As mods like FWE, Arwen's Realism Tweaks, etc. have sprung up over the years I've read a lot of descriptions of barely surviving in the game. Scrounging for caps and other resources, making every precious bullet count, etc. That's what I'm looking for, but I'm always disappointed. I've started a few games with various versions of Arwen and FWE, and I invariably end up with huge surpluses of caps, ammo, drugs, stimpacks, and so on after just a few levels. In my current Arwen game the only resource I need to pay attention to is water, and even so, once I'm down to dirty water I can just start on this huge pile of Rad-Away I've amassed. I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

So has anyone actually experienced the kind of gameplay I'm looking for, beyond the first level or two? What is your mod setup? Do you use the difficulty slider?

Thanks

I play FWE with a bit harsher settings and I find it quite tough to play. Ammo is very rarely found and it's expensive, so I rarely get more ammo from adventures than I bought before. I have to pick up a gun from enemy, use it until I have no ammo and then toss it away and get another one - can't carry too much with some 150 carry capacity..

So my point is that at least FWE has the settings menu you can use to make Fo3 anything from vanilla to an impossible survival horror grotesque kitten slaughter.

Which settings? Do you use the worn weapons plugin?

Are you using my Full Realism Tweaks, or just some of the modules? I'm assuming that you are using my Hard-Core module.

Most users of my Tweaks tell me ammo and most of the chems are much harder to come by, than with the default game.

And having a low Luck stat makes a huge difference in how much loot you will find.

I use FWE, and I lower the incidence of ammo and chems and turn on luck-based looting, so typically my scarcity period lasts for the first 10-15 levels or so. The only thing that usually breaks it is getting power armor or getting enough of a flow of advanced weapons to turn in to the Outcasts, after which ammo and stims are rarely a problem. By that point, though, MMM's soft unleveling at 25% and FWE means I'm fighting huge armies of super mutants and Enclave troopers, so I need all the backup I can get (and it's easy enough to ignore the Outcasts tech turn ins if you desire).

Using multiple followers with the FWE follower overhaul will also chew through your ammo and healing items even if it does make combat easier.

I'm using all of the modules, yeah. Halfway through level 5, I have around 2000 caps, 100 stimpacks, hundreds of rounds of every ammo type, dozens of grenades and mines, dozens of every drug, a nice collection of weapons, combat armor, lots of food... everything but water. I've just been saving most of this stuff since I haven't needed caps for anything. I can kill anything smaller than a Behemoth with a couple grenades. My character is a scientist/doctor type, and the only skill I have over 25 is Science, so I wouldn't say I'm powergaming. I have a Luck of 5, and no Scrounger perk or anything like that. This is actually about as far as I've ever gotten in the game, in terms of storyline, so it's not like I know where all of the loot is.

I do die pretty often but that's usually due to the large amounts of damage and bad luck. I wouldn't say the game is too easy, since I can only carry a small portion of my stash at a time, but I've been increasingly disappointed with resource side of it. This has been true of all of the overhauls I've tried, as well as the unmodded game. I don't know whether I'm an overly-cautious player, or a compulsive hoarder, or what. I don't exploit quicksaves, or anything like that. I play "good" characters, and never steal.

My load order, for reference:


As you can see, it's pretty much just Realism Tweaks and some extras. The Easy Mode Revives plugin is something I made for CBO to account for the lower starting skills. I've only had to revive a companion (I've only used Dogmeat) a couple times.