The first character you'll take into the new Survival mode? : Fallout 4

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:27 pm

The survival overhaul slated to hit Steam beta this week, anyway. It's been a while since it's been posted, so I'll put the current description of Survival features in spoiler tags for now (entirely possible these won't be exactly what comes down to release, and please don't make this another thread about save changes).

Spoiler

Is the struggle of this world merely a pleasant game for you? Do you long for a more brutal take on a life lived post apocalypse?

If you answered "Yes and yes!", then Survival difficulty is for you!

Survival upends many of the rules of life in the Commonwealth for maximum challenge. For a full list of these changes, see below.

To enable Survival, press [Pause], select "Settings," then "Gameplay" and choose "Survival" from the "Difficulty" options.

Saving

Manual and quicksaving are disabled. To save your game, you'll need to find a bed and sleep for at least an hour.

Combat

Combat is more lethal for everyone. You now deal, but also take, more damage. You can increase the damage you deal even further with "Adrenaline" (see below).

Fast Travel

Fast Travel is disabled. If you wish to be somewhere, you'll have to physically travel there.

Weighted Ammo

Bullets and shells now all have a small amount of weight, which varies by caliber. Heavier items such as fusion cores, rockets, and mini-nukes can really drag you down.

Compass

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled, as enemies will no longer appear on your compass. As well, the distance at which locations of interest will appear has been significantly shortened.

Adrenaline

Survival automatically grants the Adrenaline perk, which provides a bonus to your damage output. Unlike other perks, the only way to increase your rank of the Adrenaline perk is by getting kills (hostile or otherwise). The higher your Adrenaline rank, the higher the damage bonus. Sleeping for more than an hour, however, will cause your Adrenaline rank to lower. You can check your current Adrenaline rank at any time in the Perks section on the Stat tab in your Pip-Boy.

Wellness

You'll find it difficult to survive without taking proper care of yourself. You must stay hydrated, fed, and rested to remain combat-ready. Going for extended periods of time without food, water, or sleep will begin to adversely affect your health, hurting your SPECIAL stats, adding to your Fatigue (see "Fatigue" below), lowering your immunity (see "Sickness" below), and eventually even dealing physical damage to you.

Fatigue

Fatigue works like radiation but affects your Action Points (AP) rather than your Hit Points (HP). The more Fatigue you've built up, the less AP you'll have for other actions. The amount of Fatigue you've accumulated is displayed in red on your AP bar.

Sickness

A comprised immune system and a few questionable decisions can end up getting you killed. Eating uncooked meat, drinking unpurified water, taking damage from disease-ridden sources, such as ghouls and bugs, or using harmful Chems all put your body at increased risk for various ill effects. When you are afflicted with an illness, a message will appear onscreen. You can view specifics about your current illnesses by navigating to the Status section on your Pip-Boy's Data tab and pressing [RShoulder] to view your active effects.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics, which can be crafted at Chem Stations or purchased from doctors, heal the various effects of sickness.

Bed Types

The type of bed you're sleeping in determines the length of time you are able to stay asleep. A sleeping bag will save your game and may help save your life when you're desperate, but it will never allow for a full night's rest and the benefits that come with it.

Crippled Limbs

Crippled limbs will no longer auto-heal after combat and will remain crippled until healed by a Stimpak.

Carry Weight

Exceeding your carry weight reduces your Endurance and Agility stats and periodically damages your legs and health. Think of your back!

Companions

Companions will no longer automatically get back up if downed during combat and will return home if abandoned without being healed.

Enemy and Loot Repopulation

Locations you've cleared will now repopulate enemies and loot at a significantly slower rate.

I know a lot of folks around here are planning on going into it with a brand new character. So, if you've got any plans, dish! On my end, my favorite tanky utilitarian playstyle seems to become much more valid in this mode:

S3

P1

E10

C5

I7

A1

L1

Built for tanking as much as humanly possible outside of Power Armor. I imagine Solar Powered, Adamantium Skeleton, and Chem Resistant will become even more valuable; maybe I'll even have a reason to pick up Lead Belly in Survival, too. I'll use the magazine on Charisma to pick up Local Leader, then with the bobbleheads for PER, INT, and CHA I'll have Rifleman, Robotics Expert, and Party Boy to complete it. Main focus will be on energy weapons - Laser Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Tesla Rifle, and Gauss Rifle should cover all of my basic needs. Normally I'd pick up Scrounger, but I'm banking on it no longer being necessary with combat being more lethal; we'll see if I eat my words.

How about you guys?

» Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:58 am

Deadpool.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:16 pm

Well, I'll go into survival at first with my higher level char just to get to know the new mechanics and what has changed in the world then I'll makea new char that i feel will be most interesting for the new mode.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:59 pm

I don't know how I'll feel about the no quick save and fast travel. I might wait for a mod to put them into Survival.

The quick save is annoying because Bethesda has some of the buggiest games.

Lack of fast travel will get annoying as well. The game was design with fast travel in mind. I can't tell you the amount of times I get a quest and I have to travel half way across the map. What will happen with settlements when under attack? Do we lose them or do them actually put a real system in place?

» Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:51 am

I'll probably restart my S 2 P 3 E 3 C 10 I 3 A 3 L 4 Character.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:19 pm

Please don't turn this into yet another save/travel debate thread.

OP specified build/charcter ideas are the topic.

Thank You!

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:53 pm

So... what kind of character will you use for this mode?

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:50 pm

Well, there is the BoS Verts and the Institute Teleporter to get around. Also, I've seen posts that the 1.4 Update made it so Settlements can successfully defend themselves. I haven't seen it myself. Then again, not of my settlements have been attacked since 1.4 either.

As far as Mods are concerned. There are two mods that add portable sleeping bags. Not a Quick Save, but a Save on Sleep. Though, RP-wise, I view it more of a rest if you only "sleep" an hour.

There is also a Mod out that disables Fast Travel, but adds the ability to craft a variety of vehicles to "fast travel" between settlements.

» Thu Mar 31, 2016 2:22 am

This would be my build:

S:6

P:2

E:3

C:6

I:8

A:2

L:1

That's my built. Since there is no fast travel I'll need all the strength I can get. I'll also need to be able to bring a long a robot to help carry. I'll also need to be able to run a settlement with full shops there.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:31 pm

Strength- 3

Perception-4

Endurance-5

Charisma - 8

Intelligence- 6

Agility-1

Luck-1

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:30 pm

What? Am I the only one that likes Luck?

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:00 pm

I haven't thought about the stats yet but I might focus on melee without sneak. Seems to be the most difficult and rewarding playstyle for me. And of course a melee robot as well.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:16 pm

Besides using pistols I find Luck to be pretty useless.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:38 pm

I like pistols too. On a previous play through I had a Pipe Pistol with the Quickdraw Legendary tag. Fully moded up it used Zero AP to fire. Too bad VATS is capped at 16 actions.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:20 pm

Still deciding but one of these two

S P E C I A L

4 4 1 5 7 6 1 - Mod Everything build

3 1 1 5 5 7 6 - VATs & Critical Banker build /w all modding except robotics

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:21 pm

New character. I held off from completing the MS and any side content untill it's release.

Planning on a high charisma and stealth focused character with a sniper.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:11 pm

I got bored of stealth sniping years ago. I play assault style with balanced stats focusing on mid - close range weapons and throw a little bit of melee into the mix to keep certain enemy types interrupted.

My favorite stat is Int

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 3:35 pm

I limit my character from non-sense abilities, buffs, and recoveries. So it should be good.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:30 pm

While I haven't plotted my stats, I plan to go with an endurance/intelligence build, though not as extreme as the OP. I just can't let my character start with a 1 in any stat.

I'll probably re-create my very first character to try the concept again under the new rule set. Basically, he was a 'metahuman/builder'. By 'metahuman' I mean that he will probably go heavy on perks like Solar Powered and Aquaboy which are more like mutations than skills, and I like crafting and building so of course I'll want to play with those systems. He'll either be a rifleman or a gunslinger ... perhaps both, but he won't fool with heavy weapons, automatic weapons, melee weapons, stealth or anything that makes use of VATS. Local Leader is the only reason he'll have any charisma at all, otherwise that would be a dump stat.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:11 pm

3 3 3 5 6 7 1. Carry weight is still very good. I'll pick up the perception bobblehead early on to get the locksmith perk. Endurance is okay. By the time I get the charisma bobblehead, I'll be ready for the local leader perk. Intelligence of 6 will give me good experience points. Agility of 7 will allow my first perk to be Ninja (followed by sneak, toughness, and life giver. What is luck? The ability to exploit accidents. I'll try and do that by detecting the bad guys first. My primary objective is not to die at all.

» Thu Mar 31, 2016 3:43 am

Probably the same as my others, as that build has worked well for me twice. Basically, this is the highest level in each category necessary to reach the farthest perk that I find essential.

S - 6

P - 4

E - 1

C - 6

I - 8

A - 3

L - 0

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 3:16 pm

Probably not going to try it. This mode seems to require a lot of Min/Maxing to make it and I like characters that are more balanced. I do a pretty good job with self-imposed rules to make things interesting so I won't need it.

But ... if I did it would be a gunslinger build with high AGI and LCK.

» Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:56 pm

Dr. Eggman. Literally Dr. Eggman. Distraught over the death of his wife and the kidnapping of his child, Dr. Robotnik (Army engineer, or something) descends into madness. Eventually deciding to rule the commonwealth, as humanity's last chance of freedom was used up when the bombs dropped, Dr. Robotnik dons the new moniker of Dr. Eggman. Anyone who stands in his way will be crushed.

Going for an engineering type character, specializing in using the environment to his advantage (Setting traps, hacking stuff, etc.) until he can start building robots at level 15. Then he'll systematically take over the commonwealth with his machines.

» Thu Mar 31, 2016 2:32 am

I dont like to use VATS that often, so Luck is pretty useless to put stats in.

Im going with:

S.P.E.C.I.A.L

3.6.5.6.3.3.2

Lightly armored, small weapons.

No science perks will make for some scrounging for better weapon mods.

» Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:22 am

I'm just going to use my current character. I didn't spend all this time on her to abandon her now. She's right where I want her for this beta testing.