Hi All

Not a regular forum poster but I'm looking for some advice on Fallout 1...

I've just started Fallout 1 for the first time and I'm beginning to feel forced into re-starting with a different character and different objectives.

The character I want to play as is a Pikey, aka a Gypsie...Think Brad Pitt in the film Snatch if you're not sure what I mean.

The skills I want to concentrate on are..(and when I say concentrate on, I mean I don't like using the others at all...eg the gun and bullets you get at the start I immediately ditch)

Sneak, Steal, Lockpick...because I'm a thieving little b******
Throwing and Traps.....think explosives and the IRA (no offence intended)
Unarmed....for those one bomb punches
Barter and Gambling....wheeling, dealing and cards is how I get my gravy

The first issue I have is with SPECIAL. Everything I've read online suggests that you basically have to have high intelligence and high agility else your playthrough will svck. thing is, my guy is more of an INT 4 type of dude. I don't want speech options that a scientist would say, because he's a Pikey, but I don't want him talking goo-goo-gah-gah either. Am I forced to have these attributes high to have an enjoyable playthough?

The second and biggest issue is this...I feel like I am forced to give a sh** about the water chip. My Pikey guy couldn't care less about the vault and their chip. He wants his freedom from that place, to get lots of caps, maybe by hooking up with a bunch of thieves or doing the occasional boom-boom job on a target for some contract money.

So I start off with the rats. He's a Pikey so doesn't care about rats. I try to sneak by but they still notice me. Am I doing it right? I've read the manual and have "sneak" showing in the bottom left of the screen, but they still notice me. I selected sneak as a tag and my agility is 9 i think. My guy still just looks like he's walking though (which is fine if that's how it is)

Next i get to Shady Sands. My guy is thinking of getting to a bar somewhere, maybe getting a lead on some dodgy/underground gang and picking up some quests that *fit his character*. After walking around however, I start to get the impression that I must talk to the leader, some Aradesh guy. So I finally decide it's my only option, even though Mr. Pikey doesn't care about authority. So I talk to the guy, he asks me why i'm here, I say my reasons are my own, you know, to actually roleplay my character rather than choose what i feel the game wants me to say. So he tells me to leave, so i leave.

Then I basically feel I have two options...go to this other vault on my map or wander aimlessly around looking for stuff this particular character would want to pursue. He doesn't care about the chip, so wanders. He has high luck for the card games (wherever they are) so comes across the "crash landing" and the "prize from space" but doesn't take the weapon as he doesn't care about that type.

I keep wandering and start to feel like i'm not playing this game right, which is not what I want to feel in an RPG.

Any advice? Do I just accept that I must care about the chip, re-start with a noble gun-busting or silver-tongued dude? Or just keep wandering aimlessly for something this thief-style character to do? Also, are the skills I want to use actually usable? Are explosives etc actually effective and not using guns plausible?

I didn't have this problem with New Vegas. With the same type of character, I was given leads from the get go. Powder Gangers have explosives, so lets check those out..Some guy shot me, so lets get payback etc

Sorry for the long read! And if its ok, could you try and keep advice spoiler-free? Rather than say, "just go to X town where there's loads of stuff for you to do", could you be more cryptic if possible?

Thanks for any help!

Well, you ARE forced to give sh*t about the water chip and the vault! Sadly (this annoys me too) you can't go around forgetting the main quest, as if you don't finish it before the time runs out, the game ends!

1. Dude, concentrate on 4 skills, not that many, and skills will svck if you leave them at around 50 so don't bother wasting points on 5 skills or more, pick 4 and go with it.

2. You don't need to have high Agility, you can choose 6 in AGI and make do just fine with it, if AP's become an issue you can get Small Frame and Action Boy as trait/perk to increase AP amount or that perk that gives 2 AP for movement specifically. As to Intelligence, INT 4 works fine, but don't expect a [censored]load of skill points, you might want to pick Skilled trait to get more at the cost of a perk every 4 levels instead.

3. Well the storyline is locked in that you have to care for your vault but nothing is saying why you have to care for it. Maybe there is a sister there which your character cares for? Maybe she doesn't want to leave? Maybe you figure she's doomed if she stay there without a chip? Maybe the Overseer knows how you want to leave and makes a deal with you? Make up your reason to care for the main quest, if not for the entire vault then for your characters sister at least.

4. There is no sneak animation so walking is sneak, but all skills svck at the beginning, Sneak shouldn't be that much different, despite that they are rats, but I don't usually play as Sneak characters in Fallout 1 so I can't give you any more insight on this.

5. Talk to Ian, find out about The Hub, go there.

6. No idea what line of RPG you're coming from but yeah, I think you're playing it a bit wrong. This isn't like TES or newer Fallout games where there is this huge world you can make believe stuff in. X is your main quest and X you have to pursue, along the way you will help/screw people (over) and do so in order to advance with the main quest, to get more levels, to get knowledge, to get better equipment, so that you can finally take on the climactic ending. Follow X, pursue X.

7. every skill is usable, some more than others, and no you don't have to care about "the vault" or "the chip", care for something else. Maybe your character loathe the vault but still holds a soft spot for it? Maybe your character, on his/her way out, looks at the people living there, the families, the children, which might all face a terrible fate if the water chip is not found. Then appeal to the emotional side of your character. Or use the sister suggestion I made. But X is what you need to follow up on so make up a reason for why you want to follow up on X.