Current Events > I think I'm gonna play Fallout 4 again

(+) Yeah! (+)

The hell's up with these trees and cars at Greygarden that can't be scrapped? I can see why people want mods to remove this jank so badly -- just stupid oversights everywhere.

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Be still, my 200-year-old heart! Yeah, I'mma get some use outta this. I invested in Rifleman (as I'm wont to do) instead of Commando, so I have to keep this non-automatic to really benefit, I think. Got this as a drop from a feral dog, so...man's best fiend comes through again.



Yeahhhh, Greygarden looks kickass. I took some advice and made prefab garbage, so I could spread out some settlements on both levels of the overpass. The only downside is that there's no water besides single-shot pumps, so I had to make quite a few down by the greenhouse. Probably could've made a four-story elevator or something, but I never use that for anything...for some reason. Should change that.



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STS does allow you to scrap those irritating persisting corpses at places like Spectacle Island (there's at least half a dozen dead settlers / raiders scattered across the island that never despawn otherwise), Sunshine Tidings Co-Op, and Taffington Boathouse, if that helps sell you on it.

The Missile Launcher unfortunately does not have a naturally-occurring Two-Shot prefix. To fix that, here's a downright-essential mod of mine that also happens to be available on PS4:

https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/4022565

It has a ton of useful functions, but the big draw here is seamless Legendary prefix swapping; just swap them out in the Armor Workbench same as any other weapon / armor mod. It may feel like a cheat at first, but trust me, you will be so happy when you realize you'll never have to grind for a legendary prefix on the correct weapon / armor ever again (waiting / grinding for a Two-Shot or similarly-desired prefix to appear on any weapon is already enough of a timesink, imo). I've actually never added Two-Shot to a missile launcher before, now that I think about it; but it works fine with other mod / Creation explosives that couldn't normally have it, so I don't see why it wouldn't work here.

Incidentally, if you've got money to burn on the Zeta Alien Weapons Creation, the Alien Disintegrator with a lobber mod and Two-Shot prefix is absolutely sick damage-wise, and a ton of fun to use.

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Yeah, I wasn't that hopeful on a two-shot missile launcher. I remembered that there was a certain prefix pool and some types weren't applicable (i.e. no Two-Shot Pool Cues). Prefix swapping with a mod takes some of the fun out of it for me, though. Killing all those stupid legendary wolves, raiders, ghouls and stuff and seeing what goodies they have is part of the entertainment value. I mean...a lot of the time they'll have pipe gun jank, or a Frigid Rolling Pin, or something you throw in the trash immediately, but still. :P

I found the Alien Blaster earlier, though, but I dunno if I'll use it. IIRC, its ammo type is finite and I only use energy weapons on certain character builds.

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Shotgunnova posted...

Yeah, I wasn't that hopeful on a two-shot missile launcher.

You can get a Two-Shot Fat Man though, by purchasing the Big Boy from Arturo in Diamond City. It's expensive, but worth it. By using VATS criticals you can lob perfect shots at long distance: aim at the head as the second shot will drop a bit lower and strike the body.
Edit: Due to the way Two-Shot is programmed, once you get the double radius perk from Demolition Expert the radius will be far greater than normal. It's also worth mentioning that heavy weapons with explosive damage get to double dip on damage bonuses, thanks to Heavy Gunner applying as well; this is part of why an Explosive Minigun is so much fun.

Shotgunnova posted...

The only downside is that there's no water besides single-shot pumps, so I had to make quite a few down by the greenhouse.

If you have the Wastelanders workshop DLC there should be a 'solid ground' motorized pump. Although, given the cost in resources, it's probably easier to just place down 10 or 20 manual pumps.

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Oh yeah, I forgot about that motorized pump. I think it needs electricity, though, right? I already put down 20 small pumps, lol.

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Shotgunnova posted...

Yeah, I wasn't that hopeful on a two-shot missile launcher. I remembered that there was a certain prefix pool and some types weren't applicable (i.e. no Two-Shot Pool Cues). Prefix swapping with a mod takes some of the fun out of it for me, though. Killing all those stupid legendary wolves, raiders, ghouls and stuff and seeing what goodies they have is part of the entertainment value. I mean...a lot of the time they'll have pipe gun jank, or a Frigid Rolling Pin, or something you throw in the trash immediately, but still. :P

I found the Alien Blaster earlier, though, but I dunno if I'll use it. IIRC, its ammo type is finite and I only use energy weapons on certain character builds.

You might be surprised at how little it diminishes the thrill of getting a good RNG drop. There's still plenty of excitement to be found randomly getting a Wounding, Explosive, or Two-Shot weapon, because they're still pretty rare; only now you aren't saddled with a good prefix being wasted on a pipe pistol. This is especially true when you consider how much Far Harbor's rather lackluster legendary prefix additions diminish your chances of getting the more worthwhile vanilla prefixes.

And the Alien Blaster (as well as all of the Zeta Creation firearms) can be converted to use Fusion Cells for a negligible drop in weapon damage. Plus there's very little reason to segregate builds between Ballistic and Energy Weapons in Fallout 4, since they instead chose to split the damage-boosting perks along the lines of one-handed / two-handed / auto-fire / heavy.

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Props to you. I have been trying to get into the Fallout series for years but always stop. Something about the gameplay doesn't click with me. :P

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Welp, protected my synth buddies and murdered everyone in Covenant. I like how the gate guard runs at you with a knife or something, screaming, "You ruined everything!!!!!!". Now, how to renovate this nice pre-war village with ugly concrete facades... Hmm...

masterpug53 posted...

You might be surprised at how little it diminishes the thrill of getting a good RNG drop. There's still plenty of excitement to be found randomly getting a Wounding, Explosive, or Two-Shot weapon, because they're still pretty rare; only now you aren't saddled with a good prefix being wasted on a pipe pistol. This is especially true when you consider how much Far Harbor's rather lackluster legendary prefix additions diminish your chances of getting the more worthwhile vanilla prefixes.

And the Alien Blaster (as well as all of the Zeta Creation firearms) can be converted to use Fusion Cells for a negligible drop in weapon damage. Plus there's very little reason to segregate builds between Ballistic and Energy Weapons in Fallout 4, since they instead chose to split the damage-boosting perks along the lines of one-handed / two-handed / auto-fire / heavy.

Ehhhh, I think I can live with RNG doing the work. There are certain places, especially in Nuka-World, where you can creep up on spawning raider factions to save-scum legendaries. I don't think they drop Far Harbor stuff, but eh well. Good to know about the Alien Blaster, though. I forgot about changing its ammo type.

Ps2Twilight posted...

Props to you. I have been trying to get into the Fallout series for years but always stop. Something about the gameplay doesn't click with me. :P

Just make a joke build and have fun. I prefer long gun characters, but having a dude who only uses heavy weapons (minigun, flamer) and explosives sounds way more kickass than what I'm doing.

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Ahh, it just wouldn't be a FO4 playthrough without forgetting where the operation room key is for Medford Memorial. I remembered it was in a nurse's station somewhere, so I guess a little of the past searching stuck.

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lmao

Wandered into Greygarden randomly, saw it attacked by robots. Then it was attacked by a second wave, then super mutants wandered nearby, then a fourth straggler robot came to attack. The crossfire with all these turrets was amazing, but I had to reload when one of my NPC Handies died. =(

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Hmm, got a handmade rifle to drop from a legendary sentrybot in the Commonwealth. Good to know (relearn?) some of those DLC-specific weapon types can be found in the base game.

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Due to Bethesda having one of their characteristic brain farts during development - in which they pulled the one-two punch of making all keys permanently stuck in your inventory and not making a dedicated key menu - I don't pick up a key in FO4 unless it's absolutely necessary. It's worth it to invest in the first three ranks of Locksmith as early as possible anyway.

There used to be a very nice key rollup mod, but the addition of Nuka-World completely broke it. There's been one or two half-decent key mods to come along since then, but I haven't bothered with them.

Shotgunnova posted...

Hmm, got a handmade rifle to drop from a legendary sentrybot in the Commonwealth. Good to know (relearn?) some of those DLC-specific weapon types can be found in the base game.

The unfortunate catch is that ammo for these DLC-specific weapons cannot be found anywhere in the Commonwealth; you have to go to Far Harbor to find / buy .45-70 ammo / harpoons, and Nuka-World for 7.62 ammo.

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Dammit, I beat the Mechanist fight (Ada has two missile launchers, haha) but it glitched up and won't let me into the control room. I seem to remember this happening way back when the DLC first came out, too, so it's disappointing it wasn't fixed by any patches, unofficial or otherwise. Guess I'll have to do the workaround method. =|

As for keys, I have some, but I have zero investment in lockpicking this time. Ada has a lockpick module, though, if I really wanted to get into something.

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Oh geez, it seems the unofficial patch could be causing the problem. Guess I'll do the elevator method, bring along a robot to hack the terminal, then go from there.

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Its a fun game. Its a bit like Skyrim. Its not the best game out there, but you get sucked in and can ignore the faults. Exploration is fun.

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Ruh-roh, it looks like objects placed underwater in a settlement can't be removed? Not even any options to interact with 'em. Glad I only placed a wall light to see what it'd do.

Kakapo posted...

Its a fun game. Its a bit like Skyrim. Its not the best game out there, but you get sucked in and can ignore the faults. Exploration is fun.

Almost replayed Skyrim instead of this. And by replayed, I meant be a stealth archer and ignore the main questline.

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Shotgunnova posted...

Oh geez, it seems the unofficial patch could be causing the problem.

It's possible. I know people mention to this day how the Skyrim unofficial patch mod breaks the Thieves Guild for Skyrim, and it's closing in on 10 years since the game's release...

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I managed to beat the DLC with the alternate route, so now I have my real reward: wall-mounted spotlights! I did it all for you, baby! Maybe I'll start Nuka-World later or something.

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Damn, I still haven't encountered Smiling Larry even once. He's the last unique merchant I need for Warwick Settlement.

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Found the Scribe walking along the tracks once near Tenpines Bluff. Good place to have random encounters.



Gave Gerty a makeover to get rid of those nasty dipped-in-acid scars. She's ready for her closeup now!



The Assaultrons on the loading screen are actual enemies in the game? I think I remember being able to make one for myself, but didn't know Rust Devils could have 'em, too. Quite a surprise to see this crawling out of the sagebrush.



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Shotgunnova posted...

Found the Scribe walking along the tracks once near Tenpines Bluff. Good place to have random encounters.

If you want to force encounters, there's a great spot near the Cambridge Police Station. Basically you head down the road to the west of Cambridge, and when it turns toward the east as it approaches the Charles River you'll have a random encounter near the corner of the building at the bend in the road.

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I'll add that one to my list. The others I've been using the reservoir/dam bridge near Forest Grove Marsh and the empty house near Drumlin Diner. Could've sworn there was a spot near Longneck Lukowski's Cannery that had one, too, but I forget where. Might be a little up into the hills near there.

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Hmm, I think there's another possible meeting spawn NW of Drumlin Diner, too. Found a settler near Recon Bunker Theta, too, although I only remembered evil encounters there. Gonna have to spread out my net to snag Larry.

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I stopped caring about the random-encounter lvl4 merchants a long time ago; Fallout 4 has some of the worst / most unreliable random encounter rates and locations in a Bethesda game. Apart from the Vault-Tec Salesman and Tina de Luca (who are both in fixed locations), Trader Rylee's the only one I still care about having; and she can be recruited right outside the Cannery if you follow her outside after the conversation, if you follow a couple key steps. She ends up slightly buggy in that you can't access her inventory directly, but still performs her settler / merchant duties without issue.

Beyond that, Ron Staples' merchant inventory is bugged, and the Scribe and Smiling Larry never really had any special inventory that made them worth the trouble (at least in my opinion). I can't even remember the unique Doctor's name.

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Man, I've been having fun making robot provisioners for places, just to have fun naming 'em (that way, I know exactly where they're going when I see 'em on the road). So far I have:

• Graygarden --> Supervisor Black
• Murkwater Construction Site --> Swamp Thing
• Longfellow's Cabin --> New Longfellow
• Tenpines Bluff --> Tenpin
• The Slog --> Sloggy Bottom Boy

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I was playing it and got lost during the Patriotic Trail

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masterpug53 posted...

I stopped caring about the random-encounter lvl4 merchants a long time ago; Fallout 4 has some of the worst / most unreliable random encounter rates and locations in a Bethesda game. Apart from the Vault-Tec Salesman and Tina de Luca (who are both in fixed locations), Trader Rylee's the only one I still care about having; and she can be recruited right outside the Cannery if you follow her outside after the conversation, if you follow a couple key steps. She ends up slightly buggy in that you can't access her inventory directly, but still performs her settler / merchant duties without issue.

Beyond that, Ron Staples' merchant inventory is bugged, and the Scribe and Smiling Larry never really had any special inventory that made them worth the trouble (at least in my opinion). I can't even remember the unique Doctor's name.

Yeah, I was mostly getting the LV4s because of their higher cap amounts, but now that I have the 500-cap investment perk, it's not as important. Still want Larry to complete my collection, though.

Joeydollaz posted...

I was playing it and got lost during the Patriotic Trail

What's the Patriotic Trail? That path going to the Railroad?

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I like making a big bruiser Sentry Bot called 'Black Betty,' and twin Assaultrons named 'Celia' and 'Lede.' I had what I thought to be a pretty cool name for a farm-bot I made at Sunshine Tidings, but I'm blanking on it.

Since we're dropping custom names, I'm compelled to share some of my favorite weapon names:

'Scarlet Stitch' (Wattz Laser Sniper Rifle [mod]; alt: vanilla Laser Sniper Rifle)

'Crystal Blue Persuasion' (Wattz Institute Rifle [mod]; alt: vanilla Institute Rifle with scattershot)

'Ol' Blood and Guts' (Assault Rifle w/ Explosive Prefix - reference to General Patton's nickname)

'Boston Massacre' (Minigun w/ Wounding or Explosive Prefix)

'Cherry Pie Red' (Missile Launcher - reference to my favorite line from my favorite NV character)

'Malpractice' (Mr. Handy Buzz Blade w/ Wounding Prefix)

'Toecutter' (Disciples Blade w/ Wounding Prefix)


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Looked through some old files, but I'm mostly using Overseer's Guardian (from a vault somewhere, I think), Sergeant Ash, and Reba II on all of 'em. My best file has a complete modded-out Nuka World power armor set + a ghoul-killing assualt rifle called Silent Sepulchre. Too lazy to find my caches and search through, haha.

Lots of modded fedoras, though. Gotta roll in style, m'accready.

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lmao

This is the second time I've been sneaking around the railroad tracks near Gunners Plaza and happened upon a super mutant suicider two feet away. Luckily, it starts in a sitting position and has to rise up slowly, so it can't nuke you without recourse. I remember the first time this happened, right after some legendary dropped a Deadeye Gauss Rifle for me. Would've been a little annoyed if that was erased.

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The most dangerous Suicider in the game is in one of the Metro stations. Immediately after you enter is a small flight of stairs and the Suicider is near the bottom landing, just out of sight. It's one of the few places in the game where it is legit useful to kill with a Cryo Grenade/Mine to prevent the explosion.

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Wow, I encountered three super mutants and a hostage out past Recon Bunker Theta and they ALL had miniguns. Took out the mirelurk queen there in a jiffy, by the looks of it. Came over the ridge after hearing their whirring noises and it was already dead.

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Odd...this Legendary Gunner didn't have any legendary drop. FO4 doesn't play fair!



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Whoa, had the phantom static noise bug that wouldn't go away. Apparently it's related to energy weapons being charged up, but since I don't use any, not sure what caused it. Just reloaded an old save to be on the safe side.

That said, the fact that I can't find Smiling Larry or a sentrybot torso is kind of annoying. Maybe I should just do some Nuka-World stuff and come back later.

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Yeahhhh, this raider-spawning checkpoint in Nuka World still works. Gonna see if I can get some good swag. So far it's been crap like a Cavalier's Switchblade, but I'm sure something will pop up. Can just spawn raiders, wait for a legendary to show, check their inventory, then restart if things don't go well. And, if they do go well...the legendary raider has an unfortunate accident on the way home...

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Ooh, Gauss Rifles aren't energy weapons in this game. Gonna swap out that garbage-tier garbage sniper rifle I have, since its max damage is a paltry 107 or something pathetic. I thought it'd get better with time, but it's aging like milk.

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Yeah, the Hunting/Sniper Rifle is garbage. It COULD have been good if the .50 cal receiver was worth a damn, but instead it just functions as an 'Advanced' receiver. The .50 cal should have had a +100 base damage effect to be worth consideration.

Bethesda does sell a decent rifle separately.... -_-
The Manwell Rifle combines the damage of a Gauss Rifle with the handling mechanics of a Combat Rifle. The suppressed barrel also doesn't drop effective range, as it does with all the vanilla weapons.

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DuneMan posted...

Yeah, the Hunting/Sniper Rifle is garbage. It COULD have been good if the .50 cal receiver was worth a damn, but instead it just functions as an 'Advanced' receiver. The .50 cal should have had a +100 base damage effect to be worth consideration.

Bethesda does sell a decent rifle separately.... -_-
The Manwell Rifle combines the damage of a Gauss Rifle with the handling mechanics of a Combat Rifle. The suppressed barrel also doesn't drop effective range, as it does with all the vanilla weapons.

I'm still salty that you need a mod to make the Anti-Materiel Rifle worth a damn. One of the Creation Club's biggest downsides (apart from the price) is that the weapons they put out are more often than not severely underpowered (which again, stings all the more when you remember you paid premium price for this stuff). But them making the Anti-Materiel Rifle damn-near useless was a grave insult.

That's why I like to make special note of when a CC weapon actually delivers on power / fun, like the Alien Disintegrator. Heavy Incinerator does a great amount of damage with full investment in Heavy Gunner + Demo Expert (Hellfire Armor + HI is one of the few things I loved about Fallout 3 enough to want them back in mod / CC form; got a great HF Armor mod a long time ago, but there was never a good HI mod to compliment it), but still needs a mod to fix the range, rate of fire, and pathetic ammo capacity. I just bought the Tesla Cannon when it went on sale yesterday, and am interested to see how it holds up. Can't say I've yet been interested in paying money for the Manwell Rifle or the CR-Whatever Rifle, but if they're on sale again I might change my mind.

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masterpug53 posted...

I just bought the Tesla Cannon when it went on sale yesterday, and am interested to see how it holds up.

I want to say the big draw there is a chain lightning effect, similar to one of the upgrades for the Automatron weapon. So you'd gather a group of angry Ferals or whatever and then blast the whole group.

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DuneMan posted...

I want to say the big draw there is a chain lightning effect, similar to one of the upgrades for the Automatron weapon. So you'd gather a group of angry Ferals or whatever and then blast the whole group.

That's a big thing that drew me to it. The Tesla Cannon, like Hellfire Armor and Heavy Incinerator before it, are among the very few things I genuinely miss from Fallout 3 (NV uncharacteristically ruined the Tesla Cannon and its variants for me, first by making the ammo consumption ridiculously prohibitive, and later by patching out the AoE blast).

I started getting pretty reliant on Oxhorn's reviews of FO4 CC content; he seems to pick up on the little things that could make or break the deal for me. For instance, I was debating whether to buy Gunners vs. Minutemen yesterday since it too was on sale, and my chief 'little detail' question was whether or not the Quincy Gunners respawn after clearing the area; fortunately he addressed this very question (seems like they do, which was what I personally was hoping would happen).

Anyway, he had a pretty positive review of the Tesla Cannon and it seemed to be pretty powerful, so I told myself I'd pick it up next time it was on sale. On the other hand, I saw a post on Beth.net saying that the weapon carried a bug similar to the recon scope that could turn on-guard NPCs auto-hostile, so that made me hesitant. But I said hell with it and bought it anyway; worst case scenario, it's two bucks wasted.

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Eww, messed-up anti-materiel rifles. Weird how they can't even do basic things right.

Anyway, gotta post some pics now. Got this earlier.



Here's what I built at the Slog. A bit of upward mobility for ghoulkind, haha.



This was in Nuka-World and I thought it was kinda funny. Shame it's not an actual decoration to use in settlements...it'd make a good Halloween-themed scare.



Save-scumming this encounter site eventually paid off, haha. The Kneecapper Gauss was probably better, though, now that I think about it. Being able to stop anything quick from coming at you, and maybe even knocking some enemies down (like mirelurk variants), could be more useful for long-range sniping.



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I'm starting to feel like all the Rust Devil stuff is usurping the regular encounters. Still haven't found Smiling Larry and most of the spots I check don't even show those random encounters anymore, like super mutants with prisoners, random people walking, creatures to kill, etc. Hell, the only one that DOES seem to be showing up is the woman who sells you a brahmin for 100 caps. Thought some time away in Nuka-World would maybe solve this, but naw.

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It's weird that, when I search around, everyone keeps saying that finishing the Mechanist storyline unlocks all mods. I think I have all mods except the sentry bot torso, which prevents me from having shoulder-mounted weapons entirely. There are some robots I kill that drop sentry hydraulic frames but not torsos themselves. Even save scumming doesn't seem to work. Gettin' tiresome, I tell ya.

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Kneecapper is best with a light and fast weapon, IMO. It's relatively common to find 10mm pistols with that effect. Slap on Light parts and you can easily cripple Deathclaws, Ghouls, Assaultrons, and the like.

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Damn, was hoping Fort Hagen Satellite Array would spawn another sentrybot to steal stuff from, but to no avail. I need that torso. =(

DuneMan posted...

Kneecapper is best with a light and fast weapon, IMO. It's relatively common to find 10mm pistols with that effect. Slap on Light parts and you can easily cripple Deathclaws, Ghouls, Assaultrons, and the like.

Ehh, I don't use pistols on this character. It'd be nice to have a long-range kneecapper since I have my kneecapper flamer for other stuff.

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Shotgunnova posted...

Ehh, I don't use pistols on this character.

For the Kneecapper effect that doesn't matter. It's a flat 20% chance to instantly cripple a leg with each hit. Range doesn't matter, nor does damage. All you need is fire rate. It's better to save direct combat buffs for the weapon types you actually want to use, IMO.

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What I mean is I'm playing a rifleman character, so I don't have a fast fire rate on pretty much anything. Probably gonna branch into heavy weapons later (hence the flamer) later, but right now, I haven't invested anything in related perks. Gonna try to boost my Endurance to get the perk that erases radiation with the passage of time.

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Shotgunnova posted...

Gonna try to boost my Endurance to get the perk that erases radiation with the passage of time.

10 Endurance and Solar Powered are a good idea for any high level character, IMO. I usually pick that up at some point once I get above level 50. Just be mindful of the loss of 2 points of Strength at sundown; if you're near the carry limit you might suddenly be over-encumbered.

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Yeah, that's why I didn't take that sundown perk -- it's bitten me in the ass before. Might be able to subsist just by using the Ghoulish perk series instead.

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