Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > You can get out without violence, you can just leg it around the guards.
>
> Can you really pick the lock and hack the computer terminal while two
> guys are physically beating you? I wouldn't expect that to work...

Hmm, been a while but I think if you get there in good time you can get out
before they arrive. I might be wrong!

> > The idea is that it's an in-universe character generator (the skill classroom
> > test etc), tutorial and story beginning all in one. And you're assuming you
> > never go back there ;-)
>
> The test was weird. Several questions have one obviously correct answer
> and several obviously incorrect ones. But a few of the questions only
> have incorrect answers. I had to admit, the final question made me
> chuckle though...

Yeah, there's no wrong answer, it's just used very roughly to put some character
stats together in a humourous way. And then it asks you what you want to change
anyway so it's not important if you answer "wrongly"!

> > Hostiles show red on your radar. All others show green.
>
> Yeah, I didn't know that. I just assumed that all living things want to
> kill me. Because that seems to be the case. Especially when I'm away
> from Megaton, I have a hard time trying to figure out whether distant
> entities are dangerous or not. Still, it seems *really* hard to avoid
> people.

You want to find people! Talk to the friendlies, find our their stories, see if
they've got quests for you. Quests mean rewards! Even if you just find raiders,
you can always murderize them for their armour and ammo. If you're feeling mean,
you can do that to the friendlies too (although your karma will take a hit).

> Knowing now that 95% of the game is about repairing stuff, I wish I'd
> put 100% of my points into the repair skill. Again, this is what happens
> when they make you take irreversible decisions before you know what it
> affects! >_<

You want a balance. Repair is good for fixing up your weapons, or raising the
value of stuff before selling it. But then you need guns to improve accuracy, or
strength to carry more stuff, etc.

> > *need* to advance a quest, you can just go find some more. That particular quest
> > line isn't part of the main story, although Moira's tasks are quite good at
> > getting you around to interesting places.
>
> Oh, really? I just turned up at Megaton, and she started handing me
> quests. I assumed that was the intended path forward...

It's one of them :) I think for the main story you need to speak to the bar
owner.

> ...there's a way to increase accuracy? Because right now, even when I
> aim directly at somebody 6 feet away, the bullets fly in random
> directions, and even when they appear to hit, they do no detectable
> damage at all.

If you're using the 10mm it's pretty weak against humans or mutants. But yes,
the guns skill should improve accuracy, and increasing the weapon's condition
will help too.

> I assume the Chinese Rifle does more damage,
> but it's permanently out of ammo.

The chinese assault rifle? It takes 5.56 if I remember. I didn't find one of
those until much later in the game! Then at higher levels every other mutant
carries one and you end up with dozens of them. I think it's widely agreed that
the best gun in the game is the unique Lincoln's Repeater, found in one of the
museums on the mall. It takes .44 magnum ammo, and always shoots perfectly
straight 100% of the time :D

> So that got that quest out of the way. But a few quests later and I need
> to get to the memorial. I took a really strange route to get there, and
> that damned kid *still* found me! Miles away from where he usually
> hijacks me. Apparently he's impossible to avoid. (I said people are hard
> to avoid...) So I just told him I'd do it, and then ignored him.

Yeah he's scripted to find you quite early on I think. Most quest givers tend to
stay in their own areas or routines.

> Actually, a while later, I did come back and do the quest. Approaching
> from the high ground seemed to make it possible to kill the ants with
> VATS.

Hunting rifle ftw. Headshots are good. If you hit their antennae they frenzy and
attack each other.

> That didn't end the quest though; now I'm supposed to eliminate the
> "source" of the ants. No idea how the **** that's supposed to work; I
> guess that's the challenge. To figure it out.

Yep!

> Interesting. The guide claimed that it's physically impossible to max
> out all skills, and in fact insanely hard to even get *one* to maximum,
> so you should focus on only the most important ones.

Well, you need to be careful with the levelling. There's a perk offered quite
early on which gives you extra skill points per level, and another one that
gives you extra skill points per skill book read. Also, avoid perks that skip
levels. And if you're playing with the Broken Steel add-on, you get an extra 15
levels. I'm not sure if I maxed them all out, but definitely more than half of
them.

> I particularly enjoy the fact that VATS will tell you there's a 95% hit
> chance, when actually every single shot hits the invisible wall around
> the edge of whatever bit of scenery you're hiding behind. Thanks for that.

Yes, that can happen. Best to VATS them in the face.

> The slo-mo looks cool? It looks confusing as hell! I can't even tell
> what's happening. I queue up 2 shots, and I see an animation of my
> character firing 16 shoots. What am I watching? And why isn't he aiming
> where I said? And why are multiple shots hitting but no damage happened?
> I AM SO CONFUSED!

If you kill them in VATS, you get a random cinematic slo-mo kill replay.
Sometimes the camera follows the bullet.

> Well... I've found an endless supply of lawnmower blades, pilot lights,
> medical tubing and crutches. You know, useless crap you don't do
> anything with. Ammo, however, is *never* to be found. You also can't buy
> it, for some reason. Although at this point, 95% of everything Moira has
> for sale is the stuff I just sold to her!

Aha! Lawnmower blades and pilot lights can be used to make Shishkebabs (flaming
vibro-swords), and crutches can be used to make Railway Rifles. Once you find
the schematics, that is... :)

> My current tactic is to travel to the nearby elementary school and
> collect as many burned books as I can carry, and then go back to Megaton
> and sell them. I get 0.6 caps per book. It's a very, *very* slow way to
> earn caps.

You should stick to higher value-to-weight ratios really. But earning caps is
quite slow at the very start. You'll be rolling in it before long, believe me.
The problem you end up with is that none of the traders can afford to buy all
your swag...

> I still end up sleeping a lot, mainly to avoid being outside at night.
> (And to work around the store opening hours.) Oh, and free heals.

And extra XP. Oh, you mentioned that Moira ends up with all your crap -
merchants inventories cycle after 3 in-game days or so I think. This also
replenishes their caps.

> > I shall be giving 4 a go next year I expect :D
>
> Oh, when the price comes down? ;-) Why do you think I started with 3?

I'm not that concerned about the price, 40 quid is good value for the time I'll
spend on it. I will however also have to buy a system to play it on... :/

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