2009-12-03

WoW Achievements: The Lurker Above [VIDEO]

Here's a video I made for WoW Achievements: The Lurker Above (Fishing), it's also a part of Accomplished Angler achievement (Check my older post, here: full guide to Accomplished Angler.).


For the achievement, you need:

  1. A way to walk on water (levitate, water walking, etc.)
  2. A way to avoid falling damage (levitate, slow fall, bubble, blink, etc.)
  3. 300 fishing skill


The task for the achievement is: Fish up The Lurker Below in Serpentshrine Cavern. At the time I'm writing this, this video of mine has 150000+ views. It shows how this achievement is done, period.




CLICK HERE to watch this on YouTube: The Lurker Above - Accomplished Angler


How to get the Lurker Above Achievement


Watch the video above. And here are the "steps":

  • Group up with someone,
  • convert to raid,
  • enter SSC,
  • take two elevators (no enemies),
  • jump down (not into water, but "on it", fish in the water will crush you in seconds)
    • Use levitation, bubble or such to ease the landing
    • You need to walk on water, so levitate, water walking, etc.
  • walk on water to Strange Pool,
  • fish until you get Lurker up and achievement.
  • (Then you'll most likely visit Spirit Guide)


If you found the video useful, hit the like button Youtube video page: How to do Lurker Above Achievement

2009-08-16

How To Create a Perfect Character in Fallout 3

Fallout 3 Perfect Character Guide


This is the TXT VERSION of this guide, created by me. Scroll down, go straight to the start or skip to the Table of Contents.

Since this blog post is LOOOOOOOOOOONG, and in case you want to print it out, I've made a PDF version of it to Scribd. That version of the guide has been quite popular, as the Scribd version has been viewed over 40000 times already!

You can read the guide right here on the blog, or you can go and get the FREE 32-page (YES, this is one MASSIVE guide) PDF version of the Fallout 3 Perfect Character Guide from Scribd (same guide, different better format).

Formatting is a lot better on the Scribd document - plus you can view, print, download and share the document freely according to Scribd terms and copyright rules.





Get the free PDF version of the guide:





Fallout 3 Perfect Character Guide PDF Version




Fallout Guides on Amazon





Buy the game





The Fallout Perfect Character Guide


But now, on with the guide -- here's what this guide is all about...

  • The purpose of this guide is a perfect character for Fallout 3 at level 20.
  • "Powerplay" in this guide refers to creating the ultimate all-around character with maxed-out skills and fine-tuned S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats.
  • There's room for customization, so you will end up with *your* Fallout 3 Perfect Character.
  • "Powerlevel as fast as possible" is not in the nature of Fallout 3. So for that, look for other games.
  • How Much You Need To Increase Each Skill To Reach 100 on All Skills
  • How To Maximize the Benefit of the skill books and bobbleheads
  • The Optimal Starting Stats

Warning! If you choose to follow the recommendations in this guide, you will not have the most optimal character for leveling. However, you can do most things with ease while at it. This because, we want to have the best possible character in the end, not at level 7.

For those not familiar with Fallout 3 the game, check out the Vault Fallout Wiki for introduction:
"Fallout 3 is a post-apocalyptic computer and console action role-playing game developed and published by Bethesda Softworks as the third installment in the Fallout series and a sequel to Interplay's Fallout and Fallout 2. It was released on October 28 in North America, on October 31 in Europe and on December 4 in Japan. It is available on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game takes place in the year 2277 on the East Coast of what used to be the United States of America, mostly in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. The gameplay features include real-time combat and first or third person perspective, in contrast to the previous games, which were turn-based and isometric. "

If you do know the game and have played it:

Enjoy this Free Fallout 3 Perfect Character and Powerplay Guide, create *your* Perfect Character in Fallout 3, leave a comment and tell me and others how you liked it..

Quick Links (Jump Straight into the Guide)


The start of the guide

Table of Contents

Fallout 3 Perfect Character S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Stats

Perfect Beginner's Fallout 3 Character

Fallout 3 Perfect Character - Beginning Walkthrough

Read the full guide below...


Fallout 3 Perfect Character Guide


a.k.a. The Fallout 3 Powerplay Guide

=============================================================================

"Document Copyright (Zemalf) 2009"
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FALLOUT 3 POWERPLAY GUIDE: WRITTEN BY ZEMALF

Game: Fallout 3
System: XBOX360 (Also available for PS3 and PC)
Guide Written By: Zemalf
Feedback, questions, discussion? leave a comment
Version: 1.00

About this guide/FAQ


The info in this guide/FAQ is mostly from the other FAQs at gamefaqs. I don't take any credit for the most of the hints&tips, I simply started putting everything I found useful to one file, thus, this guide was born. So I tried to give the credit where it belongs. Also see CREDITS at the end I did however, do extensive calculations to find the amount of each skill must be raised to reach 100 for each skill, utilizing the available skill books and bobblehead, in addition to the optimum starting stats.

The purpose of this guide is "perfect" character at level 20. What you think is perfect may be very different from what I think so use your judgement on creating the character and playing. There's plenty of hints and tips for all levels of play, so you can get a lot out of this, even if you're not shooting for the Fallout 3 Perfect Character.

SPOILER WARNING. There are spoilers in this guide and the guide is definitely not for anyone who hasn't played Fallout 3 by themselves first. So go buy the game, enjoy it, and then if you feel like pushing your character and yourself to the limit, come back here.

T.O.C - Table of Contents



  • For quick browsing, click the links above in the Table of Contents (and get back here with T.O.C. ^ links)
  • NOTE: To search, hit Ctrl + F and type in what your looking for.
  • If you have any submissions to the guide, please leave a comment

T.O.C. ^

[00] FAQ DETAILS


  • This FAQ is for the XBOX360 version (similar to PS3 and PC)
  • It is not allowed to publish the guide elsewhere, but please put a link up on your site if you like
  • To share this guide, please link to the guide as guided below
  • If you have any questions, leave a comment on the blog
  • Use CTRL + F to search for something in the document
  • This guide was created by: Zemalf (Zemalf's Haven)

This document Copyright 2009 (Zemalf). This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

However, you can and you should link to this guide, and share it with your friends!

  • Use this URL to link directly to the guide:

http://zemalf.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-create-perfect-character-in.html
  • The most recent version of this FAQ can be found from:

http://zemalf.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-create-perfect-character-in.html
  • Copy one of these to your website or blog to share the guide with your readers:

<a href="http://zemalf.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-create-perfect-character-in.html" >How To Create a Perfect Character in Fallout 3</a>
<a href="http://zemalf.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-create-perfect-character-in.html" >Fallout 3 Perfect Character Guide</a>

  • The links will look like this on your blog:

How To Create a Perfect Character in Fallout 3
Fallout 3 Perfect Character Guide
  • Or use these "share" buttons at the end of this post to post the guide on facebook, twitter, digg, etc.

Versions


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version 1.01 ~ Guide Re-Published at zemalf.blogspot.com
2009/08/16 Size: ~1262 lines (~48.5 KB)
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Version 1.0 ~ Guide Published
2009/05/25 Size: ~1262 lines (~48.5 KB)
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Version 0.2 ~ Content started to take shape
2009/02/13 Size: ~1100 lines (~44 KB)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version 0.1 ~ Initial version of the guide
2009/02/11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T.O.C. ^

[01] GAME CONTROLS (XBOX360)


If you really need game controls listed in a guide, look for some other guide than this :) Or just read the game manual.

T.O.C. ^

[02] FALLOUT 3 THE GAME - INTRODUCTION


"War. War never changes."

If you're reading this and haven't played Fallout 3 yet, do so as soon as possible. Everything else will fade.
"Endless possibilities"

Wasteland is the big unknown. Explore it as you like. Feel it. Love it. This is but a guide to you, take the tips as recommendations, not what you must do to succeed. Making it on your own will give you more.

T.O.C. ^

[03] THE FALLOUT 3 PERFECT CHARACTER


[03.1] FOREWORD


The purpose of this guide is "perfect" character at level 20. As mentioned, what you consider Fallout perfect character, might be different from my views, but don't worry, there's plenty of room for customization and choices, so you'll end with your kind of Fallout 3 perfect character.

"Powerplay" in this guide refers to creating the ultimate all-around character with maxed-out skills and fine-tuned S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats.
  • NOTE: If you don't like collecting all the possible Bobbleheads and many Skill Books, just decide what skills you want to max, and raise them as you level For 100 at all skills, however, you need to collect a lot of Skill books.

"Powerlevel as fast as possible" is not in the nature of Fallout 3. So for that, look for other games.

If you choose to follow the recommendations in this guide, you will not have the most optimal character for leveling. However, you can do most things with ease while at it. This because, we want to have the best possible character in the end, not at level 7.
  • NOTE: The best character for leveling would mean increasing certain key skills high at the beginning, leaving some skills lower in the end.

Here are some generic notes. Check the individual sections for details. And for even more detailed info on something spesific, read the other excellent guides out there.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

It is not possible to get all S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats to maximum (10), but it is possible to get all the relevant ones to 10, with help from perks, items and stat increasing bobbleheads.

Detailed stat guide in [04] POWERPLAY STATS. I present three different builds

1) the "true powerplay" build
  • [04.2] PERFECT S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
  • The Fallout 3 Perfect Character Build
  • This is the one you want for "perfect" stats in the end. Going with minimum Intelligence, and neglecting the most useless one, Charisma, we pump the others to max or close to it.

2) the FPS build (no VATS)
  • [04.3] PERFECT S.P.E.C.I.A.L. FOR FPS-MODE ONLY
  • If you want to play Fallout 3 as First-Person Shooter, this is for you, although I recommend to take the benefit of the VATS as it is very effective and fun.

3) great beginner build with high-INT
  • [04.4] ALTERNATIVE HIGH-INT S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
  • The Best Character for Fallout 3 Beginner!
  • This is for someone looking for "easy-mode" build for fun gameplay without too much stress for finding a lot of Skill books and bobbleheads

  • NOTE: If you don't care about maxed out character in the end, but want to enjoy the game while you level and quest, don't go into extremes like the recommendations in this guide. Like said, this is mostly guide for those who want the best possible character in the end.

SKILLS

There is no need to raise all the skills to 100, as there are plenty of items in the game that you can put on to help with non-combat tasks: bartering, speech, repairing, hacking and lockpicking.

If you don't like to carry couple extra items, increase those skills more if you like, but you will have less "extra" Skill Points, which you can distribute as you like like while at it

More about skills in [05] POWERPLAY SKILLS.

Also see the [03.2] Skill books section.

PERKS

For Perks, I list the most essential ones.

QUESTS

For Quests, I only list the ones with essential/excellent rewards, e.g. skill/stat increases, unique items, etc.

[03.2] Skill books


This is about getting *all* skills to 100, not just couple of them. and for that, you need Skill books, lots and lots of Skill books.

Important note! To reach 100 for every skill you're looking at collecting 7 + 13 Bobbleheads, and something between 180 and 320+ Skill books. This is not for everyone, as if you don't enjoy scavenging and looting, exploring your heart out and basically doing everything possible in the game, just don't. Do what you find fun, not what some stupid guide tells you to :)

If you are not ready to collect almost every skill book in the game, you cannot get all skills to 100, plain and simple.

With minimum INT (3), you must collect at least 260-300 Skill books to reach 100 in *all* the skills. If you want all skills at 100 in the end, with INT 9 you have to collect about 205 Skill books (~40 more if you want skill at 100 without any items).

The difference between INT 3 and INT 9 at start is 114 Skill points. So you can avoid collecting 57 out of ~320 Skill books by going with high INT. Doing so, you'll neglect the other stats, as shown in the next section.

The Educated perk at level 4 (which adds 48 more skill points ~ 24 Skill books) makes the minimum skill books to collect: 181 w/ INT 9 & 233 w/ INT 3
  • NOTE: all calculations assume that +INT Bobblehead is collected as soon as the player exits Vault 101 and starts out, which typical player does not do

If you don't want to collect a lot of them, feel free to take tips from this guide and settle for having excellent character overall, but leaving some skills at lower levels (Barter and combat skills you don't use that much for example)

You can very easily get the most essential skills to 100, just ignoring the ones you don't use, as even with as low as Intelligence of 3, you get 265 Skill points, which is plenty to take couple of skills close to max and finish it strong with just a couple Skill books you happen to come across.

T.O.C. ^

[04] POWERPLAY STATS


[04.1] S.P.E.C.I.A.L. STATS IN GENERAL


Firstly, all S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats increase the skills, but this is not very important as we can raise skills by other means, with the Skill points from Intelligence (and possibly Educated perk) and for the biggeet gains, Skill Books, the most essential part of maxing all the skills.

Secondly, certain level of stat/stats are needed for some perks.

Thirdly, most stats effect derived stats, like how much you can carry or how much action points you have for VATS action.

So, we balance the stats to max out the most important derived stats and to get the perks we want. Skills we get by other means.

[04.2] PERFECT S.P.E.C.I.A.L.


The stats for the Fallout 3 perfect character, starting stats, what stats you will end up with and what perks and items you need to achieve this..

STARTING STATS (Character creation):
  • STR 8
  • PER 6
  • END 8
  • CHR 1
  • INT 3
  • AGL 7
  • LCK 7

END STATS
  • STR 10
  • PER 8-10
  • END 10
  • CHR 2
  • INT 4
  • AGL 8-10
  • LCK 10

Intense Training +1 STR level 2, +1 END level 3 and +1 AGL level 5. +1 PER from Quest:Those! and all Bobbleheads + the relevant LCK items.

PER and AGL end values depends on using more than 3 Intense Trainings, in expense of other perks you don't necessary need if you don't use certain types of weaponry for example. Using 3 will result with PER 8 and AGL 9 (or the other way around if you add +1 PER instead of +1 AGL)

For Luck, end value of 10 requires to do the Big Town quest, save the town from the Super Mutants and get the Lucky 8 Ball as reward (+1 LCK) and wear Ranger Battle Armor (+1 LCK in addition to the other stats) or use Lucky Shades or other such LCK boosting items.

[04.3] PERFECT S.P.E.C.I.A.L. FOR FPS-MODE ONLY


This means always fighting in real time, and never ever using VATS.

I've understood that some players like to play the game this way, I don't, but here's the best possible values if you do :)
  • NOTE :You will deal a lot more dmg using VATS because of added critical chance and dmg/accuracy boosting perks for VATS

  • COMMENT As far as I know Agility doesn't effect attack/shooting speed outside VATS, but if it does, I'd advice against to use these values then.

STARTING STATS for NON-VATS (Character creation):
  • STR 8
  • PER 7
  • END 8
  • CHR 1
  • INT 5
  • AGL 5
  • LCK 7

END STATS for NON-VATS
  • STR 10
  • PER 10
  • END 10
  • CHR 2
  • INT 6
  • AGL 6
  • LCK 10

Intense Training +1 STR level 2, +1 END level 3 and +1 PER level 5. +1 PER from Quest:Those! and all Bobbleheads + the relevant LCK items.
  • NOTE: The rest of the guide is not done with these values in mind, as you will have a lot more Skill Points to "waste" and
  • the recommendations in the guide are made with the VATS route in mind.


[04.4] ALTERNATIVE HIGH-INT S.P.E.C.I.A.L.


This might be a good build for a beginner, with the high INT you don't have to collect skill books that much and still have great balanced character.

STARTING STATS (Character creation):
  • STR 8
  • PER 5
  • END 7
  • CHR 1
  • INT 9
  • AGL 5
  • LCK 5

END STATS
  • STR 10
  • PER 7
  • END 9
  • CHR 2
  • INT 10
  • AGL 7
  • LCK 8

Intense Training +1 STR level 2, +1 END level 3 and +1 PER level 5. +1 PER from Quest:Those! and all Bobbleheads + the relevant LCK items.

You'll end up at 7-10 in all but CHR with this build with Bobbleheads and items. If you insist on having higher charisma, you'll have to make a choice to have less health or less carry weight power or something. But you're on your own with that tweaking.

This INT build is just shown for reference in case someone wants to go with higher INT as it makes skill training easier. But this is guide is not for the easy route, as we want to max the relevant stats, so choose the earlier options if you want to push it to the max (again, it won't be easy, but you will have the most powerful stats in the end).

[04.5] RATIONALIZATION FOR THE CHOICES


Charisma (CHR) only effects certain skills (Speech and Barter), which we can max otherwise, and certain perks, which are not that great. If you insist on having higher CHR, go for 3-5. Even if you went to speak through challenges, you don't need more that 5. And most enemies in the wasteland don't waste time babbling anyway.

There is absolutely NO REASON to go over 5 with Charisma. If someone says otherwise, I don't know what they're thinking, as Charisma *only* effects a couple of speech/barter (more and less useless) perks and speech and barter skills directly.

Intelligence (INT) effects the amount of Skill Points per level and there are certain perks that we want, which require INT to be high enough. So we balance INT as low as possible, because we have other means to raise skills, but high enough to get the perks we really need (namely, Comprehension to get the full benefit from Skill Books).

INT *must* be at least 3 because comprehension perk requires INT 4 or higher (which we can get with the bobblehead from River City).

VERY IMPORTANT! When starting with INT of 3, you MUST RUN into River City right after you exit Vault 101 or reloaded/created new character

All-in-all, higher INT makes it easier to create powerful, versatile character, but that's about it. Every point added to INT at start nets you 19 Skill Points in total, one Skill Point per level, so think if you really need those extra points. INT 6 or 7 is plenty, even for beginning players. As you can always take Educated perk, worth of 3 INT at level 4 if you want.

However, if you don't want to stress about collecting skill books, but still want to have at least the key skills at high level, INT 7-9 is probably the best way to go + taking Educated perk at level 4 (= as soon as possible).

Strength (STR). How much you can carry and Melee damage. Carrying more is just convenient, so start at 8, max to 10 with Intense Training and Bobblehead from Lucas Simms' House in Megaton.

If you plan on using Power Armor in the end, you could in theory go with 6, as you'll get the last +2 you need from the armor itself (just remember to take bit more AGL to compensate the -2. Personally I just love Ranger Battle Armor too much to ever wear the Power Armor :)

If you set STR very low, like 1-5, you'll probably regret it if you like to scavenge/loot at all (which I assume you do, as that's a big part of fallout, at least for me). It will be a pain to travel and back and sell stuff all the time and only run around with one weapon and only loot ammo. Trust me, you want it at max, it's just that much more fun to be able to loot everything you want, not what you can carry.

Endurance (END). Your Health and Poison & Radiation Resistance. Max to get the most HP and resistances. On the other hand, if you play it safe and fight carefully, you can manage with less health. Resistances are not that important as they can be healed easily. Have at least 5-6 at start, 8 if you want to max it.

Perception (PER). Spotting enemies (how early you see those red marks in the compass). High Perception is great to spot enemies early, but 10 might be overkill. You don't want to go too low, as you'll end running into enemies and miss good opportunities to damage the foes before they dmg you. So take something between 5-7 at start.

Agility (AGL) = Actions Points (AP). More VATS action = more damage. If you blast mostly in FPS mode, AGL is almost irrelevant. Although, there are a lot of perks to benefit VATS action, but no perk to benefit only real-time action. So ignoring VATS totally is giving up on max damage. All-in-all, high agility is nice, but max is not needed as the benefit of just a couple more AP is questionable. Set to 5-7 at the start.

Luck (LCK). Every non-even point in Luck adds 1 Skill Point to all skills = 13 Skill Points. That's ~6.5 Skill Points per point in Luck. Every point in Luck also adds +1% Critical hit chance. Also one of the best perks, Better Criticals, needs 6 LCK.

More criticals means more damage, which is great, and those criticals do A LOT MORE damage if you take the Better Criticals perk, so I recommend maxing this with help from some items, so take something between 5-7 at start (under or over these values is just not good).

T.O.C. ^

[05] POWERPLAY SKILLS


Fallout 3 Perfect Character will have all skills at max in the end, here I'll show you how you get'em there..

[05.1] Total Skill Points Available


If you chose the stats recommended in [04.2], and make the run to River City at start for +1 INT Bobble head, you'll have 265 Skill Points in levels 2-20

The total Skill Points you have depends on:
  1. Intelligence at start
  2. How early you get +1 INT Bobblehead from River City
  3. whether or not you take the Educated Perk.
  4. whether of not you use Intense Training for +1 INT (DONT)

[05.2] Total Skill Points for Each Skill


To get all the skills to 100 in the end, the amount you need to train each skill depends on these factors:
  1. your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats -- including how you raise them with perks, items and bobbleheads
  2. skills you tag
  3. whether you utilize items to reach 100 (e.g. Vault Utility Suit)
  4. whether you choose Silent Running Perk
  5. whether you choose Cyborg Perk (you should)
  6. whether you buy the DLC Anchorage and gain the Covert Ops Perk
  7. whether you save Megaton or blow it up, as Science Theme for your House at Megaton or Suite in Tenpenny Tower have different book
  8. amount of skill books and bobbleheads you're willing to collect. this guide assumes you go for most, if not all.
  9. whether or not you WASTE perks for skill-point-only perks (DONT!)

  • NOTE: Some are minor effects, but tuning it to the point, all matter.

[05.3] Extra Skill Points


Free Skill Points are extra points you can freely distribute without fear of finishing short of 100 in some other skill.

The amount of Extra Skill Points depends on the total amount of Skill points available and the total number you need to train each skill.

Any excess points are freely distributable to any skill, and you still have 100 in all skills in the end. Freely distributable points can be saved to the end and raise skills to decrease the need of items and skill books, or you can use them while leveling to essential skills to ease gameplay.

For example, raise lockpicking and/or science for access to locked computers and doors or some combat skill like small guns to give help you survive at lower levels.

Or, you can use the extra/free Skill points to make sure you have high enough a skill to take the perk you want at certain level. Here are the most relevant ones you want/might want to take...

[05.4] Skills needed for the perks


  • Explosives 50+ before level 11 (Demolition Expert)
  • Sneak 60+ before level 13 (Silent Running)
  • Explosives 60+ before level 15 (Pyromaniac)
  • Science 60+ before level 14 (Cyborg)
  • Medicine 60+ before level 14 (Cyborg)
  • Unarmed 70+ before level 18 (Paralyzing Palm)
  • Sneak 80+ before level 20 (Ninja)
  • Melee 80+ before level 20 (Ninja)

  • This is not "recommended perks" list, but a list of needed skills for at least somewhat useful perks
  • (although most of the skills in the list are what we most likely want in the end)

At minimum, you should definately go for the corresponding Bobblehead before the mentioned level. And use the extra Skill points to reach requirements before the level you want to take the perk. The other way is to go for enough skill books in the early levels to reach the level you want before it's the time to take the perk.

[05.4] Skill Point calculations


Calculating all the above "by hand" is not simple, but it's simple to do in spreadsheet, so that's what I did. I will only present the result values, as listing out formulas won't benefit this guide :)

Example set 1
(scroll down a bit, there might be some white space here)
STAT START END
STR 8 10
PER 6 8
END 8 10
CHR 1 2
INT 3 4
AGL 7 8
LCK 7 10

  • using recommended starting stats above, from [04.2]
  • TAG! Science, Repair and Medicine at start (because of low INT)
  • running for +1 INT Bobblehead at level 2 (right at the beginning)
  • taking Silent Running and Cyborg (because both are great)
  • choosing Ant Sight for +1 PER from Quest: Those!
  • choosing to disarm the bomb (good karma) and have house in Megaton
  • using intense training 3 times (levels 2, 3 and 5) for +1 STR/END/AGL
  • collecting all bobbleheads and skill books if needed
  • using items to bump up repair, lockpick, science, barter and speech.
  • using Ranger Battle Armor and Lucky 8 Ball for 2x +1 LCK

The items needed are:
  • Button's Wig and Roving Barter Suit (Barter +10 total)
  • Vault Utility Suit (+5 Lockpick, +5 Repair)
  • Lesko's Lab Coat (+10 Science)
  • Ranger Battle Armor (+1 LCK, +10 Small Guns)
  • Lucky 8 Ball (+1 LCK)
  • Button's Wig and Naughty Nightwear (Speech +20 total)

TOTAL Skill Points : 265
SKILLS TO TRAIN : 132
EXTRA Skill Points : 133

Amount of training needed for each skill:
(scroll down a bit, there might be some white space here)
Barter 21
Big Guns 13
Energy Weapons 7
Explosives 17
Lockpick 12
Medicine 10
Melee Weapons 13
Repair 5
Science 2
Small Guns 5
Sneak 5
Speech 9
Unarmed 13

putting more Skill Points to a skill than on the list, will go from the "extra Skill Points pool", which starts at 139 and you can keep track of.

Example set 2

Using the same set as above, but take all skills to 100 without using any items (even that some items you will most likely have on all the time, like +1 LCK from Lucky 8 Ball).

TOTAL Skill Points : 265
SKILLS TO TRAIN : 205
EXTRA Skill Points : 60

Amount of training needed for each skill:
(scroll down a bit, there might be some white space here)
Barter 32
Big Guns 14
Energy Weapons 8
Explosives 18
Lockpick 18
Medicine 11
Melee Weapons 14
Repair 11
Science 13
Small Guns 16
Sneak 6
Speech 30
Unarmed 14

putting more Skill Points to a skill than on the list, will go from the "extra Skill Points pool", which starts at 66 and you can keep track of.

T.O.C. ^

[06] POWERPLAY PERKS


Perks this guide concentrates on give benefits to combat or skills in a way that we cannot get by other means. Feel free to choose fun and dialogue centric perks if you like, but in the end the ones listed here are the best overall choices, mainly for combat as non-combat ones are not very good (Fallout 3 is quite a bit about combat after all).

All perks that raise *only* some skill should be avoided, as we get skills to max without these perks, so they are a waste. However, if a perk gives the skill increase in addition to the other, very beneficial boost, we of course take that in.

I don't list all the perks, as other guides/faqs and websites have done it so many times, I just list the relevant ones.

[06.1] LEVEL BY LEVEL LIST FOR THE LAZY


Perks for the Fallout 3 Perfect Character by Absolute Steve (with minor edits by me)

Level 2: Intense Training -> STR +1
Level 3: Intense Training -> END +1
Level 4: Comprehension (Now you can read Skill Books for +2 Points)
Level 5: Intense Training -> AGL +1
Level 6: Toughness
Level 7: Bloody Mess / Intense Training -> AGL or PER +1 **1*
Level 8: Strong Back / Int.Training -> AGL or PER +1 **2*
Level 9: Commando
Level 10: Finesse
Level 11: Demolition Expert / Int.Training -> AGL or PER +1 **3*
Level 12: Sniper
Level 13: Silent Running
Level 14: Cyborg
Level 15: Pyromaniac **4*
Level 16: Action Boy
Level 17: Better Criticals
Level 18: Paralyzing Palm
Level 19: [choice]
Level 20: Grim Reaper's Sprint

**1* 5% more damage from Bloody Mess is great, but if you get bored for the
bloody explosions, skip. If you love/tolerate'em, take :)

**2* If you feel Carry Weight from STR 10 is enough, skip Strong Back. Also
note that you can take Commando at level 8 if you want.

**3* Can take AGL/PER +1 here, it's just +20% dmg to explosives anyway.

**4* If you don't use firebased weapons (e.g. Flamer, Shiskebab), this is
useless. Go for something else instead.

[06.2] IN DETAIL EXPLANATIONS OF THE PERKS


[06.2.1] THE MOST IMPORTANT PERK

You must take this perk. I repeat, you must take this perk.

You will not have Fallout 3 Perfect Character if you don't take this. And even if you don't want to "perfect it", take this as any player will run into 6-7 skill books without even looking and that alone makes this perk worth it.
  • Comprehension: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: INT >= 4
  • 2 Skill Point instead of 1 when reading a skill book
  • If you don't want to take this, stop reading this guide!
  • just kidding, but seriously, it is the most beneficial perk in the game. period.
  • If you know you won't be running around finding skill books, maybe, just maybe you can consider not taking this (you will run into so many skill books even if you're not looking that this perk raises your skills more than any other)

[06.2.2] ESSENTIAL PERKS

These are the perks you need too for perfect character in Fallout 3.
  • Intense Training: 10 Ranks
  • Requirements: ---
  • +1 to any STAT
  • At least 3 should be used for STR, END and AGL.
  • Possibly 4 & 5 to PER and AGL.

  • Toughness
  • Requirements: END >= 5
  • +10 Damage Resistance

  • Cyborg: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: Science >= 60, Medicine >= 60
  • Like Toughness, but with added benefits.
  • +10 Damage Resistance (DR), Poison & Radiation Resistance
  • +10 to Energy Weapons skill as a bonus!

  • Better Criticals: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: PER >= 6, LCK >= 6
  • +50% damage of Critical Hits!
  • Take this for insane damage, especially with Finesse + 10 LCK

  • Finesse: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: ---
  • Critical Chance +5%.
  • More criticals, more damage = sweet.

  • Silent Running: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: AGL 6+, Sneak 60+
  • Running no longer factors into a successful sneak attempt
  • Sneak in your Power Armor and Fat Man like a ninja!
  • +10 Sneak skill to boot!

[06.2.3] VATS PERKS

If you don't ever use VATS, but go with more of a FPS route, you are missing a lot of damage and accuracy because of these perks. However, skip these if you always blast in real-time.
  • Commando: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: ---
  • +25% VATS Accuracy for Rifles.
  • Assault Rifle, Chinese Assault Rifle, Hunting Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Laser Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Railway Rifle.

  • Sniper: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: PER >= 6, AGL >= 6
  • +25% VATS Accuracy for headshots
  • Sneak attack to head is very lethal, with this, it's easier.

  • Action Boy/ Action Girl: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: AGL >= 6
  • +25 VATS Action Points ~ additional shot in VATS

  • Paralyzing Palm: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: Unarmed 70+
  • VATS palm strike that paralyzes foe for 30 secs.
  • If you insist on holding on to you gun and refuse to switch to unarmed and back (which might take some time to get used to), skip this.

If you use pistols and such a lot (for some reason), take Gunslinger. If you don't use them all the time, don't. Commando & Rifles = better
  • Gunslinger: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: ---
  • +25% VATS Accuracy for a Small Gun.
  • .32 Pistol, Scoped .44 Magnum, (Silenced) 10mm Pistol, 10mm Submachine Gun, Chinese Pistol, Sawed-Off Shotgun, Dart Gun, Laser Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Alien Blaster, Mesmetron.

[06.2.4] PERKS TO CONSIDER

  • Educated.
  • +3 Skill Points / level, ~ 48 Skill Points in total
  • By collecting the skill books, you don't need this
  • For beginner/first game, this is highly recommended!
  • If you don't feel like running around for books, must take!
  • If you do take it, take this right away at level 4 (and take comprehension on level 5)

  • Bloody Mess
  • Requirements: ---
  • +5% dmg with any weapon
  • Sometimes blows up the target with blood and limbs all over +dmg is always great, so take it and see how you like it.

  • Strong Back
  • STR >= 5, END >= 5
  • +50 Carry Weight
  • More gear, more loot. Take this.
  • Skip if you don't carry lot of gear, store things in your house and don't mind travel to sell more often.

  • Demolition Expert: 3 Ranks
  • Requirements: Explosives = 50+
  • +20% dmg / rank for Grenades, Mines and Missiles.
  • Good, do you use grenades and lay down mines all the time?

  • Pyromaniac: 1 Rank
  • Requirements: Explosives = 60+
  • +50% fire-based weapon damage
  • Flamer, Nuka-Grenade, Shiskebab, 'Firelance' Alien Blaster and Zhu-Rong v418 Chinese Pistol.
  • If you don't use any of these, this is useless, but if you do melee with Shiskebab, this perk makes it the best weapon in game.

  • Level 20. Ninja or Grim Reaper's Sprint.
  • Ninja makes you melee/unarmed slaughter machine with uber-crits
  • Grim Reaper's Sprint restores your AP on a VATS kill, so you can clear multiple enemies without any sweat.

  • If you don't use VATS, take Ninja.
  • If you only use Melee or Unarmed, take Ninja.
  • If you don't Melee or Unarmed, take Grim Reaper's Sprint.
  • If you use VATS, take Grim Reaper's Sprint.

[06.2.5] PERKS NOT TO TAKE, EVER.

There are many perks that you can take and try for run, but these should be avoided, as they don't provide anything we get anyway.

Some of the "look good on paper", but remember to consider hard it you really need these. Remember that it is your game, so you're in the control and can do whatever you want :)
  • Daddy's Boy/Girl. +5 Science and +5 Medicine per rank
  • Gun Nut. +5 Small Guns and +5 Repair per rank
  • Little Leager. +5 Melee and +5 Explosives per rank.
  • Thief. +5 Sneak and +5 Lockpick per rank
  • Swift Learner. +10 EXP, no rush to level really
  • Scrounger. More ammo from containers, not so great
  • Size Matters. +15 Big Guns skill per rank.
  • Scoundrel. +5 Speech and +5 Barter per rank.
  • Fortune Finder. More Bottle Caps, sounds good, but isn't
  • Here and Now. Instant level-up, no need
  • Contract Killer/Lawbringer. 5 Caps for killing good/evil. So Bad.
  • Master Trader, items 25% cheaper. Unnecessary
  • Tag! +15 Skill at level 16! No good.
  • Computer Whiz. Reload or re-try hack attempt instead.
  • Infiltrator. Reload or re-try lockpick attempt instead.
  • Explorer. Every Location pinpointed. Only take to save this level 20 to separate save file to load and look at map if you need.

T.O.C. ^

[07] POWERPLAY QUESTS


For detailed walkthrough of the quests, check the other guides from Fallout 3 at Gamefaqs.com or such.

[07.1] QUEST PERKS


Quest: Wasteland Survival Guide
  • Tough: +6 Damage Resistance

  • Do the optional requirements for all 9 parts
  • Always choose END or STR option from answers on turn-in.
  • Boost stats if needed with chems.
  • >>> leads to Tough: +6 Damage Resistance

Other possibilities (avoid Smart or Sly):

Standard: +15 HP
Smart: +6 Medicine, +6 Science
Sly: +6 Sneak, +6 Speech
Snide: +3 Critical Chance

Quest: Those!
  • Ant Might: 1 Rank
  • 25% resistance to fire, +1 in STR.

-or-
  • Ant Sight: 1 Rank
  • 25% resistance to fire, +1 in PER

>>> If you choose to follow the stat recommendations on this guide, choose Ant Sight for +1 PER.

QUEST: The Replicated Man
  • Wired Reflexes: 1 Rank
  • Increases VATS accuracy by 10%
  • To get both this, and the weapon. See Vault Fallout Wiki for info.

QUEST: Oasis
  • Barkskin: 1 Rank
  • Damage Resistance is increased by +10
  • No longer has the +1 END as in early Fallout3 build, but Damage Resistance alone makes it worthwhile to this one.

[07.2] QUEST ITEMS


QUEST: The Replicated Man

QUEST: Reilly's Rangers
  • Ranger Battle Armor and/or Eugene the Minigun
  • Choose Ranger Battle Armor,
  • but do note that, if Brick happens to die during the retreat from the hotel, you can loot both Eugene and Ranger Battle Armor, and get one more of the two as quest reward.

T.O.C. ^

[08] POWERPLAY ITEMS


These don't weight too much, so can carry these around and switch when needed, e.g. selling stuff, repairing, hacking/lockpicking, etc.

[08.0] Utility Items Summary


  • Button's Wig and Roving Barter Suit (Barter +10 total)
  • Vault Utility Suit (+5 Lockpick, +5 Repair)
  • Lesko's Lab Coat (+10 Science)
  • Ranger Battle Armor (+1 LCK, +10 Small Guns)
  • Lucky 8 Ball (+1 LCK)
  • Button's Wig and Naughty Nightwear (Speech +20 total)

[08.1] Utility Items for +Skill boost when needed


Vault Utility Suit (you get it at childhood part)
+5 Repair and +5 Lockpick.

Vault Lab Uniform (you get it at childhood part)
+5 Science
>>> replace later by Lesko's Lab Coat +10 Science

Dirty Pre-War Businesswear (get from Burke by telling Sheriff about Burke, and killing Burke while at it. Good Karma route only)
+5 Speech
>>> replace later by Naughty Nightwear +10 Speech
>>> add Button's Wig later for +10 Speech more

Roving Trader Outfit +5 Barter
Roving Trader Hat +5 Barter
>>> Button's Wig replaces the hat as duplicate +5 Barter

Any Hat with +1 PER
e.g. Pre-War Baseball Cap, Stormchaser Hat, Pre-War Hat, etc
>>> Use when wandering in Wasteland to spot enemies sooner.

[08.2] Weapons


There are weapon listings in the other guides, and info about how to get the unique ones. So I'll just say what I use: Hunter Rifle for long range, Combat Shotgun for short. Combat Shotgun is my favorite, when enemies get near, they don't live very long, even at start with low small guns skill.

[08.3] Armor


At start, the Armored Vault 101 Jumpsuit is great (get it from Moira by wearing some Vault 101 gear, like the Vault 101 Security Armor, when you talk to her start)

Go with whatever armor you come across, mostly Raider or Talon Armor I'd guess. Probably no need to waste caps on anything at this point.

In the end, Ranger Battle Armor, no question about it. Sick DR/weight ratio, AP+5, LCK+1 and Small Guns +10 on top. Get it, love it. Save all Talon Combat Armors and Combat Armors from your journeys to keep it fixed.

T.O.C. ^

[09] THINGS TO COLLECT


Bobbleheads, Skill Books, Custom Weapon materials, Quest items, etc.

Store them at your House/Suite before you need them.

See [96] FALLOUT 3 PERFECT CHARACTER CHECKLIST.

T.O.C. ^

[10] FALLOUT 3 PERFECT CHARACTER - BEGINNING WALKTHROUGH


SPOILER WARNING! If you haven't played Fallout 3 yet, and want to experience it on your own, as I recommend, skip this section.

[10.1] FALLOUT 3 CHILDHOOD WALKTHROUGH


1) Go through childhood and collect everything you can - Absolute Steve's main FAQ or the Enhanced Fallout 3 Guide is great for this
2) Never ever delete the save file created automatically when you exit, you can always reload it, edit everything and still have all the stuff you collected. And you don't have to go though childhood again.
3) Extra: Check that the time is around 6-8am before you click the door. Wait if needed - this way you'll have daylight at start without waiting on every new start (easier to see where you're going if nothing else).

[10.2] OUT OF THE VAULT, THE FIRST STEPS TOWARDS FALLOUT 3 PERFECT CHARACTER


1) Run to Springvale (to the left road from Vault 101), loot the mailboxes to the left, especially the second mailbox, and lockpick the safe in the ruin where the 2nd mailbox is.
2) Run to Megaton (there might be caravan trader outside, sell unneeded stuff and buy something if you like)
3) Enter Megaton
4) Talk with Sheriff, but don't talk about the bomb yet. Exit dialoque.
5) Put on your 101 Vault Suit for +2 Speech, SAVE to a new save file
6) Talk to Sheriff about the Bomb, pump up the price with speech
RELOAD until succesful (this might take a while with our low speech)
7) SAVE to a new save-file (this is your start point with this char)
8) EXIT (you'll reload this autosave if run to River City goes bad)
9) RUN to River City (You got the location from Sheriff)

[10.3] THE RIVER CITY RUN - FALLOUT 3 PERFECT CHARACTER


You want to run to River City and avoid all fights / take minimal dmg.
We're going for the +1 INT Bobblehead while still at level 2.
  • Equip any +1 PER hat/item you have
  • You should have the baseball cap if nothing else
  • Run more and less directly to South from Megaton (set marker)
  • Stay out of buildings mostly, but feel free to try and get some locations pinned while running (the little green triangles)
  • While running, if you see "reds", hit crouch, stop and/or try to sneak bit to the side, we want to avoid battles or at least getting hit too much.
  • Make a "temporary run save file", and save after a bit if still safe
  • When you reach the border of game area (or close to it),
  • Run east, while staying mostly to south.

If you want to look at a map, like this Fallout 3 Map: For relatively safe route, you can pick up locations like Nuka-Cola Plant and Arlington Library. Flooded Metro has enemies, so go around that from South.
  • When you reach the water, swim to River City (don't mind the rad, we can clear it for free with Wasteland Survival Guide quest when back at Megaton)
  • When you reach River City, make a NEW save file again.
  • Go to the Science Lab (enter the door on left after bridge, take the door on left when in the stairwell, run to the end of the corridor / follow the signs to Science Lab.
  • Get the INT+1 Bobblehead on the table.
  • Don't talk to Dr.Li too much about Dad, as that will skip parts of the main quest (unless you want to for some reason)
  • If the run goes bad, reload and avoid the bad areas.

Now that you have the +1 INT Bobblehead, you can do whatever you want. It's probably an good idea to go back to Megaton thou. But you can do some stuff in River City, like start The Replicated Man quest or such. When done, fast travel to Megaton. SAVE.

[10.4] MEGATON


Do these things in Megaton:
  • Start Wasteland Survival Guide (WSG) quest, do the radiation part (and get cleaned of the rad from swim to River City while at it)
  • Get the STR+1 Bobblehead from Sheriff's house (it's open at times)
  • Talk to Walter about pipe leaks, fix'em, talk to Walter again
  • Talk to Ghoul in the saloon (Speech challenge)
  • Talk to Mr.Burke about the Bomb, get info about Lee's chem stash.

  • If going for good karma, tell Sheriff about Mr.Burke, and then either save Sheriff when things go bad,
  • or let the Sheriff take it, for a nice early weapon.. but not that great, so save the man :)
  • Either way kill Burke while at it (Sneak Attack VATS headshot is good and fast if you want to save the Sheriff)
  • Loot Burke for +5 speech suit and other stuff
  • Get the chem stash key from Lee, speech challenge and help him.
  • Go get the chems
  • Repair bomb (boost explosives to 25 with Mentats if needed) for your own House and nice 500 caps.
  • If Sheriff is dead, his son will give you the reward.
  • Talk to Moriarty
  • get info about Silver, go collect (Speech challenge for 400 caps)
  • hack into Moriarty's computer (pump Science with Vault Lab Uniform and chems if needed. Get info about Dad.

You'll have plenty of caps from the quests alone, so this is a good way to start. Not that you'll run out of caps anyway, but in case you don't want to loot stuff and sell, these early caps will come in handy buying ammo or stimpacks for example.

If you like, go and run a bit Southwest of Tenpenny Tower to "Lucky's" and get Lucky Shades for +1 LCK from mannequin inside.

Now go do whatever you want, continue with the WSG, do the Blood Ties, continue the Main Quest and go after your Dad or whatever. Just remember to follow the Fallout 3 Perfect Character guidelines on perks, items and stat increases and you'll end up good..

Getting Dogmeat!


When you do the Minefield part of the WSG quest, go and get Dogmeat from Scrapyard. As the Scrapyard is right next to Minefield (just need to run couple of steps to South), this is the best time to get the dog.

You'll find some raiders getting whooped by a dog there, be nice to the doggie and it'll will follow you forever, or you can send him to Vault 101
and get it back at any point if you want.

Dogmeat eats Super Mutants and everything else for breakfast and will help you a lot. If nothing else, make it fetch you things from locked containers.

[10.5] EXPLORE, MAIN STORY, ETC.


Even that this is a guide for the Fallout 3 Perfect Character, Fallout is about exploring and freedom, so go your way, enjoy the game, play your own Fallout 3 Perfect Game..

You are "on your own" now, go do whatever you please. Have fun in with the Main Story, explore the Wasteland, gather all kinds of items and equipment, etc. Fallout 3 is a great game, so you should enjoy it like you want. Don't forget to take a look at the downloadable contect if you run out of things to do. Just remember to keep a separate save files, so you can start again without doing all things again if you don't want to.

T.O.C. ^

[96] FALLOUT 3 PERFECT CHARACTER CHECKLIST


BOBBLEHEADS
[ ] Strength (Megaton - Lucas Simms' House)
[ ] Perception (Republic of Dave - Museum of Dave)
[ ] Endurance (Deathclaw Sanctuary)
[ ] Charisma (Vault 108 - Cloning Lab)
[ ] Intelligence (Rivet City - Science Lab)
[ ] Agility (Greener Pastures Disposal Site - Office)
[ ] Luck (Arlington House)

[ ] Barter (Evergreen Mills - Market Bazaar)
[ ] Big Guns (Fort Constantine - CO Quarters)
[ ] Energy Weapons (Raven Rock - Sector 2)
[ ] Explosives (WKML Broadcast Station - Sealed Cistern)
[ ] Lockpick (Bethesda Ruins - Bethesda Offices East)
[ ] Medicine (Vault 101 - Living Quarters)
[ ] Melee Weapons (Dunwich Building - Virulent Underchamber)
[ ] Repair (Arefu - Evan King's House)
[ ] Science (Vault 106 - Living Quarters)
[ ] Small Guns (National Guard Depot - National Guard Armory)
[ ] Sneak (Yao Guai Tunnels - Yao Guai De)
[ ] Speech (Paradise Falls - Eulogy's Pad)
[ ] Unarmed (Rockopolis)

LEVELUPS
[ ] Level 2: Intense Training -> STR +1
[ ] Level 3: Intense Training -> END +1
[ ] Level 4: Comprehension (Now you can read Skill Books for +2 Points)
[ ] Level 5: Intense Training -> AGL +1
[ ] Level 6: Toughness
[ ] Level 7: Bloody Mess / Intense Training -> AGL or PER +1
[ ] Level 8: Strong Back / Int.Training -> AGL or PER +1
[ ] Level 9: Commando
[ ] Level 10: Finesse
[ ] Level 11: Demolition Expert / Int.Training -> AGL or PER +1
[ ] Level 12: Sniper
[ ] Level 13: Silent Running
[ ] Level 14: Cyborg
[ ] Level 15: Pyromaniac **4*
[ ] Level 16: Action Boy
[ ] Level 17: Better Criticals
[ ] Level 18: Paralyzing Palm
[ ] Level 19: [choice]
[ ] Level 20: Grim Reaper's Sprint

PERK PRE-REQUISITES
[ ] Explosives 50+ before level 11 (Demolition Expert)
[ ] Sneak 60+ before level 13
[ ] Explosives 60+ before level 15 (Pyromaniac)
[ ] Science 60+ before level 14 (Cyborg)
[ ] Medicine 60+ before level 14 (Cyborg)
[ ] Unarmed 70+ before level 18 (Paralyzing Palm)
[ ] Sneak 80+ before level 20 (Ninja)
[ ] Melee 80+ before level 20 (Ninja)

COLLECT AND SAVE/ (To sell for Freeform Quests)
[ ] Scrap Metal
[ ] Pre-War Books
[ ] Fire And Nectar
[ ] Sugar Bombs

SAVE FOR LATER (Custom Weapons)
[ ] Lunchbox
[ ] Cherry Bomb
[ ] Sensor Module
[ ] Paint Gun
[ ] Toy Car
[ ] Surgical Tubing
[ ] Radscorpion Poison Gland
[ ] Wonderglue
[ ] Leather Belt
[ ] Medical Brace
[ ] Deathclaw Hand
[ ] Fission Battery
[ ] Pressure Cooker
[ ] Steam Gauge Assembly

T.O.C. ^

[97] MISCELLANEOUS


THE OFFICIAL FALLOUT SITE

Other Fallout 3 FAQ's (at GameFAQ's)

Other Fallout 3 Fan Websites


The Vault Fallout Wiki

T.O.C. ^

[98] OUTRO


The end of my FAQ

If you enjoyed the guide, please leave a comment and share this guide with your friends by linking to this guide or using the buttons below to bookmark and share the guide in Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc.

For any Contributions, Compliments, Complaints, Thanks, please leave a comment

If you think level 20 is not enough, buy the Broken Steel downloadable content (or the GOTY edition of the game) and go for the 30!

For more advice, tips, maps and walkthroughs for this wonderful game, I recommend the Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition: Prima Official Game Guide

The Game of the Year (GOTY) Edition of the guide includes the information not only about the original Fallout 3 game, but also about the 5 add-on games that can come with the Fallout 3: Game of The Year Edition or can be downloaded separately.

Those links above (the guide and the game) are affiliate links to Amazon.com so I'll get a small commission from Amazon if you decide to buy'em. You can always find them gaming stores near you or in other online stores as well, if you don't feel like buying it from Amazon or through that link of mine. I haven't bought the Prima Guide myself, as I like to explore things on my own and then write a guide like this to help others out, but if you want a cool book to your shelf and all the information about the game you need and then some, the guide is definitely for you.

T.O.C. ^

[99] CONTRIBUTORS AND CREDITS


+++ The Vault Fallout Wiki
+++ gamefaqs.com
+++ Absolute Steve for great guides and FAQs
+ CrionLord for the Skill Book Guide
+ everyone else in the gamefaqs community

+++ Bethesda Softworks for the greatest game and for resurrecting Fallout back into glory!

+++ Fallout 4 ... pretty please (UPDATE: It's not named "4", but it's coming here!!! - Fallout: New Vegas was released on October 19th 2010)

Document Copyright Zemalf

Fallout 3 Powerplay Guide Copyright (C) 2009-2010

=============================================================================

2009-05-15

Episode Game Making Telltale Games turns 5 Years

Telltale Games turns 5 years. And they announced the celebration in their blog:

Five years ago around this time, Telltale's fearless co-founders Kevin Bruner and Dan Connors set up shop with a dream of creating a brand new type of game. They dreamed of games that focus on story and characters, instead of shooting and fighting. Games that come out once a month instead of once every four years. Games that keep you hungry for more, yet don't make you wait *too* long to find out what happens next. You know... Telltale Games.


If you like me, you've played the adventure games like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and such. But have you played the new Sam & Max Adventure games already? You know the episode games Telltale is putting out, for 2 seasons = 10 games already, all super funny if you ask me. What about Wallace & Gromit adventure that came out? If you haven't you should, and now you can get $5 off the store prices.

In all seriousness, I'm putting this out because they asked me to and gave me "$5 off coupon" to boot. But I do love those games, so I'm happy to do it :)

So go to the Telltale website and check the games out if have missed them somehow.

If you happen to get interested and buy something, use this Coupon Code to get $5 off any purchase: WTD-3NF-8X6-29M

Go check out the Telltale website for Sam & Max Seasons 1 and 2, and the Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures.

2009-04-28

All Things Eve - The Eve Online Guide

Fly Safe!

All Things EVE- The EVE Online Guide


Collection of Guides to Get Started in EVE Online.

Into Eve Online
Risk and Reward in Eve
Eve Kick-Start: Fitting Your Ship

Eve Kick-Start: Creating a New Eve Character
Eve Kick-Start: Skill Training for Newbies
Eve Kick-Start: Tutorials and Beyond

Holy Priest Guide from Ensidia

There is new sheriff in town of holy priest guides for World of Warcraft!

poptisse of Ensidia treats us with comprehensive guide to all things holy, recommended read to anyone running around in their pajamas throwing frisbees.

Ensidia - Holy Priest Guide, part 1

Ensidia - Holy Priest Guide, part 2

One of the best guides I've seen about Holy Priests, and I've read a lot of them over the years.

2009-04-21

Effective Procrastination: Don't Waste Your Time Looking for Ways to Waste Time

Wasting time is hard! You have to think about what to do and feel bad about avoiding whatever you want to avoid by wasting time. Well, I wasted time by writing this blog post and playing all these cool and totally meaningless games while at it. Mission accomplished, I wasted several hours :) You can too..

Effective Procrastination: Don't Waste Your Time Looking for Ways to Waste Time

Tired of the constant raiding, but feel like you need a reason not to log in?

Need to waste couple of hours while hiding in your cubicle before you can leave from work?

Or just feel like procrastinating a bit before you take a dash to finish that paper you have to finish for tomorrow?

Look no further, these should make time fly by!

RetroShoot

In RetroShoot, you just have to move your mouse, perfect! And it comes with mind numbing music to boot, I love it!

Falling Sand

So beautifully simple but still so fashinatingly versatile. Great time waster!

Not Pr0n

I wrote shortly about Zahada earlier this year, and man, if you thought that was tricky - Go for the Not PrOn.

Not enough? check these lists for more

As a side note, I saved you from wasting time for googling these up yourself :)

Top 10 Free Time Wasting Sites on the Net - Picked the Falling Sand and Not PrOn from this list, go check out the other 8.

The 15 Best Places to Waste Time on the Web - if you don't feel like gaming, but still need to waste time, go here.

A Complete Waste of Time Massive list of free & fun games - An extensive list of (mostly) fun, free online games you can play in 5 minutes or less

Have you found a great time waster everyone should know about?

Post it on the comments!

2009-04-15

Blog Watch: Ulduar Healing Guide by Matticus

Yay, Ulduar is here! And for us Healers, Matticus treats us with Healing Ulduar: Flame Leviathan for the first boss. Although, it's Nice guide for non-healers too if you ask me :) To get things rolling, Razorscale and XT-002 Deconstructor 25-man guides are there too already.

For those who've lived under a stone and are unaware of World of Matticus blog, go check it out! If nothing else, check the healing guides for raids, like the needed-this-week Ulduar Healing Guide, which the mentioned Healing Ulduar: Flame Leviathan is part of.

2009-04-09

I Never Thought My Vids Would Get 50k Views on Youtube

My Two Achievement Videos have almost 50000 views combined!

The old PvP Event vid has gone up to 20k or so, which is also great.

The WoW Achievement: The Lurker Above (Fishing) has over 35000 views and 5-star rating after almost 60 rates.

I'm so happy about that, because I made the "this is how you get the achievement" videos to help others get'em without the problems I had trying.

I don't do any regular video updates, but you can see all my youtube videos from Zemalf's Youtube Channel, please subscribe to the vids to get notified when I actually make one again :)

Three (Healing) Addons to Rule Even More

Yes, more useful healing addons right here.

The most popular post on this blog was posted a year ago, and it's time for continuation of the oh-still-so-valid Two (Healing) Addons to Rule Them All.

In the previous installment of "healing addons that rule" series, I highlighted two essential ones: Quartz and VisualHeal.

A year after Quartz is still the best casting bar there is, so go get that if you for some non-sense reason haven't already! (Even if you are not a healer, Quartz is for you, as it has has useful plugins, like flight time and tradeskill timer)

VisualHeal is also still an essential addon, but note that several addons (including the most popular raid frames addons like X-Perl and Pitbull) use LibHealComm-3.0 too, so check if you have one installed already.

VisualHeal, PitBull, BunchOfBars, oUF, Grid, PerfectRaid, ag_unitframes, X-Perl and sRaidFrames all use LibHealComm-3.0 for communicating healing. Ideally all healers in the group should have VisualHeal or another addon that uses LibHealComm-3.0 installed. VisualHeal will continue to function even if some healers don't have it, but it will not be aware of healing cast by these players.


Three (Healing) Addons to Rule Even More

After you have Quartz and VisualHeal (directly or through LibHealComm-3.0), you'll be wanting these three too:
Clique
Grid
SmartBuff

Why these, you ask?

Clique

Easy mouseover casting

When healing in a party you can manage targeting each player and casting a spell to'em, but on raids you will need simple mouseover casting (which helps you in 5-man teams too). And Clique makes setting up your keystroke+mouseclick shortcuts to all your spells so simple that adding tailored macroes yourself would be a waste of time.

Grid

Very compact and highly customizable unit frame

Grid gives you compact view to the whole party/raid, and through some configuration, you'll have all the information you on one glance. For example, you can see who has your renew or Prayer of Mending on them and if you need to recast one soon, see incoming heals to the whole raid (as all healers are using VisualHeal or some mentioned LibHealComm-3.0 addon right?).

If you setup your unit-frames nicely, you can go without Grid, but I like it's compact view a lot, and use it as my only raid frame. And Grid works superbly with Clique, so there you do, get'em both :)

SmartBuff

Super easy buffing

I don't want to check if someone needs that Stam or Spirit buff, or if I should renew my well-fed buff, or even worse, have someone in the raid shoud "Stam buff please!". Smartbuff does it for me, and all I have to do is roll my mousewheel and it's all done. This way I always have my Inner Fire up and the lone one who took one for the team at last boss gets the needed buffs from me before we rush on. Works for all classes.

Bonus Addon

Some people say you don't need Decursive if configure and set-up Grid as your decurse/cleanse point, but I like to have those curses and sicknesses in different area of the screen, so I prefer Decursive. Every class with any curse- and/or disease-removing abilities, should have this.

Where to Download Addons

Download the addons from wow.curse.com or WoWUI or any site you prefer (those two are the biggest and get fast updates for the popular addons)

You also want to set-up a system to automatically check updates for your addons, because to avoid using old/buggy version, and skip the manual work of checking, downloading and installing the new versions.

Unfortunately WoW Ace Updater is no longer with us, as wowace integrated with curse.com, and for me, curse updater just isn't very good (tbh, it sucks big time).

But you have at least two great options: Wowmatrix being the most popular I believe, and WUU - WoW UI Updater which I'm using at the moment (because I happened to find that before wowmatrix).

Both Wowmatrix and WUU support all the possible addon sites and give you one-click version check and update of the addons while at it = Less time updating addons, more time enjoying the game you love.

More "Healing Addons That Rule"

Two (Healing) Addons to Rule Them All

2009-04-06

This Song Rocks: Ulduar!

Listen (and watch) this incredibly good WoW/Parody song (nothing parody in the quality, let me tell you)



EDIT: The song is now available as mp3! get it from Cranius.

I'm back!

It's been a while since I wrote anything about WoW, and that's because I didn't play any. Played a whole lot after WotLK launch for several months and maybe got bit burned out or something.

But gonna play a bit again, but maybe little less hardcore this time around, so keeping playtime under control or something like that.

2009-01-20

How To Powerlevel Mining with Smelting

I leveled my Death Knight Alt's mining skills the tradiotional way to 240 until I realized one can also get a lot of mining skill from smelting ores. In fact, you can level all the way to 315 entirely by Smelting (if enough Ore is available). After 315 some actual mining is mandatory, but not a lot. After 375, only way to level mining is, well, mining.

Here's the most efficient way to level mining from 1 to 375.

WARNING: the most *efficient* does not equal the cheapest.

This requires gold, but if you really want to powerlevel, that's what it takes. If you don't have extra gold to spent, use the traditional mining guides.

Depending on the price difference of Ore and Bars in your server, the cost of leveling this way varies (in theory, you might even make money). The buy amounts are heavily overestimated, it is possible to get by with less.

When Smelt turns green for the Ore in question, skill-ups will slow a lot, so you might hit the gray or you might not with the noted amount. To 90% guarantee no mining runs, buy the noted amount (and buy more if needed).

At least buy the minimum to minimize the mining runs.

* SHOPPING LIST

Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Copper Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Tin Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Silver Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 1) stacks of Iron Ore.
Buy 5 (minimum 2) stacks of Gold Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 2) stacks of Mithril Ore.
Buy 6 (minimum 1) stacks of Truesilver Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 2) stacks of Thorium Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Fel Iron Ore.
Buy 10 (minimum 2) stacks of Adamantite Ore.
Buy 8 (minimum 2) stacks of Eternium Ore.

OPTIONAL SHOPPING:

Cobalt Ore (buy if you don't hit 375 with the above)

* 1-75 MINING

Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Copper Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Tin Ore.

Smelt all the Copper Ore (green until 47, skill-ups slow after that)

If your mining is under 65, buy more Copper Ore and Smelt more. (or go mining until 65)

Smelt Tin (green until 70, gray at 75)
Smelt Bronze (green until 90, gray at 115)

If your mining is under 75, buy more Copper and Tin Ore and Smelt more Bronze. (or go mining until 75)

* 75-150 MINING

If Smelting Bronze took you way past 75, you don't need as much Silver.

Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Silver Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 1) stacks of Iron Ore.

Smelt Silver (green until 122, gray at 130)

If your mining is under 125, buy more Silver Ore and Smelt more. (or go mining until you hit 125)

Smelt Iron (green until 145, gray at 160)

If your mining is under 155, buy more Iron Ore and Smelt more. (or go mining until 155)

* 150-225 MINING

Buy 5 (minimum 2) stacks of Gold Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 2) stacks of Mithril Ore.

Smelt Gold (green until 177, gray at 185)
Smelt Mithril (green until 202, gray at 230)

If your mining is under 230, buy more Mithril Ore and Smelt more. (or go mining until you hit 230)

* 225-300 MINING

This is where it gets hard, if Truesilver Ore is not available.

Also Truesilver is the one Ore is most likely to cost a lot more than the bars.

Buy 6 (minimum 1) stacks of Truesilver Ore.
Buy 12 (minimum 2) stacks of Thorium Ore.

Smelt Truesilver (green until 242, gray at 250).

If your mining is under 250, buy more Truesilver Ore and Smelt more. (or go mining until you hit 250)

Smelth Thorium (green until 270, gray until 290)

Go mining until 300. In theory, this is the first spot you absolutely have to mine :)

* 300-375 MINING

Buy 12 (minimum 3) stacks of Fel Iron Ore.
Buy 10 (minimum 2) stacks of Adamantite Ore.

Smelt Fel Iron (green until 307, gray at 315)
Go mining until you hit 325.
Smelt Adamantite (green until 332, gray at 340)
Go mining until you hit 350.

Buy 8 (minimum 2) stacks of Eternium Ore.
Smelt Eternium (green until 357, gray at 365)
Smelt Felsteel (green until 357, gray at 375)

Note: You need 350 to mine Cobalt in Northrend (so 375 is not needed).

If your mining is under 375, and you want to Smelt as far as you can:

Buy some stacks of Cobalt Ore
Smelt Cobalt (green until 362, gray at 375)

* 375-450 MINING

Smelting days are over :(

Go mining Cobalt until 400.
Go mining Saronite and Titanium Ore until you hit 450.

* LINKS

Traditional mining guides (with mining route information)

Gatherer - The addon for any gathering profession

WoW Mining Guide with Maps 1-450 - WOTLK Mining Guide

WoW Forums Mining 1 to 300 Guide by Highlander on EU-Terenas

Mining @wowwiki
Smelt @wowwiki

2009-01-09

Online Puzzler: Zahada!

If you need a break from WoW or anything else, try the unconventional and incredibly creative online riddles of Zahada

Yes, it's very very hard.

No, I won't provide tips.

And don't blame me if/when you get addicted :)

WoW Achievements: Accomplished Angler

a.k.a. "How to Get the Title: Salty"

You get the title Salty by finishing all the achievements needed for the Accomplished Angler Achievement.

Here's a brief guide on how to get them all and the title Salty!

Word of warning: Getting the title Salty is not for you if you don't have the patience for it. If fishing is just boring to you, just don't do this :)

Fish Don't Leave Footprints

Try to get before / while doing the other achievement requiring fishing from pools (as this make's finding them very easy)

Acquire the Fish Tracking ability. You need to get a Weather-Beaten Journal, and you can get it out of many fished trunks and crates, you can also get it from the daily quest.

Northrend Angler

Fish 10 nodes in Northrend

(copied from Wowhead, credit to Ithinarine)

* Borean Man O' War School - Borean Tundra (coast).
* Deep Sea Monsterbelly School - Borean Tundra, Dragoblight, Howling Fjord (around Icebergs in the Frozen Sea).
* Dragonfin Angelfish School - Dragonblight (Lake Indu'le).
* Fangtooth Herring School - Howling Fjord (rivers and lakes, not coast).
* Glacial Salmon School - Grizzly Hills (rivers and lakes, not coast).
* Glassfin Minnow School - Crystalsong Forest.
* Imperial Manta Ray School - Northrend (general Northrend fish, found off any coast, not in lakes or rivers).
* Moonglow Cuttlefish School - Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Howling Fjord (around Icebergs in the Frozen Sea).
* Musselback Sculpin School - Borean Tundra (Lake Kum'uya).
* Nettlefish School - Sholazar Basin (rivers and lakes, not coast)

Master Angler of Stranglethorn

Some say this is the hardest achievement as you have to compete for it and only one can get it each week. some even say it should be removed from Accomplished Angler achievement, and thus, remove it from requirements of Title Salty.

I say, you can't call yourself serious fisherman if you don't try and win the extravaganza. So go and practise, you will get it eventually. If you don't, perhaps Salty is not the title for you.

Best source for tips on Winning the Extravanza can be found from El's Fishing forums: Stranglethorn Extravaganza.

The One That Didn't Get Away

This might take a lot of work. I did this in Shadowglen (the Night Elf starting area, it took me 3 hours of continuous fishing, your milage may wary)

Mr. Pinchy

or more accurately, Mr. Pinchy's Magical Crawdad Box, as catching Mr.Pinchy is not enough, you must get lucky with the 3 wishes and get the mini-pet (I needed 2 Mr.Pinchies to get mine).

Empty out all the Highland Mixed Schools in the area. This means the lake by the alliance town, the lake by the horde town, and the bigger lake up in Skettis. 3-5 nodes in both the Horde and Alliance rivers, and 7-10 in the Skettis area. They spawn rather slow, so after cleaning out the nodes I would find something else to do for 2 hours then come back.

Make sure you pay attention while fishing, because he is BoP, so you need to click accept.

While at it do the daily fishing quest in Terrokar, for great rare gifts like the hat, or mini crokolisk pet.

Deadliest Catch

Info from El's fishing forums

Enter the instance, go down the steps and head straight left avoiding mobs to the waterfall. Mount jump into the lake below, pop water walking and follow the river around collecting the mudskunks from their pools. If you haven't completed the lure quest follow the river all the way around to the NE side where you'll see a tent and a bunch of booze. There's a chest there with the quest item. This is also the location you use to summon the boss.

After doing the background quest and getting a mudskunk lure from Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh:

Head into ZG again and water walk to the Zulian Mudfish pools and fish 5 up (bring a few water walking pots with you--if you can't solo the groups of alligator's that is--because the fish that live there will attack you from time to time (make sure you can solo a level 60 elite fish) and take off the water walking buff. After obtaining the 5 fish, water walk to Pagle's Point (just keep following the river north) and apply the lure (you don't have to cast or even have your pole equipped to do this) and congratulations! ... you are now 1 step closer to the Salty title!

This was very doable on level 70, but at level 80 this is super easy mode (mobs barely aggro to you). D note that the achievement only goes to the fisherman who actually fished him up.

Might as well bring other level 80's with you (healer, tank, dps) and try to get the Polymorph book + Tiger & Raptor bosses for the rare drop mounts.

The Scavenger

(credit to jamras on thottbot)

Steam Pump Flotsam: Zangarmarsh, all over the lakes
Schooner Wreckage: Southshore, near dock and along coast line
Floating Wreckage: Tanaris, coast
Bloodsail Wreckage: STV, coast south of Grom'Gol
Waterlogged Wreckage: STV, Lake Nazferiti and along river

The Coin Master

This is accomplished by fishing the entire collection of coins out of the tiny fountain in Dalaran. Pretty simple, but requires patience (like a lot of these fishing achievements), so just fish, fish, fish from the fountain. Throw the gold coins back to gain the "lucky" buff, whenever you have gold coin and do not already have the buff. And do fish for the whole 2 minutes of the buff, take your break afterwards :)

Outland Angler

(credit to Tadzulempke on Wowhead)

Brackish Mixed School - Terokkar Forest/Zangarmarsh
Bluefish School - Nagrand
Mudfish School - Nagrand
School of Darter - Terokkar Forest
Highland Mixed School - Terokkar Forest (only reachable with flying mounts)
Sporefish School - Zangarmarsh

Old Man Barlowned

There is a daily fishing quest in Terrokar. Each day the fishing quest is randomly chooses one of five fishing quests for you to do. Keep doing this quest every day and eventually you will get all 5.

The Lurker Above

Fish up the Lurker Below in Serpentshrine Cavern

This is definitely soloable, watch my video on how to do it: WoW Achievements: Lurker Above.

Catch 1000 Fish

You will get this while doing everything else on the list, don't worry about it.

The Old Gnome and the Sea

Successfully fish from a school = Fishing achievement which will come automatically by doing other achievements.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Some fishing achievements, like I smell a Giant Rat, Old Ironjaw or Old Crafty ARE NOT PART of the Accomplished Angler achievement, and are not needed for title Salty.

You might also want to look at El's compilation on Fishing Achivements

CREDITS

Original Brief Overview on Getting Salty by Laizhensil at El's Fishing forums