Hi, I plan on getting fallout 3 soon and while I don't have the money to get the GOTY I need to know how long the game is without DLCs?

My other question is where is the sniper rifle that you can get early in the game? Is it worth it?

How powerful is the Lincoln repeater? Is it stronger than the sawed off shotgun?

What is the first companion you can get in the game?

The game is open ended. It can easily be hundreds of hours without DLCs. One caveat is that if you don't get the Broken Steel DLC and can't use mods, then there is a level 20 cap. Broken Steel raises that to 30. You can still keep playing and exploring and questing after reaching level 20 (or 30) but you just don't level up anymore.

There is a sniper rifle you can get early. It's in a hidden location near Megaton. But I don't think it's worth it. Because it not in good repair and not easy to fix unless you get other sniper rifles. Also the ammo is rare at lower levels.

The Lincoln Reaper is one of my favorite weapons. Maybe my favorite unique small gun. Very powerful for a small gun expert and great for sniping.

You can get several companions early on. Charon (underworld) and Jericho (Megaton but with out mods, requires negative Karma), and Clover (again negative Karma, without mods), and the robot RL3 (requires neutral Karma). But they cost money which might be hard to get early on. Dogmeat the dog is of course free.

How long is the game without DLC's?

Well, really, it depends where you would decide to leave the game, after finishing just the main quest-line? After finishing all quests? After discovering every location? I would average a single, dry play-through at around 50 hours though. Although I have nearly a hundred on my first, almost 70 on my second, and around 50 on my third, totaling at around 200 or so hours. That's with DLC though, without, probably 100 or 120.

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Where is the earliest found Sniper Rifle in the game, and is it worth it?

Earliest Sniper Rifle you can get in the game is located just behind the city of Megaton. Go around the outside of the city walls. Behind it, start looking at the rocks, one of them will be surrounded by three dead trees, that rock will be called http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Hollowed-out_rock. That rock is actually a storage container, and it contains a sniper rifle. I would say it's not really worth it for the same reasons Savlian stated. There isn't much ammo around, and it's in poor condition.

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How powerful is the Lincolns Repeater? Is it more powerful that the sawed-off shotgun?

Lincolns Repeater is fairly powerful. If fully repaired, it is indeed more powerful that the sawed off shotgun, and has much greater range. It is one of the best rifle's in the game.

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What is the first companion you can get in the game?

The first companion you come across is Jericho, who is right in Megaton, but he costs 1000 caps to hire, and you have to have bad karma at the time of recruitment. Charon is in Underworld, but costs money, or a favor. Clover, in Paradise Falls, also requires money, and so does RL-3, who is with Tinker Joe, usually outside the Robco. Factory near Tenpenny Tower. Dogmeat doesn't cost any money or have a karma requirment, he can be found in Scrapyard.

Thank you Holy assassin, I have another question if you don't mind lol

What are the best skills and perks to start off with? I plan on a hard attacker with computer skills a maybe barter?

What is the "point of no return" in the game?

Don't bother with Barter. You come across so much stuff in the game that making money, or caps in this case, is not at all difficult. And Lockpick is more important than the computer skill, or Science. Your best skills at first are Small Guns, since you start out with a basic handgun, and Repair. Medicine and Explosives are also very useful and either Melee or Unarmed can come in handy at the very first of the game when you're a bit low on ammo. After that you'll come across so many guns and ammo you won't need to use them very much. I just use Melee on some of the weaker creatures, ones I don't feel are worth wasting ammo on. As for the point of no return, that happens when you start it up for the first time. It can be a very addictive game.

I don't mind at all. I love helping another player.



QFT there. Barter is near useless, as caps start flowing like blood after a while, in-game.


First off; Best Skills and Perks to start of with.. Well, it really depends on what level you are...

The skills I would tag in your case, would be Big Guns, Explosives, Science. You said you want to be a hard attacker, that would mean Big Guns, as they deal the most DPS. Explosives too, and they're pretty useful, for a certain task you may be asked to preform. I won't spoil anything though. And science for hacking. For skills, get your attack skills up earlier on(Big Guns, Small Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, not Unarmed or Melee though, as they're pretty useless. Unless you want to though), and work on the non-combat skills a little later (lockpicking, repair). Repair is one of the biggies, get to work on it, and try and max it out.

For perks, I can't really list them all out here. (If you actually need in-depth help, PM me, and I'll give you a perk list, as I've done it before for one other user) But I'll just give you some guidlines, and let you decide most on your own. The tip is, don't take the Intense Training Perk. Choose SPECIALS wisely when you start, and there are perks that improve them later on in the game. (No Weakness, and Almost Perfect, if you have Broken Steel) Also, don't take any skill perks, as you can improve your skills anyway. Unless you need a quick boost. Also, don't take the perk that sends you up another level instantly (I think it's called Here and Now). It's not very useful either.

Hopefully this was helpful, and don't hesitate to ask me anything, if I was unclear. Also, don't disregard the advice of other forumites, as their advice is just as good, if not better. I myself, may be experienced, as I've played the game since launch, but even I am still learning stuff.

No I mean in game when you can't go back to do anything, you must finish the quest before anything else.

The problem with hacking a computer is that they usually just open a lock that can also be opened by picking it. So if you can use your Lockpick skills on them to begin with, then they become redundant other than a way to gain some extra XP. I find Lockpick to be much more useful overall than Science, since no all locked objects have terminals as well.



I find the perks in the first three or four levels to be kind of useless so I use them for Intense Training myself. You definitely don't want to go crazy with them though, much better ones will come along.



I'd agree there, it's too easy to max out your skills anyway so there's no point in having it happen sooner. Also, unless you're using a mod that drastically cuts back the number of skill points you get, don't get Educated or Comprehension. And don't take the typical route and max out your Intelligence either. There's no shortage of skill points in the default game so there's no need to manipulate anything in order to get more.

I was joking there BTW. And there is no point of no return in that way, except if you don't have Broken Steel. If you finish the main quest without it, the game just ends. Other than that, aside from sometimes having to finish off a particular quest you've already started, then you can do what ever you want.

Well, before you leave the Vault is the point of no return I guess.

That's the last point at which you have the options to change things around, once you're out of there. You live with the character you got, wether you like it or not.

Edit: Unless you have Broken Steel, (comes with GotY) when you finish the main-quest, it's all over.

I think I might get the goty since I saw some of the pit made me go wow and plus more stuff to do and nastier enemies to kill

If you're on PC, go for it. Save up, it's definitely worth it.

If you're on console; even if it is more expensive, buy the original, then the DLC disks, or download them individually. The console GotY disc is glitchy as all-hell. The 360 one is a nightmare, and in my experience the PS3 one is even worse!

Oh, cuz the only one I know of is the goty disc..

Like people said before without DLC you can spend around 50 hours on one character. I have all DLC and around seven characters all with about 80-100 hours on them. With about 820 saves.

Lincoln's Reapeter is awesome if you use Small Guns as your main weapon lineup. It has no spread so it is accurate no matter what your Small Guns skill is at (outside of V.A.T.S) and comes 100% repaired when you get it. Although if you wana be up close most weapons can't touch the raw power and devastation of The Terrible Shotgun, especialy when you get a Sneak Attack Critcal Bonus. Nothing says dead like one shotting a Super Mutant Behemoth, but if your going Big Guns there are plenty of "fun" toys out there.

That's a very short amount of time to spend, even without the DLCs.

The game is open-ended, BUT without Broken Steel, when you reach the end of the Main Quest, the game ends.


I know it is in the area immediately around Megaton, but you can normally find these on some of the characters in the game, plus I'm sure some of the stores stock it (not sure if this is the case without mods but hey)


As far as I know the Lincoln Repeater is a Rifle, and the Sawed Off Shotgun is a shotgun, so they both serve different purposes. So use the Lincoln for long distance and the sawed off shotgun for close.


That really depends where you go....

The only merchants I've seen carry them was Tulip in the Underworld and Flak & Shrapnel's in Rivet City. Oh, and Lucky the arms caravan trader. Even then they're pretty rare. I've never seen Moire sell one. As for the Sawed Off Shotgun, you're much better off using the Combat Shotgun. It's a much better weapon, dealing more damage than any small gun in the game. But it has a really wide spread so it's only good for up close combat. That's how it is with all the Shotguns. You need some sort of rifle for distance shots.

Depending on how much of the wasteland you explore and the pace that you do the games quests it could take 60+ hours easily.

It depends how much exploring you want to do. I'm on 100 hours and I haven't even done all the quests or explored all the map and the dungeons. I get bored just exploring if there's no point, but I reckon I could get another 50 or so hours out of it.