Got this for xmas, and when I first started it I hated the game, got lost alot and didnt know what was going on. Once i got out of the vault and figured out how everything worked I love it, the vats is awesome and the open ended gameplay is awesome.


I'm trying to disarm the nuke but my skill isnt high enough how do I raise that skill so that I can do it?

I believe that's explosive skill, right? you'll either have to level up and invest in it, or find some clothes that will help. Or walk around and find books... there's also a bobblehead that will increase the skill by 10, but IIRC it's in a non-newbie friendly area (the northwest).

Just go level up. It actually makes some sense to go over a list of perks that you want, and satisfy the prerequisites for those so that by the time you can get the perk, it's available.

I recommend putting enough into your explosives skill to disarm the bomb, since the reward for the quest is pretty important early on (after that, explosives is not really essential early on). I also find repair to be essential, as well as small arms (energy weapons and big weapons are just not available early on, and you obviously have to be really close to use unarmed/melee weapons). Lockpick and Electronics you'll need in increments of 25, and both are extremely useful... there's just not that much difference between 25 and 49, for instance, since the next level of locks are at 50.

I don't think I did it, but Hoff is dead in my game too. I walked out of a town and saw "Hoff's Pack Brahmin" wandering around....but no Hoff to be found.
I definitely recommend disarming the bomb as well, it's nice to have a "hometown". Repair is very useful as well.
I actually suggest not trying to level up--just explore and do sidequests or even the main quest. It was quite a while before my explosives got high enough to take care of the bomb, but I had advanced both my character and the story in the interim.

yeah, I wouldn't walk around just to level up... but it is a pain not to have a place to store your stuff. I used the metro station a little north of megaton as a temporary homebase... just kill all the mole rats in the entrance and you can use the little office to store all your stuff until you finish that. There's even a place to sleep (though no well rested bonus) a little deeper into the station.

yeah, i want the reward so i can store stuff. I'm currently just got to rivet city. So I might go back and see if my level is high enough now. Does leveling up only happen when u complete a main part of the quest?

No, though you get more experience points for doing quest things or successfully using your skills than you do for killing small animals. But like most any RPG, defeating enemies/monsters will give you XP.

Was frustrated with the game early as it felt really repetitive but after stumbling across the other vault (23?) and its VR simulator, I can't get enough. (Although the "failsafe" was absurdly unfair. The only time I've had to use a walk-thru so far and I'm 10 levels in.) That whole vault sequence was so unexpected and unique...wondering what else the game will surprise me with.

Ok I am having all sorts of issues.

I just got into megaton, and got a quest from moira (waste land guide). Well I went to super duper mart, armed with my 10mm, and got totally ambushed by 2 raiders, one that shot fire. the 10mm barely even hurts these guys, I even used the VATS system, but It did no good. Any ideas? Should I have not accepted this quest?

Oh, and what is the trick to lock picking? I Keep on breaking my bobby pins!

I never would have thought to call the game "repetitive". Although admittedly I am doing many of the same things. It just doesn't seem very repetitive to me, although the first hour or so didn't enthrall me (but it did a great job at setting up the atmosphere.) I haven't even found Vault 23.

Is that the first one Moira gives you? It might be a little easier if you do them in the order she gives you (but it's not essential). I recall that one being one I did have to be a little careful one. Try to be more strategic when attacking them, divide and conquer.
Lockpicking...can't really help too much here, just be gentle. It's a little bit easier than lockpicking in Oblivion. If you move the pick very slowly you can sometimes let go if it starts shaking like it's going to break.

Are there any better weapons in megaton that I can steal or buy?

You can take Mentants for a boost to your explosive skill.

I sucked at picking locks at first, too. But it's easy once you learn to back off when the controller vibrates. Just go really slow. I can pick Very Hard locks now.

The 10mm is a good weapon if your small guns is good. Just keep killing Raiders until you get a hunting rifle. That is my favorite weapon to use early on. Also, use grandes and mines if you have them. Aim for the head, seems to work better. Even if you have a really low chance.

If they have a two handed weapon (you mentioned they shot fire, sounds like the Flamer) shoot one of their arms, and if you cripple it, they will drop the weapon for a bit. If they pick it up again, their aim will suck.

Ugh. I got killed by 3 molerats last night damnit. I used the vats and was hitting them in the head over and over again.

bleh. I suck at the new age games.

You could try dialing down the difficulty that's what I did when I found the game to hard.

Sneak and go slow when you're at the super duper mart so you can pick them off one at a time (and if it's guys outside, you can go out far enough for them to see you then go back behind the corner a bit and ambush them). Also set it to an easier diffiulty. The only game advantage I'm aware of for having it on normal is more experience, it's easy to max out your levels. Later on normal and hard is fine, but for me at least early on its frustrating.

You might want to tackle some other quests if the Moira one is too hard. I remember getting the Blood Ties quest early on, then running into my first Super Mutant on the way to Arefu and having to give up. In the supermart, your best bet is to sneak a lot and take them out one at a time, if possible... I think there's also a protectron you can activate to help you in the back room. You really only need to get food from one of two places in there.

I also don't think they follow you outside, so if they spot you and begin overwhelming you, retreat back outside. There's a ton of cover in that mart, which should help you recover your VAT points in between firing. This is assuming you killed the raiders outside, for them, just take them out one at a time by hiding behind the building. Remember that if you sneak up on them, the first hit is usually a critical.

Remember to repair your weapons (with other weapons of the same type) and armor to upgrade them. That's perhaps the most essential skill in the game, I'd think it would be very hard to go through without a good repair skill. Long range, use the hunting rifle, the accuracy is much better.

Also, very very early in the game you should already have at least two bobbleheads:


Also, I would recommend saving all of the skill books until you get the perk that allows you to get +2 per stat per book.

For lockpicking, you just need to gently nudge the screwdriver until you feel it starting to break. Then move the lockpick left or right... if it nudges even less, go the opposite way. It's very easy to lockpick and hack into computers, it's just that it doesn't allow you to even attempt the harder ones if your skill in lockpick or electronics is too low.

Finally wisened up... since I was near level 20, I made another save, gunned down most of megaton, and got the neutral and bad achievements... I'll just progress with my previous save for the good level 20 achievement. Should have been doing that all along.

Yeah I went back and did that for the 8 and 14 ones too. Pretty easy to go from good to neutral and then bad by just killing people in Megaton (and maybe stealing a bit but that's pretty slow) as long as I had a quarter or level or so (so I didn't level before I got there).
To do the It's Strictly Business achievement, I had to go all the way to level 5 since around that time I killed a man in Minefield (just to watch him die).

What is the easiest/first follower I should pick up?

Depends on your karma.

Dogmeat is probably the easiest to get first (he's in the scrapyard, it's pretty easy to get to if you've gotten to minefield for Moira's quest). There is a follower in Megaton (Jericho), but you have to have negative karma. There is also a neutral robot follower that you can find on a traveling salesman, but I think it's a random encounter.

The two good followers aren't available until much later.

I always leave Dogmeat behind anyway (he goes back to outside of Vault 101 to wait for you) since he'll usually get killed as I explore.

Thanks fuji!

Another question, for the xbox 360 version, how do you holster your weapon? Without having to go to your pip and unarming the gun?

I think you need to have the weapon set to a hot-key, then hit that hot-key. Otherwise just hit the hot-key for another weapon, then again to put it away. I think you still have to hit X to lower your hands.

Just hold "X" to holster your weapon.

Anyone else having problems with the game freezing up? Happened to me like 3 times trying to get to I am only like level 6, so pretty early in game.

Any ideas how to stop this? All the freeze ups happened today, so seems like quite a lot.

Jamie

You can get one of the good followers early (the better one in my opinion, the other was always getting lost when I had him plus he talks too much) if you can manage to get to the mall area and live, which if you can get to Rivet City should be not too bad (you end up with a shotgun on the way to Rivet City most likely, which is very helpful against super mutants).

Dogmeat is really more of a liability, second time through I got him and just left him in my house since the first time through I had to reload so often due to his death.

I had 3 followers in my game. Dogmeat, too much work to keep him alive.