Things you wish you knew before playing Fallout 4

[IronGland]

If there’s an existing post to this end, please excuse me - and if you can direct me to it, I’d be obliged.

But I wanted to see if anyone were so kind to share some spoiler-free tips on how to best play though this game, while wasting minimal time on pointless pursuits, or foreclosing future options unnecessarily. I'm not very far at all into the game, which makes this the ideal time to ask the question.

For example:
I loved Fallout: New Vegas - but I wasted a lot of character points maxing out SPECIAL and skills prematurely. Implants and skill books could give permanent increases to both. But if you already maxed out these statistics through other means, these investments would be essentially wasted, especially since the level cap makes these point distributions finite commodities. If I knew this before my first playthrough, I would have invested more in Endurance for implants, and exercised caution raising any skill past 80 when leveling up.

For Fallout 4 veterans who have already walked this road and learned lessons the hard way, any guidance you can share would be appreciated.

[rresuggan]

agility should have 7 points at the start, its a great tree, you need lockpicking so perception at 4 and hacking is good , the rest depends on what you want to do you need charisma 6 for local leader (supply lines) if you want idiot savant and scrounger you need luck around 4 remember you get another point from your special book next to shauns crib

[ƎϽ∀ƎԀ]

Learning that the first playthrough is what makes the game have an enjoyable replay quality. To give you all that information would make the game boring and waste your money. After one quick play through to the end of the main quest, a matter of a few hours, your game turns boring.

[Grendalcat]

Don't take the Ghoulish perk, it is almost useless until you are level 50.

If you plan on using Power Armor, Nuclear Physicist perk is important.

Charisma is the only Special stat that matters for conversational effects.

Gun Nut and Science are needed for modding your guns.

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

If I'd have known this game was so addictive I would not have bought it (2000+ hrs and counting).

[Khissi]

I'm one of the ones that uses Intelligence because of how fast it lets me level. I normally start it at 8, then bump it up fairly fast so I get it to 10 before I pick up my Bobblehead. Some people prefer Idiot Savant, but that's personal. I do, however, loving utilizing Science and Scrounging, etc. I also tend to start my Charisma at around 6 or so, and, since I don't rely on Vats much at all in the early game, most of the rest goes into Strength for hauling the arseton of crap I LOVE to collect. I'm a builder, and building is a VERY fast way to level once you get the hang of it.

I do tend to wander out and do all sorts of side quests before I ever start the main one just because I know what to do and where to go. The first playthrough is the most important, though, and there really is NO wrong way to do it. It doesn't matter who you side with, which direction you take your skill tree, what perks you choose... NONE of that really matters. All that matters is that you enjoy the game so much, you want to do it all again, and change things around now that you know what to expect and how to move through the Commonwealth. Every playthrough will be different if you choose for it to be. I've played through so many different ways, and each was enjoyable *lies... hate, hate, hate doing the raider stuff in Nuka World. They all must die, quicker the better*.

Lessons learned that I will pass on to you are these:

Your companion can carry thousands and thousands of pounds of stuff, with NO MODS. All you have to do is drop it, target him/her and tell them to pick it up.... one at the time. I give them all the weapons and heavy things to carry like that. Makes life so much easier.

No matter what you do, Ten Pines sucks... serously. Just do the best you can, and leave them alone. No hope there...

Physics doesn't matter! Take that piece of wooden floor with the stair in the middle, plop it down and start putting floors around the upper part. You can put guard stations on all sides on that first floor with turrets then add another stair for the next floor. Build a big barracks type room, make it several stories high if you want, put your generators on top, tuck your water pumps and a bunch of turrets around the bottom of the stairs facing out. Clean beds, some crafting stations, a few stores *they love bars and clinics* and make sure everyone has a job! If you wanted, you could even plant your gardens on the roof with those big square things. Settlements are fun, and you can make every one of them different.

You will play hundreds of hours and NEVER find every little thing there is to find in this game. I find new areas and NPCs and such every time I do another playthrough. Take your time and don't rush it. If you find it too easy, bump up the difficulty. More legendary weapons and armor will drop the harder the difficulty. If you find a mob that's kicking your bum, turn it down for THAT mob, then turn it back up to continue. After awhile, you'll know more about weapon and ammo types and the damage they do as opposed to armor values. It will make a huge difference once you start recognizing those things right away.

Save every bit of 5.56 you find and buy it if you can afford it. Some of the legendary assault rifles are beyond fun, and you'll want lots of ammo for the sheer pleasure of what they'll be capable of doing. That's mid to upper 20s, though, so saving up as you go is something I do.

KEEP YOUR POWER ARMOR REPAIRED! Mod it at the station! Level it up! Live in the sweet suit and invest in Gun Nut and Armorer. You will find lots of Fusion Cores once you start wandering. I spend the first few levels until I have several cores in just leather armor, though. I play hard mode so expect to die a bit, but I tend to find lots more of the things I like to 'play' with. Once you get those cores and the first upgrades to your PA done, get in it, and kick butt.

Okay, this is long enough...

I loved New Vegas, but Fallout 4 is way, way beyond that for me. I had no desire to replay NV over and over the way I do this one. I hope you feel the same.

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

One thing I learned personally is that companions are worse than useless, can't shoot for ♥♥♥♥ and constantly getting in your way. Only good as a mule and bait which I don't need or want.

[Solomon Hawk]

1. Don't rush, but run when you must.

2. Snoop around, a lot.

3. Get good at stealth and use it to listen in on various conversations when snooping around hostile areas.

4. Look for the "silent stories" written in the skeletons everywhere. Some are funny, some are sad, some are horrifying.

5. "Kill" the monkey. (I never did trust those evil looking things).

6. Keep a sharp eye out for traps.

7. Don't eat the canned meat from Longneck Lukowski's place.

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

Originally posted by Solomon Hawk:

1. Don't rush, but run when you must.

2. Snoop around, a lot.

3. Get good at stealth and use it to listen in on various conversations when snooping around hostile areas.

4. Look for the "silent stories" written in the skeletons everywhere. Some are funny, some are sad, some are horrifying.

5. "Kill" the monkey. (I never did trust those evil looking things).

6. Keep a sharp eye out for traps.

7. Don't eat the canned meat from Longneck Lukowski's place.

Definately with you on no'5, every single one gets shot or bashed. If I could kick them I would.

[Ez Duzit]

Use the Red Rocket as YOUR player home base. No settlers at all.
Without setlers it will NEVER be attacked and anything you store there will be safe. But you should still protect it with turrets as soon as you're able.

Get in the habit of saving the game often. This one thing will save you much grief.

Do not forget to set up supply lines between all your setlements.

Talk to every character that has a name.

Spend points on the Lock picking perk, the hacking perk and charisma, as early as you can.

Having a high intelligence gives you more XP so you level faster and also gives you extra points each time you level up. So start with at least 7 or 8. Some will say to go with a luck build for the idiot savant perk but intelligence has more benefits in the long run. Try the luck build on a later playthrough.

Keep in mind that there is no limit on your characters levels, so eventually almost everthing will be maxed out.

Grow corn, mutfruit and tatos at your settlements. You can use them to make vegtable starch which makes 5 adhesive. (You'll use a lot of adhesive in this game).

In the beginning, collect everything. As the game progresses and you flesh out your character, you'll figure out what is more important to collect. Just store it all in your home workbench to keep your weight down. And as someone else already said, use your companians to carry stuff.

Yeah the dog is cute but he's a horrible companian. You'll see.

Kill some Radstags when you see them and use a cooking station to make Grilled Radstag [with their meat]. Always carry some with you because earting it gives you an extra 25 lb carry weight. It's good to have even when you have companions carrying stuff.

Also when dismissing a companion, don't forget to get all the stuff back that they are carrying.

Companians can't die so don't waste stim packs on them, especially early in the game. If they're down they will get back up on their own, even dogmeat.

Go easy on the power armor early in the game and find as many fusion cores as you can. By level 20 or so you can live in your armor. You will be finding plantry of cores as the game progresses. By level 45 or so you can have maxed out X-01 power armor with a jetpack if you so desire. Oh yeah, don't swim while wearing power armor or you'll sink.

Do all the side quests. Don't rush thru the main story.

Have fun.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by IronGland:

I loved Fallout: New Vegas - but I wasted a lot of character points maxing out SPECIAL and skills prematurely. Implants and skill books could give permanent increases to both.

That system was abolished. There is no real max level like Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas had. So eventually you can have all your stats to 10 and all the perks.

However getting a stat to 10 BEFORE picking up a bobblhead will allow you to get to 11 in that SPECIAL. Of course probbaly already too late for that perception one. Although that difference aint enough to restart over.

[Chaosium]

Grab a combat rifle as soon as possible (there's one always standing on the roof of Greater Mass blood clinic).

- Most versatile gun of the game
- Better than pipe weapons with .38 receiver
- Definitely better than pipe weapons with .45 receiver
- Better than hunting rifle with .308 receiver
- .45 is dirt cheap to craft

This gun carried me the whole game, it's just so good.

[ʙ⌁¹¹⁰¹]

don't ever farm water just to get rich.

[^èa†èr^]

im horrible at it.

https://youtu.be/mJWe7n02oxY

[Dir Chai]

1. Use Red Rocket as your starting main homebase it has all of the crafting workbench.
2. Check out FudgeMuppet on Youtube if you want some inspiration on Fallout 4 builds he has tons of unique builds. Personally my favourite build is the Gunslinger that based on Luck and Agility with the .44 pistol as my main weapon.
3. Do the Far Harbour quest after the Automatron and Nuka World, I think that is the best order to play
4. Use Companion accuracy mod, it will make your life easier.
5. Ballistic weapon is better that energy weapon

[isomorphic_projection]

Don't use the DLC nuka town. First you build up your settlements. Only to end up wit h2 choices, Choice 1. destroy and fight the minutemen. Choice 2. destroy all raiders, but that leaves you with a dead nuka town map.