Build Ideas

[dwaynegand]

I have four ideas for builds in Fallout 1, that should also be viable in 2. They are:

Sniper:
Big Guns Burst Fire
Energy Weapons Burst Fire
Quickshot Sharpshooter

The sniper focuses on dealing as much damage per shot with targeted blows. Burst Fire builds use powerful burst fires to inflict as much damage as possible per attack, taking both ranks of Bonus Ranged Damage. The Quickshot Sharpshooter is a sniper using Fast Shot to attack as much as possible per round, using weapons that use cheap AP costs.

The most powerful Small Guns don't deal as much damage endgame as either Big Guns or Energy Weapons. They're mainly useful for getting you through much of the game until you get Big Guns or Energy Weapons. Burst Fire builds can still use a pistol from them to conserve ammo against weaker foes and avoid friendly fire.

Like I have for other Fallout games, all four builds use both melee and ranged combat. The most commonly used perks are Awareness, Bonus Rate of Fire, Bonus Hth Attacks, Sniper, Slayer, Better Criticals, and Bonus Ranged Damage. In Burst Fire builds, I don't bother taking Hth Attacks because I need the perk slots for Bonus Ranged Damage and Fast Shot already reduces melee action point costs (not in Fallout 2, so I can afford take the perk in that game). All builds use a melee weapon for usage against weaker opposition or conserving ammo, a pistol for the same purposes or for when one arm is crippled, and a main two handed gun for the toughest opposition.

All four builds have the option of being either normal or low intelligence. The commonly taken traits are Gifted for normal intelligence builds, together with either Fast Shot for Burst Fire or the Quickshot Sharpshooter builds, or Small Frame for the Sniper. Small Frame is substituted for Gifted for Low Intelligence builds together with Fast Short for the Burst Fire or Quickshot Sharpshooter, and Chem Resistant for the Sniper.

Here are the best weapon choices for each build:

Sniper: Super Sledge, Turbo Plasma Rifle, .223 Pistol
Big Guns Burst Fire: Super Sledge, Minigun, .223 Pistol
Energy Weapons Burst Fire: Super Sledge, Gatling Laser, .223 Pistol
Quickshot Sharpshooter: Super Sledge, Turbo Plasma Rifle, Alien Blaster

This is for Fallout 1, not 2 though.

[dwaynegand]

here were my stats when I take Gifted and Small Frame for what I use most:

S-6
P-7
E-4
C-4
I-9
A-9
L-9

With Gifted and Fast Shot:

S-6
P-7
E-4
C-4
I-9
A-9
L-9

My dimwits are usually like this:

S-6
P-7
E-7
C-1
I-3
A-9
L-9

Charisma is useless for a dimwit due to them not using Speech. If I want more endurance, I can probably take Intelligence down a point for two.

As you can see, for the normal intelligence perks, I set my stats with Gifted (and Small Frame for the Sniper) so that I have enough after implants and other bonuses for: maximum strength to increase carry weight and melee damage, enough Perception for Sniper, max intelligence for most number of skill points, max agility for 10 AP points, and max luck for all hits being critical with long range attacks.

What I've been doing with my skill points is investing enough for the Sniper to hit the eyes at maximum distance or maxing the skill, and for Fast Shot builds I invest enough to get 95% chance to hit at maximum distance with my weapons at night or dark places. Is there anything I should be doing differently or am I doing fine? After all, I am a perfectionist who doesn't like to waste anything.

[dwaynegand]

Male and Female genders of the Normal or Low Intelligence variants will have three karma routes: Good, Evil, and Pyscho. Good does the good karma quests, Evil does the evil quests, and Psycho is a kill everything and everyone playthrough. I plan to do this in all Fallout games, with Good, Evil, Psycho, and Neutral in 3 and New Vegas, though the New Vegas will only get those karma ratings for the level 50 perk that is appropriate for the build.

[dwaynegand]

I use Energy Weapons endgame for the Sniper because they are more powerful than Small Guns. Big Guns and Energy Weapons can be used for Burst Fire builds as they have powerful machineguns and gatlings. Both are better against armored foes than even the most powerful Small Guns, especially when you're up against Frank Horrigan in 2. Even criticals with the Gauss Rifle to the eyes inflicted crappy damage against him!

But even though Small Guns aren't as effective or powerful endgame as Big Guns or Energy Weapons, is there any point to making builds that use them exclusively through the entire game?