If you're talking about cheating skill books, you can do worse: drug abuse applies bonuses and penalties to statistics from which these skills are derived. Using Psycho while you're suffering Mentat withdrawals can drive even an Int 10 character to Int 1, resulting in enough stat differential to study at least a dozen more Science and Repair books for additional benefit.
If you start this process early, you also get more benefit out of earlier books you read, since they cap in benefit at 91% (in my experience) due to a formula which generates diminishing returns.

If you want Ian to use the 14mm pistol, give him ONLY the 14mm pistol, OR make sure he has no ammo for any other weapon he might use. In Fallout 2 you can configure your companions' behavior to a certain extent, but in Fallout 1 there's no way to stop Ian completely from pulling out a knife and going melee if he wants to. If you don't give him a knife, he might use his fists. If you really, really want him to keep using his gun, make sure it's fully loaded before you enter combat. Not a perfect solution, but somewhat effective since he tends to go melee in preference to reloading.

Rather than carrying everything around with you, it might be helpful to establish an unofficial HQ somewhere. I often use the library in the Hub since it's a central location and there are lots of empty shelves. Leave stuff on the shelves and it won't disappear. You can come back for it later. I tend to put guns on one shelf, ammo on another shelf, explosives and grenades on another shelf, and so on.

If you've killed Decker, his hideout makes a slightly more inconvenient but significantly cooler unofficial HQ.

P.S. Actually I think items will not disappear even if you just leave them on the ground, but that's messy and better safe than sorry anyway.

Apparrently here are still some timelines in effect when it comes to the mutants...

Necropolis quests...

"The Vault Dweller needs to start this quest before 110 game days have passed, or all the ghouls in Necropolis will have been killed by the super mutants "

Apparently I can still get some XP for fixing water pump, if I can find some damn junk. But getting a reward for vanquishing the mutants is too late.

I wondered where all the ghouls had went.

Lame.

Right now, I think the perk that will help you out the most is Quick Pockets, the key to inventory abuse. You can access your inventory in combat and use as many stimpacks as you need and reload or even swap out weapons for the cost of only 2 APs (4 without the perk). So unless you're taking enough damage to kill you in one round, you should be good there. Another perk you might consider is Bonus Move, which well let you duck behind cover and use fire and retreat tactics.

You need better mule management. Don't let Katja or Ian carry knives or SMGs. That will stop them from switching weapons in combat and from spraying a burst across your back. It can be tough if they've already equipped them, but there are ways. If they currently have knives equipped, make sure they don't have any other knives or SMGs in their inventory. Give them each a 14mm pistol and tell them to draw their best weapon in the next combat. Go looking for easy random encounters. They should end with the gun equipped and the knife in inventory, so take the knife away. Repeat until desired outcome. If they SMGs equipped, take away their spare ammo for it and do random encounters until they run out and switch weapons.

I was just replaying Fallout for the first time in years after downloading it here the other week. I have the disks, but they won't load on my current computer. Last night I beat the mutants at the watershed and the deathclaw with metal armor, a hunting rifle, and an SMG, with a little help from Ian and Dogmeat. So, it is possible.

With the deathclaw, your best bet is to snipe at from the maximum range you can at the start. When it gets close, fire one shot and retreat to reduce the number of attacks it gets. Unfortunately, that won't work with your low AP. There are two possible solutions to that. If you have your mules using decent weapons, then instead of shooting the deathclaw, lead it around in circles while they attack it. Or you can try to snipe its legs to slow its movement and alternate turns retreating and firing.

For the mutants at the watershed, try defeating them in detail. Use Sneak. Even if you haven't put points into it, it still helps a little. Stand in the doorway where the Children of the Cathedral are hanging out and snipe at the mutant that's outside. That is usually enough to fight him without attracting attention from the others. Then take out the one in the building by himself. You may be able to stand back and snipe him through a window, or you may have to go toe to toe with him. The first one in the pump building, shoot him at long range through the door, should get his attention without rousing the last three. He has the only decent ranged weapon, but he's a pretty bad shot. He will stay put and shoot back, so your accuracy advantage will help. If you kill him before he runs out of ammo, you might try using his laser rifle on the other three. For those, try to get one of the two not carrying the flamer to move first. If you get one of them blocking the doorway for you, you'll be in better shape.

It might be worthwhile to start over, this time with a better character creation. You mentioned that you'd messed things up in Junktown, the Hub and Necropolis, that alone is worth considering a restart. Next time you'll know about these dangers and avoid them, yielding you more rewards. The top two traits in the game are Intelligence (skill points per level + dialogue options) and Agility (armor class + action points). Charisma at 4 is enough for two followers; you don't need more. Leave Strenght at 5, that's enough for all weapons except a few big guns. You'll get +3 Strength with the Power Armor later anyway. Perception only matters if you plan on being a long-range sniper, and Endurance and Luck aren't so important. Tag Small Guns, Speech and Lockpick; they're going to see the most use. After the first half of the game, start putting points into Energy Weapons.

This character is known as a "diplosniper": he can solve most quests using persuasion (which also nets you the most XP), and achieve critical hits to take out the strongest enemies before they can use their feared burst fire on you. You'll also discover some combat tricks. For example, during the Rescue the BoS Initiate quest in the Hub, you can initiate combat by shooting one of the bandits through the window, critting him with a targeted shot (reload if it doesn't work), then deal with the others one at a time as they come behind the corner.

Destroying the source of super mutants and destroying the Master can be accomplished without firing a single shot. So this character definitely has it easy in the game.

Charisma actually doesn't do anything regarding followers in FO1. You are mixing it up with FO2, where it does work like you mentioned, but in FO1 you are scott free with just one point in it and still get all the meatshiel ... ehm.. followers one can want. Setting it so low does impede one's speech skill, though.

I usually also play the diplosniper, but tag energy weapons instead of lockpicking. Didn't find much use for it in FO1, except for the High Tower quest and even though tagging two weapon skills are a little bit of overkill, I can't think of any other useful skill, which actually is frequently used in the game, for my way of playing the first Fallout game.

I wasn't aware of the fact that CH had no effect in FO1. I thought the follower formula applied to both games. Thanks for the heads-up!

Anyway, for me the Small Guns skill is the first one to reach 100% (I never go beyond that due to diminishing returns), followed closely by Speech. I set aside a few skill points at each level for Energy Weapons, so that I have at least 80% by the time I get the plasma rifle in the Glow and a steady ammo supply. As for lockpicking, there are quite a bit of locked doors and lockers throughout the game, and without it you miss out on lots of loot. Although you have to develop your Sneak skill as well, since many locked doors are guarded as well. For example, it's quite advantageous to rob Killian's safe in the early game. I used the extra money in the Hub, where I purchased enough skill books to develop Repair and Science without putting points into them on level-up.

I also only discovered this fact recently myself. Kinda surprised me and I thought about all these characters I needlessly pumped points in the CH stat just for the followers.

Thanks for the heads up about some of the lockpicking locations

I agree with a lot of what you say. Once I completed the game, I made a thread about my impressions here.

There were several things I didn't like, but three things stand out. The biggest turn offs were the extreme critical hits in combat and the lack of content mid to late game. The extreme critical hits led to a lot of deaths, especially against the super mutants. The lack of content stemmed mainly from the lack of places on the map to go to and/or quests to do in mid to late game. I felt like I had or roam around in the wilderness or do caravan missions to get experience. It got too repetitive and slow. The third most annoying factor would be facing impossible odds in combat, like sometimes happens in the caravan missions. It only happened a couple times, but I learned to run rather than fight (I avoided dying a third time this way by running).

Your complaint about being blocked from doing certain things because of something you said in dialogue or did is something I can share, to a point. I was thrown out of the brotherhood because I asked one of them members "Pretty please..." in regards to rumors. I got mad and cursed the game, but I kept playing anyway. And there was the time when I watched as the leader guy shot up Randi and I stood helpless. I wanted to pull out his entrails. I also exited the death claw cave without exploring it and wasn't able to get back because slappy wouldn't give me the option. And since I had been a do gooder and everyone knew my heroism, Junktown guards wouldn't even let me enter to explore and would just shoot me. And when I shot Kenny and Sarah wouldn't talk to me because he was her lover, I wanted to tell her I didn't know! I wanted to shoot her. Even though these things made me mad, I can't expect the game to give me free reign with everything. The other things I pointed out in the preceding paragraph are more important to me than this.

I think a lot of these problems have their source in the save scumming nature of old classic games. Back then it was commonplace to save constantly and reload when things go bad. I'm not sure if that's true today for single player games, but it was then. So the idea was if the s*** explodes in your face then you just reload and everything is forgiven. It was all they had back then and they made the mental adjustments to accept it. However, I think with time this old habit has lost its polish and doesn't work as well. While I love old games for other reasons - like how some of them are so technical - this is definitely not something I like about them.

So how would I go about resolving this in a revamped Fallout? I think Fallout 2 went a long ways to resolve some of these problems, like the lack of content mid to late game, but I don't think it went far enough in other ways. It still kills you with crits and might still throw too much at you without you having an escape route (note: I haven't checked yet). If I made a revamped Fallout, I think two things I'd do is reduce the maximum crits and employ more testing to ensure combat encounters aren't too impossible to complete or escape. In the case of the caravan missions, there're cases where Great Mantis swarms or large groups of Raiders will kill you within about 2 turns. So if you fail to run on the first turn then you'll very likely die on the second or third. The problem is there's not much warning, unless you're already aware of the danger ahead of you because you've encountered it before. It needs more warning, somehow. I'm not saying designing this right is easy because this is something developers spend years on perfecting. How do you make something challenging and not so frustrating it chases players away? You run the risk of making the game too safe in your attempt to reduce frustration.

I don't want everything in Fallout to be predictable and carebear-ish. I don't want every encounter to be winnable. It's not my intention to sissify it. However, there comes a point where games can break down and not be engaging anymore. Where this point is reached is different for different gamers. Some players can't play a game if it's turn-based because they prefer real-time. Some players can't play a game if it punishes them X amount. So on and so forth. For me, I reached my tolerable levels with some things in Fallout. I tend to be a very tactical-oriented gamer and I actually like some punishment. For me it's all about making choices. That's what's fun to me. I felt like when a extreme critical hit killed me I was not making any choices but having my character killed for no good reason other than to make me reload a saved game. Where's the choice in all that? It's the manner in which I lose that can bother me.

Perhaps one way to handle deaths is to just respawn characters somehow. Part of the reason I hate deaths is because I have to reload and repeat my steps. I repeatedly forget to save often enough and so I have to redo everything. In fact, maybe this would help resolve some of the issues I have in the above paragraphs. Then again, random deaths don't make games fun. What makes them fun is when a circumstance is challening and really makes you think and you die because you can't juggle all of it in your head yet. You know how when you first play a racing game you get terrible times and as you play more you get better and better? A bad time is like experiencing a death, and it happens because you're still a noob and learning the ropes. It's not random, it's based on your skill.

I'm an advocate of the game keeping track of all your deaths and your total playtime (including deaths). Whenever I play single player games lately, I like to keep journal and record my deaths and experiences. In Eschalon Book I it actually records your playtime. I find these things to be reinforcing. They give things more context or perspective somehow. When things are recorded in this manner, it gives me the feeling I'm not losing as much in my quest to complete the game. It feels more valuable to me.

Aye, the game is hard. They don't make them like that anymore. Being locked out of further conversation because of a wrong dialogue choice is something you're likely to encounter in real life. Also, it actually makes sense that a person can't take more than two shots without suffering a grievous crippling injury or death. The problem is that, while being realistic like that, the game often pits you against a dozen well-armed bandits. Burst fire from a close range often spells death. So you need to resort to tactics, sometimes cheap, exploitative ones, in order to win difficult encounters.

Here's what I'd do to make the game more realistic: eliminate stimpacks altogether and force the character to rely on the First Aid/Doctor skill after combat, or to pay for healing in an infirmary. And restrict the player:enemy ratio to no worse than 1:4, while leaving the combat mechanics intact.

While saving during combat in FO1 is not recommended because it might corrupt your savegame, I've done it a few times in FO2 without adverse effects. This eliminates the need to repeat long combat sequences because the twelfth enemy defeated you, but I use it sparingly. There actually weren't as many difficult combat situations in FO1. Here are the ones I remember:

- the Hub Police vs. Deckard
- you vs. bandits on the farm
- rescuing the BoS initiate
- the Watershed in Necropolis, but only if you don't have a sniper rifle and Small Guns maxed out

There are dozens of difficult enemies in the Military Base and the Cathedral, but by that time you've already acquired the Power Armor, Turbo Plasma Rifle, and put enough points into Energy Weapons so that you can make eye shots with a high probability of success.

Difficult combat situations in Fo1 includes the caravan missions because in rare-ish cases you'll be faced with a Great Mantis swarm or a large crowd of raiders. I know because I experienced both cases. The insect swarm is the worst. At first it seems you'll be ok because they only hit once after moving to you, but you soon notice they all surround you. The next turn they chew you up and you die. What makes it so bad is they work with a single mind, seemingly only attacking you and not the caravaners.

Btw, I was kicked out of the Brotherhood so I never got Power armor or the Turbo plasma rifle. And since I didn't train Laser Weapons, I wouldn't be able to use it anyway. Don't act like everybody will have your experience.

The problem is not everybody is going to have the same experience and/or know what to do. On second run through the game players are going to die much less and have a better handle on it, but not the first time. And it's the first time that can be the game killer for someone. It could be the last time they ever play Fallout and if so it'll be the impression they have years later.

When I played the first time I had no idea what to expect later on. I made conservative choices. I didn't specialize as much because I didn't want to be vulnerable in any particular area of my character and also because I didn't understand the game yet. I didn't know where all the quests were and I didn't know what the implications would be of many of my choices. I wanted to minimize my deaths because I don't like to repeatedly reload. I didn't try something unless I was halfway confident I'd be ok. I play at a calculated pace.

Again, I think this game was made in an era where the expectation was the player will save scum. I think you're playing into that without realizing it. And I think all of it makes it harder for people who're playing for the first time, especially if they're not used to it.

I love realism in games, but too much too quick can turn players away from the game.

Having impossible (or highly unlikely) odds is realistic because it happens in real life. For example, think of those people trapped above the impact zone on the World Trade Center buildings after the planes had hit on 9/11. What're the chances they can get down? Well in one of them ALL of the shafts above the impact zone were destroyed and in many or all cases people did not have the tools to climb on hte outside of the building or into the intense heat of the fires. So essentially they were in an impossible situation and would die.

Impossible odds immerse us, but I think only in small doses. Too much just ain't fun. People don't live in this life to die, they live to accomplish. The threat of death can be thrilling and reinforcing. Many people live life on the edge because somehow the danger makes life more real to them. Maybe this originates from when we were hunter gatherers and warriors defended the tribe from saber tooth tigers and enemy tribes. Desiring danger might be a helpful instinct for a warrior to ensure they enjoy their lot in life. Maybe this urge some people have for danger is a throwback to that. However, the act of dying itself is final and complete. There's no living after you die. So in life it's the threat of death and the desire to accomplish things which makes it so motivating. In games they need to ensure we have that threat always looming over us, but too much dying has the same effect as a single death does in real life - it will keep us from actually playing and enjoying the game. When it happens too often it's no longer just a threat, but a game killer, a motivation killer.

For example, I remember I used to love NIntendo games. I did fairly well. I even solved an arcade game with $10. However, my sister had terrible twitch reflexes and constantly died and she hated those games. See, if we die too much we can't enjoy the game. I died less because I had higher twitch skills. If I died more, I would have hated those games too. I think generally I also played more because I liked all the action and explosions. I had Gi-Joes and played sports. I don't think it's JUST innate skill that determines what we'll enjoy. I'm not sure where nature and nurture meet here, but all I'm saying is my twitch reflexes enabled me to survive more often. I also played FPS shooters when I was a young adult. I played the f*** out of quake 2 with the ActionQuake mod. God that was fun.

Perhaps, and I mean maybe, some of this can be solved by playing the game on easy difficulty. Note that I played the game on normal difficult and I'm not sure if playing on easy would have lessened some of this. If I revamped it all, maybe these random deaths and painful consequences could be more common on the higher difficulties, assuming at least there's some tactics going on.

If you want a more realistic version, check out a free flash game called Caravaneer. It's available on kongregate. No stimpacks, no mutants, no perks. Combat mechanics are similar to Fallout, except you lose action points as you take damage. Badly wounded people can die before you can get them to a doctor, but having an NPC with medical skills, a doctor kit, and/or a supply of medicines can keep them alive and heal lightly-wounded characters.

The amount of stuff you can carry is more realistic. A very strong character can manage heavy body armor, a machine gun, enough ammo for a couple of battles, and some grenades or a rocket launcher and a couple of rockets. You can get draft animals and carts to carry more gear, and in the mid-game you can get cars. No levels, your character and your NPCs just gradually improve through experience.

Navigating between towns requires following compass headings, and it's easy to get lost. There are bandits wandering the wastes, and one important criteria for selecting NPCs and draft animals is movement speed to help avoid those bandits.

It starts off as a trading game, hauling goods between towns, then turns into a quest that wouldn't be out of place in Fallout.

I 100% agree with respect to the speech choices. What makes it worse is that FO1 (even more than FO2) does a speech ROLL in a lot of cases - so it's not just dependent on your choices or your speech skill, but on random factors as well. Although I hate to save scum, IMHO its pretty much necessary with both Fallouts to some extent due to this reason alone. It's just a massive pain to totally miss out on a quest just because the internal probability engine decided to screw you over.

With respect to energy weapons, I think in FO1 I used the perk that allows another skill to be TAGged, so I just tagged energy weapons at that point and was able to get it up to a decent level pretty much straight away.

Started a new game(old files got deleted, long story) and holy crap what a difference action points/agility makes. I put mine at 9 or 10 from the getgo and on top of that I actually recruited tycho this time. Portions of the game that on my previous playthrough were downright impossible feel like a total breeze now. Having an ally I can give a powerful weapon like the sniper rifle to is a huge difference maker. Give Ian the powerful 223 pistol and rock a combat shotgun myself, massacring enemies.

I'm gonna try to get the water chip super quick this time. I'm at Jan 27 I think, got 110 or 111 days or so left to find the chip(haven't paid water merchants for extension). I think I'm gonna try my luck and go for the chip right now. We'll see if level 6 or 7 is high enough to get the job done.

The game's really only especially difficult on that initial playthrough, and even then only if you ended up not putting skill points in the "right" areas. Still a challenge, but if you know what you're doing and how to strategize when to do what, most issues can be avoided.

lol after reading all this i wanna re-dl my copy and play it agains
man this game i so much fun

btw anyone ever set up chars to intentionally make it harder?