AN EXPERT'S GUIDE TO MASTERING FALLOUT
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Last updated October 25, 2000
(My updates are hidden. You have to find them.)
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: 4
END: 5
PEC: 7
INT: 7
CHR: 5
AGI: 6
LCK: 6
Why I advise you to do this: First of all, the decrease in strength will NOT
affect you in any noticeable way unless you tend towards a melee type
character, and in that case you should not read much of my FAQ. I'm a weapons
man. But an average strength will not bother you at all; when you get the
power armor, your strength will be 10 - and will not be a concern (even for a
melee character). 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. More agility will give you more action points - especially
helpful to a sniper. (Plus, with 8 PEC and AGI, you'll be able to get the
Sniper perk at level 18 - this upgrades all your ranged hits to critical
damage. (That's a good thing.) 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
well 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.
As for Traits - GIFTED IS A MUST. This gives you +1 to ALL attributes and a
small penalty in your skills (-10% to all skills, -4 points per level). This
is more than worth it.
As for the other trait, it's best to pick something with little effect -
personally, I rarely choose any other Trait except for Bloody Mess ;)
DON'T PICK SKILLED. Skilled sucks - having one perk every four levels is not
worth it. You can always improve your skills.
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 two or three days, 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)
SNIPER!! Get Sniper on level 18.
With these three, and the Ultimate Weapon, (to be mentioned later), you can
easily do about 300 HP of damage to your enemies every turn, sometimes upward
of 800HP. 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 (requires good speech
and science skills.
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 quickly.
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 and 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 and
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 whomever 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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