Strategy Guide - Guide for Fallout
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F A L L O U T
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Frequently Asked Questions
19 December 1997
--- Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------
I've enjoyed Fallout immensely, it's a great game, and read all the
netnews about it. I put this together to organize and condense the
collected wisdom of the group. Some of it anyway. And indeed
there are some questions that get asked quite frequently.
I haven't attributed each individual paragraph, instead there's a
list of contributors at the end.
Hints that divulge information you may not have discovered yet
appear in the Spoilers section. It's safe to read up to there.
The organization of that section owes a lot to Paul D. Smith's
excellent Relentless FAQ; hopefully you can find the answer to
something you're stuck on without learning things you don't want
to know.
Comments, corrections, additions are welcome. Post or mail.
-- Chris Smith
csmith
@
stoneboro.uucp.cirr.com
--- General Hints ------------------------------------------------------------
The Oracle (sort of)
The Overseer can provide help if you get stumped. As they say
in the manual, save the game, and go back to Vault 13 and see what
he has to suggest. He won't tell you how to solve particular
side quests but will provide guidance on the big picture.
Learning to Drive
How to use the interface to accomplish some task may not be clear
at first.
For example, say you want to tie a rope to something. There are
two ways to do it. First way: left-click on the object you want the
rope tied to and keep the button held down. You'll be offered some
choices: look at, talk to, use, use inventory on, use skill on.
Pick the picture of your backpack -- use inventory on -- then choose
the rope from your inventory. Second way: put the rope into one of
your "hands", the active item slots. Click on the rope in your hand,
the cursor will turn yellow, click on the object you want to tie it to.
Another example. Say you want to use a stimpak in combat to heal
some hit points. Click INV to go to inventory, move the stimpak to
your free "hand", select that hand and click on the stimpak, the
cursor turns yellow, click on yourself. Second way: click INV to
to go inventory, click and hold on the stimpaks, you'll be offered
choices including a hand -- use item. Select that and you'll use
the stimpak. You can then do this again to use another one, without
using any more action points, so this second method is preferable.
To use a stimpak on someone else, see above about the rope.
To read a book or holodisk, click on it in inventory and hold,
and select the hand cursor.
That little screen in the bottom left is worth watching. It will
often describe a room you just entered, or something that just
happened to you. It gives a little beep when something appears there.
You can scroll it back and forward by moving your mouse to its top
or bottom half.
You can scroll through your inventory very rapidly with the arrow
keys.
When trading or moving items around, you can type in the desired
quantity on the keyboard instead of clicking the arrows.
--- Combat -------------------------------------------------------------------
When you finish combat, reload your weapon and put it away.
Running out of ammo in the middle of a battle costs valuable time,
and many people will not be pleased if you walk up and talk to them
while pointing a gun. (Don't put it in your pack, just switch hands.)
You can unload captured weapons to get their ammo.
Critical hits do much more damage than normal hits. You're more
likely to score a critical hit using a targeted attack. Difficult
spots are more likely to score criticals. Eyes are the hardest to
hit and the most likely to do critical damage.
Do not crank the violence up if you want bodies to be easy to search.
Otherwise, when you blow someone to smithereens their inventory drops
to the ground and can be difficult to find. There's no way to get that
kewl butcher-shop ambience and retain convenient looting. If this
becomes a problem, avoid Bloody Mess and don't go above Normal violence.
(In fact, I myself turned the violence off, it's so very tasteful
that way, but this is a mistake if you find the alien blaster.
Minimal violence at least for that.)
If there is a pile of bodies in one spot, there will be little arrows
beneath the body picture to step through all the bodies in the pile.
In general if the information displayed seems to be incomplete (for
example, the Perk selection screen) there are scroll arrows nearby.
If you annoy someone and they attack you, and you are able to
knock them out without killing them, you can end combat and resume
conversation. Running away can avoid combat too, but they stay mad.
--- Bugs ---------------------------------------------------------------------
There are some minor spoilers here.
A patch is available, you can get it via Interplay's Fallout page
http://www.interplay.com/fallout
Both Windows and Mac version 1.1 exist. If the links on the web
page are broken, you can read the needed ftp info off the page source.
Can't read the CD.
Ask Interplay. News traffic hasn't had much to say since mid October
and what there was is light on answers.
My party has two (or many) copies of the NPC's.
This is a bug in v1.0 only, and is fixed in the v1.1 patch.
It has something to do with save/restore during combat. If it has
happened to you, the only solution is to exit the game completely,
then load a saved game that does not have the problem.
It crashes when I try to save/restore.
Saved games can be really huge, make sure you have free disk space.
If space is tight, leave some of the save slots empty.
Stealth Boy turns into Geiger Counter
Don't save the game when a Stealth Boy is turned on.
If you get turned into a permanent ghost, you can clear it by
putting another stealth boy in a slot and turning it on and off.
--- Character Creation -------------------------------------------------------
A design goal for this game was that "a big dumb strong ox and
a pretty little lady would not have the same overall experience."
The prerolled characters are all different and free of gotchas in
their statistics. There's no need to roll your own character
unless you feel like it. If you do want to, here are some thoughts.
Strength determines how much you can carry and what weapons you
can wield without penalizing accuracy. See the weapons table.
Intelligence determines how fast your skills increase and what
dialog options you get. Speech skill is how convincing you are.
Low intelligence characters face a very different game.
There is no value in raising your Endurance from an even number to
an odd number (extra poison and rad resistance are useless).
Lots of people recommend Agility 10 for gunslingers; you can shoot
twice per round with weapons that require 5 action points.
Another recommendation: tag Big Guns or Energy Weapons, and Repair.
Or at least do not neglect those skills. But develop Small Guns
early on, it's more important. Others feel Small Guns will get you
all the way through satisfactorily.
Another one: take Gifted and another trait, Finesse is one approach.
Don't start with stats at 10, they can all be increased by +1 during
the game. Take Strength 5 and Intelligence 9, to have weapon choices
and to get skill points to offset those lost by Gifted. Don't spend
skill points or tag skills on anything that you can get from books
instead. EN 4 CH 6 LK 5 and Presence worked well.
The Sniper perk is improved by high Luck.
You can build the following skills with books: small guns, science,
repair, first aid, outdoors. Perhaps tagging those is unnecessary.
Except maybe Small Guns.
More comments on attributes: ST 7 allows you to use any weapon in
the game. PE high to get ranged attack bonus. EN low, 2-3 hit points
per level won't save you from damage in the hundreds. CH moderate,
4-6 does ok. IN high, 9-10. AG high, the most important combat stat.
LK 6 to get good combat perks. Tag combat skills -- tagging such
things as Sneak, Science, Speech, Repair is worthless, you can do
well with about 50% in all non-combat skills.
Specific characters people posted having good times with:
AG 9-10 IN 6+ LK 4 (Luck has an effect only at extreme values)
No traits, or just Heavy Handed
tag Small Guns, Lock Pick, and one of Energy Weapons, Science, Repair.
Sniper: PE 6 AG 10 IN 6 LK 6 Gifted, Finesse
tag Small Guns and Energy Weapons, build combat skills to 140%-160%
choose Bonus Rate of Fire, More Criticals, Better Criticals.
Sniper: ST 4 PE 8 EN 3 CH 2 IN 10 AG 10 LK 10 Finesse, Gifted
tag Small Guns, Lockpick, Barter
work on speech skill if you want to talk to people.
take the Tag! perk when it becomes available and tag Energy Weapons.
take Sniper when it becomes available.
you'll have low hit points so be careful.
Unarmed: Fast Shot, Bonus HtH Attacks, Slayer.
if you have 9 APs, you have 9 critical hits each turn.
Diplosniper: PE 10 IN 10 CH 10 rest 4-5 Skilled, Gifted
tag Small Guns, Speech, Doctor
work on small guns skill, when it's 160% you can make called shots
at extreme range in the dark with too-heavy weapons at 95% success
high Intelligence, Charisma, speech skill mean you get all options
in conversation, and will be believed
Late game badass: AG 9 PE 9 IN 9 ST 6 EN 6 LK 4 CH 4 Gifted
tag Small Guns, Energy Weapons, Speech
take Strong Back, Bonus ROF, Action Boy x2, Sniper, Action Boy
the extra AP's from perks allow 3 called shots with turbo plasma.
Or boost LK at the expense of EN and CH, take mule, educated,
bonus ROF, action boy, better criticals, sniper, action boy.
Tag energy weapons, lockpick, one of (speech barter steal).
This one is better late and worse early.
Sniper/thief: ST 6 PE 8 EN 5 CH 4 IN 9 AG 10 LK 5 Gifted, Finesse
tag Small Guns, Steal, Speech, take Swift Learner, Sharpshooter
ST 6 PE 9 EN 3 CH 2 IN 9 AG 9 LK 9 Gifted, Fast Hand
tag Energy Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Lockpick
take Earlier Sequence, Bonus HtH, Bonus Rate of Fire, Better Criticals,
Cult of Personality, Sniper, Slayer.
avoid Fast Hand unless you plan to get to level 18 and take Sniper
or Slayer. It's a detriment until then, a bonus combined with those.
for a pure shooter, don't tag Unarmed and replace HtH with Educated,
and Slayer with something else (Bonus Move, Action Boy, etc).
if you like playing a good guy, drop Cult and add another Action Boy
for 6 critical hits ranged or 12 close.
--- Trivia -------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro movie
The scene where the soldier shoots the civilian was all over TV news
in the sixties. A police official in Saigon had been directing his
men in defense of the neighbrhood while the Americans were pulling
out. The NVA were entering the city and the Viet Cong had already
started showing up everywhere. As a TV crew filmed, he was informed
that the bunker containing his family had been blown up. A few
minutes later, someone arrives with one of the VC sappers. The
cameraman expected the guy would want to confront him, so he films it
-- and the policeman pulls out a .38 and blows him away in the street.
Intro music
It's a song called "Maybe" by a 40's band called the Ink Spots.
More Inkspots trivia...
-The guitar/uprightbass intro to the song is the same exact intro
used in all but 3 of the InkSpots hits (thats over 35 songs).
-The songs of the Inkspots are the most widely known songs of all
time, yet the group who made them famous is virtually forgotten.
-The founding president of the InkSpots fan club, from the age of
nineteen until his death, was Redd Foxx of Sanford and Son fame.
The club is now officiated by his son.
-The name is often assumed to be racial in nature, but the band was
given it's name by accident when they signed a contract for a
performance one evening. The man putting the billing on the
marquis outside the theatre sent word to the manager that he didn't
know what to call the opening act of the evening's amateur variety
show. The manager looked at the card, and it was so horribly
smudged he blurted, "I can't read this thing! It's nothing but ink
blots." By the time it got back downstairs and out to the guy on
the marquis, the name had become "Ink Spots".
Bibliography for Fallout Scholars
There are lots of allusions to Wasteland, and also various movies,
books, and TV shows, like for instance
Road Warrior
Brazil
City of Lost Children
Blade Runner
Batman
Ghost in the Shell
On the Beach
Star Wars
Lord of Light
South Park
--- Tables -------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Guns Damage Range Ammo Str AP Modes
10mm Pistol 5-12 25 12 10mm JHP/AP 3 5 s
10mm SMG 5-12 25 30 10mm JHP/AP 4 5 sb
Desert Eagle .44 10-16 22 8 .44 magnum JHP/FMJ 4 5 s
9mm Mauser 5-10 22 7 9mm ball 3 4 s
14mm Pistol 12-22 24 6 14mm AP 4 5 s
.223 Pistol 20-30 30 5 .223 FMJ 5 5 s
BB Gun 1-3 22 100 BB's 3 5 s
LE BB Gun 25 32 100 BB's 3 4 s
Shotgun 12-22 14 2 12ga shot 4 5 s
Combat Shotgun 15-25 22 12 12ga shot 5 5 sb
Hunting Rifle 8-20 40 10 .233 FMJ 5 5 s
Sniper Rifle 14-34 50 6 .233 FMJ 5 6 s
Assault Rifle 8-16 45 24 5mm JHP/AP 5 6 sb
Energy Weapons Damage Range Ammo Str AP Modes
Laser Pistol 10-22 35 12 SEC 3 5 s
Laser Rifle 25-50 45 12 MFC 6 5 s
Plasma Pistol 15-35 20 16 SEC 4 5 s
Plasma Rifle 30-65 25 10 MFC 6 5 s
Turbo Plasma 35-70 35 10 MFC 6 4 s
Alien Blaster 30-90 10 30 SEC 2 4 s
Gatling Laser 20-40 40 30 MFC 6 6 b
Big Guns Damage Range Ammo Str AP Modes
Rocket Launcher 35-100 40 1 Explosive/AP Rocket 6 6 s
Flamer 45-90 5 5 Flamethrower Fuel 6 6 b
Minigun 7-11 35 120 5mm JHP/AP 7 6 b
Unarmed Damage Range Ammo Str AP Modes
Unarmed 1-3 1 1 3
Brass Knuckles 2-6 1 1 3
Spiked Knuckles 4-11 1 1 3
Power Fist 12-25 1 25 SEC 1 3
Melee Damage Range Ammo Str AP Modes
Knife 1-7 1 2 3 wt
Throwing Knife 3-6 1 3 4 w
Combat Knife 3-11 1 2 3 wt
Spear 3-11 2 4 4 t
Vibroblade 15-33 1 30 SEC 4 4 wt
Club 1-7 1 3 3 w
Crowbar 3-11 1 5 4 w
Cattle Prod 12-21 1 20 SEC 4 4 wt
Sledgehammer 4-10 2 6 4 wt
Super Sledge 18-37 2 5 3 wt
Throwing Damage Range Ammo Str AP Modes
Throwing Knife 3-6 9 3 5 T
Spear 3-11 9 4 6 T
Molotov Cocktail 8-20 9 3 5 T
Grenade (Frag) 20-35 9 3 5 T
Grenade (Plasma) 40-90 9 3 5 T
Grenade (Pulse) 100-150 9 3 5 T
Notes:
A burst fires 1/3 of the ammo capacity -- e.g. a Gatling Laser
holding 30 rounds fires 10 per burst.
Armor norm laser fire plasma explode
Leather Jacket AC 8 0/20 0/20 0/10 0/10 0/20 5 lb
Leather Armor AC 15 2/25 0/20 0/20 0/10 0/20 8 lb
Metal Armor AC 10 4/30 6/75 4/10 4/20 4/25 35 lb
Tesla Armor AC 15 4/20 19/90 4/10 10/80 4/20 35 lb
Combat Armor AC 20 5/40 8/60 4/30 4/50 6/40 20 lb
Brotherhood Armor AC 20 8/40 8/70 7/50 7/60 8/40 25 lb
Power Armor AC 25 12/40 18/80 12/60 10/40 20/50 85 lb +3 str
Hardened Power Armor AC 25 13/50 19/90 14/70 13/50 20/60 100 lb +3 str
Weapon Accuracy bonus
9mm Mauser +20 Accuracy
14mm Pisol +20
Shotgun +20
Combat Shotgun +20
Hunting Rifle +56
Assault Rifle +28
Sniper Rifle +56
Laser Rifle +28
Alien Blaster +20
Plasma Rifle +36
Turbo Plasma +?? (forgot to check this one)
These weapons add their accuracy to the user's skill level for a total %
to hit, then modified by distance (-4% every hex)
--- Spoilers -----------------------------------------------------------------
If you are reading through this, stop here! Come back to this point
if you get stuck on something. Fallout is very replayable, but you
can only play it for the first time once.
There is nothing after this but spoilers.
This is not a walkthrough. There are a bazillion situations to get
into, depending on your character and where you've been and what you're
trying to do. This is a digest of places people have gotten stuck and
what they did about it.
If you are stuck, skip ahead to the town or place you're stuck, and find
a question that sounds like it's about your problem. Or search for a
question containing a key word about your problem. Then skip ahead to
that question and read just that answer, or part of it.
Again, if you are not stuck, this is the place to quit. Don't even
look at the questions, they unavoidably disclose information.
(1) Mini-spoilers
(1.1) How do these flare things work?
(1.2) What are these good for: tools, first aid kit, doctor bag, lockpicks?
(1.3) What are these good for: Scout Handbook, other books?
(1.4) What is Junk good for?
(1.5) What are bags and backpacks good for?
(1.6) How can I give my NPC buddies some good weapons? Or more ammo?
(1.7) How can I give my NPC buddies some good armor?
(1.8) Do NPC's use stimpaks?
(1.9) How can I keep NPC's from shooting each other, charging off, etc?
(2) Vault 15
(2.1) There is nothing here but a broken elevator.
(2.2) I walked all over the place and there is no water chip.
(3) Shady Sands
(3.1) I lost my rope, or can't find one in the first place.
(3.2) Where can I find Ian?
(3.3) I gave Ian some good armor, but he won't use it.
(3.4) What is that farmer up to?
(3.5) How can I kill all those Radscorpions?
(3.6) The woman guard in Shady Sands says Tandi has been kidnapped but noooo.
(3.7) The mayor's daughter Tandi has been kidnapped. How can I save her?
(3.8) Who is the Death Hand?
(3.9) When the game is over, I got a sad ending for the Raiders.
(4) Junktown
(4.1) This Doc Morbid fellow is rather unpleasant, isn't he?
(4.3) How can I get that dog to let the guy Phil into his house?
(4.4) Where can I find Tycho?
(4.5) Killian's store doesn't have a lot to buy.
(4.6) Killian asked for help dealing with Gizmo. How?
(4.7) Lars asked for help busting the Skulz gang. How?
(4.8) Should I rent a room in the Crash House?
(4.9) The Junktown guards are after me.
(4.10) How do I save Sinthia from the crazed raider?
(4.11) What's all this about the boxer's girlfriend?
(4.12) Who is that Children of the Cathedral member?
(4.13) I want to rob Killian. How?
(5) Hub
(5.1) Where do I find Decker?
(5.2) This Iguana Bob fellow seems pleasant enough.
(5.3) What can I do at the Friendly Lending Company?
(5.4) What's the deal with the missing caravans?
(5.5) Who is this Vance guy in Old Town?
(5.6) Where can I get Rad-X? Where can I buy drugs in general?
(5.7) Where can I get some lock picks? How about an electronic lock pick?
(5.8) Where can I find a super sledge?
(5.9) Whenever I open this door in Old Town the people inside blow me away.
(5.10) How can I get a .223 pistol?
(5.11) How can I steal Hightower's necklace?
(5.121 I can't complete the quest to kill Hightower.
(5.13) Jain, the woman church elder in the hospital, has a talking head. Why?
(5.14) Where is the blasted water chip?
(5.15) When the game is over, I always get a sad ending for the Hub.
(6) Necropolis
(6.1) There is nothing here but a run-down hotel.
(6.2) How to I fix the water pump?
(6.3) Where can I find Set?
(6.4) How can I free the caged glowing ones?
(6.5) The water shed is guarded, how can I get in?
(6.6) I've been captured and put in a cell.
(6.7) When the game is over, I got a sad ending for Necropolis.
(7) Vault 13
(7.1) How do I calm the rebel faction?
(7.2) How do I catch the water thief?
(7.3) I brought the water chip back but I can't figure out what to do with it.
(8) Glow
(8.1) There's nothing here but a crater.
(8.2) I can't get into the elevator, it keeps shocking me.
(8.3) I can't get through the door that's welded shut.
(8.4) How can I turn off the security robots?
(8.5) How can I turn off the traps?
(8.6) I can't get to level five.
(8.7) I did their stupid quest but the Brotherhood still won't let me in.
(8.8) I'm radiated, how can I cure it?
(8.9) I keep dying of radiation sickness.
(9) Brotherhood
(9.1) How can I get past the gate guards?
(9.2) How can I get the quest to find the initiate?
(9.3) Where is the lost initiate?
(9.4) How can I get some power armor?
(9.5) How can I get a systolic motivator?
(9.6) How can I repair this armor?
(9.7) I can't leave combat mode to get into the supply room.
(10) Boneyard
(10.1) How can I fix the hydroponic farm?
(10.2) I can't kill the Deathclaws.
(10.4) How can I save Jan Zimmerman, the mayor of Adytum?
(10.5) I killed all the Deathclaws but they're baack.
(10.6) How can I find the spy in the Followers?
(10.7) Who are those bounty hunter guys in the house behind the library?
(10.8) What is that alphabet soup Christine says? (C D E D B D Ducks...)
(10.9) Where can I get a turbo plasma rifle?
(10.10) Where can I get hardened power armor?
(10.11) When I went back to talk to Razor she was dead, or just a bloodstain.
(10.12) When the game is over, I always get a sad ending for the Followers.
(11) Military Base
(11.0) I can't find the military base. Where is it?
(11.1) I can't get past the sentries.
(11.2) I can't get in the front door.
(11.3) The Brotherhood promised me Paladin assistance, where is it?
(11.4) What can I do with these computers?
(11.5) I can't get through the force fields.
(11.6) I turned off the force fields but they're still on.
(11.7) What is the deal with Mr. Handy?
(11.8) How can I repair the elevator that's out of order?
(11.9) I found this key, what does it do?
(11.10) I found this encryption decoder disk, what does it do?
(11.11) I found this security card, what does it do?
(11.12) Here I am the Vat Control Computer, now what?
(11.13) I blew up the base but then the game ended suddenly.
(12) Cathedral
(12.1) How can I get in to the back room?
(12.2) How can I get through the secret door?
(12.3) How can I get to that dog Sasha behind the Cathedral?
(12.4) I keep getting killed!
(12.5) I got into the basement but it's just a library.
(12.6) What can I do with these computers?
(12.7) There's an elevator back there but I can't pick the door.
(12.8) When I walk down this grisly corridor I get nightmares.
(12.9) Whenever I free the prisoners, they die.
(12.10) Where can I find Tesla Armor?
(12.11) Where can I find the Master?
(12.12) How can I kill the Master?
(12.13) I blew up the Cathedral but then the game ended suddenly.
(13) Misc
(13.1) I haven't found a water chip and the 150 days are about to run out.
(13.2) Vault 13 was overrun by mutants.
(13.3) If I have NPC's in my party, how are the experience points divided?
(13.4) How can I develop my character to level 21?
(13.5) Is there any way to, er, score?
(13.6) Combat tips
(13.7) How does bartering work?
(13.8) How do lockpicks work?
(13.9) What is fruit good for?
(13.10) What is Iguana On A Stick good for?
(13.11) What is Nuka-Cola good for?
(13.12) What are Beer and Booze good for?
(13.13) What is a Lighter good for?
(13.14) What is a Flower good for?
(13.15) What is a box of Instant Spagetti good for?
(13.16) Where are all the NPC's?
(13.17) Where is the mutant army?
(13.18) I'm addicted to drugs, what does that mean?
(13.19) How can I increase my stats?
(13.20) How can I increase my skills?
(13.21) What random encounters are out there?
(13.22) Why did my character act that way with the Overseer at the very end?
(1) Mini-spoilers
(1.1) How do these flare things work?
The manual explains how to light one. You must drop or throw it
for it to cast light. You can pick it up afterward.
(1.2) What are these good for: tools, first aid kit, doctor bag, lockpicks?
If you use them on some object, they enhance your skill at doing
that task. You can pick locks with or without using lockpicks, but
you'll succeed better with the picks.
(1.3) What are these good for: Scout Handbook, other books?
Use them (hand cursor in inventory) to improve your skills.
(1.4) What is Junk good for?
It's assorted spare parts. There are some specific repairs you
may be wanting to make where you have to find parts.
(1.5) What are bags and backpacks good for?
Not much. They can be used to reduce the size of your inventory list.
To easily put stuff in a bag, put it in your active slot (hand) then
drag and drop items into it. Or drop them directly onto the bag
in inventory.
Quest items that are inside bags don't get seen by the game.
Same with ammo.
Putting your money in a bag allows you to drop and pick up more than
999 caps at once, handy if you want to keep your inventory sorted.
If your money bag is open when you sell something, the caps go into
the bag.
Be careful using bags without the patch; there are v1.0 bugs here.
(1.6) How can I give my NPC buddies some good weapons? Or more ammo?
Barter, or you can steal and anti-steal freely from NPC's.
You can give them things by clicking on them and holding, selecting
the backpack, and choosing the thing you want to give. With this
method they'll tell you if it's something they can't use.
You can give them good melee weapons -- Ripper Vibroblade, for example.
(1.7) How can I give my NPC buddies some good armor?
You can't.
(1.8) Do NPC's use stimpaks?
Yes. When they run low, give them more.
They seem to use them less sparingly if they have a lot.
(1.9) How can I keep NPC's from shooting each other, charging off, etc?
You can't. If you initiate combat when they are in a reasonable
formation they may stay there. You can yourself move out of the
way. You can try to end combat at a good time.
One of the conversation options asks them to change places with
you. Useful if they're blocking a doorway.
Think twice before giving them automatic weapons.
If you give them hand-to-hand weapons they won't be shooting
so they won't be shooting you and each other. With Power Fist
and Ripper Vibroblade they can beat up Super Mutants on their own.
(2) Vault 15
(2.1) There is nothing here but a broken elevator.
If you look at it (binoculars cursor) it says you might be able to
get down it with a rope. There are ropes in the town to the west.
(2.2) I walked all over the place and there is no water chip.
The room containing the water chip has caved in. When you see it,
a message telling you this appears on the screen in the lower left.
You also get 500 experience points. You'll need to look farther
afield for a water chip.
You need to make some kind of Perception, Intelligence, or Science
roll to realize this and get the 500 xp.
(3) Shady Sands
(3.1) I lost my rope, or can't find one in the first place.
The town guard (Seth) has one you can barter for. There's one in
the shed next to the farm you can pick up. There's one in the
southeast corner next to the wall.
(3.2) Where can I find Ian?
In the guard house east of the gate. He's the first NPC who will
join you.
You can hire him, or he might join you because he wants to.
He'll like you more if you're sympathetic about his injury.
(3.3) I gave Ian some good armor, but he won't use it.
Right. You can give them better weapons, but not armor.
(3.4) What is that farmer up to?
He's farming, on the eastern screen. You should speak with him.
If your stats are high enough (probably Intelligence) you can
tell him about crop rotation and get 500 xp.
(3.5) How can I kill all those Radscorpions?
Grenades work wonders.
If Ian is with you, he's probably a much better shot than you are
at this stage, just stay out of the line of fire.
Approach gradually, from somewhere only one Radscorpion at a time
notices you.
Don't forget to take a tail back to Razlo, the doctor. He'll
make antivenom from it. You can use antivenom on Seth's
brother in the back room for xp.
You can blow up the scorpion cave entrance with dynamite, which
will wall them in and solve the quest.
(3.6) The woman guard in Shady Sands says Tandi has been kidnapped but
she's still right there.
This is a bug. Ignore it. If you leave town and return, she
will probably have gotten kidnapped. Foreshadowing.
(3.7) The mayor's daughter Tandi has been kidnapped. How can I save her?
If you don't have this quest, try leaving town and coming back, then
talk to the mayor.
Tandi is at the Raider camp a short distance southeast of town.
You can barter for her. You can talk to the leader and fight him
one on one. (This isn't necessarily hard, the prerolled Natalia
can win.) When he surrenders, talk to him to end the fight.
If your speech skill is very good you can convince the leader to let
you take her away for nothing.
You can attack the Raiders, people have reported better success
starting in the middle and fighting your way out, or attacking
from the back and waiting for the others to come to you. Or you
can skulk around the edges, firing through windows -- if you're
careful and have a hunting rifle you can get every Raider before
they come anywhere near you.
The two slaves held by the Raiders are worth 200 xp each if they
live through the battle. Garl must die, other Raiders are optional.
Try talking with Tandi before you learn about the Radscorpions
from someone else.
(3.8) Who is the Death Hand?
When you visit the Raider camp dressed in a leather jacket you
are mistaken for the ghost of the leader's father. Doesn't always
happen. You get lots of interesting new conversation options.
(Death Hand is an Australian Mad Max.)
(3.9) When the game is over, I got a sad ending for the Raiders.
The Raiders will continue to harass the area unless you kill their
leader.
(4) Junktown
(4.1) This Doc Morbid fellow is rather unpleasant, isn't he?
Yes. Snoop around in his basement.
The locker will have better items if you have higher Luck.
The local law is uninterested in hearing about Morbid but they
do not intervene if you attack him, or he attacks you.
(4.3) How can I get that dog to let the guy Phil into his house?
Ask Phil about the dog's former owner. Or think about ways one can
make friends with a dog.
Either put on a leather jacket, or feed the dog.
You can find some tasty iguanas in the hotel refrigerator.
Or kill Phil, you will get 100 xp for "solving Phil's problem"
and Dogmeat will join up with you.
(4.4) Where can I find Tycho?
He's in the bar, west side.
Talk to him a couple of times.
He won't be interested in joining if you didn't help Killian deal
with the assasin. Or if you do help Neal deal with the Skulz member.
(4.5) Killian's store doesn't have a lot to buy.
There is different stuff for sale on the different tables.
(4.6) Killian asked for help dealing with Gizmo. How?
When you first meet Killian, a would-be assasin walks in and tries
to shoot Killian. If you help kill the assasin, Killian will
appreciate it, and will ask for assistance in coping with Gizmo.
You can go talk with Gizmo while carrying the tape recorder, if you
get him to say something incriminating Killian will be able to cart
him off to jail. Alternatively if you're a good pickpocket you can
reverse-pickpocket the bug onto Gizmo, then you don't need to obtain
damaging conversation in person.
If your initial conversation is unsatisfactory, go back to Gizmo and
claim you did it but don't have the Killian's dog tags. He'll cut
loose with some really incriminating ultimatum.
If you talk with Gizmo before Killian, he'll offer you the job to
hit Killian right away. Also if you don't help Killian against the
assassin and then weasel out of assisting with Gizmo, you get put
in jail and can escape (200xp) and be a fugitive.
(4.7) Lars asked for help busting the Skulz gang. How?
Taking the law into your own hands and exterminating them won't
do it. They hang out in rooms behind the hotel and at the Skum
Pitt, the bar. Leads can be found there, and in the hallway
west of the hotel lobby.
You might be able to infliltrate the gang.
If you go to the bar in the evening or night and speak to Neal, after
the conversation ends a Skulz gang member will insult the waitress
and Neal will blow him away. After this you can go talk to Vinnie,
the gang leader, in their hangout in the back part of the Crash House
hotel. Vinnie offers to let you join if you'll steal the bar owner
Neal's urn from the bar. If you successfully do this, talk to Vinnie
again and he will inform you of their plan to retaliate against Neal.
You can now tell Lars all about it, optionally join him in fighting
the Skulz, and optionally return Neal's urn.
Another way is to talk with Sherry, the gang member in the hallway
by the hotel lobby. With good speech skills you can convince her
to leave the gang, and over time, to testify against them. You may
need to hang around Junktown for a few days while she mulls things
over. You can rent a room in the hotel.
(4.8) Should I rent a room in the Crash House?
Yes. Spend a night there when you're done with the day.
(4.9) The Junktown guards are after me.
If you take the law into your own hands and just kill Gizmo or
the Skulz they will not appreciate it. They are very lawful.
Here's another way it can happen: attempt to help Killian against
his assassin and miss, hitting a guard. Here's another way: try to
steal Neal's urn and fail (even if he's not watching), then fight
back when he attacks you and kill him. The guards are not forgiving.
Stay out of their way or leave town or kill them all or restore.
It may be possible to save the situation. War story: assassin
attacks mayor, mayor shoots at assassin but accidentally hits player,
Ian shoots mayor, mayor and guards shoot at Ian. Player manages
to stay friends with town by helping kill Ian. (Then restores.)
(4.10) How do I save Sinthia from the crazed raider?
You won't get this quest unless you rent a room for a night in the
Crash House.
One solution is talk, talk, talk. You may be able to buy her
freedom, or with a high speech skill, convince him to leave
peacefully.
Some people were successful killing him before he could shoot
Sinthia, but you have to be very good. Good sneakers can get
around behind him, making this easier.
Sinthia gets upset with you if your character is male and kills
the raider. If your party members kill the raider, she's ok.
(4.11) What's all this about the boxer's girlfriend?
When the Skulz member hits the barmaid, she yells out a name, when
you ask her, she tells you the name belongs to her boyfriend the boxer.
Or you can talk to Neal and get him to mention her name.
After that, talking with the boxer about his life in Junktown
sometimes finds him having rough times with his girlfriend.
You get 250 xp if you help smooth it out.
(4.12) Who is that Children of the Cathedral member?
If you go back to Junktown later in the game, there's a CoC person
in one of the houses.
There's a guy standing around (near Lars?) who will tell you that
a CoC member took over his friend's house. Talking with Lars, the
concerned friend, and the CoC member produced nothing revealing.
You can blow him up with dynamite without agitating the cops.
(4.13) I want to rob Killian. How?
There is a safe in Killian's private quarters.
You get 500 xp for robbing it. To do this easily, break into his
room at night and hide there until he leaves the next morning.
(5) Hub
(5.1) Where do I find Decker?
In the Maltese Falcon, downtown west side.
Speak with Kane, the guy guarding the door on the south side of
the bar. ("Cleansing the world" is an interesting conversation
path.)
You can, btw, accept both of the quests that Decker offers and
complete them to get the cash and xp, and then go to the police
afterwards and still get to bust Decker and collect the cash and
xp for that quest as well.
If you care about positive Karma, you can pick fights with your
victims and let your NPC's deal with it.
(5.2) This Iguana Bob fellow seems pleasant enough.
Go snoop around Doc Morbid's in Junktown.
You can extort money from Iguana Bob but apparently the local law
in both Junktown and the Hub is not interested. If you kill IB,
or incite him to attack you, they will go after you, not him.
Extortion lowers your Karma.
(5.3) What can I do at the Friendly Lending Company?
You can try to rob the bank, and you can kill the loan shark without
agitating the cops.
You can get an introduction to Decker, too.
(5.4) What's the deal with the missing caravans?
Read the billboard in south central downtown then go speak with the
people at Far Go Trading.
They'll send you to Beth, who will send you to Harold and Slappy in
Old Town.
Slappy can take you to the Deathclaw lair. You must then go talk
with Butch again, fail miserably to convince him, and then show
the mutant's holodisk to Rutger to solve the quest.
(5.5) Who is this Vance guy in Old Town?
The arms dealer in Oldtown will tell you what he does if you follow
the "What is radiation?" line of conversation.
(5.6) Where can I get Rad-X? Where can I buy drugs in general?
There's a dealer in the east side of Old Town named Vance.
If he won't talk to you, you can get an introduction from Lemmie
the shady character walking around downtown. If you pull a gun
and choose intimidating conversation he will (maybe) provide the
introduction free.
(5.7) Where can I get some lock picks? How about an electronic lock pick?
Explore Old Town, there's a basement to check out.
In a house in the middle east side, there's a stairway to the lair
of the Thieves' Circle. You have to pick some doors and dodge some
traps to get there, but if you do, ask to join and they'll provide
some picks. Loxley has terrific conversation paths, save the game
and experiment.
If you successfully get initiated your reward includes an electronic
pick.
There's an electronic lock pick on the top floor of the Cathedral.
There's a set of lock picks in Garl's fridge in the Raider camp,
and also one in the Boneyard, in the Deathclaw lair.
You can buy lock picks from Mitch in the Hub. Or you can steal
one from Jasmine's friend at the entrance to the thieves' circle.
If you tag the Lockpick skill you start the game with a set.
Both electronic and regular picks can break if your skill is too low.
(5.8) Where can I find a super sledge?
Jake the arms dealer in old town will have one for sale if you ask
if he has something with a little more power.
(5.9) Whenever I open this door in Old Town the people inside blow me away.
They're holding someone prisoner in the back room.
(5.10) How can I get a .223 pistol?
Speak with Irwin, south edge of downtown. If he doesn't ask you to
help him out, your character level is too low.
(5.11) How can I steal Hightower's necklace?
A little reconnaissance first is a good idea.
If you go at night, you can creep around the back of his house
and wait for the guard to walk away to check out the front.
Hightower and his wife are in bed and won't disturb your burgling.
Check the strongbox for traps before trying to open it. (It
is trapped). In fact there seem to be quite a few traps on it.
The best time to go is 6pm.
(5.12) I can't complete the quest to kill Hightower.
If you agreed to kill Hightower for Decker, then went to the cops,
the quest will show up on your PIPboy but is unsolvable since
Decker's dead. It's not a problem.
When you first talk with Decker, you can discuss the matter and then
decline the job; he does not get offended and you can then turn him
in as before, without Hightower getting added to the list.
Or if you wish to kill both Hightower and Decker, you must do
Hightower first so you can report to Decker while he's still alive.
(5.13) Jain, the woman church elder in the hospital, has a talking head. Why?
She's involved in a quest you may get from Decker.
It follows the Hightower quest.
Also if you kill the Master, look at your PIPboy for new quests
in the Hub.
(5.14) Where is the blasted water chip?
Speak with the Water Merchants. They will want to sell you a water
caravan trip, but you'll get a lead to another place to check out.
Also, ask the librarian about holodisks.
Vault 12 is in Necropolis.
(5.15) When the game is over, I always get a sad ending for the Hub.
Me too. Nobody has reported a way to get a happy ending for the Hub.
But if you finish very rapidly (86 days was sufficient) you don't
get the sad ending, or any ending.
(6) Necropolis
(6.1) There is nothing here but a run-down hotel.
You can use the sewer system to get to other parts of the city.
(6.2) How to I fix the water pump?
The missing parts are in the northeastern part of the sewers under
the watershed. Look for Junk.
You have to use the Junk on the water pump to repair it.
(6.3) Where can I find Set?
In Necropolis Hall, upstairs from the middle parts of the sewers.
Worth checking out.
He'll send you on a quest, maybe. And burn you afterward.
Things might be different for evil characters.
If you happen to have accomplished the quest on your own, he
still rewards you.
(6.4) How can I free the caged glowing ones?
There's a switch on the wall that opens the cells.
[Ed.: I read it on the net so it must be true, but nobody has
been able to find it aside from the original posting.]
(6.5) The water shed is guarded, how can I get in?
Harry the door guard is very stupid, you may be able to con him.
Or you might be able to sneak behind his back.
When Harry accosts you, tell him you're a ghoul, or if you don't
have that option, a robot.
Tricky method: Player pisses off Harry who shoots. Player scoots
out door (which is nearby) and down manhole south of door, still in
combat mode. Then, leaving combat mode and returning to the city
map, Harry is outside the shed and doesn't object to player entering
and doing whatever he wants.
(6.6) I've been captured and put in a cell.
Good luck to you. I didn't make it, myself. Few have reported
success, but there were some amazing tries. It's possible to make
it to safety -- in your second game you'll probably be able to do it.
Search your cell, and save a lot.
(6.7) When the game is over, I got a sad ending for Necropolis.
It is possible to get a happy ending. I suspect it might depend on
how long it takes to eliminate the mutant threat. You must leave
them with a working water supply. It does not depend on whether you
kill the mutants in the watershed, or whether you kill some or all
of the ghouls.
(7) Vault 13
(7.1) How do I calm the rebel faction?
You get this quest when you return to vault 13 and talk to the
unhappy citizens on level 2.
It gets crossed off if you return the water chip.
The rebels will be dealt with by Vault security at some time
before day 150, so if you return to vault 13 rather late they
may not be there any more.
You can talk to the leader and perhaps talk her out of it.
You can attend the rebel meeting and exterminate them.
(7.2) How do I catch the water thief?
You get this quest when you return to vault 13 and talk to some people
on level 2 and the guard outside the storeroom on level 3.
It gets crossed off if you return the water chip.
Hide someplace and wait until midnight and watch what happens.
You have to accost the thief after he steals the water.
(7.3) I brought the water chip back but I can't figure out what to do with it.
Talk to the overseer, he's on the pedestal on Level 3.
(8) Glow
(8.1) There's nothing here but a crater.
If you arrived at night, you may not have seen it -- there's a beam you
can tie a rope to and climb down into the crater.
(8.2) I can't get into the elevator, it keeps shocking me.
There's a key card on one of the corpses, the guy in power armor.
Use it on the elevator.
It's also possible to disarm the trap and lockpick the door.
(8.3) I can't get through the door that's welded shut.
You're too weak. Once I set off a nearby explosive trap and the
door opened after that. Once I tried dynamite and nothing changed.
You don't miss anything world-shaking if you can't get through this
door.
(8.4) How can I turn off the security robots?
The master computer on level 4 can do this if it likes you.
Ask for mainframe mode.
You can make it like you more by flattering it, and by playing chess
with it.
It's a lot easier to get into mainframe mode when the power is on.
You can shoot and kill deactivated robots.
You can steal their weapons when they're turned off.
(8.5) How can I turn off the traps?
The master computer on level 4 can do this too.
Ask for mainframe mode and shut off the security systems.
(8.6) I can't get to level five.
The screen in the lower left says why -- you need to turn on the
power. That's on level 6. Using tools boosts your repair skill.
Turning off the emergency power makes it easier to repair the
generator. A 40% repair skill will do it, and there are a couple
of Electronics books in the Glow which will boost you ~14%, so
you're ok with a starting repair skill of ~30%, but less is trouble.
(8.7) I did their stupid quest but the Brotherhood still won't let me in.
You must return the actual holodisk you found on level 1.
Just having it in your PIPboy isn't enough.
(8.8) I'm radiated, how can I cure it?
The doctor in the Brotherhood can cure you. Vault 13 too.
Rad-Away will remove it over time.
(8.9) I keep dying of radiation sickness.
There's a drug dealer in the Hub, in Oldtown, who will sell you
Rad-X. Two of those will give you 100% radiation resistance.
Radiation you got before taking them, you still have.
Rad-Away will reduce your contamination level. The Brotherhood
doctor can unradiate you.
(9) Brotherhood
(9.1) How can I get past the gate guards?
You must join up. Talk to both guards.
You can pick the lock using an electronic pick -- the guards
don't mind. This is probably a bug, they do mind if you try
to pick it manually or with ordinary picks.
Or you can kill the guards. Be ready for a fight if you do this.
(9.2) How can I get the quest to find the initiate?
You get it by talking to Talus, in the training room on level 1.
Ask him about high-tech weapons.
Possibly you don't get asked unless you have high speech or karma.
(9.3) Where is the lost initiate?
In the Hub, northwest part of Old Town, imprisoned by thugs
in a house.
(9.4) How can I get some power armor?
You can get Brothehood Combat Armor just by asking Talus.
Kyle, doing repair work on level 3, will give you a repairable
suit if you find a necessary component.
You can get power armor from Talus as a reward for freeing the
initiate imprisoned at the Hub. You need good karma to be
offered power armor among the rewards.
You can steal power armor from the supply room, but will then
be at war with the Brotherhood.
Michael the quartermaster only remembers three things to give
you, so collect old rewards before getting new ones.
(9.5) How can I get a systolic motivator?
You can con one out of Michael, the quartermaster, if your speech
skill is up to it.
You can steal one from Rhombus, in his office on level 1.
Don't go into his office with a motivator, he will react as if
you stole it even if it's not his.
(9.6) How can I repair this armor?
You need high repair skill, 75% works. High luck can work too.
Repeated tries at 40% skill using tools worked.
(9.7) I can't leave combat mode to get into the supply room.
If you try to conquer the Brotherhood, you can kill everybody
on level 1 but there are difficulties with the locked supply room.
You can't leave combat mode because the hostile enemies inside
are too close, and you are not allowed to use a lockpick in combat.
One solution is to use your picks from inventory, which you are
allowed to do.
Another is to pick the door before you start the war. One player
wanted to get power armor without having to go to the Glow at all.
You can kill the guards at the entrance and open the elevator with
an electronic lockpick, then you start off level 1 at war.
(10) Boneyard
(10.1) How can I fix the hydroponic farm?
You get this quest by talking to Miles, the chemist in Adytum.
Miles and Smitty will be willing to do you favors afterward.
The guy with the missing parts was killed by Deathclaws, he's
in the abandoned theater where they live.
On your first trip there, or first day, or something, there's a
dead Merchant in the center east part of the map. At some point
he becomes a bloodstain. That is the guy with the missing parts
-- they're called Junk.
(10.2) I can't kill the Deathclaws.
Some tactics people succeeded with: laser or plasma shots to
their legs can cripple them, slowing them down enough that
you can back away and shoot and they can't close.
A good hand-to-hand fighter with spiked knuckles hitting them
in the eyes does a lot of damage. Combat Armor and a Power Fist
would help more. Have plenty of stimpaks.
Power armor and a shotgun or combat shotgun worked. A sniper
rifle and 200% small arms skill did the job with no trouble.
(10.4) How can I save Jan Zimmerman, the mayor of Adytum?
You can't.
If you give him the tape, he will attack the Regulators and die.
If you attack the Regulators, alone or with the Blades, he will
fight on their side.
To give him the tape you need to actually have it in your
inventory, not just a record in your PIPboy.
Several ingenious attempts to save Zimmerman were posted.
The best: station NPC's to protect Smitty and Miles (they stay
where they are when dismissed, but still fight on your side).
Go play the tape for Zimmerman, and immediately hit A to enter
combat before the Regulator can kill Zimmerman. Kill the
Regulator. This starts the Adytown war. Zimmerman fights
on your side. But when you end combat Zimmerman attacks you.
(10.5) I killed all the Deathclaws but they're baack.
Kill them all again and then explore the theater completely, in
daylight.
There's a stairway leading to the basement. Explore there too.
You have to kill not just the Mother Deathclaw but also the eggs.
(10.6) How can I find the spy in the Followers?
Speak with the ghoul in the basement of the library to find out
about the spy.
There is no way to find or deal with the spy -- it was removed
from the game. It's a bug. This probably also means there's
nothing you can do to keep the Followers from being exterminated.
(10.7) Who are those bounty hunter guys in the house behind the library?
They'll go after you if you're a notorious villain.
(10.8) What is that alphabet soup Christine says? (C D E D B D Ducks...)
Read it aloud.
C D E D B D Ducks! See the itty bitty ducks!
M R Not Ducks! Them are not ducks!
O S A R! C D E D B D Wings! Oh yes they are! See the itty bitty wings!
O I B M R Ducks Oh I be! Them are ducks!
It's a Wasteland reference, to Ellen in Quartz.
(10.9) Where can I get a turbo plasma rifle?
Fix the hydroponic farm for Miles in Adytum, then talk to Smitty.
(10.10) Where can I get hardened power armor?
Fix the hydroponic farm for Miles in Adytum, then talk to Miles.
(10.11) When I went back to talk to Razor she was dead, or just a bloodstain.
There can be continuity problems in this part of the game.
If you've taken on the Regulators, make sure they're all dead before
worrying about Razor.
If you try to take the tape to Zimmerman you'll get into a fight
with the Regulators. Perhaps some of the ways it can turn out
involve them going up and killing Razor. But if you wipe out all the
Regulators, Razor will appear alive and well at the town entrance.
(10.12) When the game is over, I always get a sad ending for the Followers.
Me too. Nobody has reported a way to get a happy ending.
But if you finish very rapidly (86 days was sufficient) you don't
get the sad ending, or any ending.
(11) Military Base
(11.0) I can't find the military base. Where is it?
Go due northwest from the Brotherhood.
Set the ghoul leader in Necropolis Hall knows where it is,
he can light it up on your map. The only way I know to get
him to be willing to do this is to kill the Master.
(11.1) I can't get past the sentries.
If you have a radio, or steal one from a guard, you can use it
to fake a distress call that draws off 3 of the 4 guards.
If you ask nicely at the Brotherhood, they'll send a team of
crack assault paladins with you. (They meet you there.)
If you wear a Cathedral robe, you can try to con your way in.
(11.2) I can't get in the front door.
To pick it, you need an electronic pick. To get that, you need to
find and join the Thieves' Guild in the Hub.
Steal from, or search the body of, the door guard to find a clue.
He has jotted down the combination on a holodisk.
(11.3) The Brotherhood promised me Paladin assistance, where is it?
They show up when you go up to the base. They won't go inside
with you, they just help with the outside sentries.
(11.4) What can I do with these computers?
The Mach IV computers won't do anything for you. Other computers
may, if you're good at Science.
One can be used to more or less shut off the sentry robots.
One can be used to control the force fields.
Not only can you make the robots stop attacking you, but if you tell
the computer to have the robots kill LARGE pests (I think that's the
setting), the robots will kill some of the mutants for you.
(11.5) I can't get through the force fields.
The red force fields can't be disabled and don't need to be, you
can walk through them.
The yellow force fields can be disabled by using your repair skill
on the force field generators, if you're good enough. Tools help.
Explosives will toast the generators and lower the fields.
A computer in the southeast corner of level 1 controls them.
(11.6) I turned off the force fields but they're still on.
The force field computer is in the southeast part of level 1.
If you have a high Science skill you can get it to turn off the
fields, but only momentarily.
Look at that computer (binoculars).
You can use a radio on it to set up remote control.
(11.7) What is the deal with Mr. Handy?
A cleaning robot which you can repair or something, which will
blunder into the Vat room force field and blow up, destroying the
force field emitter.
(11.8) How can I repair the elevator that's out of order?
You can't. If you get captured and brought to the Lieutenant,
he will want to drop you in the vats but can't because the elevator
isn't working so you get imprisoned instead.
(11.9) I found this key, what does it do?
Arms the bomb under the Cathedral.
(11.10) I found this encryption decoder disk, what does it do?
Unknown. I think it should be used on the Vat Control Computer
somehow but wasn't able to make anything happen.
(11.11) I found this security card, what does it do?
Operates the Vat Control Computer.
(11.12) Here I am the Vat Control Computer, now what?
If your science skill is too low to operate it, get a security card
from one of the techs.
(11.13) I blew up the base but then the game ended suddenly.
You must escape from the base, getting all the way out to the world map.
(12) Cathedral
(12.1) How can I get in to the back room?
Help is available up at the Boneyard, check out the Followers in
the Boneyard.
If you speak politely to Lasher he'll give you a pass.
If you speak with Nicole, the Follower leader, and ask for help she'll
tell you about Laura in the Cathedral who can help.
Explosives will open it.
(12.2) How can I get through the secret door?
It's behind the altar. You need a black key.
Morpheus on the top floor has it.
Excellent lockpickers have been able to pick the door.
You can wait until evening and follow Morpheus in.
Explosives will open it.
(12.3) How can I get to that dog Sasha behind the Cathedral?
You can't. She is the producer's dog. Sasha is often around
somewhere in Interplay games.
(12.4) I keep getting killed!
Wear a purple robe and Nightkin won't attack. (Unless you
have NPC's with you.)
There are some unoccupied robes up in the Boneyard, in the
middle of the Followers' library.
There's also one in the Hub hospital, in the locked room.
(12.5) I got into the basement but it's just a library.
There is a secret door.
You can use your Traps skill on the bookcase next to it and
find a hidden lever. Then just use the Hand icon on the bookcase
and the secret door will open.
Or if you hang around for a while someone will come out through
the door and you can go in. If he sees you, you may need to do
some fast talking or fight him.
(12.6) What can I do with these computers?
Not a lot. The Mach IV computers won't do anything for you.
Other computers will tell you about the existence of a secret
base (and give you some experience points).
(12.7) There's an elevator back there but I can't pick the door.
Regular lock picks don't help on this door, but an electronic
pick will.
It's a game balance thing. Thief-type characters who have been
sandpapering their fingertips and honing their con-artist skills
would be turned to mincemeat by the guards, so can use this back
door. Others can't.
It leads to a bomb in the basement. The bomb will be detonated
when the Master dies whether you go down there or not.
(12.8) When I walk down this grisly corridor I get nightmares.
The Master is attacking you psychically. It does serious stat
damage. Have you talked with the mad scientists on level 2?
They've invented a Psychic Nullifier to prevent their nut cases
from broadcasting.
Talk with the guys locked in a room in the northwest of level 2.
One of them can give you a nullifier, or you can maybe steal one,
or you can murder them.
(12.9) Whenever I free the prisoners, they die.
Sure enough. No known way to prevent this.
(12.10) Where can I find Tesla Armor?
In a footlocker on the top floor of the Cathedral. It's the best
armor against energy weapons, but power armor is better otherwise.
(12.11) Where can I find the Master?
He's on level 3 under the Cathedral. You have to get through the
door behind the altar.
Morpheus has a key to that door (see 12.2).
If you talk with Morpheus and tell him you have information for
the Master (without referring to him as "your" Master), Morpheus
will teleport you directly there.
(12.12) How can I kill the Master?
He's immobile. If you have a long range weapon, you can shoot him
and he can't shoot back.
Explosives are pretty effective too -- one guy ran up, left a huge
pile of armed explosives under him (you can do this in a single
inventory access) and took cover behind a pillar.
Another guy used a Power Fist and found it worked better than
shooting at the Master.
If you talked with Vree about mutant science, and she gave you a
holodisk describing the results of her autopsies, you can convince
the Master to commit suicide.
War story: Player approaches down the side of the room, trying
to sneak around behind him. Master fires, hitting defense robot.
Robots attack Master. Player hides behind pillar, dealing with
mutant troops that swarm in while robots continue to attack and
eventually kill Master.
(12.13) I blew up the Cathedral but then the game ended suddenly.
You must escape, getting all the way out to the world map.
(13) Misc
(13.1) I haven't found a water chip and the 150 days are about to run out.
The Water Merchants in the Hub will send 100 days worth of water
for $2000. However, if you've run across the mutants in Necropolis
you may think that revealing the location of your Vault may
not be the best thing to do.
(13.2) Vault 13 was overrun by mutants.
The mutant army is actively searching for humans to convert. They
will find the Vault eventually. You have to take care of them before
they find it.
You must destroy the Master before day 500, or day 400 if you sent
a water caravan. (That helps them locate the vault.)
This time limit is present in v1.0 only, it's removed in v1.1.
(13.3) If I have NPC's in my party, how are the experience points divided?
You get the same experience whether you're alone or with others.
On the other hand NPC's don't gain levels or skills.
(13.4) How can I develop my character to level 21?
People have mentioned a couple of ways: fight the Deathclaws in
the Boneyard again and again without killing off their Mother,
they're worth 1000 xp each. Or fight super mutant patrols around
the military base.
Death Claws respawn in about an hour.
(13.5) Is there any way to, er, score?
After rescuing Sinthia in the Junktown hotel, talk with her and
urge her to move on with her life.
If you're male, speak with Keri, the woman who gives out caravan
assignments at Crimson Caravan in the Hub.
There's no way to get a date with the Brotherhood guard at the
entrance to level 1 -- if you're male and charismatic he's not
interested, if you're male and ugly he's *really* not interested,
if you're female the conversation turns into a sisterhood thing.
(13.6) Combat tips
When fighting animals, which attack hand to hand, shoot and move
away so they have to move to attack again -- this uses up their
action points and can cost them an attack or two.
When fighting male humans hand to hand, hitting them in the balls
is really effective.
A sniper rifle at extreme range allows you to shoot at enemies
who can't shoot back. If you aim at their legs and succeed at
crippling them, they can't move fast enough to close in.
A ripper or super sledge in combination with a gun allows you to
do this: hit them with the melee weapon and they'll get knocked
back and probably on the ground. Now you can shoot with a huge
bonus to hit, and can hit the eyes at 95% even with mediocre skill.
If you steal from someone and get caught, you can run away rather
than get embroiled in a big fight. Works best if there are not
too many people nearby.
If you plan a campaign of mass extermination, it's a whole lot
easier if you first trot around and steal everybody's stimpaks,
extra ammo, and if possible, weapons.
If you should happen to encounter a crowd of mutants somewhere,
and are wearing power armor, run into the crowd, ideally next
to somebody with a rocket launcher. They'll do much more harm
to each other than to you. Or, in the military base or cathedral,
wear robes and plant ticking dynamite on one member of the crowd.
Or, also fun in crowds of mutants, try a character with Fast Shot
and Bonus HtH and a Super Sledge.
(13.7) How does bartering work?
The base price is determined by comparing your Barter skill with
the Barter skill of the NPC, along with the NPC's reaction to you
and in some cases a store-specific modifier (some stores are more
expensive than others). NPC reactions are based on your Charisma
and your reputation. Some NPC's favor positive reputations, others
negative.
The price of goods sold doesn't depend on skill.
For buying, skill 30 gets decent prices, skill 10 gets you robbed.
(13.8) How do lockpicks work?
Lockpicks usually add +20% to your chance of success. On some doors,
they offset a penalty for not having lockpicks (-30, -40, or more).
(13.9) What is fruit good for?
It heals you a few points.
(13.10) What is Iguana On A Stick good for?
You can give it to animals to feed them.
(13.11) What is Nuka-Cola good for?
You can get addicted to it. Just like real life!
(13.12) What are Beer and Booze good for?
You can drink them and lose a little Perception for a while.
(13.13) What is a Lighter good for?
Unknown.
(13.14) What is a Flower good for?
Unknown.
(13.15) What is a box of Instant Spagetti good for?
Unknown.
(13.16) Where are all the NPC's?
Ian in Shady Sands.
Dogmeat and Tycho in Junktown.
Tandi at the Raider camp.
Katja in the Boneyard.
Katja can use all one-handed guns, not only an SMG as she says.
And she can pick locks, talk to her in front of a locked door.
(13.17) Where is the mutant army?
Offstage. There is a large army gradually taking over the world,
or at least Southern California, much too big to fight. You never
see it, just its effects.
(13.18) I'm addicted to drugs, what does that mean?
Drugs act in three stages: they increase some of your stats above
normal for a while, then they decrease them below normal, then they
return to normal. If you're addicted they don't return to normal
until the addiction wears off.
(13.19) How can I increase my stats?
Drugs increase them temporarily.
The Brotherhood surgeon can increase most of them, for a price.
Strength $2k 3wks
Perception $4k 1wk
Endurance $3k 1wk
Intelligence $6k 3wks
Agility $5k 3wks
If you're very dimwitted you can get an intelligence boost for
half price.
Chuck, the gypsy fortuneteller in Adytum, can increase your Luck.
Get your fortune told. Don't offend him. (There are two different
conversation paths that lead to fortune.)
Patrick the Celt, a wandering bard you meet in the mountains, can
increase your Charisma. Ask him to sing a song in Gaelic.
Save first, it seems to be random whether you get the topic.
Being radiated and not dying increases your stats. This is a bug
in v1.0 only, it's fixed by the v1.1 patch.
You can have more than 10 action points. There are only ten lights
on the combat display but e.g. if you have 11 AP and use 2 it will
show that you have 9 left.
(13.20) How can I increase my skills?
MacRae, the door guard at Blades HQ in the Boneyard, will teach
you combat skills if you make life safe for the Blades.
It won't help skills that are already high, maybe 91%.
The first time you talk to Talus, in the gym on Brotherhood level 1,
if you just stand inside the room and watch the training going on,
you'll pick up +5% melee and +5% unarmed skill. You need to be
patient and watch the trainer go blah blah blah 'Do not extend
yourself' etc. At the end of training, you will also gain 500 exp.
Vree, the head Brotherhood scribe on level 3, can give you a
computer course that gives you +15% science skill.
The library in Vault 13 contains a computer study course that
can give you 300-400 xp. If your character is very young you
might spend time "browsing the inter-web" and get nothing.
The Hub library has lots of books for sale; you can increase your
skills up to 91% with books, if you have the cash. If you turn
down the game difficulty the limit is higher -- 101 for normal
or 121 for easy.
(13.21) What random encounters are out there?
High Luck and Perception get you lots of random encounters.
These are known:
Crashed UFO (alien blaster and picture of Elvis)
Tardis (motion detector)
Godzilla's footprint (stealth boy)
Bob's Used Cars (regular and LE BB guns)
Overturned Truck (caps) (luck 8: $5k, luck 10: $10k)
Patrick the Celt (charisma)
Talking Brahmins (unknown)
[these are "the Snow Cows from Darker Realms", a MUD Tim Cain
used to play in. He "used to enjoy teleporting them into
one of the other wizard's workroom."]
Patrick is seen in the mountains, the others the desert, or
sometimes city.
Other encounters have no "prize" and can be bad:
Raiders
Town Guards (Hub, Junktown, Brotherhood, whatever's nearby)
Caravan (you can join if they're going your way)
Raiders attacking something (civilians, guards, other raiders)
Animals (all kinds, rats up to deathclaws, and praying mantises)
Animals attacking animals
Lone peasant, deathclaw ate the caravan he was guarding
Fisherman and his son (only by the seashore)
(13.22) Why did my character act that way with the Overseer at the very end?
Your character fires if you took Bloody Mess or are evil (negative
reputation or Berserker or Childkiller).
--- Cheap Tricks -------------------------------------------------------------
Note: some of these may not behave the same after the v1.1 patch.
The gun runners will give you a discount if you take care of their
Deathclaw problem. You can then buy something and sell it right
back for more. Repeat until tired.
The same thing works with any NPC if your barter skill is better than
theirs. Also steal/save/reload can result in NPC's having new money
to steal.
Again at the gun runners: finish the Deathclaw quest, go talk to the
Gunrunners' leader, you get 1000 xp. Talk to him again, and he'll
think you haven't finished the quest. Move to another map, move back,
talk to him again, get another 1000 xp. Repeat until tired.
This doesn't work in v1.1.
In the Hub, Oldtown: talk to Slappy and ask him to take you to the
Deathclaw cave (800 xp). Optionally kill Deathclaw. Return to town,
return to Slappy, ask again (800 xp). Repeat until tired.
This doesn't work in v1.1.
In the Boneyard, Blades hangout: after the Regulators are defeated,
talk to Michael, the intense young man in the first room. Turn down
his offer to reward you and he'll give you stimpaks and caps. Repeat.
Also, your karma goes up by one each time you do this.
If Iguana Bob has agreed to buy your silence, you can collect your
weekly payment over and over again. Your karma goes down each time.
This one doesn't work in v1.1.
If you took Gifted, choose the Mutate! perk and change it to something
else, you lose the -10% skill penalty but don't lose the stat bonus.
This one doesn't work in v1.1.
The door at Killian's store is open at 0600 but Killian isn't up yet.
You can walk in and help yourself. This doesn't work in v1.1.
You can barter with Vance the drug dealer even if his conversation
has told you to get lost. Maybe this is true of all NPC's who are
mad at you.
NPC's will accept stuff via barter without checking their weight
limit. You can give them arbitrary loads of loot this way.
If some conversation path that can offer experience does not come up
in dialog, you can get the experience anyway by using the 'tell me
about' box. For instance mentioning crop rotation to the Shady Sands
farmer gets you 500 xp even when it doesn't come up in conversation.
At the Glow, get really radiated before returning. On the way back
you get massive stat losses due to radiation but then massive permanent
stat gains. How radiated to get is not clear, people have lived with
999 rems on the geiger counter and died with 600. Save and experiment.
This is a bug in v1.0 only, it's fixed in the v1.1 patch.
To steal the Systolic Motivator from Rhombus, if you can't get away
with it by normal means: take it and drop it somewhere before he
catches you. Get him to let you off with a warning. Pick it up
and leave. Avoid him after that, he'll throw you out. Or when you
steal it, pop it in a bag, you'll keep it when he evicts you.
Or enter combat mode (A key) when Rhombus hears you and escape.
If you have enough APs, enter combat mode to get into his room during
the day, steal the motivator, and leave. He never even blinks.
A similar method can be used to steal Hightower's necklace
painlessly. If you go in the daytime, a high speech skill will
allow you to talk your way past the guards. You can then enter
combat mode when you get near the door to Hightower's office, walk
right past him into the room with the strongbox, steal the
necklace, and walk out again, without him accosting you.
Using the 'A' key to get into combat mode is good for other
situations, you can easily do many things unobserved that would
be nearly impossible otherwise. Hold down the A key if you run
out of action points and want to stay in combat mode. Hit A
while a screen for a random encounter is loading to get the
first move.
Talus and his students in the Brotherhood gym are oblivious to
pickpocket. You can repeatedly poke through their pockets until
you are successful without any ill effects. Net result: free
stimpacks, assault rifles, and 5mm ammo.
You can use drugs to qualify for a perk at any time. You don't need
to plan your high to coincide with a new level. Just hit Esc or click
cancel for selecting a perk and use your drugs when it's convenient
then check the character screen again.
If you increase your Intelligence at the Brotherhood, and have not
looked at the character sheet since going up a level (or several),
you get skill points determined by your new intelligence. It doesn't
work that way with Endurance and hit points.
Books won't increase a skill above 91%, but if you're recovering from
drugs and have depressed stats, you can study up to 91% and then when
your stats recover you'll be above that.
In character creation, you can get a stat up to 11 by starting it
at 10 and then picking Gifted. This doesn't give you any stat
increases above 10, so it's likely useless.
--- Blitz Play ---------------------------------------------------------------
If you finish off the Cathedral and Vats before day 150, you get
a successful ending even if you didn't return the water chip.
A route that allows you to finish very quickly is:
Hub for electronic lock pick at the Thieves Circle
Brotherhood -- pick the elevator -- for Vree's tape and power armor
Boneyard for Turbo Plasma Rifle and xp
Cathedral to kill Master
Hub and Boneyard for Hardened Power Armor
Military Base for endgame.
One player finished on day 41 using a similar route. He recommends
Int 10 to max skill points, you will be a low level character the
whole game, Agi 6 for AP's to run away from random encounters,
the rest 4 or so to pump up Charisma. Take Skilled and Good Natured
and tag Sneak, Speech, Lockpick.
Overland travel takes up time. Doing a lot at a single location
doesn't. You can rack up experience killing Deathclaws and get
to a high enough level that you can face the Master without either
power armor or Vree's tape -- i.e. you can skip the Brotherhood.
Getting to the base via capture in Necropolis is tricky, you have
no robe and getting one by killing Children in the control room
sets off alarms.
Here's one that allows you to hit more of the side quests
but wastes no time:
Return immediately to Vault 13 for the side quests
Shady Sands Radscorpions, Vault 15, Shady Sands kidnapping
Raiders
Junktown
Hub
Necropolis, get Harry's laser rifle and start working on energy skill
Glow
Hub
Brotherhood (optional) for power armor
Adytum
Cathedral
Hub
Brotherhood (if you didn't go above)
Vault 13 to deliver the chip
Military Base.
--- Hackery ------------------------------------------------------------------
The Skilled trait is supposed to give you 5 more skill points to spend
when you go up a level. It doesn't. You can get this effect by
awarding yourself 2 or 3 ranks of Educated. (2.5 ranks would produce
5 extra skill points but you must pick either 2 or 3). To do this,
hex-edit a saved game and add 2 or 3 to the value in location 8E0F.
It's not always at that location; if not, locate the perks area,
mark several of them, load the game and see what happened, pick the
right one.
The above is basically a workaround for a bug. The following is pure
cheat. When creating a character, use SAVE CHARACTER and choose
some name, for example PLAYER. Hex edit the file PLAYER.GCD and alter
the last byte. It's the number of attribute points you have left to
spend. Set it to anything you please. Now go through Create New
Character again, load PLAYER, and assign the stolen points as you like.
--- Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not happy with this mass attribution but things got very cluttered,
and lengthy, otherwise. If anybody's unhappy, let me know and I will
rectify the matter.
ALang alangt ibm.net
B.S vortex california.com
Christopher H. Baer chbaer cris.com
Balut balut jhu.edu
Bill Bohlen Bill.Bohlen worldnet.att.net
Tim Bolin tbolin nospam.com
Chia K. Boon ckboon pacific.net.sg
Timothy Cain caintim ix.netcom.com
Nathan Carter ncarter ritchie.acomp.usf.edu
Chia-Hao Chang cchang vicious.cis.ohio-state.edu
Kay-Yut Chen kychen hpl.hp.com
Fallout's Chris anarchy netcom.com
John M Clancy jmclancy ix.netcom.com
Charles Cox ccox gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu
cparn1138 cparn1138 aol.com
Jeffrey Crawford drizzit ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Andy Curlutu acurlutu neo.lrun.com
Carlos DaSilva cdasilva earthlink.net
William Davis wishda mindspring.com
Chris Dinardo cdinardo tao.agoron.com
Jason Doyama me microsoft
doyon doyon erols.com
Lost Dragon lostdrgn cris.com
Plugh Dragon no-spam thank.you.com
Brent Edger brente ee.net
Josh Errington llew ix.netcom.com
evilsofa flodin eskimo.com
Tim Faulkner timfaulk concentric.net
Boba Fett boba_fett newfire.com
Ian Firth divsoft dim.com
Rik Flor rik.flor abbott.com
George P. Fono fono better.net
M. Gardner mpgardner ghg.net
Jeff Green jhgreen zd.com
Brian Griffin bdg tiac.net
Keith Grimes kgrimes aracnet.com
Brett Hall swizin rain.org
Erik Harris esh7 cornell.edu
Scott Harvey sharvey enteract.com
Joe Hendrix joeeeee mail.utexas.edu
A. Heshmat Ah269834 hvcc.edu
Alex Van Der Hengst vanderhengst mindspring.com
Khor Chin Hong khor kch.pl.my
Tim Hume hume deltanet.com
Ian iadmontg undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
Joe II jpgmer worldnet.att.net
Chris Irby chrisirby topher.net
Peter N Ivanov tuidjy mit.edu
Tim Iverson iverson lionheart.com
Jag gibbin swbell.net
Jones cej cbncp5.cb.att.com
Greg Kasavin greg mail.gamespot.com
James Keller Genius MIT.edu
Joe Kraska jkraska bbn.com
Cmdr Krud au79 primenet.com
Lammy ricki xmission.com
Mike Lee mikelee hatman.com
Steven K. Lee slee balink.com
Chris List chris.list sc.siemens.com
Bemis Lovecraft hooked.net
Bob Luthardt luthardt clark.net
Jerel Mackay jerel cs.wisc.edu
Viktor Magyar vic goliat.eik.bme.hu
Alex Mars alexmars aol.com
Dave C. Martin myros diac.com
MCBad4Life mcbad4life aol.com
Kevin Murphy MurphKE1 aplmsg.jhuapl.edu
Cory Muzyka corym zadall.com
Carl Ng yeechiew pacific.net.sg
Scott Nickell salvius earthlink.net
Nils OgoIII aol.com
Pantera daveo xmission.com
C. Patchet cpatchet NMSU.Edu
Joe Pesci taipan ihug.co.nz
Toan Pham tpham netcom.com
Helge Philipp helge.philipp artis.uni-oldenburg.de
Dan Phillips shuruga halcyon.com
Piemax obruden ziplink.net
David Pipes robear home.com
Presto presto cdc.net
Psychodad v4vlad sirius.com
Marc H. Rains mrains swbell.net
Raistlin daveo xmission.com
Kim Rivers mdnite::rivers evms.enet.dec.com
Ken Robertson krobert erols.com
Matt Rollefson rollie next.com
Brain Rot chepaul sprintmail.com
Trebor A. Rude trebor mnsinc.com
Sam Schlansky sam allgames.com
Paul Schmidt kuato netcom.com
Tshiung Han See thsee pl.jaring.my
Dave Sherohman esper corlabs.com
Skisko Skisko mail.hsc.wvu.edu
Clark S. Smith clarkss concentric.net
Thomas Stockheim tommi informatik.rwth-aachen.de
tcmac tcmac sprintmail.com
David Teach d.teach ix.netcom.com
A. Teilans ateilans bloomington.in.us
Thain weclark inls.com
Jason Thies thies910 uidaho.edu
Crisper Than Thou crisper armory.com
Julian F Waldby waldby coewl.cen.uiuc.edu
walker kilgard mendel.berkely.edu
Russell Webb rwebb panix.com
Tom Whipple twhipple unicom.net
Alec Wills awills earthlink.net
Michael Y. Wu mwu taurus.oac.uci.edu
International 4-8818 Wchester worldnet.att.net
noone not.here
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Copyright (C) 1997 Chris Smith
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