Fallout 2 Walkthrough

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Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Adventure v.1.02d (NA)
Game Guide, revision 2.24 (25 May 2004)
Written by Omkar Namjoshi
homepage: http://falloutnext.cjb.net
e-mail:   omk_489@hotmail.com
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Copyright (c) 2001-2002 Omkar Namjoshi.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Document License, Version 1.1 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
Sections. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
"legal disclaimer."
CONTENTS:
---------
1. Legal Disclaimer
2. About this guide
3. Character Creation Guide
4. Walkthrough
5. Combat Tactics Guide
6. Appendix
7. Credits
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
================
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ABOUT THIS GUIDE
================
This project was started in early August 2001 to complement my full-length
Fallout game guide. So far, the walkthrough is about 85% complete and has
enough information to beat the entire game (it's 85% because I know I have
missed several things...). There is a complete character creation guide
(yes, with a complete listing for every perk, trait, skill, etc.) as well
as a combat tactics guide. An appendix replete with armor and guns is
present, but regular items (e.g, chems, tools, etc) haven't been added.
The format is largely retained from the version 1.x guide with some distinct
changes. Experience information is given in the first section of the
walkthrough (i.e., before the 'Details' section) as opposed to a seperate
appendix section. Information about guns and NPC's is also given in context,
again eschewing the format of the appendix.
If you have any extra information for the walkthrough or have characters
(please, no hacked ones) that you're willing to share, I would gladly
appreciate your information - your name will go in a 'Credits' section
and the information that you submitted will go in its correct section.
TEXTUAL NOTES
-------------
A list of abbreviations and just some stuff that needs to be noted is included
in this section.
xp:   Experience (general)
kxp:  Experience from kills
NCR:  New California Republic
BOS:  Brotherhood of Steel; technocrats from Fallout 1
ABOUT FALLOUT 2
---------------
Fallout 2 begins in July 2241, about 80 years after Fallout 1 started.
It shares the same game engine with the original Fallout and, like its
predecessor, is just as engaging, original, and violent.
Unlike Fallout 1, Fallout 2 is a much more "mature" game. Take, for
instance, New Reno. New Reno is filled with self-described pimps and
prostitutes, and your character can even become a porn star. Likewise,
there are many more chances to "score" in Fallout 2 to Fallout 1.
These details make the main plot much more contrived (though it's a lot
better than many of games out there) and also make it lose a lot of its
appeal.
The plotline begins when the Vault Dweller was exiled from Vault 13 (end-
game movie in Fallout 1). The Vault Dweller was followed by a few other
dwellers, and together, they trudged northward in the wastelands of
North California.
The small group founded a community, Arroyo. It was (and still is) a
primarily agragrian community and is quite primitive, but the villagers
later turned it into a thriving community.
The Vault Dweller vanished from Arroyo and was presumed dead. His daughter
became the Elder of the village. 35 years after the Elder received the
title of Elder, the economy of Arroyo slowly began to deteriorate and
needed the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K) to survive. Your character
was chosen for that role and now has been sent to retrieve the G.E.C.K from
the holy Vault 13.
This walkthrough contains a lot of spoilers; read it only if you're
stuck in a certain part of the game and need some help to get out.
I hope you have as much fun as playing Fallout 2 as I have had. Best of
luck to you, Vault Dweller!
CHARACTER CREATION
==================
This walkthrough is different in its approach, and a special "highly-tuned"
character is used to maximize effectiveness. The walkthrough will walk you
through in getting the Power Armor early on in the game (or at least after
Vault City), and that is largely responsible for high and low stats featured
in the selected character.
The pre-selected characters can finish the game. Chitsa is the best, as her
intelligence will enable her to finish most of the quests in the game.
Narg is a melee fighter, which is pretty ineffective since virtually all
of the good weapons are ranged attacks. And Mingan, well...a thief-type
is horrible at combat and really isn't great. The character included below
can be considered a heavily modified Chitsa (I used that character as a
base for this one).
Now, here are two very conspicious traits that need to be acknowledged,
though they don't have a big impact on the game:
1. Yes, in Fallout, you can choose whether to be female or male. For the
most part, it really doesn't matter what your gender is, but there
are subtle differences that will be taken in account:
FEMALES
- In the Den, females can screw a bartender in The Hole for $200.
They can also screw Joey, the gangster, (though apparently for
nothing). One major advantage is that females can screw Metzger
to buy Vic for half the price.
- In Modoc, females can marry either Miria or Davin.
- In New Reno, females will have difficulty convincing Stuart to
sign you up for the boxing championships. Also, females can screw
T-Ray (the chop-shop mechanic) to get the car back (he'll steal it)
and screw him again to get upgrades.
MALES
- In the Den, males can screw a prostitute, although they have to
pay to get that service done.
- In Modoc, males can only marry Miria.
- In Vault City, it's possible to date Phyllis for experience. Males
can also donate sperm to diversify the genetic base in
Vault City.
- In New Reno, males have to pay the car mechanics to get the car
back without violence. In addition, males are able to screw
Angela, bishop's daughter.
2. Age will also have a slight bearing on what you'll be able to do and
what you won't be. I haven't really had any problems with this, as this
one is more so about personal preference.
Character sheet (used to beat the game):
Gender: Female
Age:    19 years
Primary Skills      Traits         Tagged Skills
--------------      ------         --------------
Strength:     4     Gifted         Small Guns
Perception:   6     Small Frame    Melee Weapons
Endurance:    6                    Speech
Charisma:     8
Intelligence: 9
Agility:      10
Luck:         5
Now, here are details about each of the skills and, in some cases, will
describe why the skill levels were chosen for this character.
MAIN SKILLS
-----------
They're pretty self explanatory, but on the descriptions it tells what
each skill modifies. All skills are important, but try to keep Luck,
Strength, and Perception at least at 4. Characters with Intelligence
values of three or less face a totally different game...the only
options that you'll receive in dialogue are "Ruk" and "Eeg," as
well as the occasional "Yah," "Uh-Huh," and "want morE." The average
level for all skills is 5.
Strength: It modifies carry weight, hit points, weapon handling,
and some weapon skills.
In this case, Strength is set at 4. The Power Armor will
easily offset the penalty from having low strength.
Perception: It modifies some skills and increases accuracy at range.
A Perception of 6 will allow your character to shoot at
decent range. If you take mentats, you will be able to get
the Sniper perk later on.
Endurance: Toughness. It modifies some skills, hit points, and
resistance to poison and radiation.
An Endurance of 6 was simply chosen to offset the hit point
penalties incurred from the low strength.
Charisma: Looks. It modifies speech and barter, as well as NPC reactions.
If you divide it by two and round down, that is the number of
NPC's you can have. It decreases if you get second-level armor
implants.
Having a Charisma of 8 will be beneficial for some dialogue
options and will allow your character to have 4 NPC's. If you
get armor implants, it'll go down to 7 or 6, which is still
a respectable level.
Intelligence: It modifies dialogue options (gives you more), skill points
given per level, and 'science' skills. High intelligence is
important and will enable you to complete most of the game's
quests.
An Intelligence of 9 won't give every dialogue option, but
will be able (I think) to finish every quest available (although
you'll have to repeat the game many many times; i.e., side
with Hubologists in one game, the Shi in the other, etc.).
Agility: Speed. It modifies many skills, armor class, and action points.
It is one of the most important combat skills.
An Agility of 10 will give you 10 action points, which in turn
will enable you to shoot twice per round, up to 5 with the right
perks and traits.
Luck: It modifies critical chance, some skills, and the outcome of the
game.
A Luck of 5 was chosen - this is "neutral" and will buffer out
most random encounters.
SECONDARY SKILLS
----------------
Here is a list of other skills that you'll face. Whenever you create
a character, you have to choose three tag skills. Tagging a secondary
skill gives you an instant 20% bonus for that skill and 2% increase
for each skill point used to increase the tag skill.
Small Guns: The use of rifles, pistols, and various small arms. Be sure
to tag this one, since most combat will take place with small
arms. This skill can be increased by reading the popular
magazine 'Guns and Bullets.'
* This skill was tagged because most of the game's more practical
weapons are small guns. Small guns are composed of a very
diverse group of guns, from the weak pipe-rifle (pea-shooter)
as well as the extremely powerful G11E and M72 guns.
Big Guns: The use of miniguns, rocket launchers, and flamethrowers. This
skill isn't that great because big guns are fairly easy to aim
(with the given strength) and that some small arms are better
than these large weapons. (And even then, energy weapons are
better than all of these...) Don't tag this one, nor should you
really consider building this skill. The only good guns in
this selection include the Bozar, CZ53 "Avenger", and the
Vindicator minigun.
Energy Weapons: The use of all weapons powered by power cells. This one is
good in the endgame. The selection of Energy weapons
includes the strongest single-shot weapon in the game, the
YK42B Pulse Rifle.
Unarmed: The use of fists in combat. This skill helps early on, but it
becomes pretty useless in the midgame. This is useful only in
boxing rounds.
Melee Weapons: The use of knives, sledgehammers, spears, and the like.
* I tagged this because the Super Sledgehammer can be found
early on. It's light and insanely powerful, and can knock
down enemies from a long distance.
Throwing: Use of throwing knives and grenades. Pretty useless, if you ask
me. In the fist place, grenades are hard to find and second, even
with something like 70% skill, grenades suffer from having a relatively
low accuracy to hit your desired target. And grenades are quite
expensive.
First Aid: Recovers a few hit points. You can increase this skill with
first aid books. It is pretty useless to tag or to build since
you can read books (and that First Aid kits increase your
success with this skill.)
Doctor: Recovers a few more hit points than first aid and you can heal
crippled limbs. I've healed crippled limbs with 45% skill, and a
doctor's bag increases your chance of success with this skill.
You should build this to 90% to research combat implants at Vault
City.
Sneak: The art of moving around without making people notice. I really
haven't found much use for this skill. You can ignore it. Even a
low skill will enable you to assassinate the President in the
end-game. *
Steal: Pretty self explanatory. I didn't have a need to steal from other
characters, so I ignored it. And the chances of success are greatly
enhanced from stealing from the back of the character. *
Lockpick: The art of picking locked doors. Now this is one thief-type skill
that you should pay attention to. Work on this one and build it to
about 65% or so. You won't have to run through the end-game maze
with a skill of 85-90% as well as a decent traps skill.
NOTE: Using lockpicks increases skill by 25%. Using the upgraded
lockpick sets will increase it even more.
Traps: The skill of arming explosives and disarming traps. Not too
important; 50% is adequate for arming explosives and detecting a
few traps. It's also enough to disarm the end-game maze doors.
Science: Covers primarily computers as well as biology, chemistry, physics,
etc. It can be increased by reading 'The Big Book of Science.'
Repair: Covers standard repair techniques. Build to about 60%. It can be
increased by using the tool as well as reading 'Dean's Electronics.'
NOTE: Using a tool increases skill by 25%. A Super Tool Kit will
increase it even more.
Speech: The act of convincing others that you are right. This skill is
second to small guns, and is extremely useful in bullshitting
other people.
* I tagged this one - it enables your character to convince others to
do what you want. You can take a diplomatic end-game approach
with this skill, and will allow you to complete a few quests.
Barter: This skill is used to determine trade prices. Unlike Fallout,
where you would receive good prices, Fallout 2's bargains are
worse - even if you raise the skill to insane levels you'll
be hard-pressed to get good deals.
Gambling: Again, pretty self explanatory. There are more places to gamble
and more things that require lots of money (compared to Fallout),
so you might consider building it up. I passed it.
Outdoors: Practical knowledge of the outdoors. You can read Scout handbooks
to raise this skill. This skill will determine, to a lesser extent,
how far you can travel in a day and what random encounters you'll
face.