Alright Boyz, Here We Go! The OFFICIAL Fallout 4 Thread!!!

[cartman]

Are they gonna be more in business type buildings vs. residential? I read that as well, but haven't come across any. I'm probably just not recognizing them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cartman

Are they gonna be more in business type buildings vs. residential? I read that as well, but haven't come across any. I'm probably just not recognizing them.

Hrm, hadn't read anything about that (haven't read a ton since day one really) but it makes sense. The larger the power source the more likely to find one, so that would jibe completely. Those are literally what provides their generator (and therefore the building) its power.

An example -- without totally spoilering anyone -- would be the first quest where you encounter synths. The task where you re-start the power in the building, there's one right there when you do the restart. Watch for a (not really functioning) button lableled "Eject" (or Eject Core, something like that) ... you can really just take it but that button is always on the panel IIRC.

[Peregrine]

I have around 15 or 16 cores now (at level 20) - like Jon said - most large industrial type buildings will have one somewhere, usually in a machine like the first one you get when you first get the power armor. There's a couple spots where you can find multiple at once - usually where you find high tech stuff.

A good early place to get one (not really a spoiler since right at the beginning) is in the cave underneath the Red Rocket near Sanctuary.

The machines you're looking for will be like this:

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

A good early place to get one (not really a spoiler since right at the beginning) is in the cave underneath the Red Rocket near Sanctuary.

Wait ... there's a cave?

(And no, I don't think I'm kidding, I don't believe I actually found/dealt with it ... no worries re: spoilering but I just found that amusing)

[Groundhog]

I've only used my power armour twice - when I first got it (and promptly sprinted everywhere wearing it until I ran out of power), and then on another mission I was struggling with. I think I have 7 or 8 spare cores, found through power generators as per Peregine's screenshot.

Anyone know how scrapers/ammo stores work in your settlements? I built my first couple last night, but I'm not clear on the benefits.

[Peregrine]

I think part of the power armor use depends on your build. My character uses melee weapons a lot so the power armor comes in real handy to close the gap to gun-using enemies who would otherwise light me up. If I'm shooting at range it's not really necessary most of the time.

[Groundhog]

I'm thinking next time around I really want to focus on close combat. I can see it being an issue vs boss-type characters and super mutants, but in general you can pack a lot of punch without worrying about ammo.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Warning:

Abnormal Traffic Detected

As detailed on the Bethesda forums, the bug in question concerns a settlement quest which requires players to head to Mosignor Plaza. Upon attempting to travel there, several players have encountered a game crash straight to the desktop, without an error message.

edit to add: No clue what "abnormal traffic detected" text means. It's a copied & pasted link to the gamespot article on the bug.

[Abe Sargent]

I've had this issue where after one run, of about an hour, and multiple saves, I chose to restarted. In the restart, my old saves were deleted, and my mouse controls for up/down were reversed,and there's no control option for mouse pointing and direction.

[Groundhog]

I'll put this in spoilers as it's related to the main quest, but I made it to the Glowing Sea last night for the first time...

Spoiler

...holy shit, power armour definitely came in handy there, for the radiation but also for the fact that I was mobbed by radscorpions and deathclaws... At one point I was madly back-pedaling firing my rapidly depleting ammo at two deathclaws with about 8 or 9 radscorpions also in pursuit - thankfully those scorps attacking the deathclaws, too. I was all out of stimpacks and had a sliver of health left by the time I made it to the cave, and had to sneak around another deathclaw.

[RainMaker]

What's everyone's perk strategy early on?

[Peregrine]

Think it will depend on the build I am going for - right now I have a lot of strength and endurance so I'm doing a lot of crafting skills, melee weapon, and then some other stuff like ammo scrounging. Also lockpick. I'm hoping you get some benefits for going deep into an individual perk line - haven't really done this yet due to level restrictions.

[Groundhog]

I've gone for charisma this time which I haven't done before, and no points spent on hacking or lockpicking, which is again the opposite of what I usually do.

Most two recent perks have been ammo scrounging (helps a lot for my style of play - keep running out of ammo), but otherwise I've concentrated on the charisma tree mostly, with a few points spent on gunslinger (for the weapons mods) and town leader (I think it's called - the one that lets you build trade routes and stores in your settlements).

[Abe Sargent]

I have a high CHA/LCK gal, trying something new

[SackAttack]

I'm farting around with the first settlement revival. Clearing ruined houses, that sort of thing. I feel like it's a significant enough addition to the game that I really ought to see if it's a thing I'm going to enjoy or if I should just leave it alone. Or whether leaving it alone matters to the game at all.

[BYU 14]

I have always gone for a stealth sniper build, but changing it up and going for melee this time. Have a nice chain wrapped bat and using perks to increase damage, (Big Leagues, Rooted, Bloody Mess) weapon crafting (Blacksmith), increase action points (Action Boy) to get up on enemies quickly and of course Medic to get more out of Stimpaks. Will venture outside of those to trees to put some in stealth to increase damage from sneak attacks next.

BTW, Diamond City might be my new favorite location in any Fallout game. Spent about 15 minutes just taking in every nuance of the stadium from the Mayors office. Fenway is really nicely done and to keep the green monster looking sharp the paint the town quest was the first one I did here. Off to look for Nick Valentine now.

Loving the game so far

[Groundhog]

I don't think it actually matters at all as far as the main quest goes. The benefits are slow-coming and I haven't really noticed the affects yet, especially taking into account the amount of hours I've spent in the 'mode', but I think once you have scrappers and ammo stores etc. it will eventually reap rewards in ammo, crafting parts, and bottlecaps... but having said that, I've intentionally not read much about other player's experiences.

I have the low-tier stores in my town and I probably collect 40-50 bottlecaps and some minor ammo each time I revisit my Sanctuary settlement.

[Abe Sargent]

I wish i knew how often Idiot Savant triggers to know if its work it early on

[JonInMiddleGA]

With the exception of the one you kinda pretty much have to deal with I don't get any sense yet that it really matters to the main quest.

I think one of the more impactful things the settlement system does is significantly hampers your finances. That's a LOT of junk that used to be 100 caps here & 100 caps there in the early game that you're no longer selling. While I've heard/read about some players suffering an ammo shortage, I think caps are in far shorter supply compared to F3. I'm finally getting to where I don't feel restricted -- at level 22 or something, and with 2 perks put into the barter benefits -- but I'd say the economy was one of the bigger changes in the game, if you're dealing with settlements in a moderate or higher degree at least.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I wish i knew how often Idiot Savant triggers to know if its work it early on

Idiot Savant - The Fallout wiki - Fallout 4 and more - Wikia

[Abe Sargent]

Cool, I have an INT of 2 so it works well for me to grab it level 2.

[RainMaker]

I am confused on the story. So does my character go into the fallout shelter in 2077 or whatever and come out 200 years later? It confuses me because the game always had a 1940's feel to it but maybe Fallout is it's own world where you have old school TVs in 2077 but talking robots.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I am confused on the story. So does my character go into the fallout shelter in 2077 or whatever and come out 200 years later? It confuses me because the game always had a 1940's feel to it but maybe Fallout is it's own world where you have old school TVs in 2077 but talking robots.

Pretty much the latter. Culture - I mean as in pop culture type stuff - basically stopped somewhere in the late 40s or so.

Here's a pretty basic synopsis of the universe timeline
Warning: the full version of the timeline linked below DOES have spoilers from the other games mentioned

Get ready for Fallout 4 with this Fallout timeline | Games | Geek.com

Here's the relevant snippet for your question

Everything up to the end of World War II: Business as usual.
1950s and 1960s: Rock and roll never happened. America never got past tailfins on cars.
1961: The first man in space is American Captain Carl Bell.
1969: The United States of America is partitioned into thirteen commonwealths across the 50 states. It’s a mid-level distinction between state and nation, though the United States remains a single country for the purpose of becoming a world superpower. Also, Captain Richard Wade, Mark Garris, and Michael Hagen become the first men to set foot on the moon.

[RainMaker]

Thanks, that makes much more sense.

I'm enjoying the game so far although I don't think it's on the level of Fallout 3. As Jon mentioned, the economy is the biggest improvement.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Thanks, that makes much more sense.

I'm enjoying the game so far although I don't think it's on the level of Fallout 3. As Jon mentioned, the economy is the biggest improvement.

I agree that it isn't F3 but have to say that last night was probably the most enjoyable session with F4 I've had.

Everything I did made sense, the quests and even the randoms were good stories, it was just really a good session. Dare I say, it was ... fun.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I agree that it isn't F3 but have to say that last night was probably the most enjoyable session with F4 I've had.

Everything I did made sense, the quests and even the randoms were good stories, it was just really a good session. Dare I say, it was ... fun.

I think I prefer the D.C. setting of 3 to the Boston setting of 4, but a lot of that might come from the fact that as a non-American I'm a lot more familiar with Washington D.C. than I am Boston, so I probably miss a ton of references.

I prefer the main quest in 4 though so far, I think it might be the Bladerunner feel of it, and I think the writing in general is probably stronger.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Dare I say, it was ... fun.

It is fun.

But I still think it needed a new/better engine under the hood. I'm playing on the Xbox One and the load times are killer, had a few crashes in addition to the issues I've mentioned before.

If it wasn't Fallout, I think the reviews would've been much harsher for this one.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

It is fun.

But I still think it needed a new/better engine under the hood. I'm playing on the Xbox One and the load times are killer, had a few crashes in addition to the issues I've mentioned before.

If it wasn't Fallout, I think the reviews would've been much harsher for this one.

I've had my crashes & glitches (XB1 here also) but then again I had them in Witcher3 and pretty much every other game I've ever played on any console.

Most common for me so far has been freezes in dialogue scenes (you talk, they talk, your next option doesn't appear on screen). 3 of those in 52 hours.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I think I prefer the D.C. setting of 3 to the Boston setting of 4, but a lot of that might come from the fact that as a non-American I'm a lot more familiar with Washington D.C. than I am Boston, so I probably miss a ton of references.

I am enjoying Boston more for nothing else than it's much more open - F3 was awesome but all the blocked off access roads and forcing you to travel through the underground for me got really old really fast.

[RainMaker]

My problem with 4 is that the map just seems barren. Like I'll walk halfway across it and come across maybe a few feral ghouls and that's it. I don't know if they ran into issues with the hardware not being powerful enough but going from one location to another is a bore. I'm starting to fast travel not to speed it up but because there is no point in walking it. I felt in the other versions there was a lot more going on in the map.

[Peregrine]

Rainmaker are you talking about in the locations on the map? Or between them? From what I've seen there's a lot going on at the marked locations (sometimes at least.) In between them can be boring but also there are raider lairs, random encounters, and so forth.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I felt in the other versions there was a lot more going on in the map.

Really? I've started to feel just the opposite if anything, I can't seem to walk more than 30 secs without running into at least a medium sized battle opportunity or a marked location.

I'm at something like 120 already, got the achievements for 100 two or three days ago. And the biggest issue I've got with that is not having the time to actually explore half of them.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Really? I've started to feel just the opposite if anything, I can't seem to walk more than 30 secs without running into at least a medium sized battle opportunity or a marked location.

I'm at something like 120 already, got the achievements for 100 two or three days ago. And the biggest issue I've got with that is not having the time to actually explore half of them.

Same here.

I'm at about 28 hours and haven't run out of things to do and places to go.

[jeff061]

Same. The map to me seems much smaller, but it's way more packed with stuff. Basically it's DC with the empty spots removed and a lot more content built up vertically in buildings and such. Boston itself is a beast of areas to explore.

Definitely less ground to cover, which makes the game world seem much smaller in the early goings, but once you are fast traveling around that doesn't matter so much anymore.

[RainMaker]

There are places to go and the missions are great. I meant the stuff in-between. The open world part of it. I remember in previous versions walking around the wasteland coming across random enemies and encampments like crazy. One minute some Deathclaws pop out to come at you, another a whole bunch of raiders ambush you. I just feel like I walk around the wasteland from one point to another and rarely come across any activity.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I wish i knew how often Idiot Savant triggers to know if its work it early on

My current build is centered around it. It triggers often and can trigger on quest xp rewards as well. I just got 1100 off a quest last night because of it. Where it really shines is crafting. going to work on your settlements? Take a nap for the rested bonus and get to crafting. You can get 78xp a pop on turrets, 20+ on walls etc. Its really great for leveling. Works great on making food/drinks as well.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Really? I've started to feel just the opposite if anything, I can't seem to walk more than 30 secs without running into at least a medium sized battle opportunity or a marked location.

I'm at something like 120 already, got the achievements for 100 two or three days ago. And the biggest issue I've got with that is not having the time to actually explore half of them.

Yeah agree lots more content in this than the past games

[Abe Sargent]

At level 11, I grabbed the next level of Idoit Savant, I finished a quest, Confidence Man, and gota 5x random reward that got me two levels and half way to the next

[SackAttack]

I'm disappointed in Concord, and I hope the later areas get much better. I went exploring and basically all the buildings were scenery. The doors were boarded up, so they existed only so the landscape wouldn't be totally barren.

There was a church; the odd house or two; one or two shops; and the museum. That's what there was to explore aboveground. I like that you can scavenge materials, but it's kind of frustrating to run across tires or something and not be able to do anything to/with them because you're not in an area that can be turned into a settlement.

[Peregrine]

I agree about the boarded up buildings - you will continue to see those a lot but there are some in each area to actually explore. Some of the smaller towns are a lot more interesting than Concord, and the bigger areas tend to be more packed with stuff to do. I'm looking forward to future mods which will flesh out the towns a bit more.

[jetpunk2000]

I've hit my "fallout wall". It's happened in 3,New Vegas, and now 4. Game starts off I can't put it down for days and then after a while I feel it all gets monotonous. I don't play it for a while, try to come back a couple of months later but then realize there is so much shit going on that I have forgotten pretty much everything and start over again. Rinse, repeat. I think I finally beat 3 on my 3rd or 4 th play through and never beat New Vegas. It sucks because I really do love the games but at some point they have all felt like a chore.

[markprior22]

For someone who has never played this series, which previous FO game would you recommend? Don't want to drop full price on 4 without seeing if the game appeals to me.

[jetpunk2000]

Originally Posted by markprior22

For someone who has never played this series, which previous FO game would you recommend? Don't want to drop full price on 4 without seeing if the game appeals to me.

3 will give you a good idea of what to expect and it's cheap. New Vegas is the better game of the 2. The original PC fallouts are great but nothing like the Bethesda games. I'd say if you like 3 then go back and play 1/2 to get some of the lore.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by jetpunk2000

I've hit my "fallout wall". It's happened in 3,New Vegas, and now 4. Game starts off I can't put it down for days and then after a while I feel it all gets monotonous. I don't play it for a while, try to come back a couple of months later but then realize there is so much shit going on that I have forgotten pretty much everything and start over again. Rinse, repeat. I think I finally beat 3 on my 3rd or 4 th play through and never beat New Vegas. It sucks because I really do love the games but at some point they have all felt like a chore.

I think when I hit that point is when I generally just hit up the main story and play through.

[Abe Sargent]

Here's muh quick template at level 15

Malva Maitland

STR 6
PER 5
END 3
CHar 6
INT 2
AGI 4
LUCK 6

Toughness - 1
Black Widow - 2
Cap Collector - 1
Attack Dog - 1
Local Leader - 1
Bloody Mess - 1
Idiot Savant - 2
Fortune Finder - 1
Scrounger - 1

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by jetpunk2000

3 will give you a good idea of what to expect and it's cheap. New Vegas is the better game of the 2. The original PC fallouts are great but nothing like the Bethesda games. I'd say if you like 3 then go back and play 1/2 to get some of the lore.

I think you're the first person I've ever seen call FO:NV better than FO:3.

You're entitled to that opinion, totally cool ... I just figured somebody ought to point out to the o.p. that there's definitely mixed opinions on that.


FWIW, I'd say that F4 feels a lot more like F3 ... at least to me.

[Abe Sargent]

I call it that too. New Vegas is a better game.

[Peregrine]

I would say at least they are equal but I would have to give it to NV over FO3 also - just like the story and the setting a lot better plus the expanded crafting etc.

[Scoobz0202]

Yea, I would play NV again. Cant say that about 3.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Seriously? I honestly truly legit had no idea that opinion existed.

F:NV felt like a relatively weak imitation to me, my son grades it even more harshly head to head. It wasn't bad, still one of my 20 most played games ever, it simply was nowhere near as compelling as 3 for either of us.