Fallout 4

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

Post Reply
User avatar
DD*
Posts: 4706
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:42 pm
Location: Detroit, where the weak are killed and eaten

Re: Fallout 4

Post by DD* »

I'm in the process of replaying FO:4 and was getting a bit bored - level 40ish right now, and I'm trying to use companions that I did not on the first playthrough. Running about 50 mods as well, and I just bought all of the DLC.

I decided to spice things up by not using Power Armor except for very special circumstances. Hoo boy, that is making things much more fun (playing on "Hard"). Now I have to really pay attention to what I'm doing, not just point and click.

I haven't hit the DLCs yet (well, not completely) but using Codsworth, Nick, Cait, and Macready as companions is a nice change of pace. And I have :wub: with Cait and Macready - my girl avatar is a free spirit...
Are you a prostitute Rip? Because you blow the margins more than a $5 hooker. -rshetts2

Much like bravery is acting in spite of fear, being a functioning adult is acting responsibly in the face of temptation. -Isg
User avatar
Combustible Lemur
Posts: 3961
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:17 pm
Location: houston, TX

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Combustible Lemur »

DD* wrote:I'm in the process of replaying FO:4 and was getting a bit bored - level 40ish right now, and I'm trying to use companions that I did not on the first playthrough. Running about 50 mods as well, and I just bought all of the DLC.

I decided to spice things up by not using Power Armor except for very special circumstances. Hoo boy, that is making things much more fun (playing on "Hard"). Now I have to really pay attention to what I'm doing, not just point and click.

I haven't hit the DLCs yet (well, not completely) but using Codsworth, Nick, Cait, and Macready as companions is a nice change of pace. And I have :wub: with Cait and Macready - my girl avatar is a free spirit...
Survival takes a couple days to really get the rhythm, but if you want something to really revitalize the immersiveness it works nicely. Be ready to use mods to rebalance damage. legendary crafting allows you to deliver almost equal damage as received. Camping gear is a must. I would also recommend vertibirds.

Also, DEFINITELY take your power armor to Far Harbor. I avoid PA as much as I can (almost entirely in the commonwealth), but Far Harbor leans Into the obnoxious side in certain areas without. Particularly on survival
Is Scott home? thump thump thump Crash ......No.
User avatar
MonkeyFinger
Posts: 3223
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:23 pm
Location: South of Denver, CO

Re: Fallout 4

Post by MonkeyFinger »

I hadn't touched this since June but went back to it over the weekend. I decided I was sick of helping other folks and it was "me time", well... me and Shaun time that is. I'd never started the Valentine quest to hunt him down, instead running around randomly with Piper, helping pretty much everybody else in the Commonwealth, it seemed. Dumped all that, rescued Nick and tracked down the Bad Guy that had him. Lovely, my crappy build of a character is no match for him and his red skull next to his name, so I... cheated. Somewhat. Sorta. I can't imagine anyone else is as LTTP as I am with this story line but just in case...
Spoiler:
After going through the dialogue about monsters in the closet and the Institute and my son several times and then getting my ass handed to me, I went back and picked up the Fat Man. Walked in, he started his spiel and blammo - nuked from orbit. It was the only way to be sure. :wink:
Now the Brotherhood is overhead and I'm supposed to report in. That or head off to some remote fishing village, which I suspect is Far Harbor? Decisions, decisions...
-mf
User avatar
Grifman
Posts: 21196
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:17 pm

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Grifman »

Hah, had a crazy Fallout moment yesterday when I did something I never knew you could do before. Was fighting some raiders along slight rise, and thought I had gotten all of them. But as I came over the rise, I saw silhouette that chilled my heart. A raider was looking right at me with a missile launcher pointed right at me. In the split second before I thought I was going to die, I aimed my explosve SMG, Spray and Pray and opened fire. All of sudden (this all took place in just microseconds), the raider exploded. I had somehow hit the missile either before or just as it left the launcher! I had no idea you could do this! Crazy!
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
User avatar
Cylus Maxii
Posts: 3348
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 10:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO
Contact:

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Cylus Maxii »

If you go into VATS mode - you can also shoot at grenades in mid air.
My nephew, Jake - "I mean is there really anything more pure? Than sweet zombie monkey love?"
User avatar
Grifman
Posts: 21196
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:17 pm

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Grifman »

Cylus Maxii wrote:If you go into VATS mode - you can also shoot at grenades in mid air.
'

Yeah, I knew that but a lucky missile strike, that's something else!
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
User avatar
Bad Demographic
Posts: 7772
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 9:21 am
Location: Las Cruces, NM

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Bad Demographic »

Grifman wrote:Hah, had a crazy Fallout moment yesterday when I did something I never knew you could do before. Was fighting some raiders along slight rise, and thought I had gotten all of them. But as I came over the rise, I saw silhouette that chilled my heart. A raider was looking right at me with a missile launcher pointed right at me. In the split second before I thought I was going to die, I aimed my explosve SMG, Spray and Pray and opened fire. All of sudden (this all took place in just microseconds), the raider exploded. I had somehow hit the missile either before or just as it left the launcher! I had no idea you could do this! Crazy!
That's pretty amazing!
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire

Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

Well, I went and reinstalled it. I was able to load up my previous saves (despite them having been modded to hell and back with 'hacked' mods before the editor was released.) My plan is to play this one differently - different skills, different 'home base', different factions, different gender, etc.

Last time I sided with the Minutemen, worked some with the Railroad, fought the Institute, and ignored the Brotherhood. I'm not sure where that leaves me this time, as both of the other factions (Institute, Brotherhood) are dicks, and I don't like working for dicks (it also makes it hard to justify all of the miscellaneous 'nice guy' help quests that are everywhere else.)

Question about the DLC, as none of it was around the first time I played:

I used Sanctuary last time, and was thinking about using either the drive-in or the island this time around as a home base. Some of the DLC add new settlements. How accessible are the new building areas? Would they be suitable as a 'main base' to work the rest of the game from, meaning both space to build and easy accessibility from a relatively early level? What about the Vault you can build?
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Combustible Lemur
Posts: 3961
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:17 pm
Location: houston, TX

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Combustible Lemur »

The vault is more of a mini game than a settlement. It's a bit of a pain to get to and maintain. The other add on settlement are the same. Far harbor has great settlement layouts but is remote.
My favorite is Starlite drive in. Central, big, easy to build defenses. In survival where early on home basing is super important Oberlin station is very convenient. And a hangman alley is small but makes a good full service stop right up the street from diamond city.
The castle works but isn't centrally located.
Is Scott home? thump thump thump Crash ......No.
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

I'm going back and forth on the Survival mode. There are parts I love, and there are parts I hate.

I don't mind having to eat or drink, but I don't want to have to do it every 15 minutes. I hate the modified encumbrance, as inventory management is one of the least fun parts of RPGs for me. They added the save on exit, which is a big plus. I like the increased difficulty and damage. I hate the all-or-nothing fast travel (I prefer limited fast travel, such as only to settlements.) Inability to access the console is a killer for me, too. I don't use it to cheat the difficulty, but I do like to use it to 'adjust' the world to my liking.

/edit - apparently there are mods that let you manually adjust many of those options.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
TheMix
Posts: 10902
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:19 pm
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Re: Fallout 4

Post by TheMix »

I am planning on going with a melee/big guns muscle-bound Brotherhood sympathizer next time. I'm also going to try and avoid most/all of the settlements. I got tired of that aspect. My plan is to set up Hangman's Alley. Especially since I'll probably go with Survival mode. Having a base that is more central will help a lot when there is no fast travel. It's also really easy to set up serious killing zones. You only need turrets on the two sides. I also found that it's pretty easy to build up. I might even try to go for 3 or 4 levels.

Black Lives Matter

Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

I've been poking around, and since I'm playing the guy this time, and since the canon is that he'd just gotten out of the army, I think I'm going to use 'retired military engineer' as my base character concept.

Of course, I haven't even started the modding process yet. Those who know me know that the modding alone will take a couple of days!
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Combustible Lemur
Posts: 3961
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:17 pm
Location: houston, TX

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Combustible Lemur »

Blackhawk wrote:I'm going back and forth on the Survival mode. There are parts I love, and there are parts I hate.

I don't mind having to eat or drink, but I don't want to have to do it every 15 minutes. I hate the modified encumbrance, as inventory management is one of the least fun parts of RPGs for me. They added the save on exit, which is a big plus. I like the increased difficulty and damage. I hate the all-or-nothing fast travel (I prefer limited fast travel, such as only to settlements.) Inability to access the console is a killer for me, too. I don't use it to cheat the difficulty, but I do like to use it to 'adjust' the world to my liking.

/edit - apparently there are mods that let you manually adjust many of those options.
I would say mods are critical to survival having long term fun.
Water and food and ammo you get used to. For junk I made trade and settlements take the place of salvage, but I modded shipments to all vendors.
Adding legendary crafting made the stupid leveled enemies more in line with what survival is meant to be (die fast, kill fast)
Vertibirds cover the fast travel for the most part, but also you spend more time planning treks across regions of the wasteland (which for me adds alot of the fun)
You can also get camping gear for saves and some sleep.
Is Scott home? thump thump thump Crash ......No.
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

I saw a mod earlier that adds fast travel back in, but only between settlements. You actually have to be in settlements to start with, and can only travel to settlements that you have already discovered and have trade routes to. That works fine for me. You still have to plan, and can't just teleport around, but crossing the world to check on something doesn't take all day, either.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

Blackhawk wrote: Of course, I haven't even started the modding process yet. Those who know me know that the modding alone will take a couple of days!
Mod selection complete. 206 mods. :oops:
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Paingod
Posts: 13132
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:58 am

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Paingod »

Man, I will never get that. Even my most heavily modded game (Morrowind, I think) only had maybe 15 mods at once. Most modern games rate 3 or 4 at most.
Black Lives Matter

2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Fallout 4

Post by NickAragua »

How is that even possible?
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Paingod
Posts: 13132
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:58 am

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Paingod »

I tend to take a game as it is, and only find a few flaws I'd want to fix - so I get mods to fix them - and then keep playing. I don't add gobs of additional modded content. I tend to be something of a purist in games if I can do it - often going out of my way to get things done as intended (unless it's a completely pointless time sink).
Black Lives Matter

2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
User avatar
NickAragua
Posts: 6100
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:20 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Fallout 4

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, I mostly just tend to grab bugfix and ease-of-use mods. I'm pretty sure the devs didn't *intend* for that rock to be floating three feet above ground, etc.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

Bethesda RPGs and World of Warcraft. I ran a little over 100 mods in WoW, and am at the limit (256?) in Skyrim. Morrowind and Oblivion are comparable when I have them set up.

For Wow, the modding was because of the complexity of detail in the game and the number of abilities/controls (at least before the last couple of expansions.) I enjoyed setting up the most practical and efficient system I could to manage all of the controls and information. It was a problem solving exercise that I enjoyed.

For the Bethesda RPGs, setting up the game is just like planning a character. What version of Skyrim do I want to play this time? Is my character a mage? A warrior? An obsessive wanderer? A collector? Each one means a different 'version' of Skyrim designed around that character concept. The other games are comparable.

Other than those I rarely have any mods, and if I do it is either a single texture upgrade or a fix for an issue.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

Urph. Some of the standard utilities for Bethesda games aren't in place yet, and it has made the installation a little bit more of a pain than usual. I'm done, though. I have a fully modded, seemingly stable game at this point. Final count: 206 active mods, 154 active plugins. Now I can actually plan out a character and get started.

I wanted to drop this here, as it was useful for me in solving a few problems:

Guide
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

I ended up turning off Survival mode. I liked a lot of what it did, but I had two major problems with it: The hunger and thirst went up way, way too fast. I don't want to eat every ten minutes. I don't mind needing food, but that's too much. I also don't want to mess with not having saves. I played about 30 minutes, and I had to reload. I had to replay the entire 30 minutes, not because of a mistake I made, but because of a bug that's been there since release that never got fixed. I caught up with where I was, went to bed, played about 20 minutes and got hit with another bug from vanilla (these were not mod-related bugs.) Nope. Not playing the game twice over.

I found a few mods that tweaked survival mode (allowing saves and allowing you to adjust the food and water rate), but all were apparently badly broken a couple of months ago and haven't been fixed.

So I went back to my 'leaving the vault' save and set it to Very Hard (enemies don't hit quite as hard as Survival (2x vs 3x), but the player actually does less damage than survival (.5x vs .75x), so it should give a comparable challenge, especially since I've installed mods that beef up both raiders and super mutants. I'll follow my Oblivon/Skyrim fast travel rule (only to and from owned settlements) without a mod to actually enforce it, but I'm used to that.

Last time I played a femal scientist. This time I'm playing a retired male army engineer. Last time it was all about assault rifles and sniper weapons with lots of perks related to those and combat. This time it will be mostly pistols. I'll carry something long range, but I'm only putting points into the one pistols perk (no other combat perks planned), and making up for it by putting lots of points into the various modding perks to pimp the living hell out of my gear. I'll be focusing on different companions this time, too. Last time it was mostly Nick and Piper (and I romanced Piper.) This time? No idea. I'll just see who meshes with my new personality as I play.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
coopasonic
Posts: 20966
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:43 pm
Location: Dallas-ish

Re: Fallout 4

Post by coopasonic »

Blackhawk wrote:This time I'm playing a retired male army engineer. Last time it was all about assault rifles and sniper weapons with lots of perks related to those and combat. This time it will be mostly pistols.
Must have been an officer. As a former male army engineer (No, I'm still male. it's the Army part that is former, dammit), I never, ever used a pistol.

It seems I am largely unable to change my play style. I played to completion with no DLC on XBone at release. I bought it on sale on PC with all the DLC and am almost done.... I intended to change some thing up... nope, still a sneaky sniper with Piper following me around.

I'm level 57 and have yet to enter the institute... but that's about all I have left.
-Coop
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

coopasonic wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:This time I'm playing a retired male army engineer. Last time it was all about assault rifles and sniper weapons with lots of perks related to those and combat. This time it will be mostly pistols.
Must have been an officer. As a former male army engineer (No, I'm still male. it's the Army part that is former, dammit), I never, ever used a pistol.
Something like that. He saw action, but wasn't primarily front-lines infantry. Perhaps a 1LT overseeing the implementation of new tech from R&D or some such (he volunteered the guinea pigs - shades of Paranoia R&D abound.) He carried a rifle and got his training, but is more used to just a sidearm. It was mostly about changing the experience by changing the weapons I let myself focus on. I'm sure I'll carry other weapons from time to time, and will almost certainly have a precision rifle of some sort, but I'm not supporting them with perks.

I have the same problem - I've played the same damned character in every Fallout title to date, and they're usually a sneaky sniper. I can still do it, but I'll have to do it without all the bonuses to back it up.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
abr
Posts: 745
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 7:58 am

Re: Fallout 4

Post by abr »

Blackhawk wrote: I found a few mods that tweaked survival mode (allowing saves and allowing you to adjust the food and water rate), but all were apparently badly broken a couple of months ago and haven't been fixed.
FWIW, I am using "Sleep or Save" 2.0, which allows you to save at beds when you are not in combat. You can also craft a chem ("Save-O", from jet and buffout I think), that triggers a save when you use it. I has been working fine for me.
User avatar
coopasonic
Posts: 20966
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:43 pm
Location: Dallas-ish

Re: Fallout 4

Post by coopasonic »

coopasonic wrote:67 hours, 48th level, story is done and I'm done.

I never used power armor after the intro, despite having a suit of X-01 Mk VI which looks pretty devastating. There are a couple times in the end game I could have used it, but I wasn't going back for it. I probably had around 30 fusion cores, but who can be bothered?

I also never used the Gauss Rifle that I pimped out, a Plasma weapon, minigun (other than when forced), fat boy, flamer, junk gun or any other weapon of mass destruction.

My trusty .45 mutant slayer rifle was my go to weapon and I still had about 3,000 rounds left (yeah, never bothered to pick up scrounger 4, how much ammo do you really need?). For special occasions the .50 cal sniper rifle came out. Despite spending countless hours crafting weapons, I just never found anything that worked better for me than the .45.

I won't even talk about the story. Blah.
That was my summary post from 11/30/2015 when I finished the game on XBOne.

I just finished playing it on PC with all the DLC.

59 hours, 62 levels, story is done and I am done again.

Again I never used the power armor. I had the X-01 Mk V suit from Nuka World and this time I had 171 cores... still couldn't be bothered... and this time I never ran into anything difficult enough that I missed it. I had the Marine Combat armor from Fall Harbor.

From an equipment standpoint it was pretty much the same except I didn't take the scrounger stuff early so I switched weapons once in a while. I still saved my good ammo for never, much like my power armor. Far harbor was really cool. Nuka World was grindy annoying and I wasn't interested in being a raider anyway. The Robots were OK. I did make one just to see what it was like, but then stuck with Piper.

Just to do things a little differently and because there are still no satisfactory ending options I went with the Brotherhood ending and killed all the synths including Far Harbor and the Railroad. The hardest part was keeping Piper on my side. I got hate from her a few times, but she stuck around.

I don't imagine I will play ever again, but you never know. I am considering a third run through Skyrim and I'll probably give XCOM 2 another run one of these days. I don't remember if that will be the fourth or fifth.
-Coop
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Combustible Lemur
Posts: 3961
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:17 pm
Location: houston, TX

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Combustible Lemur »

coopasonic wrote:
coopasonic wrote:67 hours, 48th level, story is done and I'm done.

I never used power armor after the intro, despite having a suit of X-01 Mk VI which looks pretty devastating. There are a couple times in the end game I could have used it, but I wasn't going back for it. I probably had around 30 fusion cores, but who can be bothered?

I also never used the Gauss Rifle that I pimped out, a Plasma weapon, minigun (other than when forced), fat boy, flamer, junk gun or any other weapon of mass destruction.

My trusty .45 mutant slayer rifle was my go to weapon and I still had about 3,000 rounds left (yeah, never bothered to pick up scrounger 4, how much ammo do you really need?). For special occasions the .50 cal sniper rifle came out. Despite spending countless hours crafting weapons, I just never found anything that worked better for me than the .45.

I won't even talk about the story. Blah.
That was my summary post from 11/30/2015 when I finished the game on XBOne.

I just finished playing it on PC with all the DLC.

59 hours, 62 levels, story is done and I am done again.

Again I never used the power armor. I had the X-01 Mk V suit from Nuka World and this time I had 171 cores... still couldn't be bothered... and this time I never ran into anything difficult enough that I missed it. I had the Marine Combat armor from Fall Harbor.

From an equipment standpoint it was pretty much the same except I didn't take the scrounger stuff early so I switched weapons once in a while. I still saved my good ammo for never, much like my power armor. Far harbor was really cool. Nuka World was grindy annoying and I wasn't interested in being a raider anyway. The Robots were OK. I did make one just to see what it was like, but then stuck with Piper.

Just to do things a little differently and because there are still no satisfactory ending options I went with the Brotherhood ending and killed all the synths including Far Harbor and the Railroad. The hardest part was keeping Piper on my side. I got hate from her a few times, but she stuck around.

I don't imagine I will play ever again, but you never know. I am considering a third run through Skyrim and I'll probably give XCOM 2 another run one of these days. I don't remember if that will be the fourth or fifth.
What setting were you on?

Also both of your runs combined is about is about 1 of my 3(in fairness the longest)
Is Scott home? thump thump thump Crash ......No.
User avatar
coopasonic
Posts: 20966
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:43 pm
Location: Dallas-ish

Re: Fallout 4

Post by coopasonic »

Not sure really, probably the default. I don't really want it much harder.
-Coop
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Moliere
Posts: 12295
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Walking through a desert land

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Moliere »

Suggestions for making the game harder without making it annoying?

I am at level 29 and playing on the Very Hard difficulty setting. I never wear power armor and my Perks are geared towards pistol and rifle damage with sneaking and critical bonuses. Survival mode adds some interesting elements, but there are too many annoying ones like not being able to Fast Travel.

I used Strong as my first companion until I got his bonus. Now I am using McCready until I get his bonus. They are good pack mules and even then I leave about 75% of what I find on the ground because it's not worth carrying back to a vendor.

I have intentionally not played the main quest as I work my way through Brotherhood, Railroad, and random town quests.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
User avatar
Sepiche
Posts: 8112
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:00 pm
Location: Olathe, KS

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Sepiche »

I'd do survival mode, but go find some mods to make it just like you want. Pretty sure there are mods that loosen up the saving rules, fast travel, etc.
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

First thought - sneak in Bethesda RPGs tends to be severely overpowered. Its also worth noting that the strongest build type in the game is a pistol-and-critical build.

Now, you haven't said whether mods are an option or not. There are a small number of mods that overhaul enemies to add variety and difficulty that may be worth checking into. If you are considering mods, let me know and I'll try and dig up some links.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Paingod
Posts: 13132
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:58 am

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Paingod »

Sepiche wrote:I'd do survival mode, but go find some mods to make it just like you want. Pretty sure there are mods that loosen up the saving rules, fast travel, etc.
Yup. Saving when you need to and fast travel are the things I'd fix about Survival mode. My gaming time is precious, and while the wastelands are fun - I often only want to travel a certain path once or twice to get the feel for it (and then never see it again). There's too much to do and too much landmass to get hung up on walking everywhere... and saving? I just hate losing a lot of progress if I die. It's the same 'time-wasting' avoidance for me.
Black Lives Matter

2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
User avatar
Moliere
Posts: 12295
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Walking through a desert land

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Moliere »

Blackhawk wrote:First thought - sneak in Bethesda RPGs tends to be severely overpowered. Its also worth noting that the strongest build type in the game is a pistol-and-critical build.

Now, you haven't said whether mods are an option or not. There are a small number of mods that overhaul enemies to add variety and difficulty that may be worth checking into. If you are considering mods, let me know and I'll try and dig up some links.
My default character in all these FO and Elder Scroll games is to be the sneaky sniper.

I am using mods now so I am always open to recommendations if they are useful and not things like making the female raiders topless or inserting the Predator into the game.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

I actually started Survival mode early on, but ended up turning it off. The main things I was concerned about were the console (too often necessary to fix things or get unstuck in Bethesda games), the ability to save at will (replaying the same area isn't entertaining to me at all), and the rate at which you had to eat (as it is, you have to eat about every 15 minutes, which turns it into an eating game.)

Of those, I was able to mod fix the console. The mods I found for food either disabled eating altogether or were buggy. Every save mod I found had either been broken by Bethesda or had serious bugs. At that point I just turned it off and set the difficulty to maximum. I added mods that seriously up the challlenge of super mutants, raiders, and deathclaws.

I also made my own rule that I would only fast travel to and from settlements. I have to be in a settlement to fast travel, and I can only fast travel to other settlements. It works great, with the exception of settlement attacks. I ended up making an exception for those, but I can only travel to the attack and straight back to where I started. Without that, settlements become too much of a pain in the ass when they get attacked at the end of a 20-minute hike, forcing you to walk twenty minutes back to the settlement, fast travel, fast travel back, then hike a third time. Realistic, yes. Fun, no. I can't imagine I'd build many settlements at all if I were playing without any fast travel.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

Moliere wrote:I am using mods now so I am always open to recommendations if they are useful and not things like making the female raiders topless or inserting the Predator into the game.
Yeah. Not in my games. I still go by the philosophy I used with the Morrowind DVD back in the day: Bethesda's vision, just polished.

I'd suggest starting with Raider Overhaul and Super Mutant Redux. There are similar mods for deathclaws and synths, but I haven't personally used any of them, so I can't make specific recommendations. Make sure you read the instructions, as there are extra files to make them work well together.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Moliere
Posts: 12295
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Walking through a desert land

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Moliere »

Blackhawk wrote:I also made my own rule that I would only fast travel to and from settlements. I have to be in a settlement to fast travel, and I can only fast travel to other settlements. It works great, with the exception of settlement attacks. I ended up making an exception for those, but I can only travel to the attack and straight back to where I started. Without that, settlements become too much of a pain in the ass when they get attacked at the end of a 20-minute hike, forcing you to walk twenty minutes back to the settlement, fast travel, fast travel back, then hike a third time. Realistic, yes. Fun, no. I can't imagine I'd build many settlements at all if I were playing without any fast travel.
I put no effort into Settlement building except what was required early on for getting into the Minutemen. When the attack notice goes out on one of my 5 Settlements I sometimes respond and sometimes don't. There seems to be no negative drawback. Now, I have hundreds of items I throw in a trunk at Home Plate in case I ever start building them, but for now there doesn't seem to be a point. Most people seem to complain about the constant attack alerts.

Two things that still scare me in the game: Deathclaws popping out of nowhere and being zerged by feral ghouls. Both of them move fast and can easily overwhelm my 2 man party. Add a Glowing ghoul to resurrect all the ghouls I just killed and the heart gets pumping hoping I can keep backing up while shooting.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
User avatar
Grifman
Posts: 21196
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:17 pm

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Grifman »

Moliere wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:First thought - sneak in Bethesda RPGs tends to be severely overpowered. Its also worth noting that the strongest build type in the game is a pistol-and-critical build.

Now, you haven't said whether mods are an option or not. There are a small number of mods that overhaul enemies to add variety and difficulty that may be worth checking into. If you are considering mods, let me know and I'll try and dig up some links.
My default character in all these FO and Elder Scroll games is to be the sneaky sniper.

I am using mods now so I am always open to recommendations if they are useful and not things like making the female raiders topless or inserting the Predator into the game.
I have over 200 mods installed :)
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
User avatar
Moliere
Posts: 12295
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Walking through a desert land

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Moliere »

Grifman wrote:I have over 200 mods installed :)
Yikes! I'm always worried about potential mod conflicts and spending more time researching, updating, installing, and troubleshooting mods than actually playing the game. I installed only a couple basic mods that update the graphics, fix a bunch of game bugs, and do some things with the weather.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
User avatar
Blackhawk
Posts: 43487
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:48 pm
Location: Southwest Indiana

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Blackhawk »

I had 206 last time I counted, although I've removed a few and added a few since then (like one bypassing the hacking minigame that you can't lose - it gets really old after the first fifty or sixty times.) I'm sitting at the limit (254) for Skyrim.

Playing with that many mods isn't too hard, but you do need to set aside a bit of time at the beginning to select them, install them, and configure all the whoozits and such. It isn't something to be undertaken lightly. You need to learn how the modding system works so that you can avoid bad mods and prevent (limit?) instability. Once you get past the installation phase, however, it is pure gameplay, and is gameplay customized to your tastes.

FWIW, I have put probably another hundred hours into FO4 this time, and have crashed only three or four times, which isn't bad for an unmodded Bethesda game.
(˙pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uǝǝq sɐɥ ʎʇıʌɐɹƃ ʃɐuosɹǝd ʎW)
User avatar
Moliere
Posts: 12295
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:57 am
Location: Walking through a desert land

Re: Fallout 4

Post by Moliere »

Daehawk wrote:That pistol is my second. The first was a subMG off a mirlurk.

I collect teddy bears. I dont know why. I dont set them out to view and I dont use them in my jet gun..though I might. I must have dozens by now. Ive seen those that others talked about like the 69 in the fridge and the doctors office in the bus but I just now found the best one to me and it gave me a good laugh.

Its in a place you go for a quest so if you look at everything like me you'll find him. I threw open the door and took one step in and started laughing . In the pic my light is on so you can see him better.

Enlarge Image
Someone went to a lot of effort to set the teddy bears up:

Image
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
Post Reply