7 Days Until Fallout 4

[BanzaiCat]

You can play through F3 or FNV without needing to don power armor. I take it you absolutely need it in this game to survive for any period of time, at least in tougher encounter areas.

[SirAndrewD]

You can play through F3 or FNV without needing to don power armor. I take it you absolutely need it in this game to survive for any period of time, at least in tougher encounter areas.

I've run into three fights that are unnaturally hard without power armor, yes.  All involved legendary bosses.  I'm not sure they'd be impossible, but even with a nearly 1000 DR on the T-51d set I was nearly dead for most of two of those fights.

Synths are also really, really tough without power armor.  They swarm and the rifles they use are rapid fire lasers.  Difficult to say the least without very high energy resistance. 

I would say that every fight is tougher in Fallout 4 than things were in F3 or NV.  Honestly, I could probably clear both 3 and NV wearing a thong if my agility and perception was high enough.  The only time I felt I was regularly in danger was in the NV DLC's.

[BanzaiCat]

The only time I felt I was regularly in danger was in the NV DLC's.

I agree with this...NV DLC were very difficult. One or two were not much fun either.

[sandman2575]

If I have one complaint right now about combat in VATS, it's the "critical hit" function -- which I never use because the HUD does a terrible job of indicating when it's available. I'm honestly not sure if I've ever used a critical hit.

[airboy]

I appreciate the suggestions on the Cambridge Police Station fight.  I have about 1 & 3/4ths sets of Power Armor and more than a half a dozen fusion cores.  No combat shotgun yet.

Going to power armor was my next step.

Thanks for the suggestion of carrying the power armor to the fight, then donning it for the fight.  Excellent idea that just uses the key game elements to your advantage.

[JudgeDredd]

I appreciate the suggestions on the Cambridge Police Station fight.  I have about 1 & 3/4ths sets of Power Armor and more than a half a dozen fusion cores.  No combat shotgun yet.

Going to power armor was my next step.

Thanks for the suggestion of carrying the power armor to the fight, then donning it for the fight.  Excellent idea that just uses the key game elements to your advantage.

You can't "carry it" to the fight (well...not that I know of). I left it at Sanctuary (is that what it's called?), went to my closest place I had already discovered and then walked towards my new objective. When I got there and it pops up with "You discovered", I then fast travelled back to Sanctuary, donned the kit and fast travelled back...saving my (limited) cores. I do not have 6...I have 1 and a bit so I learned to be cautious after wasting my first one.

By the way, when I first found the power armour and the minigun and had to take out that claw thing, I didn't know that and wasted the core and the minigun ammo on the enemies. I then realised I had to kill the claw thing...so I ended up sitting on a roof and waiting for it to do it's "rounds" and chucked grenades and Molotov cocktails at it and shot at it...then it would run away and eventually come back and do the same thing. It took me about 30 minutes to kill it that way! So don't waste your cores or your armour and fix it regularly.

[SirAndrewD]

You can't "carry it" to the fight (well...not that I know of).

That's correct.  You can't.  You can carry armor parts on you, but they all need to be set on a frame which is unmovable. 

You can carry unlimited fusion cores since they have no weight.

[airboy]

You can't "carry it" to the fight (well...not that I know of).

That's correct.  You can't.  You can carry armor parts on you, but they all need to be set on a frame which is unmovable. 

You can carry unlimited fusion cores since they have no weight.

Thanks to both of you - it saved me some game time. 

[airboy]

My wife is angry at the designers.  She says that "you should be able to pet the damn dog!  The dog is useful, saves your life and you can't pet him or give him a dog treat?"

She says all of the Fallout Geeks should demand a "dog patch."

[Con]

Then it should also include a poop pick up and belly scratch option

[SirAndrewD]

My wife is angry at the designers.  She says that "you should be able to pet the damn dog!  The dog is useful, saves your life and you can't pet him or give him a dog treat?"

She says all of the Fallout Geeks should demand a "dog patch."

While traveling with him, transfer a teddy bear into his inventory. 

I'm sure the results will amuse her.

[sandman2575]

Speaking of companions... have any of you found a really good way of using of them?  For me, they're pack-mules. That's their benefit -- they double your junk carrying capacity. That, and they're decoys. "Head up that corridor and see if anything shoots at you. I'll wait in safety here." 

Otherwise, they're a pain in the ass. They constantly get in your way -- *constantly*. Or I turn around and they've disappeared due to wonky pathfinding issues. And for your armed human companions, like Preston -- their combat value seems pretty minimal.

I don't really use them to fetch, since it's almost always quicker for me to just search the thing of interest myself...

Anyway, I think it's pretty disappointing. D-Dog was way more useful than Dogmeat... or at least, he was less conspicuously a pain in the ass than Dogmeat.

[SirAndrewD]

Speaking of companions... have any of you found a really good way of using of them?  For me, they're pack-mules. That's their benefit -- they double your junk carrying capacity. That, and they're decoys. "Head up that corridor and see if anything shoots at you. I'll wait in safety here." 

Otherwise, they're a pain in the ass. They constantly get in your way -- *constantly*. Or I turn around and they've disappeared due to wonky pathfinding issues. And for your armed human companions, like Preston -- their combat value seems pretty minimal.

I don't really use them to fetch, since it's almost always quicker for me to just search the thing of interest myself...

Anyway, I think it's pretty disappointing. D-Dog was way more useful than Dogmeat... or at least, he was less conspicuously a pain in the ass than Dogmeat.

Maxing out their affinity gives you some very nice bonuses.  Entering into a romance with one gives you a 25% xp bonus while you're with them.  Other than that, they're more trouble than they're worth much of the time. 

I guess if I geared my companion out better I'd probably find them more useful, but if you give them a nice weapon they'll chew through ammo like no one's business. 

Make sure you've properly armored them up.  They're much more survivable that way.

So far I've only really run with Piper and Strong though.  I found Preston to be useless.  Piper is good because she'll occasionally chime in if you're doing a charisma based conversation and give you help resolving a situation.  Strong is, well, strong.  He's annoying because he seems to hate everything you do, especially if it involves the Brotherhood of Steel, but man, give him a sledgehammer and he will tie some things up. 

[sandman2575]

The Affinity mechanic is interesting but it's frustrating that the game gives you no indication of how it's working, other than the occasional "Preston loved that" prompt.

UI is sorely lacking in some areas in terms of failing to provide useful information. What companions do I currently have access to? Where are they? What's our relationship's affinity rating? What settlers are assigned to what duties? Which crops are not being tended?  Hows about providing some freaking filters so I can more easily browse inventories?

The settlement management interface is just jaw-droppingly bad. I cannot fathom how the devs thought it was acceptable. Yes, it's clearly meant to be 'console friendly' -- and yet I'm using an Xbone controller and it's still bloody awful.

[SirAndrewD]

The Affinity mechanic is interesting but it's frustrating that the game gives you no indication of how it's working, other than the occasional "Preston loved that" prompt.

UI is sorely lacking in some areas in terms of failing to provide useful information. What companions do I currently have access to? Where are they? What's our relationship's affinity rating? What settlers are assigned to what duties? Which crops are not being tended?  Hows about providing some freaking filters so I can more easily browse inventories?

The settlement management interface is just jaw-droppingly bad. I cannot fathom how the devs thought it was acceptable. Yes, it's clearly meant to be 'console friendly' -- and yet I'm using an Xbone controller and it's still bloody awful.

You can get some idea of what your companions like and dislike by talking to them.  Preston and Piper will tell you they want you to be altruistic and helpful, and they disdain being selfish or cruel.  What you can't figure out about that are smaller things, like how Piper is apparently very turned on by you picking locks, or how Preston loves it when you modify a weapon.  Strong apparently hates you putting on power armor, which I guess gives him flashbacks to being persecuted by the Brotherhood of Steel.  All of this is handled through trial and error and it could be a bit more transparent.  I'd prefer it if when your companion likes or dislikes something obtuse like hacking a computer, they sort of explain why they feel that way to give you more context. 

Of course you can just go online and get a guide that spells out their likes and dislikes. 

As to the UI and just overall transparency, the less said about it the better.  It's one of the most absurd design decisions I've seen in a AAA title, I just can't comprehend how anyone play tested it and thought it was even remotely adequate, even for a beta. 

One thing I recommend for running settlements and finding things, build a bell.  It's located in the resources section under misc.  When you ring it, everyone in your settlement will gather, including stored companions.   I'd suggest putting the bell near your crops, because when you mouse over a settler as they're gathered, you can see, highlighted in green, where the settler is assigned.  It's not intuitive, or easy, or even remotely easy to figure out, but it's the only way I've been able to keep my settlements running.