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Fallout 1 SPECIAL: Can I have opinions?

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Nikonov
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Fallout 1 SPECIAL: Can I have opinions?

Post by Nikonov »

Hey, I recieved Fallout 3 for christmas, and I thought it was amazing. Around january i started looking in to Fallout 1 & 2 to see if they were any good. I downloaded the Fallout 1 demo, and I didnt enjoy it but I could tell it would be a good game. I'm going to buy Falout 1 & 2 off Amazon in a few weeks, but I was wondering whether or not I have made a decent SPECIAL build. I am planning on playing a Charismatic stealthy marksman. My tagged skills are Small Guns, Speech and Sneak. My SPECIAL is 5857787, and my traits are Gifted and Bloody Mess. I was wondering if I could get any opinion on the special and the traits as well, because I couldnt find any 'good' ones bar Gifted. Thanks in advance.
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GawainBS
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Post by GawainBS »

[url="http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/fallout.html#char"]This[/url] is a very torough and decent guide to everything Fallout.
Personally, I'd go for Fast Shot instead of Blood Mess, and 5 7 4 5 10 9 7. Take a good note of the "developed stats" in that walkthrough. They're important to keep in mind. Fast Shot doesn't let you "snipe", but I think that the extra shots are more worth it.
It's also important to know what each stat does. CHA 6 or CHA 7 has just the same effect. You can get 1 NPC per 2 points of CHA, and NPCs are very, very weak in Fallout 1.
Anyway, just read through the character-section of that walkthough. :)
BTW, Fallout 1 & 2 are a hundred times the game Fallout 3 is. ;)
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kmonster
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Post by kmonster »

Fast shot is great if you don't want to aim at body parts and don't want to spend many skillpoints for your weapon, but it doesn't fit to marksman style.


You can definitely play through the game without too much trouble with your build, here's some advice for (unnecessary) optimizing for Fallout1:


I'd raise strength to 6, it's more fun if you have less carrying capacity problems (ammo isn't weightless) and you'll want to be able to use the best weapons in the game when you find them.

7-8 perception is fine.

You get the same number of hitpoints for levelling up with 4 or 5 endurance, so it's better to start with 4 or 6 or 8.

Charisma is nearly useless in Fallout 1, int grants the extra dialogue options and the speech skill decides how convincing you are, it doesn't affect the number of party members you can have in Fallout1 at all.
There's one situation in the game which checks if you have 7+ cha, but I'd rather start with only 2 and spend the points elsewhere.

I'd start with 6-9 int, more int will grant more skill points and therefore more flexibility. You'll have to spend a lot of them if you want a high success chance with aimed shots to vulnerable body parts.

Agility is the most important stat, I'd take 8-9.

Some useful perks require at least 6 luck. More doesn't hurt, but it's not the most useful stat in the game.


Gifted is the only trait you need.
Fast metabolism (if you have low end) or good natured are beneficial traits, but they won't make a big difference.

Sneak is considered an useless skill by most Fallout1 players. I'd tag energy weapons instead, if you don't want to use those superior futuristic weapon types, tag doctor or lockpick.
I recommend tagging energy weapons at the start and starting to raise it when you find one later in the game.
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Post by GawainBS »

9 in AG & IN are prett much requirements, I think, unless you want to make things hard on yourself. LK is useful/awesome once you get the Sniper Perk.
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kmonster
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Post by kmonster »

I wouldn't bother with the effects of the sniper perk, you won't get enough XP for reaching level 18 in the game unless you bore yourself with unnecessary XP farming.
For aimed shots luck isn't as useful as for a fast shot character, even for such a character I wouldn't take more than 6, stats like IN, AG and EN are more useful during the game.
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Post by GawainBS »

I always found 4 EN more than enough, but more won't hurt. EN determines HP, with each level giving you EN/2 + 2 HP. So the difference between 4 & 6 EN is one HP each level.
Finesse is a decent trade-off and it fits with a sniper.
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kmonster
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Post by kmonster »

Don't underestimate EN. Hitpoints are essential for surviving. If you start with 6 instead of 4 you get 4 extra HP at the start and gain 5 instead of 4 extra hitpoints (+25 percent) at each level up. You also have a better regeneration rate.
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Post by GawainBS »

kmonster wrote:Don't underestimate EN. Hitpoints are essential for surviving. If you start with 6 instead of 4 you get 4 extra HP at the start and gain 5 instead of 4 extra hitpoints (+25 percent) at each level up. You also have a better regeneration rate.
Probably worth it, if you don't have much experience with Fallout.
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kmonster
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Post by kmonster »

Still worth it, if you're experienced, especially if you want to be powerful.
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Post by GawainBS »

I never need more than 4 EN, but I use a lot of stimpacks.
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kmonster
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Post by kmonster »

Needing less stimpaks is nice, but even more useful is being able to avoid reloads since the extra hitpoints help surviving. You also feel more flexible if you don't feel wimpy.
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Post by GawainBS »

Pretty useless (to me at least). If you spend 2 AP to reload a gun, or 2 AP to open the inventory (Quick Pockets) to reload & heal up, you don't see a lot of difference. I also find that there's an abundance of money, so stimpacks aren't an issue.
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kmonster
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Post by kmonster »

Action points spent for entering the inventory cannot be spent for combat.
If you get hit for a total of 100 damage it does matter if you have 91 or 110 hitpoints.
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Post by GawainBS »

kmonster wrote:Action points spent for entering the inventory cannot be spent for combat.
Never debated that. Hence my example with the reloading. You run less risk of getting that 100 HP hit when you kill the enemy faster due to going first with higher PE, or getting a (better) critical with higher LU, or having more AP due to more AG. We can pingpong this argument into oblivion. :)
I don't say 4 EN is the only way to play, I'm just saying is just as viable as 6 EN, but they require slightly different playing styles.
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Nikonov
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Post by Nikonov »

Right, thanks for the advice on my special stats. My special is 6863996, I've tagged Small Guns, Throwing and Lockpick and they are at 80% 81% and 66% respectively. Im level 4 with the perk awareness and traits Fast Shot and Gifted. I have Dogmeat and Ian as followers and they are pretty good, we seem to take out most enemies before they get to attack us.
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