Definitely using FWE, but I don't know if I want the increased spawns and extremely high hp monsters that MMM sometimes provides.

Will FWE be too easy without increased spawns?

I just don't want to get stomped as soon as I get out of the vault and take hours to be able to kill a giant radscorpion.



Couple other questions about FWE... is the RobCo Certified mod compatible/is it known to be very buggy or unbalancing?

Thanks for answering my questions.. long time fan of these types of games. =)

Can't say anything about RobCo Certified as I've yet to try it, but I just finished up a 27-level run using FWE and MMM, mostly all default settings, no changes to the spawning behavior. To me it seemed like the correct amount of difficulty for a game that should be about gritty survival. I found I was somewhat restricted as to where I could go in my first few levels. The Super Duper Mart, which is usually my first stop, put up quite a fight. I relied heavily on and invested my first few perks into the bullet-time feature of FWE which to me felt superior to VATS.

The combat is much faster paced in FWE and even creatures with higher-than-average HP don't last long. It's a two-way street. Expect to get your head blown apart sometimes. The goal is to make combat more FPS-like, which means no Oblivion-style hour-long slug fests. The most time-consuming "common" enemies I faced throughout my game were Centaurs who always managed to take a few good shots to go down. In an all-out run & gun firefight I'd estimate nothing survives longer than 20 seconds. The only creatures you should spend any considerable amount of time wearing down are the Behemoths.

In short: Yes, play with MMM. Hope that helps.

-A

While I haven't played with that setup before, I'd think that it would be too easy. Generally, FWE doubles the overall combat damage, and increased spawns, (on average,) doubles the number of spawns. It balances out. Overall, I've found the game become more tactical, really. Even in vanilla, the early levels were always difficult. Killing a giant radscorpion should actually be faster, due to the higher damage, but unlike vanilla, you'd have to make your bullets count.

Like most other mods, FWE and RobCo Certified are separate, independent mods. They do different things, so there shouldn't be a file conflict. I believe v2 even has a FWE balance patch.

I agree with previous posters. FWE+MMM is a good combo. It will make some areas significantly more dangerous - Springvale Elementary becomes quite a challenge on low levels - but the game is fully playable. You may want to make combat skills a priority early on. You also need to take a bit more care, as automatic weapons can tear you apart. This makes melee and unarmed characters more of a challenge, particularly as NPCs have unlimited ammo (just like in unmodded Fallout 3).

RobCo Certified works well with FWE (remember to grab the balance patch), and to my knowledge it is neither buggy nor unbalanced, provided you use the FWE patch. Without the FWE patch it is likely to be quite underpowered.

FWE has been developed alongside MMM since the beginning, so naturally they go together. With some of the new features coming to MMM RC6 (i.e dynamic difficulty scaling) you'll be able to better fine tune the difficulty from the MMM side and have it change overtime. In general, FWE is pretty brutal starting out but get's easier over time. MMM's dynamic scaling can help with this by making lower level spawns a little easier and/or less enemies, with more stronger stuff and more of it appearing more often at higher levels.

Robco V2 (and Wasteland Whisperer V2) is fully compatible with FWE. There is a balance patch as mentioned to bring the followers HP's and weapon damage in-line with FWE's balance. I use them both myself all the time.

FWE and MMM are a good combo. Add in Responsive Kill Reactions and it gets interesting (glad there is gonna be an updated version of that in the next FWE).

A few quick suggestions for early game benefit:

Thanks so much guys for the replies. FWE+MMM it is, I have been out of the loop for so long, last time I started a file I was using FOOK and I did not like the balancing in that at all. My ultimate goal is to have an immerse, realistic, smooth, and balanced game that yes.. is more challenging than vanilla. I'll probably ditch the RobCo shmeal til/if that's developed more, I don't want too much bogging down my game and adding possible overlaps.

@Mez - You're awesome. Thank you for all your hard work. Good to know from the mastermind behind the mod that they work together well. I thought, that perhaps the RobCo modder doesn't have as much interest/experience in balancing for other mods. This clears things up. You should implement these as well! Oh, and I'll check out RC6 changes now too.

@showler - I llove the sound of RKR. And thanks for all the tips. I'll figure all that out along the way.

Any ETA on when this'll be implemented?

Any other must haves?


THANKS! ;d;d

MMM RC6 and FWE 6.0 are both quite close to being released

ahhh..... can't wait.... thanks dad! SO...! If you'll be so kind to answer me one more question.

If I get MMM and FWE now. And make a character now. Can I use the same save for future updates? I'm sure I can but I must know cuz I'm fiendin' so baaaaaaad

And to answer a previous question I just noticed your list of hotness in your sig, I've been looking for someshing just like that.


FOR NANRIA!

Hey Mez, you should update your big list. I can't thank you enough for it --- you really know your stuff!

But it seems a bit dated. :9

This question and any replies might help me also. I really have not been sure what Mart Options to apply about increased spawns, reduced spawns, and the No Options. My game is set at NORMAL difficult, and I would like to play at a challenging but not frustrating difficult level, so I am also interested in some recommendations here.

There may be many new Fallout 3 players recently, including myself, due to the recent GOTY steam version sale.

I've played tes forever, the problem is I spend all my time modding and hypothesizing and don't get enough time to actually test

If you haven't played FO3 normally once, I'd recommend using the "alternative" preset from the FWE control panel along with a reduced level of MMM increased spawns, accessible via the in-game console as well. The alternative preset is somewhat less forgiving (although still more difficult than the original game). The global damage modifyer is turned down, a number of settings are reverted back to vanilla levels, etc...

FWE was really developed around playing on "normal" difficulty. If you want more MMM spawns, there is no shame in turning the difficulty slider down a little. All it does is make you take less damage but deal slightly more.

thanks. you are very helpful good sir! I figured this much about the difficulty slider and it won't be budging. last time I tried MMM briefly I was swarmed.. all the time.. with increased spawns.

i know things like bullet time and sprint will make this more manageable, as well as the %12 decreased wasteland spawns aspect but i'm just not sure what to do regarding the quantity of enemies.

would you be so kind as to recommend to me your level of increased spawns, and whether or not you use the aforementioned MMM aspect?

thanks again

For the beginning, slightly increased spawn+minimal soft unleveling will be enough. I'm already at level 16 and feel myself very comfortable

thanks, although I don't like to make adjustments as I progress.. i prefer the more static world of morrowind. though I can't resist playing anyways

Okay - one last question. Been reading some feedback about RC6 Beta 2, and it's mixed.

To avoid.. um. Glitches, crashes, and general imbalances, would I be better off just using RC5 for now? Until FWE6 and RC6 are out, ofc.

I'm at level ten right now. Going to get the Rangers and leaving from Megaton with a brief stop at GNR I've used more than 2500 rounds of 5mm ammunition so far and I've just entered the hotel. That's with the XL70E3, not a crappy minigun. That's on all "normal" settings.

It would help, of course, if I remembered to take my Psycho.

Well- if you can survive hour or so, may be you better wait.
There is not much glitches and crashes, only wild crazy brahmin's problem, which attack population periodically

yes I can survive an hour! are you saying it's right around the corner? i was expecting a few days to weeks.

ah, sorry i'm reading as much as i can but there's so fkn much to take in after all this time..

really starting to like this community <3

© Martigen
So- today is Thursday

Well you live in communist land. Its wednesday in hicksville USA.

Too bad for you.
Oops- Martigen is capitalist too? But he is from Australia!
Seems to me - we will be equally disappointed

Yeah, too bad for me

What time zone is the 51st and fattest state of America in? I don't even know

well I hope muh frenz frum down unda can get me MMM out before I move to canadia on sunday. hehe

I'd recommend the default Increased Spawns level (1-3) over the slightly increased spawns option (1-2) if only because a number of features depend on Increased Spawns, such as Soft Unleveling, Ghoul Raising and so on. That is, due to the way spawning in Fallout 3 works, these features can only be applied to the 'extra' spawns at a point. Now when you consider that the range of 1-3 or 1-2 must include the original vanilla spawn, this means the effects of unleveling, raising etc are only applied on at most 2 (with 1-3) or 1 (with 1-2) respectively. And of course the smaller the maximum spawn range, the less chance there is of these appearing.

So between difficulty slider and increased spawns, if the game is hard, I'd reduce the slider and keep the spawn count at 1-3 as a minimum. The only good reason to run with a lower spawn range is if your PC is having trouble rendering the extras actors on screen.



This should be fixed now in RC6.