that would last for 200 years+.
But on the other hand, it can't be as little as 40 years either. 40 years and a lot of plastic bags would still be in evidence, there would be more plastic cutlery, plastic toys, etc. around.. But even then, you'd have no Nuka-Cola unless there is some automated plant somewhere that is still collecting the ingredients, producing the recipes as it knows them, or as best it can follow them. There would be very little in the way of vegetation for any herbivore to eat in large areas, so there would be a lot more starvation going on.
On the whole, I am quite willing to forgive the errors that have crept into the Fallout series as most of them are down to decisions on making the game more playable and enjoyable.
With the Brotherhood though, they're a bit odd, as Bethesda - as with many, many other points of the canon - is choosing to do their own thing. Obsidian reiterated the lore from Fallout 2 with New Vegas - that the Brotherhood had ceased to be an effective organisation. Queue Fallout 3 and 4 where they have hundreds of soldiers, and rule vast areas. Apparently Maxon was given the title of Elder of the East Coast Brotherhood by the West Coast Elders. Sure... ignoring that Obsidian implied that Hidden Valley was one of the few, if not the last, Brotherhood base on that coast (or maybe Maxon sent a message, the Hidden Valley Elder answered it and then bluffed his way through? ...Whilst missing out the part where he was like "wait, you have all those resources. Would you mind high tailing your ass back here with that airship to help us?".
This is overlooking the fact that by this point, in the New Vegas ending which is most likely to be Canon (NCR), the NCR and Brotherhood has negotiated a truce and are peacefully coexisting once again (with the NCR returning all captured power armour, and the Brotherhood helping to patrol I-15). So perhaps the reason why the West Coast Brotherhood choose not to summon Maxson and his Chapter back to the west coast is because they don't want to jeopardise that truce with the NCR.
Crossing the American continent isn't easy either, even for the Brotherhood. They took a fair amount of casualties and lot several airships (the Mid-West Chapter) on the original journey to the east coast. The Brotherhood might have concluded its not worth the resources. They can't match the NCR's vast reserves of manpower in a war of attrition, even if Maxson comes West. Its in their interests to establish a large Brotherhood of Steel state/territory on the East coast to recruit and gather tech to strengthen themselves over the long term.
I was erring towards canon Independent actually...
Nah I was legitimately saying the East Coast Brotherhood should go back to the West Coast (god no). Rather that Bethesda with showing how strong the Brotherhood are in there games undermines the rest of the series where even by Fallout 2 the organisation was on its last legs (a similar thing which Fallout: Tactics did - which threw canon out the window).
Something which's irked me since first playing the game. It feels very rushed. Skyrim wasn't that bad, but the amount of mistakes with level design I see when playing is a bit annoying. Most Vaults have one area where the sections don't clip together right for instances, or where you see floating clutter items. The one I came across yesterday was in one of the Gunner vaults (which, like the rest of the vaults, could *really* do with expanding on what the hell happened after the initial experiment) - the one with the child soldiers - in the Overseer's room I casually throw the Grognak magazine there over my character's shoulder. The magazine there was then stuck against the wall oddly. It'd hooked itself against a light panel which was a couple of inches off of the wall.
Bethesda must have become stricter with the level design quota this time around. For previous games it was two regular cells a day, or one large cell. Yes, I'm being nitpicky, but the amount of little things like that in this game which I see compared to previous games (which did have their fair share) is just indicative of the higher up's attitude towards what they want to do with the series (and yeah, I'm aware that Jim Stirling did make light that Bethesda did next to no testing when it came to Fallout 4, gotta ship it quick to make the bucks...).
Wyrmalla wrote: I came across yesterday was in one of the Gunner vaults (which, like the rest of the vaults, could *really* do with expanding on what the hell happened after the initial experiment)
What happened is that everyone died. At least everyone who likes to write notes or type onto terminals. What more could be said?
Wyrmalla wrote: ...Something which's irked me since first playing the game. It feels very rushed. Skyrim wasn't that bad, but the amount of mistakes with level design I see when playing is a bit annoying. Most Vaults have one area where the sections don't clip together right for instances, or where you see floating clutter items...
Yeah. Having built a dungeon myself in the creation kit, I know how hard it can be to find and fix all the little cracks and other bugs. But I am continually shocked at how many errors I'm finding in some places.
For example, Automatron, in the rust devil's base, and in the (forgets name) robo-shop where you find the first robobrain, there are so many gaps in the walls, and overlapping items (and not slightly, there's at least 2 occasions of a pair of boxes that have been positioned in the same place as if the other doesn't exist. That one was really rushed out.
And not to mention the mess that is the world's nav-mesh. That was definitely a matter of "let the computer do it, and not bother to check it later".
Wyrmalla wrote: I came across yesterday was in one of the Gunner vaults (which, like the rest of the vaults, could *really* do with expanding on what the hell happened after the initial experiment)
What happened is that everyone died. At least everyone who likes to write notes or type onto terminals. What more could be said?
In New Vegas for example when you go into a Vault full of Raiders there's a story for why the Raiders are there. In 4 you go to one of the Vaults filled with Gunners and Bethesda leaves it at "*something* happened to the Vault Dwellers, oh and now some Gunners are here". There's no background as to what went wrong in the Vault originally, what happened to the original inhabitants or who the new inhabitants are other than another bunch of generic enemies to kill. Not to mention that its like the level designers were told "make a ruined Vault" and then were told to add the enemies as an after though. If you removed the odd ammo can or piece of Gunner graffiti, there's barely anything to distinguish those Vaults from places which were wrecked by the inhabitants, and ones which have had new people living in them for decades (I mean stick in some more Wasteland set pieces, etc).
And writing this, anyone else irked by the amount of skeletons you find in the game in inhabited areas? I was just thinking about that Vault and there being skeletons just lying in the hallways. ...Even bad people tend to clean up that sort of thing. They're hard coded into settlements so you can't just open the console and disable them - they respawn after reloading the save. :/
At first the game came across as having little depth compared to the others, but liveable. Now I'm playing it and just seeing how rushed the whole thing was. Hmn, I can't find an article by Jim Sterling on the subject, though he's definitely let it slide in his podcasts that his contacts at Bethesda didn't paint a very good picture of the game's development (Todd Howard in particular seems to be one of the driving forces behind dumbing down the world and story design.People who'd worked with him on older Elder Scrolls said he was the type of player who just wanted to hit everything with a sword, instead of bothering with dialogue options).
I always figured the vault with the unexplained gunners was the origin place of the gunners. It makes sense to me, what with the disciplined original inhabitants. After they took over the place some of them probably just decided to become high quality mercenaries/raiders since fighting is the only thing they're good at.
Of course, that's just a guess. The gunners don't really have a backstory otherwise.
Also, with the Skeletons, at least for the ones in the Starlight Drive-In settlement, I've found I can just pick up a tire and use it to push the skeletons away and they won't return. I just moved them behind the workshop bench shed. Too bad it doesn't work for those ghoul corpses and such. I hope you haven't scraped every loose tire.
I think the Vault that trained and brainwashed kids to become soldiers was the origin of the Gunners. The kids revolted, overthrew the staff of the Vault and escaped into the Wasteland, only to become the very thing they were intended to be. And over the years as they grwew LD and died they were replaced by their own children and new recruits who were raised in the ways of the Gunners. So not even the Gunners remember their own origins now except as legends.
Aye, or the Gunners are the remnants of the US army, being that they're inhabiting where the last holdout was recorded and wearing their gear.
...Or Bethesda could have done more than a cursory bit of fluff about them? They're supposed to be mercenaries, but shoot everyone on site, so just become generic raiders. They're the game's stand in for baddies who have better gear than your average mook, the same as Talon Company from 3, and with just as little background.
I'm fine with showing, not telling ...though you need to at least bother with some cursory fluff instead of just dropping some random enemies in a location (which very little has been done to show they inhabit) and letting the players assume why they're there. Had it been a game which didn't seem so rushed I'd put that down to showing, not telling, but in this I'll chalk it up to there not being enough time allocated in the budget.
I'm replaying it with no mods so far and it just really...I dunno, doesn't feel like it has that much replayability? I mean everything is happening exactly the same more or less. Slightly different orders, but really unless I want to just randomly start shooting people to anger one faction or the other ahead of the forced choices at the end, it really doesn't feel like it'll play out significantly differently.
I'm on my third or fourth replay right now. With these types of games I really like the early game where you're scavenging everything, though as you level up everything becomes rather similar. With Survival on there's little difference to this mechanic, rather you wind up fighting tougher enemies (who have tons of ammo, till they die and only have a few rounds...) with the same resources, which is just annoying.
Dialogue options are moot for the most part. Your average conversation involves one path which branches into a yes or no question at the end. Most of the points beforehand amount to the player choosing multiple ways to phrase the same question (which the NPC then replies to in the same way). The criticism which I had when I first started playing this game that there's no "bad" dialogue options the majority of the time other than "kill them" stands. You can pick sarcastic (which I tend to do just in the hope the player model doesn't pull that daft smile again), though in the end you still need to do what the NPC says to the letter (which tends to involve you going out and killing someone).
There's that one NPC trader you meet early on who you have the opportunity to rob. The problem I have with her is that she then goes to Sanctuary and stands about there for the rest of the game telling you to feth off. I'm cool with her not liking you, but damn does the game lay it on heavy that it doesn't like you doing bad things. Where's the tick to have her wander off somewhere else in a few days ...as otherwise your average player will just shoot her in the face for bothering them - which isn't really reinforcing the arbitrary karma thing.
The current issue with the game is that the modding scene is drying up fast. There was little support for it to begin with due to Bethesda wanting to setup its paid store. What we have now with the release of Skyrim Remastered are those who moved to Fallout 4 from Skyrim going back to that (the Skyrim scene itself having remained fairly lively). The Script Extender team's quit supporting Fallout 4, as have some fairly large modders cancelled what they were working on. Its a pity, as the game still has a lot of potential, Bethesda just shoot the thing in the foot unfortunately.
Here's hoping that Obsidian does wind up with the license to make their own spinoff eventually, if Bethesda thinks that's viable at this point.
Early level scavenging is really a highlight for me. I often drop everything from the tutorial and punch out the first raider I see, wear their stuff, wield their weapons and go from there.
I also liked starting off with nothing in Fallout 3 and New Vegas DLC when I could. Like going into Honest Hearts with only some pre-war clothes and a 10mm pistol with only 2 full reloads, which is quickly ditched for whatever the natives are wearing. Used only the arms and armour given in The Pitt. But Fallout 4 just doesn't feel as viable to play without level appropriate gear. The fog monsters of Far Harbor will rip the locals to shreds in the opening attack if I don't bring a good gun. Putting the Gauntlet & Overboss so early also makes it feel like a bad move to not bring some good armour and stimpacks. Plus you can't drop your caps anywhere, so to empty my pockets I have to buy a bunch of shipments or give it to the Brother Thomas of the Pillars of the Community.
I suppose the player character from F3 & F:NV is a lot tougher and stronger when unarmed and unarmoured than in F4. So dropping everything just isn't the same, considering how long it takes to kill someone with your bare hands.
You're of sterner stuff than me. I've attempted a second playthrough a week or so ago, but after putting in a few hours I've uninstalled the game again, as it was a repeat of the first playthrough, with not much new.
Oh I came home today and uninstalled the game. It was just bugging me so much and becoming a massive time sink.
When I say playthrough, I meant a new character with maybe a dozen hours into them. The furthest into the game I made it was just before reaching the Institute. I've completed Far Harbour twice, as that environment is so much more interesting than the base game, though its *really* short.
If you like the isometric style of the original 2 Fallout games, then I recommend Wasteland 2. Quite a fun game, like a cross between Fallout and X Com.
I played Wasteland 2, though I dropped off of it after things became a little convoluted. I think it a while after the Railhead stuff, which was intesting, but the way you resolve that with a peaceful ending was a bit too "Guide dang it" for me.
I'm awaiting the Numenera game whenever that comes out. Tyranny looked alright, though I'm not really into the Bronze Age fantasy setting it has. Pillars of Eternity was more my thing, I just didn't have the time to play it, as did some of it carry over things I didn't like from stuff like Baldur's Gate. If there was a game similar to Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, and didn't feel half finished I'd be into that (Pillars of Eternity seemed to carry over a lot of the tropes, but it went in different places).
Nah, I quit the game following the zombie bunker place and trying to make it back into the original base which the bandits had taken over. I had other stuff to play, so didn't bother going any further. I think I played Shadowrun Returns again or something.
If you ever have the time, you really should try to go there. The game opens up a lot afterwards. (Also, AFAIK, the only way into that compound is to get an item in LA).
I've now managed to finish exploring the DLC areas and can post my thoughts (for what it's worth):
The story for Far Harbour is probably the best of the bunch. Vault-tec doesn't really have a story, it's just a glorified settlement add-on. Atomotron is not much better; it's a simple idea used to add in the robot building. Which leaves Far Harbour and "Raiders!"... I mean Nuka-world.
The NW story is again just there as an excuse to add in a new area to explore and some half-hearted gameplay elements.
The FH story does at least seem to make a difference to the people you meet (even if it's still mostly by making them dead, the alive ones do appear to be affected).
Becoming a raider in NW really feels tacked on. There's no incorporation into the base game. Up until you go to NW you are forced to play the good guy; you can't say "no" to anyone, you still get the quest to go and get something / help someone, and you're always hailed as a hero.
Then off you go to NW and can return to raid your own settlements... Why? If I'm in control of all the settlements, I don't need to raid them. I could easily send the excess stock of food to the raiders without bothering. No option to do this in game, and no advantages to you to do it either (other than a couple of perks).
Really needed to be woven more neatly into the game from the start. Not to mention companion / npc reactions etc. (no infiltration options as with the rest of the game)
For the explorer though, Far Harbour is a bit boring. Every area of the island is basically the same; you've seen one area, you've seen it all.
NW however, is better with the various zones to explore, and even outside the park is more interesting than FH (although a bit too sparse compared to the base game).
Even exploring the Vault 88 caverns was more interesting than FH (although much much shorter), likewise Atomo'n (even though there's so many level design faults).
But they all killed a few extra hours, were generally enjoyable, but I'm now back to building settlements.
This time the Castle. Keep your Diamond city, this is the Pentagon city.
When I first visited the Castle I wanted to fill the interior courtyard with buildings, but was disappointed when just "fixing" the walls brought me close to the size limit for the settlement system.
I didn't let that stop me though; console commands were used to raise the size limit, again and again...
I started by planning out the walkways at ground level, attempting to keep to the pre-defined npc routes. I then build buildings around this network of paths. These expanded upwards and/or other buildings were placed on top and walkways were added to join them all up at all levels.
Then I had to decided what all these rooms were going to be. This was tricky as I'd created many more areas than I could imagine. But mods came to the rescue with many more jobs for settlers to do, and with a few storerooms I managed to give all the areas a theme.
Quite a long video (there's a lot going on), but come and see the sights:
A Minuteman museum,
Restaurant and bar,
Shops shops shops,
Barbers,
Information post,
Workshop area,
Minutemen radio post (as found in the game, but expanded),
Clinic and Surgery centre,
Farm and Botany centre,
Large Bathroom/Shower/exercise area,
The General's quarters and command centre,
Intelligence centre and data storage,
Residential areas,
Railroad safe area (this is my railroad / Minutemen character),
Reactor room,
Gun range,
Depot,
and more...
The final size is over 10 times that of the vanilla limit. It really pushed my PC to it's limits, so forgive the frame-drops.
and you get to see my first character at the start of the video.
In addition to that, this is my updated mod list:
Spoiler:
Textures:
- .44 Magnum Retexture - Exodus
- Assault Rifle Retexture AR-51 - Devious_Methods
- Better Ammo Boxes Overhaul - Devious_Methods
- CC's Improved Vanilla Holotapes - ClearanceClarence
- Delightful Dead Fish - 83Willow
- Enhanced Blood Textures - dDefinder
- EoW Pre-war books Retexture - Emissary of Wind
- exShinras Better Brick Textures - exShinra
- Eyewear and Mask retexture - Castell
- Fallout 4 HD Reworked Project - Halk_Hogan_PL
- Fallout Texture Overhaul PipBoy - Gorgulla
- Faraway Area Reform (LOD) - SparrowPrince
- Gauss Rifle Retexture - AlexScorpion
- High Resolution Texture Pack - Valius
- More Realistic Pipe Weapon Textures - AlexSlesh
- Optimised Vanilla Textures - Myst
- Retextured Chems - Ben Ephla
- Retextured First Aid Kits - Ben Ephla
- Scratchmade New Combat Shotgun and Rifle Textures - Millenia
- Scratchmade New Double Barrel Shotgun Textures - Millenia
- Sharp Shacks - Jah
- Tookie's Textures Grass and Plants - Tookie Jones
- Vivid Fallout Landscapes - Hein84
- Vivid Fallout Roads and Bridges - Hein84
- Vivid Fallout Rocks - Hein84
- Wasteland Creatures Redone - DOOM
- Water Enhanced - Jmane2009
Crafting:
- 1x1 Craftable Foundation pieces - DDProductions83
- Better Stores - Blazeda59
- Business Settlements (standalone) - Tamayo831
- Concrete walls with Window Glass - Cartman1975
- Craftable Balcony Supports - DarthWayne
- Craftable Floor Patches - Takeanumber
- Craftable Glass Stuff - DDProductions83
- Craftable Pillars and Support braces - DDProductions83
- Craftable Ramps and Rails - DDProductions83
- Craftable tall walls and Spacers - DDProductions83
- CWSS Redux v2 - steve40 and Flipdeezy
- Do it Yourshelf - dinozaurz
- Eli's Craftable Flower Pots - Elianora
- FAC Paintings - Foggypath
- Half Width shack walls - CitizenRandom
- Homemaker - Nova Coru
- Immersive Vendors - Xgrufijury
- Lore Friendly Posters - Dhegonus
- Minutemen Morale Pack - EvilViking13
- NorthlandDiggers - Ludvig08
- OCDecorator - McFace (Geoff Dow)
- Old World Plaids - LupusYondergirl
- OSHA Unapproved Safety Signage - BlandSauce
- Settlement Objects Expansion Pack - ccmads
- Snap 'n Build - ad3d0
- Thematic and Practical - 5ike
- Vertical Power Conduits - Daedragon
- Warehouse Shelves for Components and ammo - Cartman1975
- Where did I put that - OctaviusSentibar
- Window Floor and Roof Boards - Necrocytosis
- Working Table Lamps - FrauZockinsky
Others:
- Armor and Weapons Keyword Community Resource - Valdacil and Gambit 77
- Armorsmith Extended - Gambit 77
- Better Cooking Stations - Steve40
- Better Settlers - Thom293
- Bugfix for Dismissed Companion Endless Babble - spacefiddle
- Coastal Cottage Cave - DrSPH
- DEF_UI - Neanka, Valdacil, Old Nick, ParasiteX, Sekoms
- Don't call me Settler - a1a3a6a9
- Elevator Button Fix - Seb263
- English Strings for Fallout 4 - Seraphiel
- Full Dialogue Interface - Cirosan and Shadwar
- HUDFramework - Registrator2000
- Immersive HUD - Gopher
- Improved map with visible roads - mm137
- Power Armor HUD - Gopher
- Power Armor Materials AND Paints - Mcgan
- Ponytail Hairstyles - Azar
- Realistic Ragdoll Force - dDefinder
- Regent - Billyro
- Settler Sandbox Expansion - Axle356258
- Targeting HUD Enhanced - Yukichigai
- Uncapped Settlment Surplus - IDontEvenKnow
- Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch -
- Valdacil's Item Sorting - Valdacil
- Vault-Tec Workshop Overhaul - PMB
- Workshop Spotlight fix - ccmads
- X-01 Invisible Flashlight Remove - Castell
- You Talk Too Much - akkalat85
).
off the mayor or she'll introduce you to Lola. You won't like Lola:
