Survival TIPS please?

[Thermal Lance]

I mean... I get that it is supposed to be hard... But, I can't help but feels frustrated at how quickly you die early on. Even with toughness picked ( 10 additional armor points. ) and a full leather armor... I basicly get 2-shotted. Then there is molotovs wich are instant death without any room to evade or react...

I already read that it becomes way less frustrating later on. But, I'd need some advice for the early game since it truely is ridiculous. At least, with New Vegas, I could turn down the difficulty when it became litteral ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ without switching off hardcore mode... But, with this game, difficulty and survival is one and the same setting.

The whole thing just feels kinda cheap when you need half a magazine to down an unarmored enemy that can 2-shot you. =/ There is hard then there is tedious... I basicly have to cheese it around corners abusing the abyssimal AI.

So here's some question:
- Is there easily obtainable fusion cores early game I could grab so I can just tank with the power armor when an area is way too frustrating for my sanity?

- Is there mods that re-balances survival into something, let's say, making more sense?

- Is there mods that changes how followers act/fight so they are actually reliable in a fight?

[Paddy Wagon]

I am not playing survival mode right now but in a previous thread the mods suggested are
survival unlocker and survival options.
I would stock up on jet and medx for combat and not be so eager to engage. Also, you can run if you see your outnumbered.

[kdodds]

There are at least two fusion cores before you get the first PA in Concord. More as you progress. If you can find them, you should not run out. But, no, you can't tank. That's not what survival is about. You have to be more tactical, especially early on.

Try Survival Options and Survival Unlocker if we want to change setting and difficulty. Unlocker opens normal saving and the console. Options has a bunch of config settings.

There are follower mods that change their behavior, yes. I have not used them except for the UCF and AFT mods, both of which have a tendency to bork your game. Try Better Companions - No Conflicts for infinite ammo (like their default weapons the assumption is they gather on their own, like you, they just need one round to start, no PA damage, sneaking, and no fall damage. You can also select auto-heal in Survival Options if healing them is getting hairy. Same assumption, they carry their own supplies.

[Thermal Lance]

Decided to go for early raider related quests. I just hope I will not regret that choice. Sneaked my way around taking them down one by one. Entering corvega..

Added another save mod so the game saves after transitions. So at least I don't lose 20-30m of progress because Piper has the brilliant idea of running into the fireline just before I throw a molotov. (This made me want to smash my keyboard so hard. ) So, now I got holotapes and transitions to save. Lot more options without being able to save scum still. Wich is what I wanted.

Also installed a mod that restores fast travels because running across the whole wasteland for glorified fetch quests ain't my idea of fun. Besides, once you know the safe routes... it becomes more of a nuisance than a true challenging change.

Went with Journey instead now that I figured out how to set up supply lines.

[JobeGardener]

Best tips I can give you is to turn off the BGM, turn up the voice and footsteps volume to max and don’t hesitate to run from a fight.

[Abomination]

you can use power armour without fusion cores but you cant run and you cant use vats, you have a minigun when you start, try saving it for convega power plant, pick a good build early on if you know any, their is a .44 revolver pistol near sanctuary down by the lake next to a switch (the left side of the bridge, and between concord and sanctuary, your welcome ) the .44 packs a punch and will most likely 1 shot enemies at concord, id reccomand saving explosives for when you need them, also if you see a large amount of mines like when you have to do the quest with deacon, DONT BLOW UP THE MINES, collect them, because when your having trouble in other parts of the game you can alert the enemies then lay a mine where you are, close the door, plant like 3 or 5 more mines like 2m apart so they dont all blow up in a chan of explosions and watch as people blow up the first mine then 5 more people die by the other 5 mines, < so forword thinking, also settlement followers can equip power armour and only need 1 bullet to fire their weapon so if you send a supply line to somewhere you cna put that helper in power armour with a minigun, ive almost been dead and low on bullets med kits and had debuff's and thought my own spply line was a hostile and hid thinking i was going to die untill they said "general" to which i followed them like a hawk making sure to not die, they led me back to a settlement where i rearmed, healed, got rid of the rads and swapped out for better gear, so make sure to make supply lines go though area's that if anything happens one of your people will maybe be near by or you can use the quick wait feature for them to pass by so you have protection, turn the settlements into safe houses/check points

[Abomination]

i am planning on doing a charisma int build that lets you craft EVERYTHING and maximise settlements as well (so high charisma, so intellegance, and 1 or 2 points into strength for gun nut ) and you cna craft all weapons, ammo, craft settlement stuff,

[WolfieRex8ME]

If you can feel you can't win just run away

[kgharbi]

There's a fusion core in the cave behind the Red Rocket gas station down the road from Sanctuary. There's some nasty mole rats in the cave. There's a generator and you can get Dogmeat to fetch the core without taking rads. There's another fusion core in the basement of the Museum of Freedom where you either have to lockpick the door or hack the terminal.

Here's a tip that may help out. When you get to the Museum of Freedom and clear out the raiders inside, Preston Garvey will call you into the room with him and his merry band of losers. Instead, don't talk to Garvey, just run past him and out the other door. Grab the bobblehead on the desk by the door if you can. Then you can go up to the roof, get in the T-45 power armor, grab the minigun and jump off the roof. Since you're in power armor, you won't take fall damage. Because you haven't talked to Garvey, the raiders and the deathclaw will not spawn and you can just trot back to Sanctuary in your new power armor. Job done. If I remember correctly, if you haven't talked to Garvey, that quest will anyway get marked as completed once you get to Diamond City and meet Piper.

[Abomination]

stealth and a knife, get creative and its not that hard, just isolate 1 person at a time and try to not draw attention, remember they are attacking preston garvey on the belcony, also a fully cranked musket will kill them in one shot

[Clail]

Use food buffs for long term buffs. Chems for battles you aren't 100% confident going into.

Invest in your settlements, these are your bases which you will operate out of and return too often; and provide food and water.

Scout out combat areas before actually getting into a fight. Try to spot that raider with a mini nuke and generally prioritize targets.

Use cover. Armor and especially power armor does make a difference as you progress, but early on your couple straps of leather won't stop to many bullets.


Use explosives. No one likes blowing all the good scavenge away in a room, but some times you just need to blow up a room of baddies. Mines are also especially useful against tough feral animals.

Treat beds like bonfires from dark souls. Save before doing some thing dangerous.

I won't answer the mod questions as I don't use any, but with regards to power cores I find there are always some to be bought from vendors if you aren't having any luck finding them.
I've personally never had a shortage. I do recommend conserving fusion core power by walking when it's appropriate.

[kdodds]

^ Yeah, re: the dearth of fusion cores... it's early game only... once you're past Corvega/DC/Tenpines, you should start noticing you always have plenty extra, like ammo, even without buying any.

[Thermal Lance]

Yeah, I might need to precise that I play with a couple of mods that turn the game into a winter survival game. So, hypothermia, frozen food, unbreathable air is all a thing in my setup. So I do not have a huge luxury of time. Especially early game when I cannot afford to carry a metric ton of filters / camping material. I need to stay on the move and loot until I stockpiled/crafted a decent amount of filters.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016316190

[kdodds]

Avrie's Personal Storm Shelter will give you an excellent start-up. It contains pre-war food and beverages (no rads), medications, and three decent weapons (10mm, combat knife, sniper rifle) that, while not OP, can take your through to end game. Shadowed combat armor also helps. Also gives you a safe place/base (non-connected WS included) to centralize in early game.

[MechaFrieza]

don't die

[Thermal Lance]

Originally posted by kdodds:

Avrie's Personal Storm Shelter will give you an excellent start-up. It contains pre-war food and beverages (no rads), medications, and three decent weapons (10mm, combat knife, sniper rifle) that, while not OP, can take your through to end game. Shadowed combat armor also helps. Also gives you a safe place/base (non-connected WS included) to centralize in early game.

In what area is this shelter?