I kinda wondered if that’s what I was seeing but it just seemed like it always pointed up. I’ll keep using it and maybe I’ll have an epiphany. 
Yea that confused me as well. The arrow does not indicate elevation but rather the point on the compass. I have yet to figure out how to see elevation.
You can also use the World Map for fast travel; invaluable in this game.
Once you have visited a place it will show up on the World Map. If you are outside, not in combat and not overloaded you can click on any place you have already visited to be instantly taken there. (Be warned, sometimes enemies will have respawned while you were gone and you will leap into a firefight).
The local map is useful because it shows where all the entrances and exits are and where they go.
Oh - so if I’m in a building and it’s pointing north, I have to go north but maybe 2 floors up?
That is correct. For the most part most of the maps are level. If you go up a real level most of the time it changes maps. In this case the pointer points you to the entrance/exit to the next map.
That should help some. But I like ME’s maps better - less thought on my part!
I agree. And elevation sensor of some sort would be cool…and maybe there is. I play on a Standard Def TV and on a HDTV there might be some sort of indication. Maybe you will see it on your Computer monitor. But regardless of the map this is one awesome game. I just found the Republic of Dave yesterday and thought it was awesomely funny. I just miss some of the random encounters you would get in the original two games like finding the Tardis or the Fuzzy Elvis paintings, the occasional crashed alien space ship, or the bridge and guy from Monty Python and the Holy Grail whop kills you instantly if you get a question wrong.
I finally got him. Now i find myself saving and reloading a lot more. Most of the time cause he dies but one time he jut ran away after being injured and never showed back up. But i do like my doggie companion.
Yeah, I have Dogmeat but I got so worried about losing him that I leave him at my house in Megaton most of the time. And he still cries to come with me.
Me: “But you’re safe here, boy! You’re safe! It’s a dangerous wasteland out there and… oh, come on.”
Dogmeat “Woof! (pant, pant)”
Me: Sigh…
Well, out of desperation I decided to load Fallout on my Crapy Old Computer that barely meets the standard. Of course it wouldn’t work as my Shiny New Computer can’t play the game, right? WRONG. It plays! Crappy graphics and all. At least I am in the game.
You can really tell this game uses the Oblivion AI. Maps are an example. Exactly like Oblivion, only harder to read. I suppose you can think of it like a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional radar. Your very own DRADIS. Supposedly you can change the settings of your game so the maps appear in different colours. Some think Amber is easier to read.
Using your own waypoints can help you keep a general direction in your head (map) while you wander around corridors or out in the wasteland. I will often waypoint doors that I know are out there somewhere but I can’t manage to find. I have no sense of direction.
Quests on the world map will give you a little path which will help you around obstacles. Highlighting different quests will highlight different quest waypoints for you so you can decide which ones to pursue. AND, as has been mentioned, fast travel is beautiful. You can’t do it from inside buildings or when enemies are around though.
The issue I am pondering at the moment is the question of how important build is. I wonder if I should have put more points into luck. I am thinking about restarting as I made soooooooooo many poor choices trying to get an understanding of the game. I even left that darn pip boy on Dad’s desk. Didn’t figure out the importance of THAT until I left the vault.
So, what is your build?
By Build to you mean Repair? I have found repair to be one of the more vital stats. I have it maxed but i never have to worry about having my weapons break. I can repair them back to full. Building weapons? i don’t know how much building relies on your skill.
But if you are going to have a higher Barter skill you can always get the people in the shops to repair things for you. But i have not seen them get them up to 100% which almost all my weapons are.
Repairing also lets you loose weight without dropping weapons. You can collect lots of armor then just repair it all back together. Same goes with weapons. Its a skill i think no matter how many times i play thru i will always tag.
Sorry, by build I mean character build. What points did you put in S.P.E.C.I.A.L.? And what were your preferred skills? I didn’t go lower than 5 on any character stat then added points to perception, endurance, intelligence and agility. I am wondering if I spread the points too thin. Also wondering if I should have added something to luck. (Yeah, I know those are contradictory “wonders”).
I agree that repair has been quite useful and I put quite a few points in this skill. I have added a lot of points to explosives and lock pick and now I am wondering if I wasted those points (though explosives was useful for the Megaton quest – not quite sure where else it would be useful). I might add more to lock pick though. Like oblivion, it appears you need to have lock pick score of 25, 50, 75 or 100 to be useful for the most part. Under 25, there’s not much point.
I added points to barter, but I wouldn’t do that again. I think I can live with running back and forth to the badlands and trading often. I might try more on speech though. I wonder if the added speech options are worth it. Any insight?
I put points in small guns and energy weapons. If I were to do it again, I would pick only one of those two.
I added points to sneak but only managed to sneak up on one person so far. I am guessing that this skill requires quite a few points before it becomes useful. (Reminds me of the sharpshooter skill in Mass Effect. I wondered why I put any points in it until close to max-out when I sniped practically everything. Man – that weapon was powerful.)
I prefer long range attacks but they do take quite a lot of time to mature. At this point, I seem to be getting kicked by just about everything except for feral ghouls.
So, what was your build?
Don’t undersell Sneak. I only have it at around 25 or so and it still comes in extremely handy.
Yeah, I can’t sneak directly up to someone and pickpocket (or reverse pickpocket) them but if you can see your target while sneaking and use VATS you get a major boost to damage.
As for build overall I won’t say that I have the best design ever but here are my suggestions.
Starting with your SPECIAL attributes, I would say put your points into Intelligence, Agility and Perception. The higher your intelligence the more skill points you get each level, the higher your agility the more action points you get to spend while using VATS and perception helps you spot enemies (those red bars on your compass) earlier and (I think) help with VATS also. You might even try dropping Strength a bit; you’ll have lower carry weight but the extra point may be more useful elsewhere.
Now for your skills. First, don’t try to max out all five combat skills (Unarmed, Melee, Small Guns, Heavy Weapons, Energy Weapons); you won’t have enough points left for any other skills. I would say take Small Guns and either Heavy or Energy weapons. Once you decide which “Big” Gun category to take you can sell the guns/ammo from the other type for extra caps. I avoid Melee and Unarmed since I’d prefer to take out my opponents at range (which is another reason why it is safe to lower your Strength).
Repair is very useful for several reasons. First, your weapons wear down and it is a lot cheaper to repair them yourself (as long as you have replacement parts) than to get someone else to do it. Also, when looting you can combine several crappy weapons/sets of armor into a single, better repaired version which is worth more caps and saves lots of weight.
Science and Lockpicking are useful since you use them to hack computer terminals and open locks. Science will also let you disable robots.
Stealth is useful as described above.
You need Explosives at least at 25 for a quest early on but I haven’t seen much use for it beyond that. You might be able to pop a few Mentats to boost your Intelligence enough to not need any adds in it at all.
Medical makes your Stimpacks more effective, which may or may not be useful depending on how you play. There is at least one sidequest that gets you a fairly nice item (gives +1 to luck) that depends on Medical.
I haven’t found Barter or Speech to be that useful. Barter gives you better prices at merchants but I haven’t found myself wanting for anything since very early in the game and haven’t found a case yet where Speech has hurt me.
(Note: If you don’t mind a bit of metagaming, you can always save your game before you try a Speech task and, if you fail, reload and try again until you succeed. You can use this trick for other things like the Explosives and Medical tasks I mentioned above too.)
Finally, don’t forget that you get a Perk at each level too. I can’t remember all of their names but get the one that gives you 3 extra skill points per level as soon as you can. Don’t bother with the one that gives an extra 10% experience; you’ll level up fast enough without it. There is one that gives a bonus to Small Guns and Repair; I’d say get that one.
Some other useful ones; there is a pair of perks (Gunslinger and Commando, I think) that give you bonuses when using VATS; one basically applies to using one-handed weapons and one to two-handed weapons. Get whichever one you prefer. Also grab Stronig Back when you get the chance; it increases how much you can carry. Use the perk that lets you add 1 to any of your SPECIAL attributes if you need to boost one in order to qualify for something else (for example, there is a minimum Strength for the Strong Back perk; if you reduced it too much earlier then use this perk to boost it back before taking Strong Back).
Black Widow may be useful if you are playing a female character (since your opponents seem to be disproportionately male) but Lady Killer is less useful for the same reason. (Both do give you occasional extra dialog options).
A few others I would say to avoid would be Little Leaguer (again, I think) that gives you a bonus to Melee and Explosives (which we aren’t using, remember?), the one that lets you find extra caps when exploring (I haven’t been hurting for caps) and Lead Stomach which reduces the radiation you take when drinking unpurified water (Radaway isn’t that hard to come by).
A few other notes. First, pay attention to the various bits of armor and clothing you pick up; some of them have bonuses of one type or another (for example, I have one set that adds to my Repair and Lockpicking and another that adds to Stealth). Just switch between them as needed.
Also, you should know that you can save stimpacks by drinking water. Yes, you gain radiation but the occasional radaway is cheaper than stimpacks. You can also completely heal yourself by sleeping an a bed. (You can sleep in any bed that doesn’t show red on your hud when you look at it; just make sure you have cleared the building you are in before sleeping.) Most buildings have a few beds in them.
Glad you are finally getting to play this awesome game.
Thanks Tanstaafl, that’s a lot of good info. I am going to start again, if only to get that stupid bobble head on Dad’s desk! I think I will take your ideas to heart. I enjoy being a long range snipping sneak character.
One thing I didn’t like about this game is the fact that you can get bad Karma without anyone actually seeing the bad deed. I snuck into an office, jimmied a lock and cracked a computer all without being detected. Yaaaa, one might think. But no! BAD KARMA. I’d prefer Karma based on what other characters can actually know about you. I usually play a bit of a rouge and conwoman who eventually makes good. But cons have to be charming and have good karma AND be able to hack and steal. The kind of person you trust to your detriment. Oh well, I will have to rethink my approach. Perhaps the best I can hope for is neutral Karma. Or I will have to play like I did in Mass Effect. Paragon all the way.
Came across this rather poignant scene in Minefield last night…
A bit of advice, save ALL the Pre-war books you find in those houses!
[spoiler]a scribe in the BOS will buy them off you for a 100 caps apiece.[/spoiler]
Same goes for the Suger Puffs
[spoiler] A ghoul will buy them off of you for 30 each over in the train station just north of Arafu[/spoiler]
And Metal Scraps
[spoiler] The water processing guy in Megaton will buy them for 30 a pop which is great for early in the game, but he has seemed to have disappeared in my game. Or a Ghoul in the Museum of history will trade you 5 pieces of metal for either a stimpack, radaway, or radex[/spoiler]
Dudes - I carry all that craaaaaaaaap, I can’t even walk! :eek:
Once you finish THE Megaton quest…
not really spoilery but just enough to warrant the spoiler tag…
[spoiler] You should get a house in Megaton or a Room at Ten Penny Towers in your room/house you can drop all your extra stuff in a locker and keep it there until you need it. I go unload after almost every quest everything but my armor and guns and drugs. Then when i go to sell things i take them out and sell the right away. Do not however just dump things in a random locker somewhere in the wastelands. People will find them and raid your stash.[/spoiler]
Thanks for the info. I haven’t been “falling out” at all for the past week. The hub leaves on Friday to go back to his mom’s for the week and go deer hunting, so I plan in playing lots this weekend. ANNNNND - our Papa Murphey’s opened this past weekend. Life. Is. Good. 