Good fallout 3 game mechanics guide

[413x]

Just started playing this game and think it will be one of favourite all time games!

I'm looking for a guide that is better than the instruction manual but not a walk through.

I'm kind of struggling with how all the ability and attributes link up. So I can figure out I need to put points in ABC attribute to make my character XYZ in the long run.

I'm the sort of person who wants to do everything and explore everywhere, really drag a game out. What I need to figure out is what play style I should choose!

Amazing amazing game that I rate along with civilization (pure rpgs are too much and time consuming for me)

For example
If I want to be a good sniper, good person and stealthy what perks and attributes do I put In? Ie can I afford to sacrifice X attribute or will it screw me? I'm finding it hard not to balance the attributes!
Also want to know how important certain concepts are.. Karma.. State of weapons conditions.. Ie.. Does karma affect something I don't know.. Does state of weapon affect its accuracy? Things that aren't obvious

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

Weapon condition affects how much damage the weapon will do in general, Karma affects how certain NPCs will treat you and being good, bad, or neutral can open up different followers for you. Also if your Karma is very low you'll have Regulators spawn occasionally to try and kill you, if your Karma is very high you'll have Talon Company try to execute you. Your best bet is to use the Fallout Wiki, it's a really useful resource, just type in what you're searching for, be it Karma, Repair Skill, the names of certain stats etc.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki

 

[ShortWarning]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/939933-fallout-3/faqs

I believe one of those should help you out.

 

[413x]

Those gamefaqs guides look ideal, thanks for those.

And I had found and will use the wiki but when I need to know something in detail. Thosefaqs nicely ssummarize all the perks etc and their benefits.

One question.. Does a sniper come under small gun?

 

[wingman]

One of my top three games of all time. Thus far, at least.

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

Those gamefaqs guides look ideal, thanks for those.

And I had found and will use the wiki but when I need to know something in detail. Thosefaqs nicely ssummarize all the perks etc and their benefits.

One question.. Does a sniper come under small gun?

Small Guns covers sniper rifles, should have just checked the Wiki.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Small_Guns

 

[413x]

yep, wiki for specific questions i think, faqs for game concepts..energy weapons or small that is my next decision!

i think it is gonna be one of my top 3, i guess theres new vegas to play too

 

[Eliot]

Dont be too excited about new vegas though, Its good but not AS good.
Fallout 3 is easil one of the best games I have ever played.
There is no much to it.
And its awesome fun finding rare stuff. My favourite guns were the Plasma Rifle from a guy ( I wont spoil, But if anyone asks you to keep a secret about them after you have found some incriminating evidence,( they live that beached boat) for gods sake black mail them).
The lincoln repeater is awesome too.
But the best is the gun that shoots 8 nukes in one shot.
You have to get it from the white house

 

[Pumpkinstew]

But the best is the gun that shoots 8 nukes in one shot.

I think it was called MIRV.

Combining sneak and small guns is definitely worthwhile. Even better if you then go for the better crits perk.

If you're playing as a good character and want to shift karma I found a neat trick was to go to Dukov's house and just nick all the clutter. If you don't get caught you won't even have to kill anyone.

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

yep, wiki for specific questions i think, faqs for game concepts..energy weapons or small that is my next decision!

i think it is gonna be one of my top 3, i guess theres new vegas to play too

Small guns is best to go for in the beginning. Energy weapons are much harder to source unless you know the likely places, so it's easiest to concentrate on small guns for the beginning. Small guns covers most weapons including sniper rifles. Big guns refers to miniguns, rocket launchers and flamethrowers.

As far as the SPECIAL stats, intelligence is the most important one. Put it on 9, and there's a bonus item which will boost it to 10 once collected. The higher the intelligence the more skill points you get each time you level up, and gives you the potential to make the strongest character.

Charisma is practically useless. You can happily put this on 1 and use the points elsewhere. You can still max out the speech skills with minimum charisma.

Lockpicking is generally more useful than the computer hacking skill. These skills are weird as they only make a difference for every 25 points you get.... so try and level them up to 25, 50 or 75. Some locks require 50 skill, and having 60 won't make those locks any easier, and you still can't unlock the ones that require 75.

 

[413x]

That's what I'd figured so far, put lock pick and hack only to 50 or 25,they don't seem worth improving for a few special items.. Change later.

I'm mostly sticking with small guns and sneaj , on weapons as in games I love sniping and going for matching perks

The specials are quite difficult to choose, i figured charisma and luck weren't that important with intelligence and agility good for sniping

I'm trying to understand the game by reading but not spoil it.

I'm also wondering if I should restart as I didn't pick a good spread of specials etc

 

[Sleeve]

FO:NV >>> FO3

Any day!

 

[Eliot]

LOL. Really? Im not so sure.
Fallout 3 : Played like a man man, 100%'d all the game and DLC never got bored.
NV: Got bored about 30% through he main campaign, Everntually quit playing and will revisit at some point.
Admittedly it was slightly ruined by my own desire to 100% it from the outset like 3.
As a result I played hardcore mode, Which is very annoying.
It also made it very hard, and the mine field level just was the last straw.

In fallout 3 you can look at an enemy and go, YEAH I can take that, and normally you are right.
In new vegas you run through a field to some little wasp and get torn a new one

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

Probably not worth restarting just to change your specials. It's pretty easy to make a very powerful character. Even if your specials are less than optimal, by the time you've reached level 15-20 and chosen some of the more OP perks, you character will be pretty formidable. Don't be afraid to pick some of the "weirder" perks to intentionally nerf your character, because the game does get kinda easy later on when your character is very strong.

Feel free to as any questions. I've played this game through many times and won't give away spoilers like some of the guides might!

 

[Pumpkinstew]

I found strength to be the most useful stat as it allows you to cart more junk around with you. Even more so in NV where ammo had weight and carrying food and water was also important.

If you have the expansion that lets you level up to 30 the last perk you can take maxes all your SPECIAL stats. At that point you can one shot a deathclaw or sneak in broad daylight.

 

[413x]

because i like doing all the side missions i did wonder if the the game would get to easy if perfect??

And yeah picking some of the odd perks might be a good idea to keep things hard.

i dont know what level it is on atm probably default.

will probably specialise in small weapons this time and on a revisit play on hardest level with different setup

and yeah i dont want to read spoilers.. can be hard to avoid when trying to ask a question

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

If you're playing as a good character and want to shift karma I found a neat trick was to go to Dukov's house and just nick all the clutter. If you don't get caught you won't even have to kill anyone.

I found the best way to do the karma related trophies/achievements was to wipe out a settlement (saving beforehand) if I needed negative karma, donate caps to the churches if I needed good karma.

 

[Weebull]

Funnily enough I just started playing this again on the weekend and it's finally clicked with me. I've played through the originals and loved them, but when I first got FO3 it just left me a bit cold, much the same as Oblivion did. I think it's something to do with a lot of the characters being so bland. Some of them actually aren't, but they're not helped by the engine that only seems to have about three character models. This time though, I just concentrated on the fun of exploring, and then realised that actually, the voice acting is decent enough to ignore the generic models.

I dropped Luck right down in my play through, mainly to boost Intelligence, and I'm concentrating mainly on Small (Chinese Assault Rifle, Hunting Rifle) and Big (Missile Launcher, Fat Man for when I just can't be bothered to play) Guns. Grenades and Mines, even if you don't bother upgrading Explosives much, are also bloody useful (nades use a ridiculously low amount of AP).

Also, having a few Buffouts to hand is quite useful when you stumble on some good loot and are already laden up. The +1 Strength gives you about 30 extra carrying capacity, and you can just quick travel straight back to a town on one. Though you do then have to slow walk to the actual merchant .

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

It's a hard game to get into in my opinion, the first few hours are a bit of a bore because you feel so weak and helpless compared to most other enemies and exploring too much usually ends in death by Giant Radscorpion or Raider with Missile Launcher. Once you overcome the first few hours though and work your way through a few early quests you can start to really sink your teeth into it and really immerse yourself in the world.

I don't think I sold much of my loot in the 100+ hours that I had on my main save, I just used to hoard it all in my Megaton house. The data mapping side quest that you can get from Riley is ridiculously profitable, I think once I reached her and was offered that quest I never sold another item. It's the same with New Vegas though, I've never really struggled with caps in that either, 10 Luck and you win every hand of Blackjack.

What's everybody's favourite FO3 weapon?

 

[413x]

Having started the game and not knowing what it's about I realise I am just left special as 5s across the board.. Damn
I also haven't a clue what my original tag skills are.

Fav weapon so far.. Sniper. But I'm not far in. Level 7 and haven't got to galaxy radio.. Though I don't really know what the main quest is atm lol

My least favourite bit so far was in the tunnels in the UK train station by tenpenny tower.. I used my precious sniper ammo, hate how they run at you.. Fast!

I still also press the wrong button for vats/pip often! Don think the default button mapping is the best.

I liked how I just went up an irrelevant looking building only to find a stat raising book! Some of the books are very hard to find in the key rooms!

I'm putting a lot of skill into lock pick as I'm finding a lot a cannot do.

Really enjoying this game.. Spending too many hours on it. Think it will be 100+ for me at the rate I'mgoing tthrough