Fallout 4

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
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VATS doesn't suck at all though. It just requires a few perks and some extra PE (assuming most people stop at 4 for Locksmith, leaving them with shit for accuracy in VATS). It's even better if you use the mod I linked yesterday that puts VATS back to pausing the game while you select targets. Seriously, fuck whoever thought that change was a good idea.



I tend to agree that adding in "magic" weapons was a pretty silly design decision. Even that explosive shotgun I have breaks the game, since I decided to try a dense armor mod on my chest and found out that it prevents almost all explosive damage. It may actually be ~15 DT rather than X% DR; I need to test further to see if enemies with rocket launchers can still kill me. The shotgun seems to do literally no damage to myself anymore though.

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Edit: For mats, aluminum and oil are the big ones for me. Constantly out of that shit no matter how much trivial junk I pick up. Leather is probably #3, every time I get new armor I'm out of leather again, but as long as I tag it and pick some stuff up I can stockpile enough before the next time I find an upgrade. Scrapper is fucking worthless--anyone still early in the game, DO NOT waste even one perk on it. The one and only thing it gives that is actually scarce is aluminum, but breaking down guns doesn't give anywhere near enough of it to justify the weight when you can just go pick up cans instead.



You can take any perk that you meet the SPECIAL requirement for. Higher ranks of each perk also have level requirements.
yeah, also feel like scrapper is worthless, I was expecting more. modded weapons do give mats, but not high enough to justify it. Especially with weapon weight, and the alternative of selling weapons to vendors.
got to ask about leather again... how? are you not picking up raider gear at all? every raider you kill should be like 5 leather...
 

DrLifetilt_sl

shitlord
230
1
I haven't got a single issue with materials yet, the key is to know what to loot. From my experience so far the rarest mat is Fiber Optics.
 

hodj

Vox Populi Jihadi
<Silver Donator>
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Since I'm going to reroll tonight can anyone help me out on my initial SPECIAL allocation for a sneak/sniper?
If you go back a few pages, I and someone else made two very good posts on this subject already, it would be a hassle to completely rewrite it. Gimme a minute and I'll try to find them and repost them here so you can go back and read them.

Here's my post on the subject

Vvoid:

My starting stats at the beginning of the game were S: 1 P: 4 E: 3 C:4 I:5 A:5 L: 6. This unlocks the following Perks from each tree for Perk point investment right off the bat:

Str: Iron Fist
Per: Pickpocket, Rifleman, Awareness, Locksmith
End: Toughness, Lead Belly, Lifegiver
Chr: Cap Collector, Lady Killer/Black Widow, Lone Wanderer, Attack Dog
Int: VANS, Medic, Gun Nut, Hacker, Scrapper
Agi: Gunslinger, Commando, Sneak, Mister Sandman, Action Boy/Action Girl
Lck: Fortune Finder, Scrounger, Bloody Mess, Mysterious Stranger, Idiot Savant, Better Criticals

Now, I planned for my "final"* stats to be the following

S: 3 P: 4 E: 3 C: 6 I: 6 A: 6 l: 8

*("Final" being defined as: The target point for all my stats to be at to unlock all the major abilities I wanted "first", as in, to reach a point where I have so much shit that it doesn't matter anymore and I can waste excess perk points doing things like maxing out my SPECIAL scores, and leveling up perks I don't care about at all, like Big Leagues and Iron Fist and whatnot)

This further unlocks the following Perks for investment:

Str: Big Leagues, Armorer
Per: None
End: None
Chr: Animal Friend, Local Leader
Int: Science!
Agi: Moving Target
Lck: Critical Banker, Grim Reaper's Sprint

To this end, after the game starts and you're in the world, this means I need the Bobbleheads for Str, Chr, Int, Agi, Lck, and I still need to invest 3 other points into Str, Chr, and Lck. You're going to get the Perception Bobblehead in the first hour of the game anyway, so that's not even an issue, and your Perception will be 1 point higher than my planned final stats as a result anyway, which is a good thing. I wear a pair of sunglasses that gives me +1 Perception all the time, so I have an effective 6 Perception for a relatively low cost as a result.

The way I accomplished attaining the rest of my "final" SPECIAL scores was to use the You're SPECIAL book from the start of the game in Shaun's bedroom in your house in Sanctuary to invest 1 point into Str, and then I dumped my first two levels worth of perk points into Chr and Lck. So you'll need to spoil yourself on the Bobblehead locations, though you really can't get most of the needed ones prior to like lvl 10-15 anyway so its not like you have to rush them, but you will want to get them as close to levels 15-20 as possible in order to unlock all the entry level perks you're talking about here.

The Perks I wanted/took by lvl 15 were:

Rank 1 Gunslinger, Rank 1 Lifegiver, Rank 1 Action Boy, Rank 1 Sneak, Rank 1 Bloody Mess, Rank 1 Better Crits, Rank 1 Locksmith, Rank 1 Medic, Rank 1 Crit Banker, Rank 1 Hacker, Rank 2 Gunslinger, Rank 1 Scrounger

That got me to lvl 15.

From that point I've taken these Perks:

Rank 3 Gunslinger, Rank 1 Rifleman, Rank 1 Fortune Finder, Rank 2 Rifleman, Rank 1 Gun Nut, Rank 3 Rifleman

That got me to lvl 21

My next 4 levels I plan to take

Rank 1 Armorer, Rank 1 Science!, Rank 1 Local Leader, and Rank 2 Action Boy

That gets me to lvl 25 with the ability to strip and remod armor and weapons of most types, allows me to start setting up settlement trade routes, makes me able to use rifles and pistols with 60% damage boost (including rifle and pistol laser weapons), gives me some extra health to make up for the low Endurance, allows me stimpacks to heal 40% of my health, allows me to unlock advanced level locks and hack advanced level computers, I can bank up to 2 crits for tactical use in VATS, gives me a bonus I think 10% damage (thanks to bloody mess), and allows my Action Points to regen faster.

Places you can alter shit are pretty obvious. You can go with only rifles or only pistols, limiting flexibility but opening up 3 perk points for use elsewhere. You can skip Fortune Finder and Scrounger and that opens up two more perk points for placement elsewhere, you can probably skip Bloody Mess if you want for another perk point (that makes 6 perk points that can be applied elsewhere). You can change the order of perks taken to unlock modifying weapons and armor and shit earlier if you want. You can retool some of the SPECIAL stats, but that will change what Perks are unlocked at first.

Here's a full list of the Perks, what they do with each rank, what level is required to unlock them, etc.

Fallout 4 perks - The Fallout wiki - Fallout 4 and more - Wikia

If you have any questions feel free to ask. If you want to change anything around, feel free to do so. This will get you to level 25, at which point you can easily expend perk points basically wherever you feel like, but I mostly suggest from 25-40 or maybe even 50 (I haven't actually planned it out that far yet) to invest most of your perk points into ranking up the perks you've already unlocked.

About the only thing I think I'm missing from your list of wants is maybe the persuading thing, but I think that's referencing Lady Killer/Black Widow? And you can easily divert some of the perk points that I mentioned previously from things like Fortune Finder and Scrounger to unlock that if you'd prefer. Under this point distribution that Perk is unlocked right from the get go with no additional SPECIAL score investment needed.

Hope that helps.
Here's Vorph's post on the subject

If I was starting over I'd go with something like:
YcTcOAp.png

You're SPECIAL! magazine point goes into CH. Bobbleheads are required for all but EN. Not sure what to say there, I consider them crucial to any optimized build and I'm not sure how you'd work around that. You never want a single extra point in SPECIAL that could have gone to a perk instead. I only used the most vague spoilers possible, "X is located in this building" or whatever. Figuring out where they are and how to get them relatively early on was the real challenge.

Also, I delay the crafting perks if I don't need them for anything when I hit a particular level, and take the next regular perk that's available. Rifleman, Locks, Hacker, Sneak, Ninja, and Local Leader are the only perks that I'd consider carved in stone as far as the level listed goes.
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
44,082
115,422
S - 2
P - 3 (Bobblehead at beginning)
E - 1
C - 5 (I used SPECIAL book to up it to 6)
I - 4
A - 7
L - 4

I play a sneaker/crit guy but I don't use Ninja or the Perception perks as I use pistols mostly. This should start you out well though.

Edit: Also, did any of you listen to the Runaway's Holotape? That is a real gem of voice acting. Very compelling side-lore.

The small touches like that and the Boylston club make the gameworld all the more interesting.
 

Troll_sl

shitlord
1,703
7
Since I'm going to reroll tonight can anyone help me out on my initial SPECIAL allocation for a sneak/sniper?
I'd go something like... S(1) P(4) E(1/3) C(3/5) I(5) A(7) L(5). Choose E1/C5 or E3/C3.

That'll net you immediate access to lockpicking, hacking, idiot savant, lone wanderer (if you forgo companions) and ninja for either build. If you pick E1/C5, use the YOU'RE SPECIAL! book on Charisma to get access to Local Leader. If you go E3/C3, you'll get access to Life Giver (a good perk IMO) and use the book on Luck for access to Better Criticals. The Perception bobblehead will let you access Demolition Expert which is underrated.

Personal preference is on E3/C3. I don't find Local Leader all that impressive or useful, personally. But that depends on how much you enjoy settlements. And the extra health from Endurance and Life Giver are big, imo.
 

Jait

Molten Core Raider
5,035
5,317
I've also decided to sell all my jet. Psycho/medx and others aren't too bad, but jet is an IWin button and it's really easy to get.
Things genuine addicts say...

Cracked me up. Your fallout4 character may need an intervention down the road. Don't try to go cold turkey.
 

DrLifetilt_sl

shitlord
230
1
Since I'm going to reroll tonight can anyone help me out on my initial SPECIAL allocation for a sneak/sniper?
Focus on Agility (+10 ap per point in VATS, can hold breath longer in scoped mode, sneak improves considerably) and Perception (higher chance to hit, needs to be 8+ for reliable headshots). It's going to take some time though to find/craft a good scoped weapon. Regarding sneaking, the weight of the armor you use is also important.
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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yeah, also feel like scrapper is worthless, I was expecting more. modded weapons do give mats, but not high enough to justify it. Especially with weapon weight, and the alternative of selling weapons to vendors.
got to ask about leather again... how? are you not picking up raider gear at all? every raider you kill should be like 5 leather...
I usually just pick up baseballs, baseball gloves, and animal hides. Armor is too heavy unless there's a crafting station nearby to break it down immediately.

Oh and I forgot about the rarest material of all: ballistic fiber. It's only salvaged from three items in the game that are all very to extremely rare. Fortunately there's a shipment you can buy from certain traders, because without that it would be an ungodly pain in the ass. (If you don't know why you would need a lot of fiber, you'll find out later. It's not just for putting dense/asbestos mods on your chest armor.)

I also find that Grape Mentats (+5 cha for 8mins) trivialize Charisma as a speech stat, such a bad design decision. You still need 6 Cha if you want Local Leader, but absolutely no need to go above that if you want it for speech checks.
Don't even need drugs if you have 6 CH for Local Leader. I get +5 from my clothes when it's time to talk to people, and at 11 CH I don't think it's possible to fail a red speech check. Definitely going to abuse grape mentats on my melee playthrough with 1-2 CH though. Addiction isn't even really a concern since it's so easy to make refreshing beverages.
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
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I think addiction should be more serious that its absolute non-impact.

Like addiction should really mess with you for awhile. That would be interesting. Like the cure should take 2 or 3 game days to "take effect" and if you use during that time you just get addicted again immediately.

Not that you couldn't just sleep through the 3 game days or something. But some mechanic to make addiction more serious.
 

Sludig

Potato del Grande
10,317
11,050
So with the whole grenade = melee key. Is there a good way to control which you get? I saw you can favorite grenade, but doesnt seem to be a equip directly or turn on/off feature. Not used to being able to have decent melee from main gun, want to use it more, but dont want to lob point blank one of my precious few frags. (10 hours in behind yall due to work. )
 

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
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So with the whole grenade = melee key. Is there a good way to control which you get? I saw you can favorite grenade, but doesnt seem to be a equip directly or turn on/off feature. Not used to being able to have decent melee from main gun, want to use it more, but dont want to lob point blank one of my precious few frags. (10 hours in behind yall due to work. )
short of a mod, or ini change which can probably be done..
hold for grenades,(listen for the click). tap for melee.

you can also just straight up entirely disequip grenades. and it wont ever through one. and then only equip one, when you really want to use it.
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Yeah, I really don't get the problem people have with power attack and grenade sharing the same key. I've never accidentally thrown a grenade when I wanted to power attack instead, with gamepad or keyboard.

That said, grenades are not terribly useful without Demo Expert 2+. Rank 1 lets you craft them but rank 2 lets you see the arc on your throw. I still use them occasionally without having the perk, but I have like 150 frags and 20-50 of the specialty ones stored away. Molotovs I just sell for caps or I'd have hundreds.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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VATS doesn't suck at all though. It just requires a few perks and some extra PE (assuming most people stop at 4 for Locksmith, leaving them with shit for accuracy in VATS). It's even better if you use the mod I linked yesterday that puts VATS back to pausing the game while you select targets. Seriously, fuck whoever thought that change was a good idea..
It really doesn't. Tuco keeps saying this, but its simply fucking wrong.
Sorry for being a little loose, I was more talking about what seems like a massive nerf in the apparent VATS DT relative to FO3. Have either of you used melee in VATS (which is what I was talking about).

Since I last talked about VATS my character got dramatically better and now VATS is really useful for ranged weapons like I thought it would be and I use it nearly every encounter I'm trying to play optimally in.
 

McFly

<Aristocrat╭ರ_•́>
1,326
901
I ReRolled at level 10 because I wanted more AGI and INT.

I also played until level 12 before going to Survival. When I start a new toon after I'm done with this guy I'll start out on Survival.

If you're over level 10 and you're not playing survival you're doing it wrong... or roleplaying.
 

VariaVespasa_sl

shitlord
572
5
Adhesive and Oil are my major bottle necks, though I am not doing the high CHA thing.
Reminder- 3 corn, 3 mutfruit, 3 tatos and 1 purified water gives you vegetable starch which you can salvage for 5 adhesive. Even without charisma you can still plant that stuff all over the place and put down a few big water purifiers and go adhesive-blind.

I'm having steel problems (and to a lesser degree wood and copper) because I build a lot of walls and moduled buildings and even clearing everything that can be cleared on almost all village sites cant keep up with it.
 

Gorehack

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,534
40
Bout done with my first playthrough. Next one is survival from level 1 from the start.

Gatling Laser and X-01 power armor makes everything at the end of the game just melt on very hard...you might as well be Liberty Prime
 

Sludig

Potato del Grande
10,317
11,050
Yeah, I really don't get the problem people have with power attack and grenade sharing the same key. I've never accidentally thrown a grenade when I wanted to power attack instead, with gamepad or keyboard.

That said, grenades are not terribly useful without Demo Expert 2+. Rank 1 lets you craft them but rank 2 lets you see the arc on your throw. I still use them occasionally without having the perk, but I have like 150 frags and 20-50 of the specialty ones stored away. Molotovs I just sell for caps or I'd have hundreds.
Havnt tried using them so far as im so early, but at least in FO3, I got pretty clutch just blind throwing them. Bottlecaps and frag grens where my favorite uh oh tough stuff wru ez kill.


Also on cha dialogue front, I think I might hotkey mentats, as I hate having to try to remember to equip cha gear (esp with suprise convos) before bartering/talking and the annoyance/time to open menu, scroll thru my shit find the right stuff, then reequip all the armor stuff after.
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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5,527
Sorry for being a little loose, I was more talking about what seems like a massive nerf in the apparent VATS DT relative to FO3. Have either of you used melee in VATS (which is what I was talking about).
Playing melee on PS4 but I'm not far enough in to judge. I feel like VATS itself isn't the problem so much as running out of AP and crits and having tonotuse VATS is. Also, it's really fucking hard to go back to slo-mo VATS after getting used to the pause mod.

Also on cha dialogue front, I think I might hotkey mentats, as I hate having to try to remember to equip cha gear (esp with suprise convos) before bartering/talking and the annoyance/time to open menu, scroll thru my shit find the right stuff, then reequip all the armor stuff after.
Pro-tip: Rename your items so they all line up alphabetically based on what they are for.
 

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
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yeah, I also am kindof meh on nades. I use them once in a while. but theres a few issues. anything I feel I need to use them on, is something that they won't do much damage to. power armor, deathclaws, etc.
the hold to throw mechanic also means using them is very slow. alot of down time, from firing. And aiming does suck. throwing out windows, etc. would be nice if the game had an auto target to avoid impacting on walls and shit. this is a larger complain with the games cover mechanic. guns do this alot too. you think you have los, and nope. shooting a window frame, railing, etc. Getting the game to reliably, lean out from cover is not easy.

Slow-mo VATS also reduces the usefulness of them. I DID manage to pull it off yesterday vs a death claw. Throw a grenade, open vats. shoot the grenade, for the right timing. Same with shooting rockets/grenades out of the air coming at you. Vats is so slow, that barely, or doesnt work anymore.

I have laid traps though. Frag minefields. I've pulled skull con supermutants into my settlement turrets.