Survival mode tips

[Karax]

As the title suggests, Im looking for some tips @ survival mode.
To give a bit more context:

Its my first time tackling this mode since...forever, and I find it increasingly frustrating.

I managed to get to diamond city at level 13 but with heavy use of the power armor at the start.

I left the armor at the hangmans alley settlement, because I want to do some exploring + gathering.

I lost my progress several times now, its really hard, I had the stupiest deaths Ive seen yet, and most enemies can one two shot me without power armor, and having to sleep all the time sucks, so therefore...ty for any tips!

[The Inept European]

Well that pretty much is the Survival experience, my friend!

I’ll post my Guide once I find the link.

[The Inept European]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2828672644

[dbond1]

I only play Survival. It made the game for me. Good game without it, fantastic game with it.

It is challenging however, which is part of the appeal.

A few tips I might offer

-- Travel light. Weight matters in survival. Use lightweight armor, weapons, keep your inventory sorted and carry only what you need.

-- Stealth. Stealth is OP in nearly every Bethesda game. Consider taking perks to make you harder to spot, and that give increases to damage with sneak attacks. This is very strong when done right. I've been wearing ultra lightweight shadowed combat armor for nearly my entire run. It fits, but then I went full stealth build.

-- Discretion is the better part of valor. No need to take on everything you come across. Evade when prudent.

-- Lone Wanderer. Personal opinion, and if you want companions by all means go for it. But if they aren't all that important to you, then take Lone Wanderer. This increases your survivability and carry capacity, both of which are especially important in Survival. Or use a few companions early to get the perks you want, then ditch them and go solo. Take the dog with you for maximum style points.

-- Establish supply lines. This is vital in my view, to have access to your stuff all over the map and multiple drop points to get rid of it. Plan it out and make sensible connections, then outfit those NPCs with good gear to keep them alive

-- Don't stress over afflictions. Early on you get parasites or whatever and start freaking out. Don't sweat it. Fix it up when you can, but there's no big rush. Don't let statuses start to stack, but minor afflictions don't need a doctor right now anyway. In the same vein, sleep on nice beds always. Not on the ground, not in sleeping bags, when you can avoid it.

-- Save often. Use sleeping bags if that is all that is around, despite what I just said. Playing two hours, making progress and having it all go poof because you fouled up is no good. Sleep often, save often.

-- Take Idiot Savant and upgrade it, but not the final tier. This perk isn't loved around here, but I think it's the best one in the game and you should take it first. If too late for that, take it next. Start with low-ish INT (you can always boost it later) so Idiot Savant fires more often and you have more points early for survivability and lethality perks

-- Get in the habit of always picking up stuff that keeps you provisioned. For example empty bottles to fill with purified water. Or the ingredients for the recipes you know. Go to Sunshine Tidings co-op and grab the magazine to increase your yields when foraging.

-- Spread ammunition expenditure. Early on it can be easy to run out of ammunition. later it will be no worry. So in the early parts, carry multiple weapons using different calibers to spread it out.

-- Use VATS. Take VATS-enhancing perks. You may not use it all the time, but it is great for mobs and you will live longer using VATS when the combat is hot. Deliverer is an excellent weapon here, use it, upgrade it.

There's more but that's a start

[The Inept European]

The one line summary of Surviving Survival that I posted here somewhere recently is:

Spot first, attack first, kill first - and any time that’s not going your way, disengage immediately (run!) and get back to a pre-prepared secure location.

[The Inept European]

Very good tips there from @dbond1

My only quibbles (and it’s subjective) are I would say companions are a life saver early on, especially if (like Codsworth) they will tank and melee for you. Early game they are probably x5 as lethal and as survivable compared to you. That’s a MUCH bigger advantage than Lone Wanderer (early on). So much so that I feel like I’m cheating now if I use companions. At least consider using a “tank” companion as a way to learn the ropes in Survival.

Idiot Savant is superb for levelling up - my only caveat is that levelling up is a slightly two edged sword, as enemies level up with you.

[The Inept European]

I also would say resist the temptation to rely on PA. It might let you survive an extra 1-2 hits max. DR and ER are in an exponential scale. DR 500 isn’t that much different from DR 40 when you are facing only low level threats - all of which can kill you. And with PA you understandably lose a great deal of stealth. Stealth is much more useful than DR/ER. Stealth is the enabler to “spot first, attack first, kill first” and it is also the enabler to get away fast if things don’t follow that plan. Save PA for the few set piece battles where stealth is not an option.

[The Inept European]

What is perhaps not understood about companions is that the adverse damage multiples don’t apply to them. They don’t apply to any actor in the game apart from the PC. This is why they are so much more combat effective than you in the early game. They fight enemies on even terms while you play a deadly roulette game of “who dies first”.

Except there is an infinite number of enemies, but you can only die once. Which makes playing that game a losing proposition for the player.

[dbond1]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

My only quibbles

Ah no worries mate, just one man's opinion. Going solo is my preference, but companions are fine too, which is why I wrote it the way I did. Companions have a lot to offer, can make it more interesting, and I guess, less lonely? But personally I get annoyed, they break my stealth, get in my line of fire. My suggestion is to use companions in non-survival. Go solo in Survival, but either way works and comes down to the player.

As for Idiot Savant, I have no way to know for sure how many, but it has been worth gobs of free levels through the run. Each free level is another perk. Perks make the build stronger. But we've debated this around here in the past and others will have a different view. And since you get more combat XP in survival, it is even more valuable in this mode

Having Idiot Savant fire once on quest turn-in is worth more points than an extra five INT points would have earned the player over several days of binge playing. New players that take this can level up just crafting stuff around Sanctuary Hills. I don't like the sound it makes when it procs, but that's a small price to pay.

[Karax]

Thanks for the tips, I will probably take idiot savant as well, my main gripe with the game in survival mode, is the fact that, it punishes you really, really hard and its incredibly unfair, here's my two cents about it:

I already travel light, and I wish to build a network, I'm 1 point away from getting local leader.

I don't have any issues with hunger and diseases, I can manage them, even the very limited inventory capacity, but, for all the care in the world I have, (snipe enemies from afar, and be very careful all around), sometimes, there's this 1 npc out of nowhere, that just pops up and just insta kills me...the first time I had that happen to me, was between Corvega and Lexington, I was down in the city, under the overpass, and I was sniping some raiders from afar, and after like, 4 seconds of killing an enemy raider, OUT OF nowhere, a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mininuke just drops on my head, even though the enemy had no idea where I was (at least that's what I thought).

My last death was a bit ridiculous as well, even though I was almost full health...I was clearing up the Boston rationing center I think it was called (close to diamond city), I was killing some ghouls from a distance in the subway, and out of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nowhere, a ghoul popped up behind me (didn't even see it), and just killed me in 1 swipe...wtf...

What I plan on doing now, is playing like this: mostly stealth build, with a sniper rifle, 1 combat shotgun, and 1 small pistol + plenty of mines, lay out mines before I start killing.

So I guess, what I'm trying to say, survival mode is really different in fallout 4, when you think about survival games...in fallout 4, survival is more like a pseudo iron man mode, improvising in games is part of the fun, but improvising also means sometimes, taking a chance, or course correcting, thinking on the spot...and the problem in survival mode of fallout, is, you can barely do that, you are almost not allowed, you must have everything planned out from the beginning, which really sucks, and you know why? because if you don't have everything planned, you start from your last save...sure, you can save on a mattress if you find one...


anyway, thanks for the tips! I guess I just have to be extra ♥♥♥♥♥♥ careful all the time, I just wish we had 1 free save per hour or something to not throw me back all the way...

[dbond1]

Good luck sounds like you're on track.

You do bring up another thing I would have mentioned if I hadn't felt my post was getting too long.

Explosives

My build maxes this as well. One great use is to come across a set piece battle. You see the enemies, and you want to attack them. But they are strong, and many. I will often hem my position in with mines before opening fire. Any enemies that work out where the shooting is coming from will then have to cross the mines to get to me.

Take the light step perk (or whatever it is called in Fallout 4) that lets you crouch through traps and over mines. After the fight, police up the unexploded ones. Personally, I have a thing for bottlecap mines :)

[dbond1]

Sorry, in F4 light step is the third rank of Sneak

[Pronoun Paladin ☯]

Based on what you've said I recommend:

-Use Power armor more. Others will claim to not rely on it, but you can be a "great" sniper type character and still use power armor. It will allow you to take a few hits, not always have to plan out every encounter, and once you start putting points into making it stronger or giving you neat abilities it will really pay off. Particularly a jet-pack or the visor highlighting living targets.

-Use settlements as base-camps and build them up. Consider having multiple supply lines even to settlements that are already connected because supply lines will act as patrols for those areas and could easily mean you'll have an NPC backup in any encounter in the main map.

-Learn and memorize areas with beds.

-Consider how you're going to tackle areas of high radiation. There's environmental suit with no DR. Power Armor. Mysterious Serum or Endurance, which can make the game much easier. Im a huge fan of the Ghoulish perk which at higher levels will heal radiation while healing you at the same time, and at that moment all radiation spots on the map become healing sources.

-Get a companion especially early on if nothing else but as a meat-shield. Their perks are 100% worth it, and it'sl worth switching out the various characters until you have all the desired perks. Afterwards at higher levels lone wanderer is probably the better choice. In which case pick the dog, which you can use with his perk and lone wanderer.

**Wearing armor under PA is worthless and just adds to your carry weight. I suggest gear that adds charisma, so you can get the best possible dialogue options if you simply leave your power armor.

[The Inept European]

Karax yes I echo dbond’s take, sounds like you are on the right track indeed.

I do get exactly what you mean that Survival can become to rigid and risk-averse. Once you have figured out solutions to the different challenges, it can become tedious if you are just repeating the same solutions time and again.

I do take a break from this by playing on a lower difficulty where I can be reckless, or by putting self imposed constraints (melee only, just as an example) that force me to come up with different solutions and strategies.

[The Inept European]

Good tips there from Chunk too.

[Pronoun Paladin ☯]

Originally posted by The Inept European:

Karax yes I echo dbond’s take, sounds like you are on the right track indeed.

I do get exactly what you mean that Survival can become to rigid and risk-averse. Once you have figured out solutions to the different challenges, it can become tedious if you are just repeating the same solutions time and again.

I do take a break from this by playing on a lower difficulty where I can be reckless, or by putting self imposed constraints (melee only, just as an example) that force me to come up with different solutions and strategies.

This is what I do to, self imposed restrictions.

My favorite was survival with melee and explosive only. It's a fun playstyle and you haven't lived until you've two shot a legendary albino deathclaw with just a super-sledge.