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

[waggy]

The memory game was easy. but a total waste of time. I hated it.

 

[Morbus]

Freshman-level philosophy is the best kind of philosophy. Anything past that is too hard for me brain

 

[GusSmed]

So, I'm running a mission in the Far Harbor DLC where I have to defend a neutral homestead against raiders. There's a single inhabitant there, and he's mission critical, but not marked as essential. Naturally, he's using the companion AI, which means he steps right in front of me as I'm shooting at a raider. Takes a plasma blast to the back and dies, mission failed.

 

[Imp]

^Loved that mission. Wish there was more time to prepare though.

Spoiler

I completely razed that settlement and put up concrete walls with a bunch of turrets. The fog condenser mission was so much fun when I had everything up and running... Pretty messy though.

 

[GusSmed]

It turns out if you start over and know the mission's coming up, and try and prepare by dropping a bunch of mines around the property before entering and triggering the mission, the attack starts shortly after you approach anyway. Getting jumped by all those attackers, even in X01 power armor, was a short-lived experience.

I guess the level designer didn't want you to have time to prepare through foreknowledge.

 

[Imp]

I had some junk on me or it was available and I managed to throw a few machine gun turrets down quickly. They helped... but my robot companion with miniguns for arms helped as well.

Speaking of miniguns, they get really annoying in water because of the booming noise.

 

[GusSmed]

I've been playing with Nick exclusively, because I'm not quite sure when the Nick-specific dialog stops.

 

[heymrdj]

I've been playing with Nick exclusively, because I'm not quite sure when the Nick-specific dialog stops.

Believe me when I say it goes all the way through it and it's worth it. They blew it away with story writing on this DLC if you ask me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GusSmed]

It's true that I'm a lot more interested in the storyline in Far Harbor than in any of the stories in the base game.

 

[werepossum]

I just finished the Memory Retrieval mission, and it was excellent. It's not remotely like Myst - the only overlap between the two is that it involves puzzles. It's not all that close to Portal, though "being like Portal" is normally high praise, not a slam. It's closest to The Talos Principle, only without the Freshman-level philosophy.

If I have any complaints, it's that of the 5 puzzles, only the 5th required any serious thought. Puzzle 4 wasn't too bad, but still pretty easy.

It's an amazing little game they managed to shoehorn into a DLC. With a little expansion, I could easily imagine it being a pretty decent little indie puzzle game all by itself.

That is where I prefer it - where I can avoid it like the plague.

Seriously, I wouldn't even term it a puzzle game, just a tedium game. The only remotely puzzling part was figuring out where is the last redirector in the fifth level.

So, I'm running a mission in the Far Harbor DLC where I have to defend a neutral homestead against raiders. There's a single inhabitant there, and he's mission critical, but not marked as essential. Naturally, he's using the companion AI, which means he steps right in front of me as I'm shooting at a raider. Takes a plasma blast to the back and dies, mission failed.

I had solved that problem a different way, so I have thirteen mostly well-armed settlers and numerous turrets there. I did some fightin' and some fixin', but overall it was disappointingly easy at level 70 in spite of catching me outside my power armor, wearing only my Charisma-boosting Reginald's Suit. Only once or twice did I even get injured. That is not on Survival, mind you - I'm still playing kicked down one notch - but several of the beasties were Legendary. Only practical result was collecting more useless but Legendary loot.

Something is going on at my Dalton Farm. The settlers are all telling me how much trouble they are in and how they hope I can help - but nobody will tell me HOW to help. I only get the trade dialogue. I seem to also have a glitch in the Shipbreaker quest, which I did not immediately take up. When I was ready, I fetched Old Longfellow and proceeded to wade around in radioactive water to no effect beyond wasting Rad-X and Radaway (and time.) My Shipbreaker-o-meter rose as high as 99.91%, but no beastie sprang forth and the water is too shallow to see under it. Eventually I gave up.

I'll say this - Far Harbor is EX-PEN-SIVE. I came into this with almost 30,000 caps and tons of ammo. I have explored every named location I can see but one (the hotel on the way to Arcadia) and I now have less than 2,000 caps and less than 2,000 rounds of, well, anything. I'm also quite disappointed in the various Marine armors. Sure, they are protective, but they are also heavy. If I wear that and carry my customary four weapons (scoped rifle, night vision scoped rifle, reflex sight rifle, and Pickman's knife) then there's little point in going out since I can carry almost nothing. Even cutting my food back to no more than six of each item leaves me little room for junk, and besides all the Legendary beasties with their wondrous if useless Legendary arms and armor, trappers' armor is very, very heavy for its value. Much as I'd like to abandon my power armor and run like the wind, I can't abandon the loot carrying capacity. (Perhaps not my first choice in mule-like attributes, but I takes what I can gets.)

 

[GusSmed]

I had solved that problem a different way, so I have thirteen mostly well-armed settlers and numerous turrets there.

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. I'm talking about Uncle Ken. I'm not sure there's any way to approach that settlement without triggering the Trapper attack.

I've had no problems with cash flow at all, and I'm playing on Survival. I'm not sure what you're spending the money on. I did eventually take the Scrounger perk up to level 3 (level 4 feels like a cheat to me) because I was running through ammunition faster than I found it, so maybe that helped.

I've been adventuring in Far Harbor in X01 power armor. My experience is that power armor and calibrated shocks are required for high-level Survival play. Without power armor, strength 6 (which is far higher than I normally go) and 2 levels of Strong Back (for +50lbs) lets me carry my basic combat load: heavy armor modded to Ultra Light or Deep Pockets (depending on the item), 1 long weapon, 2 pistols, ammunition, food and water. No ability to carry anything else, like loot.

Even without that, Far Harbor's pretty radioactive. The few times I've gotten out of my power armor, namely to go swimming for the Marine armor pieces, I've picked up pretty significant radiation. It's a non-issue in power armor, but it's a serious problem with most regular armor unless it's lead lined. The Marine armor at least has built-in radiation protection.

 

[werepossum]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. I'm talking about Uncle Ken. I'm not sure there's any way to approach that settlement without triggering the Trapper attack.

I've had no problems with cash flow at all, and I'm playing on Survival. I'm not sure what you're spending the money on. I did eventually take the Scrounger perk up to level 3 (level 4 feels like a cheat to me) because I was running through ammunition faster than I found it, so maybe that helped.

I've been adventuring in Far Harbor in X01 power armor. My experience is that power armor and calibrated shocks are required for high-level Survival play. Without power armor, strength 6 (which is far higher than I normally go) and 2 levels of Strong Back (for +50lbs) lets me carry my basic combat load: heavy armor modded to Ultra Light or Deep Pockets (depending on the item), 1 long weapon, 2 pistols, ammunition, food and water. No ability to carry anything else, like loot.

Even without that, Far Harbor's pretty radioactive. The few times I've gotten out of my power armor, namely to go swimming for the Marine armor pieces, I've picked up pretty significant radiation. It's a non-issue in power armor, but it's a serious problem with most regular armor unless it's lead lined. The Marine armor at least has built-in radiation protection.

Oh, I was talking about a later scripted attack at the same place, when some of the fog condensers are down. The Trapper attack happened before I could build any defenses, but it was fairly meh for Nick and I at around level 60 on Very Hard. Nick's T60f armor was trashed, but it always is. This time around, around a dozen fog crawlers and anglers of various stripes, but they're advancing into the heavy machine gun turrets (defense almost 500) against settlers mostly armed with assault rifles and combat rifles and laser rifles. It . . . did not go well for them.

I bought all the Marine armor I found, to outfit myself and some of my settlers, and some weapons, but mostly it's been spent on ammo. I really need to gather up a bunch of weapons and armor to take to Far Harbor and Acadia, get some of that back. Maybe harvest some food and sell it back to the settlers - which seems like a dick move. Also, I had previously spent a couple thousand rounds of .45 as I got low on cash, which did not work out well because when I got low on other things I began using the kilaton rifle and thus have bought back some of it. Not exactly a wise business move. I've also bought up all the scrap with aluminum (amusingly, the "aluminum tray" scraps to one steel only) and ballistic fabric. Upgraded courser armor is da bomb, although I've not yet earned that perk/skill from Railroad. For the radiation, I received a diving suit (can't remember from whom) for some quest that made recovering the armor a non-event and built a decon arch at Dalton Farm, so generally speaking, radiation hasn't been a problem. But when one spends half an hour in real time wading around trying to get the Shipbreaker radio signal from 99.91% to 100% in the hopes that SOMETHING will happen, rads do pile up.

Speaking of armor, I love love love the two Vim suits! However, I'm not using it because I can't spare the aluminum to upgrade it to "f". I'm using fully upgraded X01, and I have Nick in fully upgraded T60, which takes less aluminum to repair.

 

[GusSmed]

You get the dive suit for filling all the "Help Far Harbor Residents" quests. Thing is, by the time I did that, I'd already resolved the main island conflict between Far Harbor / The Children / Acadia, and retrieved all the pieces of the Marine Assault suit. Still, I've heard there are some interesting things in the Commonwealth underwater, so having a dive suit may still prove useful.

You can of course get the same effect as the dive suit just by taking 1 point in Aquaboy. Which I haven't because I'm still END 3.

I don't spend money on settler equipment. They get whatever I find off of raiders (or Trappers in Far Harbor). I figure they're lucky I don't just sell all that stuff and leave them with their civilian clothes and pipe pistols.

I love the Vim paint jobs. I resent that it takes up a functional slot, so you can either have a neat paint job or something functional like Explosive Shielding. Which made me think just now "I bet there's a mod that fixes that," and sure enough, there is.

 

[Imp]

Those unique recon marine pieces are insanely expensive. I was initially ignoring them but then started to buy the pieces when I stumbled upon them.

 

[GusSmed]

With my base Charisma of 6, +4 charisma from clothing, and Grape Mentats, the price of the Marine Recon helmet is about 10,000 caps. Which was far, far more than I was willing to spend on it, particularly since I don't see myself using non-power armor unless I bump the difficulty back down to Very Hard.

 

[Imp]

Level 120 and they're 10k caps -- high charisma with various perks.

But I am buying them in case I have to kill the seller at some point. I pick everything up though so I can usually finance it with all the guns/armor I collect.

 

[werepossum]

With my base Charisma of 6, +4 charisma from clothing, and Grape Mentats, the price of the Marine Recon helmet is about 10,000 caps. Which was far, far more than I was willing to spend on it, particularly since I don't see myself using non-power armor unless I bump the difficulty back down to Very Hard.

That's the thing about it - I was hoping to get away from power armor when I bought this stuff. I loved being able to run so fast in Courser armor with ballistic weave upgrades. But this time around

Spoiler

I haven't run any missions for P.A.M. because she supposedly breaks the best ending by starting a war with the Brotherhood - although these guys are generally such dicks that a war with them might be for the best - so

I haven't earned that perk. I'm trying to get the best ending where the Minutemen, the Brotherhood, and the Railroad are all at peace.

In that same vein:

Spoiler

I do not understand why, since I can run the Institute, I cannot simply make them less dickish and have peace with all four factions, without losing all that delicious technological advancement. But that does not seem to be possible.

 

[GusSmed]

Well, at least you can keep the 3 Far Harbor factions from murdering each other. Though you have to do a little covert murdering of your own to do it. Which I didn't feel bad about, since the victim was kind of a dick.

What I felt bad about was not doing anything about the prior murder I uncovered. But the game was pretty convincing in explaining why bringing the said murderer to justice would end up in mutual destruction for the two factions I actually liked.

 

[werepossum]

Well, at least you can keep the 3 Far Harbor factions from murdering each other. Though you have to do a little covert murdering of your own to do it. Which I didn't feel bad about, since the victim was kind of a dick.

What I felt bad about was not doing anything about the prior murder I uncovered. But the game was pretty convincing in explaining why bringing the said murderer to justice would end up in mutual destruction for the two factions I actually liked.

Yep, I felt the same way. I also felt very conflicted about the Jules mini-quest:

Spoiler

I told her, which Nick liked, but also ruined what was left of her life. So I reloaded.

 

[Qbah]

That's the thing about it - I was hoping to get away from power armor when I bought this stuff. I loved being able to run so fast in Courser armor with ballistic weave upgrades. But this time around

Spoiler

I haven't run any missions for P.A.M. because she supposedly breaks the best ending by starting a war with the Brotherhood - although these guys are generally such dicks that a war with them might be for the best - so

I haven't earned that perk. I'm trying to get the best ending where the Minutemen, the Brotherhood, and the Railroad are all at peace.

You can have ballistic weave and finish as Minutemen and still have Railroad and Brotherhood alive.

Here's how to do it:

Spoiler

> enter the Institute with the Minutemen's help
> go to the Brotherhood, they'll ask for the holotape
> ask Sturges for the tape, give it to the Brotherhood, they ask you to get Doctor Li
> go to Desdemona, tell her you'll help the Railroad instead of the Minutemen
> do the stuff for PAM (you just need two missions for ballistic weave, you can do all of them though - I did all the optionals just fine, including fall of Ticonderoga - last side quest for them)
> continue with the Institute
> do not attack anyone in Battle for Bunker Hill, let the synts at the end go (or recall or kill them, doesn't matter)
> continue with the institute (+all side quests) until Mass Fusion, just pick it up, don't talk to anyone
> continue with the Brotherhood (get Doctor Li, start working on Liberty Prime, do all optional missions, do Danse's quest, pick Tactical Thinking, do NOT talk to Captain Kell after Tactical Thinking)
> continue with Mass Fusion, tell the Brotherhood instead - you'll get kicked out from the Institute
> get the power source for Liberty Prime
> tell Desdemona you got kicked out, she'll tell you to ask Minutemen for help
> attack the Institute using the Minutemen (their chain does not include killing Railroad or the Brotherhood). Brotherhood's "Tactical Thinking" mission will fail as soon as you finish "Defend the Castle" - that's OK
> at the end, trigger the evacuation order through Father's terminal before setting off the charges so Railroad is happy

The Brotherhood will commend you for using the Minutemen and minimizing their own losses (and you'll continue to be a Paladin rank, almost highest). You can get the best PA helm and leg (both for AP refresh improvement).
The Railroad will thank you for saving all the possible synths by starting the evacuation at the end.
You'll be the General of the Minutemen.
Institute gets blown up (the only thing I don't like - makes no sense as part of the Minutemen - just take over the Institute, kill the synth program, be happy)

That's my best possible ending. You'll lose X6-88 only, so make sure to get his perk before getting kicked out of the Institute.

I did it several times, never had a problem.

 

[werepossum]

You can have ballistic weave and finish as Minutemen and still have Railroad and Brotherhood alive.

Here's how to do it:

Spoiler

> enter the Institute with the Minutemen's help
> go to the Brotherhood, they'll ask for the holotape
> ask Sturges for the tape, give it to the Brotherhood, they ask you to get Doctor Li
> go to Desdemona, tell her you'll help the Railroad instead of the Minutemen
> do the stuff for PAM (you just need two missions for ballistic weave, you can do all of them though - I did all the optionals just fine, including fall of Ticonderoga - last side quest for them)
> continue with the Institute
> do not attack anyone in Battle for Bunker Hill, let the synts at the end go (or recall or kill them, doesn't matter)
> continue with the institute (+all side quests) until Mass Fusion, just pick it up, don't talk to anyone
> continue with the Brotherhood (get Doctor Li, start working on Liberty Prime, do all optional missions, do Danse's quest, pick Tactical Thinking, do NOT talk to Captain Kell after Tactical Thinking)
> continue with Mass Fusion, tell the Brotherhood instead - you'll get kicked out from the Institute
> get the power source for Liberty Prime
> tell Desdemona you got kicked out, she'll tell you to ask Minutemen for help
> attack the Institute using the Minutemen (their chain does not include killing Railroad or the Brotherhood). Brotherhood's "Tactical Thinking" mission will fail as soon as you finish "Defend the Castle" - that's OK
> at the end, trigger the evacuation order through Father's terminal before setting off the charges so Railroad is happy

The Brotherhood will commend you for using the Minutemen and minimizing their own losses (and you'll continue to be a Paladin rank, almost highest). You can get the best PA helm and leg (both for AP refresh improvement).
The Railroad will thank you for saving all the possible synths by starting the evacuation at the end.
You'll be the General of the Minutemen.
Institute gets blown up (the only thing I don't like - makes no sense as part of the Minutemen - just take over the Institute, kill the synth program, be happy)

That's my best possible ending. You'll lose X6-88 only, so make sure to get his perk before getting kicked out of the Institute.

I did it several times, never had a problem.

Thanks! I like that better than the scheme I am currently pursuing. Evidently there are multiple ways to get the "best ending".

Spoiler

I agree completely about blowing up the Institute - if I'm running the Institute, I should be able to run it as I please - kill the synth program, free the synths, kill the worst people within the Institute, watch everybody be happy. Especially given that I can call on the Minutemen, the Railroad, and the Brotherhood for muscle. Also, I don't like X6-88's quest, so I'm fine with losing him and his perk.

 

[Imp]

Regarding the Institute...

Spoiler

The most heartbreaking thing about that place blowing up was that I stored a substantial quantity of items in a trailer before going inside. All those guns I picked up along the way while walking to the Institute with the giant robot. *Sigh*

 

[werepossum]

Hmm, you know that feeling where you're trying to solve a mystery and then wake up to find that you've just bumped uglies with a Bobcat track ho?

Yeah, neither did I - until Far Harbor.

 

[GusSmed]

I, uh, what? I must have missed the Bobcat track ho part of the DLC.

 

[Dahak]

Figure I will add this to this thread. The next 3 dlc's have been revealed they are in order of release
Contraptions Workshop, Price: $4.99 USD Release: June 21, 2016

Machines that sort! Machines that build! Machines that combine! With Fallout 4 Contraptions, use conveyer belts, scaffolding kits, track kits, even logic gates to construct crazy and complex gadgets to improve your Wasteland settlements. The Contraptions Workshop also includes all-new features like elevators, greenhouse kits, warehouse kits, fireworks, armor racks and more

Vault-Tec Workshop, - Build your own vault - Price: $4.99 USD - Release: July 2016

Build a brighter future underground with the all-new Vault-Tec Workshop. Create a massive Vault and attract new Dwellers using pre-war industrial kits complete with retro-nostalgic furniture, lighting, and art. Even change and customize the look of your inhabitants with new barbershops and cosmetic surgery stations. And like every good Overseer, run Vault-Tec approved experiments on your Dwellers to learn what makes an ideal citizen. Vault-Tec has given you the tools, the rest is up to you!

Nuka-World - Price: $19.99 USD - Release: August 2016

Take a trip to Nuka-World, a vast amusement park now a lawless city of Raiders. Explore an all-new region with an open wasteland and park zones like Safari Adventure, Dry Rock Gulch, Kiddie Kingdom and the Galactic Zone. Nuka-World features new quests, Raiders, weapons, creatures and more. Enjoy the ride!

Source: https://bethesda.net/#en/events/gam...lt-tec-workshop-and-nuka-world/2016/06/12/146