Fallout 4

[SJC ALPHA]

Is there a crafting tutorial and maybe one about building the base? I got a bit lost when seeing all this for the 1st time.

And thanks alot guys

Unfortunately not.
I'm on PS4 and one thing you can do is use the triggers to turn objects around, it probably works for XBox as well.
You'll also notice that you need certain perks to build some items, like gun nut for better turrets.
In your inventory under junk, when you look at an item it will tell you what components it will break down into and you'll be able to highlight specific components like copper so you'll be told when some is found.
It'll probably be best to use a house foundation you've cleared for starters and experiment. Build a one level base, put some items inside and have fun, things you do not like don't scrap but put in store (you'll see the option at bottom of screen) for later. You'll come up with ideas and just play around, it's basic but can be fun.
Like many of us you'll likely start the game again as you get a better understanding anyway, so just experiment.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Unfortunately not.
I'm on PS4 and one thing you can do is use the triggers to turn objects around, it probably works for XBox as well.
You'll also notice that you need certain perks to build some items, like gun nut for better turrets.
In your inventory under junk, when you look at an item it will tell you what components it will break down into and you'll be able to highlight specific components like copper so you'll be told when some is found.
It'll probably be best to use a house foundation you've cleared for starters and experiment. Build a one level base, put some items inside and have fun, things you do not like don't scrap but put in store (you'll see the option at bottom of screen) for later. You'll come up with ideas and just play around, it's basic but can be fun.
Like many of us you'll likely start the game again as you get a better understanding anyway, so just experiment.

Great stuff, thank you.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Argh, the game keeps locking up.

I was getting that during a Cleansing the Commonwealth mission in some hospital somewhere. A shutdown-cooldown-reboot seemed to do the trick. I'm getting in the habit of autosaving every couple of minutes now.

Is there a crafting tutorial and maybe one about building the base? I got a bit lost when seeing all this for the 1st time.

Simple things that I've worked out;

- Build a generator and a radio transmitter to get more settlers
- Build enough beds for your settlers
- Your max-settler limit is your charisma (including apparel-based charisma additions) + 10
- Plant food resources, finding settlements with tato/melon plants is a good way to harvest the things you need to plant
- Put in water pumps, they restore your own health and are critical to the settlement.
- Add a bath outside, it'll bring a Brahmin which increases happiness and food production (cos cow-poo, I guess)
- Make your defence rating higher than your food+water rating, if you build watchtowers you'll need to assign settlers to them.
- Add Trading stalls when you can, they cost caps to set up but soon turn a profit. Generated caps are found in the Misc section of your workbench
- Set up supply lines, each connected settlement shares workbench contents which makes building far easier.
- Whenever possible, store, don't scrap. You make a loss on the components when you scrap. If you store you get to build that piece again "free".

 

[sems4arsenal]

I was getting that during a Cleansing the Commonwealth mission in some hospital somewhere. A shutdown-cooldown-reboot seemed to do the trick. I'm getting in the habit of autosaving every couple of minutes now.



Simple things that I've worked out;

- Build a generator and a radio transmitter to get more settlers
- Build enough beds for your settlers
- Your max-settler limit is your charisma (including apparel-based charisma additions) + 10
- Plant food resources, finding settlements with tato/melon plants is a good way to harvest the things you need to plant
- Put in water pumps, they restore your own health and are critical to the settlement.
- Add a bath outside, it'll bring a Brahmin which increases happiness and food production (cos cow-poo, I guess)
- Make your defence rating higher than your food+water rating, if you build watchtowers you'll need to assign settlers to them.
- Add Trading stalls when you can, they cost caps to set up but soon turn a profit. Generated caps are found in the Misc section of your workbench
- Set up supply lines, each connected settlement shares workbench contents which makes building far easier.
- Whenever possible, store, don't scrap. You make a loss on the components when you scrap. If you store you get to build that piece again "free".

how soon should I start doing all this?

 

[Techy]

how soon should I start doing all this?

You can technically start whenever you want. But I'd start as soon as you can. Start in Sanctuary, and work from there. Also I would try and plan ahead, if you want to populate your settlements. Try to take any scrap you find while you're out and about, too. Once you're about to be over-encumbered, go back to your settlement and off-load your stuff there. Or get a follower and store all the scrap on them. Then you can off-load twice as much scrap. Make this sort of routine a habit if you want to build a nice empire for your own.

Another bit: I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but you can tag certain components you need by examining any scrap in your Pip-Boy. Or go to any item (like weapon mods) that requires any component and tag them there. This will highlight any scrap in the Commonwealth that has this component. So it'll highlight items that have the component, or containers that have the items.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

how soon should I start doing all this?

It's really up to you. Some people will focus on every single settlement; others, like me, will only concentrate on a small handful. You only really need to do the "Sanctuary" quest as part of the Minutemen storyline, and Preston will send you out to aid other settlements or scout new locations.

It's also worth getting the "Scrapper" perk as it makes it easier to get uncommon and rare materials when scrapping weapons and armour. Just don't get carried away focusing on these perks and neglecting the ones that develop your skills. I am currently at level 75 and pretty close to finishing the game, but nowhere near acquiring all of the perks, so you really need to plan ahead.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

So, after 140 hours, I finally finished the game.

Spoiler

To be honest, I am a little disappointed. I don't regret any of the choices I made - I ended up siding with the Railroad - but after all that, I still don't understand what the Institute wanted in the first place. Sure, they positioned themselves as the best hope for humanity, but there was no detail on their plans. Why were they even building synths? Were they trying to create a temporary replacement for human bodies as a means of preserving humankind until the radiation subsided? Were they trying to develop a cure for the FEV? Or were they just a glorified Vault?

 

[SJC ALPHA]

@prisonermonkeys had a feeling you'd take that route.

Spoiler

I was suspicious of the Railroad especially when I found their observation point overlooking Vault 111, did they know of kellogg and the abduction ?, why were they watching ?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

had a feeling you'd take that route.

Spoiler

In many respects, they were the lesser evil. The Brotherhood are just fascists, and the Institute did not have a clearly-defined goal, whilst using similar language to the Brotherhood. The Minutemen were noble, but naïve and seemed completely oblivious to the broader conflict playing out, so I didn't think that they were the ones to take on the Brotherhood and the Institute.

I was suspicious of the Railroad's motives for a while there. They would be the perfect front for the Institute to move synths out of the Commonwealth and expand their influence.

Spoiler

I was suspicious of the Railroad especially when I found their observation point overlooking Vault 111

Spoiler

I had no idea that even existed. I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Although I might need to start the game over; my play-through focused on the Railroad and the Institute, so I am curious to see how the Brotherhood and the Minutemen play out. I would also like to see how the story xhanges depending on when you approach different factions. I'm still missing the "Ad Victorium" achievement as well.

 

[SJC ALPHA]

@prisonermonkeys There seems, I feel, so much unfinished which hopefully, but probably not, will be addressed with DLC's. The Railroad, BoS, the Institute as well as the Combat Zone seemed incomplete as a storyline, I felt there has to be more to Quincy as a story when you see the size and development of the place. Jared's terminal in Corvega reveals a history with Mama Murphy which you cannot pursue, and as for this guy Timothy just walking about is bugging the hell out of me.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Spoiler

I was curious as to what happened to Maxson when I attacked the Prydwen for the Railroad. I got Kells, Cade, Quinlan, Ingram and Teegan, but Maxson was nowhere to be seen. I checked all of the bodies for unique armour, but nothing. I loaded an old save to get the "Nuclear Family" achievement, and Maxson showed up in power armour during "Airship Down", but I wonder where he escaped to in "Rockets' Red Glare".

 

[88GTA]

I got Fallout 4 as a gift for Christmas and I have not played any of the previous installments. I am absolutely hooked to everything it has to offer, from building settlements, scavenging for supplies, learning VATS and especially exploring the map. I only get maybe 4-5 hours a week to play and it is killing me that I can't take an entire weekend out to binge in the greatness of it all.

I read the back story of the game prior to first playing but that was it. I even made my wife watch me play the first hour so that I didn't need to explain to her what was going on. I started the game following the story line but after clearing Concord and starting the settlement at Sanctuary, I have not done any other missions. In-game I am about 14 days in and I have a basic build at Sanctuary with 7 settlers. I just added a radio beacon so my 7th is a stranger and I guess more will start to move in.

This is where I have been so far:

Spoiler

After earning enough food, water and defense levels for my starter settlement, I decided to explore the top left corner of the map for more supplies. I found some Raider camps and random animals/bugs along the way and eventually worked my way south to the Ranger Cabin and all the way down to the Sunshine Co-op. I cleared the Co-op which contained the first Feral Gouls I encountered and earned a settlement there. After scrapping the available supplies, I went up on the highway over-pass and I cleared the Gift Shop with the sewer entrance. I also found the Forgotten Church and a very well defended Raider base with one Raider in Power Armor sans helmet.

After that southern excursion, I decided to head East from Sanctuary and start towards Tenpines where my next quest was located. I found the robot graveyard with the Military Sentry and then I moved on to clear USAF Satelite Olivia. In hindsight, I think I should have made the sentry guard Olivia and it would have helped with some of the enemies. I was getting close to Tenpines after this but I was also very full with supplies so I went back to store the junk at Sanctuary.

My latest excursion was to re-visit Concord to make sure I got everything. I discovered the sewer that the Deathclaw came from which I missed the first time and I found the speakeasy place. I went south of Concord and quickly found the Drumlin Diner and then the Drive-in. I died from the proximity mine behind the bar and had to clear this twice. I also crossed the tracks and found the railroad station where I only went as far as using the stationmaster's terminal before running out of playing time.

That's where I am now, and I recently learned about several parts of the game which I only started using about 2 in-game days ago:

- I did not know you could scroll down on the SPECIAL Chart to get perks so I had just been pumping my XP into higher levels. I was not very happy when I realized this. Since then, I have only earned the Scavenger perk and the Lone Wanderer (?) perk. It's the perk where you receive better damage, damage resistance and 50 more carrying while without a companion. I was only travelling with Dogmeat, so it made sense to use this now. Unfortunately, I scrapped all of Sanctuary and another location without the Scavenger perk. That would have been useful.

- I did not know you could use VATS. I thought it was something you had to use when wearing upgraded power armor or something I had to find in the game.

- I only learned of Fast Travel recently so I have used that once so far.

Long story short, great game and I love everything about it so far. The entire environment is great and aside from a couple enemies whose bodies refused to ever go away and a random Radscorpion that fell out of the sky, I have not seen any issues with the game. Even after not using several intended features, I still have a great time with it. If I had more time to play, I would have started over but I am OK with where I am now. I am really tempted to use some vacation days at work and get back to the story line but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

PS
I am very thankful for those of you in the thread that are still using spoiler tags.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Finally hit level 47 last night and unlocked the final gore perk. "When an enemy explodes, nearby enemies may suffer the same fate". Cant wait to see that in action.

I noticed a few interresting things over the last couple days playing F4.
1. Piper loves Tarberries. So I put 10 in her inventory as an experiement. Sure enough, after a few battles, she ate at least 3 of them.
2. Companions seem to pick up random weapons once in a while. During a battle, Piper picked up an insane flame thrower called the Vaporizing Large Napalmer along with the ammo and started killing enemies with it.

 

[SJC ALPHA]

@88GTA Dogmeat does not count as companion, so you can use him and still have Lone Wanderer perk working for you.
Most perks have several levels to them, which you mostly need to attain a certain level first.
It seems a few people were confused with the perk chart, you're not alone, and that for say Gun Nut there are four levels to it indicated by stars.
Not sure what you mean by 'earned' a perk, but you have to increase some special stats to open perks, i.e get a strength of 6 for Strong Back perk.

 

[88GTA]

Thanks for the insight @SJC ALPHA . I'm level 9 (I think) so what I did was use the first 7 level ups only to increase my SPECIAL attributes because I didn't know I could use the points to add perks. I guess I figured after a certain point they would unlock? I can't really say.

Anyway, the final two I spent on Scavenger and Lone Wanderer once I realized I had to choose them with the level up points. My next perk will be Local Leader so I can open supply lines but I think I need one more Charisma level to unlock it. I spent a ton of level up points increasing Strength because I thought I would be able to carry more items. Now I realize it did nothing except unlock higher level perks which I still need points to get.

 

[nocturnalgrey]

Just finished "Confidence Man". Gotta love how it all worked out in the end.

 

[SJC ALPHA]

Thanks for the insight @SJC ALPHA . I'm level 9 (I think) so what I did was use the first 7 level ups only to increase my SPECIAL attributes because I didn't know I could use the points to add perks. I guess I figured after a certain point they would unlock? I can't really say.

Easy mistake to make

I spent a ton of level up points increasing Strength because I thought I would be able to carry more items. Now I realize it did nothing except unlock higher level perks which I still need points to get.

Putting a point on Strength does increase your carry weight, I think it's by 5 not sure. On the plus side the points you put into the special attributes are not wasted.
I initially spent quite a while studying the perks chart seeing what I wanted, seeing what my special attributes needed to be for them, not realising there wasn't a level cap, we've all made mistakes.

 

[The Bman]

Just finished the main quest for my second character.

Spoiler

I nuked The Institute after siding with the Minutemen. Originally I was going to side with The Railroad, but I didn't know their quest ended if you rejected The Institute's offer. Immediately afterwards, I had to defend The Castle from a massive army of synths (which ate up half of my Fat Man nukes) and Sturges gave me the mission where I would infiltrate The Institute from the inside. Planted the bomb in the fusion reactor and ended it all.

I did not know how short the main quest could be if you went that path.

 

[88GTA]

Quick question: If you take the holotape out of a terminal, can you play the tape/execute the program on any other terminal?

 

[The Bman]

Quick question: If you take the holotape out of a terminal, can you play the tape/execute the program on any other terminal?

Yes. Any terminal or the Pip-Boy.

 

[SJC ALPHA]

Quick question: If you take the holotape out of a terminal, can you play the tape/execute the program on any other terminal?

If you look under Misc in your Pip-Boy for the Holotape you'll see an option to 'read' or 'play' it, by clicking on this your character will load it into your Pip-Boy, and any terminal will do.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Just finished the main quest for my second character.

Spoiler

I nuked The Institute after siding with the Minutemen. Originally I was going to side with The Railroad, but I didn't know their quest ended if you rejected The Institute's offer. Immediately afterwards, I had to defend The Castle from a massive army of synths (which ate up half of my Fat Man nukes) and Sturges gave me the mission where I would infiltrate The Institute from the inside. Planted the bomb in the fusion reactor and ended it all.

I did not know how short the main quest could be if you went that path.

I was trying to warn players of this happening. But didn't want to spoil anything. Yes the main storyline ends instantly after that mission. Now you get to join the struggle of trying to find side missions. There will be little to nothing at all for side missions. Most will be repeats.

Once I hit level 50 I am starting another character and making opposite decisions with the factions. On my 2nd play through I will save the Institute instead of destroying it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I spent a ton of level up points increasing Strength because I thought I would be able to carry more items. Now I realize it did nothing except unlock higher level perks which I still need points to get.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. It does offer minor increases to your carry weight, but it also improves the damage done by melee attacks, which is very useful at lower levels. Especially when you run into packs of feral ghouls.

Fallout 4 is a game of compromises. In order to unlock every level of every perk, you would need to reach level 275. I sunk a hundred and forty hours into the campaign and stopped just short of level 80. Reaching level 275 isn't an option.

There are very useful perks all over the place. I initially gave myself two points of luck, which was a conscious choice because I wanted to invest in the other traits (I tend to have high agility, intelligence and perception) - but when you have six points of luck, you get access to the Better Criticals perk, which means critical shots in VATS do more damage. Of course, I could have invested six points in luck from the outset, but it would have meant foregoing other perks for the time being.

If you haven't already done so, I would suggest taking a look at some of the endurance and intelligence perks - namely Life Giver, which gives you more health and eventually offers regenerating health; damage resistance (one of the first endurance perks), which eventually gives you up to 50 points bonus damage resistance; and Medic, which improves the effectiveness of stimpaks and RadAway. All three will come in handy the further south you get.

Also, fight legendary enemies at every opportunity. They offer up unique weapons and armour - they have stat bonuses like increased damage against certain enemy types or increase your resistance to types of damage like poison.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Now you get to join the struggle of trying to find side missions. There will be little to nothing at all for side missions. Most will be repeats.

Spoiler

Really? I went back to Railroad HQ and straight away, I got three unique missions at three locations - Makhra Fishpacking Plant, the General Atomics factory and the Nahant Oceanological Society - that I hadn't visited before.

I felt there has to be more to Quincy as a story when you see the size and development of the place. Jared's terminal in Corvega reveals a history with Mama Murphy which you cannot pursue, and as for this guy Timothy just walking about is bugging the hell out of me.

I think that the incomplete storytelling works at times. It suggests that there are stories beyond your own. But other times, it's just maddening.

 

[88GTA]

Also, fight legendary enemies at every opportunity. They offer up unique weapons and armour - they have stat bonuses like increased damage against certain enemy types or increase your resistance to types of damage like poison.

I have gotten a couple cool items already from some legendary enemies including a chameleon leg which makes me invisible when crouched and a special arm piece that increases VATS accuracy.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Spoiler

Really? I went back to Railroad HQ and straight away, I got three unique missions at three locations - Makhra Fishpacking Plant, the General Atomics factory and the Nahant Oceanological Society - that I hadn't visited before.

.

I destroyed the railroad and the Institute. So no, I do not have any more missions to do. Just been doing repeat missions for the MM for MANY hours. Once I hit 50 I will start another character. This time keep the institute alive. I will also make sure to do all missions for the Railroad as possible before they become my enemy. Not sure how that will work between the Railroad and the Institute next play through.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Made it to Diamond city, getting the hang of this.

 

[Techy]

Made it to Diamond city, getting the hang of this.

Did you find your son yet?

 

[sems4arsenal]

Did you find your son yet?

Spoiler

Just got Nick Valantine back so not yet

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I will also make sure to do all missions for the Railroad as possible before they become my enemy. Not sure how that will work between the Railroad and the Institute next play through.

Spoiler

The choices start with "Mass Fusion", where you will side with the Institute or the Brotherhood.

In "The Battle of Bunker Hill", you have the option of warning the other factions. If you alert Desdemona, she will tell you how to look after the Railroad's interests. When you meet with Shaun at the end of the quest, you have to pass a charisma check to keep the Institute on-side.

During "Pinned", you may become an enemy of the Institute - but if you pass the charisma checks in dialogue with the Minutemen, you keep both factions on-side.

After "Powering Up", you will get "End of the Line". Shaun will ask you to kill Desdemona. However, if you speak to her, you have the option of warning her. I suggest that you take the opportunity to finish "Underground Undercover" before you warn her; it won't affect your relationship with the Institute.

After that, you will start "Rockets' Red Glare", which puts the Railroad against the Brotherhood. It's the same sort of quest as "Airship Down", but it plays very differently:

Spoiler

"Airship Down" has a frontal assault on the Brotherhood, followed by the defence of Liberty Prime while it is reprogrammed. "Rockets' Red Glare" has you steal a vertibird from Cambridge Police Station, then infiltrate the Prydwen to plant bombs.

At this point, you unlock "The Nuclear Option".