Chems — WHY?

[Ellorien]

I never use chems. Never put a single point in the perk. Rationale: why use chems when you can easily win without them? Why waste points on the perk?
I can understand doing drugs for the sake of role-playing but other than that, I think this perk is pretty meh.
In my current playthrough I wanted to try something different for a change so I was thinking of using chems. Instead of just selling drugs as usual I started hoarding them in order to use them “when I really need a boost.” Even manufactured stuff like bufftats, blahblueblah and whatnot. Hmm… It looks like I never need that boost. And I never remember to use chems during combat anyway. It’s usually goes like, “oh crap, I forgot to take XYZ again!” So, after a while I stopped carrying chems. So much for “trying something different.”

The only chem I found somewhat useful in the beginning of the game was grape mentats because it allowed me to postpone maxing out Charisma. Now that Charisma is 10+1 (always have INT and Cha maxed out first) I certainly don’t need Grapes any longer.

I think that Chems might be useful only if the player wants to rush through the game and do everything on really low level. Otherwise, chems are useless, in my opinion.

[SievertChaser]

I agree. Jet is the "oh ♥♥♥♥" button.

[gmVASID]

Are you playing on Very Hard/Survival? I find in my survival run I'll run to chems when I desperately need them, Med-X and Jet for tough fights and Buffout when I need to carry just a little more because survival also has a reduced carry weight.

[Chaosium]

Psycho jet is pretty much a free "I win" button but heh

[Zes]

Jet is a life saver in survival mode unexpected dangers.

Imagine playing 1h without saving and suddenly coming across a legendary bloatfly in the open with pack of minions.. no where to go, no where to run, they are fast you are slow..

but you have one idea.. :)

[DouglasGrave]

I've used jet variants to get more time with out-of-bounds building glitches (notably, taking a tribute chest between Sanctuary and Red Rocket, and adding convenience stairs to the airport), but I never really bother much with chems in regular play.

Personally, I just don't like using expendable things.

[Ellorien]

Originally posted by VΛSID:

Are you playing on Very Hard/Survival? I find in my survival run I'll run to chems when I desperately need them, Med-X and Jet for tough fights and Buffout when I need to carry just a little more because survival also has a reduced carry weight.

On very hard.

[brownacs]

I got stuck fighting the Overboss when I first got to Nuka-World on survival and Psycho-Jet pretty much saved my game. That was the one time I think I've actually needed to use them though.

[Pronoun Paladin ☯]

Because Chems are fun
Jet is a blast to use to run into a room of people and clear them out in slow motion. Do you need it? Nope, but it's fun.

Also if you use a melee/unarmed character and don't plan on using vats then drugs become infinitely more useful.

[Crystal Sharrd]

My character goes clean. Only chems she uses are Stimpaks, RadAway, and Rad-X. Doesn't even do alcohol.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by Ellorien:

Originally posted by VΛSID:

Are you playing on Very Hard/Survival? I find in my survival run I'll run to chems when I desperately need them, Med-X and Jet for tough fights and Buffout when I need to carry just a little more because survival also has a reduced carry weight.

On very hard.

Then some chems can make a otherwise very hard to do combat situation at a low level, doable. Of course if you are patient and want to level some more, then not so much. But I do not use chems that often. Food buffs is what I mainly try to keep active.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by sonic65101:

My character goes clean. Only chems she uses are Stimpaks, RadAway, and Rad-X. Doesn't even do alcohol.

Some alcoholic drinks will give your char a boost to their charisma, which in turn can help with speech test talks and selling/buying items more profitable and cheaper.

Also, companions do not care if you have a occasional drink.

There is also a perk one can select for drinking.

[Ellorien]

I think it all boils down to the play style. I keep it simple. I mean, I don’t intentionally restrict myself. I just play the way I like to play. So, no buffs whatsoever. No food, drinks or chems. I know it is different on survival. But I don’t play on survival: I must have the fast travel option because I am a junk collector. I must be able to fast travel carrying 2000 pounds of loot. If I can’t do it then it’s not fun. :)

[danconnors]

@Ellorien: if you don't play survival don't criticize people who use drugs. Survival--especially unmodded survival--is the most difficult mode to play. At low levels especially your armor is almost useless. You can be killed by a single hit from a pistol or rifle. A single blowfly can poison you to death in a very few seconds.

In addition if you use VATS you are using a form of jet that doesn't involve drugs but does exactly the same thing as jet. It slows down time. You fire your weapon 10 times as fast as your enemies. Personally I never use VATS since I believe it's a form of cheating. Instead I make masses of jet, jet derivatives, med-x, and antibiotics. In survival there is plenty of need for all these chems.

[Ellorien]

Originally posted by danconnors:

@Ellorien: if you don't play survival don't criticize people who use drugs. Survival--especially unmodded survival--is the most difficult mode to play. At low levels especially your armor is almost useless. You can be killed by a single hit from a pistol or rifle. A single blowfly can poison you to death in a very few seconds.

In addition if you use VATS you are using a form of jet that doesn't involve drugs but does exactly the same thing as jet. It slows down time. You fire your weapon 10 times as fast as your enemies. Personally I never use VATS since I believe it's a form of cheating. Instead I make masses of jet, jet derivatives, med-x, and antibiotics. In survival there is plenty of need for all these chems.

1) I don’t criticize anyone for using anything. Opinion on a feature =/= criticism of players
2) I don’t use VATS (or chems or big weapons or explosives or cheats or mods)
3) I play on very hard which is quite comparable to survival in terms of combat difficulty. On survival enemy hits harder but you also hit harder (0.5 on VH vs 0.75 on survival).

I just want to hear about other players’ experience. It is interesting to learn what choices other players make and why.

[danconnors]

I've played very hard and survival. Survival is much harder than very hard. You aren't inflicted by disease, thirst, hunger, or extreme sleepiness on very hard. Every one of these conditions can contribute to your death.