Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel Walkthrough

Fallout Tactics Walkthrough
by J Sepulveda (phoenix_risen49@yahoo.com)
Copyright 2005 J Sepulveda
The Usual Legal Stuff
Fallout, Fallout Tactics, Interplay, and this entire game and all its elements
are all registered trademarks and copyrights of Interplay.  I don't own them
and they have not endorsed this guide in any way.
This guide is my own creation based on my experiences with the game, except
where explicitly stated.  I don't include any information that I haven't
discovered or tested myself.  That said, the nature of the beast is that this
document will overlap with others on the same topics.  I chose to write this
doc because (a) my opinions differed from the wisdom of other FAQ/walkthrough
authors and (b) I wanted to include the latest information, which most of the
FAQs failed to address.  I like to think this helps any gamers out there still
playing this game four years after it was released - I know I am.  This
document is my property and is free for all to distribute unmodified or to
modify for their own use so long as they don't pass it off as their own or
charge anyone to access it.  It is currently posted only on gamefaqs.com and
neoseeker.com.
I. Character Creation and Maintenance
-Character Types
-Attributes
-Skills
-Traits
-Perks
-Status Effects
II. Equipment
-Weapons
-Ammunition
-Armor
-Drugs
III. General Gameplay
-Strategy 101
-Enemies
-Recruit Races
-Recruits
IV. Missions
V. Other Stuff
-Salvage
-Bartering
-Recruiting
-Special Encounters
-Bonus Mission
THE PATCH
I highly recommend that you play with the 1.27 patch on the game.  This fixes
a whole lot of problems and bugs and makes the game more interesting by
changing the single-player recruits pool, increasing the experience payoff for
Tough Guy, and allowing you to design your own missions.  However, since
Interplay has gone down the tubes the patch has become much more difficult to
find, and many sites that do offer it demand that you pay to join their
download service first.  The exception to this rule that I found was GameSpot.
You still have to give them registration information on yourself (unless you
already have an account with GameFAQs), but they don't charge you for the
download.  I'm not advocating GameSpot for any other service in any other way,
I'm just saying that it's a place you can get the 1.27 patch for free even in
2005.  Saves from the disc version of the game are completely compatible with
the patch version, but some of the patch's alterations won't show up unless
you start a new game after it is applied.
************************************
*Character Creation and Maintenance*
************************************
Character Types
Generally, I divide the characters I use in Tactics into three categories for
combat potential: sneaker, sniper, and gunner.
-Sneakers start as extremely useful and become useless by the end of the game.
The idea here is a combination of Sneak skill and either Unarmed or Melee
weapons.  Sneak to get close to or behind the enemy, then start whacking them.
The most important attribute for a sneaker is Agility, which determines the
Sneak skill, Action Points, AP regeneration, and dodging ability.  Sneakers
need AP to regenerate faster than their opponents so they can interrupt
attacks.  Strength increases damage in melee combat and Endurance offers some
assurance that you won't go down as soon as you try to take two enemies at
once.  You'll stop using them when mutants and robots start breaking your arm
on the first hit.
-Snipers use rifles, the longer the range the better.  They outshoot the
enemy with superior weapon skill and Perception by firing at such range that
the enemy can rarely hit them.  Naturally, snipers require lots of Perception,
though Endurance can be dropped to compensate.  Don't drop Strength below 5 or
you won't be able to use many weapons.  Luck is also nice to increase critical
hits.  Snipers can hold a close weapon in the second slot like a shotgun or
SMG and can switch to energy weapons late in the game.  Important note: it is
possible to set every shot a character makes to aimed by right-clicking the
aim button on the bottom right of the weapon slot at the bottom of the screen.
Choose a target and every shot that character takes (at a higher AP cost) will
be aimed at that target until you reset it or turn off aiming.  This is pretty
much the only practical way to use aimed attacks during CTB.
-Gunners depend on Big Guns to hole their enemies with hundreds of rounds.
They won't be much use until St. Louis, when you'll capture your first
practical big guns, but they're indispensable against the Mutants and vital in
the first few fights with robots.  Gunners need lots of Strength just to carry
their weapon and ammunition - the Browning M2, the most useful large gun in
the game, requires 9 Strength - and Endurance because these weapons don't have
the range the snipers' rifles do, so they'll have to get closer.  Perception
is good but not nearly as necessary as with snipers and Agility is another
secondary concern.  Luck matters little - you're blasting your enemies into
shreds, not aiming at their eyes.
Every character in your squad should have a _useful_ weapons skill at all
times.  By _useful_ I mean that they must be equipped with a weapon they can
use and circumstances that will make them necessary.  You shouldn't send a
squad full of melee fighters to kill an army of Mutants.  In addition to their
weapons skills, each character should provide a special skill to the squad.
By the time you hit Macomb, you should have someone in your party over 100%
with each of the following skills: First Aid, Doctor, Lockpick, Traps, Repair,
Piloting, and Outdoorsman.  Bartering, Stealing, and Gambling are optional.
Attributes
Attributes can only be modified during character creation, after which point
they are set in stone with extremely rare exceptions.  Expect whatever
attributes you create to carry you through the entire game.  These are the
framework that establish the type of character you are creating, and they are
used to determine all of your other statistics.
It's important to note that each race's attributes have both a creation
maximum and a true maximum.  Creation max for humans is 10 for all stats, with
a minimum of 1 (2 with Gifted).  It cannot be set any higher during character
creation.  Other races have different minimums and maximums.  However, an
attribute cannot under any circumstances be higher than +2 over the creation
maximum (such as using drugs to pump it up).  Even though Deathclaws can have
Strength 14, humans can never go above 12.
-Strength
Strength modifies melee damage and carrying weight, as well as determining
whether you can use a given weapon (all firearms have a minimum ST to use
them).  It is very important to close-quarters combat fighters like sneakers
who will benefit from the extra melee damage.  Also, anyone planning on using
Big Guns will need ST of 9 to use the Browning M2 (or 7 with Buffout).
Carrying weight isn't much of a problem because you can always divide the load
amongst squad members and you can dump things on the ground and come back for
them later in the mission, though they disappear if you leave.
-Perception
Perception primarily governs your range modifiers, and to some extent affects
sequence order in CTB.  If two characters see each other at the same moment,
the one with the higher PE will react first.  This can be important, but less
often than you might think.  More importantly, a high PE is vital to any
character using long-range firearms, which should be at least half your squad
at any given time.  Melee fighters don't need more than average PE.
-Endurance
Endurance determines how much HP you have, how much you gain, and your
resistances to radiation, poison, and general damage.  While these are all
good things to have, EN is only critical for characters that plan to get hit a
lot like melee fighters.  Long-range snipers can lower this to the floor
without suffering too much as long as their PE and guns skills are very high.
-Charisma
Unlike previous Fallout games, Charisma is relegated to a very low priority
this time around.  Since there is no Speech skill (replaced with Pilot), it
only modifies Barter, and you'll be salvaging enough goods that Bartering
won't be a problem even if your skill is minimal.  However, CH does affect how
quickly you get promoted in the Brotherhood, which allows you access to better
recruits and equipment sooner.  There are two perks, Leader and Divine Favor,
that are very useful and depend on relatively high levels of CH (6 and 8).
Note that only your main character's rank is taken into account when you buy
gear or recruit.
-Intelligence
Intelligence is the basis for a few skills, but most importantly determines
how many skill points you get per level.  Highly Intelligent characters can
develop more abilities faster, which is always an advantage.
-Agility
Agility is the basis of all combat in Fallout Tactics because it sets the
number of Action Points you have.  Action Points let you do stuff, and more AP
let you do more stuff faster.  If you're playing TB the benefits of firing
twice versus firing once and moving 3 spaces are obvious, but in CTB the
advantage of high AG is that characters with more AP regenerate their AP
faster.  Watch a Deathclaw with 11 AP take down a Super Mutant 6 damage at a
time and you'll get it.
-Luck
According to the manual, Luck affects everything you do in a small way.  In
the actual game, this means that you never even notice Luck affecting you
unless it's less than 4, at which point your guns start exploding and badness
ensues.  The exception to this rule is that your starting critical chance
(chance for a critical hit) is equal to the LK attribute, but it's more
efficient to take the More Criticals Perk than to waste attribute points here.
Skills
You get to tag 3 skills during creation, immediately boosting them by 20% each
and allowing all skill points devoted to them in the future to count double.
Tag skills also determine your starting equipment, because each skill you tag
adds certain items to your beginning inventory.  Note that skill points and
skill percentage are two different things.  Skill points are awarded to your
character every time he goes up a level (2xIN+5).  Skill percentage is how
these points are applied to your skills.  One skill point = one skill percent
until you hit 100%, then it takes more skill points to raise your percent each
increment up to 5 skill points by 200%.
-Small Guns (9mm x24, Booze)
If you've played Fallout before, you know that Small Guns is a misnomer.  Many
of the most useful guns in the game are "small", including pistols, revolvers,
rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns.  The ubiquity of small guns makes this
skill absolutely vital during the first half of the game.  It is possible to
play with a main character without this skill tagged, but it makes the early
part of the game much more difficult.  Don't bother raising Small Guns over
130% because you will switch to Energy Weapons around mission 13-14 and won't
need small arms anymore.  Small guns usually cost 4 AP to fire, with 5 for SMG
bursts and 3 for revolvers.
-Big Guns (Booze x2, Happy Pie)
Big guns include machine guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, and other fun
stuff.  They deal out much more damage than small arms, but are heavier, less
accurate, and chew through ammunition much faster.  Fallout veterans will
recall that Big Guns was never really necessary because you could compensate
with aimed shots from rifles or energy weapons.  Tactics introduces Super
Mutants long before you can start getting energy weapons, and aimed shots are
difficult to pull off in the heat of CTB.  Therefore, big guns will be a much
larger part of your wasteland adventure.  Don't tag it at creation because you
won't have access to them until mission 8.  Big guns cost 5 AP to fire.
-Energy Weapons (Booze, Donuts x3)
Energy weapons are the bastard children of small and big guns.  You've got the
low weight and accuracy of small arms matched with the damage and ammo costs
of big guns.  Energy weapons aren't strictly necessary to the fight, but they
are extremely useful as replacements for relatively obsolete small arms by the
end of the game.  Don't tag it because energy weapons don't become available
until mission 12.  Energy weapons cost 5 AP to fire, 6 for burst, and 3 for
pistols.
-Unarmed (Brass Knuckles, Buffout, Rot Gut x3)
Unarmed encompasses both truly weaponless combat and weapons that improve your
ability to punch things, like punch knives and Powerfists.  This skill is
exclusively for close-range combat for obvious reasons, which means that it
becomes much less useful after you realize you don't want to be close to your
enemies because they're burst-firing .50 cal at you.  It works very well for
sneaker characters if they can get within range and then kill the enemy before
he fires.  Also, unarmed is a 'silent' method of killing things, meaning that
it won't wake people up unless you're right next to them and won't bring the
guards running.  This makes it useful for stealth missions like Freeport and
Quincy.  Punches and punch-enhancing devices cost 3AP, kicks cost 4, and the
Deathclaw Gore costs 5.
-Melee Weapons (Knife, Broken Bottle)
Melee weapons are cousins to unarmed weapons in that you have to be really
close to make them count.  Melee weapons are also 'silent' and thus good for
sneakers to use.  These generally deal more damage than unarmed weapons and
sometimes have 'range' of 2 so you can hit things slightly farther away.  The
downside is that you start with a lower Melee skill than Unarmed, all things
being equal.  Melee weapons eventually become obsolete when you stop wanting
to get close to the enemy.  AP costs range from 3 for knives, 4 for most other
weapons, and 5 for really heavy weapons.
-Throwing (Spear x3, Grenade (Frag), Rock x10)
Throwing deals with two types of projectiles: grenades that deal area damage
and cost 6 AP versus things that wish they were grenades and cost less.
Grenade technology advances considerably through the game, from frags to
acid to plasma to pulse, but the other stuff doesn't appreciably increase in
damage potential.  Darts, shurikens, throwing knives, powder bags, razor
rings, fantasy balls, etc. all sound interesting but aren't as weight-
efficient as carrying ammo for a gun.  Plus you've got to hunt them all down
after the fight, and that gets tedious.  The downside of grenades is that they
are best used on groups of enemies that are far from your friends, but a
grenadier in CTB throws whenever he's got enough AP and at the nearest target,
who might be right next to him.  Using this skill effectively forces your
constant attention to that one character, leaving you less able to maneuver or
heal your other squad members in the heat of battle.  In TB, though, it works
great, because you can switch back and forth between grenades and a firearm.
-First Aid (First Aid Kit, Poison Antidote, Poison x2)
First Aid is the basic skill for healing damage and requires either a First
Aid Kit or Field Medic Kit to work (Field Medic Kit is better).  It's a very
good idea to always have a medic with this skill to conserve valuable Stimpaks
and their more powerful cousins.  The downside is that First Aid only works
three times in a row on one person, at which point the character becomes
Bandaged and you have to use Doctor to remove this condition.  The Poison item
is extremely rare in the game and available only one other place (Scott City),
mostly because it's kind of pointless.
-Doctor (Doctor's Bag, Scalpel, Fruit x3)
Doctor is the skill you never want to use.  It will heal major wounds like
broken bones, concussions, and unconsciousness as well as remove the Bandaged
condition.  Most of the time these status ailments are rare, but very bad
things can still happen to good squads.  If you're playing Tough Guy, you may
want to have two different medics with Doctor skill just in case one goes down
or needs to be healed himself.  Doctor skill requires a Doctor's Bag or
Paramedic Bag to work.  Tagging Doctor is a good idea because it gives you a
free Doctor's Bag, which is actually very expensive.
-Sneak (Axe Handle)
Sneak lets you move silently so the enemy doesn't notice you.  This lets you
set up attacks so that everyone can switch to aggressive at once and shred the
enemy, or just get behind someone and beat the bejeezus out of them with a
lead pipe.  There are a few missions near the beginning of the game where I
highly recommend a few sneakers, but there's never any reason to have your
entire squad spend points here.  Sneak makes Melee and Unarmed more useful
because you can get close enough to hit, but by the end of the game just
getting your people close won't be enough to stop him from burst-firing and
killing you.  You can choose to have your entire squad be sneaky no matter
their weapon, but it requires a constant investiture of skill points
throughout the game to be effective.  I strongly discourage you from Tagging
Sneak for your main character; it's very common among recruits and it doesn't
give you much for starting equipment.
-Lockpick (Ring Pulls x25, Stinky Meat Platter)
Lockpick is kind of a fun skill to have.  It's never vital for completing a
mission, but it makes a few missions easier and definitely gives you access to
loot that you'd otherwise have to pass up.  Carry lockpicks with you to
increase the skill.  Actually, tagging it is unnecessary because putting
lockpicks in both hands is usually enough to pop most locks.  Using Electronic
Lockpicks doesn't increase your skill any more but seems to work more often -
there aren't any electronic locks to pick as in previous Fallouts.
-Steal (BoS Scrip x30, Ring Pulls x100)
Steal is another fun yet totally unnecessary skill like Lockpick, only more
so.  It lets you take stuff from other people, or give them stuff without them
knowing (like armed bombs).  There are only a few missions with lots of
noncombative civilians for you to rob, so you'll probably end up just stalking
fellow Brothers in the bunkers.  It doesn't give you experience like in
previous Fallouts.  Stealing is easier if you're behind the target and are
sneaking.  If you are ever caught stealing in a Brotherhood bunker, everyone
in the bunker will immediately turn hostile and you will either be killed by
the Big Gun-toting Power Armored warriors or you'll kill your superior
officer, effectively losing the game.
-Traps (T13 Mine x3, Explosive Trap)
Traps is an extremely difficult skill to use offensively.  You'd have to
either plant a mine on a spot where you know the enemy will walk (difficult to
plan) or arm a bomb and plant it directly on an unsuspecting enemy, which
takes not only high Traps but also high Sneak and Steal skills, all of which
makes for very low skill point efficiency when you could just shoot them.
Traps is better used to salvage enemy traps and sell them, and there are some
situations where good loot is guarded by a trap.  Sure, you could just set it
off and deal with the consequence, but where's the art?  Note that even if
your character is "boggled by the mine's complexity" you can still disarm it,
but at a fairly low success rate so be prepared with First Aid.  Also, even
mines that are fairly simple may explode on you.  If you're using Tough Guy,
consider getting the Crazy Bomber Perk before you start disarming things.
-Science (Mentats, Clipboard, Classic Nuka-Cola x4)
Don't tag Science.  Don't spend skill points on Science.  Don't take party
members with Science tagged without good reason.  By the time Science becomes
a factor in the game, you will have found enough science books to give your
main character over 100% if he reads all of them.  Just read the books and
don't worry about it until you hit robot territory.  If you're playing with
the patch, Science skill will add to your critical hit chance when you fight
robots.
-Repair (Tool Kit, Crowbar, Booze)
Repair is specifically a First Aid skill for vehicles and robots.  Since there
are only 5 vehicles in the entire game (one hidden in the bonus level) and
only one robot that can join your party, uses for Repair are somewhat limited.
However, in the single-player missions where vehicles do appear, Repairing
them is a high priority.  Consider bringing an expert for those missions
and/or devoting skill points from a sniper with over 150% weapons skills.
Books also help, but there aren't nearly enough of them.
-Piloting (Cat's Paw, Beer x6, XXXXX Beer x2, Booze)
The new skill, Piloting, covers how well you drive.  Actually, there doesn't
seem to be a huge difference between a 30% driver and a 150% driver, but in
theory higher skills make tighter turns and have access to Perks like Lead
Foot and Road Warrior.  If you're into that kind of thing.  The vast majority
of your driving will be over empty wasteland anyway, since you can't take a
vehicle into a mission and only 5 missions have vehicles in them already.
-Barter (Cat's Paw, Ring Pulls x50, Booze)
Some people like Barter because it's hard to salvage useful gear.  Every
trader in the game uses a supply-and-demand system, so the more of a given
item you dump on that trader, the less valuable it is.  Watch the value of
AK-47s drop after Macomb and you'll see what I mean.  However, if you follow
my advice and salvage literally EVERYTHING from every mission, money will not
be a problem, ever, even with extremely low Barter skill.  Good reputation and
high Charisma also help your barter prices.
-Gambling (BoS Scrip x500)
Some people are gamblers willing to bet a valuable thing they have against a
similarly valuable thing you have on a roll of the dice.  The more valuable
your thing is compared to theirs, the better your odds of winning.  There's
no reason to tag this since you'll get a recruit named Stumpy with all the
Gambling skill you'll ever need (119%), so just pop him out whenever you feel
like risking it.   Unfortunately, if you're using the 1.27 patch, Stumpy
doesn't have Gambling anymore and you'll have to make do by dedicating someone
else's skill points.  Quartermasters in Gamma and Delta Bunkers are gamblers,
which can be handy if you run short of cash.
-Outdoorsman (Healing Powder, Rad-X)
In previous Fallouts, Outdoorsman was useful because it helped you get from
one place to another on the world map with fewer annoying random attacks.  In
Tactics, it's indispensable, especially toward the end of the game when you
ammo is really expensive and/or rare.  You don't want to waste Micro Fusion
Cells on dogs and ghouls.  Also, the rate of random encounters this time
around is MUCH higher unless you've got the patch, you'll sometimes get
attacked ten or more times in a single square.  I understand that this is
because the rate of random encounters was tied to how fast your machine was.
The patch helps fix this problem.  Raise this skill until you hit 120%.
Traits
You can choose up to 2 traits per character, but you don't have to take any.
Traits are tradeoffs that give your character an advantage in one area and a
disadvantage in another that roughly compensate each other. Effects of traits
are listed in the manual.
-Fast Metabolism    No benefit or loss
Radiation resistance should never be a problem, because you should just take
Rad-X before you get irradiated.  Poison can be annoying, but only early in
the game and it's so gradual that it's never a threat.  On the other hand, a
fast healing rate doesn't do much since you can always just run around the
World Map for a few extra days to heal up.  In theory, healing rate affects
healing from First Aid and Doctor, but I never noticed much difference.
-Bruiser        Loss
More Strength is good for melee fighters, but more AP and the ability to
interrupt your opponent's attacks because he recharges slower than you are
much better.
-Small Frame        Benefit
Because you have a squad of 6 people that can share the load, carrying weight
will rarely be a problem in this game.  Not recommended for characters using
Big Guns.
-One Hander        Loss
The best weapons in the game are all 2-handed, making this trait a very
powerful handicap.  An excellent challenge, if you're up to it.
-Finesse        Benefit
Very good for snipers, but much less so for gunners.
-Kamikaze        No benefit or loss
The drop in Armor Class is only significant during the early stages of the
game when the armor generally sucks.  Metal armor and above usually dwarf your
natural advantage, making the downside less down as time goes on.  The +25
damage upside is nice at the beginning, but eventually it, too, won't matter
all that much.
-Heavy Handed        Benefit
Melee combat carries an automatic increased chance of critical hits, so this
trait just balances that chance out a bit.  Strongly discouraged for snipers.
-Fast Shot        Benefit
Gunners will definitely like this trait since they can't do aimed shots with
burst mode anyway.  Snipers can take or leave it because while aimed shots
maximize their potential damage, it's also annoying to set up aimed targets
and then turn them off every time you change ranges because the chance-to-hit
drops.
-Bloody Mess        No benefit or loss
No gameplay effects, but it does stop you from choosing a more useful trait.
-Jinxed            Loss
I hate this trait.  Even if it also screws your enemies over, the fact that it
jacks up my guns so often really annoys me.  It's sometimes good for a laugh.
-Good Natured        Loss
Tactics is, as the box says, a 'tactical _combat_ game'.  Why choose a trait
that specifically lowers your combat abilities?  I dislike the idea of using
your main character as a brain with First Aid, Doctor, Lockpick, Traps,
Repair, Pilot, etc. because I prefer having 6 guns to having 5 and some
firefight baggage.
-Chemical Reliant    No benefit or loss
Why are you using drugs so often that addiction is a risk?  The only time to
use drugs is for specific, extremely important situations like carrying the
Browning, and even then it's a temporary fix until I can get a recruit with
the natural strength to pull it off.
-Chemical Resistant    No benefit or loss
See above, only more so.
-Night Person        Loss
I like this trait, but I can never find a way to really make it work for my
squad.  The majority of missions I take by day, so it would almost always be a
handicap.  Moreover, if I start taking missions by night, then my squadmates
are screwed because they can't see.  Now if everyone had Night Person it
would be very different because the benefits of daytime would be negated, but
you don't have that kind of control in the single-player game.
-Skilled        Loss
Going up one more level to get the skill points Skilled would give you and
then some is easier than the annoyance of going up several more levels to get
the Perks you want.
-Gifted            Benefit
I love and swear by Gifted, like many people.  Extra attribute points are pure
gold, and it's always simple enough to go up another level to get the extra
skill points.  Pop your Intelligence up to at least 8 if you take this.
-Glowing One (Ghoul)    Loss
Like Night Person, only you're also making it easy for your enemies to hit
you.  Plus, you're irradiating your entire squad.  It's only a matter of time
before they frag you, and then what good is your radiation resistance?
-Tech Wizard (Ghoul)    Loss
Because of their low Endurance and Strength, the only place I trust ghouls in
my party is as snipers.  Perception is vital to this niche, so the tradeoff
isn't worth it.
-Fear the Reaper (Ghoul)Loss
'Death's short list' apparently means 'randomly lose life, especially when
leveling up'.  It's quite annoying just to get a ghoul that Perks like a
human.  Why not just take a human?
-Vat Skin (Mutant)    Loss
Knocks the Perception of everyone nearby down by 2.  Since my gunners work as
a trio, this is always applied to my own troops and only rarely do I let an
enemy get close enough for the effect to kick in for them.  On the other hand,
this can help compensate for the fact that mutants can't wear armor.
-Ham Fisted (Mutant)    No benefit or loss
By the time you get Mutants in your party, you don't want them going into
melee fights with the enemy anyway.  If they're close enough to punch, they're
close enough to eat your Browning.  On the other hand, Mutants shouldn't be
doing tech skills because of their low Intelligence.
-Domesticated (Deathclaw)Loss
The only weapon Deathclaws have is their melee damage.  Why would you reduce
that for an extra 2 skill points per level?  The