After the first 15 minutes of renting Fallout 3 from Blockbusters I knew I was going to buy this game later from Walmart. I'm a big Morrowind fan, I needed a new game from 'Thesda and here it was, creative and different, I loved it.


But I'm having a few speed bumps...

Now, I may be naive from the years spent playing games where your typical main character is an all-mighty being who seems practically immortal, where every challenge is just one step down from... well, *challenging*. But I spent at least two hours trying to get to Arefu and constantly being hailed down by Super Mutants. I tried going to GNR first, instead, but that too was (and still is) a difficult feat. I've just reached the third checkpoint just north of GNR. However, if I travel south I get hit hard by the band of raiders that love to bait me into their territory, and if I try to sneak by them and go the long way around I get sidewalked by a couple Super Mutants.

After taking my first hits in some gun-fights I realized V.A.T.S was on my side and so was crouching and hiding behind trees. That's helped me significantly but this tactic isn't my saving grace...

I like this refreshing new feature where Fallout 3 is realistic and doesn't typically place all the "easy" monsters in the immediate areas of your "starting point" and all the "hard" monsters in cities you can only actually reach later on in the storyline. However, unless I tip-toe every where, I find myself saving every 5 minutes just so I don't lose the ground that I've covered.



My question is, am I missing something? I see a lot of people talking about partying up with an NPC but so far only Jerricho is party-able and I don't have enough bad karma for him (which is not something I want to do, as my character is "good"). So is this a roleplaying game or do I have to be someone I'm not (roleplaying wise) just to f***ing survive?

Or maybe I'm going to GNR too soon? Should I grind on mole rats and vicious dogs (last time I checked this was Fallout 3, not a Final Fantasy episode)? Should I load up on new and upgraded weapons in Megaton or spend all my caps on Stimpaks?



Halp?

I don't know how helpful I can be to you, so I will leave you with these questions:

1 Are you keeping your gun in good condition so you can do decent damage?
2 Do you know you can cripple your opponents by targeting their limbs or even their weapon?
3 If you are sneaking, then don't you want to use your sneak attack bonus for more damage?
4 Did you put enough points in Small Guns ( or whichever type you use )?
5 Are you using cover efficiently, popping out only when your foe is reloading?
6 You do know that in VATS you only take 10% damage, right?
7 Do you cripple the legs of melee enemies so they can't reach you?
8 Could it be that you are crippled and have not healed yourself?
9 You're not using the .32 pistol, are you?

Cripple their legs and run away. Return when you're at a higher level and crush them.

IMHO, you should try staying closer to wherever you call home until you are about level six, maybe even up to level eight, depending on your build. For instance, if your TAG skills were Speech, Sneak, Science, etc, you will want to grab some "extra" levels for putting points into a weapon skill, or Sneak- a combat survival skill.

My character moved into Megaton right away, and did things around town for experience- collecting scrap metal for Walter, breaking into the Brass Lantern's safe (naughty but lucrative), research for Moira, etc. It was enough to get me up to about level four. Most of my points went into Sneak, Small Guns, and another non-combat skill. YMMV. At that point, I felt a little better about venturing further out. Don't let your quest log urge you into action before you're ready. With the way experience works in this game, you can gain plenty of experience early on picking locks and hacking terminals. You don't need to put your ass in the line of fire to earn a level up. At least, not until you are ready. This was my approach, and when I left to meet Three Dog, it was definitely manageable, even as a Sneaky, Speechcraft-loving Scientist.

There is also the option of dialing down the difficulty while you figure out what's what.Then turn it back up when you feel like you "get it".

You know what's funny is I would have said you are doing something horribly wrong two weeks ago because I pretty much stomped all over every enemy in the game my first run through. I mean I was virtually unstopable - not to say that I didn't die (I did plenty) but overall the game was super easy.

So after I beat the game I realized I missed a ton of places to visit so I decided to play again. I rolled a female character and chose a differn't way to build to her. All I can say is I die a lot now! Seems like every enemy is a tooth and nail fight to the death and requires much more firepower to kill. I get one shotted by Yoi Gui (sp) and have to run from a lot of encounters.

It's finally getting better now (just hit level 14) and my build is starting to pay off. I think the way I set this character up she will be MUCH tougher than my last one at level 20 but really weak until mid teens.

All I can say is pick your battles carefully and get a few more levels on you. You level so fast in this game you shouldn't have a problem getting tough fast. Also make sure you hunt for ammo and the best quality weapons you can find.

Greenwarden: Whew, that gives me some confidence in sticking around now. I read that stickied guide in Cheats/Hints/Spoilers section and I kept thinking about how it strongly encourages you to pick up the Intelligence idol before you hit level 3.

TALENT: Somewhere I read that it was hard to build *your* own character and have their advantages really help out in comparison to some other advantages that would make the game much more easy. But here I see that some skills/SPECIAL's have to be worked on until they become awesome and I'm glad that the underdog will rise above at level 20 for you. Makes the game seem more balanced. ^^u

Id have to agree with Talent, I finished the game and I found it pretty easy, then I realized I hadnt seen over 75% of the alternative quests and locations etc...

So to make it better and level faster I decided to Put the game on Very Hard. More Exp in the long run

My suggestions for fights against large numbers is set up ur own traps. Lure raiders or super mutants towards you. Cover shoot once or twice... run towards a car shoot at it when theyre close and *Boom* exp and items.

Also someone said stay around "Home" yea that would be a good Idea search around look for easy exp Moira, mole rats.

Now I had a problem with Arefu the second time around on Very Hard. also with super mutants. I found the best way to handle them was Guerilla warefare. I would find a rock nearby that would be my next cover area and scout where I would run too next before I did. once at cover and super mutants either Melee or the hunting rifle ones would inch closer I would aim without vats at the head with the 10mm and shoot away then I would run to opposite side of rock and do same then run to next rock, rinse and repeat.

My advice would be not to become too reliant upon VATS. Quite a few weapons are far more effective outside of VATS and all weapons are quite good without using VATS. The only one I prefer to use VATS with is a dart gun (less excitement from misses).

I discovered that I had structured my entire combat around VATS and that I was taking more damage and dealing less out as a result. Once I opened up and let missiles fly and assault rifles roar things got a lot better.

Top

Agreed. The sniper rifle is much better without VATS. I can definitely hit more accurately and further away on my own than I can using VATS. I love sniping from a distance, it helps keep me out of harms way.

WHOO! All of your advice has really paid off. I'm actually in Arefu now, when before I could barely go half the distance without dying. Looking for Ian at the moment, fighting those Mirkthings.. Crab creatures or whatever they are. I'm using my baseball bat against them, but it doesn't work so well so I just run towards Evan King and he kills them for me rofl.

But now with all these tactics, healing up, repairing my gear, picking up stimpaks, using VATS moderately and working with cover is really paying off. Hooray for strategy!

I think the reason that you are being spotted is because you are running in sneak mode. Sorry, but you will need to get the perk that allows you to run while sneaking without it counting against you. Be aware that this might make things too easy for you. Also, points in sneak is nice but it sounds like you really needed to put more points in Small Guns ( or whatever weapon type you use ) to get those higher percentages in VATS. Keep in mind that energy weapons will be effective against armored opponents in the late game, But you can always shoot for the head.

And about that 10% damage in VATS - I'm not saying that you should use it all the time, but you can use it on dangerous melee enemies who have already gotten close to you. Keep in mind that there is a one second delay after using VATS, so if you didn't kill them at that time then you are in trouble. In the case of strong melee enemies, go for the arm so they drop the weapon and have less accuracy or go for the leg so they can't reach or jump at you. Then you can finish them off in real time.

EDIT:
Did you say you were looking for Ian? Ian, from the first Fallout? I've already beaten the game, but this is news to me!

EDIT:Did you say you were looking for Ian? Ian, from the first Fallout? I've already beaten the game, but this is news to me!

I miss Ian... but i think he was reffering to the Arefu Quest

I'm a girl. >>;

Yes I'm looking for Ian from the Arefu quest. So far I'm dying from the Radscorpion's in Hamilton's Hideaway. Don't think I'm strong enough to be in there yet.

Invested into Small Guns u_u; I took a peek into my skills and apparently I put all of my skills from the first and second level into melee weapons. Holy cow what was I thinking rofl.

So you are level 3 and fighting giant radscorpions, mirelurks, and raiders? Yes, that is your problem right there. Fallout 3 is not as free-roaming as Oblivion - you can't go wherever you want, whenever you want, ( well, you CAN... but... ) you will get your ash kicked. Level up a bit for goodness sake. I didn't start fighting mirelurks until level 8. Sheesh.

Myeah, I agree.

I've found a good "leveling strategy" (not that I need that as I am awesome at this game ) to scav the area around Megaton until I have enough stims and supplies to not get my butt handed to me - the fact that you (the original poster) still use the Baseball bat in Arefa means you might lack the power to take down the enemies in the area, as it is one of the weaker melee weapons, at least when Sledge Hammers are easily available in the Megaton area. If you are planning on staying melee heavy, I'd recommend using your perks at leveling on improving your SPECIAL endurance stat as well as practice blocking enemy melee attacks - it's not too late shifting your build to a more ranged focused one though, but if you want to stay melee you'll need the ability to soak lots of damage. Once available, you should always carry an assault rifle with you at all times (or similar automatic weapon) for duking it out with enemies at range when you can't close in on them.

As for the Mirelurks and Radscorpions handing your butt to you, make sure to "kite" them by moving backwards while shooting at them using normal view at first and then switching to VATS when they get close. Specifically, try hitting the Mirelurks in the face with your ranged weapon as they take much more damage there due to being largely unarmoured in that location. The Radscorpions are a bit more tricky, but sometimes it helps crippling their stinger as they use that to make their most powerful attacks - in both cases you should at least consider weakening the enemy with ranged fire before you beat the living crap out of them with your melee weapon of choice.

Whatever you do, do not go further north as the challenges become even bigger the further you stray from Megaton - optimally you should try sticking to the Megaton area and the outskirts of the DC Downtown area until you are well supplied and have some decent equipment. A good place to get some experience and scav some nice gear is the school to the East of the Vault 101 entrance, Western banks of the Potomac and the areas to the Southern-West of Megaton - at least I'd wait a bit heading into the Downtown area until you have enough stims to shrug off the crapstorm Super Muties can throw at you from a distance.

Well, for starters, if your putting loads of points in MELEE then you should be using MELEE and not GUNS.

And your way too low for Arefu. I'm pretty sure I was 8 or 9 when I did that quest.

BS.
You can pretty mcuh do that quest straight out of the Vault.