You can get the best of both worlds. First, ignore the chick who gives you the false evidence that you’ve killed the android. Instead, get enough evidence to go confront the doctor in the broken off bow, and he’ll cop to the fact that he gave the android a new face. He’ll also give you evidence (I think with a speech check) that’ll let you forcibly give the android back his old memories. Turns out, the android is really Rivet City’s Chief Harkness. Go to him, and reveal his true identity to him and then use the code phrase to get him to remember, too. Then promise him that his secret is safe, and he gives you the best plasma rifle in the game. Then go down to the evil doctor (Zieger or something) and tell him that Harkness is the android. You’ll get a permanent boost to your VATS hit %
Too late to do that quest with my current character Finn…but thanks. Food for thought on future characters!
Since I’ve found a ton of Chinese Assault Rifles lately (thanks in part to a poster up thread) and since my repair is 100 now I think my weapons (except the sniper rifle as I haven’t found any of those anywhere) are pretty much maxed out. And generally even backpeddling the giant radscorps are pretty much right in my face. I’ve NEVER killed one in a single burst.
Yup…and I have the perk that gives me bonus damage for head shots, the one that gives me greater percentages for concentrated fire on a body part and the perk that gives me bonus damage with a rifle type weapon…and I’ve still never killed a giant radscorp with a single VATS round.
Haven’t seen the King Mirelurk…but yeah, definitely encountered deathclaws. If I don’t get ambushed I can usually survive an encounter with a single one, but they are very hard kills. If I can set it up I like to drop mines and go for the legs and then just back up and shoot. The mini-gun just doesn’t seem very effective, but that may be because my big guns is not 100. I can generally hit them with a missile though at fairly long range (and out of VATS) and then pound them with the CAR until tender.
I find that a large part of whether I get the quick kill or not is if I get a critical hit. What’s your critical chance? And by extension, what’s your luck score?
I have the perk that gives me greater crit chance, but my luck is like 5…not too great there. I do tend to get a lot of crits though…but even with crits I’ve never dropped a giant radscorp in a single VATS round, let alone with a single burst. The best I’ve done is my 4 VATS attacks with the CAR followed by running backwards while blasting away and downing the thing before it gets close enough to attack me too badly.
The only weapon I’ve ever been able to drop a giant radscorpion with in one VATS turn is The Terrible Shotgun. And even then, only when the scorpion was right on top of me so I did max damage. Haven’t tried the named plasma rifle though…
Although I can say that the Alien Blaster will one-shot every single Enclave solder if you hit them in the head or chest, and it’s got something like a 100% critical hit rate.
Haven’t wanted to use the Alien Blaster as I have no way to repair it…so I’m sort of saving it for a rainy day. I also only have like 130 of the powercells for it…and I assume each one is the equivalent of a single shot or bullet.
Yeah the “firelance” is the named, and it can set enemies on fire. (But the regular should one-shot kill just about anything you get with a solid headshot). However, getting the firelance is chance based. You have to stumble on the location (outside rocktopolis or the Super Duper Mart, I believe), and get a random encounter of something blowing up in the sky.
I don’t think the location matters; I’ve had the FireLance come up in both games I’ve played, in very, very distant locations from each other (and from the two you mention). I think it’s just random – a reason to walk from place to place once in a while and not fast travel.
Although, I also find the Minigun to be the best non-VATS weapon in the game (and my Big Guns skill is something like 25), so maybe I’m playing a different version from everybody else…
That was actually my biggest disappointment in the game. It’s a lot worse than that: The ghouls will actually kill off all the non-ghouls within a few days of the peaceful solution, stuffing their bodies into the basement room. In other words, the bigots were correct, and the freethinkers get murdered for their tolerance. And even after that, I still get a Karma hit if I kill Ray (I took it).
Heh, I’m level 12 and I haven’t even gone to GNR yet. The combat shotgun is an awesome weapon that there just aren’t enough of for repair purposes. The .44 is pretty good as a powerful all around weapon, but I’ve got the two handed perk thing so I generally do better with the rifles.
I’ve now got science, lockpick, and repair around 95. I basically use the various armor to get 100. I’m not sure if a science skill of 100 is really necessary, since the only computers I’ve found so far that require that high of a science skill are simple “disengage lock” computers, which is easy enough with my lockpick skill.
I think the combat shotgun was quite easy to come by. Don’t forget all the rigged traps, you can get the shotguns from them. I found it much harder to find .44’s, but could scrape by well enough.
I’ve found that in most cases they are interchangeable. I would pick one and forget about the other, as it doesn’t remove many opportunities. Locked computers are usually either for unlocking purposes or disabling turret systems. Turrets are easy enough to handle anyway. Most informational terminals that provide a back-story seem to be unlocked.
My most amusing moment so far; I think this happened at the Red Racer Tricycle Factory. IIRC. I was on a second level floor of the building, and the floor was collapsed; I could jump across at one narrow gap, but as I was getting ready to do so, some ghouls came running up the stairs and made a beeline for me…and promptly fell at the gap down to the first level. The mindless ghouls just kept running back up the stairs, charging at me, and falling through the gap time and time again. Finally I got bored of watching their exercise in futility and took them out with some head shots. Gotta love those mindless ghouls.
At one point (not saying where or when to avoid spoilers) I got hold of some Power Armor off a dead Paladin. Since I was already almost at max capacity, I was over-encumbered for the rest of the exploration…and since I wanted to keep the Power Armor, I had to make the trek back to Megaton without using the fast travel option…longest hike I’ve taken in a CRPG since Daggerfall!
I haven’t seen any equipment left on the ground disappear, so I would leave some junk behind and come back for it later. Also, repairing stuff neatly compresses the inventory if you have several weapons of the same kind. Having a henchman or companion or what you’d like to call them also lets you lug more stuff around. Some people prefer a long peaceful walk in the wasteland though :).
It gets even better as you can then go ahead and finish off the Dr before he takes Harkness back. I did it by planting a live grenade on him and the explosion killed both the Dr. and his bodyguard blowing them to bloody chunks…good times good times.
TimeWinderIf you kill Tenpenny before the ghouls move in it short circuits the death spiral and the ghouls and humans can live in peace. Just get permission for the ghouls to move in from Tenpenny then unload on him. He’s kinda a bastard anyway. Also if you’re roleplaying someone who wouldn’t off Tenpenny in that manner you can avenge him right off the bat by killing Ray but before the ghouls wipe everyone out and they’ll live in peace after that as well.
Well, don’t take my word for it. I don’t really have any proof other than it never happened for me. I’ve left things and picked them up later at several points in the game and never lost anything though.
Are you thinking of normal Radscorpions, or have the Entomologist perk? I’ve got small guns and repair up to 100, a perfect condition Chinese assault rifle and perfect condition Terrible Shotgun and they take at least a clip or two of ammo to fell. The only thing that kills them in one fell swoop for me is high-end explosives.