Fallout 4

I am still loving the game. I think I could alternate a Witcher 3 style game from those guys, then the next year a Bethesda open world Fallout or Skyim, and I’d never need another game.

Power Armor - I’m about level 24 or so, and I have about 5 sets. But I don’t really have a desire to wear it. My style is exploration/wandering, stealthy, and the idea of clunking around in Power Armor just doesn’t appeal. I assume at some point I’ll have to wear it? I have to admit, I wonder when I see how much higher the armor values are than the misc. pieces of leather and steel I’ve gathered what it would be like, but I am pretty good about being really careful in my encounters and I don’t die very often.

PS4 - for some reason this is the first game I’ve played on my PS4 where I can get some significant stuttering at times. It seems a lot worse than when I started playing for some reason. I only have a very small handful of mods, mainly a weight cheat and a couple that are for building settlements (a Unified something and a scrap everything mod.)

Also, I really, really need 4 weapon slots rather than 3 (I have to have stimpaks in one quickslot.) My 4 go to weapons are the Deliverer silenced pistol, which is my main weapon as I explore - silent and I’ve maxxed it out (almost) and great in VATS, plus it fires quick enough I can fire a lot of shots outside of VATS very quickly (in case someone rushes me.) Nice headshotting people in buildings with the silencer and not alerting others.

Next is my silenced .50 cal sniper rifle (though it’s probably a pistol with the sharpshooter grip) with a targeting scope. Again, nice to be able to pick targets off at a distance with a silenced gun. And the targeting is very nice - puts a red triangle above their head so you can track them,

3rd is my Overseers sniper rilfe -shoots two projectiles, better damage than my .50 cal silenced sniper gun. When I need more power and don’t care about being heard. (BTW - I find, in F4, that I do a lot more manual scope aiming with the sniper rifles than I do using the VATS - I seem to have more accuracy and better results in headshots from a distance than I do using VATS.)

4th is my high powered fast firing high ammo capacity shotgun. It can take down big supermutants in a shot or two.

I switch between those 4 situationaly, but only 3 quick access slots!

On the PC there are a lot more quickslots, and yeah, four isn’t enough for boomsticks.

Power armor is not incompatible with stealth. Hell, even with Danse trundling along, I can sneak up on people and basically stick the muzzle of my weapon into their back without them noticing me. There are enough perks, books, bobleheads, and what not around that you can pretty much eliminate the penalties from power armor, if there actually are any. I’m not convinced there really are.

Given how fugly most of the armor is, without mods, power armor is a blessing, as it can at least get a coat of paint.

I’ve got to get the nuclear physicist perk so I can extend the fusion core life a bit. They just seem to melt away on me. I generally go and clear a place out with the suit and then get out and scavenge so I don’t waste my core life.

I feel both cheap and like a complete badass.

I finally got around to taking The Castle … at level 47. I knew a big baddie was coming, so I brought my gauss rifle with me, fully kitted and perked out to do almost 400 points of damage per shot. I took down the queen in one burst of fire from VATS. I got the “Wow, I can’t believe we killed it” comment and just chuckled.

Yeah, in my play throughs now I’m so overleveled and overgeared that I am one-shotting Alpha Deathclaw Matriarchs and Sentry Bots; Mirelurk Queens are bumps in the road. But I admit, I like being a badass. Especially when the caravan guards threaten to “end me” if I look at their Brahmin. Lulz.

The weapons / gear doesn’t seem to level past a certain point, how you end up doing so much damage at a high level?

Mods and perks. Mods are the most dramatic, and the modern weapons stuff is super brutal (for you, too, as the enemies use the same weapons), with potentially high damage values that dwarf stuff in the unmodded game.

But, perks and careful choice of stock (non-modded) weapons can pretty much have the same effect, especially if you get lucky with Legendaries. For instance, in a previous run through the game, where I left my character after the formal end of the main quest at level 71, I used no mods, and I was still oneshotting or two/three shotting most everything. I used one of the 7.62mm AK clones from the Nuka-World DLC–a Legendary that dropped from a Super Mutant in the Commonwealth when I was like level 10!–improved at the work bench to max power and wielded via max perks in Commando, Stealth, Ninja and whatever else applied (though not the Luck stuff for 15% extra damage, which is even more ludicrous). With this totally stock (well, DLC I guess isn’t totally stock, but no other mods) setup I was pretty much unstoppable once I got the armor from the Far Harbor DLC.

With weapons from the base game only, yeah, you’re going to have some issues at the highest end pushing damage up super high, but some of the Legendaries like the two-shots and exploding ones are really useful, and those perks…easily get up to 4.7x damage on a suppressed sneak attack (and it’s Bethesda, of course you are a stealth archer!), and with VATS and crits and all, you can be a real death machine.

I’ve been handicapping myself by putting no points into health, damage, or specialist perks other than explosives, because explosions. Also not using power armor at all (though I try to collect them all) or modding weapons, except to add/change scopes. I will freely mod weapons and armor for settlers though. But I find the uniques as-is are plenty enough for me. The Last Minute is my go-to mid and long range gun, Splattercannon for lurk, scorpion, and deathclaw removal, as well as any muties that rush me. Deliverer gets used for small critters, turrets, and spotlights. Overseer gun for close range work.

On the other hand, I am using mods to cheese it a little. One allows armor pieces over any clothing (because fuck not letting me bling up my tux with some choice rebar, pipes, and rusty cooling fins). Also using one that allows multiple companions. Firefights are more fun and chaotic when there’s 3 or 4 on my side and everyone starts spreading out. I keep them lightly equipped, so they aren’t a huge crutch. Another good one is the bigger explosions mod, because again, explosions. Incoming grenades and suiciders are hella scary now. Also, a chain reaction of abandoned cars going off is pretty awesome. Also using a mod that makes raiders tougher and more numerous in random encounters.

I’m level 68, and will still get insta-killed fairly often, and can only reliably take down low rank ferals and below with one shot. Sometimes raiders and bottom-tier mutants if I can pull off a sneak attack head shot.

And that’s the beauty of the game; you can do it so many different ways, all fun to someone! The one thing I’ve never done is a melee build, and I’ve thought about a “found weapons only, no mods” run.

Huh - I was heading somewhere and detoured through woods, and found what appears to be a crashed flying saucer/alien ship. I was excited - somehow I never found one of those in Fallout 3. I expected, however, to find some cool gun or something around it, but nothing, Did I just not look in the right spot? Surely I can’t find a crashed alien ship and nothing cool to go with it!

Tune to the garbled radio signal, and follow it as it gains strength. There is something to be found, indeed. It took me a while, but it’s there.

Clue #1

Look for green blood on the ground. There may be a trail to follow.

Clue #2

Look east

Clue #3

If you crash-landed and didn’t want to be seen by anyone, where would you go?

Clue #4 (okay, I’m just giving it away)

There’s a cave close by in the side of a small hill, and the alien is in there with a blaster. Note - you only have a select number of Alien Blaster rounds, but it CAN be chambered to accept other … stuff.

I’d have never found the ending to that event if I hadn’t cheated and asked my kids what I needed to do. There was one radio beacon quest that gave you a visual indicator on the signal strength…this one not so much. The designers were asking way to much of my meager intellect.

I’m now a psycho jet master btw. The slow time effect is really awesome.

This was the craziest thing that took me forever to figure out as well. Power armor just doesn’t scream stealth by itself. But it still works, and I too can still sneak up and tap things on the shoulder.

@JeffL I would even wager to say this game was made to be played WITH power armor. Start getting one tricked out, and eventually even painted. The gain in weight you can carry helps a ton, and the armor/defense that it provides help a ton too.

Probably the only negative about power armor is that for all the things this game does to push you to use it, the few remaining items when you cannot will seem … stupid. You can’t use workbenches, beds, chairs, and sometimes terminals when in power armor. And for some reason, some terminals work just fine.

I’m playing through on Vanilla on PS4 and would like to relate an anecdote.

Spoilers up to finishing the Vault 81 plotline, the Old Ironsides plotline, the Kellogg plotline, and early on with the Brotherhood of Steel plotline, I guess. And after the you-know-what flies in.

I made it to level 40 and started giving serious thought as to what to do with the Brotherhood of Steel. I hadn’t done much with them after a much earlier quest with Paladin Danse. At that point, he was pushing me to join the BoS, but I wouldn’t have freedom, and they’d probably take over all those settlements I worked so hard to save and build back up. He was a low-level Amway dealer. But his offer was still cluttering up my quest log. Then, after killing Kellogg, their giant and awe-inspiring airship rumbled into the skies. The BoS vertibirds were everywhere. They weren’t attacking me yet, but they did take occasional potshots at my robot friends in the relocated USS Constitution, now lodged on top of a skyscraper. I thought I should learn whether they’d be friends or foes.

I go back to Danse, who says he can sign me up as a knight. Does that mean I get power armor? No, those are only for paladins. Never mind that I’m already wearing a really kick-ass power armor suit. I have to follow orders if I join them. That sounds like I have to stop being the benefactress of all my villages I built up from scraps. His club is interested in old technology, but he doesn’t say a single word about my floating robot doctor friend, C.U.R.I.E. You’d think he’d be interested in that relic of a bygone age, stuffed with information about contagion and technology. He says I need to visit the airship, and at some point when he and Curie and I are flying there, I learn that the blimp is called the Prydwen. Apparently the BoS has flown over from Wales. It is nice to be in a vertibird. All my other traveling since before the bombs dropped has been trudging along the ground one step at a time, or fast travel, which is sleepwalking one step at a time. We swoop around the Prydwen with the loving approach that they gave the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

We land on the airship. I hear many things about their king, Maxson, who is not only kind and clever and handsome, but he’s on the ship. And I must meet him as soon as I talk with some other drill sergeant guy. The drill sergeant tells me I get to start at the bottom of their club.

What about being a knight like Paladin Danse said I could be? I’m level 40! Why am I way at the bottom? No answer.

What about new power armor? Like Danse, he said only paladins get to wear those, and I’m not a paladin. He also refrained from mentioning the badass armor I was currently wearing. Like Danse, he also neglected to mention my floating infirmière-cherie. He wasn’t making me feel very welcome.

The drill instructor guy gave me orders. I had to go see Golden Boy Maxson give a speech, and then, I hear, he had questions for me. Maybe Maxson will let me know if my companions will also be sworn into the Brotherhood, and whether they’ll be taking over all of my settlements as BoS Bases.

I go to the speech. There’s Maxson (the name sounds like an adult film star’s pseudonym, I think) yelling at his group of high-ranking officials. What he’s saying doesn’t sound friendly. He’s talking about taking down the Institute, which is a laudable goal. But he doesn’t seem very flexible with other Bostonian factions. He sounds like a demagogue. His underlings are treating him like a god.

I remember a This American Life clip someone shared on this board recently, when a guy, David Hill, brought a honest-to-gosh diplomat to a Diplomacy tournament for advice. Germany was offering Russia a short-term deal.

David Hill I was still so nervous, I kept out of the fighting for as long as I could. I watched Germany and England turn on France and eliminate him from the game. I couldn’t stall forever. I knew that eventually I’d have to go to war. I just didn’t know who I should fight. But Dennis [the diplomat] watched me talking to Germany, who bears a more than passing resemblance to Jason Statham. I was so anxious, you could hear me tapping my lapel mic with a pen.

Germany All right. I promise you I’m won’t go after any of those four regions.

David Hill This turn.

Germany Absolutely. I can’t promise what’s going to happen in two or three turns’ time, at this time.

David Hill I understand that.

Germany But it’s at least a promise of a commitment that I can make, this turn.

David Hill OK.

Germany I can’t say further than that.

David Hill OK,

Dennis’ [the diplomat’s] evaluation?

Dennis Ross Look, what he told you is he’s not doing anything this time. But what he also told you, basically–

David Hill He didn’t know what he could do later.

Dennis Ross Well, what he is telling you is he is going to do it later. That’s what that meant.

David Hill Yeah.

Now, as Elder Maxson is rallying the troops and the brass, I consider my position. I have before me, in a tight cluster, the very senior leadership of the Brotherhood of Steel. It sounds like they aren’t going to leave. It sounds like they aren’t very welcoming of other power structures. They might help with getting rid of the body-snatching Institute, but at what cost? On the other hand, here I am. Not only am I wearing the power armor they forgot to mention, but I am also bristling with weaponry. Shouldn’t they have checked me for that? As far as they know, I helped a few of their guys and mumbled that I wanted to join them. That’s all the precautions they took, in a city filled with replicants and dangerous wanderers.

I threw the first grenade at Maxson. No one really noticed — what kind of chickenshit outfit is this? — so I took that as an invitation to throw a second one. Then came the explosions.

The fighting was vicious. Curie wasn’t much help. I slaughtered everyone onboard the airship. Well, the game wouldn’t let me harm the squires for some reason. Maybe they can fly the Prydwen home; the game certainly won’t let me take control of the ship. (I remembered how disappointed I was when I easily killed everyone on the Leviathan in Knights of the Old Republic but couldn’t actually fly it anywhere.) Oh, and another shocker: when I looted Danse’s body, I learned he was a synth. Nice quality control, guys! How were you supposed to beat the Institute when you didn’t even know that your ground team was compromised?

Falling back to the ground was easy in power armor, though the toughest part of the whole affair was taking care of all the guys on the ground with their Gatling lasers and spread out positions.

I’m looking forward to the vertibird overflights disappearing and the Diamond City Radio DJ telling the Commonwealth how I made a totally rad preemptive strike against the BoS, but I’m also suspecting that the game will still generate random BoS encounters. And that they won’t like me anymore.

Anyone else take on the Brotherhood of Steel?

Hot damn I loved this story. I hate the BoS, and I really want to replicate what you just did. I’m interested in hearing if that affects anything at all or if it leaves intact all the other actions/scripts related to the BoS.

Heh, I’ve wiped out the BoS leadership several times, in different ways, and it does not seem to affect getting quests later to, well, wipe them out even more I guess. It sure as hell ends your affiliation with 'em for some reason!

BTW, if you plan on getting Danse’s pretty cool perk, make sure you get it before you, um, go postal on Maxson and the rest of the little tin fascists. Even then, he’s the buggiest NPC in the game I think. I tried to send him to Red Rocket after I dismissed him but he’s still standing there by the workbench in Sanctuary. He won’t do anything but trade with me; no other options at all. Then again, he was always kind of plastic.

Yeah, To Infinity And Beyond! Nice perk though.

I went with the railroad. I have to say that going to the police station and having to slaughter your former quest givers especially Hayden I think it is, is really sad. There is a terminal entry too where she starts doubting whether joining up with the brotherhood was a good idea…starts questioning their actions even if they profess other beliefs.

Your point about the downsides of the main quest choices is one I share. In a “real” RPG, we’d be able to talk to the NPCs we actually like, and maybe have them skedaddle somewhere before the shit hit the fan. Or something. But no, it’s all or nothing, black vs. white, Spy vs. Spy stuff all the time. All of the main quest choices suck, for different reasons. Especially as there isn’t a fuck’em all choice, either.

On the positive side, hitting someone with an 88mm AT cannon for 1900 damage base is kind of neat. Just don’t, um, do it to a target right in front of you. Unless you like pain.