# Fallout 3 starting tips? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 1, 2009, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564 "2009-07-01T10:01:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/41 "2009-07-01T19:57:29Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Ah…I thought you were referring to the named sniper rifle. > > Damn. ☹ Aren’t they up to patch 1.6 now? And none of the mods work past 1.5?? > > -XT I read the patch notes for 1.6 and it seems to indicate that “object loading from esp files now works”. So I am thinking that mods do work with 1.6 now, but I am not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/42 "2009-07-01T19:59:37Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > No one’s mentioned picking up the junkyard dog. I found him really helpful in early levels, as the enemies would focus on him while I blasted away. > > I dropped the dog as soon as I had enough caps to buy the Charon the ghoul’s contract. Best money I spent in the game. Granted, you can use both, but the dog dies a bit too easily, and occasionally gets lost. Where could I find the dog? I have no luck getting anyone to join me at all. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/43 "2009-07-01T20:02:07Z")
[Here](http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Dogmeat) is Dog Meat. He’s in Junktown getting attacked by raiders IIRC. ETA: [Here](http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Dogmeat_(Fallout_3)) is some additional info on Dog Meat. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/44 "2009-07-01T20:04:12Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > the dog dies a bit too easily There are mods that make him retain his “essential” marker; I recommend one that turns off the marker if he becomes hostile. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/45 "2009-07-01T20:05:25Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#): > > Where could I find the dog? Wander around Scrapyard, which is practically due south from Minefield. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/46 "2009-07-01T20:20:22Z")
You should ask that the last comment be spoilered. A lot of people would prefer to do the exploring. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/47 "2009-07-01T22:26:57Z")
Is there much use for speech skills in this game? In F2, your speech skills made a huge difference - you’d get entirely different dialog trees, different solutions to problems… but in Oblivion the dialogue structure wasn’t nearly as deep or interesting. I want to be a smooth talking charismatic character - but is it worth it in this game? Could I get by as a small guns/speech/sneak type character - stealthy with high charisma and perception so that I can sneak or talk my way through situations? Or should I just treat it like a shoot em up and focus on combat skills? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/48 "2009-07-02T00:50:26Z")
Speech does matter, in that sometimes it presents an “easy way” through a challenge - isn’t always as fun, though, as figuring it out on your own. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/49 "2009-07-02T01:34:50Z")
High speech skill can let you talk your way into getting extra conversations which can give you bonus loot and optional ways to get around quests. Also a successful speech check gives you XP (not that the XP doesn’t flow like water anyway). But, you won’t miss a whole lot if you don’t pump speech. The earlier you pump it, though, the better. (And if you fail a speech challenge, you can always reload.) And as far as missing the hard way through a challenge, you can always do the hard way anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/50 "2009-07-02T02:08:19Z")
Speech won’t kill a raider! Save before any important encounter. If you fail, reload! ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/51 "2009-07-02T02:54:22Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Speech won’t kill a raider! There’s a [“disguise” mod](http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=772) which allows you to pass unmolested by wearing the right armour – which makes sense. If you look like a Raider, no Raider will attack you. If you’re dressed in Enclave power armour, the Enclave will ignore you. It makes “diplomat” a feasible build without needing 100 stealth and sneaking everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/52 "2009-07-02T02:58:30Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Crap. I just installed it and patched it up to 1.5. Should I reinstall and only update to 1.4, or are modmakers updating their mods to work with 1.5? As someone else has mentioned, 1.6 fixes the problem. Just don’t patch to 1.5, because it will break all your mods. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/53 "2009-07-02T04:22:32Z")
Well, I went from 1.0 to 1.5 to 1.6 without installing any mods, so I should be safe. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/54 "2009-07-02T06:59:45Z")
I’m definitely going to have to check out these mods now (and patch to 1.6 first). I just finished up my second run through and I was trying a melee/ninja build. These’ll make it a lot easier to do! ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/55 "2009-07-02T08:16:12Z")
I found the [Ultimate Perks Pack mod](http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1409) that has a bunch of perks related to melee/unarmed combat. Think I would try to find a katana mod somewhere too 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/56 "2009-07-02T14:13:02Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > As someone else has mentioned, 1.6 fixes the problem. Just don’t patch to 1.5, because it will break all your mods. Not true. 1.5 is required for Broken Steel and all my mods worked fine with it. 1.6 is required for Point Lookout. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/57 "2009-07-02T14:21:00Z")
I’m just cutting and pasting this post of mine from a previous fallout thread, it seemed to help some people out. > [@](#): > > Do the people that don’t like the hacking minigame know how the symbols work? If you see an open bracket or parenthesis followed later by a closed one of the same type you can highlight and click it with the cursor. > > For example, if the text looks like this… > > _&#(!)@(#\*-#&^$#examp > le=#\_%%&#testing()!/@+&# > \<_$\>)fallout[-\_\*&^]%@~!))&# > > …then you could highlight and click any of the following… > _&#**(!)\*\*@(#\*-#&^$#examp > le=#\_%%&#testing**()\*\*!/@+&# > \*\*\<_$\>**)fallout**[-\_\*&^]\*\*%@~!))&# > > …and it will either narrow the field down by removing a dud word or refill your number of chances. I could just be exceptionally oblivious but it took me a long time before I noticed this. Also, I get a lot of mileage out of shooting an opponents gun arm until they drop their weapon, then darting in and grabbing it before they can pick it back up. I was having a problem with the super mutant overlords and their tri-beam lasers until I started doing this. You can also shoot the gun directly, but that makes it broken and worthless. Also also, you can pickpocket live grenades or mines _onto_ human characters. Sneaking up to a raider or talon merc and putting a live nuka-grenade in their pants before running like hell is one of the best things ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/58 "2009-07-02T14:38:19Z")
Speaking of grenades, if you see an enemy seemingly without a weapon running towards you go into VATS immediately and see if they’re about to cob a grenade. You can then target the grenade and blow it up in their hand. Much fun. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/59 "2009-07-02T14:46:51Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Speaking of grenades, if you see an enemy seemingly without a weapon running towards you go into VATS immediately and see if they’re about to cob a grenade. You can then target the grenade and blow it up in their hand. You can also target grenades in flight. Found that out by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564/60 "2009-07-02T15:01:29Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Speaking of grenades, if you see an enemy seemingly without a weapon running towards you go into VATS immediately and see if they’re about to cob a grenade. You can then target the grenade and blow it up in their hand. Much fun. Yeah. I remember when I discovered that trick outside the Washington Monument. Some mutie was lobbing a grenade my way as I went into VATS. I bumped the analog stick and suddenly found myself aiming at the grenade. Up to that point I hadn’t realized it was possible. So I blew up the grenade in mid-air and did a decent amount of damage to the mutie. This trick also came into play in a FATE tabletop RPG I played last weekend at origins. We were army special forces infiltrating a top-secret military research base that had stopped communicating with those it was supposed to communicate with. Turned out it had been taken over by Russian mercenaries led by some of our former special forces cohorts who had disappeared a while back. Anyway, I was playing a sniper, and we were pinned down in a hallway while we in turn had them pinned behind cover. I held my action with my sniper rifle aimed to plunk them should they come out of cover. Two mooks decided to toss a grenade each at us. I asked the GM if I was able to see their hands launching the grenades, and he said I could. Since I had my action held, I asked if I could shoot the grenades out of air. So burning a FATE point to give me bonus to my defaults-to-superb-level firearms skill, I shot the grenade out of the air. I then asked if the explosion from the first was enough to take out the second one. He said for the cost of another FATE point it would be. So I managed to take out 2 mooks and heavily injure another one with one well placed shot and a bit of “luck”. I probably never would have even thought of that if not for FO3. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fallout-3-starting-tips/501564.md?page=4)