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AN EXPERT'S GUIDE TO MASTERING FALLOUT
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Last updated October 25, 2000
(My updates are hidden. You have to find them.)


This FAQ is copyrighted by the author and may be freely distributed so long as
it appears in its complete, unaltered, and unplagarized form. This FAQ may not
be sold for monetary gain or be republished/reproduced, in part or in whole,
for any reason whatsoever, without the express permission of the author.
Copyrighted by Cole Simmons, A.K.A. Kazorky Pantz, June 2000
Kazorky_pantz@hotmail.com





ABOUT THIS GUIDE
---------------------------

After playing the excellent game Fallout extensively, I have decided to share
what I believe is the best, easiest possible way to not only solve every quest
in the game, but also to achieve such hallmarks as obtaining the maximum level
possible for your character, increasing your stats to their maximum levels, and
finding out why exactly the world of Fallout is as it is in the first place. I
did not write this guide in order to explain things to you, however; you will
have to make your own discoveries regarding the plot and sub-themes in the
game.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
---------------------------

A. GETTING STARTED
1. Character creation
2. Some Rather Important Game tips
B. Vault 13 / Shady Sands
C. Vault 15
D. Junktown
E. The Hub
F. Necropolis
G. Vault 13
H. Shady Sands / The Khans
I. The Hub
J. The Glow
K. The Brotherhood
L. Gettin' Stronger
M. The Hub
N. Adytown
O. The Military Base
P. The Brotherhood
Q. The Military Base
S. Gettin' Stronger Still
T. The Cathedral
U. The End (sorta)





So, without further ado....






A. Gettin' Started
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1. Your Character
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This guide really refers only to one type of character, but it is, in my
opinion, the character best suited for the completion and enjoyment of the
game.

What I advise you to do:

STR: 4
END: 5
PEC: 7
INT: 7
CHR: 5
AGI: 6
LCK: 6

Why I advise you to do this: First of all, the decrease in strength will NOT
affect you in any noticeable way unless you tend towards a melee type
character, and in that case you should not read much of my FAQ. I'm a weapons
man. But an average strength will not bother you at all; when you get the
power armor, your strength will be 10 - and will not be a concern (even for a
melee character). Increased Perception lets you shoot things with guns a long
way away with more accuracy. Increased Intelligence lets you gain more skill
points per level, and also increases the amount of experience you get from
certain tasks. More agility will give you more action points - especially
helpful to a sniper. (Plus, with 8 PEC and AGI, you'll be able to get the
Sniper perk at level 18 - this upgrades all your ranged hits to critical
damage. (That's a good thing.) Increased Luck actually helps quite a bit --
you're more likely to succeed in using skills, hitting targets, causing
critical hits, gambling well, and basically doing anything you want to do a
little better. Besides, if you don't have sufficient luck, there's no way
you'll be able to find the ULTIMATE WEAPON in Fallout.

My preferred tag skills:

Small Guns (recommended above all other skills. Being able to shoot guns
well is ESSENTIAL to blazing through Fallout without a whole lot of fuss.)

Gambling (get your gambling skills over about 75% with good luck and you'll
never have to worry about money. EVER.)

The last is a toss-up between Energy Weapons and Speech. Speech is always good
to have, but Energy Weapons is a necessity a lot sooner than you'd think -- and
a tag helps a LOT to become proficient in their use earlier.

As for Traits - GIFTED IS A MUST. This gives you +1 to ALL attributes and a
small penalty in your skills (-10% to all skills, -4 points per level). This
is more than worth it.

As for the other trait, it's best to pick something with little effect -
personally, I rarely choose any other Trait except for Bloody Mess ;)
DON'T PICK SKILLED. Skilled sucks - having one perk every four levels is not
worth it. You can always improve your skills.

The name, sex, and age of your character are inconsequential.


2. Some Rather Important Game Tips
------------------------------------------

My game tips aren't like anybody else's, I guarantee. But I can get a level
17 character in two or three days, and I always get at least 100,000 caps
before I cease my play, so go figure.

1. In combat, always use targeted shots if using a rifle or pistol of any
kind. Try to get close to your enemy, and shoot them repeatedly in the
eyeballs. Usually, with a good Luck and good Perception and good Small Guns
skills, you can kill any foe in one good shot by doing this.

2. When browsing over your fallen foes' corpses, pick up only money and
healing chems (unless you happen to see they have better guns or armor than
yours, or you need ammo -- and then leave behind any discarded munitions or
armor on their bodies.) Carrying around thirty guns and leather jackets is
really pointless. Take what you need, but don't play the pack rat.

3. Don't use Stimpaks or the like unless you're severely wounded (your HP
counter is yellow). Stimpaks are your friends -- but don't waste them.
You'll be a lot happier if you end the game by facing the legions of minigun
toting super mutants with an inventory of 150+ Stimpaks -- quite easy if you're
conservative throughout the game.

4. Don't do drugs. Drugs are bad. (Actually, this is a personal thing; if
you enjoy being addicted to chems and having the wildly fluxuating stats that
accompanies their use, then be my guest. I just stay away from them; I don't
need them.)

5. Be careful who you kill. Don't shoot little kids, even by accident -- I
hate nothing more than to have important people who I plan on completing quests
for suddenly start shooting me because of a bad shot -- if this happens, reload
your game and try again.

6. SAVE OFTEN. I MEAN, A LOT. I MEAN, SAVE AFTER EVERY BATTLE, EVERY
JOURNEY FROM TOWN TO TOWN, EVERY LITTLE THING THAT SEEMS IN THE REMOTEST WAY
RELEVANT TO THE GAME. A good character can get you through the game easily,
but that doesn't mean that some yahoo with a 10mm piece of crap can't get lucky
and critically hit you in the eyeball for 274 HP worth of damage. And if that
happens while you're two steps from beating the game, and you saved back after
leaving Vault 13 the first time, you're not going to be real nice to friends
and family for days following.

7. GET THE PATCH to v1.1! This is essential. Not only does it fix a lot of
stupid bugs and glitches, it removes the time limit from the game -- if you
don't get it, you'll have to complete the game in 500 days, and that really
sucks. Trust me. So UPGRADE.

8. Personally, I prefer to play the Good Guy. I just like being the champion
of humanity in this game, though it's a choice you could deviate from and still
have fun with the game. However, there are more experience points to be gained
from peaceful solutions to problems, and being a Good Guy will definitely get
the right people to like you in the right situations. Just a thought to
ponder.

9. Here is a list of Perks that will, I assure you, help you to become a
walking incarnation of death in the world.

For your first Perk, choose Toughness. Choose it again a few times until
something better comes along. I prefer to gain all three ranks of it, the 30%
damage resistance boost makes me laugh derisively later on when raiders attempt
in vain to do even a single HP worth of damage to me.

More criticals is another Perk I like to stock up in. More criticals is fun.

Here's the best Perk combo in the game:
Action Boy (one rank)
Bonus Rate of Fire (must be level 9)
SNIPER!! Get Sniper on level 18.

With these three, and the Ultimate Weapon, (to be mentioned later), you can
easily do about 300 HP of damage to your enemies every turn, sometimes upward
of 800HP. This'll be explained later.)

10. If, at any point in your journeying, you happen to come across a crashed
UFO with two alien bodies next to it, SEARCH THE BODIES AND TAKE THE GUN.
TAKE IT. TAKE IT. KEEP IT. DON'T SELL IT. DON'T LOOSE IT. KEEP IT.

11. If, at any point in your journeying, you happen to come across a lone
traveler going through the mountains, make sure you TALK TO HIM ABOUT SINGING,
and ASK HIM ABOUT THE CELTIC SONG. This will boost your charisma by one point.
This is the only time in the game you can improve your charisma.

12. When you've worked up your weapons skills and gambling skills, try working
on the doctor skill. It's MUCH better than the first aid skill, can repair
broken limbs, and does 10-15 HP worth of healing with each use at high levels.


That's about it. The rest of what you need to know, you'll find below.
(I'm a poet but don't know it.)


B. VAULT 13 / SHADY SANDS
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Vault 13 and the area beyond are barely worth mentioning at the moment.
Search the corpse next to you, pick up what you want, arm yourself with the
10mm, and kill all the rats in the area. There are 20 of them. This may not
seem like fun, but its 500 experience points (XP from now on), and that's
halfway to the second level.

Once you've done this, leave the vault and head for Vault 15, but stop in at
the unknown city on the way -- Shady Sands.

There are only a few things to do in Shady Sands, but you'll leave with at
least one level up for doing them.

1. Talk to Katrina at the gate about everything you can. This'll earn you
about 300 xp.

2. Search all the bookcases in the town except for the one in Razlo's (the
doctor) house -- he doesn't appreciate it. You'll find throughout the town
some ammo, a rope, and a few books that will increase your outdoorsmanship
skill.

3. Talk to Ian in the guardhouse to the east of the gate, and ask him for
directions to Junktown and the Hub. Also ask him to assist you -- you may have
to offer a share of the loot a few times, but he SHOULD come with you without