|
Fallout
Introduction
 Where
do I start? Self-confessed
Fallout addict that I am, I have played this game more times
than is probably normal and/or
healthy. Seven at last count. Having already written a guide
for Fallout's sequel, Fallout
2, I thought that since I now had a template to follow, it would
be a piece of cake. Guess
what? Right. I found even more new things on the 7th pass through
than I imagined were possible
to have missed on previous attempts. And you as a reader will
undoubtedly find other things.
Such is the nature and depth of Fallout. Anyway, with Fallout,
so began my passion for RPG's
- and it's about time I finally got around to writing about it!
This guide is quest-oriented, though I've also written much about all the important objects
and people that you'll encounter in the various locales, even if they aren't related to completing
a specific quest. It's meant to be more of a guide than a walkthrough. A walkthrough for
a
game like Fallout would of necessity be slanted towards a particular character type - but
I
try to give you several ways to get around each problem where possible, hopefully accounting
for most of the character types across the role-playing spectrum.
Probably more of interest to Fallout veterans than newbies, but this guide tells you how
to
get your favourite pet all the way through the game :-)
I hope that you enjoy Fallout as much as I do! Ready to begin your quest, oh humble vault
dweller?
Conventions
Once again, I've eschewed that handy yet game
spoiling Table of Contents. OK, so this guide
is loaded with outright spoilers anyway, but
I try not to ruin all the fun right up front by
providing you with a listing of all the important
locations you will visit. If you're looking
for references to a particular location, person,
weapon, etc., then just search for it in your
browser.
Directions are given assuming that the top of your screen is north, and the longer direction
names are abbreviated, like SW for southwest.
Tips
Seeing as Fallout 2 is not miles away from the original,
I took the liberty of borrowing generously
from this section in my other guide. Hope you
don't mind.
Before you even think about starting to play, check out the Interplay Fallout
site, and ensure that you have the latest version installed. If not, download and apply
the patch. Be careful to only apply a patch compatible with the locale from which you purchased
the game. This guide was written using the U.S. version, patched to V1.1. This patch fixed
numerous bugs, and also removed a restriction that you had to finish Fallout in 500 (game)
days.
Note: as of 18 June 2004, the Interplay web site has been inaccessible. So we have made
the V1.1 patch temporarily available here.
Also
note: this patch is only guaranteed to work for the US version of the game, so you may
have
to re-install if you apply it to a foreign language or UK version. Update: 02 December 2014 -
That patch above is for the Windows version of Fallout. There is a separate one for patching the DOS
version of Fallout, and we have also archived that:
Fallout 1.1 DOS patch. Was getting it to run for a friend
on a Mac, so DOSBox was the best option :-)
Beware that if your Intelligence (IN) is too low (I mean, your character's in the game,
silly. Don't take it personally ;-), you won't be able to get most of the quests here simply
because no one will be able to converse with you. Likewise, not having a high enough Charisma
(CH) or Speech skill will also alter NPC responses, and you may miss out on important conversation
choices that lead to quests. So, I recommend having both IN and CH at a minimum of 6 (you
might
scrape by with lower CH if you have a decent Speech skill) to keep your options open.
If in
doubt in a particular situation, pop a Mentat to boost both temporarily. Just for kicks,
it's
worth starting up a game with IN 3. Yes, it's a very well balanced game :-)
Luck, or dice rolls, and your stats play an important part in conversations. That's why
it's
very important that you save the game before every conversation. If you feel afterwards
that
the outcome could have been more favourable, restore to before the conversation and
try it
again. You just might get the dialogue choice you've been hoping for the next time
through.
If you consistently get the same undesirable choices, try improving your IN and
CH by popping
a Mentat before the conversation. Some dialogues even depend on your Science
skill, and I've
tried to indicate this where possible.
I recommend a minimum Strength (ST) of 6. With less than this, you'll be severely disadvantaged
at hand-to-hand, unable to take any unarmed perks (most decent ones have a min ST of 6 requirement),
and you won't be able to carry much inventory either. Likewise, unless you're going
to play the 'ultimate bruiser' type of character, a starting ST of 9 or 10 is a waste, since
you get a chance later on to increase your ST by 3 using... artificial means.
Unless you are taking on the role of a thief, a decent Barter skill is also vital.
Owing to a design peculiarity in Fallout, Armour Piercing (AP) ammo doesn't do exactly
what
it's meant to, and is woefully ineffectual. So, it's best to just sell any that you
find. Stick
to the JHP for actually loading into your weapons.
I just love Big Guns, and Energy Weapons. They're so... destructive. I almost never bother
to tag Small Guns, even though conventional wisdom has it that you should. The reason is:
if
you start off with decent Agility (AG), then you already have nearly 45% Small Guns skill.
Also, you can quickly boost this skill by reading some... ahem... educational material you
find lying around the place :-)
NPC's make great packrats. They can help you carry all the stuff you pick up after encounters
with hostile critters. Be careful about giving them burst capable weapons though... or you
could find yourself replaying a lot of encounters :-( Also, you have to keep telling some
of
them to use their best weapon when you know an important battle is coming up.
Something in Fallout that you need to do all the time, but it isn't patently obvious how
you're
meant to: exchange items with your party members. Just use your Steal skill, no matter
how
low it is, and you can swap items back and forth at will.
Like the man says: save, save, SAVE! You never know when you're going to mess up in combat,
blow a dialogue with an NPC, etc. Contrary to what you may hear on the grapevine, you can
also
save during combat, though this practice does seem to make the game more likely to crash...
but you just saved, didn't you? So, no big deal.
Those pre-apocalyptic Californians must have been avid readers. There are bookcases everywhere.
A lot of them contain valuable stuff, so check every bookcase, desk, locker, etc. Anything
that exhibits a hand icon when you move your cursor over it is worth having a look at. Scavenge
to your heart's content.
You can rest nearly anywhere when no hostile critters are nearby. Derelict buildings
in most towns make a perfect spot for this sort of activity. There's no rush to get through
(most of) Fallout. Use the time! Why waste Stimpaks when you can heal while resting or travelling?
And now, without further ado...
Get all the gear off the body immediately outside
the Vault entrance. Kill all the rats for
25 XP a pop. Use your knife if possible, to conserve
valuable ammo. The exit grid to the outside
world is to the SW. Once outside, head due east
towards Vault 15, but make sure to stop at
the spot marked 'Unknown'.
You can go back inside Vault 13 when you return from the desert. As you enter the vault,
there's
a wall locker containing some Flares. The Medic here can heal you. About the only
other thing
you can do besides Quests 1 and 5 is raid the storage room on Level 3. Don't
take too much,
or the Water Guard will be pissed off!
Quests
- 1. Calm rebel faction - 750 XP.
Anytime
before you find and
return the Water Chip... if you talk to one of the 'Upset Vault 13 Citizens'
in the Living
Quarters (Level 2), you'll discover that they are getting restless and thinking
about leaving
the vault. They meet every evening in Theresa's room, north side of the Living
Quarters. If
you go there just after 17:00 and talk to Theresa, you can convince her that
this idea is ill-advised.
- 2. That would be telling!
You'll find out later when the time
is right.
- 3. Uh uh. See Quest 2.
Both of these quests are documented later
on... I didn't
want to spoil the whole game in the first chapter, so to speak.
- 4. Find the Water Chip - a whole bunch of XP, plus Quests 2 and 3 :-)
You have
150 days to complete this quest. No need to rush, but a sense of urgency is required.
For the
time being, you can't take every quest you chance upon - only the ones that don't
take you
too far out of the way, or will help you to complete this quest. Keep an eye on
the 150 day
countdown in your Pip Boy. If you find the water chip with at least 90 days left
on the clock,
you unwittingly prevent a tragedy from befalling the denizens of the place
where you find it.
Note: make sure you knock off Quests 1 and 5 before you deliver
the Water Chip to the
Overseer, or they'll become unavailable.
- 5. Find the Water Thief - 1000 XP.
Same conditions as Quest 1...
if you talk to
the couple in the SE corner of Level 2, you'll find out that someone knocked
the guard on Level
3 over the head and stole some water. All you have to do is go down to
Level 3 sometime after
midnight (no one else is around), and you'll catch the thief red-handed.
Confront him when
he comes out of the storage room.
From Vault 13, due east on the way to Vault 15,
the place marked 'Unknown' is Shady Sands.
Talk to Katrina at the entrance for 250 XP. Ask
Seth about the Radscorpions, and learn about
the village doc, Razlo. Seth has a Rope. If
you can steal it, do so... you're gonna need it!
Don't barter for it, because there's another
Rope to be found elsewhere in Shady Sands.
In the first building to the east is Ian (jeans and leather jacket). You can get him to
join
you. He'll ask for 100 Caps, but you can usually get him to come along for free if you
offer
him "a piece of the action". Whether or not you have to pay him is a moot point. You
can steal
it right back as soon as he joins you :-) Ian is very good with Small Guns - as
a matter of
fact - much better than you are at this stage in the game. And you'll get 100
XP when Ian joins
your party.
Tandi is the girl wandering around the place (towards the south) that you can talk to.
I originally
thought I could convince her to come with me, but it's not possible. Talk to
her father, Aradesh.
He's the robed figure in the building to the SE (Town Hall). You'll
get Quest 2 below if you
ask him what's going on around the place. Before you embark on this
quest, talk to Razlo the
doctor, in the building to the west of Aradesh's place. He'll tell
you he's looking for something
to help him make a poison cure with. Hmmm. The bookcase behind
him also contains a few handy
supplies, though he doesn't usually take kindly to you trying
to lift the Doctor's Bag.
If you take the exit grid to the east, past Ian's place, there's a farmer there standing
in
the middle of his garden. With at least 40% Science skill, you get the dialogue option
to explain
the concept of crop rotation to him, for 500 XP. In the building to the NE of
the farmer's
garden, there's a bookcase that contains a Rope and a Scout Handbook.
Quests
In the shack, take the ladder down to the first
level.
Level 1
Kill all the rats on your way to the vault entrance. As you enter the
vault,
there's a wall locker containing some Flares. There are 2 more Flares on the floor,
near the
elevator. In the back room, to the NE, there's another wall locker containing some
Stimpaks
and a First Aid Kit. Use the Rope you got from Shady Sands on the elevator to proceed
to the
next level.
Level 2
The locker in a room to the south contains another Rope, and a Leather
Jacket.
Finally, some armour! To the north, on the floor, there's a few .223 FMJ shells.
When you're
finished killing the rats on this level, use the Rope you found in the locker
on the elevator
to go down to...
Level 3
The 2 lockers in the middle room contain: 2 Frag Grenades, Dynamite,
and
a 10mm SMG. In the SE corner, there's a Crowbar on the floor, and if you have decent
Perception
(PE) and Intelligence (IN), you'll get 500 XP for noting that the eastern passage
to the rest
of this level is blocked by a rockfall. You'll have to look elsewhere for a Water
Chip (hey,
you didn't really think it was going to be that easy, did you? :-)
Put away your weapon before trying to enter! Through
the entranceway is Lars, the head of the
guards here. Talk to him, and you'll find that he
wants both Gizmo and the Skulz gang busted.
Doc Morbid hangs out in the Hospital, just north of where Lars is standing, beyond the
brahmin
pens. Head down the ladder and talk to the midget Gretch. You'll learn that Morbid
is using
human body parts to make fake 'Iguana-on-a-stick', which he then sells to "Iguana
man Bob"
in the Hub. End the conversation, and take out Gretch. The locker there is trapped,
but you
can disable the trap with very little Traps skill (17% and a few attempts). Opening
the locker
once the trap is disarmed is another matter. You need at least 50% Lockpick skill
and a set
of Lockpicks. Inside you'll find: 96 x 10mm JHP, 72 x 10mm AP, Doctor's Bag, 800+
Caps.
Once you're finished in the basement, head back up and finish off Morbid and his
2 henchmen
(Morbid heads back down the ladder, but he returns once you've taken out his 2
heavies). I
only lost 1 Karma point for doing this, and no one seems to mind as long as the
battle doesn't
spill out of the Hospital. Worth it for all the gear you get. Also 2 Frag
Grenades in the bookcase
upstairs.
Killian Darkwater's store is located off the exit grid just north of the Hospital. Killian
is also the mayor of this fine town. Stand a bit to the west of Killian before you begin
speaking
with him, and have a weapon handy. When you end the conversation, a guy named Kenji
wanders
into the store and begins firing at Killian. Take him out for 400 XP. When the battle
ends,
Killian will speak to you again, and he'll ask you to help take down Gizmo, the guy
who sent
Kenji. Accept the Bug and Tape Recorder from him. Gizmo's casino is located off
the northern
exit grid. Speak to Gizmo in the back room. Now, you can play this 3 ways:
- Record Gizmo (just by virtue of you having the Tape Recorder in your possession)
asking
you to assassinate Killian, and return to Killian with the evidence. You'll get a
reward (I
took the 5 Stimpaks) and 500 XP for doing this. Killian will then offer you Quest
2 (see Quests
below).
- Plant the Bug Killian gave you on Gizmo, using your Steal
skill, and return to
Killian. Same outcome as above.
- Accept Gizmo's challenge to take
out Killian. This option
is definitely not good for the old Karma, but if you carry it out
and take Killian's dogtags
back to Gizmo, you'll get 1000 Caps for your troubles. You get
600 XP for taking out Killian,
and you'll also be able to pilfer the safe in Killian's back
room (500 XP more for opening
that, managed with 40% Lockpick skill and a set of Lockpicks).
Actually, the contents of the
safe are a bit of a disappointment. There's better stuff lying
on the tables in the next room,
free for the taking now. The downside of all this is that
the Junktown guards are now hostile,
and will attack you on sight, plus your Karma goes in
the wrong direction by about 6 points.
OK. The best NPC in Fallout is... a dog! He's standing menacingly in front of a door to
the
east, confronting two people, when you take the northern exit grid near the Crash House
Hotel.
Dogmeat was previously owned by a biker, so if you're wearing a Leather Jacket, he'll
automatically
follow you. Failing that, you can also offer him Iguana-on-a-stick (either
the real McCoy,
or the fake stuff you got from Doc Morbid's place). Dogmeat is pretty good
in a fight, but
you have to be careful not to spray him with burst weapons, as he always
rushes right into
the fray and starts gnawing at the ankles of your foes. You get 100 XP
when Dogmeat joins your
party.
Just north of the Skum Pitt is a makeshift boxing ring. Talk to Gustofer there, and you'll
be able to fight Saul... but only once every 3 days. I never bothered to hang around long
enough.
Anyway, even if you don't fight Saul, you can walk around to the side of the boxing
ring and
have a chat with him. If you've already spoken with his girlfiend Trish, the waitress
in the
Skum Pitt bar, you'll get the dialogue choice to convince him that all this boxing
action is
putting a strain on their relationship, and you save the day for 250 XP.
Quests
- 1. Rescue Sinthia - 1000 XP.
If you spend
25 Caps to stay a
night at the Crash House Hotel, there's a little crisis that has arisen
when you wake up the
next morning. There's a crazed gang member holding Sinthia, the girl
in the next room, hostage.
If you manage to talk him out of it (and fork over 100 Caps),
you get the full XP; but, you
can blow him away, as long as Sinthia doesn't get hurt, and
still walk away with 400 XP.
- 2. Stop Gizmo - 600 XP and 500 Caps.
You have to secure Gizmo's
confession first
(see section on Killian above). Then Killian will ask you to help him take
out Gizmo. If you
accept, then he'll instruct you to talk to Lars. Get all your weapons ready
before you do.
After you wipe out Gizmo, Lars gives you a 500 Cap reward. Make sure you return
to Gizmo's
place later on and ransack it for goodies. Gizmo has a 9mm Mauser on him.
- 3. Bust the Skulz gang - 500 XP.
Talk to Lars, the head of the
guards, located
just inside the entrance to Junktown. Ask him if there's any work, and you'll
get this quest.
Then, visit the Skum Pitt bar (to the NE of Gizmo's place) anytime after
16:00, when they're
open. Talk to Neal the bartender, and ask him about "that trophy on the
shelf". You'll find
out that it's actually an urn containing his wife's ashes. Buy a drink.
Then, one of the Skulz
gang knocks down the waitress, and Neal pulls out a gun and blows
the guy away. The rest of
the gang leaves. Talk to Ismarc, the travelling bard standing in
the corner. If you remark
"Hey, good singing", and ask him where else he performs, you'll
get directions to: The Brotherhood
(important place!), Adytum, and the Hub. Also, be sure
to talk to the baldy guy with the shotgun,
Tycho. He'll add 5% to your Outdoorsman skill
if you spend some time with him, and he'll eventually
join your party... but not yet.
Leave the Skum Pitt, and take the south exit grid. Go into the rear entrance of the Crash
House
Hotel (NE corner of the hotel), and talk to the head of the Skulz (the guy in the jeans
and
leather jacket, Vinnie). Ask him if you can join his gang. As a test of allegiance, he'll
ask
you to steal Neal's Urn. Save your game before attempting this! Once you have it (400
XP),
return to Vinnie, and he'll ask you to come along when they raid the Skum Pitt. You
can accept
the offer right away, or report back to Lars, who'll bring some of the guards
along to help.
Once you've finished taking out Vinnie and Co., Tycho will join your party.
He's damn handy
with a Shotgun.
Sometimes, if your Karma isn't high enough, the guards will attack you after the fight
(they
don't like "your kind"). If this happens, it's best to restore and try it without their
help.
If you wipe the Skulz out by yourself, which isn't all that difficult, you get 300
XP more.
But, Tycho won't be there to join you in this case. Before you kiss the Skum Pitt
goodbye for
good, make sure you return the Urn to Neal for some more Karma points :-)
There is a lot going on here. Head south and
cross an exit grid, then round the corner
at the Far Go Traders and head east, then over
another exit grid. You wind up in the Old Town
area. In a building to the north, the guy
standing there in Metal Armor is Jacob, the Weapons
Dealer. Expensive he may be, but you'll
be spending quite some time (and money) here. He has
a very good selection: Rocket Launcher,
Sniper Rifles... and for you Melee Weapons fans, the
ultimate head basher, a Super Sledge
(but you have to ask him for weapons with "more punch"
first).
Right next to Jacob's place is Vance, the proscribed substances dealer, specialising in
all
Chems: Rad-X, RadAway, Psycho, Super Stimpaks, etc. But, you need an introduction from
someone
before you're allowed to talk to Vance. This someone is a certain Lemmy, who hangs
out on the
street near the Maltese Falcon bar on the west side of Downtown... but it's gonna
cost ya.
I couldn't find any way to avoid paying Lemmy in order to get the valuable intro
to Vance.
He asks for 1000 Caps, but you can get away with 800 if you have high CH.
The Water Merchants are located in the very south of The Hub. Ask the Master Merchant for
a
Water Chip. She'll reply that Necropolis might have one. Ask why Necropolis would need
one.
Hmmm. Interesting. Whatever you do, don't have her deliver water to your vault,
for
reasons that will become obvious later on.
If you speak with Deputy Fry (standing in the middle of the street with two other Hub officers
near the entrance to The Hub - daytime only), you'll learn that the Sheriff wants to put
a
guy named Decker away, but doesn't have sufficient evidence to do so. If you then go talk
to
Decker (see Quest 2 below), you'll have this evidence and you can use it immediately to
bring
Decker down by 'reporting a crime' to Sheriff Justin Greene at the Police Station,
located
just to the east of the GUNS store. Sheriff Greene will ask you to accompany him
in taking
out Decker, and for this you net 1400 XP and 1300 Caps; however, you can do both
Quests 1 and
2 below, thus netting both a lot more XP and Caps, and still report
Decker to Greene
afterwards. Even with high CH and Speech skill though, you may have to talk
to him a few times
before he accepts your story and believes that you didn't have anything
to do with the murders.
This plan of attack gains you a whole lot more material in the long
run, but at the expense
of quite a few Karma points for wiping out all those innocents. Your
call.
In any case,
after you and the Sheriff take out Decker, remember to head back down
to the basement of the
Maltese Falcon and take all the gear off the bodies - especially Kane.
He was a walking Chem
store!
I suppose you could do worse than hire on with one of the caravans. You get to see some
places
you may not have been to before, and you get XP for killing enemies en route. The
Far Go Traders
visit: The Brotherhood, Junktown, and the LA Boneyard. They pay 400 Caps each
way. Crimson
Caravans (located just west across the Downtown centre from Far Go) visit all
of the places
mentioned above, plus Necropolis. They pay higher (600 Caps each way), but
the work is riskier
because the random encounters you get with them are harder. Each caravan
outfit only makes
runs at set times of the month, so you may have to wait around a few days
for one to leave.
The Friendly Lending Company (FLC) is located just to the west of the GUNS store. You can
take
out Lorenzo and his two cronies (careful. They all have SMG's) without losing any Karma
points,
and the police won't come after you. I was able to open Lorenzo's vault with 40%
Lockpick skill
and a set of normal Lockpicks. Inside, there are loads of goodies on the shelf
(most notably
some Flamethrower fuel), and about 2000 Caps in the locker.
On the west side of Downtown, south of the Maltese Falcon bar, there's a guy standing in
a
derelict building. His name is Irwin, and if you chat with him, he'll ask you to save his
farm
from a pack of raiders that have taken it over. After you wipe out the raiders and return
to
Irwin, he'll present you with a one-of-a-kind .223 Pistol (made by sawing off the barrel
of
a .223 Rifle) as a reward. This is one hell of a weapon, and well worth the bother
you
have to go through to obtain it!
Just NE of where Irwin was hanging out, there's Bob's Iguana Bits. Seeing as how you know
all
about Doc Morbid's evil doings from your Junktown encounter, you can blackmail Iguana
Bob (and
promise you'll be silent about where he gets his meat) for a couple hundred Caps
a week. You
get 500 XP for this, but you lose a few Karma points. Really now, don't heroes
have better
things to be doing with their time?
Quests
- 1. Dispose of Jain - 700 XP and 5000 Caps.
You can only get
this quest if you complete Quest 2 for Decker. The Children of the Cathedral
Hospital is located
in the southern part of The Hub, on the way to the Water Merchants. If
you go in there with
the intention of wiping out Jain, you should first talk to the kid near
the entrance who is
trying to sell you a flower. Get him to leave the Hospital before you
start anything with Jain,
else he's likely to get caught in the crossfire, and you'll be
branded as a Child Killer :-(
After you take out Jain, her bodyguard, and the rest of
the followers, be sure to raid the
locked room in the back of the Hospital. There's a load
of useful Chems on the bookshelf there...
and be sure to take the Purple Robes. They might
come in handy sometime :-)
- 2. Dispose of merchant - 600 XP and 3000 Caps.
Talk to Kane,
inside the Maltese
Falcon bar (west side of Downtown). He'll take you downstairs to meet
the infamous Decker,
who will offer you this quest to bump off Daren Hightower (the merchant
you could steal the
necklace from in Quest 4) and his wife. You lose 3 Karma points if you
complete this quest,
but then Decker will give you Quest 1; a chance to make even more money
and lose yet more Karma
points :-)
- 3. Find the missing caravans - 1800 XP and 800 Caps.
Talk to
Butch, the boss at
the Far Go Traders. He'll give you this quest, and you'll first hear about
Deathclaws (in fact,
make a mental note to ask everyone from now on about Deathclaws) On
the way out, talk to Rutger.
He'll send you to Beth, and you get a 15% discount if you buy
from her because you're now working
for the Far Go Traders. Beth's GUNS Store is located
just to the SW of the Far Go premises.
Keep pumping her for info about Deathclaws until she
tells you about Harold, the old mutant,
and Uncle Slappy. Then, head back to the Old Town
area. Just to the south over the exit grid,
you'll see a guy walking in circles in front
of a building. That's Slappy. If you've done all
the above, you'll get the option to ask
him about Deathclaws too. He tells you to go
inside and talk to Harold. Finally, ask
Harold about the Deathclaw, and you also get to hear
a lot about goings-on up in the NW concerning
mutants. Hmmm. When you've finished hearing Harold's
life story, talk to Slappy again, and
he'll take you to the Deathclaw cave (you get 800 of
the XP above for this).
Once inside the cave, make sure you have your best weapons fully loaded, then head for
the
area to the SW... Oops! Targeted shots to the eyes is your best chance against a Deathclaw.
If you're lucky enough to have a powerful long range weapon (like a Sniper Rifle, or a...
ahem,
Rocket Launcher), you might even be able to waste the thing before he gets close enough
to
rip your throat out. If he does close in on you, then Flares also help, because it's dark
in
here, dammit. Anyway, once you've vanquished the Deathclaw, talk to the dying mutant in
the
corner. He'll spout some gibberish, give you a Holodisk, then pass away. Load the Holodisk
into your Pip Boy. Hey, evidence! Take the Holodisk back to the Far Go Traders and speak
with
Butch again. Uh oh. He's not really interested in what you found. But Rutger is. He
can read
Holodisks too, and you get the rest of the XP and 800 Caps from him.
- 4. Steal necklace from the Merchants - 500 XP, 3000 Caps, and Electronic
Lockpick!
Just south of Jacob the arms dealer's place in Old Town, there's a derelict
building inhabited
by squatters. A staircase in a back room leads down. You have to lockpick
your way through
several sets of doors (and watch out for traps). When you arrive at the
Thieve's Guild, talk
to Loxley in the back room. He'll ask you to steal something for him,
as a test to prove your
worthiness to the Guild. Talk to Jasmine outside. She'll fill you
in on the details, and provide
you with a set of Lock Picks. You have to make your way over
to the west side of The Hub (SW
of the Maltese Falcon). Rest in one of the derelict buildings
until midnight, then make your
way over the western exit grid and enter The Heights section
of The Hub. You'll be immediately
accosted by a guard, and told to leave. Ignore him, and
make your way south. Round the corner
of the building there, and stay out of sight. This
is Daren Hightower's place - the place you
need to sneak into.
Wait till the guard leaves the door (up the street to the north), then high-tail it for
that
door and get inside. Daren and his wife should be in their bedroom (if you come here
during
the daytime, Daren is in his office, and you won't be able to get the necklace). Make
your
way to the room in the centre of the house that contains a strongbox. It's best if you
can
disarm the trap guarding the strongbox before attempting to open it, but if you can't,
it doesn't
make any difference. No one seems to hear the trap go off. Take the necklace from
the strongbox
and make sure the guard has left his post outside before attempting to exit,
by the same route
you came in. Once around the south corner of the building, you should be
able to compose yourself,
and then sneak safely across the street and back over the exit
grid (if anything goes wrong
during this quest, you can waste anyone except Daren Hightower
himself and still complete it
successfully, so there's really no pressure on you to escape
unscathed). Back at the Thieve's
Guild, return the Necklace to Loxley, then see Jasmine for
the remainder of your reward.
Head west around the Motel, then north to the
manhole in the middle of the street (down is
the only way to go, as topside is blocked by
debris). If the ghouls you see are still alive,
you got here in time (if you didn't, no big
problem - just that things don't wind up as 'happily
ever after' as they could have). Avoid
the ghouls if they are still alive. They won't bother
you if you don't bother them. Once
underground, head northwards until you encounter a group
of ghouls. Talk to the ghoul leader.
Find out about Set, and more importantly, the Water Shed.
Offer to fix their pump, and you'll
get Quest 2 below. Then head north again, taking a ladder
upwards when you can proceed no
further (you'll see a small area just to the north, with a
manhole and a ladder in it that
you can't get to).
You emerge in a building full of ghouls. Head west out of this building, then north past
another
manhole with a Mutant to the west of it. The building directly to the north is the
Water Shed.
Now, you have to get past Harry, the black-clothed Super Mutant there. Save your
game before
approaching Harry! If you have decent Charisma (CH) and at least 50% Speech skill,
you can
try bluffing your way by, pretending to be a ghoul. If not, you'll have to take out
Harry and
his friends. This is no mean feat early in the game, but it's possible if you're
careful about
it. The best way is to go to the north side of the building and start sniping
at him through
the windows. Then pick off his friends one by one as they come at you around
the corner of
the building. Harry has a Laser Rifle, and one of his mates has a Flamer. These
are lethal
Big Guns, so watch out for any NPC's you have in tow. The bookcases behind Harry
contain some
very useful weaponry and ammo.
Just once, it's... interesting to find out what happens if you let Harry take you to his
"boss".
Make sure you save the game first though!!! (actually, if you have enough HP, and
are wearing
at least Combat Armor, it's possible to survive this... encounter. It's then
possible to escape,
and continue the game from where you wind up. Just goes to show you how
much depth there is
to Fallout. I describe this scenario fully later on in the guide, but
I don't want to spoil
anything for now :-)
Once inside the Water Shed, you'll see the broken water pump in the NE corner. To the south
of there is a row of cells. 500 XP if you manage to free the imprisoned ghoul there. In any
case, head down the manhole in the room east of his cell. Take out the 2 glowing ghouls there.
Caution is of the essence, as they radiate you when they hit you. Proceed from there straight
into Vault 12 and down the elevator. Skirt carefully around the ghouls on Level 2. In the
room
to the NW, there is a wall locker. You have to take out the 3 ghouls standing there
to get
to it, but it's worth it. Inside are 2 doses of the anti-radiation pills, Rad-X. Handy
for
later. Head down to Level 3 next. In the SE corner here there's a live Computer. Yup,
it contains
the Water Chip :-) Take it (for 2500 XP!), but be prepared to fight the 3 glowing
ghouls here
on the way back out. Um... now that you have the Water Chip, you just might want
to return
to your vault... well, go on! What are you waiting for?
In an area just to the NE of where the ghoul leader is, there are a few Molerats. Usually,
there's also a body there with a Plasma Pistol on it.
Quests
- 1. Destroy the Super Mutants at the Water Shed
- a 'reward'.
If you take the first ladder upwards NE of where the ghoul leader is,
you should emerge in
a narrow hidden passage at the back of a church, with no obvious exit.
However, there's a hidden
door leading into the church near the south end of the passage
(an area of the wall that "looks
weaker"). Beware, because it's trapped. There's also a bookcase
here containing a Shotgun and
some Shells. Once inside, head towards the group of 3 ghouls
standing at the top of the church.
The leader of the 'topside' ghouls, Set, will start talking
to you as you approach. You can
get this quest from him to kill all the Super Mutants (Harry
and friends. See above). Not so
easy early in the game. Once you've accomplished this difficult
task, Set's sidekick Garret
takes you the whole length of the church to collect your reward:
a few Flares, a few Bottles
of Nuka-Cola, and - wait for it - $50! For this reason, most
players choose to take out Set
afterwards (but each Super Mutant you took out was worth quite
a few XP. That's the real
reward :-)
Oh, and don't worry about trying to free
the glowing ghouls Set has locked up
in the church. You can't. They're just part of the decor.
- 2. Fix the water pump - 1000 XP.
Just south of the building where
Harry is located,
there's a manhole. Go down it, and kill all the Molerats in the area to
the NE. Take the Junk
Parts that are lying on the ground. If you have decent Repair skill
(around 40%) you can try
going topside and using the Parts on the broken Water Pump directly
(NE corner of building
where Harry is located), otherwise, go back to the ghoul leader and
show him the Parts. He'll
give you some Manuals that you can read to boost your Repair skill
first.
Eventually, after hearing of it from
many sources, your wanderings through the wasteland will
lead you to a lonely outpost in
the desert guarded by two men with advanced weapons and armour.
This is the entrance to the
Brotherhood of Steel - a very important place. You should begin
your efforts here by tackling
Quest 1 below.
Once you become an Initiate and gain access to the Brotherhood facilities, there's loads
you
can do to prepare for your increasingly difficult encounters in the wasteland. For starters,
you should see Talus in the training hall to the SE of Level 1. If you just stand around
for
a while, you'll absorb some training, which adds 5% to both Unarmed and Melee Weapons
skills
and earns you 500 XP to boot. Then, talk to Talus. He'll give you Quest 2, and also
authorise
you to pick up a set of Brotherhood Armor, plus 3 separate lots of basic ammo,
from Michael
the supply room clerk, who's standing just outside the training hall.
The Botherhood's Doctor (Level 2, to the north in room with operating table) can reduce
your
radiation level, provided you didn't take too many rems. The lockers behind the Doc
also contain
a wealth of handy chems. In addition, you may opt to go for any or all of the
following operations
to increase the related stat by one point, but beware that they cost
precious time and money:
ST: 2000 Caps + 3 weeks recuperation time
PE: 4000 Caps + 1 week recuperation time
EN: 3000 Caps + 1 week recuperation time
IN: 6000 Caps + 3 weeks recuperation time
AG: 5000 Caps + 3 weeks recuperation time
You must see Vree, one of the robed figures in the middle room on Level 3. She's one smart
cookie, and will offer you training on a computer console there to add 15% to your Science
skill. But even more importantly, be sure you try everything in your power to obtain the
Autopsy
Disk from her (ask her what's causing the mutations), because it contains some information
that could prove very useful indeed later on in the game :-) If you ask her how to protect
yourself from radiation, she'll also give you a Rad-X.
On Level 4, If you talk to one of the 4 High Elders (conference room to north), you'll
be asked
to scout the area to the north on the World Map, looking for signs of a military
build-up there.
Hmmm. Not an official quest, but you could put this on your agenda of things
to do. If you
do scout the area to the NW (careful!), when you return and report this fact,
you'll be promised
some assistance from the Brotherhood should you ever decide to attack
the place you found.
Also, speak to General Maxson, a central figure in the whole Fallout
scheme of things, and
a real fun guy to chat with. If you offer to scout the area to the
north, Maxson's assistant
Mathia will authorise you to receive a free weapon of your choice.
The High Elders suspect
that Maxson is loopers. I'm afraid I have to agree.
You eventually leave The Brotherhood as a stronger, wiser person... and a walking tank
nonetheless!
Quests
- 1. Become an Initiate - 2000 XP.
Talk
to the guard on the left
(Cabbot). He'll tell you about The Ancient Order, a place The Brotherhood
hold sacred, and
from which you must retrieve an artifact in order to become an 'Initiate'
of their order. The
guard on the right will fill you in a bit more. It seems this place (nicknamed
The Glow. Hint,
hint :-) is dangerously radioactive, so you'll need something... well, off
you go then (see
section on The Glow for more details).
Once you've retrieved
the necessary artifact,
return here and talk to Cabbot again to complete the quest and gain
entry to their facilities.
- 2. Rescue Initiate from the Hub - Power Armor! (or weapon of your choice)
and 1500 XP.
Talk to Talus, located on Level 1 in the training hall to the SE. He'll
tell you that one of
his Initiates is being held captive somewhere in The Hub, and he wants
you to rescue him (you
may have unwittingly done this already if you explored The Hub thoroughly.
In this case, you
can collect your reward immediately) Get some Stimpaks ready. The Initiate
is being held by
a gang of thugs that are holed up in the Old Town area of The Hub, in a
building just SE of
the exit grid (SW of where Jacob the arms dealer hangs out). Save the
game before you go in,
because the folk in there start firing at you as soon as you open
the door. This is a very
tough fight early on in the game, so watch out for NPC's like Dogmeat
and Ian that you may
have tagging along. They're very likely to come to a nasty end here
if the fight goes on too
long :-(
Once you've wiped these thugs out, open the locked door at the back to free the Initiate,
then
return to The Brotherhood again and see Talus for your reward. Personally, I'd always
go for
the Power Armor, because The Brotherhood is the only source for it in Fallout. However,
if
you don't have high enough Karma yet (as happened to me the first time I played) then
you
may not be offered the Power Armor by Talus. However, there is one other way to
get
Power Armor. See paragraph below (well, you can try wiping out the whole first level
of The
Brotherhood and then take it from the storeroom there. But that's kinda tough without
Power Armor. Oh, the irony of it all :-)
If you don't get offered Power Armor by Talus, or decide to take a weapon instead, here's
another
way to get it: Go to Level 3, and talk to Kyle, who is repairing some Power Armor
in the room
to the SE there. He tells you that he needs a 'Systolic Motivator' in order to
get it working.
Go back up to Level 1, and enter Rhombus' room (in the middle of the level.
You see him standing
in the bathroom there). You'll need pretty good Sneak and Steal skills
and/or a lot of attempts
to be able to get the Motivator from his locker without being detected.
Alternatively, if you
have high CH and Speech skill (I did it with CH 10 and Speech 50%,
but lower than that will
probably work too), you can talk Michael the supply room clerk out
of one. Once you have it,
head back down to Kyle. You need at least 80% Repair skill (or
less if you have a repair Tool
and some luck, plus Kyle gives you some Manuals) in order
to get the Armor working, but once
you do, it's yours.
Nothing strikes more fear into the heart of the
Fallout newbie than the prospect of encountering
that dreaded silent killer... RADIATION!
But, it all comes down to taking some simple precautions:
- On the World Map, stop one square short of The Glow, but get as close to it as
you
can within that square (yes, even parts of the grid account for precious hours of travel
time).
- Pop 2 Rad-X. Regardless of what you are wearing, this will always bring your radiation
resistance to 100%.
- Never read any books/manuals while you are here. Your Rad-X
will wear off in the time it takes to read them, and you'll be sorry; likewise, don't accept
an invitation to play chess (game takes 2 hours).
I hope you brought a Rope along with you. If not, better start walking back to The Hub.
Check
out the General Store there, next to the Maltese Falcon bar.
Look on the left hand side of the large crater there, and you'll see a beam. Use a Rope
on
the beam, and head down to:
Level 1
Once inside (eerie place this. Don't worry
about any NPC's you have
in tow. They're not affected by the radiation), make your way toward
the room containing
the guy in "strange armor". Take the Brotherhood Tape and Yellow Pass Key
from his body.
Be sure to pilfer all the bodies you find in The Glow, seeing as they often
harbour useful
items. Use the Yellow Pass Key on the elevator in the SW corner to go to Level
2.
Level 2
Get the Red Pass Key off the dead guard in the room to the NE. Check
all
the bodies and lockers here too. Use the Yellow Pass Key again to get to...
Level 3
When finished here, use the Red Pass Key on the new elevator, which
takes
you to Level 4.
Level 4
Things start to hot up a bit here. Literally. Get the Geiger Counter
from
the locker to the north, and use it from now on to determine how much radiation you've
picked
up. If you got it right with the Rad-X, you should be somewhere under 10 rems, easily
remedied
with a single RadAway (each one removes 25 rems from your system, but wait till
you leave The
Glow before using any). Anything more than 100 rems means you've done something
wrong, but
you're still not dead meat if you pop another Rad-X and get back up to 100% Rad
Resistance.
A reading over 1000 means... you're toast. Better revert to an earlier saved
game and try again.
Make sure you take the Blue Pass Key off the guard in the SW corner.
Here you meet Zax, the sentient mainframe. As you were cautioned above, don't accept an
invitation
to play chess, as all you will accomplish is the whittling away of a few precious
hours of
your Rad-X resistance. However, do take the opportunity to peruse Zax's database
(if you have
the necessary IN and Science skill to enable a logon. Remember not to read any
books in an
attempt to increase your Science skill. That will blow your Rad-X resistance
too). Here you
will learn about FEV (Forced Evolution Virus). It can make you immortal, but
has the nasty
side effect of... anyway, when you're finished here, use the Red Pass Key on
the elevator which
takes you to Level 6 (Level 5 is unattainable for the time being). Level
6 is covered in Quest
1 below.
Level 5
Hey, no peeking! If you didn't get here from Level 6 (Quest 1), then
go
read that section first, please.
After battling your way past a few sentry robots, you get to reap the harvest of all your
labours
in The Glow. One of the lockers here contains a Plasma Rifle, the most powerful Energy
Weapon
in the game. The row of wall lockers to the east also contains a veritable goldmine
of weapons
(Minigun!), assorted high tech, and ammo. Take as much as you and your party members
can carry,
because you won't be coming back here in a hurry.
On the way back up to the surface, you will have to battle the sentry robots that have
come
to life on all the levels. Pulse Grenades come in very handy here, but targeted shots
to the
sensors with a Sniper Rifle, or blasting your way though with the newly acquired Plasma
Rifle
will net you the exit and the XP just the same :-)
Quests
- 1. Turn on power for the Glow - 1000 XP.
Explore Level 6 fully.
Then repair the generator in the room to the east, and use the computer
there to restore power
to The Glow. Oops. Remember all those 'dead' sentry robots you saw
on the way down? They've
just come back to life! But, restoring power is the only way you
can make it to Level 5, so
you'll just have to put up with the inconvenience. Take out the
2 robots here, then use the
Blue Pass Key on the previously inoperable elevator to finally
arrive at Level 5 (see above).
You begin here in a village called Adytum. If
you head south, then enter the second building
to the west, you'll meet Jon Zimmerman, the
Mayor. He'll offer you 2000 Caps to take out the
leader of the Blades gang. If you take the
exit from Adytum and keep heading north, you'll
run into the place where the Blades hang
out. Talk to Razor, and you'll find out what's really
going down here. It seems that
the Regulators, who Zimmerman trusts to guard Adytum, are actually
a real nasty bunch of
criminals, and it is in fact they who have murdered Zimmerman's son.
Razor will give you
a disk with evidence of this on it; however, before you can help the Blades
take on the Regulators,
you need to get them some weapons... which is just as well, because
there are a few other
things you should do in Adytum before the bullets start flying, and there
is a chance that
someone who could do you a big favour might wind up on the wrong end of one
:-)
So, when you've completed Quest 2 below, and have got Miles and Smitty to spruce up your
gear,
then you can head for the Gun Runners place (east of the Blades to where the Deathclaws
hang
out, then east again), and talk to Gabriel, their leader. If you agree to wipe out all
the
Deathclaws (or have done so already), you'll get 1000 XP when you report this to Gabriel,
plus
he'll agree to supply weapons to the Blades. Mamma Deathclaw is in the basement of the
place
where you found the dead Merchant, down a stairwell in the northern part of the building.
Make
sure you get all the eggs too, or the Deathclaws can regenerate. Zack at the Gun Runners
is
a great source for weapons, so make sure you do a few deals with him. He's got Plasma
Rifles
and lots of ammo at reasonable prices.
When you've done all this, you can finally
go report
back to Razor, but make sure you're ready for battle before you do so. And, you
might want
to crank up the combat speed in the Preferences panel first, because a very long
battle for
Adytum is about to take place. By the way... if you try to go to Zimmerman with
Razor's Holodisk
first, one of the Regulators overhears the conversation and all that you
accomplish is getting
Zimmerman killed, and you then have to take on the Regulators
without help from the
Blades. Not a recommended course of action.
In any event, you get 2000 XP for taking out the Regulators. There is a strange thing that
happens after the battle; a bug, really. Razor is now standing at the entrance to Adytum,
and
thanks you for helping them out. Yet, if you go back to the Blade's hangout, there's
a dead
Razor there.
MacRae, the tough guy standing guard outside the Blade's place, will
offer
to train you in Unarmed, but only once the battle is over. Can't tell you how many
points this
will add to your skill, because I was already well topped up in Unarmed, and
it didn't seem
to have any effect on me.
Just to the west of the entrance to Adytum, there's a little shack with a manhole in it.
Tine,
the proprietor, has some ammo for sale, and also Dynamite and Plastic Explosives, but
you have
to check his tables in order to find these.
You'll find Chuck the fortune teller in a tent in the SE of Adytum. If you ask him for
advice,
he'll give you a tarot reading. Keep persisting until he gives the third reading,
where he
draws The Fool. This will increase your Luck by 1 point.
West of the Blade's place, over an exit grid, you'll find a library where the Followers
of
the Apocalypse hang out. Katja, the blonde girl standing in the room by the main entrance,
will join your party (worth 200 XP). She's good with Throwing Knives, and an SMG. Make sure
you speak with Nicole, who also lurks on the ground floor of the library. Keep asking questions
about the Children of the Cathedral. When you finally get around to offering your help to
get
rid of them, she'll give you a contact name (Laura) and a catchphrase. Should come in
handy
later :-) So might a purple robe. There is one lying on the floor in the room next
to where
Nicole is standing.
Quests
- 1. Find Children spy in the Followers - no solution?
If you
take the stairs in the NE corner down to the basement, you'll get to chat with a nice
ghoul
by the name of Talius. First, pursue the conversation path of asking him about why
he was in
Necropolis, and if he volunteered for the job of finding a Water Chip for his Vault
(!) If
you offer to kill the guy who turned him into a mutant, he'll give you a Flamethrower
and 20
x Flamethower Fuel to further the cause. Then, if you accuse him of being a spy for
the Children
of the Cathedral, he'll deny this, but allude to the fact that he believes there
really is
a Children spy among the Followers. So, he'll give you this quest as a result.
He suspects
it might be one of the people who scout the Cathedral for the Followers; however,
I was never
able to find anyone there who fit the bill. The theory is widely held among Fallout
fans that
this is a 'broken' quest.
- 2. Fix hydroponic farms in Adytum - 250 Caps and 6 Stimpaks.
In the southern part
of Adytum you'll find Miles, the chemist. He needs some parts to repair
the hydroponics for
his underground farm, and sends you to Sammael, who is located in a tent
just to the east of
where Miles is standing. If you ask Sammael about Deathclaws, he'll inform
you that one of
his men was on the way back to Adytum with the parts for Miles, but never
made it. Hmmm. Sammael
gives you a wealth of info on the area. He'll tell you that there's
a nest of Deathclaws located
to the east of the Blade's place, that the Gun Runners are further
to the east of that, and
also about a library to the NW of Adytum. But, it's time to go find
those parts for Miles first,
me thinks...
So, head out of Adytum, then take the exit grid to the east of the Blade's place, and you're
in Deathclaw territory. The parts you need ('Junk') are on a dead Merchant lying across the
street from a newspaper machine, in the eastern part of this area. Bring the Junk back to
Miles,
and he'll tell you to go to Smitty to get them repaired. Hmph. Smitty is located in
the first
building to the SE as you enter Adytum. Bring the repaired parts back to Miles
again for your
reward. It's meagre, but now you're in the good books. Literally. If you agree
to travel to
The Hub for Miles and pick up some Chemistry Journals from the Librarian (Mrs.
Stapleton, remember?
You have to fork out 750 Caps in cash for them though, so be prepared),
he can make a certain
armour that you may be wearing even tougher. Likewise, Smitty can make
a certain weapon fire
quicker, so that it takes one less AP for you to use in combat :-)
The Cathedral is located to the south of the LA
Boneyard on the world map. If you've been mucking
around with the Followers of the Apocalypse
in the Boneyard, then a few of them will join you
as soon as you arrive here. At this stage
in the game, they are probably more of a nuisance
than anything, especially if you're trying
to sneak around the place.
Enter the Cathedral, and seek out Laura, Nicole's friend, in the room to the NW of the
entranceway.
If you got the catchphrase from Nicole and are able to mention it, Laura will
lead you to another
place where it's safe to talk. Then, you can get her to open a door for
you (in the Cathedral
proper, where the vid screens are) that leads further into the Cathedral.
If you can't get
Laura to open the door for you, then you can blow it open, but you'll make
all the people standing
in the room next to it hostile towards you.
There are a few interesting characters here on the first level of the Cathedral: Dr. Wu
is
standing in the corner of a room with a locked ice chest in it, SW of the main Cathedral
room.
He's pretty whacked out for a doc; he hates the whole universe for starters. If you
trust him,
you can let him patch you up... at your own risk. You can also take him out, but
then everyone
else in the area comes after you. The ice chest contains some useful chems,
most notably 5
Super Stimpaks (the room just to the north of Dr. Wu's also contains a bookcase
full of chems).
Fr. 'Lasher' is in the NW room. Watch out, he's got a Cattle Prod. Nasty
little weapon.
Once you get past the initial door into the Tower (see section regarding Laura above),
there
are several ways to proceed. I'll try to categorise them for you here.
- a. Talk your way through
I stumbled upon
this path the very first time I played
Fallout, with only a Level 9 character! Unfortunately,
it won't work if anyone at all is with
you, including Dogmeat. You'll also require decent
CH, at least 70% Speech skill, and Vree's
Autopsy Disk... oh, and a set of Purple Robes too.
Don the Robes and make your way to the top
of the Tower (Level 4). Morpheus is the guy in
the purple robes there. Enter the room where
he is standing and talk to him. Get him to take
you to The Master. You can convince The Master
that his plan will fail because all the Mutants
are sterile. He asks for evidence. If you have
Vree's Autopsy Tape with you, this will convince
him. Then, just follow the instructions below
under: Cathedral wrap-up.
- b. Take out Morpheus
Head up the Tower, blasting all the Nightkin
sentries who
try to stop you. When you get to the top (Level 4), Morpheus is the guy in the
purple robes.
Get the silver COC Badge off him. It's actually a key. In the room next
to where Morpheus
hangs out, there's a bookcase with an Electronic Lockpick. The locked chest
there contains
some Tesla Armor (very effective against lasers), and a Power Fist. You also
get 1000 XP for
wasting Morpheus. Use the key you got from Morpheus' body to open the second
locked door at
the base of the Tower. Then follow the section immediately below.
- c. Blast your way through
If you got the key from Morpheus, then
you can use it
to open the second door at the base of the Tower; else, use Dynamite or Plastic
Explosives.
When you get through the door, head down the stairs. In the SE corner of the
room at the base
of the stairs, there's a hidden door. If you put on the Purple Robes and
wait a minute or two,
a robed figure opens the door from the other side, and you can get
back through before it closes
again. Alternatively, you can blow it open. Get past the beasties
in the cave and the two sentries
at the vault (!) entrance, and you arrive at:
Cathedral Lair, Level 1
Nothing much here except a locker with some chems. Take
the elevator to Level 2.
Cathedral Lair, Level 2
In a room immediately to the south of the elevator,
you
see two Mutant sentries and some doctors. If you take the door off the corridor farthest
away
from them, and skirt carefully around the edge of the room, you can make it to the terminal
in the south of the room and use it to release the prisoners. Oops! 2000 XP for releasing
them,
but there's nothing you can do to save them :-(
In the room to the NW, talk to the prisoner named Gideon. 1000 XP if you can talk him into
giving you a Psychic Nullifier. Could come in handy later. When you are finished here, take
the elevator to:
Cathedral Lair, Level 3
You have two options here too. You can either confront
The
Master (see below), or take a slightly more devious route. The more devious route starts
off
none too deviously by you having to fight your way through the locker room full of Super
Mutants
that you see to the SW as soon as you exit the elevator. You can get Dogmeat through
this encounter
quite easily, though you might need to restore a few times, as he takes the
odd blast or two
from a Mutant he's gnawing the legs off of. Once through to the back of
this locker room, you'll
need an Electronic Lockpick to get through the first door, and decent
Lockpick skill to get
past the elevator door. Take the elevator to Level 4.
Cathedral Lair, Level 4
Pick the lock on the door at the end of the corridor,
and
take out the two Super Mutants guarding the room. Yup, it's a nuclear warhead. You can
either
blow the place up by using your Science skill on the Computer (I had 80% Science skill
at this
stage) or, if you got a key from the Lieutenant's locker on Level 4 of the Military
Base, and
you were wondering what it's for... this is what it's for! You can use it on the
Computer to
arm the warhead. Either way, then follow the instructions below under: Cathedral
wrap-up.
If you decide to confront The Master instead, make your way through the control room of
Super
Mutants and robed figures to the SE. On the eastern side of this room is a door leading
to
a very long corridor. If you walk through this corridor unprotected, you'll lose quite
a few
PE points due to the extreme psychic power emanating from the walls here. To prevent
this,
you need to either be in possession of a Psychic Nullifier (see Cathedral Lair,
Level 2
above), or believe it or not, there's a Perk called Mental Block that will get
you through.
Either way, at the other end of this corridor awaits The Master. You can talk
him into destroying
himself (see Talk your way through above), but since you already
got this far by wasting
every creature in sight, why not have a go at him too? :-)
(Note: Dogmeat management all through the Cathedral has not been too difficult, has it?
But
if you decide to take on The Master here... well, you're going to need a lot of luck
to see
him through it).
The clever way to do this is to hide behind one of the pillars, stepping out just far enough
to snipe him once per turn, then stepping back behind the pillar. Unfortunately, he spawns
one of his lieutenants every so often. They come at you from the corridor, so you'll have
to
contend with dispatching them at the same time. Anyway, once you've killed The Master,
follow
the instructions immediately below.
Cathedral wrap-up
When the timer starts and the Cathedral is set to blow, you
have
4 minutes to make your way back outside and onto the exit grid. I would recommend saving
the
game immediately the countdown commences... in case you make a mistake trying to get
out. Just
retrace your steps from the way you came in (unless, of course, you opted for the
Talk your
way through method above. In that case: find the elevator. Head up to Level
1, through
the cave, open the 'secret' door in the wall that blocks your way, head up the
stairs at the
other end of the basement, and you have it made)! Don't worry if you have to
fight any battles
on the way back, because combat doesn't occur in real time, and you have
more time than you
think.
Once you step on the exit grid outside the Cathedral, you get to watch the show. Congratulations!
You just got 10000 XP for completing Quest 2 for Vault 13. If you destroyed the Military
Base
prior to coming here, then you have also finished the game :-)
The Military Base is located on a beeline NW
of The Brotherhood, in the far NW corner of the
World Map. It's marked as 'Unknown'. Careful
when approaching, because there are some hefty
Super Mutant patrols in the area. If the Brotherhood
Paladins agreed to help you, then several
of them will show up as you arrive. I'd recommend
leaving your party members right here outside
the compound. They'll never survive what's
looming ahead, and you can always pick them up again
on the way out. Since you can't get
rid of poor Dogmeat, I suggest shooting him up with Psycho
to make the little pooch tougher.
No harm in doing this to yourself either. Then, arm yourself
to the hilt, and get ready for
some great action!
Take out the 4 Super Mutants guarding the compound (if the Paladins are with you, they
will
help, natch). To get through the locked door into the Base, you can either grab the
tape with
the door combination on it off the dead Mutant there, or use an Electronic Lockpick.
If you
also take the Radio from the same dead Mutant, you can use it to convince the guards
inside
that everything is OK, and this will buy you some time once you get in. The Paladins
won't
follow you in, unfortunately.
Level 1
There's a Computer over on the east side (with a Mutant guarding it)
that
you can play blackjack on. When you win, you're granted access to the force field controls.
Next use your Science skill on it to disable the force fields. It says that you only manage
to disable half the field subsystems... but what it really means is that you've managed to
disable half the security! What you can then do is use the Radio on this Computer, which
links
it into the force field controls. Now you can toggle the green fields on and off at
will just
by using the Radio. This works on all but the bottom level of the base, where you'll
still
have to disable the fields manually. You can't disable the red fields, but you can
temporarily
disable the green fields manually (instead of using the Radio) once you have
at least 60% Repair
skill and/or a Tool. Just use either the Repair skill or the Tool on
the cylindrical emitters
(top or bottom). It might take 2 or 3 attempts, but the field will
shut off for a few seconds
when you succeed.
If Dogmeat is still with you, then you'll need to look after him once inside the base.
The
red force fields take HP from critters each time they pass through, and if you linger
near
one of them, Dogmeat will keep wandering back and forth through it until he's toast.
So...
one way to solve this problem is to trap him between 2 green fields, as these are impassable.
Then you can wander off busting Mutant chop without having to worry about him, and collect
Dogmeat when you're ready to leave a particular level. There's a room in the middle of this
level protected by 2 fields. Just stand right next to one of the emitters and shut it down
(using the Radio is the easiest way). Let Dogmeat wander into the room, and eventually he'll
be trapped when the field comes back again (or, if you're quick, you can use the Radio or
repair
the emitter again to turn it back on). Of course, you have to get the timing right
:-) Mysteriously,
even though he's trapped, Dogmeat joins you again whenever you exit a level.
Damn. Anyway,
boost his health again with a Stimpak just after you take him through each
red field, and he'll
survive (you can't avoid the red fields totally, since they're protecting
each elevator). Another
reason for keeping him immobile is to prevent him getting blown to
shreds from the advanced
weaponry you're about to face.
In the SW corner of this level is a room full of Super Mutants. I just approached them
through
the red force field and sniped at them from around the corner. Piece of cake :-)
When you're
done here, you can take the elevator down to Level 2. Dogmeat will automatically
join you.
Level 2
To the south as you enter, there's a green force field with a robot
behind
it. Disable the field and step just past it, blocking Dogmeat. He should get stuck
outside
when the field re-activates. Then dispatch the robots, and also the Super Mutants
in the room
further to the south. Now, come back outside, and trap Dogmeat inside where you
just were (there's
another green field leading into a dormitory on the SE end of these rooms).
Now, you're free
to wreak some real havoc!
Head through the red force field to the east, and pause at the top of the corridor that
leads
into the dormitory. You can snipe at the pack of Super Mutants from here. Plasma Rifle
and
Rocket Launcher (especially when they bunch together :-) do a nice job here. When you've
blasted
them all, the footlockers and wall lockers contain lots of useful ammo (not to mention
the
bodies). Then, if you can manage to pick the lock on the door, the locker room to the
SE contains
loads of goodies: (ironically, you probably wouldn't have gotten this far if
you didn't already
have most of this gear) Plasma Rifle, Plasma Grenades, Rocket Launcher,
Rippers, Minigun, etc.
Finally, you can enter the NE section of this floor. Surprise! Lockers
full of every chem.
There's even a wall locker in the room to the north. Now you can head
down to Level 3.
Level 3
On this Level, just let Dogmeat tag along. You'll get trapped immediately
as you come through the first red field by some Mutants engaging you in battle. Dogmeat will
stay safely behind you. Take care of the 3 Mutants here, then walk out of the field and Stimpak
Dogmeat after he comes through. Then head east, round the corner, and head for the Mutant
behind
the green force field. Take him out. Now for an interesting diversion...
War Story
The Super Mutant guard blocking the hallway (next to the room with
the
girl inside) will talk to you as soon as you approach. He wants to take you to his 'Lieutenant'.
Now - you can refuse, wipe him out, and continue on... or you can let him take you to the
Lieutenant.
This is the same thing that happens to you in Necropolis if you let Harry (the
guard in the
Watershed) take you to his "boss". If you're at least wearing Combat Armor,
and have decent
HP, you can probably survive the beating (assuming you don't give away the
location of your
vault first, and you don't want to do that :-) The result is that
you get stripped of
all your possessions and thrown into a cell. The cell contains the body
of a (former) vault
dweller, and from it you obtain a 10mm Pistol and 3 Stimpaks. You can
pick the lock of your
cell and sneak around the place. Of course, taking on a Super Mutant
with no armor and a handgun
isn't going to get you very far (unless you're a HtH expert.
Again, the balance in Fallout
is incredible). Now, rumour has it (i.e., someone else's
war story) that you can find your
possessions again, but I searched all the rooms in the
vicinity, and tried stealing from the
guard. Nowhere to be found. But I didn't give up. Turns
out, you can quite easily sneak all
around the place, set it up to self-destruct, and beetle
it out of there wearing nothing more
than your vault dweller suit and a big smile. Then I
hit The Glow again, raided it for weapons
and Combat Armor, traded some surplus stuff up
with the Gun Runners, and finished the rest
of the game that way. What a game!
...OK, so you take out the guard instead of visiting the Lieutenant. Continue down the
hallway,
and take the elevator to...
Level 4
The Dogmeat 'trap' here is pretty obvious. After exiting the elevator,
just
sneak around the corner to the west (past the room full of Mutants and a strange robot)
and
trap him behind the green force field to the north. Ignore the Mutants and that robot
for the
moment, and head east through the red force field. Try to sneak past that room full
of robots
to the north, and pause behind the corner before you get to the room full of Mutants
and a
priest to the SE. Now, that's your basic Lieutenant armed with a Gatling Laser and
more HP
than you could hope to accumulate in a lifetime of playing Fallout... but I never
had too
much trouble taking him out, and he's got a great death animation. From the
Lieutenant's body,
you can pilfer a Decoder Disk and load it onto your Pip Boy (for later).
The locker on the
west side of the room contains a strange Key that can be used somewhere
in the Cathedral :-)
If you like, you can now proceed to that room you left behind with the 3 Mutants and a
robot
in it. Take out the Mutants, being careful not to harm the robot. Hey, it's Mr. Handy
- remember,
from the game intro? You can repair him, then use your Science skill to start
him up. What's
he do then? Does he offer to take Dogmeat for a walk? No. He goes storming
off to the north
to finish his 'cleaning', and destroys himself and the force field emitter
there in the process.
Hmph. Big help.
Finally, it's showtime at the Military Base! Enter the room to the NW where all the priests
are, and proceed to the terminal with the glowing monitors (the Vat Control Computer). Less
intelligent characters (especially if you dumbed yourself down with Psycho) may have to pop
a Mentat or two before tackling the next job, which is to hack into it. The tape you got
off
the dead Lieutenant and loaded onto your Pip Boy will help here too. You should choose
the
option: "Attempt to hack the firewall...", and then "Initiate 3 minute silent self-destruct
sequence." Actually, you get 300 seconds, but who's counting at this stage? You have ample
time to make it back outside (remember to look after Dogmeat), collect the party members
you
left hanging out there, and step on the exit grid. KABLOOIE!!! You just completed Quest
3 for
Vault 13, netted another 10000 XP, and have finished the game if you took care of The
Master
in the Cathedral first :-)
You can never get a good ending for The
Hub. If you managed to get to Necropolis before the
Mutant army overruns it, and you fixed
the Water Pump, you will get a good ending there. All
the endings for the other places sort
of make sense, depending on what actions you took during
the course of the game.
I'm afraid the Overseer has some bad news for you. And if you took the Bloody Mess trait,
or
you have bad Karma... well, violence is your bag then.
You'll need Luck of 9 or 10 in order to
get all these encounters during the course of a single
game. They all happen when you're
just wandering through the wasteland.
Giant Footprint
You come across a giant footprint, in the center of which is
a Stealth
Boy.
Bob's Used Cars
An old used car lot in the middle of nowhere. Forget about Bob.
Head inside and find the Red Ryder LE (Limited Edition) BB Gun! One of the best Small Guns
in the game.
Tardis
Straight out of Doctor Who. When you approach it, it disappears... only
to
reveal: a Motion Detector.
Truck full of Caps
You stumble upon an overturned truck that was carrying a
load
of Caps. Usually, 10000 or thereabouts!
Crashed Saucer
Some dead aliens, a fantastic weapon (Alien Blaster. Now, there's
a curious thing. The aliens use Small Energy Cells too, huh? Oh, right. Chariots of the
Gods, of course), and... a picture of Elvis :-)
Patrick
You chance upon an old traveller in the desert. He'll give you directions
to all the places you probably know about already, but if he mentions Celtic songs, and you
get the dialogue choice to name one, you sing along with Patrick for a while and get 1 point
added to your CH.
In each category, I've tried to arrange
the various items in order of lethality... or just
sheer badness :P
Note: all Melee Weapon damage points are for a character with ST 6, and no Bonus HtH Damage
perks.
|
Brass Knuckles
Dmg: 2-6 |
Knife
Dmg: 1-7 |
Club
Dmg: 1-7 |
Combat Knife
Dmg: 3-11 |
Spiked Knuckles
Dmg: 4-11 |
Crowbar
Dmg: 3-11 |
Sledgehammer
Dmg: 4-10 Rng: 2 |
Spear
Dmg: 3-11 Rng: 2 |
Cattle Prod
Dmg: 12-21
Ammo: 20 x Small Energy
Cell |
Power
Fist
Dmg: 12-25
Ammo: 25 x Small Energy Cell |
Ripper
Dmg: 15-33
Ammo: 30 x Small Energy Cell |
Super Sledge
Dmg: 18-37 Rng: 2 |
|
Throwing Knife
Dmg: 3-6
Rng: 16 |
Spear
Dmg: 3-11
Rng: 8 |
Molotov Cocktail
Dmg:
8-20 Rng: 12 |
Grenade (Frag)
Dmg: 20-35 Rng: 15 |
Grenade (Plasma)
Dmg: 40-90 Rng: 15 |
Grenade (Pulse)
Dmg: 100-150 Rng: 15
Anti-mech only |
|
Red Ryder BB Gun
Dmg: 1-3
Rng: 22
Ammo: 100 x BB's |
9mm
Mauser
Dmg: 5-10 Rng: 22
Ammo: 7 x 9mm Ball |
10mm Pistol
Dmg: 5-12 Rng: 25
Ammo: 12 x 10mm |
Hunting Rifle
Dmg:
8-20 Rng: 40
Ammo: 10 x .223mm FMJ |
Desert
Eagle .44
Dmg: 10-16 Rng: 25
Ammo: 8 x .44 Magnum |
Shotgun
Dmg: 12-22 Rng: 14
Ammo: 2 x 12 ga. Shot |
14mm Pistol
Dmg:
12-22 Rng: 24
Ammo: 6 x 14mm |
.223
Pistol
Dmg: 20-30 Rng: 30
Ammo: 5 x .223 FMJ |
Sniper Rifle
Dmg: 14-34 Rng: 50
Ammo: 6 x .223 FMJ |
10mm SMG
Dmg:
5-12 Rng: 25
Ammo: 30 x 10mm |
Combat
Shotgun
Dmg: 15-25 Rng: 22
Ammo: 12 x 12 ga. Shot |
Assault Rifle
Dmg: 8-16 Rng: 45
Ammo: 24 x 5mm |
Red Ryder LE BB
Gun
Dmg: 25-25 Rng: 32
Ammo: 100 x BB's |
|
|
|
Flamer
Dmg: 45-90 Rng:
5
Ammo: 5 x Flamethrower Fuel |
Rocket
Launcher
Dmg: 35-100 Rng: 40
Ammo: 1 x Rocket |
Minigun
Dmg: 7-11 Rng: 35
Ammo: 120 x 5mm
Min. ST
7 |
|
Laser Pistol
Dmg: 10-22
Rng: 35
Ammo: 12 x Small Energy Cell |
Plasma
Pistol
Dmg: 15-35 Rng: 20
Ammo: 16 x Small Energy Cell |
Laser Rifle
Dmg: 25-50 Rng: 45
Ammo:
12 x Micro Fusion Cell |
Plasma Rifle
Dmg: 30-65 Rng: 25
Ammo: 10 x Micro Fusion
Cell |
Turbo Plasma Rifle
Dmg:
35-70 Rng: 35
Ammo: 10 x Micro Fusion Cell |
Alien Blaster
Dmg: 30-90 Rng: 10
Ammo: 30 x Small Energy
Cell |
Gatling
Laser
Dmg: 20-40 Rng: 40
Ammo: 30 x Micro Fusion Cell |
|
|
In order of protection afforded.
Leather Jacket
AC: 8
Normal 0/20%
Laser
0/20%
Fire 0/20%
Plasma 0/10%
Explode
0/20% |
Leather Armor
AC: 15
Normal
2/25%
Laser 0/20%
Fire 0/20%
Plasma
0/10%
Explode 0/20% |
Metal
Armor
AC: 10
Normal 4/30%
Laser 6/75%
Fire 4/10%
Plasma
4/20%
Explode 4/25% |
Tesla Armor
AC: 15
Normal 7/20%
Laser
19/90%
Fire 4/10%
Plasma 9/80%
Explode
3/20% |
Combat Armor
AC: 20
Normal
5/40%
Laser 8/60%
Fire 4/30%
Plasma
4/50%
Explode 6/40% |
Brotherhood
Armor
AC: 20
Normal 8/40%
Laser 8/70%
Fire 7/50%
Plasma
7/60%
Explode 8/40% |
Power Armor
AC: 25
Normal 12/40%
Laser
18/80%
Fire 12/60%
Plasma 10/40%
Explode
20/50% |
Hardened Power Armor
AC:
25
Normal 16/50%
Laser 19/90%
Fire 14/70%
Plasma
12/50%
Explode 19/60% |
|
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank the following people
for contributing to the latest version of this guide.
Thanks very much for the tips and corrections,
folks :-)
David K. Gasaway
See the metzomagic.com Review of Fallout.
Copyright © Steve Metzler 2002.
All rights reserved.
|
