Hi,

I just got fallout 3 and am enjoying it so far, Oblvion + STALKER = Fallout 3! Nice!

But I have a couple of questions I hope you can help me with.

When does the armoury open in Megaton? Or how can I get in there?

The ammo is in really short supply in this game. Any tips how to deal with that? When i do get caps the women in Megaton is always out of the type of ammo I need...any other way I can buy ammo?

The sheriff got shot by some spiv looking guy in the bar. Should that have happened?

Thanks!

Al

Ah i wish i were you right now! I cannot convey to you the amount of enjoyment i derived from my first play through!

You really haven't had a chance to realize this yet, but most of your weapons and ammo will be scavenged or plucked from the corpses of your fallen adversaries. I strongly suggest you speak to Moira Brown who runs the local supply shop in Megaton. She will start you on a quest which will supply you with many items which you will find indispensable in you exploits across the capital wasteland.

I suggest you always keep a melee weapon because you will run out of ammo in progress through low levels and you will need it. utilizing vats will reduce the damage you take while dealing the most damage possible up close.

Ammo and weapon types vary greatly, perks and skills will determine which you are most effective with. There is also a scavenger perk which will facilitate finding ammo by increasing the percentage found. I strongly suggest you invest skill points in your repair skill; weapons go the way of the dinosaurs pretty quick (or rather the way of DC if you get my drift.) and repair allows you to cannibalize parts from other guns to improve one and keep it in working order.

On the note of the death of the sheriff, that man probably presented with you a proposition in the detonation of the nuke from which Megaton derives its name. If you deactivate the nuke or activate it there will be different consequences. It was possible for you to save the sheriff, but it isn't a problem that he died, you did not lose any opportunities. The quest is likely in your pip boy and you can set it to active if you wish to pursue it.

Early game it's worth keeping a melee weopon as Giliant said, or try unarmed combat to take care of the wasteland criters (dogs/molerats bloat fly's etc). Great way to save amo & caps. Always check traders for amo and snap it up when you get the chance (sounds like you are doing this with Moira anyway). You will need to explore to find new traders to work with. Megaton is on a trader route so keep checking outside by the entrance every now and then to see if a trader has pulled up. There are several that do this so they are fairly regular (providing they don't get killed!).

Thanks guys...

Yeah, I am looting a lot...but I always find that I use so much ammo and get very little in return. I use the baton a lot but probably need to use it more.

I also found a different trader...or someone who was willing to trade with me. But I can't find them again. I think nothing is on my map...

And another noob question...Is the 'Find Dad' quest, the main quest? Is this similiar to Oblivion in that you can just pick up the main quest whenever you want?

Again...thanks for your help and patience!

(now, to the shops for food...then a few hours gaming...!!! )

Until you increase your proficiency with a weapon type it has very limited effectiveness. I chose small guns and laser weapons for my character, i personally would not waste any points in melee since even with the most effective weapons (such as the shishkabob) the damage benefit isn't that large where those skill points spent somewhere else can make a very large difference.

You will find a great many traders throughout your travels, Rivet City is a excellent place to trade. You are going to find that very few traders have a large quantity of caps, and you will typically be loaded to the brim with items to sell, particularly if you have lockpicking, there are an incredible amount of excellent items which will be available to you if you have a high lockpicking level. Hacking can also help acquire items, but i typically suggest that you choose one of the other, but this is very much a personal preference so find what works for you. But as i said the trader won't have enough caps, you can still unload all your items on them in trade, buy lightweight things like ammo since it weighs nothing and if you don't use it you can always trade it again later at a slightly diminished value while still accruing more items to sell with the weight reduction.

You are correct, find your father is the main quest but it goes much farther past that, BE WARNED once you complete the main story line you CANNOT continue playing. So get all your side quests and exploration in before you finish. That or keep a game save before you finish the game. It will be VERY clear when the game is near to an end, so don't worry too much about it. I have two saves each over 150 hours, you will find a lot to do. Think long and hard about perks, they have a very big impact on your play experience there are terrible perks like the Here And Now perk which grants you another level at the loss of a perk. You can't change any of these after you have selected. Happy gaming and tell us your impressions!

If you have the Broken Steel DLC, or the GOTY version of the game, your level cap will be raised to 30, instead of 20, and you will be able to play the game forever, or until you get bored of it. With the Pre-GOTY version of the game, the game ends at the end of the Main Quest.

A spoiler if you have the non-GOTY:

I made a thread about ammo here http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?app=forums&module=forums§ion=findpost&pid=16390009 I usually buy from Underworld, good variation on ammo. On my way to Rivet City soon.

At the start I only used ranged, didn't have to melee because I looted all and sold, then bought and looted new ammo. But I guess some meleeing will save you some ammo. If a npc is out of ammo you can wait I think 3 days and they will have new items.

As Giliant said, I also envy you, and long for the feeling of awe and wonder I had in my first playthrough. Also, welcome to the forums! :foodndrink:

That said, here are a few tips I learned and use to this day!

Powerful Small guns are fairly plentiful right out of the vault when you know where to get them. For example, there are 3 Chinese Assault rifles you can get as soon as you leave the vault and barely have to fire a shot to get them. (If you looted the Sheriff you probably already have his! Get it repaired as high as you can and start working on your own repair skill and small guns skill as you go.) Other than their unique variant called the Xuanlong, they're the most powerful SMG in the game. You can also get 2 sniper rifles and 3 hunting rifles very easily, but sniper ammo is scarce early on.

Set up a "trade route" from Megaton to Rivet City and Underworld. You'll have some combat getting to Underworld, but you can actually sneak or miss all of the combat areas heading to Rivet City entirely if you want to avoid them. (You'll take a few rads though.) Also, don't forget about the trading caravans that stop outside of Megaton & Rivet City. And merchants will buy whatever you have to sell even if they don't specialize in that type of wares. In other words, a junk dealer will still buy armor from you, or a chem dealer will still buy weapons from you.

Repair your weapons as high as your skill will let you and keep adding to your repair skill to get to 100. Repaired weapons do more damage and bring in more $$$!

When you buy ammo, stick to only the ammo you are using. It may sound like a no brainer, but if you aren't going to be a big guns guy, you don't need 5mm ammo for the minigun so sell it.

When you have a reasonable amount of ammo, go raider hunting! Loot their bodies, repair their armor and weapons, head to market to sell, sell sell! The buy all the ammo you can find that you are using, rinse and repeat! You'll be wealthy and soon have more ammo than you will ever need!

At the early levels you need to use your head a bit more, lure your opponents in rather then taking them on with guns blazing. Fire a couple of shots at them, then duck around a corner and wait with your Baton ready for when they come at you. As you progress you'll have ammo and caps coming out of ears, but when you first start out you need to be a little more careful with how often you fire your weapon and at who. Save the firepower for the tough enemies, don't waste it on something your can take on with just a stick.



There's traders all over the place. Some don't have alot of caps or stuff and are called Scavengers. There's I think 6 main merchants in the game you'll come across, 3 Caravans, and then minor merchants scattered all over the map. Once you uncover the main merchants you'll have no problem keeping yourself in ammo, there'll be lots you can buy. If you have the caps of course, which really isn't a problem in this game. My first time through I ended up with something like 12,000 caps that I just didn't know what to do with.



Yes and yes. You don't really want rush into completing the main quest, just take your time. Especially if you don't have the Broken Steel addon. Like Oblivion, most of the game doesn't revolve around the main story. There's all sorts of areas to explore that have nothing to do with it, and smaller side quests you can take on. If you haven't already, be sure to talk to Lucy West in Megaton. Provided of course you haven't blown it up. As for Lucas getting killed, that does happen sometimes if approach things in a certain way but it's not the end of the game by any means.

Aaaaahh, stop it! I want to be you. Ignorance is bliss, huh? I love playing games for the first time when I don't know anything about them... it's a shame that now I keep looking for news about every game so I kinda know a lot about it when I get to play.

Absolutely! I remember the fun I had learning about new weapons, locations, characters etc in addition to just exploring the vast Wasteland. I was just amazed at the size of the game and the detail and care and thought that has gone into making it.

Happy days

well said. it is exactly this that is getting me soo excited about new vegas

Thats why i cant get myself to play F3 again. It looks pointless. I know almost everything from 1 playthrough so it takes away the surprise the game gives in some moments.
Thank god there are great developers that dedicate themselves to making sequels!

I think you'd be surprised how much you missed the first time around. There's all sorts of little things that I keep running into that I never noticed before. I also find that there are so many areas in the game that I can't always remember what happens in them all, or what to expect there. If you're using a PC there's always mods as well, which can change the game drastically and make it a fresh experience from your first run through. You could also try it from a different role playing perspective. If you played a good character the first time, try being evil instead. Or vice versa.

1-Get the scrounger perk (I think that's the one) and you will score a lot more ammo while scrounging.
2- You can save the Sheriff by killing the bad dude in the bar before the Sheriff gets to him.

And... don't forget to save a lot and not just quick saves.

BTW your questions are good... not Noob questions at all.

Or just don't even mention Mr. Burke to Lucas. He only goes ballistic if you tell him that there's a plot to blow up the town. If he's not made aware of that, then there's never any battle between him and Mr. Burke.

Thanks for all the help!

I've done a few quests and some exploring and having a good old time in the ruins and wastelands!

I think a lot of the problem at the start was not using the correct weapon with the correct enemy...and not using the VATS system enough. Learning to repair my own stuff was a big help too...And scavenging anything. I was ignoring lawn mower blades and stuff like that, taking all that stuff helps a lot at the beginning.

Thanks again...now to rescue those silly Rangers! :gun: