AN EXPERT'S GUIDE TO MASTERING FALLOUT
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Last updated June 21, 2000


This FAQ is copyrighted by the author and may be freely distributed so long as 
it appears in its complete, unaltered, and unplagarized form. This FAQ may not 
be sold for monetary gain or be republished/reproduced, in part or in whole, 
for any reason whatsoever, without the express permission of the author. 
Copyrighted by Cole Simmons, A.K.A. Kazorky Pantz, June 2000
[email protected]





ABOUT THIS GUIDE
---------------------------

After playing the excellent game Fallout extensively, I have decided to share 
what I believe is the best, easiest possible way to not only solve every quest 
in the game, but also to achieve such hallmarks as obtaining the maximum level 
possible for your character, increasing your stats to their maximum levels, 
and finding out why exactly the world of Fallout is as it is in the first 
place.  I did not write this guide in order to explain things to you, however; 
you will have to make your own discoveries regarding the plot and sub-themes 
in the game.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
---------------------------

A.  GETTING STARTED
   1.  Character creation
   2.  Some Rather Important Game tips
B.  Vault 13 / Shady Sands
C.  Vault 15
D.  Junktown
E.  The Hub
F.  Necropolis
G.  Vault 13
H.  Shady Sands / The Khans
I.  The Hub
J.  The Glow
K.  The Brotherhood
L.  Gettin' Stronger
M.  The Hub
N.  Adytown
O.  The Military Base
P.  The Brotherhood
Q.  The Military Base
S.  Gettin' Stronger Still
T.  The Cathedral 
U.  The End (sorta)





So, without further ado....






A.  Gettin' Started
===================================


  1. Your Character
 ---------------------
This guide really refers only to one type of character, but it is, in my 
opinion, the character best suited for the completion and enjoyment of the 
game. 

What I advise you to do:

STR: 5  
END: 5
PEC: 7
INT: 7
CHR: 5
AGI: 5
LCK: 6

Why I advise you to do this:  Increased Perception lets you shoot things with 
guns a long way away with more accuracy.  Increased Intelligence lets you gain 
more skill points per level, and also increases the amount of experience you 
get from certain tasks.  Increased Luck actually helps quite a bit -- you're 
more likely to succeed in using skills, hitting targets, causing critical 
hits, gambling well, and basically doing anything you want to do a little 
better.  Besides, if you don't have sufficient luck, there's no way you'll be 
able to find the ULTIMATE WEAPON in Fallout.

My preferred tag skills:

Small Guns (recommended above all other skills.      Being able to shoot guns 
good is ESSENTIAL to blazing through Fallout without a whole lot of fuss.)

Gambling (get your gambling skills over about 75% with good luck and you'll 
never have to worry about money.  EVER.)

The last is a toss-up between Energy Weapons and Speech.  Speech is always 
good to have, but Energy Weapons is a necessity a lot sooner than you'd think 
-- and a tag helps a LOT to become proficient in their use earlier.

My preferred Traits are Skilled and Gifted.  Gifted is an awesome trait -- +1 
point to every attribute for the cost of 5 skill points per level, a decrease 
in your overall skill percentages, and a perk every four levels instead of 
three (which has never bothered me, I don't rely on perks).  To balance out 
the loss of skill percentages, I choose Skilled -- it will bring your skills 
back to beyond their original levels and negate the loss of skill points that 
Gifted causes.  So basically, with these two, you gain +1 to all attributes 
and a few percentage points for all skills for the cost of decreased Perk 
frequency.  In my eyes, it's an easy choice.

The name, sex, and age of your character are inconsequential.


    2.  Some Rather Important Game Tips
 ------------------------------------------

My game tips aren't like anybody else's, I guarantee.  But I can get a level 
17 character in a day, and I always get at least 100,000 caps before I cease 
my play, so go figure.

1.  In combat, always use targeted shots if using a rifle or pistol of any 
kind.  Try to get close to your enemy, and shoot them repeatedly in the 
eyeballs.  Usually, with a good Luck and good Perception and good Small Guns 
skills, you can kill any foe in one good shot by doing this.  

2.  When browsing over your fallen foes' corpses, pick up only money and 
healing chems (unless you happen to see they have better guns or armor than 
yours, or you need ammo -- and then leave behind any discarded munitions or 
armor on their bodies.)  Carrying around thirty guns and leather jackets is 
really pointless.  Take what you need, but don't play the pack rat.

3.  Don't use Stimpaks or the like unless you're severely wounded (your HP 
counter is yellow).  Stimpaks are your friends -- but don't waste them.  
You'll be a lot happier if you end the game by facing the legions of minigun 
toting super mutants with an inventory of 150+ Stimpaks -- quite easy if 
you're conservative throughout the game.

4.  Don't do drugs.  Drugs are bad.  (Actually, this is a personal thing; if 
you enjoy being addicted to chems and having the wildly fluxuating stats that 
accompanies their use, then be my guest.  I just stay away from them; I don't 
need them.)

5.  Be careful who you kill.  Don't shoot little kids, even by accident -- I 
hate nothing more than to have important people who I plan on completing 
quests for suddenly start shooting me because of a bad shot -- if this 
happens, reload your game and try again.

6.  SAVE OFTEN.  I MEAN, A LOT.  I MEAN, SAVE AFTER EVERY BATTLE, EVERY 
JOURNEY FROM TOWN TO TOWN, EVERY LITTLE THING THAT SEEMS IN THE REMOTEST WAY 
RELEVANT TO THE GAME.  A good character can get you through the game easily, 
but that doesn't mean that some yahoo with a 10mm piece of crap can't get 
lucky and critically hit you in the eyeball for 274 HP worth of damage.  And 
if that happens while you're two steps from beating the game, and you saved 
back after leaving Vault 13 the first time, you're not going to be real nice 
to friends and family for days following.

7.  GET THE PATCH to v1.1!  This is essential.  Not only does it fix a lot of 
stupid bugs and glitches, it removes the time limit from the game -- if you 
don't get it, you'll have to complete the game in 500 days, and that really 
sucks.  Trust me.  So UPGRADE.

8.  Personally, I prefer to play the Good Guy.  I just like being the champion 
of humanity in this game, though it's a choice you could deviate from and 
still have fun with the game.  However, there are more experience points to be 
gained from peaceful solutions to problems, and being a Good Guy will 
definitely get the right people to like you in the right situations.  Just a 
thought to ponder.

9.  Here is a list of Perks that will, I assure you, help you to become a 
walking incarnation of death in the world.

For your first Perk, choose Toughness.  Choose it again a few times until 
something better comes along.  I prefer to gain all three ranks of it, the 30% 
damage resistance boost makes me laugh derisively later on when raiders 
attempt in vain to do even a single HP worth of damage to me.

More criticals is another Perk I like to stock up in.  More criticals is fun.

Here's the best Perk combo in the game:
Action Boy (one rank)
Bonus Rate of Fire (must be level 9)

With these two, and the Ultimate Weapon, (to be mentioned later), you can 
easily do about 180 HP of damage to your enemies every turn, sometimes upward 
of 600HP.  This'll be explained later.)

10.  If, at any point in your journeying, you happen to come across a crashed 
UFO with two alien bodies next to it, SEARCH THE BODIES AND TAKE THE GUN.  
TAKE IT.  TAKE IT.  KEEP IT.  DON'T SELL IT.  DON'T LOOSE IT.  KEEP IT.

11.  If, at any point in your journeying, you happen to come across a lone 
traveler going through the mountains, make sure you TALK TO HIM ABOUT SINGING, 
and ASK HIM ABOUT THE CELTIC SONG.  This will boost your charisma by one 
point.  This is the only time in the game you can improve your charisma.

12.  When you've worked up your weapons skills and gambling skills, try 
working on the doctor skill.  It's MUCH better than the first aid skill, can 
repair broken limbs, and does 10-15 HP worth of healing with each use at high 
levels.


That's about it.  The rest of what you need to know, you'll find below.
(I'm a poet but don't know it.)


  B.  VAULT 13 /  SHADY SANDS
=====================================

Vault 13 and the area beyond are barely worth mentioning at the moment.  
Search the corpse next to you, pick up what you want, arm yourself with the 
10mm, and kill all the rats in the area.  There are 20 of them.  This may not 
seem like fun, but its 500 experience points (XP from now on), and that's 
halfway to the second level.

Once you've done this, leave the vault and head for Vault 15, but stop in at 
the unknown city on the way -- Shady Sands.

There are only a few things to do in Shady Sands, but you'll leave with at 
least one level up for doing them.

1.  Talk to Katrina at the gate about everything you can.  This'll earn you 
about 300 xp.

2.  Search all the bookcases in the town except for the one in Razlo's (the 
doctor) house -- he doesn't appreciate it.  You'll find throughout the town 
some ammo, a rope, and a few books that will increase your outdoorsmanship 
skill.

3.  Talk to Ian in the guardhouse to the east of the gate, and ask him for 
directions to Junktown and the Hub.  Also ask him to assist you -- you may 
have to offer a share of the loot a few times, but he SHOULD come with you 
without being paid.  Once he agrees, steal his money from him -- he doesn't 
need it and won't get mad if you take it.

4.  Talk to Seth, the man by the gate.  Get him to take you to the Radscorpion 
caves, and kill all the scorpions.  Take them one at a time, strike from as 
far away as you can, and let Ian do most of the work.  Once you've killed them 
all, grab one of their tails and go back to town.

5.  Go to Razlo's hut, give him the tail, and give the antidote he makes to 
the sick man in the back room.

6.  Go to the second part of town to the east, and talk to the farmer out in 
the garden.  Talk to him about crop rotation for 500 xp.

That's it.  You're done with Shady Sands for now.  Leave the way you came, and 
go over to Vault 15.

  C.  VAULT 15
============================

Vault 15 is pretty cut-and-dry.  With Ian in tow, of course, go through all 
three levels of the vault (accessed by going down the ladder in the shed) and 
kill every single rat and variation of rat that you find.  You'll need a rope 
to go down the elevators, but you'll find another in a locker on level 2 and 
you should have brought one from Shady Sands to go down the first one.  In 
Vault 15, you'll also find a leather jacket and a 10mm SMG, a small machine 
gun that works wonders with burst mode.  When you get to the very end of level 
3, you'll get a chunk of xp.  After that, clean up the rest of the rat 
infestation and go back out the way you came.  Next stop:  Junktown.

  D.  JUNKTOWN
=============================

Junktown is a fun place to make your name known -- for good or for evil.  If 
you prefer to take the high moral road, though, you'll find it much easier 
(and rewarding) in the long haul.  Trust me.

Here's what you need to do:

1.  Nothing much in the first area.  Search everything you want, get healed by 
Doc Morbid if you mind the cost.  (If you want, you can go down the ladder in 
the hospital and talk to the midget -- he'll tell you about Doc Morbid's 
rather odd scheme.  You can capitalize on that later, but I just avoid the 
evil doctor entirely.)

2.  Go north to the second part of the city and go in Darkwater's, the shop to 
the east.  SAVE YOUR GAME, and then talk to Killian.  After you're done 
talking to him, Kenji (some guy in red) will attack him; empty a clip into 
Kenji and end combat.  If Ian happened to get his stupid but in the way of 
Killian's shots, or you accidentally hit a guard, or something terrible 
happens and you end up fighting all of Junktown, you'll know why I told you to 
save beforehand.

3.  When Killian asks you to help with the Gizmo problem, say yes, and you'll 
get a tape recorder and microphone.  

4.  Go to the Crash-House Inn and buy one night's sleep.  You'll awake in the 
night with the landlady screaming at you; save the game and go talk to the 
crazy guy in the adjacent room.  Be calm and polite to him, keep talking, and 
eventually tell him he can just leave and won't be bothered.  You'll get 
1000xp (and Sinthia will make it worth your while... hee hee).

5.  Go north to the third part of the city and into Gizmo's casino.  At the 
end of the building, you'll find the big G man himself; talk to him.  Take a 
hypothetical situation in the conversation, get Gizmo to hire you, and ask 
what his motive is.  Try not to say anything stupid.  When you've been asked 
to leave, go back to Killian and play the tape for him.  When he asks you if 
you want to help take Gizmo down, say yes, and go back to the guard standing 
just inside the gate to the town, Lars.  Talk to Lars, and go fight Gizmo.

What I do here is basically shoot Gizmo in the eyes a few times, and if Izo 
gives me any trouble I do the same for him too.  This fight should end quick.

6.  Get your reward from Lars and go search Gizmo's place.

7.  Find Phil and the troublesome dog in the same area of town as the casino; 
if you walk up the dog with a leather jacket on, he'll think you're his owner 
and come with you.  If you don't have a leather jacket, give the dog a piece 
of meat (you can find one in the casino), and he'll come with you.  Your new 
friend is Dogmeat, one of the most popular NPCs and allies in Fallout.  He 
won't last through the whole game, but you'll greatly enjoy the memories 
you'll share.

8.  Go to the Skum Pitt north of Phil's house and go in around evening.  Talk 
to everybody, and soon one of the Skulz inside will start some trouble with 
Trish, the waitress, and as a result loose a variety of body parts.  Talk to 
Trish, ask her about Saul.  Talk to the singing guy, compliment him, and get 
directions to the Brotherhood and Adytown.  Talk to Tycho, and ask him about 
the dangers of his travels, how he survived, and about his survival skills.  
He'll ask if you want to learn a few pointers, agree, and you'll get a boost 
to your Outdoorsmanship skills.  Then tell him you're cleaning up the Skulz, 
and ask him to help.  Tycho rocks; you'll wish Ian would just go away after 
you see how Tycho handles himself.

9.  Go north of the casino and talk to Saul, the boxer.  Talk to him about his 
family and why he stays in Junktown.  Talk about Trish, and how she feels 
about him boxing.  This will get you a few hundred xp.

10.  Go in the Skum Pitt and rest till morning.  Take the urn on the bar and 
go to the Crash-House.  Go in the part that the Skulz are staying in, talk to 
Vinnie, and ask him if you can join.  Show him the urn, say you have other 
stuff to do before you kill Neal, and go talk to Lars.

11.  Lars will ask you to help them bust the Skulz; agree and you'll have a 
good fight.  You have Tycho, Dogmeat, Ian, and about six police officers on 
your side, though, and it shouldn't be too hard.  When you've won, give Neal 
the urn back for more xp and that's it.  You're done with Junktown.



  E.  THE HUB

===============================

The Hub is a really cool place, but you won't be here long on your first go-
through.  There are only a couple of reasons to go here now.

1.  Go to the Maltese Falcon bar/casino in the second area of the Hub.  If you 
gambling skill is above about 50%, talk to the dealer by the roulette tables 
and hold down the 1 and 4 buttons on your keyboard for about ten minutes, or 
weigh them down.  You can start with as little money as 100 caps and when you 
come back, you should have several tens of thousands.  With gambling really 
high, it's possible to win thirty thousand caps in a couple of minutes.

2.  Once you have enough money, go to the library in the same part of town and 
buy as many books you need to get your skills in the related areas about 91%; 
books can't increase skills beyond that percentage unless you're playing on an 
easier difficulty setting.  If you run out of money, go gamble some more until 
you have enough.

3.  Once your skills are raised enough, take another chunk of change from the 
casino and go buy some stimpaks and whatever else you want from the midget in 
the convenience store.  Then go take one more chunk of money and go to the 
part of town to the east, Oldtown.  In one of the buildings there you'll find 
a weapons dealer; buy some combat armor, a sniper rifle, some .233 ammo for 
the rifle, and if you want, a combat shotgun for Tycho and maybe a .44 for 
Ian.  (To equip them, just steal from them, plant the weapons and ammo in 
their inventory, and tell them to draw their best weapons next time they're in 
combat.)

That's all for now -- you have great armor, a great weapon, an infinite source 
of money, and the ability to lay down some serious smack.  Time to swing by 
Necropolis.



  F.  NECROPOLIS
=========================

Necropolis is a rather large and complex town with several rather simple tasks 
to perform.

1.  First area : kill all ghouls standing in the street.  Find the sewer 
cover, descend.

2.  Sewers below first area:  kill all rats, find path to sewer below second 
area (it's in the north).

3.  Sewers below second area:  talk to ghouls and agree to help them fix the 
water pump.  Kill all rats, find ladder to above-ground second area.

4.  Second area:  kill everybody and everything.
(Okay, that one warrants some explaining.  There are a LOT of ghouls here, and 
they're all evil.  They're begging for you to kill them in their own evil way.  
First, kill every ghoul you find on the street and in the small buildings near 
the sewer cover.  Next, there's a church to the north here, and inside is the 
ghoul leader, Set, and his minions.  A full frontal assault will usually be 
VERY difficult and get your companions killed, so do this:

Go to the north side of the church ON THE OUTSIDE, stand in front of a window 
into one of the side rooms, and snipe everybody inside in the eyes.  They 
won't retaliate.  Repeat at the other two rooms.  Then go to the other side of 
the church and repeat.  Once you've killed all the ghouls you can snipe, go in 
the front and take out the remainders.  It shouldn't be too hard.  Grab some 
stuff from the corpses and environment.)

5.  Now that you've killed all the ghouls in the central part of town, go back 
down into the sewers and find the path leading to the third area north of your 
current position.  Climb up the ladder, kill the ghouls you find, and save 
your game.

6.  There are six mutants in this part of town -- some are pansies, one is 
mean and has a laser rifle, and one is a wuss but has a flamer (which is BAD 
news to somebody at a low level.)  Kill the first mutant you see from a 
distance.  The next mutant is in the water shed to the north; snipe at him 
from the window to the rear of the building.  He shouldn't be a problem; keep 
sniping through that window if the other three in the hall attack.  The rest 
shouldn't be a problem either.  There's one more in the small building to the 
east of where you are (roughly); kill him two.  

7.  Go down the sewer cover, kill the rats, grab the junk you'll find down 
there.

8.  Go back to the peaceful ghouls in the sewer; they'll give you some books 
if your repair skill is too low.  

9.  Go back to the watershed (where the mutants were), find the pump, and use 
the parts on it until they work.  

10.  Go south in that same building, lockpick the jail cell if you can and 
talk to the ghoul there for 500 xp.

11.  Find the sewer cover in the room by the jail cells, go down.  Kill all 
ghouls you find on all three levels of the vault down there, find the working 
water computer on level 3 and search it to find the Water Chip.  


And that's it.  Take the chip back to Vault 13 and you will have completed 
your first major quest in the game.


  G.  VAULT 13 (AGAIN)
=================================

There aren't many things to do in Vault 13, but nonetheless you'll leave with 
a LOT more xp than you came with.  Listed below are some things to do in your 
brief stay:

1.  On the second level of the vault (the living quarters), find the red-
haired lady in the room to the north and talk to her about the Overseer's 
concern for the vault.  This'll get you about 700 xp.

2.  On the third level, talk to the guy in front of the storage rooms, and 
find out about the water thief.  Go in the room adjacent to the storage room 
and hide, then rest until midnight.  You'll see a vault dweller go through the 
hall soon after; wait until he's looked in a box in the storage room, then 
confront him.  Threaten him if you need to, but look in his pockets.  You'll 
get 1000xp for solving this quest.

3.  On the third level, find the Overseer and talk to him (you'll have to 
stand directly in front of him to do so.)  You'll get 7,500xp.

4.  If your character is old enough, you can use one of the computers in the 
library for a few hundred xp.

5.  Go back and talk to the Overseer again, then leave the vault and head back 
to shady sands.


  H.  SHADY SANDS  (again)
===============================

Things have gotten a little bad in Shady Sands since your last visit.  The 
Khans have kidnapped Tandi, and everybody's pissed.  So go to the raider's 
camp and find Garl, their leader.  You can either fight him hand to hand for 
Tandi's release, or you can threaten him with powers you can't explain -- 
he'll let her go if you do.  Return Tandi to her town, talk to Aradesh for 
your reward, then return to the Khan's camp and kill every last one of 'em 
(except for the slaves).  This should be no problem with your Sniper rifle and 
combat armor and with Tycho beside you toting a combat shotgun, so I won't go 
into detail.  When you've wiped them out, go back to the Hub.



  I.  THE HUB  (for the second time)
=========================================



As said before, there are a lot of things to do in the Hub, but yet again I'm 
advising you to stop in only for some money (if you need any) and some anti-
radiation chems this time.  To get the chems, you can talk to Vander -- he's a 
peddler living in Old Town on the far east side.  Just ask him to sell to you 
and buy some Rad-Aways (about four) and some Rad-X (about four).  Once you 
have those (and a rope), you'll be heading out towards the Glow.  Also, it 
would be quite a good idea to get at least about 25,000 caps before leaving -- 
that won't take you too long.


  J.  THE GLOW
==========================

The Glow may not be on your map at this point in the game.  It's easy to find, 
however.  Just head South-East from the Hub and keep going that way until you 
see a big crater on the map with one of those green circles around it (that 
means it's a location you can explore in detail.)  Stop at a square adjacent 
to the crater on the map and double-click your location to go to the close-up 
screen.  Take two Rad-Xs, then go to the glow.  For now, you only have two 
tasks here.


1.  Use the rope on the beam hanging over the crater to create a way down.  
Climb down the rope.

2.  Run around the first level searching all the bodies.  You'll find a yellow 
key card that you should hang onto, and also a holotape that you can use in 
your inventory for 100 xp.  Once you have the tape, you can leave the Glow and 
head towards the Brotherhood.

(If you find later on that you have been radiated, just take a Rad-away and 
your problem should be solved.)



  K.  THE BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL
===================================

The Brotherhood is a GREAT place to improve upon your character.  Here's what 
you need to do:

1.  Talk to the door guard and ask him if you can join, then find out about 
the quest.  You've actually already done this; the tape from the Glow was the 
relic you needed to find.  Talk to the guard again and give him the tape.  
He'll open the door for you.

2.  On the first level, find the gym in the east room and stand by the mat and 
listen to the instructor.  If you listen to the whole course, you'll get 500xp 
and a boost to your unarmed and melee skills.

3.  Talk to Talus in the gym to learn about the trapped initiate.

4.  Talk to Michael by the gym to get some good stuff.  Don't ask for power 
armor, though -- you can get it somewhere else in this building.

5.  On the second level, you'll find the scribes.  Talk to Vree about using 
computers, weapon designs, basically everything available.  When she directs 
you to the computer terminal, use it.  Talk to Sophia about the history of the 
Brotherhood and you'll get a holotape.  (Every time you get one of these, use 
it in your inventory to learn its contents -- they'll appear of the status 
menu on your PipBoy.)

6.  Also on the 2 (or perhaps 3rd, I'm not sure) level, you'll find the 
doctor.  She'll cure your radiation poisoning at any time, as well as heal 
you, for free.  Also, if you ask her about the operations, you can boost each 
available stat one point, one time, for a few thousand caps.  Do this for all 
available stats.

7.  On level 3, you'll find the workshop in the eastern corner, where a suit 
of power armor is waiting to be repaired.  Talk to the mechanic in there, then 
go talk to Michael.  Tell him you need a systolic motivator, but you don't 
have the papers, although it's imperative.  Then beg.  He'll give you the 
part; go take it to the mechanic again.  Use the repair skill on the suit, and 
put that bad boy on.  You're now just one step below the best armor in the 
game.

For now, you're done with the Brotherhood.  Leave now, for it's time to build 
your character into the most lethal man/woman on the planet.



  L.  GETTIN' STRONGER
===============================


This part is slightly boring, but you'll be VERY happy you do it later on.  
What you need to do, basically, is wander around the map.  Wander anywhere 
except the North-west and South-east; the South-east is radioactive in the 
area around the Glow, and the North-west is full of really tough guys with 
miniguns and the like.  You might not fare well at this point against those 
behemoths.  But anyway, you need to just wander, kill all hostiles you find in 
the random encounters, and keep your eyes open for special encounters.  This 
is what you're looking for:

A crashed UFO with two aliens alongside it.  On the body of one you'll find 
the Alien Blaster, a small pistol.  THIS IS THE BEST WEAPON IN THE GAME.  
DON'T LET ANYBODY TELL YOU OTHERWISE.
It holds 35 shots of Small Energy Cells, which are lightweight anyway.  The 
gun weighs very little (as compared to the larger energy weapons and their 
ammo).  It only costs four AP to shoot.  And it does 40-70HP worth of damage 
WITH EACH SHOT!  No other gun in the game does this.  If you find this gun and 
your energy guns skill is at 100% or around there, USE IT NOW AND NEVER STOP.  
If your energy guns skill is lacking, BUILD IT UP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET.  When 
you get the ability to choose these perks, GET THEM IMMEDIATELY: 

Action Boy (one rank)
Bonus Rate of Fire (one rank)

With one rank of Action Boy, you can fire one targeted shot and one untargeted 
shot with the Alien Blaster each turn.  (BTW, a critical hit in the eyes with 
the Alien Blaster does 150-350HP.  I've killed DeathClaws with one shot before 
with this gun.)  With the Bonus Rate of Fire Perk, you can fire THREE 
untargeted shots each round (each doing 40-70HP of damage!).  With this gun 
and these perks, NOTHING CAN STAND IN YOUR WAY.  

Obviously, don't stop looking until you've found this gun.  Once you have it, 
start stocking up on Small Energy Cells.  

Also, look for the lone traveler in the mountains, and when you find him make 
sure you talk to him about singing and ask about the Celtic song.  This will 
boost your charisma by a point -- you can do this nowhere else in the game.

And that's it.  This 'Gettin Stronger' section isn't really about levels, it's 
about getting the Alien Blaster -- the Ultimate Weapon in Fallout.  Once you 
have it, you'll find yourself grinning with contempt every time some two-bit 
raider tries to attack you with a 10mm gun -- and when you have the two Perks 
mentioned above, you can kill three hostiles every turn.  This is a HIGHLY 
IMPORTANT step to mastering Fallout. 



  M.   THE HUB  (time to do some stuff now)
===============================================



Okay, you have the second best armor in the game.  You have the best weapon in 
the game.  You have buttloads of money and an itchy trigger finger.  
Hopefully, you have a high karma and the will to make it even higher.  The Hub 
is definitely the place to be.  Here's what you can do:


1.  Buy whatever you want first.  The Hub is the best place in the game to 
find most everything you could want.

2.  Find the poor farmer in the south-west corner of Downtown, the one who's 
resting in the ruins of a building.  Get him to tell you about his problems 
and offer to help.  He'll take you to the farm he was kicked out of; just kill 
all the raiders inside.  The best way to do this is to open the door, then 
move to the side and let them come to you one by one.  It really shouldn't 
matter, though -- you can easily vaporize them with the Alien Blaster.  When 
you're done, leave.  You'll appear back in Downtown near Ivan; he'll give you 
a sawed-off .233 rifle, one of the most powerful non-energy pistols in the 
game.  If Ian's still alive at this point,(which he never seems to be when 
playing with me) give him that pistol if he doesn't have something better 
already.

3.  Go in the Maltese Falcon and talk to Kane, the guy in black standing by 
the bar.  He'll offer you a job, agree to hear about it and you'll find 
yourself talking to Decker.  When Decker asks if you want the job, say no and 
leave.  (You can say yes and get 500 caps from Kane, but when you double-cross 
Decker later the quest will stay on your PipBoy screen, and that's just 
annoying to me.)  Go to the Police Station and tell Sheriff Green Decker tried 
to hire you to kill Hightower.  Agree to come with the fuzz and you'll end up 
fighting Decker and his merry bunch.
This is sorta tough, just because of Kane.  Kane is the resident bad-@$$ of 
the Hub -- he can kill you QUICK unless you have some GOOD armor and still he 
can be a pain.  What's even more frightening about him, aside from the obscene 
amount of damage he can absorb, is he fights so well with only his FISTS.
Anyway, Kane should be your first and foremost priority.  There's a guy with a 
sledgehammer in the room, but you shouldn't take hardly any damage from him 
with the power armor.  Shoot Kane repeatedly in the eyes if you can, just 
anywhere if you can't.  With the Blaster, you shouldn't waste more than three 
or four turns on him anyway.  Then kill Decker, and the rest of his posse will 
surrender.  After you get your reward from the sheriff, you can go back down 
there and loot the corpses (there's a staircase in the room behind where Kane 
was).

4.  Go talk to Butch in the Far-Go Traders office and he'll offer you the job 
of finding the missing caravans.  (Butch is an idiot.)  After you've talked to 
him and Rutger, his assistant, go find Beth in her weapons shop just to the 
south a little ways.  Talk to her about the deathclaw and the only person 
who's seen it.  Then go find Uncle Slappy in OldTown; talk to him about the 
deathclaw.  He'll tell you to talk to Harold, who's in the building right 
behind him.  Talk to Harold, then go talk to Slappy again and get him to take 
you to see the deathclaw.  Go into the caves a short distance and you'll find 
the deathclaw.
The deathclaw is a mean SOB.  The instant you even CROSS his line of sight, no 
matter how far away you are, he'll be off after you.  He's fast.  He hits 
hard.  He hits often.  He has about 250+ HP.  
But, with the Alien Blaster, you can kill him in two turns, one if you're 
lucky, a couple more if you're not.  Shoot at the eyes when you can, and he'll 
die soon enough.
When he's dead, talk to the mutant, and you'll get a holotape.  (Don't' forget 
to read it.)
Take the holotape to Butch, tell him your story, then tell Rutger the same 
story and you'll get your reward for solving the quest.

5.  Go to OldTown again.  In the building directly to the south of the 
entrance grid, you'll see a building with some tough, mean guards.  These are 
the guys holding the Brotherhood initiate captive.  Just walk up to the 
window, fire a few blasts into the eyes of the people nearest you, kill those 
who come running out to fight, and lockpick the door to the back room to free 
the initiate.

6.  If you want, you can find the stairway leading down in OldTown and climb 
down it to find the Thieves' Den.  Lockpick all the doors, avoid the traps (or 
just run through them like I do), and talk to the thieves.  You can ask to 
join them if you want, in which case you'll have to steal the necklace from 
Hightower (everybody hates this guy, apparently).  That's easy enough.  Go to 
the Heights (west of Downtown) at midnight, sneak into Hightower's house when 
the door guard walks away, find his footlocker, lockpick it and avoid the 
trap, grab the necklace, and bring it back to the Den.

And that's it for now.  Later, the Hub becomes a good place to gain experience 
through the Crimson Caravan, but for now you have more important things to do.  
Leave the Hub and head to Adytown (which was formerly Los Angeles; you can see 
by the map at the entry screen.)


   O.  ADYTOWN
=====================


Adytown is a seemingly nice city at first, but one you talk to people and dig 
up some dirt, you'll find that it's got some rather terrible problems that are 
just begging for you to eradicate.  Do this:

1.  Talk to Zimmerman in the second building to the south-west of your entry.  
He's allegedly the 'mayor' of the town, but you'll soon learn he's not the 
authority in Adytown.  He'll tell you to help him get revenge for the death of 
his son -- agree.

2.  Find Chuck the fortune teller to the far south-east of the city and keep 
talking to him, being polite of course, until you find that your Luck has 
improved by one point.

3.  Go north to the next area in the town, where the Blades reside.  Find the 
leader of the Blades and tell her you've come to pay her back for killing 
Zimmerman's son.  She'll start cussing a lot, and tell you about the 
Regulator's evil deeds.  Agree to help her by giving the disk to Zimmerman and 
also getting help from the Gunrunners, and she'll give you a holotape.

4.  Here, you have two choices:
  a.  help the Blades by getting the Gunrunner's aide
  b.  help the Blades by single-handedly taking on every single Regulator in 
Adytown.

I MUCH prefer the second choice.  It's a lot easier, IMHO, and you have no 
risk of losing Smitty and Miles, the blacksmith and chemist, which is likely 
if you help the gunrunners now.  So, if you want the easy road, chose the 
second.

Here's what you do.  Take the disk to Zimmerman.  He'll get mad, then dead.  
Kill the Regulators you see, then go through town killing the rest.  The game 
won't tell you when you've gotten them all, but the townspeople will be saying 
things like 'Now we can start a new life' and 'This town is better with the 
Regulators gone.'  It's pretty self-explanatory.

5.  With the Regulators gone, go talk to the leader of the Blades again to get 
the xp for the quest.  Also talk to the Scottish guy in front of the Blade's 
building and get him to teach you some hand-to-hand skills.

6.  Go east of the Blade's area of town to find the Warehouse, where about 
three or four DEATHCLAWS are just walking around.  Kill 'em.  It may be 
slightly difficult, but far from impossible.  When they're dead, find the dead 
guy to the east, and search him to find some junk.  Then find the stairs in 
the warehouse, go down them, kill the Mother Deathclaw and her eggs.  (You can 
leave them alive if you want to, and keep killing the respawning deathclaws 
for xp, but the battles are tough and there are easier ways to get xp, so I 
choose to kill them all quick.)

7.  Go east of the warehouse to find the gunrunner's fortress.  Go in, talk to 
their leader, tell them the deathclaws are dead, and you'll have free access 
to the hordes of weapons that they have (although that's rather pointless at 
this part of the game; you have the UTLIMATE WEAPON, remember?)

8.  Take the junk you found in the warehouse back to Miles, the chemist in 
Adytown, and he'll tell you to take them to Smitty.  Do that, then take them 
back, and you'll get some xp.  Also, if you talk to Miles again, he'll tell 
you about the chemical hardening process for your power armor -- agree to help 
him, go to the Hub again, talk to the librarian, get the journals, and take 
them back to Miles to upgrade your armor into the Hardened Power Armor, the 
best armor in the game.

And that's the end of that.  If you want, you can get another ally from the 
Followers of the Apocalypse to the west of the Blades, Katja, but I think she 
sucks anyway, and my companions have a bad habit of dying, so I don't.  Your 
next stop is ...  THE MUTANT BASE!!!


   P.  THE MILITARY BASE
===============================


Okay, this one's really only a "Okay, I'm here, time to go" deal.  Head north-
west, a VERY long way, until you find a new location.  You may encounter some 
patrols on the way -- save often, because miniguns with critical hits kill you 
nearly every time, but besides that the patrols should give you no trouble.  
When you find the base, enter it, then go back to the Brotherhood.  Now is not 
the time...



   Q.  THE BROTHERHOOD  (one last time)
==========================================


This stop is purely for xp.  Go to the fourth level, find General Maxson, tell 
him what you saw up at the base.  Argue that a counter-strike is needed.  Then 
go to the meeting room and argue with the elders there.  They'll agree to send 
out a force to help you, and you'll get some xp.  That's it.  
You can also tell Talus, who's in the gym, about your rescue of the initiate.
Time to go to the Military Base again -- this time you're going as the 
HABRINGER OF DOOM.


  R.  THE MILITARY BASE 
============================


Okay, this is fun.  MUTIES MUST DIE is really your main priority here.  There 
ARE ways to go about this in a stealthy, sneaky sort of way, but this is the 
EXPERT'S guide to Fallout -- which means I want you to go in with gun blazing.  
It's worth more xp and it's much more fun.

Here's how it goes:

1.  At the entrance, kill the four or five guards you find.  What with the 
Paladins helping and everything, this should just be gory, not difficult.  
Search the remains of the guards and you'll find a bunch of radios (take one) 
and a holotape (read it).  Use the radio and tell the base there's a bunch of 
hostile humans attacking, requesting back-up at the location to the south.  

2.  Open the door and go in.  You can bypass any GREEN force field in the 
building by using the repair skill on the generator by the field, and you can 
just run through a red field, but you take damage.  Kill everybody on this 
level.  (Good advice for fighting mutants -- fire at them from a doorway, then 
move and let them come to you one at a time.  Standing in the midst of a crowd 
is begging for trouble.)

3.  On the eastern side of level 1, you'll find a computer along the wall 
that's labeled just 'computer', not 'Mach IV computer'.  Use your science 
skill on it to earn some experience points.

4.  Find another computer labeled like that and use your science skills on it, 
then just use it to gain an interface.  You can adjust the movement parameters 
on the pest control to nothing to make the sentry robots not move, but don't 
adjust any other parameters.

5.  Go to level 2 and kill everybody.  Search the lockers for good stuff.

6.  Go to level 3 and kill everybody.  Find the elevator to level 4.

7.  On level 4, kill the muties most immediate your position, repair the Mr. 
Handy, and tell him to complete his task.  Kill everybody else -- make sure 
you save before fighting the Lieutenant of the Master's Army -- he's a tough 
one.  (And his death is spectacularly nasty -- you might want to watch it 
again and again.)

8.  When you've looted all you want and you're tired of the military base, go 
to the vat control room on the fourth floor, laugh at the funny exploding 
people, hack into the computer, and set the base on the three minute silent 
self destruct mode.  Then RUN RUN RUN out of the place, and don't stop until 
you're on the world map again.  You'll see some pretty fireworks, and if you 
go back to the base you'll see the destruction you've cause, and 10,000 more 
xp on your character.



    S.  GETTIN' STRONGER STILL
===================================


Well, you've crippled the Master's army, you've stopped production of mutant 
reinforcements, you've rid every city you've stopped in of its seedy 
underbelly of crime and hatred and apathy, evil across the face of the world 
fears you, and you have impenetrable armor and the most lethal weapon ever to 
grace the surface of your world.  What now?

You need to be stronger.  At this time, you most likely won't have much 
trouble at all with the final quest in the game, but nonetheless it's really 
cool to have a level 21 character -- and it's quite easy to get one.

There are two ways.  One is the easy way, one is the easier but slower way.

The easier but slower way is the Crimson Caravan, whose office is in the 
downtown area of the Hub.  There are caravans leaving the Hub every 3rd and 
17th day of every month; just talk to the lady in the Crimson Caravan office 
and tell her where you want to go.  Touring with the caravans will present you 
with huge crowds of raiders, large swarms of manti, a few hostile ghouls, and 
the occasional deathclaw.  More importantly, you can always get a handful of 
stimpaks from a tour with the caravans, and the fights (even the ones where 
you're mobbed by twenty raiders at once) are VERY easy to somebody of your 
abilities and armament.  Just keep going back and forth with the caravans, 
resting between to pass the time between journeys, and you'll gain a level up 
pretty frequently.  You'll also end up with a lot of stimpaks.

The other option is to keep finding random encounters up by the military base.  
Each patrol you decimate will give you 1,000 to 2,000 xp, and unless you 
happen to get torn to shreds by a lucky minigun blast, these aren't too hard.  
Hit the centaurs first if there are any, then mutants with miniguns or 
flamers, then floaters, then the rest.  Don't worry about the wusses punching 
you while you do this.  

Doing either of these things will get your levels up pretty quick if you just 
spend enough time doing them.

If you want, you can also take a trip to the Glow -- bring Rad-X and Rad-
aways, then find the keycards to the elevators and explore the place.  The 
robots you'll find can (and should) be killed while inactive, you'll get the 
same amount of xp and they won't attack back.  You can repair the generator on 
level 6, and on all levels there are lockers and safes in the wall providing 
tons of ammo and also lots of information on the FEV virus.  It's worth the 
trip.

Another way to get a high level is to clear out the Cathedral, home of the 
Master of the mutant army....



   T.  THE CATHEDRAL OF THE MASTER
======================================


This is the birthplace of all the evil conspiracies in the Fallout world... a 
creepy, disturbing place.  Fun, too, and a good source of xp.

Here's what you need to do:

1.  Upon entering the cathedral, I advise you not to kill just whoever you 
want.  I know they're all a bunch of annoying idiots, but killing these people 
will decrease your karma -- and that's just a personal thing, but I like my 
karma and rarely do anything in the game to lower it.  Kill if you want, don't 
kill if you don't.  

2.  In the cathedral interior, find and talk to Lasher -- the angry guy to the 
north-west.  If you convince him you need to talk to Morpheus, the leader of 
the Children, he'll give you a badge that will unlock the doors in here.  Or 
you can kill him and take it.  Your choice.

3.  Find the locked door to the north-east and either use the badge on it or 
lockpick it.  Go up the stairs to each successive level of the cathedral, 
killing all the Nightkin (they're really just mutants with StealthBoys, not 
ghosts), and when you get to Morpheus . . . kill him too.  Now go back down 
the stairs, go to the left a little ways, and you'll find another flight of 
stairs going down.  Go down, walk to the end of the basement at the right 
corner, and wait for the secret door to open.  Kill the guy who comes out, 
then proceed beyond the door, killing everything and everybody that comes 
between you and progress.  Repeat on the first floor.  If you hack into one of 
the computers in the medical room, you can get some xp.  

4.  On the second floor, kill all the muties and scientists.  Free the 
prisoners by using the terminal on the wall ... poor prisoners.  Talk to the 
crazy people in the room to the north-west, and ask them about the weird 
things they talk about, then ask them about nullification to get a psychic 
nullifier.  This REALLY comes in handy when you fight the Master.

5.  On the third floor, just kill everybody.  If you proceed through the door 
on the east side of the floor, you'll see a nasty hall -- this leads to the 
Master.

What I do is go in, kill all the muties and crazies in the Vault under the 
Cathedral, and leave.  You get a lot of xp, and you won't finish the game.  
(Killing the Master ends the game.)  When you're ready, you can finish him, 
but that level 21 character is still waiting to be achieved...

If you want to kill the Master now, it's quite easy.  Just walk up to him and 
start shooting him in the eyeballs when you're done talking.  He'll shoot you 
back, of course, but all he has is a dual-laser chaingun, and those things 
don't do diddly squat.  Mutants will spawn in the chamber behind you, but if 
you SAVE YOUR GAME IN COMBAT AND LOAD IT BACK, THEY'LL BE GONE!  I don't know 
if anybody else has discovered that, but it'll keep the room clear while 
you're killing the Master.  When he dies, just run out of the place onto the 
world map before the explosion starts, and the game's over.

If you got the tape from Vree concerning the mutant's sterility, you can also 
convince him to commit suicide -- but that's no fun...

Anyway, that's the end of the cathedral.



   U.  THE END -- OF THE GUIDE
===================================


Basically, that's everything worth doing in Fallout.  Getting a level 21 
character is really the final quest, in my opinion.  You have the best armor, 
best weapons, and everything else that anybody could want in the game -- just 
have fun killing evil people over and over again.  I take much joy in wiping 
villainous scum from the face of the earth in this game, and having them not 
be able to even hurt you makes it even more fun -- if you've worked long and 
hard to achieve that invincibility.  (Cheating sux, BTW).

Fun things to do at this point include experimenting with different weapons 
(you should be proficient in all weapon use at this point), taking on hordes 
of raiders with your bare hands, or trying to wade through a murderous crowd 
with a super-sledge hammer or flamer.  Or, if you're so inclined, you could 
try killing every person in every town.  (Hee hee.)

But regardless, I hoped you enjoyed my guide, and I hope it helped.



If you have any questions or comments, you can Email me at 
[email protected]





 Copyrighted by Cole Simmons, A.K.A. Kazorky Pantz, June 2000
[email protected]



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