Fallout 4 - it's official! Coming Nov 10, '15

[DAPUNISHER]

How many hours are you at ?

284

I should mention that I rarely leveraged sleeping or sleeping with girlfriend to boost XP. With that many hrs, someone leveraging all the XP boosts will be significantly higher level me thinks.

 

[GusSmed]

someone leveraging all the XP boosts will be significantly higher level me thinks.

Probably not. +15% XP doesn't mean +15% levels, since level's roughly proportionate to the square root of XP. To be precise, it's level = sqrt( 4.67 + XP / 37.5 ) - 1.16, but as XP reaches high levels you can pretty much neglect the constant terms. So someone who managed to get +15% all the time might be level 126 or so to your 118, if everything else remains constant.

There's not really that many places to leverage XP gains. INT 10 is +27% XP compared to INT 1, though I expect a lot of Fallout 4 characters end up being at least INT 6 for the Science! perk. There's the Romance bonus, and then there's fairly trivial stuff like Squirrel Stew.

 

[werepossum]

284

I should mention that I rarely leveraged sleeping or sleeping with girlfriend to boost XP. With that many hrs, someone leveraging all the XP boosts will be significantly higher level me thinks.

I'm at (I think) level 73 at around 350 hours and I almost never sleep.

 

[JujuFish]

What's up with the DLC pricing? Only one of the three announced addons is similar to past games (new area, new story), and it's 2 and a half times the cost.

 

[Dahak]

What's up with the DLC pricing? Only one of the three announced addons is similar to past games (new area, new story), and it's 2 and a half times the cost.

true they are pricey, but its still cheaper to get the Season Pass before March 1, even if you are only interested in the Far Harbour dlc. Especially with the 20% off at GMG right now

 

[GusSmed]

What's up with the DLC pricing? Only one of the three announced addons is similar to past games (new area, new story), and it's 2 and a half times the cost.

I vaguely remember things like Point Lookout being $20 initially, even though it's regularly priced at $5 now and can be had now and then for $2.50.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'm at (I think) level 73 at around 350 hours and I almost never sleep.

Sometimes, I would play errand boy almost the entire session. You probably did the more entertaining things, you felt like doing. Instead of grinding out missions for RR, MM, and BoS.

Probably not. +15% XP doesn't mean +15% levels, since level's roughly proportionate to the square root of XP. To be precise, it's level = sqrt( 4.67 + XP / 37.5 ) - 1.16, but as XP reaches high levels you can pretty much neglect the constant terms. So someone who managed to get +15% all the time might be level 126 or so to your 118, if everything else remains constant.

There's not really that many places to leverage XP gains. INT 10 is +27% XP compared to INT 1, though I expect a lot of Fallout 4 characters end up being at least INT 6 for the Science! perk. There's the Romance bonus, and then there's fairly trivial stuff like Squirrel Stew.

Thanks for the detailed response Gus. I was unaware of the way it was calculated.

What I noticed Playing: Do 2 or 3 missions, then go back to Sanctuary. Sleep with one of the girls nearby. Then immediately turn them all in to Preston, and the XP would be 100 or 200 higher for some, than what I would usually get.

 

[GusSmed]

What I noticed Playing: Do 2 or 3 missions, then go back to Sanctuary. Sleep with one of the girls nearby. Then immediately turn them all in to Preston, and the XP would be 100 or 200 higher for some, than what I would usually get.

That's probably the most efficient use of your time as a player. Making the effort to get XP boosts right before turning in quests, especially if you're turning in a block of them.

I tended to do the sex-for-XP thing right before leaving on a new expedition, which probably wasn't nearly as efficient.

 

[JujuFish]

I vaguely remember things like Point Lookout being $20 initially, even though it's regularly priced at $5 now and can be had now and then for $2.50.

No DLC for either 3 or New Vegas was more than $10 at release.

 

[shortylickens]

As unimpressed as I am with this game, I think I'll just skip the DLC for a few years.

 

[sourceninja]

...

 

[GusSmed]

More DLC for the rest of us!

 

[werepossum]

Sometimes, I would play errand boy almost the entire session. You probably did the more entertaining things, you felt like doing. Instead of grinding out missions for RR, MM, and BoS.


SNIP

Yup. I did the Minutemen quests until they became repetitive whinefests, but mostly I wondered around and met interesting new creatures - and mostly killed them and looted they corpses. Show up as a red carat? You must die!

It's actually causing problems now that I'm going through the BoS quests as I long ago found the scribe and the bunker. Now I'm following that quest and the game doesn't recognize that I've already done this part - it reclothed/re-equipped the scribe but I can't move on. I may have to research and reset the quest, which is irritating. Also, that friggin' vertibird set me down under fire with MUCH more difficult enemies than the first two or three times I blew through.

I've done all the Railroad quests up to the, um, building one; now I'm going to do the BoS quests before returning to the Railroad for good.

 

[werepossum]

That's probably the most efficient use of your time as a player. Making the effort to get XP boosts right before turning in quests, especially if you're turning in a block of them.

I tended to do the sex-for-XP thing right before leaving on a new expedition, which probably wasn't nearly as efficient.

The game's easy enough even on survival that it's hardly worth trying to maximize one's level.

 

[GusSmed]

I've never given Survival mode a spin. Mainly because I'd heard somewhere that it disabled VATS, and I love VATS. Plus critical hits and everything related (luck perks, some equipment, anything involving APs) revolve around VATS.

 

[JujuFish]

Survival is the only mode I've played, and I can assure you that VATS still exists.

 

[Imp]

I switched to Survival mode around level 50 so it wasn't that hard. In stead of one-shotting everything, it took a couple.

Now at level 100, it takes a couple magazines for enemies that level with me.

 

[Phoenix86]

I switched to Survival mode around level 50 so it wasn't that hard. In stead of one-shotting everything, it took a couple.

Now at level 100, it takes a couple magazines for enemies that level with me.

By around 35-40 you have all your key perks, it's much harder 10s-25. Many reloads.

 

[werepossum]

By around 35-40 you have all your key perks, it's much harder 10s-25. Many reloads.

I didn't find it difficult on Survival after maybe level 15 - 20 until I took off the power armor. Then wow!

Playing the BoS quests and they are kinda lame. In general, all the faction quests are pretty much the same.

 

[GusSmed]

I didn't find it difficult on Survival after maybe level 15 - 20 until I took off the power armor. Then wow!

I really rather regret that they elected to make power armor available so early. The requirement to use Fusion Cores felt like a serious restriction when I first started playing, but the reality is that you can scavenge enough of those that you can wear power armor exclusively almost from the start of the game.

There is, of course, the option of intentionally avoiding power armor just to make the game more challenging. No one is forcing me to wear it, it just feels like that's a fairly basic bit of game balance that's off.

 

[Imp]

By around 35-40 you have all your key perks, it's much harder 10s-25. Many reloads.

Probably. It probably helped that I managed to score a non-pipe ranged weapon early on -- probably wouldn't have been able to do that with Survival.

 

[shortylickens]

Well, the fact it needs repairs means you'll be scrapping a lot of items you'd normally sell for cash. So it ads to the challenge of the early game.

But of course you eventually get to the point you have so much money you can buy armor simply for the sake of scrapping it and then repairing power armor.

 

[werepossum]

I really rather regret that they elected to make power armor available so early. The requirement to use Fusion Cores felt like a serious restriction when I first started playing, but the reality is that you can scavenge enough of those that you can wear power armor exclusively almost from the start of the game.

There is, of course, the option of intentionally avoiding power armor just to make the game more challenging. No one is forcing me to wear it, it just feels like that's a fairly basic bit of game balance that's off.

Yeah, next play-through I think I'll forgo the power armor altogether. At very low level I died all the time unless wearing it, and also, I liked the boost in loot carrying ability.

Probably. It probably helped that I managed to score a non-pipe ranged weapon early on -- probably wouldn't have been able to do that with Survival.

I dunno, on Survival you get more Legendary opponents, which early on might help. Although I can count maybe two or three Legendary things I've ever gotten and used, so maybe not.

 

[GusSmed]

While it's true that a lot of legendaries are disappointing, and occasionally even nonsensical (i.e. the Gamma Gun of Ghoul Slaying), some are pretty handy.

Two Shot is easily the best modifier. It's extremely powerful with any alpha-strike weapon like a Gauss Rifle.

Instigating (+100% against full health enemies) can be pretty good, though maybe not if Suvival level enemies are very bullet spongy.

Assassin's (+50% against humans) and Mutant Slayer's (+50% against Super Mutants) are good. Any +50% is situationally good, but those are the two most common hostile types.

I never got much use out of Kneecapper (20% chance to cripple a leg), but I've seen some claim it's overpowered.

VATS enhanced (reduced AP cost) can be pretty good for pistols. It doesn't really help for weapons which take half your AP, since you're not getting a third shot with it, but it's pretty powerful with fast weapons. The archetype being the Deliverer, which is a very good weapon at short ranges.

Legendary armors - well, obviously useless if you're using power armor. Which is one of the problems I have with power armor, it makes the question of "which legendary armor do I wear and mod" moot.

If you're deliberately forgoing power armor, there's the problem a lot of legendary armor is pretty poor quality if you're ignoring the modifier. +2 to SPECIAL stats or 15% reduced damage isn't that great when it's on a basic Leather item, which it often is.

 

[Markbnj]

Yeah, next play-through I think I'll forgo the power armor altogether. At very low level I died all the time unless wearing it, and also, I liked the boost in loot carrying ability.

I've only worn it once, when I had to go to the Glowing Sea for the main story quest. I donned a suit of T-45 I had sitting around and packed a 5mm legendary gattling and 2000 rounds of 5mm. It was fun shredding glowing legendary radscorps and mirelurks, and one unfortunate and bumbling behemoth.

Otherwise I haven't run into any combat situation where not having power armor was a real issue. At level 51 I seem to be able to walk all over just about everything.