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27th August, 1999
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 (Steve's Guide to
Fallout 2: Warts 'n All), 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 not meant
to be a walkthrough, though you can use it that way if you get stuck
somewhere. 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?
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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.
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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.
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 :-)
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.
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...
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Vault 13
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.
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Shady Sands
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". 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
1. Rescue Tandi from the Raiders - 900 XP and 500 Caps.
You have to complete Quest 2, then leave Shady Sands and return again a
few days later to get this quest. Talk to Aradesh, and he'll inform you
that Raiders have apparently kidnapped his daughter Tandi. The Raider
hideout is located just to the SE of Shady Sands. There are 3 ways to
get Tandi back:
1. Barter with Garl, their leader... but it'll cost you dearly in
the early stages of the game.
2. Challenge Garl to hand-to-hand, but only if you have decent
Unarmed skill! Targeted shots to the eyes/groin are the way to go
here.
3. Take out all the Raiders. You have to be careful not to let them
kill Tandi while the fight is on, though! She's being held in a room
in the SW corner of the house. You also get 200 XP for each slave (2
girls not dressed as Raiders) left alive after you've killed all the
Raiders. And... make sure you raid the fridge (Dynamite and a set of
Lockpicks in there)!
Once you've freed Tandi, take her straight back to Aradesh and claim
your reward. She's absolute crap in a fight :-)
2. Stop the Radscorpions - 1250 XP.
After you talk to Aradesh and Dr. Razlo, see Seth, and he'll take you to
the Radscorpion Caves. If you visited Vault 15 already, then you should
have an SMG. Proceed into the Caves and kill one or two Radscorpions.
Take their tails afterwards! Then, if you've got Dynamite (Vault 15
again!), you can drop it next to the wall at the cave entrance (place
where it says "This portion of the cave seems a little weaker" when you
look at the wall there). If you haven't got any Dynamite, you'll have to
kill all the critters to complete the quest.
After you've taken care of the Radscorpions, exit the Caves and return
to Dr. Razlo. You get 250 XP for helping him to find the antidote for
Radscorpion poison. For every tail that you give him from now on, you'll
get a Poison Antidote in return. Use one of the Antidotes on Jarvis in
the back room (Seth's brother) to cure him for 400 XP more!
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Vault 15
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? :-)
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Junktown
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 2 ways:
1. 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).
2. 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.
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 :-)
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The Hub
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Necropolis
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brotherhood of Steel
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Glow
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:
1. 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)!
2. Pop 2 Rad-X. Regardless of what you are wearing, this will always
bring your radiation resistance to 100%.
3. 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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LA Boneyard
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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cathedral
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.
1. 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.
2. 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 below), 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 below under: Cathedral wrap-up.
3. 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.
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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Military Base
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
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. You can't
disable the red fields, but you can temporarily disable the green fields
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. 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. 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 repair it 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!
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. But, it always says that you only manage to disable half the
fields... and I've never seen any effects from this. All the fields are
still turned on! Your mileage may vary :-)
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 look 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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Ending Notes
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Encounters
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons Catalogue
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.
Melee Weapons
Brass Knuckles Knife Club
Dmg: 2-6 Dmg: 1-7 Dmg: 1-7
Combat Knife Spiked Knuckles Crowbar
Dmg: 3-11 Dmg: 4-11 Dmg: 3-11
Sledgehammer Spear Cattle Prod
Dmg: 4-10 Rng: 2 Dmg: 3-11 Rng: 2 Dmg: 12-21
Ammo: 20 x Small Energy
Cell
Power Fist Ripper Super Sledge
Dmg: 12-25 Dmg: 15-33 Dmg: 18-37 Rng: 2
Ammo: 25 x Small Ammo: 30 x Small Energy
Energy Cell Cell
Thrown Weapons
Throwing Knife Spear Molotov Cocktail
Dmg: 3-6 Rng: 16 Dmg: 3-11 Rng: 8 Dmg: 8-20 Rng: 12
Grenade (Frag) Grenade (Plasma) Grenade (Pulse)
Dmg: 20-35 Rng: 15 Dmg: 40-90 Rng: 15 Dmg: 100-150 Rng: 15
Anti-mech only
Small Guns
Red Ryder BB Gun 9mm Mauser 10mm Pistol
Dmg: 1-3 Rng: 22 Dmg: 5-10 Rng: 22 Dmg: 5-12 Rng: 25
Ammo: 100 x BB's Ammo: 7 x 9mm Ball Ammo: 12 x 10mm
Hunting Rifle Desert Eagle .44 Shotgun
Dmg: 8-20 Rng: 40 Dmg: 10-16 Rng: 25 Dmg: 12-22 Rng: 14
Ammo: 10 x .223mm FMJ Ammo: 8 x .44 Magnum Ammo: 2 x 12 ga. Shot
14mm Pistol .223 Pistol Sniper Rifle
Dmg: 12-22 Rng: 24 Dmg: 20-30 Rng: 30 Dmg: 14-34 Rng: 50
Ammo: 6 x 14mm Ammo: 5 x .223 FMJ Ammo: 6 x .223 FMJ
10mm SMG Combat Shotgun Assault Rifle
Dmg: 5-12 Rng: 25 Dmg: 15-25 Rng: 22 Dmg: 8-16 Rng: 45
Ammo: 30 x 10mm Ammo: 12 x 12 ga. Shot Ammo: 24 x 5mm
Red Ryder LE BB Gun
Dmg: 25-25 Rng: 32
Ammo: 100 x BB's
Big Guns
Flamer Rocket Launcher Minigun
Dmg: 45-90 Rng: 5 Dmg: 35-100 Rng: 40 Dmg: 7-11 Rng: 35
Ammo: 5 x Flamethrower Fuel Ammo: 1 x Rocket Ammo: 120 x 5mm
Min. ST 7
Energy Weapons
Laser Pistol Plasma Pistol Laser Rifle
Dmg: 10-22 Rng: 35 Dmg: 15-35 Rng: 20 Dmg: 25-50 Rng: 45
Ammo: 12 x Small Ammo: 16 x Small Energy Ammo: 12 x Micro Fusion
Energy Cell Cell Cell
Plasma Rifle Turbo Plasma Rifle Alien Blaster
Dmg: 30-65 Rng: 25 Dmg: 35-70 Rng: 35 Dmg: 30-90 Rng: 10
Ammo: 10 x Micro Ammo: 10 x Micro Fusion Ammo: 30 x Small Energy
Fusion Cell Cell Cell
Gatling Laser
Dmg: 20-40 Rng: 40
Ammo: 30 x Micro
Fusion Cell
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armour Catalogue
In order of protection afforded.
Leather Jacket Leather Armor Metal Armor
AC: 8 AC: 15 AC: 10
Normal 0/20% Normal 2/25% Normal 4/30%
Laser 0/20% Laser 0/20% Laser 6/75%
Fire 0/20% Fire 0/20% Fire 4/10%
Plasma 0/10% Plasma 0/10% Plasma 4/20%
Explode 0/20% Explode 0/20% Explode 4/25%
Tesla Armor Combat Armor Brotherhood Armor
AC: 15 AC: 20 AC: 20
Normal 7/20% Normal 5/40% Normal 8/40%
Laser 19/90% Laser 8/60% Laser 8/70%
Fire 4/10% Fire 4/30% Fire 7/50%
Plasma 9/80% Plasma 4/50% Plasma 7/60%
Explode 3/20% Explode 6/40% Explode 8/40%
Power Armor Hardened Power Armor
AC: 25 AC: 25
Normal 12/40% Normal 16/50%
Laser 18/80% Laser 19/90%
Fire 12/60% Fire 14/70%
Plasma 10/40% Plasma 12/50%
Explode 20/50% Explode 19/60%
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright й Steve Metzler for the Games Domain - August, 1999. All rights
reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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 (Steve's Guide to
Fallout 2: Warts 'n All), 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 not meant
to be a walkthrough, though you can use it that way if you get stuck
somewhere. 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.
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 :-)
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.
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...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vault 13
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shady Sands
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". 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
1. Rescue Tandi from the Raiders - 900 XP and 500 Caps.
You have to complete Quest 2, then leave Shady Sands and return again a
few days later to get this quest. Talk to Aradesh, and he'll inform you
that Raiders have apparently kidnapped his daughter Tandi. The Raider
hideout is located just to the SE of Shady Sands. There are 3 ways to
get Tandi back:
1. Barter with Garl, their leader... but it'll cost you dearly in
the early stages of the game.
2. Challenge Garl to hand-to-hand, but only if you have decent
Unarmed skill! Targeted shots to the eyes/groin are the way to go
here.
3. Take out all the Raiders. You have to be careful not to let them
kill Tandi while the fight is on, though! She's being held in a room
in the SW corner of the house. You also get 200 XP for each slave (2
girls not dressed as Raiders) left alive after you've killed all the
Raiders. And... make sure you raid the fridge (Dynamite and a set of
Lockpicks in there)!
Once you've freed Tandi, take her straight back to Aradesh and claim
your reward. She's absolute crap in a fight :-)
2. Stop the Radscorpions - 1250 XP.
After you talk to Aradesh and Dr. Razlo, see Seth, and he'll take you to
the Radscorpion Caves. If you visited Vault 15 already, then you should
have an SMG. Proceed into the Caves and kill one or two Radscorpions.
Take their tails afterwards! Then, if you've got Dynamite (Vault 15
again!), you can drop it next to the wall at the cave entrance (place
where it says "This portion of the cave seems a little weaker" when you
look at the wall there). If you haven't got any Dynamite, you'll have to
kill all the critters to complete the quest.
After you've taken care of the Radscorpions, exit the Caves and return
to Dr. Razlo. You get 250 XP for helping him to find the antidote for
Radscorpion poison. For every tail that you give him from now on, you'll
get a Poison Antidote in return. Use one of the Antidotes on Jarvis in
the back room (Seth's brother) to cure him for 400 XP more!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vault 15
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? :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Junktown
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 2 ways:
1. 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).
2. 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.
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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hub
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Necropolis
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brotherhood of Steel
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Glow
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:
1. 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)!
2. Pop 2 Rad-X. Regardless of what you are wearing, this will always
bring your radiation resistance to 100%.
3. 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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LA Boneyard
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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cathedral
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.
1. 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.
2. 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 below), 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 below under: Cathedral wrap-up.
3. 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.
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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Military Base
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
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. You can't
disable the red fields, but you can temporarily disable the green fields
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. 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. 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 repair it 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!
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. But, it always says that you only manage to disable half the
fields... and I've never seen any effects from this. All the fields are
still turned on! Your mileage may vary :-)
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 look 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 :-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Ending Notes
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Encounters
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!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapons Catalogue
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.
Melee Weapons
Brass Knuckles Knife Club
Dmg: 2-6 Dmg: 1-7 Dmg: 1-7
Combat Knife Spiked Knuckles Crowbar
Dmg: 3-11 Dmg: 4-11 Dmg: 3-11
Sledgehammer Spear Cattle Prod
Dmg: 4-10 Rng: 2 Dmg: 3-11 Rng: 2 Dmg: 12-21
Ammo: 20 x Small Energy
Cell
Power Fist Ripper Super Sledge
Dmg: 12-25 Dmg: 15-33 Dmg: 18-37 Rng: 2
Ammo: 25 x Small Ammo: 30 x Small Energy
Energy Cell Cell
Thrown Weapons
Throwing Knife Spear Molotov Cocktail
Dmg: 3-6 Rng: 16 Dmg: 3-11 Rng: 8 Dmg: 8-20 Rng: 12
Grenade (Frag) Grenade (Plasma) Grenade (Pulse)
Dmg: 20-35 Rng: 15 Dmg: 40-90 Rng: 15 Dmg: 100-150 Rng: 15
Anti-mech only
Small Guns
Red Ryder BB Gun 9mm Mauser 10mm Pistol
Dmg: 1-3 Rng: 22 Dmg: 5-10 Rng: 22 Dmg: 5-12 Rng: 25
Ammo: 100 x BB's Ammo: 7 x 9mm Ball Ammo: 12 x 10mm
Hunting Rifle Desert Eagle .44 Shotgun
Dmg: 8-20 Rng: 40 Dmg: 10-16 Rng: 25 Dmg: 12-22 Rng: 14
Ammo: 10 x .223mm FMJ Ammo: 8 x .44 Magnum Ammo: 2 x 12 ga. Shot
14mm Pistol .223 Pistol Sniper Rifle
Dmg: 12-22 Rng: 24 Dmg: 20-30 Rng: 30 Dmg: 14-34 Rng: 50
Ammo: 6 x 14mm Ammo: 5 x .223 FMJ Ammo: 6 x .223 FMJ
10mm SMG Combat Shotgun Assault Rifle
Dmg: 5-12 Rng: 25 Dmg: 15-25 Rng: 22 Dmg: 8-16 Rng: 45
Ammo: 30 x 10mm Ammo: 12 x 12 ga. Shot Ammo: 24 x 5mm
Red Ryder LE BB Gun
Dmg: 25-25 Rng: 32
Ammo: 100 x BB's
Big Guns
Flamer Rocket Launcher Minigun
Dmg: 45-90 Rng: 5 Dmg: 35-100 Rng: 40 Dmg: 7-11 Rng: 35
Ammo: 5 x Flamethrower Fuel Ammo: 1 x Rocket Ammo: 120 x 5mm
Min. ST 7
Energy Weapons
Laser Pistol Plasma Pistol Laser Rifle
Dmg: 10-22 Rng: 35 Dmg: 15-35 Rng: 20 Dmg: 25-50 Rng: 45
Ammo: 12 x Small Ammo: 16 x Small Energy Ammo: 12 x Micro Fusion
Energy Cell Cell Cell
Plasma Rifle Turbo Plasma Rifle Alien Blaster
Dmg: 30-65 Rng: 25 Dmg: 35-70 Rng: 35 Dmg: 30-90 Rng: 10
Ammo: 10 x Micro Ammo: 10 x Micro Fusion Ammo: 30 x Small Energy
Fusion Cell Cell Cell
Gatling Laser
Dmg: 20-40 Rng: 40
Ammo: 30 x Micro
Fusion Cell
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Armour Catalogue
In order of protection afforded.
Leather Jacket Leather Armor Metal Armor
AC: 8 AC: 15 AC: 10
Normal 0/20% Normal 2/25% Normal 4/30%
Laser 0/20% Laser 0/20% Laser 6/75%
Fire 0/20% Fire 0/20% Fire 4/10%
Plasma 0/10% Plasma 0/10% Plasma 4/20%
Explode 0/20% Explode 0/20% Explode 4/25%
Tesla Armor Combat Armor Brotherhood Armor
AC: 15 AC: 20 AC: 20
Normal 7/20% Normal 5/40% Normal 8/40%
Laser 19/90% Laser 8/60% Laser 8/70%
Fire 4/10% Fire 4/30% Fire 7/50%
Plasma 9/80% Plasma 4/50% Plasma 7/60%
Explode 3/20% Explode 6/40% Explode 8/40%
Power Armor Hardened Power Armor
AC: 25 AC: 25
Normal 12/40% Normal 16/50%
Laser 18/80% Laser 19/90%
Fire 12/60% Fire 14/70%
Plasma 10/40% Plasma 12/50%
Explode 20/50% Explode 19/60%
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Copyright й Steve Metzler for the Games Domain - August, 1999. All rights
reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.